Holmes' FLGS is closing

Gary Switzer, owner of Aero Hobbies, '70s to '00s. Source: A.H. FB page

Aero Hobbies, the game store in Santa Monica where J. Eric Holmes bought his first D&D rulebooks and many of his miniatures, will be closing at the end of October according to this recent news article:

Development Displaces 80-year-old Hobby Shop

A few years back Chris Holmes told to me that "It was very soon after [playing D&D for the first time] that Dad bought the rules at Aero Hobbies, including Warlock, Chainmail and the board game Dungeon". Eric Frasier, who played Murray the Mage, recently recalled that "I loved going to Aero Hobbies back when we were playing in that first D&D group of Eric's/ours. It was some of those visits that inspired my dad's comment to Eric [about the selling of minis] that they'd solved the age-old puzzle of turning lead into gold. :)"

Aero's name comes from from its original location in the same building as the Aero Theatre on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, which is still located there. By the early '70s, Aero Hobbies had moved a few streets away to 1319 Santa Monica Blvd, an address I found in a 1976 issue of Lee Gold's Alarums & Excursions zine.

A gamer named Gary Switzer bought Aero in the early '70s - I'm not sure if this was before or after the move - and it quickly turned into one of the early centers of D&D activity in the L.A. area, along with Alarums & Excursions and Caltech's group that developed Warlock. One of the DMs in the Aero group, D. Daniel Wagner, created the first thief character class, which Switzer famously related to Gary Gygax in a phone call, leading Gygax to create the version that appeared in the Greyhawk supplement in 1975 (Wagner's version used ability lists rather than level-based percentile scores). The thief, or rogue as it is called these days, remains one of the four core classes of D&D, as evidenced by the current D&D Basic Rules.

In 1976 the same group published the Manual of Aurania, one of the earliest non-TSR D&D supplements with new classes and monsters. With Wagner's permission I posted several of these classes and monsters on this blog in 2013 (click on Aurania in the labels below to bring these up). A Kickstarter is now in the works to republish this together with the Libram of Aurania, a unpublished sequel, see the announcement on FB.

Wagner has a Q&A thread over on ODD74 (you will need to be logged in to read this), where he wrote that "[Holmes] had a character named Eric the Cleric. He liked one of my weird classes from the Manual of Aurania. But he usually ran a [demo] game for the kids, he only played with us a little."

Holmes & company used some of the classes of the Manual of Aurania in their games. The copy owned by Eric Frasier - along with his other game books - can be seen in Tales of Peril, and also appears on my Gaming Artifacts Page. On the late Holmes Basic G+ group, Chris wrote that "the Manual of Aurania inspired my Samurai character. We treated his armor like chain mail that weighed less". Holmes' game write-ups in Alarums & Excursion (reprinted in Tales of Peril) mention this Samurai character and also a Beorning, another new class from the Manual. This likely led to the memorable mentions of a "lawful werebear" and a "Samurai" in the "Additional Character Classes" section of the original Basic rulebook:

"Thus, an expedition might include, in addition to the four basic classes and races (human, elven, dwarven, hobbitish), a centaur, a lawful werebear, and a Japanese Samurai fighting man" (pg 7).

The article linked above quotes a long-time customer saying that Switzer "had a career painting miniature figurines so I could ask him for tips on painting my armies", and on the ODD74 thread, Wagner wrote: "at the time, Switzer was likely the best figure painter around." Some miniatures painted by Switzer appear in photos Chapter 11 ("Little Metal People") of Holmes' 1981 book, Fantasy Role-Playing Games. The Aero Hobbies website once had a gallery of minis painted by Switzer called "Gary's Townsfolk", and although they took it down at some point, I had saved one image; I've heard from a local that these minis are still on display in the store:

One of "Gary's Townsfolk". Source: A.H. website. 

The sculpt is C1019h Gipsy from the C1019 Villagers and Townspeople set (1988) from the Metal Magic line from Hobby Magic, and still for sale (Thanks to DM Carl of Save or Die, a true "Metal Guru", for this info). The magic 8-ball appears to be Gary's touch. 😎

Holmes was still frequenting Aero in the early '80s; his recently republished 1983 review of the Call of Cthulhu game mentions a tip for running the game given to him by Switzer.

Holmes left L.A. in the mid-'80s and the other early D&D innovators like Wagner also moved on, but Switzer kept the store running for decades in the same friendly manner. The photo at the top of the column, which shows Switzer behind the register, is likely from the early '90s due to the preponderance of the TORG RPG (West End Games) for sale. He moved Aero once in the mid-'90s, but only a little over a mile down the street to 2918 Santa Monica Blvd, still its current location. As described in the article linked above, after his untimely death from cancer in 2006, the store was bought by one of his former employees, who has kept it running in the same tradition until the forced closure due to redevelopment. In 2016 it had a brush with fame when it hosted an HBO Game of Thrones promo:

Maisie Williams (aka Arya Stark) Pranks Game of Thrones Fans

If you live in the area, you have a few more weeks to visit the shop; per their post on FB everything is on sale with increasing discounts each week.

Update: An old friend who lives in the area pointed me to this his business page which has a partial walk through of the interior of the store. They are still using "TSR Adventure Gaming" racks to display merchandise. : )

The d6 HD OD&D Thief

The cover of GPGPN #9. Source.

In honor of the newly released Whitebox OD&D pdfs, let's take a look at the first class added to those rules: the Thief. Not the commonly known version in the 1975 Greyhawk supplement, but the even earlier one in issue #9 of the Great Plains Game Players Newsletter (May 1974), from just a few months after those first D&D sets were released. Jon Peterson helpfully shared this material with us in a post back in 2012.

As Gygax acknowledges in the article, he got the idea from a phone conversation with Gary Switzer, owner of Aero Hobbies in LA, "who mentioned that his group was developing a new class of character -- thieves" and "gave me a few details of how they were considering this character type, and from these I have constructed tentative rules for this class". In Switzer's group the original idea was by D. Daniel Wagner, who talks about it here in the OD&D Discussion Forums.  Wagner later co-wrote the Manual of Aurania, and a few years ago he let me post some of the Aurania material on the blog here.

The "Great Plains Thief" very much resembles the Greyhawk thief, but there are differences. In general the original version has less limitations and is more forgiving (less chances for failure). Furthermore, the write-up provides examples and clarifications on the second page that are not found in Greyhawk.

-Hit Dice. Most notably, the Great Plains Thief uses the original d6 system for hit dice, where all classes use d6s. For the thief this means 1d6 at level 1, 1d6+1 HD at level 2, 2d6 at level 3, etc. This really gives this version a "LBB" feel. Greyhawk only presents thieves using the "alternate hit dice" where they get a d4 hit dice per level.

-Race. The Great Plains write-up simply says, "Men, Dwarves, Elves, or Hobbits may become thieves", and nothing more. So the class is open to all of the standard races of the LBBs without any mention of the more complicated concepts added in Greyhawk such as multi-classing and racial bonuses for the non-humans.

-Alignment. The Great Plains Thief is "always neutral". The Greyhawk version adds chaotic to this, plus a note that lawful characters can employ them on a limited basis for missions.

-Armor. The original write-up lacks the clarifying note found in Greyhawk that shields are not allowed, thus rendering it ambiguous whether they can use shields.

-Climb Walls. The Great Plains Thief has this ability, described as "Climb almost sheer surfaces rapidly, up or down", but no chances are given, implying it is automatic. Greyhawk  introduces a chance of failure (13% at level 1).

-No "Pick Pockets". A skill of this type is present in the original write-up but does not yet have its standard name; instead it is "Steal items by stealth and/or sleight-of-hand", which to me implies a broader skill than just "picking pockets". Furthermore, this ability is not listed in the table of chances; instead the example on the second page indicates that the chance is the same as move silently. In Greyhawk it was changed to "filch items and pick pockets" in the list of skills and just "Pickpocket" in the table, where it is still given a chance equivalent to move silently.

-Finding Traps is automatic. Notably, in the example in the original write-up the thief finds traps in two chests simply by examining them, without any rolling. Only removal requires a roll, with failure activating "it with regard to the thief and any others within its range". This idea would persist into Greyhawk, Holmes Basic and Moldvay Basic where there is a "Remove Traps" but no "Find Traps" skill for thieves.

-Open locks saves time. In the original example, Gygax notes that failure to open a lock means that it "must be forced open - a very time consuming process". Also note that both here and in Greyhawk the skill is described as "by picking or even foiling magical closures". This is not explained further, but one could rule that this includes opening Hold Portal or Wizard Locked doors.

-Reading languages and scrolls are automatic. Greyhawk adds chances for failure, but that's not in the rules here. 

-Hide in Shadows allows movement. The second page clarifies that is a chance to "remain undetected when hiding or moving through shadows" (so the thief doesn't have to remain still), requires shadows "of course", and a lack of "observation prior to hiding". In the example, the thief is able to avoid observation by a pursuing monster simply by hiding once the party goes around a corner.

To make the original material more usable for gaming, I've edited the material into a single page "Thieves Reference Sheet". I took the Holmes approach here, attempting to retain as many of Gygax's original words as possible. It's digest-sized (a 8.5 x 5.5 sheet), so it will fit inside your virtual or real Whitebox.

Part 4: "...And a Half-Human, Half-Serpent Naga"

Part 4 of a comparison of Holmes' manuscript with the published Basic Set rulebook. Turn to page 7 of your 'Blue Book' and follow along...

Character Record, Hit Points, Gold: These sections are not titled in the original manuscript or the published rulebook. There are no changes to the first paragraph about recording your character, the single sentence that follows it, or the final paragraph about rolling for gold. The third paragraph about hit points has some changes in the first half, with regard to formatting and clarification. Here is the original:

And here is the published version (1st print):

           "First generate a random number for "hit points." To generate the numbers roll the special dice in this game — 8-sided, 6-sided, 4-sided. This represents the amount of damage the character can take. For the number of "hit points" roll the proper sided die mentioned below. The die pertaining to players' character type is rolled once per level of experience. (See the section EXPERIENCE POINTS AND EXPERIENCE LEVELS.) Fighters, including dwarves, generate random numbers from 1 to 8, clerics from 1 to 6, and magic-users and thieves from 1 to 4. Elves use a spread of from 1 to 6 as they are both fighters (1-8) and magic-users ( 1 -4). Although hobbits are always fighters, they also use a 1 to 6 point spread due to their size. Note that constitution can add or subtract hit points, but no character can have less than 1 point per level regardless of subtractions."

Holmes' sentence near the middle, which reads "One way to generate the numbers is to roll the special dice - 8 sided, 6 sided or 4 sided, but numbered cards can be drawn from a set, or some other system used" has been edited to make the use of the dice included in the game the standard, and moved to be the second sentence of the paragraph: "To generate the numbers roll the special dice in this game - 8-sided, 6-sided, 4-sided". In addition, TSR adds three clarifying sentences starting with "For the number of "hit points"... 

Notably, Holmes' original includes the information that the "alternating elves" use a d6 for hit points. As far as I can tell he doesn't clarify when the d6 is rolled for elves - when one class gains 2nd level or both? Presumably an elf could choose to only gain levels in one class, so I guess the d6 would just be rolled whenever a higher level is gained in either class.

COST OF EQUIPMENT & WEAPONS: This section doesn't have a title in Holmes' original, so it is not separated from the preceding paragraphs. Holmes did have an entry in the Contents for "TABLE Equipment and Costs". TSR changed this entry to "COST OF WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT" in the Contents, and imported the title, with "equipment" and "weapons" reversed, here.

Holmes very precisely copies the Equipment Table directly from the one in OD&D, Vol 1, down to the exact note at the end ("Other items cost may be calculated by comparing to similar items listed above"), with just a few changes. 

Five entries are dropped; four of these are the four highest price entries in the original list, each 5,000 gold pieces or more and are all large sea-going vessels: Small Merchant Ship, Large Merchant Ship, Small Galley and Large Galley. Holmes presumably dropped these as being outside the scope of Basic level adventuring. 

The other one that was dropped is Belladonna (5 gold pieces), possibly because there was no further explanation for it or Wolvesbane in Original D&D, and Holmes may have viewed that as confusing or duplicative. Holmes also added a note to the entry for Lycanthrope that stated "All were-creatures are repelled by wolfsbane"; this is its first official description in D&D. Belladonna is first explained in the Monster Manual, which states, "If the person is carrying belladonna there is a 25% chance that this will cure the affliction if eaten within one hour. Note that this infusion will incapacitate the person for 1-4 days and there is a 1% chance of the poison in it killing the creature". This is the closest to an OD&D description for belladonna.

Otherwise, the Manuscript retains the order of items in the list, and the prices. This includes the weapons from Men & Magic in the table, which appears random at first glance but is actually in the same order as the twelve different weapon categories Chainmail, from shortest to longest (Pole Arms & Halberd go together). 

In Holmes, the price of a spear is 2 gold pieces, which one may think is a change from the 1 gp price in the LBBs. However, a spear is only price at 1 gp in later printings of the LBBs; the first printing had it  at 2 gp. This is evidence that Holmes had an early printing  of the LBBs. In the next iteration of Basic, Moldvay increased the price by one more gold piece, to 3 gp.

Holmes split the original table into two halves, but this may just be an artifact of the formatting in the manuscript, where he put the items that didn't fit on the first page on another page, and included the same headers. TSR retained this formatting as published, resulting in the table being split. 

As published, the table has no changes other than minor formatting (changing the headers from underlined to bold, capitalizing "Mail" in "Chain-type mail"), and the addition of one item added by Gygax: Tinder Box, with a price of 3 gold pieces. This is its first appearance in a D&D rulebook.

ADDITIONAL CHARACTER CLASSES: This was always one of my favorite sections, and provided a lot of flavor to the rulebook. Back when I only had Holmes Basic it provided a glimpse of the exciting material to come in AD&D. There are some interesting changes here. I'll quote Holmes' original in full:

Points of Interest:

(1) In developing this material, particularly the second paragraph that allows for monster-type characters, Holmes draws on a section in OD&D, Vol 1, called "Other Character Types".

(2) In the first paragraph, Holmes is just describing what was already added in the OD&D supplements: Half-elves, paladins and demi-human thieves in Greyhawk. Monks and assassins in Blackmoor. Druids and psionics from Eldritch Wizardry. Rangers and illusionists from the Strategic Review magazine.

 

For publication, TSR simply changed Holmes' reference to "DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and the various supplements" to "ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS", indicating that all of this material would be found in AD&D. Notably, in AD&D the monk was changed from a subclass of cleric to its own class.

(3) No witch! Holmes does not have the famous reference to the witch being a subclass of magic-user, which puzzled many kids when they got AD&D and found it wasn't there.

Many years later, Gygax said that he was never planning on adding a witch class to AD&D:

"That mention slipped by me, and all I can assume was that either Eric was planning to force such a class upon me, or else someone editing the work thought it a good joke to play. I never had a PC class of that sort in mind for the game."
-Gygax on Enworld in 2005, see here for a link to the original post

So, with the evidence here that it wasn't from Holmes, we are left either "someone else editing the work" to add the reference to the witch, or Gygax forgetting that he added it for some reason.

(4) "seven basic classes": Holmes' terminology here, which treats dwarves, elves and hobbits as classes along with fighter, magic-user, cleric and thief, is in line with the "race as class" concept that was further developed in Moldvay Basic. However, earlier in the manuscript Holmes included references to the rules for non-human thieves in AD&D, so I don't think too much should be read into this with regard to Holmes' views that the non-human races are classes. Notably, the revised paragraph changes "seven basic classes" to "four basic classes and races", which is the only appearance of the word "race" in the first printing (the second edition of the rulebook also includes the word in the new entry for Troglodytes).

(5) More examples of "anything" classes! Holmes' original reads: "Thus, an expedition might include, in addition to the seven basic classes, an African witch doctor/magic-user, a centaur, an Amerindian medicine man/cleric, a lawful werebear, a Japanese Samurai fighting man and a half-human, half-serpent Naga". TSR cut out half of these, leaving the sentence as the familiar "a centaur, a lawful werebear, and a Japanese Samurai fighting man". All of these alternate classes were used by Holmes in his own games and are mentioned in one or another of his writings.

African witch doctor/magic-user: A witch doctor is part of Boinger and Zereth's party in The Adventure of the Lost City: Part One, Alarums & Excursions #17, November 1976.

Centaur: A centaur is a minor character that Boinger and Zereth meet in The Maze of Peril (1986, written earlier), and Holmes also mentions a centaur PC in his article "Confessions of a Dungeon Master" (Psychology Today, 1980).

Amerindian medicine man/cleric: An American Indian Cleric plays a prominent role in The Adventure of the Giant Chameleon, Alarums & Excursions #14, August 1976.

Lawful Werebear: A Beorning character is also mentioned briefly in the The Adventure of the Giant Chameleon. A Beorning character class appeared in The Manual of Aurania.

Japanese Samurai Fighting Man: A samurai is also part of the party in The Adventure of the Lost City. A samurai character class appeared DRAGON #3 (Oct 1976), and also in the Manual of Aurania.

Half-human, half-serpent Naga: A Naga PC is also mentioned in Confessions of a Dungeon Master. Nagas first appeared as a D&D monster in the Strategic Review #3 (Autumn 1975), but alternately Holmes may be referring to the Naga of Indian mythology, which have a mix of human and serpent traits but are not necessarily a human-headed snake.

UPDATE: Here's a relevant quote from Holmes from Dragon #52, when he was reviewing the new Moldvay Basic Set:

"Character classes: Player characters are restricted to being a Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Magic-User, Elf, Halfling or Dwarf. This probably covers the roles most beginning players want to try, but I am personally sorry to see the range of possibilities so restricted. The original rules (the three little brown books) specifically stated that a player could be a dragon if he wanted to be, and if he started at first level. For several years there was a dragon player character in my own game. At first level he could puff a little fire and do one die of damage. He could, of course, fly, even at first level. He was one of the most unpopular characters in the game, but this was because of the way he was played, not because he was a dragon. I enjoyed having dragons, centaurs, samurai and witch doctors in the game. My own most successful player character was a Dreenoi, an insectoid creature borrowed from McEwan’s Starguard. He reached fourth level (as high as any of my personal characters ever got), made an unfortunate decision, and was turned into a pool of green slime."

The rest of Holmes' article can be read at Sword & Shield.  

Continue on to Part 5: "Lawful, Neutral or Chaotic"
Or Go Back to Part 3: "Elves Must Decide"
Or Go Back to Start: The Holmes Manuscript

Sidhe [Aurania]

By D. Daniel Wagner
A new class for for the original Dungeons & Dragons game
Transcribed from the Manual of Aurania (1977) with permission from the author

The Sidhe are a type of Irish Elf that have unusual powers. They are both warriors and magic-users at once, although only fair at either. The most powerful of the Sidhe were once Gods and had vast powers. 

Sidhe have abilities much like Elves, but don't have "infravision", having only better than average night vision. However, they detect invisible objects automatically by sight and have full vision of such objects by use of a 1st level spell. Sidhe are little affected by age or disease. 

Sidhe possess the spells of a magic-user one level below them, that is a 4th level Sidhe would have the spells of a Conjurer, 3 first and 1 second level spells. Several spells are different, the exceptions being:

1st level - Add See Invisible
2nd level - Add Infravision and Cure Light Wounds (Elven types only)
3rd level - Add Polymorph Self & Others. Delete Fly, Fireball and Lightning Bolt
4th level - Add Fireball, Lightning Bolt and Fly
5th level - Add Control Weather

Sidhe fight on the fighting man chart and use an 8-sided die minus one for their hit points or can use the alternate hit system (old system) - just ignore adds. Saving throws are the best of either fighting man or magic-user at their level.

Sidhe prefer as weapons spears, swords and knives. They don't wear plate-mail or plate for any reason, standard chain-mail being preferred.

Sidhe may use any magical item that either a magic-user or a fighter can use with the following exceptions: they cannot use any wands or staves except Staff of Healing and cannot have a magic sword with high intelligence and ego.

Books operate as follows on Sidhe:
Manual of Puissant Skill at Arms: Fights one level up. No other good or harm.
Manual of Stealthy Pilfering: Lose 3500 experience points.
Manual of Golems: Not useable, no damage.
Book of Exulted Deeds: As Magic-User.
Book of Vile Darkness: As lawful Fighting Man.
Book of Infinite Spells: Useable
Various Librams: As Magic-user of proper alignment.

Experience Points

1st level - 0
2nd level - 3,000
3rd level - 6,000
4th level - 12,000
5th level - 25,000
6th level - 50,000
7th level - 100,000
8th level - 200,000
9th level - 300,000

* * * * * 

Notes: 

Daniel told me that this is one of his favorites. He recently described them on OD&D Discussion as "like the Elf. They have the progression of a Fighting man as far as (what would later become) THACO. They cast spells like a Magic user but one level slower. Thus a 1st level Sidhe has no casting level, a 2nd = 1st level MU and so forth. They get some bonus abilities, best of which is Detect Invisible. Overall this makes them in many ways a full fighter/mage. But they have several limitations: they lose use of some of the best spells (
Fireball, for example becomes a 4th level spell) and heavy armor. They only use spears, swords, daggers (and staffs). At any given level you get the best saves from either Fighter or MU."

Read more about the Sidhe in Irish mythology.

"Grue" [Aurania]

By D. Daniel Wagner
A new monster for the original Dungeons & Dragons game
Transcribed from the Manual of Aurania (1977) with permission from the author

Hit Dice: 15
Armor Class: 4
Number Appearing: 1
Treasure: F

This huge monster is humanoid in shape and extremely ugly. All characters that see this monster must make their saving throw against Fear (use Dragon Breath table) or run off in a random direction in blind fear. However, as it is known that Fighter types are braver than Magic-Users, Fighters add plus one to their saving throw and Magic-Users must subtract one and Clerics and all others save normally.

Also, all characters must subtract an additional five points from their saving throw the first time they meet th ecreature. The character(s) who kill the "Grue" are proof against its Fear spell thereafter. If the monster isn't defeated, all characters continue to subtract five points away from their saving throw, which must be made every turn fighting the "Grue".

"Grues" have a magic resistance equal to a Balrog's. A "Grue" does 2-20 points of damage plus one life level when one hits. A "Grue" is also followed by a black cloud that nullifies the powers of Good Luck charms, Spells and the like. "Grues" also fight down one level from normal. 

"Grues" aren't very smart and are rather lazy. Movement is 13 inches a turn. Lair 100%. Alignment is chaos.

* * * * *

Notes

(1) For reference, here is the magic resistance of a Balrog:
"There is a high probability that spells will not work against them. To determine success of spells use a base of 75% resistance at the 11th level and adjust upwards or downwards in 5% increments, i. e. a 12th level Magic-User would have a 70% chance of resistance."

This appeared as part of the entry for Balrogs in the original printings of Monsters & Treasures, Vol 2 of OD&D, but was later deleted when the Tolkien estate objected. IIRC, it is the first conception of "magic resistance" in Dungeons & Dragons.

(2) Playing at the World discusses the Manual of Aurania on pages 558-559, and in a footnote writes "One notable monsters in the Manual is a "Grue" ... Fans of the later computer game Zork pay heed. The grue figured previously in Jack Vance's Eyes of the Overworld" [aka Cugel the Clever], which can now be found as part of the omnibus Tales of the Dying Earth. The grue never appears directly in Vance's stories, and is only referenced cryptically.

See also the wikipedia entry for "Grue (monster)" for more info on Zork grues.

In 1983, four types of "Elemental Grues" appeared in TSR's Monster Manual II.

The Manual of Aurania (1977)

The Manual of Aurania is a 1977 independent publication presenting new character classes and monsters for the original version of Dungeons & Dragons (OD&D). The main contributor of content, D. Daniel Wagner, is an active poster on the Paizo message boards and kindly allowed me to post his Beorning class from the Manual here, which I did yesterday. He has also started a fascinating Q&A thread on OD&D Discussion for anyone interested. 

There are two editions of the Manual. The content is the same but the second has typos corrected. According to Daniel, they printed 200 copies of the original and 1,000 of the 2nd.

From the Introduction of The Manual:
"While playing many games of Dungeons and Dragons at Aero Hobbies and environs [in LA], we came up with many types of new monsters, characters and treasures ... A prime selection of the collection is here, provided for your use and (hopefully) reading pleasure".

"Aurania is a universe of around ten or so dungeons, (of which only three are commonly used) and even more players. Aurania by-the-by means place of gold, a reference to the large piles of the stuff collected by the player characters in our early campaigns"

Full Credits:
Hugh K. Singh - Editor in chief and cover
D. Daniel Wagner - Main contributor
Larry E. Stehle - Typing and contributions
Troy L. Huhes - Illustrations of Cleric of Thor, Leprechaun, 4-Armed Horror, Trolls, Dragon, Imp and Demon, Nuckleavee
Aimee Karklyn - Illustrations of Dragons, Apparations

Acknowledgements: Gary Switzer [owner of Aero Hobbies], Dale Doane [co-DM of Aurania], Aimee Karklyn

New classes include Beorning, Sidhe, Samurai, Basadae, Leprechaun, Shape-Shifter,
Cleric of Mitra, Cleric of Asgard (Thor or Odin), Lawful and Neutral Reincarnation charts.
 
New monsters include:
Giants: Uruk-Hai, Trollheimer, Indigon, 4-Armed Horror, Black Giant, Grue, Mara 
Trolls: Wood, Hill, Mountain, River, Grendel 
Undead: Apparition, Nightmare, Phantom, Revenant, Banshee, Fetch, Crypt Keeper, Spriggen, Ghost
Dragons: Mottled, Purple, Peryton, Crimson, 3-Headed Terror, Dragon Worm, Ice Worm, Rak
Demons: Imp, Salamander, Class C, Class B, Class A, Named
Weird Trips & Rip-Offs: Argopelter, Flitterbrick, Jub-Jub Bird, Runner, Snark, Nasty, North-Hound, Tavashtri, Ravaging Fiend, Boojum, Catoblepas, Fachen, Gyraphont, Caecus, Sphinx, Firetree, Jabberwock, Lindorm, Nucelavee, Toadstool, Floater, Bandersnatch

J. Eric Holmes mentions a Beorning character in the Adventure of the Giant Chameleon (Alarums & Excursion #16, Aug '76). I thought this was an example of the "lawful werebear"  in the Basic rulebook. And it still might be. However, via Playing at the World (pg 558) I learned that the Manual of Aurania has a Beorning class, which led me to track down a copy. Holmes was active in the same area (Los Angeles / Aero Hobbies) as the folks behind the Manual so he or one of his players may have been using their class. 

Noble Knight Games has several copies (7 2 0 currently) of the 2nd edition of The Manual in stock for $19.95 29.95 sold out for anyone that might be interested.

Update:
See also transcriptions of the Beorning class, Sidhe class and Grue monster from the Manual of Aurania, posted with permission of D. Daniel Wagner.

Beornings [Aurania]

By D. Daniel Wagner
A new class for Dungeons & Dragons
Transcribed from the Manual of Aurania (1977) with permission from the author

Beornings                                                                                                      LAW-NEUTRAL

Level	Experience Points	Hit Dice	Dice Damage	Adds to Reaction	Supernormal Hirelings	Armor Class	Load
1	0	2	1	0	0	5	3,000
2	2,000	3	1	1	0	5	3,000
3	4,000	4	1	1	0	4	3,000
4	8,000	5	1+1	1	1	4	3,500
5	16,000	6	1+1	2	1	3	3,500
6	32,000	7+1	1+2	2	2	3	4,000
7	64,000	8+2	2	3	3	2	6,000
8	100,000	10	2	4	5	2	8,000
9	200,000	11+2	2+1	4	7	2+1	10,000
10	300,000	13	2+2	5	10	2+2	12,000
11	400,000	14+2	3	5	12	2+3	14,000

A Beorning isn't a true were-bear, but is more of a shape-changer and thus may be hit with any weapon unlike a were-bear which can be hit only with a silver or magical weapon.

The add to reaction chart is used when rolling for the reaction of lawful intelligent animals or monsters. No hostile reaction possible, but a low reaction doesn't leave any opening for any more offers.

In his human form, a Beorning may use such normal weapons as maces, swords, axes, etc. He may use such magical weapons as follows: maces, axes, bows, spears and swords (non-flaming and of low intelligence/ego). May wear only leather armor as anything else will encumber his shape-changing.

A Beorning may hire such numbers of men and/or normal animals as his charisma permits. However, a "Supernormal" hireling is other Beornings, were-bears, Pegasi, Hippogriffs, etc. and he may only hire as many as the chart indicates at that level.

He may speak to mammals & birds at 3rd level, to all animals from 4th level on and plants from 8th level on. He may also cure up to one die (no adds) of animal wounds per day.

As for human hirelings, a Beorning may hire only fighting-men, clerics and some specialists. He may hire other Beornings (see "Supernormal" hirelings). He may not hire men-at-arms. He may hire clerics only up to second level as anything else requires a place of worship.

[A few minor typos corrected from the original]

Update: "defers" in paragraph 2 changed to "offers" after consultation with Daniel.