[Review] The Beholder #1 (OD&D); Homebrew

No Artpunk 2 has addicted me to wholesome, earnest material put out by enthusiastic amateurs. With the good issues of The Dungeoneer long behind me, the reviews of White Dwarf on hold on account of a multi-parter coming up and the prospect of wading through more Dungeon Magazine almost too horrible to contemplate, I think the time has come to do a nice run on the british The Beholder, published in the late 70s. Described as overal ‘average’ in a review in Dragon #50, I think we might find ourselves lucky and come across some nice tidbits. The editors have what might possibly be the best names ever: Guy J. Duke and Michael Stoner.

Beholder Magazine #1 follows a pretty standard format for fanzines. A new class (usually ugh), articles on dealing with common gaming problems (decent but outdated), new monsters (varying), new magic items and the crown-jewel whoop dee fucking doo, an honest to Gygax adventure!

Overal it is interesting to observe how comparatively little attention is paid to flavor or any of the underlying fantastical concepts and how much the content is treated as building blocks for the GAME and weighed in terms of balance. The Trickster class is a prime example, serving as a hybrid between thief class and vaguely illusionist spellcaster. The author explains the reason for its conception was the relative weakness of OD&D thieves at higher levels, not any sort of fictional inspiration. The end result is more solid then most, with a heavy reliance on languages and having an open-ended Trick ability that nevertheless has enough example effects to make it fully useful at the table, adding a percentage score of success that grows with level and is modified by the opposing creature’s HD. I am a bit suspicious of also allowing the Trick ability to serve as an ersartz Reaction roll, but confusing enemies or distracting them so they are more suspectible to pick pocketing rolls is an interesting concept. The handfull of Enchantments and Illusion spells (1/day) that the class picks up with each level are within acceptable parameters, though the ability to freely choose a 5th, 6th or at 20th level even 8th level magic spell to cast 1/day puts the class too close to the wizard imho. I generally dislike new core classes but its okay for what it is.

The article Spells: Use & Misuse was actually fairly illuminating, illustrating obscure uses for a reversed Enlarge spell in the newly published PhB that I found pretty interesting (say, casting it on a door), dubious (surely a ‘Hole’ does not qualify as an object) and player trickery like casting Enlarge on Gold and then selling it, although the fallout from such practices is going to be comparable to any other type of repeat Scam. It is refreshing to have little articles like this consider the ramifications on gameplay of something like Explosive Runes or Glyph of Warding, even if some of the proposed balancing issues are a bit heavyhanded (reducing their duration to 1 day makes these spells almost worthless).

View Point. An article that could only have existed during the golden ages of Adversarial GMing and is admittedly a bit rambly, covering various topics. The suggestion that the players be allowed to prepare their spells in secret so the GM responds to them organically is a bit much for my tastes, as is the suggestion to roll treasure that the monster would not understand only upon them using it. The advocacy for a constant influx of new magic items, treasure and monsters to keep the game from getting stale does ring true, even if it should certainly be taken as advice in relation to the structure of the original game.

Monster Summoning. A collection of mostly forgettable monsters, suitable for low level play. Of interest is the complete absence of any sort of mythological background or attempt at genre emulation or gygaxian naturalism. Monsters seem designed in light of having unusual abilities to provide new challenges to players. Overall quality is a bit weak, something you’d find on the excised pile of the Fiend Folio list. Standout monsters are the somewhat stupidly named but eerie Snarmer, a snake-armed cowled humanoid with the ability to cast Sticks to Snakes and the bizarre Malnutrite, a creature that begs for rations from the party and will inflict a curse on the party that kills it.

Thoughts on Treasure. Another decent if unremarkable article, actually concerned with versimilitude. How does a giant boa have 1000 gp. Pointers vary from sensible (don’t allow monsters to use treasure they would not be able to understand, but allow them to use items if they can) to dubious (the proposed explanation of rationalizing treasure for stupid monsters as something placed in their guard by intelligent creatures is sensible but to make this a common practice among civilized men seems a bit too much).

[Adventure]
The Pyrus Complex
Guy Duke & Michael Stoner
OD&D
Lvl 2-4

Now we are fucking talking. A tournament module from a time when the concept was just taking off. A list of pregens with silly names, point scoring for milestones in the scenario, a short backstory and we are fucking off. LET’S GOOO.

The Backstory is humble, two paragraphs only. Pyrus the adventurer decides to expand the limestone caverns in some remote location with his brother, who is killed by some Horror of the Deeps. After slaying the creature, Pyrus expands the complex to incorporate the tomb of his fallen kinsman. The place is forgotten, rediscovered, and the first few fortune seekers are driven off by a band of murderous hobgoblins. Enter the PCs.

It has the OD&D style, the concepts of Gygaxian naturalism or stifling convention have not quite appeared, so you get something that is very geared towards interesting gameplay, the unexpected and wonder and not terrible concerned with making sense. The result is something that is eminently playable but might feel a bit thrown together.

Text is not always clear but it can be figured out and any errors are minor. Good use of natural obstacles. In the beginning, immediately, a rockfall, then later on an acidic lake, waters with swarms of carnivorous mini-sharks, muddy fast-flowing rivers with patches of quick-sand, thorn-hedges. It is not quite Jaqueyed but there is verticality and there are multiple paths to explore. Random encounters are absent expect for the labyrinth. Minor details like having the mites fight in a room with a low ceiling is cute.

Encounters are rock solid across the board. The good type of difficulty. Hobgoblins in towers, Mites with a rudimentary order of battle in the side-complex, pools filled with aquatic monsters and piercers on the ceiling in the acidic lake. Put a bunch of barges in another lake, then put a coffin with a wight in there. Sometimes it almost goes too far. A mirror that compels you to jump into the water, no saving throw? AND the barge sinks after 1 round. Ouch! Occasional curve balls are welcome. A humanoid whose touch causes partial petrification. Solving the tomb unleashes a brownish XP-draining vapor monster (or score-draining if you play competition). A faerie attempts to charm listeners with a magic flute and coerces them into stumbling into the brambles. Very good.

This is interspersed with the odd puzzle, keyhunt, trick, trap or riddle. Count the steps is written on a golden key on the barge, and then you encounter a combination lock later on a strange red sphere, beyond a bunch of slippery stairs. What about an altar that can be set with two items found in differing locations, opening a pathway into the labyrinth? A magnetic room, with a pile of sacking that turns out to be some sort of hideous creature that begins feeding on anyone thus imprisoned. Or a symbol of death, but then they foreshadow it with a riddle so you sort of figure out how to bypass it. Its, honestly pretty good. It’s OD&D alright. Does it make sense? No. Or perhaps you can cloak the whole in a sort of ambiguity and mystery.

Above: Peak fucking OD&D.

Treasure shows admirable restraint and might even be a too light, depending on how many characters you take. A chivalric 14.000 GP in gemstones, coins, jewelry, bits of mithril, not as meticulously hidden as in the High Gygaxian era but most of it by no means easy to obtain. Top this off with a smattering of magic items, many of them permanent. An intelligent sword, a bag of holding, a scroll with spells.

This reminds me of a middling No Artpunk Entry or the good entries in The Dungeoneer. Good fundamentals, humble premise, a focus on interesting encounters over coherence, but for all that, this would probably play and run pretty well, and could probably go toe to toe with half of the Dungeon Magazine entries. Interesting to see entries from the time before the Twin Horrors of Realism and Story were called up from the earth and given dominion over official DnD.

***

Magic Jar. New magic items. Quality varies from middling to very good. Once again there is a focus on the EFFECT ON THE GAME. Gauntlets of Alignment allowing you to wield items without penalty according to the alignment of the gloves. Strips of mithril or adamantite that give a damage bonus to monks. A magical tinderbox that summons what are essentially gigantic magical blink dogs. Lenses of viewing invisible creatures that make the wielder blind to normal creatures. Cursed variants of many of the items too, obviously the importance of occasional cursed items as a constant risk factor to encourage people to consult a sage was still paramount.

Not a bad fucking showing for an average magazine. To be continued!