Tables for Nicodemus

Most things about OD&D are quite easy to elucidate quickly while in the midst of a game. There are a few things, however, which consistently pop up as needing a bit more detail, or requiring the DM to advise players to consult one of the many fine retro-clones for something. I don't want to have to do that, not because of the clones themselves (on the contrary, I'm quite taken with many of them) but so that everyone is nicely on the same page about everything, and everyone knows what to expect.

With that in mind, here are a couple of lists which show the exact numbers we're using for Castle Nicodemus.

Ability Modifiers:

Strength, Fighter Only	To Hit	Damage
3-4	-2	-1
5-6	-1
7-9
10-12
13-15	+1
16	+1	+1
17	+2	+2
18	+2	+3
Dexterity, Fighter Only	AC
15	-1
16	-2
17	-3
18	-4
Dexterity, All	To Hit
3-8	-1
13-18	+1

Spell Slots (inquire after Druids):

Magic-User Spells	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Medium	1
Seer	2
Conjurer	3	1
Theurgist	4	2
Thaumaturgist	4	2	1
Magician	4	2	2
Enchanter	4	3	2	1
Warlock	4	3	3	2
Sorcerer	4	3	3	2	1
Necromancer	4	4	3	3	2
Wizard	4	4	4	3	3
Wizard, 12th Level	4	4	4	4	4	1
Wizard, 13th Level	5	5	5	4	4	2
Wizard, 14th Level	5	5	5	4	4	3
Wizard, 15th Level	5	5	5	4	4	4
Wizard, 16th Level	5	5	5	5	5	5

Cleric Spells	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Acolyte	zip
Adept	1
Village Priest	2
Vicar	2	1
Curate	2	2
Bishop	2	2	1	1
Lama	2	2	2	1	1
Patriarch	2	2	2	2	2
Patriarch, 9th Level	3	3	3	2	2
Patriarch, 10th Level	3	3	3	3	3

Roll on a d20 Needed to Hit Armor Class Zero:
Fighters of All Stripes, as well as Paladins

• Levels 1-3: 19
• Levels 4-6: 17
• Levels 7-9: 14

Magic-Users

• Levels 1-5: 19
• Levels 6-10: 17
• Levels 11-15: 14

Clerics and Thieves

• Levels 1-4: 19
• Levels 5-8: 17
• Levels 9-12: 14

Saving Throws:

Class	Level	Death or Poison	Wands	Stone	Dragon Breath	Spells
Fighting-Men	1-3	12	13	14	15	16
Magic-User	1-5	13	14	13	16	15
Cleric	1-4	11	12	14	16	15
Fighter	4-6	10	11	12	13	14
Magic User	6-10	11	12	11	14	12
Cleric	5-8	9	10	12	14	12
Fighter	7-9	8	9	10	10	12
Magic-User	11-15	8	9	8	11	8
Cleric	9-12	6	7	9	11	9
Fighter	10-12	6	7	8	8	10
Magic-User	16+	5	6	5	8	3
Cleric	13+	3	5	7	8	7
Fighter	13+	4	5	5	5	8

Jack at The Blue Rabbit

Being a record of some of the exploits of the good father, related during what literary drunkards often refer to as a moment of clarity. 

Well, we headed out onto the moors today. There’s been talk about this beast roaming around out there. Some say it’s a devil cat. At any rate, there’s a reward, so it seemed like a good way to spend the morning. 

On the way we passed by some peasants, and I gave them the good word, letting them know they would most likely end up burning in purgatory. They were very appreciative, and let us know about a sorcerer who had been seen round the countryside, causing anxiety through his Spanish countenance and scaring the sheep. Now, I believe this turned out to be an unlucky choice of words on their part, calling him a sorcerer, as you will see, but I don’t blame them, as they’re all just a lot of ignorant Cornish.

They had told us this Spaniard had been spied about hangman’s hill, so that’s where we made for. Sure enough, three crows started following us almost straight away, and not a one of us failed to see this as an ill omen. One got away, and we probably should have sworn it all off as a bad job and went back to the abbey there and then, but on we pressed. I walked up to the gallows and someone noticed one of the stretched fellows there had recently gone missing a hand. After a stroke of luck, I saw wizard tracks heading off into the moor.

Following the tracks, we arrived at a hut made of bones. The others decided to walk on in, and realizing their godless ignorant ways, I knew it would be pointless to cry out against it. Inside, we found that body’s cut hand covered in wax and burning from the fingertips, all written round with sorcerous designs and eldritch patterns. There was also a pot on the boil, but none of us tasted it.

I left a note, letting him know he should lay off bothering the sheep. We continued to track him, and before long we saw him walking the moor. Finn headed out to get round behind him, and the rest of us approached. He held out his hands to let us know he had no weapons, and I started talking to him in Latin. His Latin wasn’t the best, but after all he was only a Spaniard. Before we’d gotten past the niceties, the ghostly skinned skeleton woman approached a bit closer to the Spaniard so she could be ready for anything. Now, I don’t blame her for this. Mostly because of how she filled out her robes. It’s not all bones under there, let me tell you. Well, he got a bit nervous and was showing us his hands again. Then Finn hit him on the head from behind. I’m guessing that’s where it all started to go pear shaped. I put the light of our Lord in his eyes, and he held up his hands and buggered off. Just like that, quick as a wink. He’s there and then he’s not. 

Without much else to do, and a bit worried he might be upset now that one of us had stuck him with an axe, we went off following more tracks. These led us to a pond. After a bit of prodding, the ghostie woman managed to pull out a few human skulls and other bones, which was a bit unlucky as my hired man, Girly, had just had a drink from it. 

Oh yes. Sometime before that, we’d found a net made of fog laid out on the ground, with a big joint of meat in the middle. My guess was the Spaniard was trying to trap the devil cat. Scary, the ghostie lady, ate the whole bloody thing. I couldn’t believe it. Then, somebody wrapped the misty net on a stick and brought it along. 

So, at any rate, here comes the Spaniard again whiles were at the pond pulling out bones. He’s got out some kind of crystal ball, and he looks none too happy. Flip goes the net, and Bob’s your uncle, the Spaniard’s bagged. Then ghostie hit him with her axe again. We carry him back to the abbey, and go to see the abbot. Completely ignoring all the trouble we’d taken, and the risk to our own bodily health as well, not to mention the bloody sheep, the abbot was bound and determined to fix his eye on how the Spaniard might have been trying to capture the devil cat, and how we’d then been a bit rough with him. Well there’s thanks for you. 

Later on, we went back out to the Spaniard’s bone hut and knocked the hand out of the magic circles, purely by accident, let me assure you. There started rising a bilious smoke out of the earth, so we scarpered off back to the abbey. I’m pretty sure the diabolical laughter I heard coming from the direction of the hut was something unrelated. 

Now here I am taking my ease at the Blue Rabbit. There are some unfortunate ladies here in desperate need of my charity, so I’ve agreed to give them a few coins for their hard works. I may also have a bit of drink.

Nicodemus Dirt

It was Monday, 16 January, and four from the fields we know found themselves in view of the ruined castle. The caravan had stopped again, and wouldn't move til dawn. Blixa, Darf, Dodekatheon Spider Priest, and The Intrepid Randy all stood ready. They hired one of the caravan outriders, Gunter, to come along as a man at arms.


They chose to enter the Great Hall again, inside the inner bailey. Perplexed by the absence of the remembered windows on the side of the edifice, Blixa made his way up the rope to the ruined 2nd floor. From there, they found the stairway down into the centre of the building. Emerging into a leaf-strewn corridor, they decided to examine a new area, the room opposite the stairs.

Gingerly opening one of the several doors into the room, they saw a massive, once-grand throne room. Either side, under twin stone balconies, they saw huge stone statues, 12 feet high. The reluctant but well-payed Gunter steeled himself and walked toward the distant thrones, at his employers' request. Half the distance had been trod, when the statues began to shed their stony countenance. Now giants of flesh with sparkling blades, they converged on the hapless travelers.


Thinking quickly, Randy brought forth the preserved head of Vanessa the Medusa. Despite their obvious resistance to being turned again to rock, five of the giants were frozen in stone. The remaining trio hammered into the travelers. After a hard pitched battle, and the heroics of Abe the talking hound, the giants had fallen. But so had the Spider Priest's trusty manservant, Ike. Not wanting his sacrifice to be in vain, they piled his split remains on the thrones to test them for oddities.


And oddities they found. Opening behind the thrones, a steep stair gaped downward into darkness. The travelers were not staid by this, but plunged into the black abyss. Following a long and winding stair and passages, they managed to uncover a guardpost manned by fearsome bugbears. Randy stoned half their complement, cowing the rest.

My GM Questionnaire

I am filling out my GM questionnaire. I did not use number 2 pencil.

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?
This is kind of a tough one, right off the bat, because I'm thinking back through all my games since 1988. The ones earlier.. didn't invent much. I suppose it would be the giant mega-roomscalator from hell. Sort of like an escalator, but made of small rooms that tilt and climb. You end up going through a door each time a room stops tilting, to go into the next room. Each time you open a door, a new monster is waiting there for you. That's where Hannibal contracted tiger-lycanthropy.

2. When was the last time you GMed?
Monday night, 16 January, 2012. My players were Zak Smith, Jason Kielbasa, Roger Burgess and Cameron McGowan.

3. When was the last time you played?
Last night, 17 January, 2012. I played in Chris Kutalik's Hill Cantons.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.
Planescape's Sigil is Oliver Twist's London, with Oliver Reed from 1968, and the players have to find and recover an artifact in the city before the band of thieves do it.

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?
They wait for me more than I wait for them. This is known as a Bad Thing. When I do wait for them, I cook up funky turns for them.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?
I always used to eat Igor's Piroshkis with extra cheese on top. They stopped making them, and all you can get now are those damn little hot pocket abominations. Thus, I no longer eat while gamemastering.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?
Unfortunately, I find everything physically exhausting, since I have fibromyalgia. GMing actually helps me forget the pain for a while, which is pretty damn sweet.

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
Father Jack, upon realising the party was being charged by two Nehwonian Ghuls inside a golden Melnibonean war barge, grabbed two big fluffy satin pillows and threw them at the ghuls' feet in an attempt to trip them. Party fumbles ensued.

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?
So far, players have injected precisely the right balance of jocularity. One slip and it's off with your heads.

10. What do you do with goblins?
Personally, I roast them slowly while basting with a mix of hearty yet piquant spices. In my games, it is more varied. So far in my OD&D Greyhawk game they all wear red caps, dyed in human blood. Some of them look like Pathfinder goblins, and some others they've met look like Labyrinth goblins. Minus David Bowie and The Codpiece of Doom. They are cheery and dumb, and have proven rather amusing to talk with. They tend to have Stoogesque arguments among themselves. In my Castle Nicodemus game so far, they look like the goblins from the Rankin/Bass Hobbit. Only a statue of one, or perhaps a victim of petrifaction, has been found as yet.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?
I can't say the last thing, because that would be telling. Previous things = 60s TV show The Prisoner, The King of Elfland's Daughter by Dunsany, Cher.

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?
A new player (character named Jack) joined the party by seeing members of the group appear out of nothing as they exited a Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion. He maintained they were demons. One of the party (character named Tom) embarked on a 20 minute debate, roleplaying in character, trying to convince Jack that, in fact, he, Jack himself was the demon. By the time Tom was done, Jack pretty much believed he was actually a demon, and had sworn an oath to Tom on a dagger made out of spinal column.

13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?
Planescape - The Planewalker's Handbook. I was reading it just because it's interesting.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?
I can't decide between Simon Bisley and Rodney Matthews.

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?
It has before, back in my face-to-face days. It was very rewarding.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)
I ran Dyson's Goblin Gulch in my Labyrinth Lord Eberron game. Excellent.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?
Big round table, easy to control lighting for spookability, computer handy for music, sounds, visual aids, and references like Wikipedia.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?
1st Ed. AD&D and The Window.

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
Coop's Devil Girls and The Wind in The Willows.

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?
Someone intelligent with a good sense of humor.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?
Exploring in the woods.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?
Not really. Many I want are out of print, however.

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?
My wife. She's interested in what I have to say, and sometimes gives me ideas, but remains adamant that it's "not her thing."


Thanks Zak, for getting me motivated to at least write something this morning.

Planet Caravan

This week Migellito's caravan was transporting Blixa & Abe the Talking Dog, Leo the enormous holy knight with the strength of ten men, Darf the Dwarf, Taurus Clown-at-Arms, Farley the Dwarf, and Stanley Serpenthelm. As so often happens on this trip, their path through the Black Forest found them in the eaves of a far different wood. Answering the temptation of the nearby ruins of Castle Nicodemus, they set out on their own and decided to explore the old main hall.

The Gypsy Woman

They literally danced past the guardian door, and then finally got a chance to employ the Standard Anti-Voltron Maneuver. Taxidermy heads proved small obstacle to their determination, and they were rewarded with an 800 pound marble. Which no-one in the caravan wanted to buy. Hopefully, they have more luck selling it back in The Fields We Know.

Fortunately, however, the large deck of thick bone plaques was quite hurriedly and eagerly snapped up by the gypsy woman who tends to travel with the caravan. She is very grateful for adventurers.