You and your adventuring comrades are in front of yet another locked door of the dungeon. Rags, the thief, is kneeling and carefully working his craft. Hastings, the mage, who so far has been clumsier than a drunken dwarf, is holding the lantern so Rags can see better while you and Strock watch. Strock is standing as still as possible, like yourself, so your armor doesn’t squeak. Time slips slowly by. You don’t hear anything from the darkness you left behind. Finally, Rags whispers, “Got it, but I think I heard something in there. Hastings, you’re burning my ear with that lantern. Move it before Kara has to waste a cure spell.”-----
Mazes & Perilsby Vincent Florio and Brian Fitzpatrick is designed to recapture the feel of early Dungeon and Dragons (D&D). I was given a review copy of Mazes & Perils from Gallant Knight Games at Life, The Universe and Everything (LTUE website) 2018 writing conference.
Mazes & Perilsis built from the Open Gaming License and this 70 page rule book pares back to the core of what was started with a paperback book and odd shaped dice. It even makes tribute to the creative talent that helped build role playing games (RPGs) then.
In the mid-80s the book The Maze of Peril by John Eric Holmes was published. It is a short book that is only going to be appreciated by those who have played an RPG, and especially one of the early ones. Since it has been some time since then, I decided to find a work by Holmes to see how it compared to the game paying homage to him. I found and read In the Bag in Dragon #58 (February 1982).
Early adventures for D&D were focused on dungeon crawls and had a lot of open interpretation. It seemed like you didn’t have a good adventure unless you had a dungeon. The rules were not as expansive and options were wide open because it was up to the dungeon master to make many decisions that weren’t already canonized in some level of text.
Mazes & Perilssucceeds at bringing back some of the feel I got when I started playing D&D and was waiting for the books to be published (yes, I’m that old).
The Deluxe Edition has only four races and six classes. Like the early game, not every race can be every class, and races are limited to how high a character can advance. This same brevity and format of the “rules” that ignited us in the earlier editions (basic/expert/advanced) is carried out throughout the rest of the book.
If you remember the earlier games or would like to experience the feel of the earlier games, Mazes & Perils is a game you need to consider. In this one book there is enough to get a party started.
Mazes & Perilsis a Wild Games Production and distributed by Gallant Knight Games (website and Facebook).
-----
The shattered remains of the skeletons now scatter the room. As you bandage Rags damaged arm you wish you had another cure you could use, but the look in his searching eyes tells you he’ll be alright.
Strock is standing guard at the door watching you work and also the dark hallway. “I’m surprised you got that little filcher to hold still that long. You better let him start searching the room.”
Rags quickly climbs to his feet, “Don’t worry, Strock, we made an agreement that everything went into equal shares, and I have no desire trying to sneak past any of you after what we’ve been through together. Hey, Hastings, where’s that book I saw you pick up a moment ago?”
If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment