#ken st andre

[oldschoolfrp]

Elric charges into battle (Peter Andrew Jones cover for the 3rd edition of the Stormbringer RPG, Chaosium & Games Workshop, 1987)

[adventuresandshopping]

Tunnels & Trolls PDF rulesbook on DriveThruRPG 

http://bit.ly/TnT5dtrpg

$6.95 usd / €6.20 / £5.33 (special price at time of posting)

Tunnels & Trolls 5th Edition was one of the most popular editions of this fantasy RPG using only six-sided dice. As a GM I found it extremely empowering in the speed at which one could create dungeons and invent monsters.  Despite material for T&T sometimes having off-beat and downright silly humour, this would still be one of the game systems I would choose for serious campaigning and not just an introduction to role-playing. (Perhaps with some home ruling, for which the system was ideal).  For the players there’s variety in equipment and spells and 3(4) classes.  Broad brush strokes are used for specialised acts or skills, but in many ways this was one of the first systems to have something like a  “core mechanic”, in it’s own take on “saving throws” - based initially on a “Luck” attribute, but other attributes can be used (Dexterity, Constitution etc.).  T&T 5 sits somewhere between original D&D and early RuneQuest, and was a well known alternative to those systems in the late 70′s and very early 80′s.  This rulebook is a “complete” (which was a competitive selling point made at the time), ready-to-pick-up-and-play game with unlimited levelling rules.  Even if you don’t get around to playing T&T, it is a rewarding read if you are a collector or interested in the history of game mechanics.  Liz Danforth’s interior line art is also very special.  

[oldschoolfrp]

Goblins waiting in ambush (Liz Danforth, Monsters! Monsters! 1st edition by Ken St Andre, Metagaming, 1976)  Despite teasing this rocket launcher on the title page, the most complex missile weapon in these rules is a crossbow

[oldschoolfrp]

“Shadowjacks.  Based on a character created by Roger Zelazny, these beings can melt into any shadow - and reappear from any connected shadow.”  (Liz Danforth illus from Monsters! Monsters! 1st edition by Ken St Andre, Metagaming, 1976)  Zelazny’s original Shadowjack was the protagonist of his 1971 novel Jack of Shadows, which was named after author Jack Vance, who also inspired the name of D&D’s Vecna.

[oldschoolfrp]

What do your elf eyes see?  (Liz Danforth, Deathtrap Equalizer Dungeon, solitaire adventure for Tunnels & Trolls by Ken St Andre, Flying Buffalo, 1977)

[oldschoolfrp]

Wasteland, 1988, Barry Jackson cover art for Interplay’s video game of “adventure in post-nuclear America.”  Designers Ken St Andre, Michael Stackpole, and Liz Danforth all had extensive prior credits in pen-and-paper RPGs.  Nine years later Interplay released Fallout which references some elements of Wasteland, but could not use the original name controlled by Electronic Arts.

[oldschoolfrp]

Monsters! Monsters! flipped the script and let the players play as the monsters in 1976, just 2 years after the first publication of D&D (Liz Danforth cover for Metagaming’s 1st printing, later released by Flying Buffalo) Designed by Ken St Andre, the editor’s note describes it as “a somewhat streamlined and perverse variant” of his 1975 Tunnels & Trolls

[oldschoolfrp]

The Toughest Dungeon in the World by Ken St Andre for Tunnels & Trolls or Monsters! Monsters! (Kevin Siembieda cover, Judges Guild, 1980)  An innovative inversion of expectations for its time, this programmed solo adventure was written for player characters who were trolls or stronger monsters.  Human, elf, and dwarf “delvers” were dangerous encounters and became stronger each time the same type appeared, because adventurers always keep leveling up in fantasy games.  The title plays off the common DM boast that “my dungeon is the toughest,” an old-school attitude we are better off for having outgrown.