This is a little something I made to a pre-made scenario I once ran with low-level characters in AD&D 2nd Edition. (I believe it was found in the original Book of Lairs, but that's beside the point.) Based on an idea I found in the scenario, I wrote up a little guide to how to kick the lower-powered undead's collective (and often bony) asses with impunity. Or almost, at least.

Also, I used it for a little bit of foreshadowing. It was one of my little campaign goals that the writer of this treatise, Vergrim, were to be a Lich that the player characters would oppose later on, and hopefully finally destroy. Alas, it was not meant to be - the campaign never got much further than the scenario I made the little writeup for.

I wrote this originally on my trusty Amiga, and after having created an original "manuscript", decided to make this a really good handout. Booting up the trusty DPaint IV, I then made some graphics giving the text in Gothic letters. After a little dye job (tea and coffee are good sources of dye) and some burning and drying, it looked good. I sealed it with a ribbon, and gave it to the player character who during the game discovered the little manuscript. It was cool...

Remember, though, when reading this manuscript, that I wrote it many years ago, and thought it would be cool to give it an Olde English twist so that the fact that it was old would be imparted to the players in more than mere numbers. Also, my English has (hopefully) improved over the years, so I hope that any spelling errors and inconsistencies encountered are ignored. It is the spirit of the manuscript which is important, not the actual manuscript...

Last, but not least, the idea of lesser magical weapons that are edged, but may give bludgeoning damage is introduced in the text. These "Hammerblades" are relatively easily and cheaply made, and are therefore rather common magical items. It may be good if DMs deciding to use the manuscript inserted some of these magical weapons in treasures to accustom players to them. Of course, they could also be very rare, but that would require some reworking of the text. Ah well, with no (well, not much) further ado, here's the treatise of Vergrim the Old - the Booke of the Lesser Deade.