Untold Adventures

Return to the bookshelf & read

I was sitting around the other day and just pulled my old copy of Untold Adventures by James M. Spahn and reread it.

Yes it is the original version not the deluxe but I do have Unsung Heroes too. I admit that my gaming tastes have evolved a bit since then so as read through the book, the genius of it hit me. Just two classes, the original old school races and a simple minimalist set rules is all you need. Well, that a little creativity and imagination.

While some may complain about the simplicity of the rules, it’s really liberating and infinitely more flexible to do with as you will. I scribbled down about six pages of notes with ideas for two separate campaigns yesterday afternoon. It is refreshing.

For those still with me and are wondering just what is Untold Adventures? It’s a minimalist take on Swords & Wizardry White Box. In a nutshell, Ability Modifiers range from -1 to +1. There’s a single Saving Throw with possible modifiers. And you just use d20’s and d6’s. And with the recent release of the White Box Cyclopedia there’s a bunch of material that you easily add to Untold Adventures. That would be mainly monsters, magic items, and spells. But you could mine it for other ideas and convert very easily.

I admit that I’ve been in the gaming doldrums for the last few weeks. This little tome actually got me excited again. Thanks, James!