When I and the world were young, my professional writing career got its start with a tiny piece in The Dragon, the D&D magazine from TSR Hobbies. This was my writeup of a humorous cursed magic item, The Rod of Singing, appearing in their Bazaar of the Bizarre column. They paid me money for it!

In the end, I sold them three magic items in 1980 and 1981, reproduced below. I went on to write many other articles and eventually a whole book, Through Dungeons Deep: A Fantasy Gamers’ Handbook (Reston Publishing, 1981, reprinted much later by my under my Norton Creek Press label).

Rod of Singing

by Robert Plamondon, The Dragon #37, May, 1980

The Rod of Singing is a magical item usable by both Clerics and Magic-Users, although neither class will appreciate its charms.

When discovered, the Rod behaves like some useful rod (pick one from Greyhawk or DMG, but between five and 30 minutes after picking up this device, the magician or Cleric will begin to wave it as if conducting an imaginary band, singing loudly and off-key. This noise has a one-third chance per turn of attracting wandering monsters and, if the monsters are intelligent, with a -1 reaction penalty due to the poor music quality.… Read more ...

Playing Dungeons & Dragons and similar tabletop role-playing games for the first time is a bewildering but never-to-be-forgotten experience. Whether it’s also a good experience is up to you, the Game Master.

So how do we stack the odds in the beginner’s favor? I have some tricks.

Adding a Beginner to an Existing Group

When introducing a beginner into an existing gaming group, I give them a warrior character to play, one at least as high-level as the best fighter in the party.

Then I give them the pitch: “You’re playing a big, stupid, fearless, reckless warrior. You’re at least as powerful as any other warrior in the group. You get along with your friends and love destroying your enemies. With any luck, you’ll die a glorious death and save the lives of your friends by the end of the evening.”

Beginners love this! The role is within their range, they’ll likely get a blaze of glory, and they don’t have to think about the long-term implications of anything. And they usually have a wonderful time, much better than the usual practice of making them run a Level One character who can’t do anything useful except die pointlessly after being dropped into a higher-level party.… Read more ...

The New Yorker just published an article, The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons & Dragons. Apparently even trendy people are playing role-playing games now!

In the years after I wrote Through Dungeons Deep: A Fantasy Gamers’ Handbook, one thing that’s surprised me is how well the old-school role-playing games have held up, and how few important changes have been made in the newer editions. One thing that surprises me is that tabletop role-playing games are still done almost entirely by hand, with little in the way of apps to assist with the mechanics, dice, and table lookups. It’s still 1980 that way. But that’s okay. 1980 is a great vintage for role-playing games.

In the New Yorker article, it mentions that some people are using role-playing games therapeutically, especially with kids, building a variety of skills more or less incidentally to the fascinating play. I’ve actually done a little of this, hosting several sessions at Corvallis’ Social Communications Clinic, with a group of middle-school kids. It was exactly as much fun as a barrel of monkeys!

Though dating from the early Eighties, Through Dungeons Deep is back in print, through the miracle of, “it’s my company and I can publish what I want.”… Read more ...

Robert Plamondon, author of Through Dungeons Deep: A Fantasy Gamers’ Handbook, shares ten DM’ing tips.

How can you make your role-playing campaign run more smoothly and be more fun for everyone? Here are ten quick dungeon mastering tips for any campaign:

1. Supply paper, pencils, and dice.

Counting on the players to provide even their most basic requirements doesn’t work, so don’t try. Always have more sharpened pencils available than players. Bring lots of paper. Have more dice than you can possibly use.

2. Enforce a “No touching” rule.

Some players can’t keep their hands off the other players. This is disgusting and must be stopped before the other players abandon your campaign just to get away from the offenders. Declare a “no touching” rule and enforce it. Come down hard on even minor infractions, or when the game gets exciting, the offenders won’t be able to control themselves and will be pawing and pummeling the other players like six-armed monkeys on acid. (“No touching” also includes “No pretending to touch, no brandishing, no looming over the other players.” They need to stay out of each other’s personal space.)

3. Enforce a “Hands off other people’s stuff” rule.

Players are not allowed to touch other people’s possessions without permission, or read their notes, or use their laptops, or anything like that.… Read more ...