Heroes of Hommlet (Overview)
Project Overview:
Heroes of Hommlet is a hybrid solo actual play RPG and audio drama. In the vein of such masterpieces as Tale of the Manticore, Tales of Mystara, Legend of the Bones, Legends from the Fireside, Stories from the First Watch and Swords Against Madness I will combine the dice driven actual play and an audio narrative to drive an (hopefully) interesting story. Some basic guidelines for my project that might be different from the above listed works.
I will use Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition, by E. Gary Gygax
I will stick to the 3 core books unless something is really necessary from the survival guides or Pelor forbid Unearthed Arcana
I will be playing a published adventure, the greatest one of all time actually, The Temple of Elemental Evil. While I won’t be on rails necessarily, I will endeavor to fulfill the core quests.
My game is set in Greyhawk. The greatest of all settings.
The audio only portion won’t feature the dice rolls. I will narrate only, and not refer to game rules directly. Though it will all map back to the actual play (on YouTube).
I will advance the characters through the slavish devotion to experience points as instructed in the dungeon masters guide.
I may steal the ability score advancement scheme used in Tale of the Manticore, mostly because it’s very fun.
Other than that I’m mostly winging it. My initial house rules are:
Lowering a few of the utterly useless 1st level spells to 0-level cantrips. Notably Read Magic.
Beginning my characters with max hit points. Not because I’m concerned about them dying but mostly to avoid the time consuming work of character generation and re-introduction. After 1st level however the dice will dictate everything.
Cleric spontaneous casting. A cleric may convert a spell on the fly to Cure Light Wounds by making a Wisdom ability check. If he fails the spell is lost for the day.
We won’t be using the weapon vs. AC rules.
We will use the Dungeon Masters Adventure Log rules for attack and defense adjustments.
We will occasionally use OSRIC when I can’t figure something out and need a ruling.
So most of the content for this project can be found on the YouTube channel. But occasionally it might be useful to post content here. Character sheets, house rules and other documents.
I am on my 5th recorded ‘cast and have begun work on the audio portion. I’ll post my initial character sheets here on this blog as PDFs for anyone interested.
The Library
You can browse the complete list here:
RPG Master List
One of the goals of the club is to provide access to gaming materials to members as part of their membership cost, giving you the member access to a massive library at a reasonable monthly cost. With the cost of vintage role playing games and board games going up this perk has only become more valuable.
Another goal is the experience of playing classic role playing games with the same materials, books and artifacts from back in the day. The original books have a feel, look and smell all their own and we hope you can capture that nostalgia with your group.
5 Magics has a massive library of role playing books for use by members. Platinum members can use them in our private gaming rooms to run games and have table copies of many games. We have support for a wide selection of out of print hard to find games as well as some newer in print games. Members wanting a particular game, supplement or product line are encouraged to speak to the keeper and if there is enough demand we can add it to the library. Game line support is tiered in the same manner as membership, Platinum, Gold, Silver.
Platinum support means we have a complete or near complete collection for the product line or rule set. It means we have multiple copies of the core books needed to play to support an entire table of players and the game master.
Gold support means we have enough copies of the core rules to support a table of players. We have a nice selection of supplements and perhaps modules but not a complete collection.
Silver support means we have the core book or books, but may only have one or two copies. We have a few supplements but overall only small part of a large product line.
You can browse the complete list here:
RPG Master List
Fantasy Role Playing
Platinum Support
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition, multiple copies of core books, along with Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk and all the letter series modules. We also have a library of OSRIC products to support your 1st Edition gaming needs.
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition, multiple copies of core books, along with Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Birthright, Mystara and Planescape (no Spelljammer). We also have For Gold and Glory to support your 2nd Edition gaming needs.
Dungeons and Dragons Basic, massive library spanning Holmes, Moldvay / Cooke (or B/X) and Mentzer (or Rules Cyclopedia). Huge library of modules and accessories like gazetteers and other products. We also have most retro clones of the basic iterations like Blueholme, Labyrinth Lord, Dark Dungeons and Swords and Wizardry.
Dungeons and Dragons 3rd (3.5) Edition multiple copies of core books, along with Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Greyhawk and an extensive selection of splat books and modules. This marks the introduction of the SRD and the d20 system, with cross genre compatibility into sci-fi, modern and horror.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, multiple copies of core books, along with an extensive selection of splat books and modules.
Palladium Fantasy Roleplaying, multiple copies of core books, along with a complete collection of the 2nd edition line. Access to beer and bring your own liquor to get you through character creation.
Gold Support
Forbidden Lands, a sandbox hex crawl fantasy system with the crawl through the ruins baked right into the rules. d20 based and rules light. Your group jumps into an ‘instance’ of the Forbidden Lands, a region recently opened after years of being closed off by demons. We have the core books, bestiaries, and a few of the region books. Note you’ll need a fresh map for a new party, because you deface it with stickers as you go.
Scarred Lands d20, core books, maps and supplements and most of the modules. A fantasy land left scarred and broken by the fall of a race of titans.
Symbaroum, a roll under d20 system from Free League Publishing. It features a rich world recovering from a horrific war against demonic gods. The core group has moved North near an ancient forest which is the fulcrum around which the story unfolds. Very dark. Very Nordic. Core books and the initial adventure path as well as the players guides.
Mork Borg, a death metal horror gore RPG with a unique visual … uh … flair. Very deadly, but full of flavor. Old school mechanics make the game run very fast, with players making all rolls. We have all the core material and a bunch of ‘zines which have popped up around the game.
Castles and Crusades, d20 based retro clone. Core books, most supplements and some modules. A trimmed down simpler to DM version of 3.x, which most extraneous elements distilled into a one check system called the ‘Siege Engine’.
Basic Fantasy Role-Playing, d20 based retro clone. Core books, most supplements and some modules. A very trimmed down version of the SRD. Tries to emulate and modernize the Moldvey version of Basic Dungeons and Dragons.
Worlds Without Numbers, a sandbox style fantasy game in the spirit of old school D&D. Heavily supported by fans and small publishers by it’s open license.
Silver Support
D6 Fantasy, easy to learn and run. Is essentially a fantasy genre clone of the popular West End Games d6 system used in Star Wars and Ghostbusters. Now open sourced.
Dragonbane, mirth mayhem and adventure is a not too dark fantasy game from Free League Publishing. Relatively new but we have the starter and a screen.
Pathfinder 1st Edition, a popular d20/SRD system with it’s own setting. Essentially continued the 3.x line after WotC moved on to 4th edition. We also have a complete set of Pathfinder for Savage Worlds if you enjoy the world of Golarion but want a lighter faster rule set.
Earthdawn (FASA 1st Edition), slightly outside the box fantasy RPG and setting. Has mechanics for things like renown, legend and reputation that were innovative.
Midnight (FFG), like grim and dark? How about you already lost and can’t win? A very grim and dark setting where a Sauron like demi-god has already won and subjugated the land into misery and darkness. If you can’t win you might as well take a few orcs with you.
Horror Role Playing
Platinum Support
Vampire the Masquerade and World of Darkness, multiple copies of 1st/2nd edition core books, along with all the clan books and many supplements. We also have support for Hunter, Werewolf and if you want to run Mummy and can without breaking out in laughter I’ll buy those for you also.
Alien, by Free League Publishing. We have literally everything, along with miniatures and some nice printed materials for many scenarios. We have multiple dice sets as well.
Mothership, a horror sci-fi game on a old school system. Similar to Alien it uses a stress mechanic to simulate impending doom. We have the core rules and most published modules.
Chill, multiple copies of 2nd edition Mayfair core books, along with all the modules and bestiary books. A very cool system that was X-Files before the X-Files.
Deadlands, multiple copies of the 1st edition, d20 and GURPs core books. A weird west horror roleplaying game. Deadlands would later be scrubbed and stripped down and become the Savage Worlds ruleset. Later iterations would lose its, uh, “Southern” roots. All the major sourcebooks and splat books.
In Nomine, multiple core rule books and a complete run of the Steve Jackson English language version of this unique game. Horror might be a stretch, think more like Christopher Walken in The Prophecy. Angels, Demons and mortals caught up in the struggle battle on behalf of vindictive demi-gods. Very cool mechanics (a d666 roll?), and amazing lore.
Gold Support
Call of Cthulhu, multiple 5.x and 6th edition and d20 rulebooks as well as a copy of the original box set 1st edition. We have the awesome prop sets from the H.P. Lovecraft Society. The most successful and widely revered horror role playing game. Generally edition agnostic despite being in print since 1981. We have a few core supplements and an extensive collection of Chaosium’s magazine Different Worlds. Less modules here given the amount of free published material available on the internet.
Dark Conspiracy, multiple copies of the 1st edition GDW version. A very different take on post apocalypse with a distinct horror bent. Good assortment of source books, as well as a copy of Minion Hunter to get you in the mood for battling the Dark Ones.
Conspiracy X, multiple copies of the 1st edition version. Almost all the supplements. A true X-Files RPG with all the major conspiracies from the show. This is the original game and not the later Unisystem one.
Palladium Assorted Horror (Dead Reign, Beyond the Supernatural and Nightbane), we have all the core books and most supplements for these lines. Some amazing ideas even if the index is a little lacking. Good luck!
Silver Support
Dark Matter (Alternity and d20)
OGL Horror
Scifi and Post Apocalypse Role Playing
Platinum Support
Star Wars, a massive library of the West End Games d6 system. Core books, adventures and source books. We also have a nearly complete run of Star Wars SAGA which was a d20 based version with slim but gorgeous books. We also have d6 Space which is WEGs with the serial numbers filed off.
Alternity, the swan song of TSR pre-WotC. Alternity was built from the ground up to be a sci-fi game. It uses an interesting dice scaling system and had a good deal of support before the lights went out at TSR. It is also the home of the Dark Matter setting and had the last version of Gamma World (5th) ported to it.
Gold Support
Traveller, the oldest and most revered ‘hard’ sci-fi RPG. We have a complete run of the GURPs version, which retcons the assassination of emperor Strephon. We also have the Mongoose 2nd Edition core rules which is a great re-stating of the original ‘Little Black Books’.
Blade Runner, by Free League Publishing. We have everything that has been printed and plenty of extra dice sets.
Stars Without Numbers, a sandbox style sci-fi game in the spirit of old school D&D. Heavily supported by fans and small publishers by it’s open license.
Dune, Adventures in the Imperium. A very ambitious effort to emulate the first book and the films, not for the uninitiated. What’s in the box?
Generic and Modern Role Playing
Platinum Support
GURPs, a nearly complete set of 3rd and a robust library of 4th. Super flexible, point buy, single mechanic rule system. Very adept at modern gaming. The GURPs 3rd edition library is also a treasure trove of source books about almost every era, culture and topic.
Tales from the Loop (Things from the Flood), a kids on bikes style attempt to recreate a 1980s that never was. Inspired by a cool art book from Sweden. We have a complete run of the game.
Spycraft, a really great d20 adaption of the James Bond or Mission Impossible style cinematic spy genre. Great combat, chase and seduction sub systems and a nice library of lore and material.
The Space
What kind of space(s) do you offer?
We offer two main classes of space. The first is 3 common gaming space areas. Common space is generally open to any member to come and use on a first come first served basis during normal hours. There are 3 common areas.
Threshold which is a never reserved high quality gaming table (for 6 or so) and chairs in the lobby area, perfect for pick up board gaming or card games as well as chatting and drinking mead, coffee or a potion of healing.
Thunderdome, is a large gaming space with multiple large rectangular gaming tables and one round table. Two tables are set at miniature gaming height for tabletop gaming. We have procured high end sturdy wood tables and comfortable chairs for our members. We have lighting, sound and access to console and retro PC gaming in this space as well. Tables here can be reserved, but are normally first come first serve. This space can be expected to have a level of noise but could still be suitable for pick up role playing.
The last of the 3 common gaming areas is the Tech Noir. Tech Noir is our arcade area with a growing selection of vintage arcade cabinets. If the machines aren’t on, please ask the keeper to power them up for you.
We also offer 3 private gaming rooms. The Shire, Night City and Elysium are available for reservation. Each of these rooms are equipped with a high quality gaming table that seats 5 comfortably. They have mini-fridges, wall mounted UHD monitor / TVs, numerous webcams, and an AV hub for a game master to use their laptop to provide an immersive player experience and to potentially stream or record their game as they wish.