The Misty Isles: Part 1

Art by me inspired by a combination of art lettering on the Dungeon Master Kits and Dean Rogers… I am going for that 1970s vibe.

Back in the mists of tyme (1976-1977) 3 Dungeon Master Kits were created by Wee Warriors Ltd and distrusted by TSR. The Palace of the Vampire Queen and The Dwarven Glory can be considered the first two stand alone modules published. The third kit Misty Isles is more of a setting background. These three kits form the beginnings of the world setting, the background for the world of my players. They can be purchased on DriveThru RPG unless you play OD&D or 2E (some updating has been done by Précis Intermedia that has a copyright deal) you will need to update to which ever system you are using.

I decided to update the mechanics towards a more 5e version and experiment with ideas from ICRPG, 5e Hardcore, as well as several other systems old and new (well new to me… probably old news to others).

The first thing I decided was to consider player races and character classes… 

I decided to start with the classic 4 races… in consideration of how these races coexist 

Dwarf (Dominant ruling race on the Island of Baylor, miners, warriors, craftsman, merchants, and more they are found all over the Island in every civilised settlement in some capacity of either the crown or civilian pursuits)

Elf (Fishermen predominantly)

Hobbit aka Halfling (Farmers predominately)

Human (Jack of all trades, coastal city dwellers predominantly)

I will expand this list but I want to do character creation very differently this time around so I am keeping it simple for the introduction.

Next I considered classes some may start out as only NPC classes or were only NPC classes in original introduction to the game. As scenario number 1 will be  0 level, learn to play adventure start, I will keep it simple at first. However I decided to look through what had been published in the original rules, supplements, The Strategic Review and Dragon up through December 1977. 

Fighter (Men & Magic 1974)

Magic User (Men & Magic 1974)

Cleric (Men & Magic 1974)

Thief (Greyhawk 1975)

Paladin (Greyhawk 1975)

Ranger (The Strategic Review 1975)

Illusionist (The Strategic Review 1975, The Dragon Magazine 1976)

Monk (Blackmoor 1975)

Assassin (Blackmoor 1975)

Sage (Blackmoor 1975)

Druid (Eldritch Wizardry 1976) 

Psionics (Eldritch Wizardry 1976, Dragon Magazine 1977) I will be making changes for sure.

Artificiers (Dragon Magazine 1976)

Alchemist (Dragon Magazine 1976)

Healers (Dragon Magazine 1976)

Scribes (Dragon Magazine 1976)

Samurai (Dragon Magazine 1976) I will probably not be using 

Berserker (Dragon Magazine 1976)

Idiot (Dragon Magazine 1976)

Jester (Dragon Magazine 1976)

Rules for female Characters (Dragon Magazine 1976 and 1977) I will probably not be using 

Witches (Dragon Magazine 1977)

That’s a pretty big list of PC and NPC classes and ideas.

In addition “new monsters”, magical devices, and articles on all sorts of useful subjects are in these old resources so I will be considering what I can use. I am definitely going to introduce the idea of Half-Goblins (just something in a chart I noticed in one of the 1976 Dragon Magazines). 

Happy Gaming 

PS 

The Merchant was originally suppose to be in the Blackmoor Supplement, I will need to research it a bit as well as Sea Merchants and Merchants in general are part of The Misty Isles background as well as necessary to Island economy.