I have been playing Fantasy Roleplaying Games for over 30 years now, and though much of that time has been spent playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, a lot of it has also been spent playing other systems such as Rune Quest, Gurps, Gamma World, Traveler, and perhaps a dozen more to a much lesser extent. But I have always returned to AD&D as my primary RPG choice due to its genre, its ease of play, and its wide spread popularity. Thus, much of what I have to say concerning roleplaying has a decidedly AD&D flavor to it, though there is also considerable treatment given to roleplaying as a whole.

In my articles, my primary examples usually draw heavily upon AD&D, though frequently what I have to say does not exactly conform to standard Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. But then why should it? I've always felt the better Dungeon Masters should have their own style, and though modesty prevents me from claiming too much credit along those lines, without some measure of originality there would be little reason for you to read any of these articles.

I do use the rules as the guidelines they were meant to be - though not as dogmatically as some people might - so there will be the occasional and perhaps surprising excursion from the norm while I modify or comment on standard rules.

Well, you know what they say? If it's not Baroque, don't fix it ;-)

Yet everyone likely brings a unique interpretation to the game, and I feel this is what makes every DM or GM worth at least a quick look. You never know what you'll find. Besides, no matter what roleplaying system is used, much of what can be said about roleplaying in any one system probably translates well and could easily be applicable in most other roleplaying systems. In principle, the actual game systems or game mechanics are of secondary concern as they merely support our roleplaying. It is the fun found in roleplaying itself that is our primary endeavor, and this is what sets this hobby of roleplaying games apart from all others. That's the theory, anyway.

If you think you'd like to read some of this material to find ideas for your own game, feel free to do so for your personal gaming needs. Alas, much of it is copyrighted by myself and may not be published by you or others without express permission. Still, that shouldn't prevent you from freely using it in your own games or linking to it from your Webpages. If you do link to it, however, I would appreciate some email notification as to your link's existence, and its exact URL so I may visit your site. Thank you.

Copyright Information (I Highly Recommend You Do NOT Read This Copyright Information Since You Hopefully Have Better Things To Do ;-)

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I have posted a large number of articles or essays that deal either specifically with my game world of Orlantia or with roleplaying games in general. Future articles are still occasionally being written, but very infrequently at this point. It is my wish that many people may find these articles and read them, perhaps even using the ideas found therein to supplement their own games. But even if all this page does is provoke a few new thoughts concerning fantasy gaming, I will feel it has served its purpose.

I have attempted to organize my articles into various general groups. There is also the Search Engine section, and a link to a page with Links, Web Rings, and Banners.

There may, of course, be some crossover, and this might result in duplicate links to the same article. If you feel I have misclassified something or feel it is best placed in another group, please let me know.

And if you like my page and feel it has something to offer, feel free to put a link on your Webpages linking it to mine - though please inform me of this link so I may at least see it. I will be happy to make a link to your AD&D page or other game page upon email request - whether you link to my page or not, so reciprocity is not required. Follow the link below to the link page to find out about the required details.

My Page Of Links (See Other Webpages, AD&D, Gaming, Or Otherwise.)

If you'd like to email me any comments you may have on this material, feel free to do so.

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If you enjoy this page, please bookmark it. Or if you have a friend who enjoys gaming and fantasy, perhaps you could direct them to this page. If you do this for me, I Thank You Kindly ;-)

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I hope you enjoy sharing my thoughts about AD&D, Orlantia, or gaming in general. If you do, that's great, and if not, then that's fine too. In any event, thanks for visiting my Webpages. Happy Gaming ;-)

Just Follow The Links That Interest You And Enjoy

The Latest Articles

• Exceptional Strength (What Is It and Why It's Not Simply Just More Ordinary Strength.)
  
  
• Stationary Magic (Stationary Magic Adds Interesting Realism And Flavor To One's Game World.)
  
  
• Attacks Of Opportunity - And Other Problems (A Look At Some Of The Problems I Had With A Few Combat Rules.)
  
  
• Pearls Of Power (Why POPs Are A Potentially Broken Magic Item.)
  
  
• Class-Based To Skill-Based Transition (The Trend Toward A Skill-Based System.)
  
  

Articles On Role Playing In General

• What Is Roleplaying? (Don't Know What Roleplaying Is? Want To Learn What AD&D Is About? Here You Go.)
  
  
• A Beginner's Guide (What Do I Need To Play?)
  
  
• Campaign Types (Read About Over A Dozen Different Campaign Types.)
  
  
• The Roleplaying Spectrum (Will You Like A New Game? Here's A Dozen Questions To Ask Before Joining.)
  
  
• Finding Party Balance (A Few GM Tips On Striking Party Balance.)
  
  
• World Realism (Making A Realistic World.)
  
  
• An IRC Gaming Primer (Learn about Internet Relay Chat Gaming.)
  
  
• Play By E-Mail (PBEM, Why One Should Give This Great Style Of Play A Try.)
  
  
• Play By E-Mail Protocol (A Detailed Look At Some Guidelines For Good PBEM.)
  
  
• The Poverty Campaign (How To Run A Low Level Game, And Why These Low Level Games Are Great Fun.)
  
  
• Adding Depth To Your Character (Some Tips To Help In Your Character's Development.)
  
  
• Roleplayable Skills (See Why Some Skill Rolls Should, And Do Depend On More Than Just The Dice.)
  
  
• In Character And Out Of Character Knowledge (What Do Our PCs Really Know Anyway?)
  
  
• Game Maps. How Much Detail Is Too Much? (A Brief Discussion On What To Include And What Not To, And Why.)
  
  
• Adjectives Vs. Numbers (Why Trying To Replace Game Numbers With Adjectives Doesn't Work So Well.)
  
  
• Roleplaying In A New World (Some Tips On How To Get Along And Do Well Under A New Game Master.)
  
  
• The Art Of Being A Game Master (A Few Tips On How To Be A Game Master.)
  
  
• The Gamer's Footprint (Why Some Rules Designed For Game Balance Leave Something To Be Desired.)
  
  
• The Problems Of Sudden Development (What Is Sudden Development, And Why Is It A Bad Thing?)
  
  
• Fantasy Economics (Read Why Economic Considerations Are Important For Realism.)
  
  
• The Reality Spectrum, Game Realism vs Ease Of Play (What Level Of Realism Is Comfortable For You?)
  
  
• Time (A Few Considerations About Why It Is important To Keep Track Of It.)
  
  
• The Problems Of Mini-Maxing (Why Mini-Maxing Is At Odds With Good Roleplaying.)
  
  
• The Munchkin, The Loony, And The Roleplayer (Three Basic Approaches To A Roleplaying Game.)
  
  
• The Over Estimation Of Our Literary Heroes (Why Are They So Powerful Anyway?)
  
  
• The NPC Adventurer (Some Differences Between PCs And NPCs.)
  
  
• The Proper Preparation Of The Game Master Or Dungeon Master (How To Get Your World Going, And A Good Way To Keep It Running Smoothly.)
  
  
• Some Methods Of Splitting Up Party Treasure (A Few Examples On How One Might Divide The Spoils.)
  
  
• A Very Quick Look At Suffocation In Enclosed Spaces (How Long Can Your Character Survive Without Air?)
  
  

Commentary Or Revisions On The AD&D Rules

• Why Some People Hate AD&D (A 20 Page Heated Exchange Of Me vs Some AD&D Hating Gamer.)
  
  
• A Follow Up Article (A 4 Page Addition To The Article: Why Some People Hate AD&D)
  
  
• Metal, Magic, And More (A Counter Argument To One Man's View AD&D Makes No Sense In Regards To These Issues.)
  
  
• How Magic Works (A Brief Glimpse Into A Few Behind-The-Scene Details About Magic.)
  
  
• Should Christians Play D&D? (A Response To One So-Called Christian's Assertion That They Should Not.)
  
  
• A Collection Of Short Rulings Covering Many Topics (A List Of Rulings I Have Made. Last Updated June 19th, 2001.)
  
  
• Linear Vs. Non Linear Dice Systems (Why The New D20 System May Be Misleading. Adopt The 2D10 System, Instead.)
  
  
• A Look At The Probability Of High Statistic Scores (How Improbable Is That Character With High Statistics?)
  
  
• The Reacquisition Of Magic Spells In Various Editions. (How Long Does It Take And What Are The Limits?)
  
  
• An Excellent Character Sheet (PDF Format Or Stuffit Archive For Original PageMaker Files. Now As Jpeg Images As Well.)
  
  
• An AD&D Character Sheet using HTML Source Code (If You Know HTML, Maybe This Will Help.)
  
  
• The Wonders Of Infravision (How Infravision May Work. A Better Approach.)
  
  
• Stationary Magic (Stationary Magic Adds Interesting Realism And Flavor To One's Game World.)
  
  
• The Fabrication Of Magic Items (Spell Books, Fabrication Of Scrolls And Potions, Enchanted Crystals, And A Closer Look At The Enchant An Item Spell.)
  
  
• Material Components (A Quick Look At The Proper Use Of Material Components For Spell Casters.)
  
  
• Spell Cards (A Great Way To Keep Track Of Your Spells Using Inexpensive Index Cards And Taking Little Work.)
  
  
• Let's Go Shopping (Adoption And Adaptation Of The Standard Lists Of Items From The PHB.)
  
  
• The Justification Of The Hit Point System (Are Hit Points Realistic Or What?)
  
  
• A Brief Look At When To Act Injured In AD&D (Why Are Our Adventurers So Tough They Never Seem Hurt Even When They Are?)
  
  
• A Closer Look At The Hit Point System (What The Numbers Mean.)
  
  
• Healing As A Percentage - A Very Bad Idea (Why This Variation Of Cure Wounds Spells Should Never Be Used.)
  
  
• Level Limits (The Justification Of, And How 2e AD&D's Level Limits Might Work.)
  
  
• A Simplified Combat System (Why Initiative Is Important, But Not Necessary To Roll It Beforehand.)
  
  
• Cantrips And Orisons (See The Minor 0th Level Spells Mages And Priests May Still Employ.)
  
  
• Mana System, A Different Way To Cast Spells (A Good Alternative System To The Standard Memorization Of Spells. Add Diversity To Your Spell Casters.)
  
  
• Runic Magic (A Possible Supplemental Power For All Classes And/Or NPCs.)
  
  
• An Explanation Of The Secondary And Tertiary Table Of Skills (A New Revision Of The Secondary Skills System For AD&D.)
  
  
• The Secondary Skills (The Complete Table Of Skills AND A Complete Alphabetical Listing And Explanation Of The Skills.)
  
  
• Character Generation, Starting Statistics, And The Rules Of Super Humanism (Why Roll Up Characters At All? Plus Rules For Exceptional Characters.)
  
  
• Exceptional Strength (What Is It and Why It's Not Simply Just More Ordinary Strength.)
  
  
• The NWP Skill Of Religion (What Will Your PC Really Know About Religion?)
  
  
• The On Going Development Of Magic (Magic Is Always Getting Better.)
  
  
• Coins, Metals, And A Better Monetary System (A Decimally Based, Realistic System Of Coins, English Or Metric.)
  
  
• The Planes Of Existence, A Better Look (Commentary And Revision On The Manual Of The Planes.)
  
  
• The Eight Kinds Of Magic (Eight Different Approaches To How Magic Works.)
  
  
• The Real Alignment Wars (Conflict Between Players Over The Right Way To Play Alignments.)
  
  
• The Problems Of Playing Evil Characters (Why Playing Evil Characters May Be Unwise In A Fun Game.)
  
  
• My Final Word On Alignments Plus An Alignment TEST (In-Depth Look At What The Book Did Wrong And The Corrections Necessary To Make A Workable Alignment System.)
  
  
• Psionic Primer, Rules For Psionic Characters (Adaptation Of The Psionic Rules For 2nd Edition.)
  
  
• The Proper Division Of Awarded Experience Points (How A Per Level XP Split Might Work.)
  
  
• Exceptional Strength Bows (Why Bows Should Be Handled Differently, And How To Handle The ES Bow.)
  
  
• Critical Hit And Critical Fumble Tables (One Method Of Criticals.)
  
  
• A Look At Intoxication And Drinking In the Game (How Much Can Your Character Drink?)
  
  
• Suffocation, Dehydration, And Starvation (Some Rules Covering The Lack Of Air, Water, Or Food.)
  
  
• A Look At Some Problems And Possibilities Of Treasure (Treasure, Some Considerations.)
  
  
• The Age Of A Wishing Arch Mage, And Other Considerations Concerning Wishes (Some Thoughts On How Wishes Might Work And How Powerful They Really Are.)
  
  
• Find Familiar, A Better And More Playable Version (Finally, A Find Familiar Spell You Can Use.)
  
  

Commentary Or Revisions On The 3e D&D Rules

• 3e D&D House Rules (Read And/Or Submit House Rules For 3rd Edition D&D PHB And DMG.)
  
  
• Attacks Of Opportunity - And Other Problems (A Look At Some Of The Problems I Had With A Few Combat Rules.)
  
  
• Pearls Of Power (Why POPs Are A Potentially Broken Magic Item.)
  
  
• The Healing Arts On Orlantia (An In-Depth Look At The Healing Skill.)
  
  
• Mixing Magic Types - A Bad Idea. (Just Because Some Spells Have Identical Names Doesn't Mean They Are Identical. Here's Why.)
  
  
• Mixing Race And Culture (Details On What Happens When Your PC's Race And Culture Do Not Necessarily Match.)
  
  
• Runic Magic (A Possible Supplemental Power For All Classes And/Or NPCs.)
  
  
• 3e's Class Balance. Problems? (Is Class Balance In 3e Really Important Anymore?)
  
  
• Class-Based To Skill-Based Transition (The Trend Toward A Skill-Based System.)
  
  
• Finding Party Balance (A Few GM Tips On Striking Party Balance.)
  
  
• Increasing Ability Scores (A More Realistic Approach To Gaining Higher Statistics.)
  
  
• The N Level Rule (How To Fix 3e's Biggest Problem. The N Level Rule Helps Prevent Abuse Of 3e's Multiclass System.)
  
  
• The Problem Of Cross Class Skills (A Better Method For Determining Costs Of Class And Cross-Class Skills)
  
  
• The Atrophication Of Skills Through Disuse (Why Skills Should Degrade Over Time Unless Regularly Used.)
  
  
• Zero Level Characters (Why They Are Required To Avoid Problems Of Sudden Development.)
  
  
• Starting Ages (Revised Starting Ages For 3e Characters - An Improvement.)
  
  
• Possible Restrictions For Multiclassing (See Why Some 3e Classes Are Harder To Multiclass Into Than Others.)
  
  
• Roleplayable Skills (See Why Some Skill Rolls Should, And Do Depend On More Than Just The Dice.)
  
  
• The Problems Of Sudden Development (What Is Sudden Development, And Why Is It A Bad Thing?)
  
  
• The Archaic Language (The Archaic Language, Arcane Spells And Spell Books.)
  
  
• How Magic Works (A Brief Glimpse Into A Few Behind-The-Scene Details About Magic.)
  
  
• Stationary Magic (Stationary Magic Adds Interesting Realism And Flavor To One's Game World.)
  
  
• Holy Water (Some New Rules Concerning How Holy Water Is Made, Used, Stored, And Carried.)
  
  
• Training To Go Up Levels In 3e (What Does It Cost In Time And Money, And Why?)
  
  
• Commentary On 3rd Ed. D&D (September 2000. New Insight Into More Rules For 3rd Edition D&D.)
  
  
• Daily Spell Limits (House Rules For 3e Daily Spell Limits.)
  
  
• The Reacquisition Of Magic Spells In Various Editions (How Long Does It Take And What Are The Limits?)
  
  
• Linear Vs. Non Linear Dice Systems (Why The New D20 System May Be Misleading. Adopt The 2D10 System, Instead.)
  
  
• Critical Hits And Fumbles (Optional Extras For 3e Combat.)
  
  
• The Craft Skill Of Gem Cutting (A Quick Write-Up Of The Gem Cutting Skill For 3e Games.)
  
  
• Suffocation, Dehydration, And Starvation (Some Rules Covering The Lack Of Air, Water, Or Food.)
  
  
• The Wonders Of Infravision (How Infravision May Work. A Better Approach.)
  
  
• Should Christians Play D&D? (A Response To One So-Called Christian's Assertion That They Should Not.)
  
  

Welcome To The World Of Orlantia

• The Proper Name Index (An Index Of Many Proper Names On Orlantia.)
  
  
• The Start Of A New World (How Orlantia Began.)
  
  
• The Magical Evolution Of Worlds (Why Some Worlds Are Magical And Others Are Not.)
  
  
• The Rise Of The Alodarian Empire And The First Council Of Generals (How Imperial Alodar Got Its Start.)
  
  
• A Brief Look At Imperial Alodar (Some Insight Into The Workings Of The Empire.)
  
  
• Pre Historical Orlantia (How And Why The Gods Made Orlantia.)
  
  
• Time Lines (A Quick Look Into The Past Of Orlantia.)
  
  
• The Lunar Calendar Of Orlantia (The 400 Day Year, Twenty-20 Day Months.)
  
  
• Time (Why It Is important To Keep Track Of Time, And How They Do It On Orlantia.)
  
  
• The Black Dwarves Of Antiquity (A Modest Look At Those Rascals.)
  
  
• Priestly Write Ups, A Look At Various Deities (See (Or Make) Some Detailed Write Ups Of A Few Gods And The Special Powers Of Their Priests.)
  
  
• The Archaic Language (The Archaic Language, Arcane Spells And Spell Books.)
  
  
• The Cost Of Training (What Does It Cost To Go Up Levels?)
  
  
• Spell Research Cost (How Much To Research That Spell?)
  
  
• The Price Of A Magic Scroll (How Much Do You Want For That Scroll?)
  
  
• Detect Lie And The Imperial Justice System (Radical Differences In Justice Systems That Can Employ Magic.)
  
  
• The Taxation Of All Religions (Why Religions Are Taxed On Orlantia.)
  
  
• Alchemy And Potions (The Art Of Alchemy.)
  
  
• The Apothecaries Of Orlantia (The Apothecary, Why They Are So Important To The Masses.)
  
  
• Imperial Coins, Metals, And A Better Monetary System (A Decimally Based System Of Coins, English Or Metric.)
  
  
• The Legalization Of Prostitution And Drugs (Why Are Prostitution And Drugs Legal In The Alodarian Empire?)
  
  
• The Imperial Continent And The 20 Largest Cities (The 20 Largest Cities On The Planet.)
  
  
• Literacy And The Educational Exchange Program (How Does The Common Man Learn On Orlantia?)
  
  
• Civil Engineering On Orlantia (Some Neat Things You Can Do With Magic And Magical Creatures.)
  
  

Some Of The Maps Of Orlantia

• The World Map (An Overview Of The Continents Of Orlantia, Their Outline And Shape.)
  
  
• The Western Imperial Continent (The Immediate Area Around The Alodarian Empire.)
  
  
• The Eastern Imperial Continent (The Eastern Portion Of The Imperial Continent.)
  
  
• Tor (Eastern Most Third Of Tor) (The Kingdom Of Katana And More.)
  
  
• The Emerald Island (One Of The Islands In The Larns Archipelago.)
  
  

Magic Items, NPCs Or Creatures On Orlantia

• A Look At A Few Creatures On Orlantia (A Small Selection Of Creatures.)
  
  
• A Look At A Magic Item Or Two (Just A Few Magic Items.)
  
  
• A Look At Some Non Player Characters On Orlantia (A Very Small List Of NPCs So Far.)
  
  
• Some Notes For Some Character Class On Orlantia (Insight Into What I Think About Some Character Classes.)
  
  

PBEM Game Related Links

• The Play By E-Mail Game The Current PBEM Game Page (Inactive)
  
  
• Play By E-Mail (PBEM, Why One Should Give This Great Style Of Play A Try.)
  
  
• Play By E-Mail Protocol (A Detailed Look At Some Guidelines For Good PBEM.)
  
  
• Preferred Punctuation Style And Protocols For My PBEM Game (A Few Guidelines.)
  
  
• The World Map (An Overview Of The Continents Of Orlantia, Their Outline And Shape.)
  
  
• The Western Imperial Continent (The Immediate Area Around The Alodarian Empire.)
  
  
• The Eastern Imperial Continent (The Eastern Portion Of The Imperial Continent.)
  
  
• Tor (Eastern Most Third Of Tor) (The Kingdom Of Katana And More.)
  
  

IRC Game Related Links

• My IRC Game (Inactive) (A Link To My IRC Game Page. Though Inactive, One May Still Find Ideas There On IRC Gaming.)
  
  
• The IRC Story So Far - Chapters 01-39
  
  

  Chapter 01	Chapter 02	Chapter 03	Chapter 04	Chapter 05	Chapter 06	Chapter 07	Chapter 08	Chapter 09	Chapter 10
  Chapter 11	Chapter 12	Chapter 13	Chapter 14	Chapter 15	Chapter 16	Chapter 17	Chapter 18	Chapter 19	Chapter 20
  Chapter 21	Chapter 22	Chapter 23	Chapter 24	Chapter 25	Chapter 26	Chapter 27	Chapter 28	Chapter 29	Chapter 30
  Chapter 31	Chapter 32	Chapter 33	Chapter 34	Chapter 35	Chapter 36	Chapter 37	Chapter 38	Chapter 39

  
  
  
• Let's Go Shopping (Revision Of The Item Lists In The PHB.)
  
  
• An Excellent Character Sheet (PDF Format Or Stuffit Archive For Original PageMaker Files. Now As Jpeg Images As Well.)
  
  
• The World Map (An Overview Of The Continents Of Orlantia, Their Outline And Shape.)
  
  
• The Western Imperial Continent (The Immediate Area Around The Alodarian Empire.)
  
  
• The Eastern Imperial Continent (The Eastern Portion Of The Imperial Continent.)
  
  
• 12 House Rules For My IRC Game (An Even Dozen Points Of Consideration For My IRC Game.)
  
  

A Few Final Notes

I designed this page through the eyes of a NetScape 4.7 browser. My animations may seem too fast or choppy when viewed with Internet Explorer or other browsers, so if you wish to know what it was meant to look like, NS should be used instead of IE. Still, the site is primarily meant to impart information and not just be pretty, and the text articles look fine in either case.

Sometimes when not waiting for a page to completely finish down loading, the internal links may not work quite right. If this happens to you, simply FIRST clear your cache, then reload the page and wait for it to Down Load completely; then it should work. If you still can't get it to work, perhaps I actually have a problem I should look into. I would appreciate it if you dropped me some email telling me to fix it.

Furthermore, if you happen to find a sentence or two that is just too ungainly, a typo, or some other flaw (besides my sometimes too frequent use of the comma and sub clause) which you think just isn't right, feel free to let me know what paper and what paragraph. I'd love to fix it too and make my page even better. No error is too small to point out. Thanks.

In fact, many times - perhaps after months have gone by and an article is no longer fresh in my mind - I will reread one of my articles and fix tiny errors - typos, misspellings, honest to gosh mistakes, etc. - as well as add additional links, further comments, or some other minor revisions. So do not be surprised if the mistake you "thought" was there has vanished or you see something there you can't recall seeing before should you revisit an article. You are not losing your mind. Well, probably not ;-)

I do not really control the search engine, the counter, or various buttons. These are called up by some outside code and are therefore operated by other people. If for some reason their service is not working today, they may not download properly. This problem usually will correct itself in a day or two. Fortunately, the rest of the website is above these items and you should be able to gain access to all of it, even if you can't temporarily use the search engine or something like that.

Whoever you are, however you found this site, I thank you kindly for visiting my page. I hope you enjoyed your visit so much you will bookmark my page, tell others about my site, or even write me. I do enjoy hearing from you.

In the meantime, have a great day, and as always, HAPPY GAMING ;-)

Email Jim Your Comments (Send Praise, Critiques, Complaints, Suggestions, Ideas, Corrections, Or Submissions.)

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