Dungeon archeology - Need Help!
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Post Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 5:53 pm 
 

When I was 8 or 9 years old, my uncle introduced me and my siblings to Dungeons and Dragons. He ended up giving me the dungeon he DMed for us. It is a three level dungeon with a key. I have uploaded an image from the key which you can see here:

Dungeon78.jpg - Google Drive

I am pretty sure that we were using the AD&D rules, so this must have been around 1978 or 1979. I am trying to figure out what all this means. So I have a few questions for the historians here. Firstly, what was this type of paper called, on this continuous ream with the side holes for feeding it through a printer? Secondly, under the monster listings, there is a series of numbers (i.e. under the first monster listing shown - 15 orcs - there are five rows of numbers,

0/3   13/4  2/3

etc.). These have puzzled me. On the first page (not included) are some pencil notes:
Lowest
AC
Hit/damage
So initially I assumed they were prerolled attack dice and the damage - which seemed to make sense, since the listed damage for the orcs is 1d6 and the maximum number after the / is 6. The confusing part is the first number, which sometimes is zero or even -1. Then also is the issue that some number combinations have a * or - instead of a /. What could these possibly mean? Does this notation look familiar to anyone?

Unfortunately my uncle is no longer available to ask, so any help in trying to decipher their meaning would be greatly appreciated. Another interesting thing about the key is that the first page says it is from the DUNGEON DIGITAL CORPORATION -- MULTIVERSE. The last page has a serial number of 9953996 and a reorder number of 2503738. While I believe this is something solely of my uncle's creation, any info regarding said company would be most valuable.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

Zardok

  

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Post Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 6:33 pm 
 

Firstly, what was this type of paper called, on this continuous ream with the side holes for feeding it through a printer?

This one is easy - tractor feed paper.  Maybe someone else can respond on the 2nd question.

  

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Post Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 6:39 pm 
 

I can answer the first question -- "tractor-feed" paper.  In the mid-80's this was the most common type of home computer printer (I believe the most popular manufacturer was Okidata).  However, back in the 1970's, there really wasn't any such thing as a "home computer", much less a printer to go with it.  This would have been printed out on a company computer of some sort, reinforced by the very industrial-looking green bars on the paper itself.  Somebody's accounting department was running double-duty there for a bit.  :)

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Post Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 7:00 pm 
 

FoulFoot wrote in Dungeon archeology - Need Help!:I can answer the first question -- "tractor-feed" paper.  In the mid-80's this was the most common type of home computer printer (I believe the most popular manufacturer was Okidata).  However, back in the 1970's, there really wasn't any such thing as a "home computer", much less a printer to go with it.  This would have been printed out on a company computer of some sort, reinforced by the very industrial-looking green bars on the paper itself.  Somebody's accounting department was running double-duty there for a bit.  :)

Foul


Okidata, ah yes!  That dusted off some long unused brain cells!  It most likely was from a business computer, as my uncle worked for Texas Instruments at the time (I believe).  Would love to know if there is any info on the Dungeon Digital Corporation.  

Mauricio at Dragonsfoot provided some insight on the numbers:
They are exactly what is written on the first page:
1st number: lowest AC hit by the pre-rolled attack. There are negative numbers because negative AC is a thing
2nd number: damage
* means a roll of 20 (not accounting for auto-hits or "repeating 20")
- means a roll of 1

For the shrieker, the numbers must mean something else, of course, but I don't know what.

Any additional info would be most interesting.  Thanks!

Zardok

  

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Post Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2022 10:04 pm 
 

Here's what comes up under "Dungeon Digital Corporation":

https://opencorporates.com/companies?q= ... =%E2%9C%93

It's likely he never actually created a corporation, which would be comprised of a group of shareholder, but who knows.

  

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Post Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:37 am 
 

dbartman wrote in Dungeon archeology - Need Help!:Here's what comes up under "Dungeon Digital Corporation":

https://opencorporates.com/companies?q= ... =%E2%9C%93

It's likely he never actually created a corporation, which would be comprised of a group of shareholder, but who knows.


Most likely the company, if there ever was one, was created around the time the dungeon was, which means 1978-1980, and most likely in Texas.  I doubt any digital records would still exist and would have to doubt that any physical records exist.  Thanks for the info though!  

Cheers!

Zardok

  

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Post Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:56 am 
 

The shrieker is using the same chances of d20 as the rest, but since it can not hurt anyone the default is set at 99 to hit AC0.  This looks like it was computer generated for those rolls and damage dealt, because why would you put values for the shriekers.  Curious what program was available back then, though that was before my time of playing.

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Post Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2022 2:29 am 
 

Plaag wrote in Dungeon archeology - Need Help!:  Curious what program was available back then, though that was before my time of playing.

ShaneG.


Probably wrote his own.

  
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