Tom Moldvay (d. 2007) is rightly remembered as one of giants of the hobby, the creator of the B/X edition Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set – The edition between the first Basic set, and the long-running BECMI series.
Moldvay also co-wrote module X1 Isle of Dread, putting his stamp on the “X” of “B/X”. He was prolific, comfortable in any genre at TSR, co-writing Gangbusters, and adventures for Boot Hill and Star Frontiers.
Today we’ll look at Moldvay’s more obscure games outside of TSR: The Lords of Creation roleplaying game (Avalon Hill, 1983) and his small-press work, The Future King (1985), The Challenges Game System (1986), and the adventure published for that system, Seren Ironhand (1986).
Lords of Creation
Lords of Creation [BOX SET]
1983 … Tom Moldvay … AH 858
Contents: 2 books, dice.
Lords of Creation had 3 expansion adventures. They are detailed over at my Classic RPG Reference Site
The Lords of Creation who give the game its name are extremely powerful individuals who can build whole new worlds and design dimensions with differing physical laws. Yet all of them were once “normal” people, like the player characters. If a character survives long enough, he or she becomes one of the Lords of Creation and learns how to build new worlds.
Tom Moldvay (Heroic Worlds by Lawrence Schick, 1991)
It’ll become clear that Moldvay was fascinated with fantasy, history, science fiction… and mixing them freely as RIFTS and TORG RPGs would later popularize.
Lords of Creation retained much of the graphical style of B/X D&D, unsurprisingly. Above is a Ghoul statted in LoC and Moldvay’s Basic rulebook.
Moldvay listed the influences of Lords of Creation as follows:
1) mythology, folklore, and legends in general; 2) an unpublished novel I wrote entitled Tom of Bedlam; 3) the science-fantasy works of Philip Jose Farmer (the “World of the Tiers” and “River-world” series) and Roger Zelazny the “Amber” series, Jack of Shadows, Lord of Light, etc.); 4) Dr. Who, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and The Avengers; 5) science-fiction stories and novels in general, especially the “classic” SF of 1946 to 1959; and 6) supernatural horror stories, particularly the kind written for the famous Weird Tales magazine.
Heroic Worlds
Box
Rulebook
Interior art is credited to Dave Billman. I love it.
Book of Foes
Many of the monsters are weird human hybrids; some are nightmare fuel.
The “Human” entry is extensive, comprising many famous figures from history and legend.
Dice and Fliers
The Future King
1985 … Tom Moldvay … 20 pages … Spellbinders
“Six historical heroes: Doc Holliday, Nostradamus, Bruce Lee, Harald Hardraada, Owen Glendower, and Cyrano de Bergerac have been gathered together out of the mists of time. Their mission is to find and wake King Arthur, for it is time that he again don the mantle of kingship.”
The Challenges Game System
1986 … Tom Moldvay … 10 pages … Challenges International
The Challenges Game System is a stripped-down, revised edition of AD&D, perhaps its first retroclone.
The system presented in its 8 pages is largely identical to that of AD&D (with a few interesting wrinkles), stripped down to its essentials and presented far more coherently. Characters have six ability scores: Muscle, Dexterity, Stamina, Willpower, Wisdom, and Charisma. These are generated by rolling 2D6+6 nine times and choosing the best six rolls, arranging them as desired (“Player characters are heroes, not average individuals,” Moldvay notes to my disappointment). Scores of 18 — which would be more likely under the suggested method of random generation — get a further percentile roll to distinguish them, much like exceptional Strength in AD&D, except that it applies to all ability scores. Ability modifiers are not rationalized — they vary by ability — but, outside of the highest percentile scores, they’re fairly small, generally +1 or +2.
Challenges presents five classes (warrior, sorcerer, cleric, thief, and mirager — an illusionist) and five races (humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, and hobbits, the latter of which Moldvay claims is based on “British folklore” and makes no reference to Tolkien whatsoever).
James Maliszewski, Grognardia
I’ve had the Challenges Game System in the shop exactly one time, back in 2008, when it sold for $30. It’s rare, but middling demand. I see Ebay actual sales for CGS in 2018 ($114) and 2021 ($99.88).
Seren Ironhand CH2
1986 … Tom Moldvay … Challenges International Inc
The characters have two goals. Their primary goal is to find the hide-out of a group of river pirates who have been raiding on the Seren River and to rescue captives being sold as slaves. Their secondary goal is to map and explore the ancient dwarven mines of Morandir which are being re-opened by King Alerak of Brenarian. In Scenario A the characters generally explore the old mine tunnels and rooms of Morandir. The interior of Alder Mountain was once home to the Alder Mountain Dwarves. More than a thousand years ago the dwarves fled from Morandir which is now mainly inhabited by various monsters. Scenario B is mainly more exploration but focuses on the Court of the Cats. The dyvalgon are an ancient race of cat-like humanoids. They are powerful magicians who can travel between dimensions. They are the secret rulers of all cats. The characters chance upon a dyvalgon prince who has set up his court in Morandir. In Scenario C the characters encounter a branch of the river dominated by a stretch of rapids and a waterfall. The waterfall ends in an underground lake (which was once a huge dwarven room). They explore both the ancient room, and three islands which have formed on the lake. Scenario D details Ironhold, the fortress of the river pirates. The characters find that the pirates and the drow have made an alliance. Indeed, Seren Ironhand, the leader of both groups, is half drow and half human. Using stealth and courage the characters (hopefully) defeat the pirates and the drow and rescue their captives. With the terror of the river pirates ended and the captives rescued, the adventure ends.
Seren Ironhand is noted as being compatible with AD&D in the introduction.
Though the back cover text notes CH1 The Morandir Company and CH3 The Mountain King as upcoming modules, these never materialized.
Note the separate “Royal Commission” sheet that is leafed into the module booklet.
Seren Ironhand is rare and in demand, selling in the $150ish range through the 2020s. One sold on Ebay last month for $200.
See Also:
Tom Moldvay Bibliography at Dragonsfoot