Z is for Zat's it: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

Well Zat's it. I made it but only just this year, with flagging energy toward the end.

I stand by what I have said already,

"What would I have liked to have seen then and what would I like to see now.

I think if the book had been broken into terrains, it would have been stronger, far more useful and have become inspirational.

e.g. Arctic - with rules for cold, a new equipment list (sleds, warm clothes, eye protection, new spells, and monster section (including huskies, polar bears etc).

And so on for desert, forest, plains, mountains

You see as DM, the setting can often fire the imagination. Rules don't do it alone, and I like rules. Wilderness is just too broad a terrain type!

I might want to take my players to Hoth - if so I want rules that deal with this easily accessible, not rules on cold spread throughout the entire guide. After reading these imagined arctic rules, perhaps I may have been inspired to take take my players to Hoth, even if it had never occurred to me before.

Or Tatooine, or up the mountains. Or in the open plains, where horse lords rule.

I also think these guides would have been more effective if sold with a DM screen - all relevant tables must be on the DM screen. How much can one remember otherwise?

My dormant Old School Adventure Guide - of course gives Kim the last laugh. He has published I have not! So, take a bow Kim for the WSG, you at least were an important part of the silver age of D&D

Y is for Yeoman: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

If I was a yeoman adventurer,

the WSG

would not be my SAS survival guide.

X is for Xeno: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

Weird monsters - nup.

Weird terrain - nup.

Wacky - nup.

Wealistic - maybe.

W is for World of Weather: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

A whole appendix on Weather...

with tables like

You know... I am losing interest. Maybe another day.

V is for Vitals: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

Grub, food, water, sustenance, it's all needed in the wilderness.

Going without
Food
Combined Strength and Constitution     Tolerance level (days)
<=15                                                             4
16-19                                                            5
20-24                                                            6
25-30                                                            7
31-35                                                            8
36+                                                              10

Then every 12 hours make a Str or Con check (at +1 cumulative per check) or else... you are weakened (-1 on attack rolls and reflex saving throws cumulative per day in this state). Also now cumulative +2 on subsequent checks. Fail again... distressed (max 2 hours strenuous activity per day). Fail again.... incapacitated (no voluntary physical activity) and in danger of starving to death within hours (losing 1d6 hit points per hour)!

Going without
Water
Max 3 days without water until bad things happen!
Females can manage an extra day! Get that - something in the rules making it advantageous to be a female character.
Other modifiers depending on type of food if available (watermelon a good one to have), heat etc

After this time weakened, then as above to the worsening states, except 1d8 hit points loss per hour when incapacitated.

How much must one eat in a day?
Human, dwarf, half-elf, half-orc = 1-2 pounds of solid nourishment per day.
Elf 3/4 this much, halfling or gnome 1/2.

In game terms...

Standard rations = 200gp encumbrance. Assume 140gp is food, 60 is bulkiness. 140gp = 14 pounds. 2 pounds of standard rations must be eaten per day for a human, meaning standard rations last 1 week.

Iron rations encumbrance is 75gp. 5 gp is bulkiness, since the food is more concentrated and occupied less space)  therefore 70gp or 7 pounds remains. 1 pound of iron rations must be eaten per day for a human, meaning iron rations last 1 week.

Ok, I know the author Kim Mohan completely fudged this so that rations last one week. But it aint a bad fudge!

There is even a table on water requirements per day depending on activity and temperature; range 5-16 pints per day for a human.

U is for Unusual Hazard: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

An unusual hazard, one best to avoid, is being struck by lightning.

I reproduce here what the WSG says about this unusual event. I found it quite amusing.

The exact chance of lightning hitting a character is left up to the Dungeon Master, but this list does offer relative rankings, using 1 to represent the smallest chance. In all cases except the last, this list assumes that the character has divested himself of armor and other large items of metal and has taken the best available opportunity to  protect himself.

1: Inside a solid, nonmetallic structure and not touching the structure itself. (If someone is sitting or leaning against the side of the structure, treat this as a relative chance of 10.)

5: Protected beneath or within a natural shelter that is not the highest point on nonfeatureless terrain, or a shelter that is expansive enough to absorb the force of the lightning (under a large rock overhang; beneath a thick grove of equally tall trees).

15: Partially protected on featureless terrain (lying in a ditch in the middle of a field, or at the bottom of a gently sloping hill).

30: Scantily protected beneath a large object in the middle of otherwise featureless terrain (standing or lying under a big tree in a field).

50: Unprotected on featureless terrain (standing, sitting or lying in the middle of a field).

100: Unprotected, and asking for it, on featureless terrain (standing fully armored in the middle of a field).

The damage that can be suffered from a lightning strike extends through a wide range of possibilities. A character who has taken no precautions to prevent injury will be killed on a 4 in 6 chance, and if he doesn’t die outright he will lose 40-90% of his maximum total hit points (which may still result in death if  the character was not at or near full hit points to begin with). A character who has taken the best precautions available to him and still gets hit will be killed on a 2 in 6 chance, and otherwise will lose 10-60% of his current hit points.

T is for Terrain Hierarchy: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

This may not sound like much but I think quite useful. Page9.

1. Seacoast

2. Swamp

3. Forest

4. Plains

5. Desert

6. Hills

7. Mountains

A hierarchy of terrain. If a territory has two or more different types of terrain consider it the higher terrain (1 highest, 7 lowest). The examples given are a sandy beach bordering an ocean is a seacoast not a desert. A low lying area with standing water with lots of trees is a swamp not a forest.

Common sense is advised but may help to guide which wandering monster table to use, which terrain movement modifier etc.

S is for Starting from Scratch: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

Towards the end of the WSG is a chapter called, Starting from Scratch, where Kim Mohan outlines how to create a world map.

I quite enjoyed the chapter actually.

He starts by discussing Realism vs Fantasy, with some appropriate advice for DMs and fantasy writers, to keep their 'fantasy' under control. Earth like human centric worlds allow role players and readers to step into the world quickly and easily.

Kim says, "When a fantastic feature of this sort is localized, it remains intriguing; when it’s used everywhere throughout the world, it loses its distinctiveness and becomes an obstacle instead of an oddity."


He outlines a step by step world / map creation


1. Settle on scale - 20-40 miles per hex recommended


2. Start at the bottom - where the coasts are


3. Now take it to the top - put in the mountains, locating the tallest peaks individually


4. Place it on the planet - where is the land you have drawn located in relation to the poles and equator?


5. Just add water - time fore rivers - flowing from mountains to the coast


6. What's for desert? - He gives explanation on why deserts on Earth are where they are.

"On Earth, most deserts are located in subtropical climate and the part of the temperate zone closer to the subtropical area (the southern half of the zone in the northern hemisphere, the northern half in the southern hemisphere). This is because of global wind patterns; the prevailing winds blow generally east to west around the equator, and usually in the opposite direction in the temperate regions. When they meet each other in the upper atmosphere over the area in between, the cool upper air descends. As the air gets lower, it gets warmer, and its ability to retain moisture increases; thus, the water vapor in the air remains suspended and is not released as precipitation."

 - this is D&D at its best educating as well as entertaining - the things I have learnt about the world and history through gaming.

7. May the forest be with you - showing that Star Wars was close to many gamers hearts(as it still is). Put in the forests.

8. None of the above - everything else is hills and plains

9. Large scale details - oasis in deserts, pass through mountains

10. Points of interest - volcanoes, wonders

Then one moves into politics, cities etc. Smaller scale, more detail.

Finally he ends with Winging it and this piece of advice, which is the end of the book just before the Appendix on weather, so really the last word, "As has been said many times within the AD&D game books, all the rules we can create still provide nothing more than a framework upon which your world and your adventures are built. In effect, we’ve given you the pieces to a puzzle that has an infinite number of different solutions. Now it’s up to you to put those pieces together."

Hard to disagree.

R is for Rockslides: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

Rockslides, Avalanches and Mudslides

Rockslides
Is like being attacked 4 times / round for 1d4+1 rounds by a 5 HD creature doing 1d4 damage each hit. Dex check to half damage (minimum 1 damage).
I like the concept of the rockslide being like an attack.
If more than 20HP are taken, you are swept off your feet and take abrasion and impact damage (? how much - see complicated tables on falling)

If climbing, a shield will deflect an successful attack 75% of the time, assuming the shield can be readied. 1 round to ready shield if strapped to back. 1/2 round (?? 5 segments then?) if shield carried on one's belt.

Vertically falling rocks onto a climber - each character attacked by 0-3 rocks per round for 1-2 rounds at 7HD, doing 1-6 damage, if damage roll is 5 or 6, blow to the head, 2 blows = unconscious.

Avalanche
Anyone caught in an avalanche will take 2d10 to 3d20 hit points damage.

So effectively every normal man dies, Which is an interesting problem with our abstracted hit points when we try and give challenge for high level play, we would kill off any other human / demi-human in the way.

Ah, but if you curl into a ball, you can half the damage.

Pass a bend bars or be swept away.

Whatever the case find yourself buried in 2d3 feet of snow (4d3 if bottom of the slope). Make a constitution check to see if conscious. If conscious dig out at 1' / round. If curled and passed bend bars, you will know which way to dig, else pass wisdom check, or dig in the wrong direction!

Hold breath may be important here. 1/6 constitution in rounds (rounded up), since no chance to take a deep breath - normal deep breath hold = 1/3 constitution, half that if no deep breath.
Luckily 1d6+4 round of air, in an air pocket, will be available to breathe on first.

Chance of finding a buried companion - base 10% plus intelligence score + 25% if companion trying to dig out. Roll once for each searcher and each companion missing. Check every round.

Dig the com anion out at 2' / round or 3' / round if using an implement. Each extra character digging add +1' / round.

Mudslides
Will be carried down with the mud unless can grasp something solid and not moving.
Abrasion damage depending on how far fell.
See yesterdays post for swimming in mud.

Q is for Quicksand: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

What's a wilderness without quicksand?

Varieties can be mud, and the dreaded (and worse) sand and water version.

But these rules, rather than having the movie 'sucking' quicksand of rapid death, have the more realistic, but more boring, option of allowing the victim to tread water in the mud/sand.

Sorry that's all for this post - real life really intervening on my AtoZ challenge - but not failed yet! Come on Sunday rest day.

P is for Precipitation: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

Sort of like the weather outside. Rain rain go away...

The WSG index has:

collecting - maths formula for volume in a cylinder, melted snow to water ratio is 10:1,

determination - coming soon W is for weather

effects on combat - will make the effects for gusts and gales worse

extraordinary - rain that goes on and on

extreme - Hail, Sleet, Lightning, Snow (interesting just descriptions and timings for how long the precipitation will last - not really linked to mechanical effects)

portable shelters - covered in C is Camping and Comforts, with the moisture resistance for certain types of tents and shelters.

(quick post today)

O is for Oceans: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

Swimming (drowning) rules.

"Only characters with proficiency in swimming" can swim.

Rules are provided for encumbrance on swimming and its effect on endurance, speed, diving and surfacing.

Endurance (turns of swimming) = experience level + constitution score
Speed = base (40 feet / round humans, demihumans 30') modified by strength, current, above or below the surface.

Diving and surfacing base = 20' per round.

Other rules
Treading water (turns) = double endurance

No proficiency in swimming = tread water for strength score in rounds.

Breath holding - did this one in A (2011) Dungeoneers Survival Guide
1/3 Constitution in rounds


Not too bad.

Shipping (more boating) rules follow with capsizing rules depending on boat size and wind, portaging, movement modifications for large move (miles / day) and small move (feet / round) covering normal sail, max sail, normal oar and max oar.

N is for Non-weapon Proficiencies: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

"WSG gets proficiency checks right, correcting a major DSG error". So said Carl Sargent in White Dwarf 85.


It is an interesting point. I wasn't overwhelmed by the DSG non-weapon proficiencies.


But I have to confess I am struggling to find the difference, or at least see why the WSG is better than the DSG.


The DSG states "Under normal conditions, there is no chance of failure involved when characters attempt to use most nonweapon proficiencies... A Proficiency Check for use of a proficiency is necessary in two cases: to determine if the specific task is performed within a given set of limitations [time pressure, inadequate resources], or to gauge the quality of a piece of work when such an evaluation is desired."


This sounds pretty good to me.


Compared to WSG "Unlike a weapon proficiency, the possession of a nonweapon proficiency does not always mean that the character can realise the benefits of having a certain skill"


Mechanism in WSG is: d20 roll against proficiency using one of the six ability scores as the base, 19-20 automatic fail (exceptions exist).


Wilderness Proficiencies on offer (some of the 25 anyway):
Alertness - surprise only on 1, first make prof check against wisdom at +1 penalty
Animal Handling, Lore
Blind-fighting
Direction sense
Endurance
Fire building
Fishing
Foraging
Healing - same as DSG able to give 1d3 hit points back to wounded character if character tended within 1 round, increase healing per day if healer in party, and if can tend character in same round as poisoned +2 to save. Additionally in WSG, healer can treat diseases.
Hunting
Plant Lore
Riding, airborne - gain some flying feats to impress the ladies with
Riding, land-based - as above, but on the ground - vault into a saddle, urge mount to jump obstacles, spur mount onto greater speeds, leap from the back of mount and make a melee attack at +4
Running - sprinting or distance options
Survival in cold and heat, desert
Tracking at half chance as ranger
Weather sense




So any idea what was right and what was wrong in the Survival Guides, when it came to proficiencies?

M is for Mounted Combat: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

Mounted Combat

Pages 47-48 deals with flying mounts, with a number of tables giving mount, encumbrance limits for normal load and max load, with move rate, manoeuvrability class with a rider or with a load and stamina. And rules for chance of falling from the flying mount. Base chance of 0% sounds good, until +1% per wind mph, +2% per Dex or Str less than 12 (plus many others); and all checked every 3 turns. I vote for the fully strapped in -200% chance of falling.

I would have liked to have seen a check required if damage taken and at +1% chance of falling for every hit point damage to mount or character.

Page 86
Land Melee combat from a mount
+1 to hit unmounted opponent if same size
0 modifier if unmounted opponent larger size
-1 to hit unmounted opponent if smaller size

Unmounted attacking mounted, -1 attack. If 'to hit' is exactly what is needed to hit, mount hit instead. (Interesting, realistic?)

Swooping flying attack is made at +2.

Missile combat from a mount
Requires riding proficiency for that mount.
- 1 attack if mount moving less than half full movement rate, -3 more than half full movement rate, -5 more than 3/4 full movement rate; in addition to any penalty for range and visibility.

Falling from a mount (example if mount killed) rider takes 1d3 damage, and the rest of that round and the next, is used getting their bearings.

Jousting - a natural 20 will dismount opponent, (riding proficiency to save).
Similar chance an unmounted opponent dismounting a mounted, if weapon 5-9 feet in length. Natural 16-20 and weapon greater than 10' will dismount opponent.

Pulling an opponent from their mount, attack roll at -4. Again riding proficiency check to avoid dismount.

See the next post for the dreaded N is for Non-weapon proficiencies.

L is for Light: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

Light and vision, important for any adventurer, and well covered in the WSG.

Page 40
Overland movement in reduced visibility.

Clear moonlight, 2/3
Darkness snow, 1/4

Pages 72-75 a whole section on Vision and Visibility
Table 41: Outdoor Range of Normal Vision

Clear daylight 500 yards to make out a man sized creature. Double for L, half for S.
Twilight 300 yards, moonlight 50 yards, darkness 25yards.

And rules for overcast; moderate fog; heavy fog, rain or snow; heavy snow with wind; blowing sand/dust.

While perhaps more options than needed, the 500 yards for M size figure - actually very helpful.

Rules for Infravision (page 73-74) quite good descriptions, and would have been helpful as a DM, who always struggled with infravision.

Ultravision

Some interesting rules about torches being effected by wind velocity.
Wind 11-25 mph, illumination 30' instead of 40' and will burn out in 4 turns as opposed to 6.
It takes 1 round to light a torch, plus 1 round for every 10mph wind velocity.
A lighted torch can be seen 200 yards away in moonlight and darkness.

Page 86
Fighting in poor visibility
eg moonlight -1 attack, and -1 all saving throws related to dodging or evasion

In darkness, if the modified attack roll is 0 or less = will have struck another creature or object (must save vs crushing blow).

K is for Kim (the author): Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

So Kim, you wrote a Silver Age D&D publication?

A definition from Grognardia:

Silver Age (1984-1989): The Silver Age is a transitional age that marries a sophisticated (some might say "decadent") interpretation of Gygaxian naturalism with a growing concern for "dramatic" coherence. The Silver Age is one of "fantastic realism" and the construction of believable worlds and stories is its great concern. It's also the age where the Great Wyrm begins to eat its own tail, being influenced not just by epic fantasy generally but more specifically by second or third order epic fantasies that were themselves influenced by D&D. The Silver Age is when the mass marketing of the game begun in the late Golden Age reaches its fullest flower.

Unfortunately for me, the WSG is just too unorganised and not inspirational enough, to work as anything more than a guide for the sake of a guide. Rules for rules sake. It is a Silver Age publication, for these reasons, and fails for the same reason.

I have been asking myself if I would have felt any different in 1986. I think the answer is no - but that is a difficult one.

Now unorganised may feel harsh when the contents are very clearly set out, but the rules are spread throughout the entire guide. So land-based mounts are: characteristics 90-91, combat 16,86, fatigue 88, lack of food 52, movement 32-33, reactions 92.

This might sound like the Dungeon Master's Guide, but it had an inspirational charm, that surpassed it's design flaws.

I'm not sure what publishing pressure Kim was under, but the WSG comes up short, and much shorter than the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide. The DSG made me want to take my players spelunking.

Could I have done better?

I am sure I could not. For proof, see my dormant Old School Adventure Guide - yep empty.

What would I have liked to have seen then and what would I like to see now.

I think if the book had been broken into terrains, it would have been stronger, far more useful and have become inspirational.

e.g. Arctic - with rules for cold, a new equipment list (sleds, warm clothes, eye protection, new spells, and monster section (including huskies, polar bears etc).

And so on for desert, forest, plains, mountains

You see as DM, the setting can often fire the imagination. Rules don't do it alone, and I like rules. Wilderness is just too broad a terrain type!

I might want to take my players to Hoth - if so I want rules that deal with this easily accessible, not rules on cold spread throughout the entire guide. After reading these imagined arctic rules, perhaps I may have been inspired to take take my players to Hoth, even if it had never occurred to me before.

Or Tatooine, or up the mountains. Or in the open plains, where horse lords rule.

I also think these guides would have been more effective if sold with a DM screen - all relevant tables must be on the DM screen. How much can one remember otherwise?

J is for Jumping: Hitting the Trail with the Wilderness Survival Guide

Anyone who has followed my blog over the last year will know that jumping rules are a bit of an obsession with me.

It all began on the 12th April 2011, J is for Jumping, in Digging for Gems in the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide.

And continued here and here and here.

So I was pleased to see that the WSG, has jumping rules (page 39), which are directly reproduced from the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, showing some degree of cohesion. High Jumping rules are a new addition.

The rules are based on level and describe standing broad jump, running broad jump, and high jump (which wasn't in the DSG).


I reproduce here for discussion purposes.

While level based jumping rules work in a table, provided they can be easily accessed by the DM, the rules still feel rather clunky.

And unrealistic.

Level 1-6 and can't jump a 10' gap, yet under 13 girl record is 16'. Male world record 29'.
Ideally therefore a range of 16-29 feet, for running broad jump.

Hence my obsession.

So my current stab is:

Running broad jump in feet = 2 times movement rate (if using inch scale).
0 Level = -1d6 feet
1st level and above = dexterity check to avoid -1d6 feet
eg Lvl 2 character with move 12" = running broad jump in feet = 24', roll dexterity check, if fails subtract 1d6 x1' from 24'.

I toy with exploding dice, so that if 6 is rolled, roll another d6 and subtract the total. Evil.
I allow higher strength to increase encumbrance limit, which keeps movement rate high, and allows strength to effect jump distance.
One could allow increases in distance with level if non-weapon proficiencies are used, or simply 1' for every 3 levels.

Standing broad jump in feet = half times movement rate (inch scale).

0 Level = -1d2 feet

1st level and above = dexterity check to avoid -1d2 feet

eg Lvl 2 character with move 12" = standing broad jump in feet = 6', roll dexterity check, if fails subtract 1d2 x1' from 6'.

Thoughts on jumping rules???

Index of April 2011 AtoZ posts: Digging for Gems in the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide

Well the A to X is complete. My month long foray into the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide is over. I thought it worthwhile to create an index page of my posts and the gems I discovered.


A is for Air Supply
Gems
1. Every 10x10x10 foot space provides enough air for one man size person's 24 hours survival.

2. Any small fire consumes 24 hours of oxygen in 2 hours, and every round of flaming oil is 1 turn (10 minutes).
3. Breath Holding Rules (see post)

B is for Belays

Gems

1. Non thief characters have a base chance of climbing success of 40%, which can be modified by race and climbing surface if desired. A complicated table can be used to give movement rates for climbing (if desired). 
2. If ropes are involved they can be of belaying (not tied) or roped together variety.
3. If a character is falling with a rope held by characters on either side of him or her, BOTH supporting characters must succeed to arrest the fall.
3. For every additional character falling -10% is deducted from the chance of success for a Climbing Check.
4. For belays, failure means the character's fall is not halted, but the belayer is not affected (well not physically, perhaps emotionally...) Success means the fall is arrested, unless the belaying character is on dangerous or narrow ground, in which case a 2nd Climbing Check must be made, failure means the belaying character has fallen as well.
5. For parties roped together, no 2nd Climbing Check is required. Success means the fall is arrested, failure means the character has fallen as well.
6. Climbing checks continue until each character on either side of a falling character succeeds, the entire party falls or if only one end of the rope line/belay has fallen, a single character can arrest the fall.
7. Spikes can arrest the fall of an entire party, but have a chance of pulling loose at 10% per character the spike is trying to support.

C is for Caves and Caverns

Gem

1. Though the golden age had passed and the silver age was passing, the tone of TSR publications remained mature and educational. Not what one would expect to find in a fantasy game rule book, but one aspect of the hobby that captured a younger me and I am sure, many of you.

D is for Deepearth

Gem

1. Deepearth (the campaign world created by Douglas Niles)

E is for Easley

Gem

1. Jeff Easley illustrations


F is for Fungus
Gem
1. Fungi are fun


G is for Gems
Gems
1. Gemstones themselves, there are many different types and if you discover a mine of them, the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide will tell the DM all one needs to know.
2. And a table I made on gem values


H is for hook (grappling)
Gems

A character can throw a grappling hook upward a distance to 1/3 of his Strength score (rounded up) times 10.

2. The horizontal distance that a grappling hook can be thrown equals the vertical distance, unless the character has enough room to swing the hook in a circle several times before the cast. In this case, if a character has a radius of 10 feet from his body cleared of obstacles, he can throw the hook twice as far horizontally as he could otherwise.

I is for Isomorphs

Gem

1. Isomorphic mapping advice (now supplanted by computers)

J is for Jumping

Gem

1. Broad Jumping Rules

K is for Kraken

Gem

1. Deepearth can be a very cool setting, especially with a Kraken that has somehow adapted itself to live in fresh water.

L is for Loosing a Lick and Losing the Lost Lodestone

Gems

1. Lichs are not lovely

2. Lost is both a state and a description of the plot to a popular TV series of the same name.

3. Lodestones pull their weight

M is for Mining

Gem

1. If you need some mining rules - here be good ore

N is for Niles
Gem
1. The most coherent advice for the intermediate experienced DM ever published in the Gold and Silver
age of TSR.


O is for Odor and Explosive Gas
Gems
1. Rules for Odor Detection

2. Rules for Gas - Poisonous, Noxious and Explosive

P is for Proficiencies

Gem

1. The further development of non-weapon proficiencies - not really a gem.

Q is for Question

Gem

1. The mysterious © artist is Doug Chaffee 

R is for Roslof

Gem

1. In memory of

S is for Spelunking

Gems

1. Spelunking rules

2. An encouragement to make the physical world a challenge in itself

T is for Theories

Gem

1. The world is not solid, it is hollow, well that's one theory anyway

U is for Underdark

Gem

1. Underdark, as first termed in the DSG

V is for Volcanoes

Gem

1. Lava is hot!

W is for Water

Gem

1. Rules for hypothermia, water flow, damming a river, underground water travel and many more

X is for Xeno

Gem

1. Sure we have D1-3, but the DSG does give you ideas for a whole subterranean world - it just doesn't do dungeons. Perhaps, Deepearth Survival Guide, or The Underdark Gazette - hey that would make a nice blog title...

Y is for Year

Gem

1. The Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, mid-silver age according to Grognardia 1984-1989.

Z is for ZAT'S IT

Gems I took after this month long challenge

1. Without the discipline and motivation of the AtoZ challenge my copy of the DSG would have sat in a darkened loft space, for another decade unread. Like my copy of the Wilderness Survival Guide. Or Greyhawk, Dragonlance and many, many modules I have purchased in the last decade from eBay. So I thank the AtoZ organisers for the inspiration.
2. I never purchased the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, in my day. I was still playing, but it was expensive, and I would have bought the Wilderness Survival Guide instead (all those weather systems). After exploring it for a month, I can't say I have learned to love the DSG. In the end, it's too verbose, rules for the sake of rules, too campaign setting (alluding to TSR's future publication obsessions - Forgotten Realms, campaign world after campaign world); but still their are moments when the DSG lifts one's imagination. The art certainly helps. And for that I am glad to have spent the last month with it.
3. We have yet to escape the fact that RPG companies be they LotFP or WOTC, must continue to make new products to make money. This is because in my opinion, they must sell, more to the converted. Because new sells, and old dies on shelves. The Dungeoneer's Survival Guide was part of that mentality. Publish or perish. What if we merely expanded the numbers playing, using the same old but trusted books. The world becomes your oyster, and we almost become a club trying to get new members, their membership fee, the classic books. The business model - support your current fans, encouraging them to find new fans.