Rule of the Dice

I had it all planned. Three giant Trolls ambush the party using a tied up human as bait. Here was the set up:

The PC's and the merchant caravan they were travelling with came to a small area of road in the forest that went in a circle around four large trees. To one of these trees was tied a gagged man in a state of great distress attempting to scream something to them. They couldn't make out what he was saying, but like most curious PC's they decided to go check him out. Preparing for danger they readied their weapons and moved toward him. The Cleric approached the man, he had a look of complete terror in his eyes. She removed his gag... Then he yelled "They're using me as bait", as a great black shadow killed a horse and the two expendable npc's at the merchants caravan.

Combat was joined and dice were rolled. It was at this point I got out my trusty whiteboard and drew a simple map of the area for everyone to reference.

This is what I saw as I was dra…

I have been re-reading the 1e ADnD Dungeon Masters guide for the umpteenth time. To me this book represents all that is good and fun about our hobby. There is hardly a page that doesn't have something interesting, fun or just plain weird on it, and even now the sheer bulk of information found in this tome staggers my imagination.

I feel sorry for anyone who hasn't read this book, but I feel especially sorry for those who disregard it as some primitive relic of gaming past not worth the read. You are missing out on some of the best work ever written in RPG history, and even if you play 3e or 4e the advice and ideas from the DMG can still enlighten and inspire.

Although the ADnD DMG may not fully represent the golden age of the hobby, to me it represents the hobby at its best and loftiest. It still astounds me that I can open this book to any random page and find something that I can use in my campaigns, or find something that is just plain awesome.

So if you've read 1e DMG…