To the Tune of Bob Seeger's "Old Time Rock and Roll"
OLD SCHOOL D&D
Just take those old modules off the shelf
Set up a table, just some friends and myself
Not talkin’ 4, 3 point 5 or 3,
I’m talkin’ Old School D&D
I’m talkin’ Old School D&D
That kind of gaming sounds good to me
Not talkin’ 4, 3 point 5 or 3,
I’m talkin’ Old School D&D
If it ain’t written by Gygax
Or have a dungeon filled with traps to the max
It’s not a system that I’m wanting to see,
Just give me Old School D&D
I’m talkin’ Old School D&D
That kind of gaming sounds good to me
Not talkin’ 4, 3 point 5 or 3,
I’m talkin’ Old School D&D
If you can’t deal with THAC0
Me and my group will show your butt to the door
This game takes brain-work, it’s easy to see,
This game is Old School D&D
I’m talkin’ Old School D&D
That kind of gaming sounds good to me
Not talkin’ 4, 3 point 5 or 3,
I’m talkin’ Old School D&D
"Give me a dragon and a pit trap,
No drow with morals or ambiguous crap,"
but the workday started and I never got to develop it.
Thank you all! I was trying to add in a verse that started:
"Give me a dragon and a pit trap,
No drow with morals or ambiguous crap,"
but the workday started and I never got to develop it.
Ah, your Avatar being one of the red-eyed Drow places you in the "no morals" category, Shiftykitty?
Very neat song, I'm giving it a spot next to the D&D Classes song, which is sung by my party at every opportunity.
If you finsh that verse, it would make a fine addition.
Actually, I'm a very principled person. I've done some strange things in the name of my morals! But with the exception of the few DMPCs my drow players must deal with, I tend to play my standard drow as psychotic little nutters unless my plot dictates something specific in another direction. Even though Drizzt is from the old school line, he'd be best advised to stay away from my drow cities. Nobody's going to challenge him to a one-on-one fight just to prove something. (*cough* Dantrag Baenre *cough*) It'll be a dogpile to see who comes with the most blood on his knife that's not his own. Bonus points for the cat! (Suicidal? Yes. Lots of fun? Oh yeahhh...!) As I wrote in a haiku called "Freaky Little Drow Haiku":Hey, let's play a game.
How many times can I stick
My knife in your back?
But I think I finished up that verse, thinking that the villians in 2e and 1e seemed a little cooler for their sheer evil-ness. No ultra-detailed backstory to explain why they went evil, or what their cultural values were when they were growing up. They were evil because they were evil! Yee-haw! We didn't need a Book of Vile Darkness to tell us how to make a bad guy a real bad guy. He's a bad guy because he sent his evil hordes to torch the village, and they raped the horses and rode off on the women! (Lousy, stupid orc labor temp agency!) How's this?
"Give me a dragon and a pit trap,
No drow with morals or ambiguous crap.
Just make that bad guy a real SOB,
And you've got Old School D&D"
But I think I finished up that verse, thinking that the villians in 2e and 1e seemed a little cooler for their sheer evil-ness. No ultra-detailed backstory to explain why they went evil, or what their cultural values were when they were growing up. They were evil because they were evil! Yee-haw! We didn't need a Book of Vile Darkness to tell us how to make a bad guy a real bad guy. He's a bad guy because he sent his evil hordes to torch the village, and they raped the horses and rode off on the women! (Lousy, stupid orc labor temp agency!) How's this?
"Give me a dragon and a pit trap,
No drow with morals or ambiguous crap.
Just make that bad guy a real SOB,
And you've got Old School D&D"
Admittedly we had the DMGR Complete Book of Villains, but it always seemed odd to me that some people needed a book to help them make up a bad guy. Although, there was a great Dragon magazine article which had a list of responses to the PCs meddling in the affairs of the villian. My personal favourite was that the villain, so absorbed in the greater plan, had actually failed to take note of the PCs heroic deeds. Nothing takes the wind out of their sails quicker than screaming a challenge at the major villain and having him reply "Er, I'm sorry, am I meant to know who you are?"
The looks on their faces was priceless.
As for the verse of the song, pure brilliance.
I used to mess with part of the words to "Losing My Religion", where I'd sing:
That's me in the dungeon,
That's me in the pit-trap
Losing all my hit points
Oh no I've bled too much
(DM's Part) You haven't bled enough...
A knife in the back and you're to blame,
You give D&D a bad name.
Thanks. Now I wish I was more familiar with Luskan, because I love "Werewolves of London"!
I really like the song also, well I guess its time to do some Luskan research!:D
As for me, i never played dnd per se when i was young, (i loathed fantasy at that age, only sci-fi and war games for me), I do recall my grandmother being into the whole dnd is devil worhsip garbage. of course, I blame her massive stupidity and other character flaws that just so happened to use christianity as a convenient front. She's been a total whackjob since i can remember.
My dad played first edition before I was born with his buddies and then in the army.
My mother hated dnd simply bc dad played it with his friends instead while she was a jealous control freak. She still hates it to this day and rolls her eyes everytime my 'baby' brother is over and i try to get him to play.
I toyed around with a few of the old PC games but never really liked them. Finally as 3.5 came out, i gave in and bought the core books and the ECS. The ECS sunk it's hooks into me and hasn't let go since. Eberron FTW.
My woman thought dnd was stupid and said she used to tease a kid in middle school over it. She likes the artwork of the books and reading them and occaisonally i run games for her when we get time. She buys all my books for me now, I just give her an updated checklist of my wants/needs. She also loves Eberron and we played NWN2 together until the magic smoke escaped my motherboard. She likes to play rogues and monks.
My 3 year old loves to go through my books, plays with my minis and she loves dragons. She makes my huge fire elemental and large water elemental (mentals she calls them) kiss to make baby steam elementals. She confiscated them and they are lost in her room somewhere.
Most of the ppl i work with play.
Even in middle school when my buddies and I played gurps on the bus, i hardly got any stupid comments from the peanut gallery.
having liked star trek on the other hand, that got a few nelson "HA-ha"s.
I get more ribbing and ostrization for being a proud regan conservative that carries a pocket constitution than i have ever gotten for my nerdy past times as a kid carrying rpg books to class.