KING CRIMSON - IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING (1969)

 

So this is the album that started it all. 1969 was a busy year, musically speaking. It saw the debut of Led Zeppelin, The Who's Tommy, The Beatles' Abbey Road, and so on. Yet, this album held its own and made an impact on the rock scene.

They opened up for the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park after Brian Jones' death. Jimi Hendrix saw them at the Revolution Club and declared the to be the greatest rock band in the whole world. They then toured America and nearly broke up entirely (there was still quite the exodus from the band after that tour.) Pete Townsend called the album an "uncanny masterpiece."

(The band originated as a continuation and augmentation of the folk/rock trio Giles, Giles & Fripp.)

Personnel in the band included:

Robert Fripp: electric guitar, acoustic guitar.

Ian McDonald: alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, vibraphone, mellotron, reed organ, piano, harpsichord, vocals.

Greg Lake: lead vocals, bass guitar.

Michael Giles:  drums, timpani, vocals.

Pete Sinfield: lyrics.

The music on this album swings back and forth, from bombastic to pensive, track by track. What is striking about the musicianship is its excellence and how well coordinated it is. Many have commented on how thematically dark the album is. Apart from the song "21st Century Schizoid Man," I don't know that I really agree with that perception of the album. But as always, your mileage may vary from mine.) Artistic differences that arose from the album and the subsequent touring in America  concerned a division within the band on how experimental it should be versus how romantic. In the end, experimental won out with Robert Fripp taking over leadership of the band.

Track 1: 21st Century Schizoid Man (7:24): This is probably King Crimson's best-known song. As I just said, it's loud and bombastic. But it's also really, really tight --many unison rapid starts and stops, showing off both their talent and the precision in timing. The middle instrumental section is pretty intense -- with just a hint, as someone pointed out to me reminiscent of the Mission Impossible theme. (Once someone points it out, you can't un-hear it.)

    Cat's foot iron claw
    Neuro-surgeons scream for more
    At paranoia's poison door.
    Twenty-first-century schizoid man.

    Blood rack barbed wire
    Politicians' funeral pyre
    Innocents raped with napalm fire
    Twenty-first-century schizoid man.

    Death seed blind man's greed
    Poets starving, children bleed
    Nothing he's got he really needs
    Twenty-first-century schizoid man.

Track 2: I Talk to the Wind (6:05): A slower, lyrical song. Notable for its flute. There is an earlier version with Judy Dyble, which got included on the Young Listener's Guide to King Crimson. 

Said the straight man to the late man
Where have you been?
I've been here and I've been there
And I've been in between

I talk to the wind
My words are all carried away
I talk to the wind
The wind does not hear
The wind cannot hear

I'm on the outside looking inside
What do I see?
Much confusion, disillusion
All around me . . . .

Track 3: Epithaph (8:47): I would call it a sweeping, wistful ballad. Actually, it's a good companion to 21st Century Schizoid Man -- similar themes, but in treated with more tenderness and touch.

The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams
Upon the instruments of death
The sunlight brightly gleams
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
The silence drowns the screams

Confusion will be my epitaph
As I crawl, a cracked and broken path
If we make it, we can all sit back and laugh
But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying . . . .

And the lines, "Knowledge is a deadly friend / When no one sets the rules / The fate of all mankind I fear / Is in the hands of fools" reminds me as a more bitter version of Alexander Pope's line from Anatomy of Criticism. It also seems wonderfully apropos to the moment we are living in right now.

Track 4: Moonchild (12:13): This is a disregarded song for many King Crimson fans. That was the case for me, until quite recently. The vocals and lyrics that start the song are very evocative. But then, the rest of the song . . . a pretty long stretch of it are seemingly random bells, xylophone, guitar and percussion. Let's just say, if  you're in a hurry, it's boring and seemingly nonsense. But if you're patient and give it the time and attention it deserves, it rewards you.

Track 5: The Court of the Crimson King (9:25): This song is my origin story as a King Crimson Fan. I was in high school, and I liked to listen to music at night to go to sleep. At the time, I was listening to a Madison, Wisconsin station (I can't remember its call-sign.) That's when the song came on -- to say I was blown away by it at-the-time would be an understatement. The psychedelic and virtuosic vibe it gave out hooked me. I was a King Crimson fan, starting that night. I remember trying to stay awake enough to find out who they were so I could run out and get the album immediately the next day.

This song doesn't date as well as the others, I think. What is interesting about it -- and other King Crimson albums until the Warner years came around is the idea of the songs being in parts, vocal and then instrumentals, often in somewhat different styles or moods, that resembled the parts you might find in classical music.

    The rusted chains of prison moons
    Are shattered by the sun
    I walk a road, horizons change
    The tournament's begun
    The purple piper plays his tune
    The choir softly sing
    Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
    For the court of the Crimson King

    The keeper of the city keys
    Put shutters on the dreams
    I wait outside the pilgrim's door
    With insufficient schemes
    The Black Queen chants
    The funeral march
    The cracked brass bells will ring
    To summon back the Fire Witch
    To the court of the Crimson King . . . .

Behold the power of naming! Of presupposing that which exists . . . .

Grade: This is an important album. One of the four classic King Crimson albums that I mentioned previously. In this case, I just have to give it a solid A. Enjoy!

TOTAL CON 2025

Total Con just ended last Sunday. 

Ironically, I did sign up for events rather late in the process, but ironically then didn't go to anything that I was signed up for. Instead, I got into a lot of pick-up gaming and met a ton of people who I hope to make gaming friends, for both local and remote play. So what did I play?

Cthulhu Fluxx (card game)

Dune (hybrid of the original and revised board game)

Para (paranormal / Horror RPG which uses Tarot cards for action resolution)

Trashsexy, or as I lovingly call it Sexy Trash Panda (short, funny raccoon RPG)

and I purchased the new Top Secret (using the Lucky13 engine as its core mechanic). I'll say more about each of these games in future posts. Looking forward to digging deep into them further when I have a chance!

MY CAT, OLLIE

 

So my dad passed away on Valentine's Day in Charlottesville, Virginia. When it seemed likely that he would, all three of us kids rushed to Virginia to see him one last time and to care for my mother in the meantime.

I was on the train when he passed. It's still not real for me yet as a result. Still it turned out to be a lot of stress and worry.

My wife sent me this picture of my baby-boy cat, Ollie. He is absolutely smitten with me, and pretty much wants to be with me all the time. Upstairs or down in the basement (his favorite place) He crawls all over me, will turn his belly to me and turn himself upside down (his favorite position) and will perch himself to sleep on my side at night. Pink mouth, pink nose, pink ears and pink toe-beans. He's a real goofus and a real sweetheart to / with me. Anyway, my wife sent me this picture. And I repeatedly turned to looking at this picture to release oxytocin to help me get through those terrible days.

A totally selfish post. But I did want to share about my cat and what he means to me.

KING CRIMSON - LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC (1973)

 

In my opinion, this album is an example of one of those extremely rare things, the perfect album. This is hands-down my favorite and most frequently listened-to album. Nothing is wasted on this album, each cut is absolutely classic!

It also features one of the most stable line-ups in King Crimson history, pre- Adrian Belew. It was a five-man group, fronted of course by Robert Fripp. It included:

Robert Fripp: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mellotron and devices.

John Wetton: vocals, bass guitar, piano.

Bill Bruford: drums.

David Cross: violin, viola, mellotron, flute.

Jamie Muir: percussion, drums, all-sorts.

with Richard Palmer-James: lyrics.

LTIA is the first album with this lineup, which became slimmer and slimmer with each album. Jamie Muir left after LTIA to become Trappist monk, and David Cross left after Starless & Bible Black. The album is known for its stripped-down production style (later to be called audio verité), its extremes in dynamics and its classical/folk/jazz stylings, and its new lyrical style.

Track 1: Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part One (13:37): Instrumental piece that starts out quiet with light percussion, builds somewhat, then comes in suddenly with bass and guitar playing with power DA-DA-DA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DA-DA-DUM . . . . From there it alternates between light and heavy soundscapes and a variety of irregular, rhythmic forms. Above all of this soars David Cross's lyrical violin.

Track 2: Book of Saturdays (2:53): A short vocal piece, with beautifully tranquil instrumentation and breathtakingly beautiful, evocative lyrics, that may or may not mean something. (I really don't know.) 

   All completeness in the morning

    Asleep on your side
    I'll be waking up the crewmen
    Banana-boat ride

    She responds like limousine
    Brought alive on the silent screen
    To the shuddering breath of yesterday

    . . .

    As the cavalry of despair
    Takes a stand in the lady's hair
    For the favor of making sweet sixteen

Track 3: Exiles (7:40): Starts out quietly, with odd-scraping violin noises that sound nothing-so-much to me as some dogs fighting over some stray meat scraps. Suddenly the bass comes in, and the violin shifts into a sweeping, lyrical strain. Again, the lyrics are wistful and simply beautiful. 

    Now, in this faraway land
    Strange, that the palms of my hands
    Should be damp with expectancy

    Spring, and the air's turning mild
    City lights, and the glimpse of a child
    Of the alleyway infantry

    Friends, do they know what I mean?
    Rain, and the gathering green
    Of an afternoon out-of-town

    . . .

    My home, was a place near the sand
    Cliffs, and a military band
    Blew and air of normality

Track 4: Easy Money (7:54): Straight-out rock song about the vagaries of gambling and luck, i.e., "Easy Money." This is one of those nearly perfect rockers, as far as I'm concerned. Nice hooks, some chordal and fingering complexity, driving drums and percussion, etc. And sandwiched in the middle of the song, one of the most fascinating developing guitar solos of all-time, in my opinion. The lyrics are sardonic and relatively straightforward.

    Your admirers in the street
    Got to hoot and stamp their feet
    In the heat from your physique
    As you twinkle by in moccasin sneakers

    . . .

    With your figure and your face
    Strutting out at every race
    Throw a glass around the place
    Show the colour of your crimson suspenders

    We could take the money home
    Sit around the family throne
    My old dog could chew his bone
    For two weeks we could appease the Almighty

    . . .

    Got no truck with the la-di-da
    Keep my bread in an old fruit jar
    Drive you out in a motor-car
    Getting fat on your lucky star

Track 5: Talking Drum (7:26): The last two tracks are instrumentals. This one sneaks up on you. It starts off with barely audible drums and percussion. Bass, guitar and violin slowly building, until it reaches a pounding, pulsing crescendo, which leads directly into . . .

Track 6: Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two (7:07): For the most part, this instrumental runs at a consistently loud volume, albeit with some slight drops into a more moderate volume. It is repetitive and highly rhythmic, with a driving DA-DUM DA-DUM DA-DUM DA-DUM DA-DUM riff. Like the previous track, it too builds -- but not so much in volume as in intensity. And then . . . it's over!

Grade: In my opinion, this is one of those incredibly rare things . . . the perfect album. My favorite album and one which I tend to listen to at certain intervals pretty much incessantly. For this, I have to invent yet one more category: A+ for perfection!

Postscript: The CD has some outstanding outtakes from those sessions. The standout here is from "Talking Drum" which is exceptionally intense, so much so that you can hear surprised and ecstatic laughter from the crew erupt from the crew when it is finished!

BEST FIVE KING CRIMSON ALBUMS?

 

My guess is that, if you asked most King Crimson fans which five albums are their best albums, you would find there to be almost universal acclaim for what are the best four King Crimson albums, and some debate about what that fifth album would be. The universally recognized top four would be:

In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)

Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973)

Red (1974)

Discipline (1981)

These would be considered to be the classic King Crimson albums. I suppose there might be some variance between Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew aficionados (me, I'm a Fripp partisan), but I suspect not. It's my belief that these four are just empirically the best King Crimson albums.

But the fifth? That becomes your deep cut. The one that perhaps reveals who your inner you is. Mine periodically shifts, but here they are:

Lizard (1970)

Islands (1971)

Starless and Bible Black (1974)

In future posts, I will review each of these albums, starting out with my all-time favorite: Larks' Tongues in Aspic. Stay tuned!

COVER: TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN / KING CRIMSON

 

When I listen to music lately, I've started to focus on the drums. One talent that probably goes generally unrecognized is that of Michael Giles. Granted, he has a very limited corpus to adequately demonstrate his skills and talent. Two King Crimson albums in total, and I believe, only one or two solo albums. But this song, Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man, I think demonstrates well his power and skill on drums.

REVISING B1: IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN

 At this point, I've run through B1: In Search of the Unknown twice. This last time, nearly all the way through the module. And I've come to the point where I feel like I can revise /slash/ tweak how it runs. With an eye to running it again for different groups and at local cons.

Here are my thoughts so far:

1. Treasure: As I've indicated, I've hacked the treasure table to make it more hoard-worthy. There are still some tweaks I need to make -- like with the ever-present artworks, probably needing their very own subtable of my invention. But key the various rooms in the dungeon: minor treasure, major treasure, minor hoard and major hoard.
2. Wandering Monsters: My thought here is to move away from a duration-based check for most wandering monster checks. Instead, I'm thinking to check each time the characters reach an intersection where they have to choose a direction. Roll D12. On a 1, they encounter a wandering monster. I like this also because it captures the feel of them running into /slash/ bumping into the monsters. But when they rest, make it time-based again, say, once an hour at D12 or a lesser die. (But my real reason for this is to reduce the cognitive load for the DM of keeping track of time.)
3. Stock the Dungeon: Self-explanatory. Ideally, stocking it thematically.
4. Introduce the Ghost of Zelligar: This could-be one of those "oh shit" TPK moments -- or a roleplaying encounter that can provide background and motivation for the dungeon itself. The ghost would not start out immediately belligerent, though. I would roll a DF: +kindly, [blank] indifferent, -hostile. There would be at least one round of parlay, before any conflict -- giving the players the option to actually choose to fight or not.

USING SKILLS IN D&D 5E

One of my pet peeves is having skills that seem good from a roleplaying perspective, but are almost useless in actual gameplay. Or having a super skill that seems to apply in every case. Here are my thoughts on how to straighten out some of them:

Perception vs. Investigation: Perception can be one of those super-skills and Investigation one of those nothing-skills. Or at least that's how I've seen it in play. In my game, Perception is more like situational awareness, peripheral vision or general discrimination among the senses. It is more passive than Investigation, which is more about detailed and systematic investigation of the scene.

• Avoiding surprise and/or gaining the advantage in combat? Perception.
• Listening at a door or trying to distinguish something you hear or see? Perception.
• Searching a room for treasure, clues, secret doors, etc.? Investigation.

Speaking Other Languages: In D&D, most everyone, including the monsters, speak some common language, whether it be the Common Tongue, or, in my current Ravnica campaign, Ravi. (Note: most everyone. The DM can move that slider wherever they want.) This is mostly a convenience so that most games don't become an RPG version of the Telephone Game.

But there are still ways to make languages matter in D&D. One of them is recognizing that people take pride in their language or how the use of a particular dialect can display prestige. Here are two tweaks that make language choices a bit more relevant.

• If you speak the same secondary language, your attempts to Persuade are automatically at Advantage.
• Conversely, if you don't speak their language, using Insight to judge their intentions when they are speaking their language is at a disadvantage. (This could also be justified or applied to situations where the speaker has an accent when speaking the common language. Their speech patterns through off the interpretation)

Knowledge Skills: The problem here is two-fold. You want the skills to be distinct enough so that someone is rewarded for picking this one, instead of that one. But you also want them to be generally useful. The key is to make them different and distinct, but with just a little overlap between them. Here is my current take:

• Arcana: Knowledge of magic, metaphysics, the planes, physical and magical laws that govern the omniverse.
• History: History, the Law, and politics.
• Religion: Religion, philosophy, the gods, the planes, ritual and etiquette.

Nature is the difficult one for me right now. How to make it distinct from Survival, but with some built in overlap?

QUOTABLES: THE APOCRYPHAL WINSTON CHURCHILL

 

This more of a grammatical joke, than a historically accurate anecdote.

One day in Parliament, Winston Churchill was finishing up a stemwinder of a speech as PM. After the speech, one of his colleagues in the party, a product of Eton and of Oxford, chided him for ending a sentence with a preposition.

As ever, the quick-witted PM replied: "That sir, is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put!

Utterly brilliant!

STEVIE WONDER IMPROV

As a child growing up in Texas, I listened the radio a lot. In Texas of the time, you had two choices: FM or AM. FM was predominately country music, and AM was Top 40 and R&B. My station of choice at the time was KTSA in San Antonio. We were living there during Stevie's wonderyears. Years later on SNL, I witnessed his comedic talents. (The other standout for me as a guest on SNL was another musician, Ringo Starr.)

 

What happened was that his electric keyboard went dead. And then Stevie, right then and there, improvised a whole song about the mishap. What wit and charm. Simply hilarious!

Enjoy!

QUOTABLES: BRIAN ENO

 

Anyone who knows me, knows that my taste in music tends toward art rock, avante-garde rock or progressive rock -- depending on your preferred nomenclature for the genre. 

King Crimson, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Queen etc.

With Brian Eno, its his vocal works that I, in particular favor. I consider him to be the Lewis Carroll or Ogden Nash of rock. Nonsense, often tautological lyrics that seem to say something . . . but always evocative of something.

Below are some of my favorite Eno-isms:

"To be a zombie all the time / requires such dedication." Dead Finks Don't Talk, Here Come the Warm Jets.

 "While miles below the curlews call from strangely stunted trees / The painted sage sits just as though he's flying / Regina's jet disturbs his wispy beard." Burning Airlines Give You So Much More, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy).

"But her taste is such that she'll distinguish with her tongue / the subtleties a spectrograph would miss / and announce her decision / while demanding her reward: / a jellyfish kiss." The Fat Lady of Limbourgh, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy).

 "They know what God gave their fingers for / to make percussion over solo  [typewriters over Fripp guitar solo]" China My China, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). 

"And we saw St. Elmo's Fire / spitting ions in the ether." St. Elmo's Fire, Another Green World.

"I stand on the beach / giving out descriptions / different for everyone I see." Everything Merges With the Night, Another Green World.

-- FIN --

VARIABLE HP FOR MONSTERS IN D&D 5E

 

While I prefer standard, fixed characteristics for Player Characters, I actually want some level of random variability in creatures found in the Monster Manual and other similar books, plus their NPC types. As such, I have reconfigured my monsters to have three listed HP totals: minimum, default and maximum.

Each represents a possible state for said monster:

MInimum = minion, mook, weak by nature and/or previously injured or depleted in some way.

Default = monster as presented, typical specimen of that type.

Maximum = boss creature, at the height of its power and abilities.

So then, how to apply this in practice?

1. Roll DF: +maximum, [blank] default, -minimum.

2. Designate by narrative role: as suggested above, a leader-type maximum, standard troops default, waves of minions/mooks minimum.

3. Determine their hardiness inside a battle to adjust their challenge to the players on the fly. Add damage to the first threshold. Are the players breezing through the encounter? Aim in direction of maximum HP. Handling it with some effort involved? Aim in direction of default HP. Really struggling, in danger of TPK? Aim in direction of minimum. And yes, it's a kind of fudging -- but more productive and defensible (I think) than fudging actual die rolls.

4. Or in a dungeon setting for example, if the party is to defeat and the monsters repopulate, rinse and repeat: start at maximum for the monster group, the second time have them operate at default, third and final/subsequent repopulation(s) minimum.

Here are some examples by CR:

Myconid Sprout (CR 0, 2D6): 2, 7, 12

Kobold (CR 1/8, 2D6-2): 1, 5, 10

Kuo-Toa (CR 1/4, 4D8): 4, 18, 32

Lizardfolk (CR 1/2, 4D8+4): 8, 22, 36

Bugbear (CR 1, 5D8+5): 10, 27, 45

Wererat (CR 2, 6d8 + 6): 12, 33, 54

Owlbear (CR 3, 7D10+21): 28, 59, 91

Succubus (CR 4, 12d8+12): 24, 66, 108

And so on . . . As for CR, I don't personally change mine on the theory that it all averages out in the end. However, you would certainly be justified in increasing or decreasing it by one step if you wished.

Of course, YMMV.

GRAMMATICAL MYTHS

 

When you teach English, as I do, and you meet a stranger out in the world and they learn you do, they will invariably want to discuss/argue with you about one of two things:

Did Shakespeare write Shakespeare or did someone else?

What do you think about this English grammar fact/rule?

To the first, my answer is a resounding yes. To the second . . . well, it can be a bit more complicated:

How many tenses are there in English? According to linguists, two -- past and non-past.

How many cases are there in English? Three, but only barely -- i.e., only in the case of our pronouns, and otherwise none.

And so forth. Since the Victorians, grammarians have concocted a variety of what I would call faux grammar rules, based on their love of Latin and logic -- and apparently not English in its rich variety and history of Englishes.

Here is Robwords, debunking them in a reliably methodical way that I don't really have the patience for:

Love it! And as a parting shot, here is one of my favorite apocryphal, anecdotal stories about Churchill. Not literally true, but certainly spiritually so:

In the Commons, a rival of Churchill's took him to task for ending a sentence with a preposition. Churchill's response was both swift and devastating. He said, "That sir, is the sort of nonesence up with which I will not put!"

Needless to say: Enjoy!

MODIFIED RANDOM TREASURE TABLES FOR B1

 

In my previous post, I mentioned my own method for randomly determining treasure in B1 by using the treasure tables provided by the module and by deconstructing the 4D6 die roll (or with fewer dice) to arrive at a more diversity in the results narrated to my players.

To recapitulate, roll the multiple of dice indicated. Add the dice rolled for all combinations of one, two, three and four dice. Reduce coinage by a factor of ten when the maximum result listed is in excess of 100 coins.

This post is to present those random treasure tables actually as described. Remember that you can key the areas according to how large you want the described treasure to be: minor treasure D6, major treasure 2D6, minor hoard 3D6, major hoard 4D6. (When in doubt, roll D4 to determine the size of the treasure find.)

Minor Treasure D6

1-3    None

4        Art Object (average value 750 GP)

5        D2 Gems (each valued at 500 GP)

6        Art Object (averge value 250 GP)

Major Treasure 2D6

2-3   None

4       Art Object (average value 750 GP)

5       D2 Gems (each valued at 500 GP)

6       Art Object (averge value 250 GP)

7       D2 Art Objects (average value 100 GP)

8       D4 Art Objects (average value 50 GP)

9       2D4 Art Objects (average value 25 GP)

10     Coin Hoard (see subtable)

11     3D4 Gems (each valued at 50 GP)

12     20-70 EP

Minor Hoard 3D6

3      None

4      Art Object (average value 750 GP)

5      D2 Gems (each valued at 500 GP)

6      Art Object (averge value 250 GP)

7      D2 Art Objects (average value 100 GP)

8      D4 Art Objects (average value 50 GP)

9      2D4 Art Objects (average value 25 GP)

10    Coin Hoard (see subtable A)

11    3D4 Gems (each valued at 50 GP)

12    20-70 EP

13    40-240 CP

14    30-180 SP

15    10-120 GP

16    4D4 Gems (each valued at 10 GP)

17    D6 Gems (each valued at 100 GP)

18    D3 Potions (see subtable B)

Major Treasure 4D6

4      Art Object (average value 750 GP)

5      D2 Gems (each valued at 500 GP)

6      Art Object (averge value 250 GP)

7      D2 Art Objects (average value 100 GP)

8      D4 Art Objects (average value 50 GP)

9      2D4 Art Objects (average value 25 GP)

10    Coin Hoard (see subtable A)

11    3D4 Gems (each valued at 50 GP)

12    20-70 EP

13    40-240 CP

14    30-180 SP

15    10-120 GP

16    4D4 Gems (each valued at 10 GP)

17    D6 Gems (each valued at 100 GP)

18    D3 Potions (see subtable B)

19    D2 Spell Scrolls (see subtable C)

20    Driftglobe

21    Shield +1

22    Weapon +1 (see subtable D)

23    Bag of Holding

24    Boots of Elvenkind

Gem Reference D12 for each

10 GP: 1 Azerite, 2 Bonded Agate, 3 Blue Quartz, 4 Eye Agate, 5 Hematite, 6 Lapis Lazuli, 7 Malachite, 8 Moss Agate, 9 Obsidian, 10 Rhodochrosite, 11 Tiger Eye, 12 Turquoise

50 GP: 1 Bloodstone, 2 Carnelian, 3 Chalcedony, 4 Chrysopose, 5 Citrine, 6 Jasper, 7 Moonstone, 8 Onyx, 9 Rock Crystal, 10 Sardonyx, 11 Smoky Quartz, 12 Star Rose Quarts OR Zircon

100 GP: 1 Amber, 2 Alexandrite, 3 Amethyst, 4 Aquamarine, 5 Chrysoberyl, 6 Coral, 7 Garnet, 8 Jade, 9 Jet, 10 Pearl, 11 Topaz, 12 Tourmaline 

500 GP: 1 Black Opal, 2 Black Sapphire, 3 Diamond, 4 Emerald, 5 Fire Opal, 6 Jacinth, 7 Opal, 8 Oriental Amethyst, 9 Oriental Emerald, 10 Oriental Topaz, 11 Star Ruby, 12 Star Sapphire

(Drawn from 1E DMG 25)

Subtable A: Coin Hoard D6

1    Copper 8D6 x10, Silver 3D6 x10

2    Copper 6D6, Silver 4D6, Gold 2D6

3    Silver 10D10, Gold 5D10

4    Copper 2D6 x10, Silver D6 x10, Gold 2D6 x10

5    Silver D6 x10, Electrum D6 x10, Gold D4 x10

6    Gold 6D6, Platinum 2D6

Subtable B: Potions D6

1    Healing

2    Climbing

3    Water Breathing

4    Resistance

5    Animal Friendship

6    Greater Healing (counts as two potions)

Subtable C: Spell Scrolls D8

1    Wizard Cantrip

2    Cleric Cantrip

3    Wizard, 1st Level

4    Wizard, 2nd Level

5.   Cleric, 1st Level

6.   Cleric 2nd Level

7.   Wizard, 3rd Level

8.   Two Spell Scrolls (roll twice more on this table and ignore any 8's)

Subtable D: Weapons +1 D6

1    Dagger

2    4D6 Arrows

3    2D6 Crossbow Bolts

4    Spear

5    Mace

6    Sword (Roll D4: 1 - shortsword, 2- rapier, 3- longsword, 4- greatsword)

These tables are optimized for B1 and for my deconstructed method for distributing treasure. I suspect one could also use them for similar adventures and modules for characters levels 1-3.

Excelsior!

MY DICE NOTATION

I realize that I should say something about my evolving use of dice in D&D and my use of notation. First of all, my notation employs CAPS throughout. It is nothing more than an aesthetic and accessibility choice (my failing eyes).

Here's my toolkit:

Standard Die (cube): D6. Can also be used with some ingenuity to simulate rolling a D2 or D3.

Fate Die (DF): Used in Fate RPGs. D6 marked with sides of plus, minus or blank.

D&D Polyhedral Dice: D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20

So-Called Weird Dice from Goodman Games: irregular in shape or notation and used in their DCC RPG, including D3, D5, D7, D14, D16, D24, D30.

Dice that I actually use in my game:

D2: Used as an oracle for binary YES/NO or POSITIVE/NEGATIVE -type questions. Roll D6 and determine dice determining results either by HIGH/LOW or ODD/EVEN.

DF: Used when the results can be +positive, -negative or [blank] neutral.

D3: When there are three choices randomly available and the results are mostly indifferent: Roll D6 and divide by three, rounding up. Or roll a weird D3, faces marked by the Roman numerals I-III.

D5: I have actually used this a few times in my game in much the same manner as for the D3.

Polyhedral D&D Dice: Platonic Solids -- D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, D20.

D30: A number of supplements I download from RPG use D30 for their random tables.

D% or D100: Roll 2D10s of different colors. The first color is for the tens digit, the other for the units digit.

D1000: Roll 3D10s of different colors, employing a method for renduring results similar to D%.

I'll let you all know if I end up using additional dice from the list. But right now, that's it.

WHAT AM I WATCHING?

So I've started watching Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War on Netflix. What I find interesting about the show is how it puts the OK Corral in context and shows it as a first event and not a last event. It is consequently, a much more interesting story -- with both personal and national importance. The actors they've chosen to dramatize the story are quite good. Especially, Wyatt Earp, Ike Clanton and Sheriff Behan. But it is the dramatizations that I'd also be critical of, in that they impart motives and thoughts to the portrayed without necessarily any foundation to them. Having said that, the script for the series is also very good. Informative, conversational in tone and with a number of narrative surprises built into it. Grade: A-.

We're also finishing up the fourth season of Man in the High Castle. When I read this PKD novel, I remember being very impressed by it, though I'd subsequently forgotten the details and plot to it. (Something my wife would tell you is very unusual for me to do.) I feel that the show captures well the look and feel of the novel -- both in the visuals and the tone. The cinematography and mis-en-scène are stunning -- crisp and fully realized with remarkable detail and irony. Rufus Sewell as Obergruppenführer John Smith is simply, as always, great! There may be some pacing issues overall, though. Grade: A-.