State of Play: 3d6DTL Goes Byzantine On Your Ask
Steam, Steel & Murder returns from Ilyana's keep; Total Party Kilroy decides what to do with a mysterious book they find...in a tomb
No private game reports for last week, but our four mainstays all dropped new episodes.
Week of 8-18-22
Public Games
Highlight of the Week
3d6 Down the Line | “The Halls of Arden Vul Ep 00 - Old School Essentials Megadungeon | Intro and Character Generation”
System: Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy
Format: Video Livestream
Style: Multiplayer
Platform(s): YouTube
Date: 8-22-22
When DM Jon, from 3d6 Down The Line (3d6DTL), announced on July 5 that the group was ending its Old School Essentials (OSE) actual-play set in Dolmanwood, more than one fan had a burning question—would there be a replacement campaign? The folks at 3d6DTL have set a new standard of quality when it comes to B/X actual-play streams, and many of us were wondering if we would see them again any time soon. We now have the answer.
Last week, the crew was back, creating characters for The Halls of Arden Vul, a megadungeon from creator Rick Barton, published by Expeditious Retreat Press in 2020. Barton, an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, has based his five volume adventure, in part, on the Byzantine Empire.
The mysteries of Byzantium are too frequently overlooked by Western content creators. Given American, British, and Western European history, much of our fantasy has roots running primarily through the Western Roman Empire. Separating from the western empire in the fifth century, the Eastern Roman Empire developed its own unique traditions, culture, and history. It’s high time someone tapped this rich heritage as source material for an RPG setting.
Barton designed The Halls of Arden Vul for OSRIC, a retroclone of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1e, but—as with the 3d6DTL Dolmanwood campaign—Jon will run it in OSE, a current incarnation of B/X. Anyone who has played the original systems knows they are very similar. While switching from OSRIC to OSE will require some conversion, the changes are so minor Jon plans to make them on-the-fly.
The new campaign is great news for fans of 3d6DTL, B/X, and actual-play streams in general. Jon and his players have wisely taken the opposite approach of the massive hit Critical Role. Rather than trying to mimic the success of professional voice-actors using Dungeons & Dragons as their platform, 3d6DTL aspires to show how D&D is really played, around the table and online, by countless groups across the globe. With character creation out of the way, I and many others are anxiously awaiting Session 1.
Other Games Last Week
Tale of the Manticore | “Don’t split the party”
System: B/X
Format: Podcast
Style: Solo, Dramatized
Platform(s): Podbean
Date: 8-21-22
Summary: Shahnay gets a refresher in why low-level thieves in B/X shouldn’t overestimate their own skills when it comes to anything except climbing sheer surfaces or striking unnoticed from behind.
Total Party Kilroy | Barrowmaze Campaign - #4
System: Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy
Format: Video Livestream
Style: Multiplayer
Platform(s): YouTube
Date: 8-21-22
Summary: Caldini, playing Grolius the Gnome, learns that when you recklessly open an arcane tome discovered in an ancient burial chamber, your survival may depend on fighting and killing an evil version of yourself, in an alternate dimension.
Steam, Steel & Murder | “BX Dungeons & Dragons”
System: B/X
Format: Livestream
Style: Multiplayer
Platform(s): Twitch, YouTube
Date: 8-26-22
Summary: The Green Company returns from the mountains, having dispersed the army threatening Penhaligon. How do you reward yourself for stopping a war? Lots of shopping, of course!
Added caption to photo.