Save Against Death When I think of Dungeons and Dragons, I think of 1980 and my brother’s half-orc barbarian wading his way through the sinking palafitte of an undead magician as the rest of the party covered their retreat by cleverly using the portcullis traps against the skeletal guards in pursuit. I think of the thin blue book I got for Christmas, after hanging around with sixth-formers (who seemed like adults to me) and learning to play the game each lunchtime. I remember shyly asking one of the coolest amongst them about a trap I had designed on a bit of paper and glowing for days in his ..read more

Chainmail Supplements Sea Battles, Extra Fantasy Rules & the Pied Piper of Hamlin. These further options on Sea Battles and extra Fantasy rules were written by W. A. Rogers for Lowry’s Guidon #6, 1973 and include an interesting rule for Morgul blades and adds spell limitations. I haven’t been able to find out any details about W. A. Rogers at all so far. Images: Chainmail Additions by W. A. Rogers in Lowry’s Guidon #6, 1973 [Author collection]. There was also a later “fantasy variant” battle scenario for Chainmail by Kenneth W. Burke, published in Panzerfaust magazine, issue 64, 197 ..read more

My second girlfriend was a Satanist. She was also a store assistant who looked after her critically ill parents at home, and had a cat. She had no interest in D&D, but a lot of my local clergy did. Here is an article from our local city newspaper, the Derby Evening Telegraph. I cut this out of the paper in about 1985, I would imagine – I would have been 20 at the time, and had been playing D&D and reading tarot cards for about seven years. I had been initiated into a Witchcraft coven some two years prior to this article. “Ban Evil Game” article from the Derby Evening Telegraph, c. 198 ..read more

My Personal History with RPGs I was born in 1965 and began playing RPG’s when I was 12-13, starting with basic D&D (blue book), followed almost immediately by AD&D which my parents bought me for Christmas; starting with the Monster Manual, then the Dungeon Masters Guide and finally I think I bought the Players Handbook with my pocket money. I had been introduced to D&D by the Sixth-formers at my High School, they were a lot older than I (it seemed a lot when I was that age) but they included me in their games as a precocious and passionate adherent of the game. As soon as I could ..read more

I decided to call this blog the Song of the Susurrus in tribute to game designer Albie Fiore (1946 – 2009). I first noticed his work in White Dwarf magazine Issue 9 (Oct/Nov 1978) when I was 13 and just starting with D&D. In that issue is an adventure for first-level characters called The Lichway, and to me it is just the most perfect adventure module ever designed; it is beautifully presented in just three-and-a-half pages, has a fantastic reason for being – and a potential twist that can turn the whole adventure upside-down for the players. It also has another adventuring party – played ..read more