Initiative.

"Round-by-round initiative was key to the whole combat action system though. Everyone declared their actions, THEN initiative happened. That injected a whole element of uncertainty into the game. Did you plan to boldly advance towards the altar or hang back near the door where you could restrict the enemy? If you decided to advance and the other side got the initiative you could end up in a heap of trouble, but hanging back could seriously hamper your ability to achieve some goal or other. Switches of init between the two sides also promoted the possibility of sudden reversals of fortune and gave combat an uncertain and rather chaotic caste. And of course the whole thing raised heck with magic users, especially if they were planning on using any of the longer casting time high level spells."

Tavern Rumours

From DungeonMastery:

1-10 Low Paying Job
11-20 Decent paying job
21-25 High Paying job
26-30 Con Artist (Fake Job)
31-40 Fake Leads
41-50 Folk Lore*
51-60 Minor Artifact Location
61-70 Treasure Hunt
71-75 Lead on a Villain/Friend/Etc
76-80 Major Artifact Location
81-90 Two pieces of useful information**
91-100 Someone is selling a map!***

Pimp. Enough said.

Thoughts on Light from KarasDjun

From dragonsfoot:

Has anyone ever gone into a dank, pitch black cave with nothing but a flashlight to guide several people along? I would imagine stairs (especially those in disrepair) would be quite treacherous and any hole would be very dark until the light came closer. Those behind the light would be in almost total darkness and easily picked off by creatures able to see well in the dark or dim light. For these reasons and more, I think continual light "flashlights" are a waste of time.

As for enchanted swords and other weapons with light/continual light cast upon them.... Take a flashlight or two in a dark setting and swing it like a sword. Now have someone without a light poke at you with a stick. I'll bet they hit quite often. I would think that multiple light sources like this would likely cause more confusion than shed illumination good enough to see by. Given the shadows cast by these weapons, whipping about at high speed, you would be virtually sickened or at least nauseous by the end of a long combat. A light spell should be cast upon a stable object (ceiling, torch sconce, etc) otherwise the constant movement would become distracting at best, sickening at worst (like watching a video where someone is running with the camera). Bullseye lanterns are sort of like flashlights (mono-directional beam) and are great for spotlighting a certain area, but I'd take a torch or hooded lantern over any of these. A linkboy serves to keep the light still while combat occurs around him. A clerical sanctuary spell or protection from evil would greatly enhance their survival. Even at higher levels, a linkboy with a magical light source can cloak it and reveal it as the party wishes and still leave them free to fight.

From the Greyhawk Wikipedia Article

Rary was a low-level wizard created by Brian Blume and played only until he reached 3rd-level, at which point Blume retired him, having reached his objective, which was to be able to call his character "Medium Rary"

A Quote to Remember

"most of what is found herein is essential to the campaign, and those sections which are not - such as subclasses of characters, psionics, and similar material - are clearly labeled as optional for inclusion." (AD&D Players Handbook, page 6)

If it ain't broken...

Use of System Shock Roll = Polymorph "fixed"