The Delver's Dungeon FAQ
This is The Delver's Dungeon, a First Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons "fan" page. I review products, create monsters, interview interesting people who are connected or have a history with First Edition, and create adventures. Right now, the 'site is in a state of transition. With the birth of our daughter, we're a little busy here, but hopefully I can ramp things up to a nice once-a-week-update format.
Why does the text look so "funny"?
The default font set here at The Delver's Dungeon (that's our typeface, not the embedded fonts-as-images such as in Monstrous Creations) is Century Gothic (bold). This typeface is incidentally the same one used in early first edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons modules, and if you'd like to see the Delver's Dungeon as it's produced, you can download that font here.
Ah, there's a story in that. Once upon a time, there was "Basic" Dungeons and Dragons, and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (and that's a whole different FAQ) and It Was Good. A revision of First Edition was released called, obviously, Second Edition. Second Edition (hereafter referred to as "2e") was released in an attempt to clarify, clean up, fix, add on to, and generally "make better" 1st Edition.
Except, it didn't. Many things in 2e left this Delver with a bad taste in his mouth. The "politically correct" renaming of Demons and Devils ("Baazetu" and "Tan'ri"), the abandonment of the Greyhawk campaign world, and the pogrom against any Gygaxian influence in the game (due to some very bad feelings in TSR at the time). Also, the constant flood of products that were obviously produced in a quantity-over-quality environment left me with little interest in AD&D. Finally, instead of clarifying many if any rules, the rules became more convoluted and haphazard: You've got a copy of the Complete Wizard's Handbook, but your Dungeon Master doesn't - who "wins" any debate about spells or spell casting?
Why then, First Edition and not Third Edition?
My interest in AD&D was rekindled with the discovery of a hardback copy of the Player's Handbook and my very first copy of B2: Keep On The Borderlands. As I leafed through them, I realized that for all the years I'd kept them and occasionally played AD&D, I'd never played with a great deal of regularity, nor had I gotten the chance to play any of the truly great modules. This was in 1998, prior to the release of Third Edition (3e) Dungeons and Dragons (the "advanced" was dropped with the discontinuation of Basic or "regular" D&D). It was then that I began to plot and scheme to start playing again. So, after much searching around on the web and auction purchases, used-bookstore crawling and generally being driven by the "collect all the good old stuff" Geas, I got together enough "stuff" in the form of modules and rulebooks to fire up a campaign!
In the interim, Third Edition was released to much fanfare, and brought many who like me had "quit" Advanced Dungeons and Dragons after the demise of First Edition. My campaign was, quite literally, in the middle of a module and I wasn't about to shift gears and introduce a whole new rule set mid-stride.
I'm a lot put off by the "d20" bug that seems to be infesting the gaming world right now. I don't think d20 is a be-all-end-all of gaming of any kind, and that includes Dungeons and Dragons of any stripe. The trend in D&D seems to be level "dinging" and Monty-Haulism; further, the 3e rules are apparently too tight to survive anything as simple as Drow weapons disintegrating in sunlight - the self-styled "savior" of D&D, Sean K. Reynolds, said as much. I don't care that 1e AD&D may not be "fair" all of the time. It never pretended to be nor is it supposed to be.
Dungeons & Dragons was never intended to be like a modular piece of machinery or an Operating System that had to function to within a precise tolerance, and/or be stripped down to core elements and redesigned every so often. Were that the case, I probably never would have bothered with it. Unlike the "d20 Fantasy Setting" that D&D has been reduced to, original D&D products including Advanced D&D were intended to do one thing: play (A)D&D with. And they did it exceptionally well. I'm sorry that some people can't get their heads around Weapon Speeds, Weapons versus Armor Classes, or cope with the idea of dedicating your character's career to one path when faced with no other option.
"d20 Fantasy" is pure powergaming; in the past I've said I really admired it. I've gotten a closer look, I've seen the Diablo-II-esque mindset of PHAT LEWT that permeates the system, and I'm disgusted by it. d20 Fantasy gamers can keep "3e". If you can't grasp how Infravision works, or don't want to learn the combat progression of 1e, you're better off with the new bright and shiny D&D at any rate.
Finally, the idea that 1e products are unavailable and therefore the game is "dead" is ludicrous. If you're reading this, odds are it's on your own computer. Therefore, you can hie thee to www.svgames.com and download every 1e product - for 1/10th the cost of the originals, or used copies - and presto. A Dungeon Master's Guide, a Player's Handbook and a Monster Manual and you're all set. Perhaps a few dollars on some of the better modules such as T1: Village of Hommlet or B2: Keep on the Borderlands and you'll be ready to game in no time! Spend a few extra bucks on printing out and binding the books at an open print-shop like Kinko's and you're all set.
This FAQ revision has strayed dangerously close to an Editorial, so to get back to answering the question: I don't play "3e" because I find it does not satisfy my jones for fantasy gaming, for all of the reasons I've stated in the FAQ and elsewhere.
(I feel it necessary to mention that my first campaign, while uncompleted, was a great success, and I heartily thank my wife, Scott, Krystal, Sean, Jose and Leith for participating and having fun with me. You all are the greatest bunch to game with!)
Nope! Everything is one-hundred percent free! Download, print, copy, whatever! I do ask that you give proper attribution to myself or other contributors to the 'site.
The site can't, by it's subject and nature, be for-profit. Everything here that refers to an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game mechanic is by default used without Wizards of the Coast's permission. I just hope they don't mind me running the 'site. If they do, and they ask me to take it down, then down it goes. Sorry, but that's the nature of Intellectual Property on the Web, folks.
YES! Anything you want to contribute, such as stories, articles, reviews, artwork, monster creations, adventures, etc. will be greatly appreciated! As I mentioned earlier, it's a little hard to run the site with what I consider "active" (that is, updated at least weekly) content. Note that all monsters are properly attributed to their creators now.
"What do you want?" "Where do you come from?" "Why are you here?"
Sorry, a little joke for the Babylon-5 fans out there. I'm Bill Silvey, of Longwood, Florida. Longwood has two important distinction in fantasy/adventure gaming: Firstly, it is where Enterprise 1701, a great gaming store, was originally located. Anyone living in the Central Florida area with even a mild interest in comic books, science-fiction, fantasy or gaming of any kind knows about Enterprise 1701. Also, it's the former location of Scott Adams' Adventure International, a company that wrote text adventure games like Adventureland and The Count (the latter being a Ravenloft-like game).
I've been interested in games and gaming since I was the tender age of 12, but my interest in fantasy and science fiction goes "all the way back" to when I was about three. I think the real "moment of Zen" came when I first read The Hobbit at age six (followed shortly thereafter by The Lord Of The Rings). The other big influence in my love of fantasy and SF literature was given to me by my dad, who'd always bring home pulp science-fiction novels by Heinlein, Bradbury, Edgar Rice Burroughs and other greats. Thanks dad!
In real life, when I'm not creating critters to populate the dungeon with or infrequently updating my page, I'm trying to find work in the computer field. So if you're in the Central Florida area (Gainesville to Kissimmee, Tampa to Daytona) and you're looking for an experienced, responsible, honest and skilled computer technician, please have a look at my resume here.
That is, me. Feel free to drop me an email. Unless otherwise arranged, please don't look up my phone number and call me or drop by. Yes, I know you all want to, but all in due time. You may however feel free to pester me via Instant Messenger. I'm TheDungeonDelver (easy enough to figure out, eh?)