Tenkar's Tavern: A Piece of Gaming History

Sunday, December 12, 2010

A Piece of Gaming History

The Troll God (aka Ken St. Andre) run auctions of different items that he has in his possession for the members of Trollhalla (link is above). Recently one of the items auctioned was Ken's personal copy of Tunnels & Trolls Second Edition. Being that the 1st edition only had 100 copies printed, the 2nd edition is also extremely rare.

I won this particular auction ;)

Later this week I'll post some pics of this treasure, but suffice to say this is friggin' awesome! Yes, its a bit used and worn, but it is graced by Ken's signature.

So, I now have a reprint of the 1st edition of Tunnels & Trolls, an original of the 2nd edition, and original of the 4th edition, and of course 5.0, 5.5, 7.0 and 7.5 editions. Woot!

The comparison of solo experiences using the different rules (flashing back to the poll I ran earlier) will probably produce fruit in a week or so... a week off from work should allow for some productivity ;)

2 comments:

ChristianDecember 12, 2010 at 8:36 PM
Right on! I look forward to seeing the pics. :)
ReplyDelete
Replies
TenkarDecember 12, 2010 at 8:58 PM
I had to explain to a certain someone that $152 wasn't a bad price for a piece of history ;)
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

Swords & Wizardry Light - Forum

RPGNow

Sunday, December 12, 2010

A Piece of Gaming History

2 comments:

Blogs of Inspiration & Erudition