How Aleena and Bargle set the tone for old school Dungeons and Dragons.
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- A small video essay of my thoughts on how Aleena and Bargle set the tone and influenced the play of old school and BECMI D&D. Hope you enjoy! Please like and subscribe if you do.
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I got the Red Box in 1985 when I was 11 years old. It was my introduction to Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing in general. Until the Internet, I thought I was the only one who remembered Aleena. For many of us, she became something of a patron saint in this fantasy world.
Bargle still shows up as a villain in my campaigns. He's never the world-spanning uber-villain he later became. He's always a low-level bad guy for 1-3rd level PCs to face in a crumbling ruin near town. That solo session really did set the tone for gaming forever for me.
Bargle feels like that slimy asshole that can easily be the low level villain, but if he escapes, he can easily crop up later; more powerful than the last time but typically subservient to someone more dangerous.
I am getting ready to run the new Phandelver Obelisk adventure and I am replacing the old wizard at the Owl Well with Bargle. After some banter, he and his minions will attack the PCs with Bargle escaping to be a future BBEG.
BARGLE LIVES ON!
Thank you so much for a break from all the OGL Mania! Coincidentally I am about to introduce Aleena and Bargle to my players 😉
Funny. I'm making my own five room dungeon with bargle and aleena! - Brian
@@brianinthebunker7407 plus Black Jack and hookers? ;) Bender aside, tell me more please.
I played solo before it was norm,
I made my own quest to save aleena, thanks to be the blue book.
You always remember your first.
I enjoyed this trip back to 1983 and the red box. During the Covid lockdown, my daughter and I found my red box D&D set, along with many adventure guides and DM and player handbooks. My daughter was intrigued. I walked her through her Bargle and Alena adventure. She had so much fun! Once again Thank You once again!
Red Box is an awesome product and this video does it justice as the finest introduction to the hobby I have seen.
Cheers!
Wow, thank you!
She was certainly my first literary crush, and my first experience with character death. And Bargle got away when I played the scenario.
Bargle had a lot to answer for! Thanks for the comment. Sweet dreams of Aleena…
I played the battle with Bargle over a dozen times, till i got to kill him!
U had a crush on a character inspired by my grandma
@@nws517 that's funny. Who's your grandma?
@@recursivecoin359 Aileen
This is still my favorite version of D&D. You can bolt just about anything you want to it, and it holds up. I have played that solo game so many times. It's just a good game.
still got mine, loved elmores art work
Bargle lives on as a bad guy in my BECMI campaign - my party (my family) just fought three of his student followers, and found that he claims (falsely) to be the rightful Baron of the Vale of the Blade. All my boys went through that intro adventure, so when he first appeared in the campaign they all cried for revenge. My wife was just confused!
Just as a fun aside, I use to work in a framing shop and I had someone bring in all of the Elmore art of Aleena from that book to be archival quality framed so they could put it in their game room. Good times, doing that job and also talking about whos art we liked better, Elmore, Caldwell, Brom ect.
Thank you so much for a delightful trip down memory lane. I often recall enjoying the few pages of sample gameplay from the 1st edition AD&D DMG but I too was really struck by this story in red box. I’m sure just about every young player regrets not saving her and wondered what could have been.
My pleasure! And thank you for the comment.
The solo adventure was excellent in so many ways, also a basic introduction to rudimentary dungeon mastering, expanded upon in "your first adventure, in the Dungeon Master book.
An excellent introduction to the game and role playing games in general.
Great presentation, Sir.
I look forward to the next video in the series 🤘
I used this to start my very first session 5 years ago. When playing as Aleena, I kept rolling poorly and she ended up being a liability to the group, so when she died, the party rejoiced.
🤣🤣
RIP Aleena 😔😄
Great video! I love BECMI, and that story always stuck with me as well.
Grrr, Bargle! *shakes fist*
The art and the writing of the BECMI books, and other fantasy gaming and novels in general back then, evoke feelings and stir inspiration like nothing today can. D&D felt different and more magical then, and nothing since has matched or exceeded the tone and quality of that period, as far as I'm concerned.
Also, I personally know one of Elmore's newer models. He's amazing at illustrating not only dragons but beautiful women. A true legend and master.
I absolutely concur. Thanks for commenting.
Too many cooks spoil the soup.
Teen age literary crush ... , i suppose so. I did just stare at her picture , the way the hair flowed out from under the helm, and the form fitting chain, really drew in to you as the reader. I'm not so certain, the example there, would have impacted at her death, like it did after seeing her.
What is sad though, it seems everyone was alright leaving her dead. No future adventures to resurrect her, or bring her back, after an untimely death.
When handed the DM reigns in our group in high school though, I re-wrote that as an adventure from perspective of Aleena, whom was played by our only female player in game.
The events of the box-set , was a re-occurring dream to the cleric. A vision of her death, had she simply chosen another path earlier on.
Was Bargle a villain she needed to track down, bring to Justice? Who was the mysterious fighter who befriended her in the dream? What befell of him, since she wasn't there?
These were questions asked, by that player and others as re related her dreams and nightmares to them.
It was ... glorious, even if these things never got answered as players advanced, and gravitated into other avenues.
Aleena is apparently resurrected by her uncle, the Patriarch Sherlaine, in the Karameikos gazetteer
Literary crush and PTSD... yep, sounds about right, even now, over 30 years later.
Great one again, sir! I'm loving the big break from the "other one" nonsense and mess! BECMI was so very cool and Elmore's art was, and is still, pretty doggone amazing and evocative to me!
I just turned 10 and didn’t read a lot but the red box changed that for the rest of my life. My math skills were good but not great. Gaming changed that. As a PhD tenured professor, I still miss Aleena.
If by chance any parent wary of gaming are reading this. Let YOUR KIDS PLAY!!! It will be worth it.
Aleena! I wonder how many young, newbies to D&D were traumatized for life by her death. 😫 Like many, BECMI was my launch-point into the game, and that opening adventure with Aleena has been burned into my brain - fresh still almost 40 years later.
It really is amazing that Aleena and Bargle has not been adapted in later renditions of DnD. As a new player and GM to the scene its amazing how the Basic Box set feeds the rules and mechanics. Such a simple concept that is done well and is a great learning experience for folks like me getting into the OSR games!
Welcome to OSR! 🙂
This is the first time I've watched your channel and instantly subscribed. Excellent review and video.
The red box set was my first exposure to the game (at about 9 years old). My friend had a copy of Moldvay Basic, and shortly after, I received the Red Box set at Christmas. Looking back, I think a big part of the reason I learned the game so well was due to the format of that red box set. We used both basic versions, until eventually one of our friends showed up with the core AD&D books. Then we sort of combined the books, referencing the sweet Easley and Elmore art from the Red Box Set.
Everything you cited in the video made up my initial impressions of the game and shaped how I would play from 1984 on, really DM since I became the forever DM through my "rules knowledge". The art also shaped my concept of D&D for a long time after.
Same here. This was the first video I watched and it got me to subscribe.
My goodness - 40 years later, and the trauma of Aleena's death is still as fresh as if it were yesterday. Yes, I failed the save back in '83, when I was 11 and reading this amazing game. When I saw the subject of this video, I turned to my partner (sitting next to me) and said, "Oh goody, he's gonna traumatize me in this one." 😉 It is lovely however, to realize that I was not alone in Aleena being my first literary crush, nor still feeling the pang of her death all these years later. Though the reference will mean nothing to my players (all too young), I plan to introduce them to both Aleena & Bargle in my upcoming BECMI campaign! Not only will she live again, but she will be granted a chance for vengeance! Thank you all your work on this channel, and for helping to reignite my love of this wonderful and rich iteration of D&D!
You’re more than welcome. Apologies to your partner if I have given rise to some latent PTSD. 🙂
@@becmiberserker Hehe. It's all good. It's been interesting, showing someone who only started with 4e the ways in which the game has evolved, and where and how my style of running games initially came from.
I kept the dragon magazine where they continued that story with Let's Get Bargle!
Paizo managed to squeeze it into their last issue of Dungeon... some fan art emulated the "Kill Bill" visual theme for this with dramatic effect.
@@hawkeyepearce1066 one day I might be able to run that!
@@Darkwintre I'm now sorely tempted to adapt the BECMI "your first adventure" introduction into a 'session zero', with an adventure path following the characters' pursuit of the rogue wizard, leading towards the "Kill Bargle" scenario as a conclusion.
@@hawkeyepearce1066 Me too already imagining a story where the cleric invites the wizard along for a meeting with a rogue wizard only to discover when he sends his two goblin minions to kill her friend that their conversation wouldn't be going the way she thought.
Of course that one would reveal an elf shadowed the wizard ally killing one of the goblins sending the other fleeing as the wizard berates his ally only to follow behind her as they try to rescue his cleric friend.
The rival wizard magic missiles the cleric forcing his goblin minion to attack the wizard whose promptly killed by the elf as the rogue doesn't believe the goblin's warning.
The rogue flees as the elf fireman lifts the cleric and tells the wizard to flee the way they came as their foe sends more of his minions after them to cover his escape.
And thats just off the top of my head now imagine what the PCs would do instead!
@@Darkwintre This just goes to prove @becmiberserker has a point, a few lines of evocative text can fire up the reader's imagination. Sounds like you have the makings of a great adventure (can't guarantee I won't "take inspiration" from it though...). It's a shame this inspiring of a sense of wonder wasn't put front-and-centre in later editions.
This adventure was literally my "hook" into D&D, specifically Larry Elmore's rendition of Aleena. She really was beautiful, and her death was heartbreaking. I've talked to many players over the yeas and so many of them expressed that this, too, was their entire reason for starting a lifetime of D&D.
This makes WotC's recent decision to REMOVE Elmore's signature from the movie poster yet another slap in the face to long-term fans. I really am DONE with WotC.
I agree completely. I received the red, dark blue, and light blue box sets when I was 7-10, back in 1983-1986. Ohhh, they were quite special!
Red box was my first exposure to D&D. The images bring back memories.
So much lore and history. Man, so much stuff I missed out and I grew up in that era.
Wonderful video! 40 years later I'm still not over Aleena. 😪❤👏
That Solo Dungeon is the BEST! Love that to this day !!!
When I first DM'ed I pulled a DM retcon and said the original fighter after clearing out the old keep paid to have her raised and Alana became the High Priest of Threshold.
I recall this story some thirdly years ago when I played my first campaign. The DM had some drunken NPC's in a tavern repeating a story they heard from some adventurous man who claimed it happened to him. Wow..!!!
That's an interesting introduction to becmi. I do enjoy your talks of 1st edition.
The very next aventure in that book has a lot to teach the new palyer as well. Damn that rust monster.
I've heard a lot about Aleena, but I was never introduced to her. The DMs I played with hated any and all premade modules, and anyone DM who used one was admonished by them, even if it was the Red Book. Bargle, on the other hand, I know. "Kill Bargle" was one of the first modules I read in Dungeon Magazine. I was introduced to it through author Stephen J. Smith, who had written the 3.5 side-trek adventure "Night of the Straw Men". I actually had the chance to talk with him, and when I asked him who the inspiration for the "mysterious mage" who was pulling all the strings was, he said it was Bargle. His adventure was an homage prequel to "Kill Bargle", who he had hated since he first started playing D&D, and even the cleric that is attacked was to represent that this wasn't the mage's first time doing so. The adventure even lets you know that chances are pretty good you might not succeed in stopping his death. He even admitted that he had originally written the adventure using AD&D, and 3.5e would be when he was finally able to get it published.
So, I definitely know Bargle, and all that he's done. And unfortunately, he got away. What's interesting is in Dungeon 144 he even has a CR 15 stat block. So if he got away, you'd eventually see him again at a much higher level. Unfortunately, my group eventually went to Pathfinder so we never got to resolve that battle.
I've decided to get started in OSR using BECMI Basic, and I have to agree, the intro adventure does a very good job setting the tone and easing you into it.
Hope you enjoy the game!
@@becmiberserker I finally got to run a couple of sessions for my younger brother and his friends! It was pretty fun. My brother rolled up a lawful dwarf and his friend a chaotic magic user. The wizard kept wandering face-first into trouble while the dwarf had to keep dragging his friend out of the fire. I ran the introductory adventure in the DM's book. The dwarf parleyed with the kobolds guarding the keep in exchange for taking care of the harpies haunting the dining room. The wizard came up with an ingenious idea to use candle wax to plug their ears when fighting harpies so they don't get charmed by their song... Then pulled his wax out when they actually went into the room because he couldn't tell if they were singing. The dwarf had to pull his butt out of the proverbial fire. An elf companion managed to put the harpies to sleep while they desperately tried to claw the dwarf's face off. Then the kobolds poured onto the harpies with the fury of a thousand little daggers to seal the deal. We didn't get a chance to finish the second floor, but the wizard managed to survive a knife to the gut with 2 HP after killing an orc's pet giant ferret. The dwarf had to cut off the orc's arm to get him free and they booked it back to town to rest up.
Now that I've actually had a chance to run BECMI a few times, I think the inclusion of the intro adventure would have been a bad idea for the Rules Cyclopedia. It does an amazing job of introducing a new player to the dungeons and dragons, setting the tone and easing them in to how the game works, but it also contributes to making the Basic Player's Manual awkward and difficult to use as a reference manual.
The Rules Compendium being a book (presumably) intended to put all the rules into one book, seems like it needs to prioritize rules organization and presentation over introducing a new player. Unless it was pushed into the back? But that would undermine its effectiveness as a teaching tool.
Getting murdered by Skeletons in the Caves of Chaos was rough, but even with a couple years of playing D&D under my belt, when I finally got around to getting the red box? Aleena's death STILL hit hard. And it made me happy when some subsequent supplements mentioned her resurrection.
Planning to run Keep on the Borderlands (first time for me) for a group of kids, with a few other modules thrown in for good measure. Will definitely feature both Bargel and Aleena!
This was just beautiful.
Watching this video made me realize that the name I chose for my fire magic-user Alina was inspired by this character from the red box. I started playing Basic D&D back in the early '80s when I was in high school. I created Alina in college playing AD&D 2nd ed. I had completely forgotten the name of the cleric in the red box set (terrible with names, even real-life people).
Great story. She’s deeply ingrained in the D&D psyche.
Best girl Aleena. RIP.
If Aleena had just played 5e instead of BECMI, she wouldn't have died.
😏
Aliena wasn't really my first love.... but close to being that... 😍
This is the best thing I ever saw.
Cool post, takes me right back.
In my line of work at least of engineering we often use Alice and Bob when writing example use cases and documentation. Every new person is named with the next letter of the alphabet. Sometimes I switch the names up. I've used Bargle on numerous occasions but Aleena is usually easier to sneak in there.
I'll never forgive Bargle.😉
I still play BECMI, although now I use the D&D Cyclopedia Rules along with what other BECMI material I aquired over the years. Sadly I no longer have the RED basic Rulebook. I believe I gave it to a friend who wanted to get started in D&D years ago.
The artwork in these early editions are so badass, especially the undead.
Larry Elmore did a lot of art for BECMI, Jeff Easley's work starts around 1st Edition, then Keith Parkinson and Clyde Caldwell get more prominent in 2nd Edition. There was a lot of great artwork and inspiration from Elmore, Easley, Parkinson, and Caldwell's images in BECMI/1st/2nd Dungeons and Dragons, but back then there was even more inspiration for D&D on top of that from artwork done by fantasy artists like Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, and Frank Frazetta.
You could always tell what was what in the 80s artwork, unlike the later stuff that became too busy or full of spikes and pouches.
Cool story.
BECMI is the only version of the game I've never had a physical copy of. This is going to be interesting because all of this is new to me.
Glad to have you watching.
Look out for the Kill Bargle dice game.
In the late 1980s, I…gave…my…Red Box… away!😔 Sigghhhh….
I played that red box into. Never heard of anyone disliking it...
Real enjoying your videos/ Old school DMer forever.
Thank you.
I too stared at Aleena a lot, she was a great introduction character, I have used the character in other games as she's cool
Very very well done. I still use my (unsigned) red books as a fundamental base to writing my own adventures
Thanks so much for this one; really brought back memories
You’re welcome.
This cathartic trip down memory lane deserves a coffee! Looking forward to your future ruminations.
Very kind of you. I know things are tight these days so this feels all the more special. Thank you.
1:22 Elmore's illustration 🥲
A whole generation was introduced to ptsd with Aleenas death.
Thank you. - Brian.
I was so sad when she died and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I think I was twelve or thirteen.
BECMI is an excellent system.
This is
My Dungeons & Dragons
My wife wanted to learn dnd. As an old 2e player with some experience and definite interest, we began with 5e's Starter Set and Essentials Kit. I am an RPG System Collector and didn't like 5e. So after much bouncing from various systems and driving her nuts in the process, we have settled on BECMI. I had listened to other youtubers but your content has conviced US 100% that BECMI is just the right place to start. My wife did say, she had never played and wanted to experience true dnd, and to that end, it IS BECMI. Thank you.
Good luck to you and your wife! 🙂
I still to the day remember this. I too failed the save. Aleena and Bargle are both in the Karameikos Gazateer, and also AD&D 2E’s Karameikos box set for the Mystara setting. Both alive and well in the source material. Thanks for the memories
Thanks for your commitment and deep understanding of the old school fantasy games. You don't even sound old enough to have experienced BECMI when it first came out! And if you're not, then that is only testament to the power of the storytelling of Frank, Gary and all the Appendix N authors. At any rate, you are doing a wonderful job of keeping the brazier of wonders alive.
Thanks. I’m actually in my 50s. Must be my singing voice. 🙂
I love the fact that is how Dungeon magazine did the last issue, go back to the adventure included and basic dungeon master's rulebook and give an idea of what would be in those dungeon levels. Of course, I would like to play that in BECMI and reconvert it from 3e back to basic for my group.
This is amazing i ran across this channel today! This is where myself and my brothers first discovered the game, and we like 5e, but I am about to re skin The Keep On The Borderlands and having a party with my brother to start some new characters and have it be more 1e lethal!
Thank you. I really enjoy the videos.
Glad you like them!
Thank you for this please show more info on bargle living.
Bargle was the real og
That guy needs to be beaten up on by every new group.
@Ribbit Ribbit no. That dude needs to off the hit npc every group has a crush on and always escape. Guys ine of the greatest villians ever
I'm not disagreeing with you, but at some point the catharsis of final defeat needs to happen.
Nobody's illustrated more fantasy women that can get someone twisted inside than Larry Elmore. ;-)
I remember this from when I was a kid and how hard I took her death..
I’m aware nobody will believe me but Aleena the cleric was inspired by my grandma. Her name is Aileen. It can be looked up
The older editions have always been the best.
Awesome older.
This was the edition that i had as a kid. I loved it so much!!!! Where can i get it again?
Try Drivethru rpg. Print on demand copies might be available from there. Thanks for watching.
I remember I had to treasure the basic set because 1) I had no English and I depended on translations 2) I was a kid and the sets were well over my pocket change, I had to save for them. This is why I did not consult it, I treasured like I should have treasured a sacred book! A RPG in the eighties in Italy was a weird hobby, but an interactive book was a revolutionary idea!
The most magical thing about Aleena was that somehow her chain mail was skin tight…
But still able to move in it. Must have had a great tailor. 🙂
The first mention of elven chain? Nah...
Missed this one - I actually play through the solo game over and over as teen it was that fun. Great video as always :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video 👍.
Subscribed.
Awesome, thank you!
Seems to me Bargle has a full page drawing in one of the ADd books killing villagers w/a wand? It's even labelled Bargle the Chaotic.
You might be referring to Emirikol the Chaotic. Page 193 of the 1st ed AD&D DMG.
@@becmiberserker that's the one!
He was the villain in the adventure example I believe. In my head he is Bargle just changed his name to hide out from all of the vengeance seeking Alena simps!
I love 5e, but sometimes I miss BECMI too.
Hence why Bargle is still one of the most hated villains in all Dungeons and Dragons.
Wow! Congrats for the signatures.
That was quite the intro! Aleena was a crush for sure and inspiration for my own cleric character Donnak who's name was an homage to Donna (Carrie Mitchum) in the first season of the Bold and the Beautiful. Another crush I suppose :D
After going through that first adventure, decades ago, I remember thinking how weak Alena was. We know she was at least third level, yet had no more than 7 hp.
We know this because 1) she says "one of the spells I can cast right now . . ." (in this edition, clerics received their second spell at 3rd-level - no bonus spells for high wisdom), and 2) she is killed by a single magic missile, apparently from full-health.
The first cleric I ever created was also very weak, starting play with 1hp and dying from the first kobold arrow fired.
Awesome Video at the right time let call this synchronism 😋
Aleena getting it always pissed me off. Almost made me quit trying to find a group if it was going to be that disaspointing...
Yeah I had no Idea DND did that... Like for my game 40 years later the only why I could think of to introduce new players to my game was though a short story although they did a chose your own adventure formate I did my normal Norvel story formate of You sitting in with a group of 5 as they play the game... Nether is better I think but both work for their/our games.
You had Aleena, I had Morgan Ironwolf.
If I said I had them both, would it sound wrong??
This story is familiar, I think they reused it in the Lamentations of the flame princess.
Well :) I kinda think of Aleena and Bargle as "the new kids on the block" myself :) yeah still after all this time .. they are bloomin upstart whippersnappers lol
‘Gary sent me.’
they've created a proto-waifu... AND KILLED HER.
stock PC motivations:
"I'm here for the treasures!"
"I'm here to uncover forgotten artifacts of ages long gone."
"I'm here to kill Bargle."
I hate Bargle like you wouldn't believe.
Anyone know where I can acquire this nowadays? I'd love to go through it myself.
Try DriveThruRPG. I think the PDF is about $5. Otherwise, there may be copies on eBay, albeit more expensive. Thanks for commenting.
@@becmiberserker thanks dude, also I really dig your content.
This video makes me want to try BECMI, although I am not a D&D person at all (I like fantasy but not the swingy D20 system).
Awesome d20.
Made out two of the three autographs and I'm afraid rather a rude word burst out of my mouth, wrapped in an "oh" and a "you". Please, please take that as an expression of envy rather than a statement of personal unpleasant insult.
Maybe you're already aware, but if you'd like to mess with your players in a year or so, DriveThru has a 2014 module called "LLA006: The Shrine of St. Aleena" by a Peter C. Spahn.
I envy your players. It seems as if they have a DM who has a damned clue and will make the effort to give them a good game, introduced the RIGHT way.
No, sir. We'll be glad to see YOU back here soon.
EDIT:
Alright, here's the deal. I buy you five coffees, you ask your players if they're willing to record their Aleena session for upload here.
Wait. Damn. S***. You're supposed to agree to the deal BEFORE I buy the coffees, aren't you? S***. Oops. Oh well.
Have you read the 1991 box set? I would say that does a better job introducing the actual process of running a D&D game. The Mentzer box set gives a good feel of course, but it's not nearly as comprehensive and method-based as the 1991 box set. The Rules Cyclopedia (which you mention at the end) was NOT meant to be an introduction to the game... that was meant to be the 1991 box set, which led you into the RC after 5th level.
The 1991 box and it’s follow up boxes deserve a mention at least with the RC since they were meant to the introduction to that rules set. Having rules for the first 5 levels let’s you get a bit more mileage as well.
@@russellharrell2747 Agreed!
Bargle: "Why is everyone angry at me? I only did what anyone would do when one of those religious nuts comes to your door. Who doesn't want to give them a magic missile to the face?"
(I'm one of those religious nuts)
Speaking from experience??🙂
@@becmiberserker If they coulda cast Magic Missile they probably would have