Both of MCDM’s Strongholds and Followers, and Kingdoms and Warfare are great books, that I think everyone interested in this style of play should check them both out at some point.
A lot of the old fantasy protagonists were, or became, lords after their lives of adventure and had to defend their realms from forces both internal and external: King Conan, King Kull Prince Corum, Emperor Elric (who became Prince Consort)etc...
Yeah, to understand any edition of D&D you must understand the media that spawned it. OD&D was created out of old pulps, King Arthur and Tolkein along with tabletop wargaming so you get a lot of full history and crunch. 5e is spawned of anime and video games so you get a lot of flash and unkillable heroes.
And D&d came from wargaming/simulations, so getting into armies, strategy and land managing was natural. The circle is complete. dungeons were just a mean to achieve a goal. Modern RPG have reduced so much the scope of 'role play' into 1 game loop, where is was only limited by imagination before bleeding into multiple game genre.
Agreed. I haven’t consistently played since 2e but back in the “old days” most players in a world were in a sense planning for “retirement”, that is, once they reach a certain level they began to step away from active exploration and this was a way to be active and still in the world. I know of players whose keeps, towers, etc. became a permanent part of the world and at times a player’s new character would run across their previous character.
You don't even need specific examples. Try to think of the outline for a generic medieval fantasy plot. -There's a threat to a kingdom. -A hero emerges. -He saves the kingdom and marries the princess. While it's not sound by traditions of succession, for the sake of story that character's now a prince.
I read both of those Dragon magazines so many times. I LOVE that cover on #127 is amazing. Back in the day getting a domain was THE goal for my players. We used to have a ton of fun having the players design their own towers, churches, castles, etc. The players always grouped their strongholds together, for example the fighter would build a castle and one of the towers would belong to the wizard and the church would be built inside, the thief's hangout would be in the town outside the castle, etc. Then they would have a place to retreat to if things went wonky during an adventure, and many times powerful NPCs they thwarted would then invade their stronghold/domain as revenge for getting their plans thwarted. My group just started a 2e campaign, I'll definitely need to remind them about that concept, we just kinda decided last weekend and spent a couple of hours creating characters, I need to spend some time getting familiar with the rules again. Great timing for this video.
You my friend are a treasure! I would love to see you write a book about thieves that includes the history of them in DnD and that includes the domain information.
Such a great collection of videos. I understand the desire for a more professional look, but the visuals are great, and the passion for the material shows. I remember playing and the DM would recap what happened between sessions at our strongholds. This, of course, would launch us off to solve the latest crisis. For those that don't like strongholds, where are you gonna stash your loot? If you are successful, you can't carry it all. :)
I always wondered what to do with all that treasure we got. In the beginning, we spent most of it resupplying and getting better equipment. Spending it on horses and tack which is expensive. Then all of a sudden we actually had treasure left over. So I asked the DM where I could store it. He just looked at me like he never even thought about that before. So the next session he asked everyone how much treasure they were carrying and had on our horses. Suffice it to say that we were all encumbered. So we went to the bank and they wanted to charge us to store our gold and goods. Yikes! Do the expenses never end? That's when we figured that we were going to need a "Base of Operations". Somewhere to safely store all this stuff. But that was going to cost us money as well. So we were just going to have to spend this money one way or another. And that's when my character, a thief, came up with the "feed the Kitty" idea of an adventurer's fund to pay for everything. Needless to say my Thief did the books and so he charged a "fee" for the service 😊
Perfect timing! I was looking for resources and my "Castle Guide" from 2E doesn't have much. My players cleaned out the Keep of Alderweg from UK3 The Gauntlet and decided they want to keep it.
I'm so glad to hear that! There are quite a few fun 2E Guides but there are also a few (I think the Castle Guide is a good example) of things that sounded like they'd be good but which are pretty thin on usable in-game content. I remember UK3 (and it's predecessor UK2 The Sentinel! Great stuff!
I never thought explicitly about domain level as a victory condition. Really fascinating historical context you provide here. Awesome to see your Quintessential Aristocrat here! It's so cool you have it in hardcover as a memento. Looks like fantastic product in that line!
Was going to comment this, the first book is strongholds and followers, and the second book is kingdoms and warfare. Both books are great for dominion level play
First you are one of the few straight dnd channels I watch I still try to run domains, but switched to d100nyears ago and use the ideas from the Nobles books from pendragon and stuff cobbled from earlier dnd Great video
Really appreciated your discussion on early D&D's domain-level play and the evolution into modern editions. The shift from adventurers to lords owning strongholds adds a rich layer of strategy, yet the reluctance towards intensive bookkeeping often led players to start anew. It's exciting to hear the upcoming edition aims to reintroduce similar concepts, hopefully balancing the adventure thrill with manageable domain management.
As a youth I was big into wargames, so domain level play was a huge part of out D&D games. I have tried to get my current players into it, with mixed results. It seems to work best if I keep it simple. I have fond memories of watching the Peanuts holiday specials back in the days, so it was cool to hear you talk about it. Great video!
Great video!! I really enjoy your history videos, they take me back to my youth and all the games we played back then. Excellent description of domain level play, I have to admit I wasn’t familiar with that term before watching. Thanks for mentioning Birthright! It’s an often overlooked setting. Personally, I never really liked running a strong hold. When we played AD&D, I would usually retire my character once i attracted followers and we start over at 1st level. I do have a few friends who really enjoy amassing followers and henchmen. I homebrewed some stronghold/followers rules for 5e, but I’ll check out the new Bastion play test to see if those rules work better. Also, the quintessential guide to aristocrats sounds awesome! Can you still purchase that book? I don’t play 3.x anymore, but I would love to get a copy of your book for my collection. Keep up the awesome work!!
I bought two 3rd party stronghold supplements to help work out a Keep and Barony reward to the party. The party didn't want to feel tied down to the land, so they shifted it all onto the kobold rogue. So began the reign of Baron Stump.
Playing CM1 Test of the Warlords was my first real "Domain" campaign. It was also the first time I ever got "Fanatical Followers". After the initial getting of the domains, we spent probably a month getting each players followers, planning the domain, raising and equipping armies and all that other good stuff that came with it. And that was just the start of the campaign. In other campaigns we had an Island that we took over with a passage to the Underdark. We took over a fort in the wilderness and hired mercenaries to guard it. I had an insane monomaniac character that tried to take over the Holy Cities and nearly succeeded. Insane leaders are never a good idea. I did have one character that got a small keep from a Deck of Many Things. But he also got Enmity between you and a Devil. So he never went to the Keep since he figured that the Devil was there waiting for him.
Probably worth mentioning the big change of economies that started with 3rd edition. Starting with 3e, you had definite ways to spend your money: purchasing magic items! There is a Wealth By Level chart that reflects the fact that the game assumes you have certain math enhancing magic items. So this disincentivized pulling money away from your growth in personal power into your stronghold. Plus, having ways to earn income from your stronghold now had a direct impact on your growth in personal power, since you could now spend income to power yourself up! They wanted to avoid the problems of having fungible currency being spendable on both areas
Yay! - note, I'd like to go back and make comments beyond "yay," but I always enjoy the content and deff want to make sure I get one in for the big ALG
Also in 2nd ed the Blue DM supplimental book Castles book which had all the stuff for setting up domains and types of castles for different classes and even races (example halflings would construct a motte-and-bailey keep with a lot of rooms inside the motte) ; also there were articles in dragon about having monks setting up monestaries and wizards could found magic schools
3rd edition did have a feat that allowed you to attract followers, but it was a relatively small number and had no connection to strongholds or domains
Intersting and varied as usual. As primarily a historical table top wargamer from the UK, back in 74 you had 3 period; Ancients (= no guns lots of melee), Horse and Musket (a term used to refer to the 18th &19th centuries, (infantry mostly shooting and cavalry mostly meleeing)), and modern (=WW2, with as many tanks as you could aford or get away with). All games were between generals of armies (players), with the objective to beat the opponant and claim a military victory, the scenario being either based on a historical battle or a made up situation. campaigns were (and still are rare). There was a growing popularity of man against man confrontations ('skirmish games', such as Colonial games, Roman Arena, WW1 Dogfights) these were about survival, either one game or a sequence of games. It was D&D THAT COLLECTED ALL THE ABOVE CONCEPTS (AND OTHERS), into a single package. I played with the mindset of surviving a skirmish scenario (as did the players I played with, Lordships and Domains were not why we played. The lack of domain play over the years has resulted in 'Dump Stats' and pushed games into more combat centered exchanges (like tabletop wargames). So maybe more Domain play will find new uses for none combat statistics and abilities;.... Imagine using your charisma to aviod arrest by the city watch, as you try to find out just how many ballistas are covering the gate where your Lord's assult is planned at dawn, already the moon is setting, will your disguise hold up when you talk the gate keeper or will your accent give you away... [ sorry for the long comment: I need to get out more ].
No problem at all! I am well-known on Twitter for being the kind of the 12-part tweet, so long comments are always appreciated! I really like your last part on ideas for using non-combat stats/abilities - that's exactly how I prefer to play! And thanks for sharing your stories about early wargaming. I started directly with D&D in 1981 and never had friends who were into wargaming, so I missed a lot of that kind of thing you're talking about, but as I've dug into the history, I find it very interesting! Thanks again!
13:35 "a lot of people just don't like the idea of book keeping" .. and that was the beauty of being a Mage who knew Simulacrum in first and second edition 😏 Cast the spell to create a copy of yourself or else of someone high level known for their competence at running an estate or kingdom and you've a completely loyale seneschal, then turn around to the DM and say "here you go, there's his stats and experience I'll just let him run it all" .. also a good way to cut your staffing costs for any epsensive NPC hirelings, find someone with the skills you need and make a simulacrum of them. [You also needed the spells reincarnation and limited wish of course.] Which hands the whole thing off to the DM .. the danger of course is that he's going to hate you for that and find creative ways to make you suffer for dong it 😁
@@daddyrolleda1 Creative? I'm not so sure of that. Creative copying perhaps 🙂 though I'm not sure we can call copying creative. Who's the original mage with a castle somewhere on the coast of (I think) the Nyr Dyv? one of the circle of eight, Mordenkainen perhaps? whoever the mage it mentions in WoGH box set his castle has many simulacrum servants, so the characters original player in that campaign was probably the one to think of using the spell for that sort of thing first and that's where I got the idea from. Hmm 🤔 of course, the word you were (probably) really looking for there is most likely lazy 😉
Adventurer Conqueror King System, has domains as a key part of game progression. Domains give gold and also xp. There is a kickstarter right now for ACKS II.
Thank you so much! I was aware of the original game (I don't have it but I've heard quite a bit about it) but I didn't realize there was a second edition coming out! How is it different?
@@daddyrolleda1 ACKSII compiles rules and clarifications from the last decade that were spread in magazines and modules. It also upgrades some things like the thief class and polish other systems.
Phew! For a moment I was afraid I had thrown out 3e Stronghold Builders Guidebook but I found it! One of the few 3e books I kept through my big purge. It's pretty cool! The 2e Castle Guide I only had as an A3 sized copy a friend's dad took for us from another friends book. That was so cumbersome I threw it out ages ago. I think that's one I might get as pdf now. I've never made it to domain level play. I had drawn an insane huge castle for my first characters based on the ideas of magical castle building I think was from the Dawn of the Emperors gazetteer 😅 I appreciate the stronghold system in the Forbidden Lands basic box. Inspired as the game is by old school D&D. Will be interesting to also see if Gavin Norman gets to creating domain play for Dolmenwood which is one of his future plans for that setting and system.
Wow! Thanks for the video! I always thought I was the only person in the World that actually played Birthright 😅 Great ideas there, domain spells and bloodlines in particular. Played a ton of that via email (yes, I'm ancient) 😂
Heh, I see now why you were getting that issue of Dragon out. So far as it goes, I personally always liked this style of play, but also just generally found it useful for establishing the initial locale a lot of time. So you've been hired as problem solvers for a new local lord just establishing his domain, if you survive and stick it out you may be able to take control of a new subdomain as his territory expands.
Год назад+1
The best rule set for Domain level play is the "Adventurer Conqueror King System" or "ACKS" for short. Really well designed from the ground up and it became my favorite system many years ago.
14:31 Great video as always. I’ll disagree here though. BECMI fairly supports dominion play in some modules in CM and M (I think) series. I rather think that these rules weren’t that much popular because they were intended to very high level play - in the BECMI boxed sets it was only described in Companion - that’s levels 25 and up (even though Expert talked about land owning, but didn’t give the actual rules for the management or the mass combat aspects). Most groups, I believe, played most of the time within Basic - Expert range - so never got to dominions, planar travel and immortal stuff.
In 5th E all things that might pertain to domains, about players founding settlements, building and running certain buildings etc are all found in the DMG.
Why is that a bad thing? It introduces new players (who aren't going to go back and take a look at older editions btw) to a style of play that used to be more prevalent. A style they might even enjoy it.
@@qwerty098cool1 Yeah, I think he's being sarcastic about WotC saying they're developing / introducing something "new" .. it's a bit like Elon Musk announcing his 'new invention' of 'the wheel' as a brand new never before seen thing.
Im a bit surprised no mention of pathfinder kingmaker. Had a lot of fun playing a seidge mage with the true ruler feat and everything cannon related I could find. A fun mix of a gunsmithing walter white and richard Nixon.
No worries at all! Someone else did mention it, but not everybody reads every comment so it's good to mention useful tools again. While I did run Pathfinder (and still do have a Pathfinder 1E game I'm trying to wrap up), I stopped buying new books shortly after Ultimate Combat and the Advanced Player's Guides. I just became a bit dissatisfied with the glut of new feats and fiddly rules that I began to realize I was never going to use, especially as I started to get more and more interested in the creativity of the old-school movement. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I like domain level play, but I never get to run it. An idea I've had floating in my head for a long time is a roleplaying wargame (kind of like early warhammer), where the players have a hero they control, but that hero is also the sergeant of a company of fighting-men. So in addition to all the normal adventuring stuff they would have to kit out their men, maintain morale, deal with injuries, and lead them into battle. I have no idea if anyone other than me would be even remotely interested in that though. Also a great domain level play kind of book is Harnmanor, if you're into book keeping. If you really REALLY want to know the ins and outs of manorial management, and track it precisely (I do) Harnmanor is hard to overlook.
Adding "owning land and making money off it" to the list of unrealistic fantasies D&D can fulfill for Millennials and GenZ these days, alongside getting 8 hours of rest per day, speaking multiple languages, and being able to live off freelancing... ;)
I have seen other games try to introduce their own versions of domain play. Apocalypse World included the Hardholder class that controlled a small town and its militia force, and others who could control smaller biker gangs, trade caravans etc including how to wield groups in battle. Fighting a group of 30 people hurts. Blades in the Dark started the players in control of a street gang they could grow as a shared project. The PCs are the stars and leading lieutenants of the gang who grow their territory, resoures and goons. Mutant Y0 had a very basic system to grow your village and allowed at least one player to be one of the gang bosses leading the village. The players rolled skills to grow new projects and could donate finds to improve the village.
I've never thought of Aristocrat as a separate NPC class. I did run with a generic NPC class which allowed me to have characters of status without being all fighty and stuff. They could be 'dual classed' so you might have a local lord who was an F2/N(PC) 7 which meant he had spent a bit of time being trained with swords but he maybe had to learn how to administer his reaIm. I also used 'scouts' a lot, 'criminal enforcers' a bit and 'merchant adventurers', all built out of the 2E DMG on how to create new classes. None of these new classes were better than the standard classes but as a DM gave advantages in certain scenarios. Probably the best was the Scout who was purely a wilderness thief, a bit tougher but not much use in town (half all the move silently type skills). The NPC class let me have a 5th level leader of a community, some more HP with some more non weapon proficiencies (which is something else I've changed to try to be a bit more realistic.... yeah.... I know..... 😂). I should say, I've never got passed 2E and haven't played in a loooooonnnnng time but hoping to change that soon. Thanks for the vid, its been thought provoking.
Good one Dad! Here's my crazy theory on the matter. D&D began with fantasy wargaming where every player had one role and that was commander of their army, but then people started to wonder - who is this person? how did they rise to power? And that is where D&D comes in. This is why traditionally, characters start at level 1 and have no noteworthy background. The game of D&D is your background creator and it's purpose is to chronicle your leader's rise to power and eventually lead back to a game of Chainmail. The problem is that with D&D they created something which was more fun than domain level play and wargaming. WotC? I think they are just dredging up whatever is left that they can bring themselves to try to make money off of. It seems as if every previous edition has ended the same way (with the exception of 4e which they just pulled the plug on), so this is the end of 5e, which does mean that coming in 2024 is not 5.5, not One D&D, but (say it with me kids!) Sixth Edition.
I always enjoyed reading those Dragon articles about owning land but couldn’t imagine that style of play really, I thought you might as well be playful a board game.
Gangbusters, being published in 1982 retains a lot of these mechanics. As a criminal you can set up a numbers racket or a still which makes you money over the long haul.
Também acho que os elementos de domínios foram muito influenciado pelo Braunstein, como você disse todos tinha objetivos para aumentar seu status no jogo, isto não seria basicamente oque acontece no OD&D?
I'm going out on a limb here. The type of player that is truly interested in domain level play isn't terribly interested in 5th edition or 5.5e or 6e or whatever WotC thinks the 2024 release is going to be called. Either way, a great video once again.
Tons of evidence conclude that most campaigns wither by or before level 10. Why? I would contend that the fantasy of higher level play is compelling but the mechanics of just more of the same are repetitive and worse, tarpit the gameplay. Some game systems simply stop at this point (Shadowdark, Shadow of the Demon Lord, etc.). I’d like to see some branching gameplay options like epic-level play, continuing with the 5E D&D superhero fantasy towards divine ascension (e.g. Immortals) and domain-level play, building out the political, economic and military scale. I believe the game should offer new experiences for the players, and I think the data supports it.
More power to people who dig this angle of the game, but I never cared much about it. I had one character get to the point where they built their little stronghold with a bunch of followers and all that and I basically immediately retired them and started clean. After that, I always just retired characters before they even reached that level. Not a part of the game I really used.
I myself have never had a character follow that path and haven't played with people where that was a goal for their PCs. But I think it's a fun and interesting concept and until I made this video, I hadn't really thought about how it was such a huge part of the TSR-era editions but how it's pretty much gone away with 3E onward.
@@daddyrolleda1 Yeah, maybe it was scrubbed because not a lot of people used it? Dunno. Always nice to have it as an option, though... for those interested in it. :-)
I never liked domains because they can easily become a DM vs Player thing. I prefer to run sandbox campaigns where the world is mostly reactive to the players. If they get into trouble it is usually their own doing. With domains, I feel like the DM is expected to bring trouble to the player, and since the DM knows exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of the domain are it can easily feel as though the DM is using that knowledge against the player. That might sound a non-concern to some DMs because, after all, the DM always brings challenges to the players. But my approach is somewhat old school, in the sense that the world is just there, and if players eff around they find out. For example, I can have level 1 characters encounter a dragon because they’re not meant to fight everything they meet. With a domain though, it just sits there waiting for the world to come to it, so I feel like the game’s story is driven by the DM rather than the players. Of course, domains don’t have to be like that, but in my experience they often lead to rather passive play by the players.
Sounds like we're just describing Kingmaker and other West Marches style games. I'm for it, particularly at tables where I don't always know who will be there and how many players we'll have. Also, from a player side, its nice to have a rooster of PCs of different levels and styles just because I get to scratch my "play a rogue" itch without abandoning my main. But I don't know what WotC seriously plans to bring to the table that doesn't already exist. Feels like they're just slapping a new coat of paint on an old idea.
I have a conspiracy theory that they want to make domaine play into a phone app which they can use as a micro transaction machine. They will be able to milk players for money by offering gameplay advantages with microtransactions, but they can still say that 6e doesn't have that connection. I could see a time mechanic which is common in such apps.
We retired our characters via purchase of barron estates, thieves stronghold, wizards tower, or patriarchy of a catherdral/order. Often our new characters would be related to prior characters and would get stipend from them.
The 3e Leadership feat is the one place I see something like strongholds and followers continue into the WotC era. And it kinda sucks, and sticks out as an out-of-place thing in what otherwise feels a heroes-only combat game. *Some* kind of mechanic about running groups, units and factions is needed to make that kind of thing not a nightmare slog for everyone. Which is probably why I never met anyone playing 3.5 or 3 or Pathfinder 1e who actually used Leadership.
a Domain is a good starter for a campaign. You are hired or vassal yourself to a LORD. Doing jobs for him gain you fame in the Kingdom and then eventually your given a manor to manage as well as adventuring for the LORD. Then when you become a Baron you hire new players to work for you as the NPC of the GM. Self perpepetuating game.
There was a single feat in 3 E called Leadership but it was not very well fleshed out. That’s not exactly what you’re talking about with strongholds but it does give followers
I highly doubt modern players want this type of play at all. They are too busy wanting to cosplay. Me on the other hand love domain level play. Kingdoms and Warfare. We use it in our current pathfinder game.
Not much of a Domanin Level player. Honestly, most of my characters perished before Name Level. I did make a lot of tower and stronghold maps, most of which turned into dungeons or were gifted to friends who did make it to Name Level.
I'm amused at the way you down play the "fiddly bits and bookkeeping" as though that isn't precisely the most interesting part of the game for some of us who enjoy domain and faction play. Just like there's more to being a chef than cooking, there is more to being a leader than sitting on a throne!
Oh, for sure. I'm not opposed at all to stuff like bookkeeping and such, as I look at it in a similar way to resource management, which you probably know I like from some of my previous videos. However, what I don't like necessarily is the increasing level of "fiddly bits" that have been added over time (not just with regard to domain management but to the game as a whole). While I like the ~8 page chapter on Domain Management in the Rules Cyclopedia, for example, I'm not that excited by an entire book (e.g., "The Stronghold Builder's Guidebook" for 3E) because what I've found is that a lot of those books, rather than talking about the philosophy of domain management and providing creative ideas for incorporating it into a game, instead create a lot of new (and unnecessary) mechanics that I don't find appealing. Hopefully that helps explain what I meant. BUT also, in general, what I've found with many modern gamers is that they don't like any level of it!
@@daddyrolleda1 one of my session groups has created a six-page for managing their men at arms and income/expenses!! They are definitely all about the bookkeeping!
Immensely enjoy these videos. If you can't afford a better camera, it might be worth it just to use good ol power point. You take what you need, be clearer in your message, and it's cheap. Perun, a military analysist, has been doing it for two years and gotten hundreds of thousands views from it.
Thank you very much. I appreciate you watching and commenting, and your support of the channel. I use a combination of PowerPoint and Canva to make my Thumbnails and the "topic slides" in the videos. I have heard from several folks who do like that I flip through my actual books rather than showing screen shots so I think a camera is a better tool for that kind of thing. Thanks again!
As much as I dig your videos, I don't care much for anything called "D&D" made by WOTC. This seems to me another facet of the great, original game for them to ruin.
I can tell you never visited Minnesota to research the history. They way you pronounce Braunstein and David Wesely's name is wrong. I will invite you to chat with the people here. You have some interesting large gaps in knowledge, but for the most part you have a lot of correct information. There are MORE gaps that I think you would like to hear answered. The rest of what you are talking about we NEVER EVER dropped even in later editions. And it is a lot of fun. THIS is what we call a campaign. New players have distorted the terms campaign, module, and other terms.... and that is all because the current WoTC and Hasbro people have no clue.
No, I haven't had the pleasure of the funds to visit Minnesota. I just make these videos because I love the game and I'm interested in the history and want to share the knowledge I've gained, especially with folks who came to the game a lot later than I did. I'm happy to be corrected in my mispronunciations. I've heard various pronunciations of Braunstein (Brown-steen, Brawn-steen, Brawn-stine) and also of David Wesely's name (I've heard both Wess-lee, and Wees-lee). Please feel free to correct me so I don't make that mistake in future videos. Apologies for my "large gaps" in knowledge. I only started playing in 1981 and as I mentioned, I'm doing these videos out of love of the hobby. They are not, and never have been, intended to be scholarly works on the subject. Again, I invite you to provide any context you have to improve my future videos. Perhaps a personal email (which is listed in my profile but it's samothdm at gmail dot com) rather than a public forum comment on my lack of knowledge would be more appropriate? Thank you for watching and commenting.
Both of MCDM’s Strongholds and Followers, and Kingdoms and Warfare are great books, that I think everyone interested in this style of play should check them both out at some point.
A lot of the old fantasy protagonists were, or became, lords after their lives of adventure and had to defend their realms from forces both internal and external: King Conan, King Kull Prince Corum, Emperor Elric (who became Prince Consort)etc...
Yeah, to understand any edition of D&D you must understand the media that spawned it. OD&D was created out of old pulps, King Arthur and Tolkein along with tabletop wargaming so you get a lot of full history and crunch. 5e is spawned of anime and video games so you get a lot of flash and unkillable heroes.
And D&d came from wargaming/simulations, so getting into armies, strategy and land managing was natural. The circle is complete. dungeons were just a mean to achieve a goal. Modern RPG have reduced so much the scope of 'role play' into 1 game loop, where is was only limited by imagination before bleeding into multiple game genre.
Agreed. I haven’t consistently played since 2e but back in the “old days” most players in a world were in a sense planning for “retirement”, that is, once they reach a certain level they began to step away from active exploration and this was a way to be active and still in the world. I know of players whose keeps, towers, etc. became a permanent part of the world and at times a player’s new character would run across their previous character.
You don't even need specific examples. Try to think of the outline for a generic medieval fantasy plot.
-There's a threat to a kingdom.
-A hero emerges.
-He saves the kingdom and marries the princess.
While it's not sound by traditions of succession, for the sake of story that character's now a prince.
Domains are such a compelling way for a player to make a permanent mark in the game world. Absolutely love them!
I liked the 2nd Ed Castles bluebook, and then the later Birthright boxed sets.
There were a lot of really fun books put out in the 2E era, but because there were so many settings and such, a lot of them fell through the cracks.
Definitely recommend anyone confused about dnd editions check out the history video he talks about in. It helped me understand that a lot
I read both of those Dragon magazines so many times. I LOVE that cover on #127 is amazing.
Back in the day getting a domain was THE goal for my players. We used to have a ton of fun having the players design their own towers, churches, castles, etc. The players always grouped their strongholds together, for example the fighter would build a castle and one of the towers would belong to the wizard and the church would be built inside, the thief's hangout would be in the town outside the castle, etc. Then they would have a place to retreat to if things went wonky during an adventure, and many times powerful NPCs they thwarted would then invade their stronghold/domain as revenge for getting their plans thwarted.
My group just started a 2e campaign, I'll definitely need to remind them about that concept, we just kinda decided last weekend and spent a couple of hours creating characters, I need to spend some time getting familiar with the rules again. Great timing for this video.
You my friend are a treasure! I would love to see you write a book about thieves that includes the history of them in DnD and that includes the domain information.
Such a great collection of videos. I understand the desire for a more professional look, but the visuals are great, and the passion for the material shows. I remember playing and the DM would recap what happened between sessions at our strongholds. This, of course, would launch us off to solve the latest crisis. For those that don't like strongholds, where are you gonna stash your loot? If you are successful, you can't carry it all. :)
I always wondered what to do with all that treasure we got.
In the beginning, we spent most of it resupplying and getting better equipment. Spending it on horses and tack which is expensive.
Then all of a sudden we actually had treasure left over. So I asked the DM where I could store it. He just looked at me like he never even thought about that before. So the next session he asked everyone how much treasure they were carrying and had on our horses. Suffice it to say that we were all encumbered. So we went to the bank and they wanted to charge us to store our gold and goods.
Yikes! Do the expenses never end?
That's when we figured that we were going to need a "Base of Operations". Somewhere to safely store all this stuff. But that was going to cost us money as well.
So we were just going to have to spend this money one way or another. And that's when my character, a thief, came up with the "feed the Kitty" idea of an adventurer's fund to pay for everything. Needless to say my Thief did the books and so he charged a "fee" for the service 😊
Perfect timing! I was looking for resources and my "Castle Guide" from 2E doesn't have much. My players cleaned out the Keep of Alderweg from UK3 The Gauntlet and decided they want to keep it.
I'm so glad to hear that! There are quite a few fun 2E Guides but there are also a few (I think the Castle Guide is a good example) of things that sounded like they'd be good but which are pretty thin on usable in-game content.
I remember UK3 (and it's predecessor UK2 The Sentinel! Great stuff!
I never thought explicitly about domain level as a victory condition. Really fascinating historical context you provide here. Awesome to see your Quintessential Aristocrat here! It's so cool you have it in hardcover as a memento. Looks like fantastic product in that line!
Matt Colleville and MCDM publish Strongholds and Followers, I think it's called, which does all of this. They make good stuff.
Was going to comment this, the first book is strongholds and followers, and the second book is kingdoms and warfare. Both books are great for dominion level play
First you are one of the few straight dnd channels I watch
I still try to run domains, but switched to d100nyears ago and use the ideas from the Nobles books from pendragon and stuff cobbled from earlier dnd
Great video
"First you are one of the few straight dnd channels I watch"
What are some of the gay DnD channels you watch?
nyuk nyuk nyuk
Really appreciated your discussion on early D&D's domain-level play and the evolution into modern editions. The shift from adventurers to lords owning strongholds adds a rich layer of strategy, yet the reluctance towards intensive bookkeeping often led players to start anew. It's exciting to hear the upcoming edition aims to reintroduce similar concepts, hopefully balancing the adventure thrill with manageable domain management.
As a youth I was big into wargames, so domain level play was a huge part of out D&D games. I have tried to get my current players into it, with mixed results. It seems to work best if I keep it simple.
I have fond memories of watching the Peanuts holiday specials back in the days, so it was cool to hear you talk about it. Great video!
Nice to meet a fellow Peanuts fan! I'm really glad you liked the video - thank you so much for watching and commenting!
Great video!! I really enjoy your history videos, they take me back to my youth and all the games we played back then. Excellent description of domain level play, I have to admit I wasn’t familiar with that term before watching. Thanks for mentioning Birthright! It’s an often overlooked setting.
Personally, I never really liked running a strong hold. When we played AD&D, I would usually retire my character once i attracted followers and we start over at 1st level. I do have a few friends who really enjoy amassing followers and henchmen. I homebrewed some stronghold/followers rules for 5e, but I’ll check out the new Bastion play test to see if those rules work better. Also, the quintessential guide to aristocrats sounds awesome! Can you still purchase that book? I don’t play 3.x anymore, but I would love to get a copy of your book for my collection. Keep up the awesome work!!
I bought two 3rd party stronghold supplements to help work out a Keep and Barony reward to the party. The party didn't want to feel tied down to the land, so they shifted it all onto the kobold rogue. So began the reign of Baron Stump.
Playing CM1 Test of the Warlords was my first real "Domain" campaign. It was also the first time I ever got "Fanatical Followers". After the initial getting of the domains, we spent probably a month getting each players followers, planning the domain, raising and equipping armies and all that other good stuff that came with it. And that was just the start of the campaign.
In other campaigns we had an Island that we took over with a passage to the Underdark.
We took over a fort in the wilderness and hired mercenaries to guard it.
I had an insane monomaniac character that tried to take over the Holy Cities and nearly succeeded. Insane leaders are never a good idea.
I did have one character that got a small keep from a Deck of Many Things. But he also got Enmity between you and a Devil. So he never went to the Keep since he figured that the Devil was there waiting for him.
I enjoy all of Daddy Rolled a 1 videos
Anecdote resounding was one of those early O Sr books. That I bought as I was running fifth edition.
I have been watching videos on "Westmarches" style campaigns, which this idea seems like it would dovetail with well.
And a 1:1 Timekeeping, this really good, you need test
Probably worth mentioning the big change of economies that started with 3rd edition. Starting with 3e, you had definite ways to spend your money: purchasing magic items! There is a Wealth By Level chart that reflects the fact that the game assumes you have certain math enhancing magic items. So this disincentivized pulling money away from your growth in personal power into your stronghold. Plus, having ways to earn income from your stronghold now had a direct impact on your growth in personal power, since you could now spend income to power yourself up! They wanted to avoid the problems of having fungible currency being spendable on both areas
Yay! - note, I'd like to go back and make comments beyond "yay," but I always enjoy the content and deff want to make sure I get one in for the big ALG
Also in 2nd ed the Blue DM supplimental book Castles book which had all the stuff for setting up domains and types of castles for different classes and even races (example halflings would construct a motte-and-bailey keep with a lot of rooms inside the motte) ; also there were articles in dragon about having monks setting up monestaries and wizards could found magic schools
3rd edition did have a feat that allowed you to attract followers, but it was a relatively small number and had no connection to strongholds or domains
Intersting and varied as usual. As primarily a historical table top wargamer from the UK, back in 74 you had 3 period; Ancients (= no guns lots of melee), Horse and Musket (a term used to refer to the 18th &19th centuries, (infantry mostly shooting and cavalry mostly meleeing)), and modern (=WW2, with as many tanks as you could aford or get away with). All games were between generals of armies (players), with the objective to beat the opponant and claim a military victory, the scenario being either based on a historical battle or a made up situation. campaigns were (and still are rare). There was a growing popularity of man against man confrontations ('skirmish games', such as Colonial games, Roman Arena, WW1 Dogfights) these were about survival, either one game or a sequence of games. It was D&D THAT COLLECTED ALL THE ABOVE CONCEPTS (AND OTHERS), into a single package. I played with the mindset of surviving a skirmish scenario (as did the players I played with, Lordships and Domains were not why we played.
The lack of domain play over the years has resulted in 'Dump Stats' and pushed games into more combat centered exchanges (like tabletop wargames). So maybe more Domain play will find new uses for none combat statistics and abilities;.... Imagine using your charisma to aviod arrest by the city watch, as you try to find out just how many ballistas are covering the gate where your Lord's assult is planned at dawn, already the moon is setting, will your disguise hold up when you talk the gate keeper or will your accent give you away...
[ sorry for the long comment: I need to get out more ].
No problem at all! I am well-known on Twitter for being the kind of the 12-part tweet, so long comments are always appreciated!
I really like your last part on ideas for using non-combat stats/abilities - that's exactly how I prefer to play! And thanks for sharing your stories about early wargaming. I started directly with D&D in 1981 and never had friends who were into wargaming, so I missed a lot of that kind of thing you're talking about, but as I've dug into the history, I find it very interesting!
Thanks again!
Another great video, love learning more about final level game play
13:35 "a lot of people just don't like the idea of book keeping" .. and that was the beauty of being a Mage who knew Simulacrum in first and second edition 😏
Cast the spell to create a copy of yourself or else of someone high level known for their competence at running an estate or kingdom and you've a completely loyale seneschal, then turn around to the DM and say "here you go, there's his stats and experience I'll just let him run it all" .. also a good way to cut your staffing costs for any epsensive NPC hirelings, find someone with the skills you need and make a simulacrum of them.
[You also needed the spells reincarnation and limited wish of course.]
Which hands the whole thing off to the DM .. the danger of course is that he's going to hate you for that and find creative ways to make you suffer for dong it 😁
That is certainly a very creative way of dealing with those pesky bookkeeping aspects of domain management!
@@daddyrolleda1 Creative? I'm not so sure of that.
Creative copying perhaps 🙂 though I'm not sure we can call copying creative.
Who's the original mage with a castle somewhere on the coast of (I think) the Nyr Dyv? one of the circle of eight, Mordenkainen perhaps? whoever the mage it mentions in WoGH box set his castle has many simulacrum servants, so the characters original player in that campaign was probably the one to think of using the spell for that sort of thing first and that's where I got the idea from.
Hmm 🤔 of course, the word you were (probably) really looking for there is most likely lazy 😉
Fantastic video, thanks a lot for your hard work.
Adventurer Conqueror King System, has domains as a key part of game progression. Domains give gold and also xp. There is a kickstarter right now for ACKS II.
Thank you so much! I was aware of the original game (I don't have it but I've heard quite a bit about it) but I didn't realize there was a second edition coming out! How is it different?
@@daddyrolleda1 ACKSII compiles rules and clarifications from the last decade that were spread in magazines and modules. It also upgrades some things like the thief class and polish other systems.
Phew! For a moment I was afraid I had thrown out 3e Stronghold Builders Guidebook but I found it! One of the few 3e books I kept through my big purge. It's pretty cool! The 2e Castle Guide I only had as an A3 sized copy a friend's dad took for us from another friends book. That was so cumbersome I threw it out ages ago. I think that's one I might get as pdf now.
I've never made it to domain level play. I had drawn an insane huge castle for my first characters based on the ideas of magical castle building I think was from the Dawn of the Emperors gazetteer 😅
I appreciate the stronghold system in the Forbidden Lands basic box. Inspired as the game is by old school D&D. Will be interesting to also see if Gavin Norman gets to creating domain play for Dolmenwood which is one of his future plans for that setting and system.
Wow! Thanks for the video! I always thought I was the only person in the World that actually played Birthright 😅 Great ideas there, domain spells and bloodlines in particular. Played a ton of that via email (yes, I'm ancient) 😂
Glad to hear it! Thank you so much for watching and commenting - I appreciate it!
Heh, I see now why you were getting that issue of Dragon out.
So far as it goes, I personally always liked this style of play, but also just generally found it useful for establishing the initial locale a lot of time. So you've been hired as problem solvers for a new local lord just establishing his domain, if you survive and stick it out you may be able to take control of a new subdomain as his territory expands.
The best rule set for Domain level play is the "Adventurer Conqueror King System" or "ACKS" for short. Really well designed from the ground up and it became my favorite system many years ago.
I hear there's a new version coming out soon as well.
@@daddyrolleda1 Yea, there is currently a Kickstarter running for Version 2 👍
14:31 Great video as always. I’ll disagree here though. BECMI fairly supports dominion play in some modules in CM and M (I think) series. I rather think that these rules weren’t that much popular because they were intended to very high level play - in the BECMI boxed sets it was only described in Companion - that’s levels 25 and up (even though Expert talked about land owning, but didn’t give the actual rules for the management or the mass combat aspects). Most groups, I believe, played most of the time within Basic - Expert range - so never got to dominions, planar travel and immortal stuff.
In 5th E all things that might pertain to domains, about players founding settlements, building and running certain buildings etc are all found in the DMG.
Imagine the Birthright setting releasing around the same time as the GoT show. ?;- )
You mean WotC is creating something that has been around for 40+ years? Omg! It's like writing and not pulling the pen off the paper! Amazing!!!
Why is that a bad thing?
It introduces new players (who aren't going to go back and take a look at older editions btw) to a style of play that used to be more prevalent.
A style they might even enjoy it.
@@qwerty098cool1 Yeah, I think he's being sarcastic about WotC saying they're developing / introducing something "new" .. it's a bit like Elon Musk announcing his 'new invention' of 'the wheel' as a brand new never before seen thing.
@@qwerty098cool1 it's called sarcasm.
Im a bit surprised no mention of pathfinder kingmaker. Had a lot of fun playing a seidge mage with the true ruler feat and everything cannon related I could find. A fun mix of a gunsmithing walter white and richard Nixon.
Forgive me if someone already posted this - Pathfinder Kingmaker path is a good mix of hex exploration, and domain level play IMHO
No worries at all! Someone else did mention it, but not everybody reads every comment so it's good to mention useful tools again. While I did run Pathfinder (and still do have a Pathfinder 1E game I'm trying to wrap up), I stopped buying new books shortly after Ultimate Combat and the Advanced Player's Guides. I just became a bit dissatisfied with the glut of new feats and fiddly rules that I began to realize I was never going to use, especially as I started to get more and more interested in the creativity of the old-school movement.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Amazing vids
I like domain level play, but I never get to run it. An idea I've had floating in my head for a long time is a roleplaying wargame (kind of like early warhammer), where the players have a hero they control, but that hero is also the sergeant of a company of fighting-men. So in addition to all the normal adventuring stuff they would have to kit out their men, maintain morale, deal with injuries, and lead them into battle. I have no idea if anyone other than me would be even remotely interested in that though.
Also a great domain level play kind of book is Harnmanor, if you're into book keeping. If you really REALLY want to know the ins and outs of manorial management, and track it precisely (I do) Harnmanor is hard to overlook.
Adding "owning land and making money off it" to the list of unrealistic fantasies D&D can fulfill for Millennials and GenZ these days, alongside getting 8 hours of rest per day, speaking multiple languages, and being able to live off freelancing... ;)
💯
I did not know you had published a book!
Well, I *wrote* a book. Mongoose published it! But yes! I guess I'm full of surprises? 😀
@@daddyrolleda1 I love this!
I have seen other games try to introduce their own versions of domain play.
Apocalypse World included the Hardholder class that controlled a small town and its militia force, and others who could control smaller biker gangs, trade caravans etc including how to wield groups in battle. Fighting a group of 30 people hurts.
Blades in the Dark started the players in control of a street gang they could grow as a shared project. The PCs are the stars and leading lieutenants of the gang who grow their territory, resoures and goons.
Mutant Y0 had a very basic system to grow your village and allowed at least one player to be one of the gang bosses leading the village. The players rolled skills to grow new projects and could donate finds to improve the village.
A game where the "winning condition" is owning land and property? Pure fantasy!
I've never thought of Aristocrat as a separate NPC class. I did run with a generic NPC class which allowed me to have characters of status without being all fighty and stuff. They could be 'dual classed' so you might have a local lord who was an F2/N(PC) 7 which meant he had spent a bit of time being trained with swords but he maybe had to learn how to administer his reaIm. I also used 'scouts' a lot, 'criminal enforcers' a bit and 'merchant adventurers', all built out of the 2E DMG on how to create new classes. None of these new classes were better than the standard classes but as a DM gave advantages in certain scenarios. Probably the best was the Scout who was purely a wilderness thief, a bit tougher but not much use in town (half all the move silently type skills). The NPC class let me have a 5th level leader of a community, some more HP with some more non weapon proficiencies (which is something else I've changed to try to be a bit more realistic.... yeah.... I know..... 😂). I should say, I've never got passed 2E and haven't played in a loooooonnnnng time but hoping to change that soon. Thanks for the vid, its been thought provoking.
Band of Blades (Evil Hat Productions) is a dark fantasy military RPG w. campaign rules.
Good one Dad!
Here's my crazy theory on the matter. D&D began with fantasy wargaming where every player had one role and that was commander of their army, but then people started to wonder - who is this person? how did they rise to power? And that is where D&D comes in.
This is why traditionally, characters start at level 1 and have no noteworthy background. The game of D&D is your background creator and it's purpose is to chronicle your leader's rise to power and eventually lead back to a game of Chainmail. The problem is that with D&D they created something which was more fun than domain level play and wargaming.
WotC?
I think they are just dredging up whatever is left that they can bring themselves to try to make money off of.
It seems as if every previous edition has ended the same way (with the exception of 4e which they just pulled the plug on), so this is the end of 5e, which does mean that coming in 2024 is not 5.5, not One D&D, but (say it with me kids!) Sixth Edition.
I always enjoyed reading those Dragon articles about owning land but couldn’t imagine that style of play really, I thought you might as well be playful a board game.
"Domain level play? You mean, retirement?"
Quick and Easy House of the Dragons Game - Black Sword Hack + Keep on the Borderlands + Barrow Keep Den of Spies
Excellent choices for the bonus content.
Gangbusters, being published in 1982 retains a lot of these mechanics. As a criminal you can set up a numbers racket or a still which makes you money over the long haul.
Também acho que os elementos de domínios foram muito influenciado pelo Braunstein, como você disse todos tinha objetivos para aumentar seu status no jogo, isto não seria basicamente oque acontece no OD&D?
I'm going out on a limb here. The type of player that is truly interested in domain level play isn't terribly interested in 5th edition or 5.5e or 6e or whatever WotC thinks the 2024 release is going to be called.
Either way, a great video once again.
that limb is solid like a trunk.
Tons of evidence conclude that most campaigns wither by or before level 10. Why? I would contend that the fantasy of higher level play is compelling but the mechanics of just more of the same are repetitive and worse, tarpit the gameplay. Some game systems simply stop at this point (Shadowdark, Shadow of the Demon Lord, etc.). I’d like to see some branching gameplay options like epic-level play, continuing with the 5E D&D superhero fantasy towards divine ascension (e.g. Immortals) and domain-level play, building out the political, economic and military scale. I believe the game should offer new experiences for the players, and I think the data supports it.
A book on aristacrates sound interesting 🤔 song
It was a lot of fun to research and write. I might revisit it some day but revised to be more in line with B/X D&D and Old School Essentials.
More power to people who dig this angle of the game, but I never cared much about it. I had one character get to the point where they built their little stronghold with a bunch of followers and all that and I basically immediately retired them and started clean. After that, I always just retired characters before they even reached that level. Not a part of the game I really used.
I myself have never had a character follow that path and haven't played with people where that was a goal for their PCs. But I think it's a fun and interesting concept and until I made this video, I hadn't really thought about how it was such a huge part of the TSR-era editions but how it's pretty much gone away with 3E onward.
@@daddyrolleda1 Yeah, maybe it was scrubbed because not a lot of people used it? Dunno. Always nice to have it as an option, though... for those interested in it. :-)
I never liked domains because they can easily become a DM vs Player thing. I prefer to run sandbox campaigns where the world is mostly reactive to the players. If they get into trouble it is usually their own doing. With domains, I feel like the DM is expected to bring trouble to the player, and since the DM knows exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of the domain are it can easily feel as though the DM is using that knowledge against the player. That might sound a non-concern to some DMs because, after all, the DM always brings challenges to the players. But my approach is somewhat old school, in the sense that the world is just there, and if players eff around they find out. For example, I can have level 1 characters encounter a dragon because they’re not meant to fight everything they meet. With a domain though, it just sits there waiting for the world to come to it, so I feel like the game’s story is driven by the DM rather than the players. Of course, domains don’t have to be like that, but in my experience they often lead to rather passive play by the players.
Sounds like we're just describing Kingmaker and other West Marches style games.
I'm for it, particularly at tables where I don't always know who will be there and how many players we'll have. Also, from a player side, its nice to have a rooster of PCs of different levels and styles just because I get to scratch my "play a rogue" itch without abandoning my main.
But I don't know what WotC seriously plans to bring to the table that doesn't already exist. Feels like they're just slapping a new coat of paint on an old idea.
I have a conspiracy theory that they want to make domaine play into a phone app which they can use as a micro transaction machine. They will be able to milk players for money by offering gameplay advantages with microtransactions, but they can still say that 6e doesn't have that connection. I could see a time mechanic which is common in such apps.
We retired our characters via purchase of barron estates, thieves stronghold, wizards tower, or patriarchy of a catherdral/order. Often our new characters would be related to prior characters and would get stipend from them.
The 3e Leadership feat is the one place I see something like strongholds and followers continue into the WotC era. And it kinda sucks, and sticks out as an out-of-place thing in what otherwise feels a heroes-only combat game. *Some* kind of mechanic about running groups, units and factions is needed to make that kind of thing not a nightmare slog for everyone. Which is probably why I never met anyone playing 3.5 or 3 or Pathfinder 1e who actually used Leadership.
a Domain is a good starter for a campaign. You are hired or vassal yourself to a LORD. Doing jobs for him gain you fame in the Kingdom and then eventually your given a manor to manage as well as adventuring for the LORD. Then when you become a Baron you hire new players to work for you as the NPC of the GM. Self perpepetuating game.
There was a single feat in 3 E called Leadership but it was not very well fleshed out. That’s not exactly what you’re talking about with strongholds but it does give followers
I highly doubt modern players want this type of play at all. They are too busy wanting to cosplay. Me on the other hand love domain level play. Kingdoms and Warfare. We use it in our current pathfinder game.
Not much of a Domanin Level player. Honestly, most of my characters perished before Name Level. I did make a lot of tower and stronghold maps, most of which turned into dungeons or were gifted to friends who did make it to Name Level.
I'm amused at the way you down play the "fiddly bits and bookkeeping" as though that isn't precisely the most interesting part of the game for some of us who enjoy domain and faction play.
Just like there's more to being a chef than cooking, there is more to being a leader than sitting on a throne!
Oh, for sure. I'm not opposed at all to stuff like bookkeeping and such, as I look at it in a similar way to resource management, which you probably know I like from some of my previous videos.
However, what I don't like necessarily is the increasing level of "fiddly bits" that have been added over time (not just with regard to domain management but to the game as a whole). While I like the ~8 page chapter on Domain Management in the Rules Cyclopedia, for example, I'm not that excited by an entire book (e.g., "The Stronghold Builder's Guidebook" for 3E) because what I've found is that a lot of those books, rather than talking about the philosophy of domain management and providing creative ideas for incorporating it into a game, instead create a lot of new (and unnecessary) mechanics that I don't find appealing.
Hopefully that helps explain what I meant. BUT also, in general, what I've found with many modern gamers is that they don't like any level of it!
@@daddyrolleda1 one of my session groups has created a six-page for managing their men at arms and income/expenses!!
They are definitely all about the bookkeeping!
Immensely enjoy these videos. If you can't afford a better camera, it might be worth it just to use good ol power point. You take what you need, be clearer in your message, and it's cheap. Perun, a military analysist, has been doing it for two years and gotten hundreds of thousands views from it.
Thank you very much. I appreciate you watching and commenting, and your support of the channel.
I use a combination of PowerPoint and Canva to make my Thumbnails and the "topic slides" in the videos. I have heard from several folks who do like that I flip through my actual books rather than showing screen shots so I think a camera is a better tool for that kind of thing.
Thanks again!
I wonder if "modern audiences" will be able to deal with just the idea of this....
As much as I dig your videos, I don't care much for anything called "D&D" made by WOTC. This seems to me another facet of the great, original game for them to ruin.
I can tell you never visited Minnesota to research the history. They way you pronounce Braunstein and David Wesely's name is wrong.
I will invite you to chat with the people here. You have some interesting large gaps in knowledge, but for the most part you have a lot of correct information. There are MORE gaps that I think you would like to hear answered.
The rest of what you are talking about we NEVER EVER dropped even in later editions. And it is a lot of fun. THIS is what we call a campaign.
New players have distorted the terms campaign, module, and other terms.... and that is all because the current WoTC and Hasbro people have no clue.
No, I haven't had the pleasure of the funds to visit Minnesota. I just make these videos because I love the game and I'm interested in the history and want to share the knowledge I've gained, especially with folks who came to the game a lot later than I did.
I'm happy to be corrected in my mispronunciations. I've heard various pronunciations of Braunstein (Brown-steen, Brawn-steen, Brawn-stine) and also of David Wesely's name (I've heard both Wess-lee, and Wees-lee). Please feel free to correct me so I don't make that mistake in future videos.
Apologies for my "large gaps" in knowledge. I only started playing in 1981 and as I mentioned, I'm doing these videos out of love of the hobby. They are not, and never have been, intended to be scholarly works on the subject. Again, I invite you to provide any context you have to improve my future videos. Perhaps a personal email (which is listed in my profile but it's samothdm at gmail dot com) rather than a public forum comment on my lack of knowledge would be more appropriate?
Thank you for watching and commenting.
Screw domain level play. We need epic level play