Showing posts with label Adventures in Fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adventures in Fantasy. Show all posts

NPC's found in Adventures in Fantasy

Author: DHBoggs / Labels:

It's a truism that we can never get enough stuff - particularly the obscure and exotic.  So here's a little collection of characters from inside the pages of Dave Arneson and Richard Sniders Adventures in Fantasy game.  Most of them are little more than a name and a class, but that's a start.  You can consider these persons to be part of the world of Blackmoor - though that is never stated.  Several of them do appear in Bleakwood, which could be anywhere, but was at one point set in Blackmoor, at least for a time.  I've given the reference italicized as either I, II, or III for the main rules booklet, the magic booklet and the monster booklet, followed by the page number.

 St Cuth - religious figure or god. Ip39

 Al Haza - male wizard, 11th level, lawful.   Inteligence 66 Ip45, Al Haza also has levels as a warrior from a previous career. Ip56  He is ranked as a Knight. IIIp47
He posses the green Talisman, which causes the target to be calm.  An attacker targeted will act as if hit with a confusion spell. 50' radius, saving throw allowed.

 Shema - female mage apprentice Ip45

 Count Horace - maniacal human male warrior, Stamina 32.  He owns the Axe of Blood sight which causes Horace to hate Magic Users.  With the axe in hand, Horace gets double attacks at + 10% but -5% to defense when attacking an Mu. Ip52, IIp36 IIIp46.   The story of how Horace got the axe and why he hates sorcerers is in IIIp46, 47

 Omar the Swordman, human warrior, Stamina 54, Ip52 Future Baron Ip56

 Horal, Warrior, Stamina 88 Ip52

 Shoman, Male Mage level 6,Int 59, Stamina 87  IIp23,24

 To'kar the terrible, chaotic mage IIp24

 Hardeel the Magician, Male mage Level 6, Int 83 Stamina 36 IIp27, 28

 Balcletian, mage level 7 or more  IIp28

 Sokar of the Fourth Circle, Level 4 mage, Intelligence 100 IIp41

 Sh'ch'col'tika-r, Elf Male mage IIp32


 The dragon Sco'la IIIp8



3 comments

Making Sense of Encumbrance in OD&D

Author: DHBoggs / Labels: , ,

The guidelines for Encumbrance in OD&D can be found primarily on page 15 of Men and Magic.  They are quite sparse.  We are given the weight that can be carried in GP for three movement rates per turn.  The slowest rate is 6" carrying a weight of 1500 coins or 150 lbs - equivalent to Armored foot rate.  Heavy foot rate (6")  allows 1000 coins/100 lbs, and light foot movement (12") can be achieved with up to 750 coins/75 lbs of weight.

These same values apparently apply to all characters, and while that's certainly simple, it seems a bit strange that someone with the strength of a child can carry just as much as a barbarian warrior. 

In order to add the sort of granularity that would distinguish wimp from warrior within the existing guidelines, we would have to know exactly who the M&M figures are supposed to be for.  Specifically, are they representative of the typical Strength 10 character or are they representative of the strongest possible Str 18 character?

In cases like this, I will sometimes look for clarification in Dave Arneson's  and Richard Snider's Adventures in Fantasy(TM) game from 1978.  AiF is d100 based, so a direct correlation shouldn't be expected, but there is often a principle that can be brought to bear.  In this case, Arneson says "...roughly 2 lbs of weight can be carried without difficulty (the maximum being 200 lbs. for a character with a strength of 100.)  Without physical training the character can only use 75% of his strength rating."  (AiF Bk1 p2,3)   The training referred to here is a special weightlifting training detailed in the book.   So, unless your character is a professional weightlifter, the most even the strongest of men can carry without suffering a steep fatigue penalty is 150 lbs.  That's just the same as the maximum weight in Men & Magic.  

So from the perspective of at least one of D&D's creators 1500 coins/150 lbs. should be the maximum a Strength 18 character can lug around without a fatigue penalty. 

Now, in D&D terms, the point spread between 3-18 is 16 pips of course, so if we accept that 150 lbs is the maximum weight a person with a strength of 18 can carry (without fatigue penalties) then we have a figure of 9.375 lbs (93.75 coins) per strength point for D&D.  

The table derived from this approach would look about like this:
Strength Score
Full Strength Load Foot Movement (6")
Up to 2/3 strength Load Heavy Foot Movement (9")
Up to 1/2 Strength Load  Light Foot Movement (12")

COINS/LBS.
COINS/LBS.
COINS/LBS.
3
94/9
62/6
47/5
4
188/19
125/13
94/9
5
281/28
185/19
141/14
6
375/38
248/25
188/19
7
469/47
310/31
235/24
8
563/56
372/37
282/28
9
656/66
433/43
328/33
10
750/75
495/50
375/38
11
844/84
557/56
422/42
12
938/94
619/62
469/47
13
1031/103
680/68
516/52
14
1125/113
743/74
563/56
15
1219/122
805/81
610/61
16
1313/132
867/87
657/66
17
1406/141
928/93
703/70
18
1500/150
990/99
750/75


It is important to stress that these encumbrance figures are not a measure of how much a character could lift or even carry for a short distance while staggering under the weight.  They are how much a character can carry without undue difficulty and becoming fatigued.  

There are no real guidelines for Fatigue in OD&D, but there are in CHAINMAIL.  For Champions of ZED, I combined these with fatigue rules Arneson gave in his Garbage Pits of Despair adventure (part 1, M3), as follows "Strength and Dexterity suffer a -1. Fatigued characters must also subtract 2 from all attack rolls and damage rolls, drop 1 Morale Condition automatically, before any throws are made, and drop to 1/3 normal movement rate."

No doubt, some player at some point will try to have their character limp, grunt and puff along at 4" per turn carrying as much as they possibly can.  If the referee is inclined to allow this - for comedy if nothing else, AiF does give some guidence regarding both the maximum load possible and how quickly fatigue sets in as follows "(at) 25% or more of his normal burden, the fatigue rate is doubled, and at 50% it is tripled.  A character cannot carry more than 150%..."(AiF Bk1 p2,3)

In D&D, a character can normally travel 5 turns without fatigue.  Thus applying the AiF rule, a character overloaded by 25% could travel 3 (2.5 rounded up) turns normally, and a 50% burden would allow only 1 turn of unfatigued movement.   
And even the strongest of the strong couldn't take a step if they were trying to carry 375 pounds or more. 

Now as a side note, I've mentioned before that I'm a fan of Gus L's encumbrance method, Details Here  so I've also worked up a table listing the 2/3 and 1/2 amounts of the Strength score itself .  This way players using Gus's method having a character with a strength of 10 will know they can carry 5 "significant things" and keep a movement rate of 12" or 7 significant things and move at 9" per turn.
Strength Score
Full Strength Load Foot Movement (6")
Up to 2/3 strength Load Heavy Foot Movement (9")
Up to 1/2 Strength Load  Light Foot Movement (12")

# Significant Things
# Significant Things
# Significant Things
3
3
2
1
4
4
3
2
5
5
4
3
6
6
4
3
7
7
5
4
8
8
5
4
9
9
6
5
10
10
7
5
11
11
8
6
12
12
8
6
13
13
9
7
14
14
9
7
15
15
10
8
16
16
11
8
17
17
11
9
18
18
12
9

2 comments

Miscellaneous Treasure

Author: DHBoggs / Labels: , , ,

Treasure, and the hunt for it, have been at the heart of D&D since the beginning.  Tables for randomly generating the fantastic wealth to tempt adventurers long have been a staple of the game.  The OD&D treasure types included chances for copper, silver, gold, gems, jewelry and magic items.  AD&D changed these tables but little, adding only electrum to the treasure spectrum.  Conspicuously missing from these lists is a staple of Hollywood style treasure hoards – miscellaneous objects of value, such as tapestries, ivory, works of art and so forth.

When Arneson & Snider wrote Adventures in Fantasy, a lot of old ideas were reworked and repackaged, body types and hit location from Supplement II, for example.  Treasure Types were another idea that received a re-skin.  There are none of the familiar lettered treasure types in AiF, but there is treasure still.  The same categories are there – copper, silver, gold, gems, and jewels, but rather than assign a particular type to particular monsters with varying chances in each category as D&D does, AiF uses a one-size-fits-all 10 x 10 table allowing the possibility of almost any treasure being assigned to any eligible monster.

A different approach, to be sure; but, for the most part, familiar hordes of silver and gold result.  However, of the 100 possible treasure options, 4 contain a new category of either 1 or 2 objects of Miscellaneous treasure.

The category of Miscellaneous Treasure is one of the most interesting and potentially useful distinctions found in AiF.   Basically, it works as follows; when a miscellaneous treasure is called for a roll is made on a table containing these ten categories:

Kegs (various goods)
Tapestry
Tableware
Decorative weaponry
Riding Tack
Clothing
Ivory (raw)
Sculpture
Artwork
Furniture

Except for kegs and ivory, each category has a value modifier that is multiplied times an amount of coin – 5 gp for example – determined randomly on a table.  Some items’ value modifiers are fixed at 1 and some have a range of 1-4 or 1-10, so some items, such as a tapestry can range from a few coppers to thousands of gp in value.

There is also a subtable for the contents of kegs:
Iron
Copper
Wine
Ale
Salt
Spice
Ambergris
Perfume

The keg items have fixed gold piece values, except for perfume, which ranges in value from 100 to 600 gp.

For the most part, details, such as what kind of clothing or sculpture or piece of art, are left to the referee to invent.

All in all, The Adventures in Fantasy miscellaneous treasure is a fairly simple yet versatile way to add some real color to your treasure haul. 


Integration with D&D is fairly seamless too.  In AiF there is always a 4% chance any given treasure will contain a miscellaneous item or two.  In D&D there is likewise always a chance any given treasure could contain gems or jewels, so all one needs to do is add one more roll when generating a D&D treasure and allow a chance for a miscellaneous treasure too.  I go with 5% instead of 4% just because chances on the D&D tables are always in multiples of 5.

3 comments

Blackmoor Character Sheet Clues, Part III (last)

Author: DHBoggs / Labels: ,


The  learned skills listed on Peter Gaylords character sheet are:
  
Horsemanship
Woodsmanship
Leadership
Flying
Seamanship

The presence of a skills list on a pre D&D sheet might stir up a hornets nest of its own for some folks.  Many a post has been written about how “skills” ruin the game, so evidence of skill mechanics in the ur game of D&D might not be welcome news to all concerned.  I won’t presume to tell anybody their idea of gaming fun is bad/wrong.  I personally think there are lots of examples of skills in the 3LBB’s as it is, but it’s true there is no detailed system.   M. A. R. Barker’s Empire of the Petal Throne™ “corrected” that “omission” as some would put it, but Arneson long contended that he had used a skills system “in so far as what I originally wanted to do ….with the different classes and the different fields you could learn.  I wanted to do that originally, but it was considered too complicated and people couldn’t handle it.  Well now that’s come back, you can do that.  You could really make a unique character class with the variability; and I always wanted to do that and I do that in my original campaign even today…. Because the players in the original campaign could learn different skills and different abilities....”  Dave Arneson, Mortality Radio interview, July 9th, 2004.

Arneson also claimed that “D&D at its start was a simple system with guidelines that could be tailored to the players...Each having strong points and weakness...  The skills (Such as found in my AIF game.) allowed you to build your character…” Official Dave Arneson Q&A Thread
« Result #30 on Jan 9, 2009, 3:25pm; Odd74 Forum

Of course, nobody familiar with AiF really thought  Arneson meant to say, strictly speaking, that AiF was exactly how it was in early Blackmoor.  Instead it seems more accurate to say that some of AiF builds on some of the concepts experimented with in the pre-D&D era, often with new or more developed mechanics.  So while AiF, or parts of it at least, may well be Arneson’s “original system”, at the systemic level, it is not true of the mechanical details, which are mostly quite altered or new altogether.   Most gamers don’t show much interest in tracing out all the stuff in AiF the way we do with D&D, and few people besides oddballs like me have done more than skim through the game.  Nevertheless, a  closer look at AiF  reveals some immediate parallels with the skill list on Peter Gaylords’s character sheet.

As mentioned previously, AiF has an “Education” sub-system.  Briefly, this is a list of 26 “Courses of Instruction”, 9 of them being in individual weapons, and several of the others being basic and advanced studies in the same subject or skill.  The courses are learned by a character through a “basic learning formula” taking into account time, intelligence, and course difficulty.  Among the 26 are:

Horsemanship (I, II, III)
 Forester/Huntsman
and
Sailor

Flying, is, of course a spell in AiF, leaving leadership the only "skill" on the Blackmoor character sheet generally unaccounted for in the game.   So we see that AiF carries a tradition of learned skills that does derive from early Blackmoor play.  That’s about as far as we can take the comparison however.  The AiF Courses of Instruction each have different benefits and game effects whereas Pete’s listed skills are pass/fail saving throw affairs.   So a final point about Peter Gaylord’s sheet we can make is that it not only illustrates an evolution of concepts found in D&D, it likewise illustrates the roots of some of the unique features of AiF.

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