Necessity Is

After the back to back Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games that I ran last weekend, it occurred to me that I was going to have to buckle down and do some research to evolve my knowledge base so that in-game resources and rulings would not seem so haphazard or vague. I started off by searching high and low for a competent dungeon master screen to use for reference during game play. The more I looked, the more certain I became that none had ever been created that would satisfy all of my impromptu needs. In light of this conclusion I began creating my own DM screen with a program called Inkscape which I have some experience using.



 At the time of this writing, the screen is about 50% complete. The final product will pull tables and other info from the original Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide. However, one ongoing problem that I have run into is that these first edition books written by the late, great E. Gary Gygax are, at times, difficult to navigate. Gygax had a meandering style that causes the information to come in spurts that are not always clearly organized. Because of this I've had to seek outside sources for clarification.

The most valuable of these sources has come in the form of an outline compiled by David M. Prata where he gives step by step instructions of how combat encounters work. The information comes from many publications across a 40+ year timeline as noted from the resources given throughout the document.

Another interesting read was from oldschoolroleplaying.com where Malcon The Firebringer explains that Gygax, the co-creator of the world's greatest game, was absolutely against critical hits. Therefore, I suppose the following critical hits & fumbles tables included on DM_Screen_by_Peyre will have to be omitted so I may accomplish my goal of staying true to the original spirit of the Gygax's game in these early endeavors of mine. (They're pretty cool though and I'd love to know if they were pulled from some other later TSR publication.)

One more problem I seem to have solved is an issue with caravan generation. My previous post talked about how I was slightly embarrassed to describe to my players a caravan carrying sponges and steel wool. WOOF! Here is a table by Orkish Blade that helps to fill out the finite details of what the player characters will encounter on the road between the village of Savoy and the infamous Castle Xyntillan in my game worlds should they come across another Caravan.

Oh, I nearly forgot about this last gem I stumbled upon. In the years before his death, Gary Gygax was online and diligently answering complex questions about the intricacies of the 1st edition rules in the thriving forums of Dragonsfoot.org. Leon Baradat compiles all of the most important questions and answers into one 211 page document sorted by topic here. This will be an interesting read when time allows.
 

Soon I should be finished with my DM screen that I'm compiling information for. Perhaps I can share and write about it more descriptively at that time. 

Until then - have fun!

-Brian