Original Southlands Map redux

Back in 2009 I released my take on the Outdoor Survival Map mentioned in ODnD. Modifying the map using the guidelines found in Book 3 Underworld and Wilderness Adventures along with substituted Judges Guild icons in place of the original.

Since then it made the rounds appearing in projects like Autarch's Dwimmermount.

Recently +Nathan Jennings requested a version that didn't have the title block in the upper left. Since I still had the original files it was easy make a version that does just that.

So here it for everybody else to use for whatever project they have in mind. Just click here to get the full resolution version.

Minimal Dungeons Redux

Nearly eight years ago, I wrote a post about Minimal Dungeon born of an observation that various example we have of keyed dungeons from back in the day were very terse with little notes. As you can see from Judges Guild Tegal Manor and the well known photo of Gary Gygax with his Greyhawk binder attached to this post.

Rob's Note: You can download the dungeon referred in my original post from here the Elf Lord's Temple.

Now both +Peter V. Dell'Orto  on Dungeon Fantastic and Delta on Delta's DnD Hotspot wrote about their observations. Both have the opinion that the format is useful for a referee's own notes but not acceptable for print publication. I disagree in part.

First off I concur that what we see in the attached photo is too terse. Even the published Tegel Manor suffers from terse although there the uses of map notes, and room titles makes it more usable. My opinion the root of the problem is the long shadow of adventures formatted tournament style. An adventure with a keyed map, with each keyed location fully describe with a introduction that provides an overall explanation and general notes.

The problem with the tournament format that it doesn't scale. There a limit to the size of a locale that can be effectively described in this format. Beyond with people get lost in the detail or the project itself is unfeasible for publication.  Nor does the tournament format work well when the focus of the adventure is on the interactions between different NPCs rather than on the exploration of a locale.

So what is the ideal format? I would contend there is no ideal format. The focus should be on teaching you the reader on how I, as the author, ran the adventure. Whatever does the trick for that particular adventure is the right choice.

It starts with you imagining sitting down with another referee and explaining how to run the adventure. Then taking what you imagined (and perhaps practiced on a friend) and writing that up so the rest of us can learn how to run that adventure.

For example +Zak Sabbath excels at using his talent as artist and writer to explain his adventures and supplements through a unique combination of written and visual elements.

What about minimal dungeons specifically. Let's look at Tegel Manor by Judges Guild. It compactly details a fundhouse dungeon in the form of a sprawling manorhouse with a small four level dungeon beneath. It does this through a combination of terse text, some random tables, room titles, and above all the map itself.

To be clear I am not holding Tegel Manor as a great example. Having run it twice now, it just on this side of plausibility. Along with I get little sense of how Bob Bledsaw Senior ran it outside of the obvious "it is a funhouse.".  However I think it only a little more to turn it into a a great example of a minimalist dungeon. About double the page count should do it and most of that would be in the beginning where one explains how the place works overall, and give some specific on areas of the dungeon. Then add a sentence or two to flesh out the different room and leave it at that.

I think the advantage of the minimalist approach that is plays into the default mode of referee which is largely a matter of improvisation as the players attempt various things as their character. The only time that a complete description of C14 Butler's Room is needed is for product oriented towards novice referee. Otherwise it just take too long during actual play to read that much text. And beyond a certain point it is too much to retain even if you read it all beforehand.

But it tricky. It is a fine line between too much and too little. Which is why if you are terse it is best to use a combination of technique written, visual art, and maps to teach somebody how to run that adventure.

Dungeon Grappling Kickstarter

Douglas Cole of Gaming Ballistic has started a Dungeon Grappling Kickstarter. He was a great player in my DnD 5e Majestic Wilderlands campaigns, and the author of several GURPS Supplements including Technical Grappling for GURPS.

The basic idea is that there a better way of dealing with grappling. Doug developed a set of mechanics that takes the same basic mechanics of rolling to hit and inflicting damage and turns the result into something meaningful when it comes to grappling. He did this for GURPS and now he doing this for classic DnD, Pathfinder, and DnD 5e with the kickstarter.

Doug's project already funded however further support will allow him to pay for a ebook layout and full color art. I hope you will support him.

Delving into AD&D: Everything you want to know about First Edition Combat.

Gary Gygax wrote some great prose in first edition ADnD. But there were sections where things were not so clear. One of them was how initiative is supposed to work in combat. Luckily a couple of years back a guy named David Prata wrote A.D.D.C.I.T. which lays out the entire first edition combat in detail backed by footnotes.

It may not be the definitive interpretation of ADnD combat but is certainly one of the most complete. For me personally after reading it I finally got what Gygax was getting at in the 1st edition DMG.  The two key points are

• The initiative number is the segment when the OPPOSING side gets to act. So if Side A rolls a 5 and Side B rolls a 2; Side A starts their combat round on segment 2 and Side B starts their combat round on segment 5. Thus for side A any spell that takes 2 segments or less can be cast safely. Three segments spells will be simultaneous with melee combat. Any longer casting time spells run the risk of being disrupted by Side B.
• Weapon speed, and all the rules about multiple attacks with weapon speed only come into play when initiative is tied.  So when Side A and B both roll a 4 then weapon speeds are compared and it may be possible that if the weapon speed is low enough the wielder of that weapon will get multiple attacks.

The best summary of a paladin I have read (repost)

By the far the best gamable description of a paladin I seen was given by Elisabeth Moon in her Deed of Paksenarrion series. I was reminded of this because of a recent discussion with +Douglas Cole on the roleplaying of his paladin Mark Bludiell. It was a short discussion as we both agreed that Elisabeth Moon's interpretation was awesome and the way to go with this type of character.

Paraphrased From page 579 of the Trade Paperback the Deed of Paksenarrion.

Most think being a holy warrior means gaining vast arcane powers, that they would be nearly invincible against any foe. But truth is that while Paladin are skilled at fighting, that was the least of their abilities. A quest might involve no fighting at all, or a battle against beings no steel could pierce.

Above all paladins show that courage is possible. It is easy enough to find reasons to give in to evil. War is ugly as many know. But we do not argue that war is better than peace; paladin are not that stupid. It is not peace when cruelty reigns, when stronger men steal from farmers and craftmen., when the child can be enslaved, or the old thrown out to starve, and no one lifts a hand. That is not peace: that is conquest and evil.

Paladins do not start quarrels in peaceful lands, never display their skills to earn applause. But we are the sword of good defending the helpless and teaching by our example that one person can dare greater force to break evil's grasp on the innocent. Sometimes that can be done without fighting, without killing, and that is best.

But some evil needs direct attack, and paladins must be able to do it, and lead others in battle. Wonder why paladins are so likable? It is important, we come to a town, perhaps, where nothing has gone right for a dozen years. Perhaps there is a temple there and sometimes there is not. The people are frightened, and they have lost trust in each other, in themselves. We may lead them into danger, some will be killed or wounded. Why should they trust us?

Because we are likable, and other people will follow us willingly. And that's why we are more likely to choose a popular adept as a candidate rather than the best fighters.

To me this is best summary of a DnD style paladin I ever read and the basis for how I referee them.

Delving into AD&D: How combat is supposed work.

+Erik Tenkar blogs on casting time segments in ADnD 1st edition. For me the gold standard for figure how combat is supposed to work by the book in first edition is DM Prata's A.D.D.I.C.T essay over on Dragonsfoot.

The two main things I learned from reading ADDICT is that

• Speed Factors only come into play with a tied initiative.
• That side (or individual) starts on the segment indicated on opponent's die roll.

The second point needs some further explanation. What the convoluted explanation in the DMG boils down too is that if I rolled a 5 for initiative and you roll a 2 for initiative. This means you start on segment 5 and I start on segment 2. If I was a spell caster, that would mean that I would cast any 1 or 2 segments spells before you could act. If  I cast a 3 segment spell we would go at the same rime. Or rather we would then go to the speed factor rules to see who go first. If you have  a speed factor 2 or less weapon you would go before me because of the 3 segment casting time. If you had a speed factor 3 weapon, then the spell and the melee attack would be simultaneous.

The most important thing about ADDICT is that it reinforced the feeling I was developing about ADnD 1st Edition. That the game as a system didn't deserve to be on the pedestal I placed it on. Don't get me wrong, I think the writing and aides in the DMG are pure gold, I think the PHB reflects what most people want for their characters when playing classic DnD. The Monster Manual likewise is still a classic in my eyes. But is more of a ODnD book than a ADnD book.

With Playing at the World and Hawk and Moor documenting and explaining the genesis of Dungeons and Dragons, I fine myself respecting ODnD far more than ADnD. Why? Because it was developed as a direct result of Gygax running his campaign. Despite is poor presentation almost everything in that book was actually used at some point by Gygax. 

In contrast ADnD 1st edition feels more or less designed. I haven't read any account of Gygax actually using the combat system in the DMG, or other subsystems like Pummeling, Grappling, and Overbearing. The few accounts of I read suggest that there is a whole lot of "Well that seems like a good idea, lets put it in." and little actual playing of the content. And on top of that, TSR was being bombarded by rule questions, and having to deal with tournaments*. Which I feel had a major influence on what Gygax focused on.

I realize that Gygax did play some of ADnD but it wasn't developed the same way as DnD**. I do realize that some parts of ADnD improved on ODnD especially in terms of clarity.

However the differences in how they were developed is why I opted to build the Majestic Wilderlands on top of Swords and Wizardry instead of OSRIC. The Majestic Wilderlands is born of what I actually did in my campaigns and ODnD proved to be a better fit than ADnD.

*Organized play has been both a boon and a bane for tabletop RPGs from the beginning. in the 1970s to today.

**For modern example of a RPG designed this way, look at Goodman Games DCC RPG. +Joseph Goodman, +Harley Stroh, and their team spent countless sessions of actual play, playtesting the game before it was printed. It is my opinion is that it is best way to a good design if you have the time and resources to do it.

Solving the Tenkar's Dilemma, the Wilderlands plus Southlands plus Blackmarsh

Tenkar is facing a choice about what to do with his proposed campaign.

Having a bit of involvement in the boxed set Wilderlands as well as being the author of Blackmarsh and Southlands. This would be my "official" opinion on the matter of combining them.

Of course there is no desert along the northern edge of Map 9 (New Map 1) Elephand Lands but there are plenty of blank hexes east of the Land of Beasts to pencil one in.  My Grand Kingdom of Blackmarsh/Southland doesn't exist in the Wilderlands but there is a rather large bit of white space to the east where it could be placed. Also I consider the Elephand lands to be the most DnDish of all the Wilderlands map as it is a polygot collection of village of different races in a forest land.

As a bonus you can see how I meant for Blackmarsh and Southland to be fit together.

Random ODnD treasures

Five randomly rolled ODnD treasure hordes for each type. I wrote a random generator when I did the Wild North for Fight On! Magazine.

For a breakdown of what monsters gets what (original booklets only) look at this post.

A(Land)
-----------------------
6,000 CP; 6,000 GP; 
-----------------------
10,000 GP; Gems: 4 x 50 GP; 15 x 100 GP; 2 x 500 GP; 
-----------------------
Jewels: 1 x 600; 1 x 800; 1 x 900; 5 x 1,000; 1 x 1,400; 1 x 2,000; 3 x 3,000; 1 x 4,000; 3 x 5,000; 2 x 6,000; 1 x 7,000; 1 x 9,000; 1 x 10,000; 
-----------------------
9,000 GP; Map To (40,000 SP; 15 GP; Gems: 6 x 10 GP; 8 x 50 GP; 34 x 100 GP; 12 x 500 GP; Jewels: 2 x 1,000; 1 x 1,300; 3 x 2,000; 1 x 3,000; 1 x 4,000; 1 x 5,000; 1 x 9,000); Map To (20,000 SP); Cursed Scroll, Transported to another planet)); Shield +1
-----------------------
Lawful Sword +1; Lawful Sword +2, Drain Life; Scroll of 2 Wizard Spells
-----------------------

A (Water)
---------------------------
Jewels: 1 x 1,000; 1 x 1,300; 2 x 3,000; 1 x 4,000; 1 x 5,000; 3 x 6,000; 1 x 9,000; Map To (Potion of Control Stone Giant; Armor +1; Scroll of Prot: Magic)
---------------------------
Gems: 10 GP; 3 x 100 GP; 5 x 500 GP; 5,000 GP; Jewels: 1 x 600; 1 x 700; 3 x 900; 9 x 1,000; 2 x 1,100; 1 x 1,200; 2 x 1,300; 2 x 1,500; 1 x 1,600; 6 x 2,000; 2 x 3,000; 5 x 4,000; 3 x 5,000; 8 x 6,000; 1 x 7,000; 1 x 9,000; 2 x 10,000; Map To (Shield +1)
---------------------------
Jewels: 2 x 1,000; 2 x 2,000; 4 x 3,000; 4 x 4,000; 3 x 5,000; 4 x 6,000; 1 x 7,000; Map To (30,000 SP; Gems: 3 x 10 GP; 2 x 50 GP; 5 x 100 GP; 8 x 500 GP)
---------------------------
Map To (13 GP)
---------------------------
17,000 GP; Gems: 4 x 50 GP; 14 x 100 GP; 2 x 500 GP; Jewels: 3 x 1,000; 1 x 1,100; 1 x 1,600; 1 x 2,000; 4 x 3,000; 2 x 4,000; 5 x 5,000; 1 x 6,000; 2 x 9,000; 
---------------------------

A (Desert)
---------------------------
6,000 GP; Jewels: 1 x 900; 7 x 1,000; 1 x 1,400; 3 x 2,000; 2 x 3,000; 4 x 4,000; 3 x 5,000; 6 x 6,000; 2 x 8,000; 1 x 9,000; Lawful Sword -2, Cursed; Shield +4; Potion of Poison
---------------------------
6,000 GP; Potion of Diminuation; 8 Magic Arrows +2; Lawful Sword -2, Cursed
---------------------------
(Nothing)
---------------------------
Jewels: 10 x 1,000; 1 x 1,400; 1 x 1,500; 3 x 2,000; 3 x 3,000; 4 x 4,000; 3 x 5,000; 3 x 6,000; 1 x 7,000; 1 x 10,000; 
---------------------------
2,000 CP; 3,000 SP; Potion of Flying; Lawful Sword -2, Cursed; Potion of Human Control
---------------------------

B
---------------------------
Gems: 10 GP; Jewels: 1 x 1,000; 1 x 5,000; 
---------------------------
2,000 CP; Jewels: 1 x 1,400; 
---------------------------
5,000 CP; Jewels: 3 x 1,000; 1 x 2,000; 1 x 3,000; 1 x 4,000; 
---------------------------
Jewels: 1 x 2,000; 1 x 4,000; 2 x 5,000; Neutral Sword +1, +3 vs Trolls
---------------------------
2,000 SP; Gems: 50 GP; 3 x 100 GP; 500 GP; 
---------------------------

C
---------------------------
Gems: 2 x 100 GP; 
---------------------------
(Nothing)
---------------------------
1,000 SP; 
---------------------------
Jewels: 1 x 600; 
---------------------------
Gems: 10 GP; 2 x 100 GP; 
---------------------------

D
---------------------------
Gems: 2 x 50 GP; 3 x 100 GP; 500 GP; Scroll of 2 Wizard Spells; Scroll of 2 Cleric Spells; Potion of Speed
---------------------------
1,000 GP; Gems: 500 GP; Scroll of Prot: Lycanthropes; Map To (10,000 SP; Gems: 2 x 10 GP; 50 GP; 7 x 100 GP; 4 x 500 GP); Potion of Plant Control
---------------------------
5,000 GP; 
---------------------------
12,000 SP; Gems: 10 GP; 3 x 100 GP; 500 GP; Jewels: 1 x 600; 2 x 3,000; 1 x 4,000; 1 x 5,000; 2 x 6,000; 
---------------------------
9,000 SP; Gems: 100 GP; 
---------------------------

E
---------------------------
6,000 SP; 5,000 GP; Potion of Super-Heroism; Shield +4; Shield of Missile Attract -1; Scroll of Prot: Elementals
---------------------------
Armor +1, Shield +1; Rod of Cancellation; Armor +1; Scroll of 1 Cleric Spell
---------------------------
3,000 SP; 5,000 GP; 
---------------------------
7,000 SP; 1,000 GP; 
---------------------------
6,000 SP; 7,000 GP; Potion of Treasure Finding; Potion of Growth; Lawful Holy Sword +5 with Detect Gems, Locate Secret Doors, Empathy; Ego 9; Scroll of Prot: Magic
---------------------------

F
---------------------------
19,000 SP; Map To (Lawful Sword, Flaming +1; Lawful Sword +1, Locate Objects; Potion of Healing; Potion of Longevity); Wand of Magic Detection; Potion of Fire Resistance; Potion of Longevity; Scroll of 1 Wizard Spell
---------------------------
9,000 GP
---------------------------
15,000 SP; 7,000 GP; Potion of Diminuation; Scroll of 7 Cleric Spells; Potion of Clairvoyance; Potion of Human Control; Scroll of Prot: Elementals
---------------------------
4,000 SP
---------------------------
10,000 GP
---------------------------

G
---------------------------
2,000 GP; Potion of Polymorph(Self); Armor +3; Map To (30,000 SP; Gems: 2 x 50 GP; 7 x 100 GP; 500 GP); Potion of Undead Control; Scroll of 7 Wizard Spells
---------------------------
4,000 GP; 
---------------------------
9,000 GP; 
---------------------------
30,000 GP; Gems: 2 x 50 GP; 5 x 100 GP; 500 GP; Jewels: 1 x 900; 1 x 1,400; 2 x 2,000; 1 x 3,000; 1 x 6,000; 1 x 8,000; 
---------------------------
40,000 GP; Jewels: 2 x 800; 1 x 900; 1 x 1,300; 1 x 2,000; 1 x 4,000; Shield +1; Scroll of 1 Cleric Spell; Ring of Contrariness; Scroll of Prot: Elementals; Scroll of 2 Wizard Spells
---------------------------

H
---------------------------
17,000 CP; 40,000 GP; Jewels: 2 x 700; 1 x 800; 3 x 1,000; 1 x 1,100; 3 x 1,400; 1 x 1,500; 5 x 2,000; 3 x 3,000; 6 x 4,000; 3 x 5,000; 4 x 6,000; 1 x 7,000; 2 x 8,000; 3 x 9,000; 2 x 10,000; Map To (Armor +1, Shield +1); Potion of Invulnerability; Potion of Oil of Slipperiness; Map To (20,000 SP; 15 GP; Gems: 4 x 10 GP; 10 x 50 GP; 34 x 100 GP; 14 x 500 GP; 5,000 GP); Potion of Delusion, Potion of Control Silver Dragon; Scroll of Prot: Undead
---------------------------
10,000 GP; Neutral Sword +1, Locate Objects; Map To (11 GP; Gems: 10 GP; 2 x 50 GP; 8 x 100 GP; 3 x 500 GP); Potion of Growth; Scroll of 2 Cleric Spells; Potion of Undead Control; Scroll of Prot: Elementals
---------------------------
35,000 SP
---------------------------
18,000 SP; 10,000 GP; 
---------------------------
Jewels: 1 x 600; 1 x 800; 2 x 900; 6 x 1,000; 1 x 1,200; 1 x 1,300; 1 x 1,400; 1 x 2,000; 3 x 3,000; 2 x 4,000; 1 x 5,000; 
---------------------------

I
---------------------------
Gems: 100 GP; 
---------------------------
Gems: 100 GP; Jewels: 4 x 1,000; 1 x 2,000; 1 x 3,000; 1 x 5,000; 1 x 6,000; 
---------------------------
Jewels: 1 x 1,000; 1 x 1,200; 2 x 2,000; 1 x 3,000; 3 x 4,000; 1 x 5,000; 2 x 6,000; 1 x 9,000; 
---------------------------
Jewels: 1 x 1,100; 1 x 2,000; 2 x 3,000; 1 x 4,000; 1 x 5,000; 
---------------------------
Gems: 500 GP; 
---------------------------

Reflections on a lot of dead orcs.

In no particular order

The whole thing started because of a random encounter. While I knew was in the region I had no clue that in a Orc hunt was in the works until it occurred. Luckily it happened late in the session so I had some time to prepare. Otherwise I would have winged at least an orc outpost and then prepare something more elaborate later. A lot of my campaigns have moments like this and it is what I feel the essence of running a fantasy sandbox.

Another I will point is that I have no problem with high level parties going up against low level opposition. When you run sandbox campaigns that can and will happen. Of course there are always consequences even if they manage to spectacularly slaughter hundreds as they did in this adventure. And those consequences led to... yup even more adventures. Perhaps against a more experienced foe or perhaps not.

The map is actually something I drew up long ago

I been working on a master map of the Majestic Wilderlands for a while so I just exported what I had done and overlaid the information from this map on it.

I plan to use this at some point to use this as the basis for something I call a mega-wilderness.

Players been having a go at the Orcs of Deathwoods since my campaigns of the early 80s. Somehow the orcs always managed to bounce back.

The use of Battlesystem went well. As it turned out it was good that brought it as I had to use the counter for large rooms in the orc warrens with each counter representing four orcs.

Basically the way Battlesystem work is that you look at the target's AC, the attackers THACO, subtract one from the other which produces a modifier. A higher modifier is worse. Then you roll 2d6, add the modifier and look it up on the Battlesystem chart. This produces the number of hit dice of damage.

Battlesystem abstracts damage and hit points into Hit Dice. So an Orc has 1 HD, a Ogre has 4 HD and so on. They reached back to Chainmail for the inspiration on this.

Then you shift to a higher dice column if you have a damage bonus. So a unit doing 1d8+2 would start with the d8 column and shift over to the d10 column and then the d12 column. Multiple attacks each look up their damage separately and are added together. For heroes each HD of damage inflicted on them does 4 hp.

As pointed out earlier the system is built when there is 10 individuals per figure. When you have 5:1 or individual a +modifiers is added on top of everything else. For individuals this is +15.

So I figured out the math for Ascending AC and using To Hit Modifier instead of THACO. It worked well in play but I had to write down a table of everybody AC and modifiers to make it go quickly. It wasn't enough to just have the stats on cards.

The battles are not as challenging as they could have been. In the first one advancing in close order was a big mistake against the fireball the parties possessed. The orcs quickly suffered morale checks, failed, and ran. The second was better as the orcs advanced in skirmish formation and the battle went as well as I hoped. The party had their backs on the wall and were bloodied but they managed to execute a plan that saved the day for them.

I have to save for the OD&D fighter, mass combat is where they shine. Now the group had a lot of fireball runes (think scrolls) so it wasn't readily apparent. But on reflection the fighters were the ones really pumping out the damage. Especially against the one HD creatures. I think a lot of the complaints about fighters vs magic-users would disappear if mass combat was used more.

The Orc Wizard really made a difference as well. In any setting using DnD mechanic having heroes is critical. Heroes will need some forces but there are cases, this this one, where a group of only heroes is enough to turn back the orcs. 

Two other things I overlooked. The Orc wizard's magic items, just plumb forgot to use them. Although after the attack of the knight and the fire elemental probably wouldn't not have made any difference. Then I forgot to add Warg Riders. The big impact of having them is that they are not considered 1HD creatures as the mount and rider combine to produce the final stat card.

Timewise both battles did not much longer than a regular OD&D combat which was a pleasant surprise. With experience it would probably take just as long. One time saver is that you treat each unit (with 4 to 15 figures) as a single entity..

Speaking of unit cards you can download the ones I made from here.

Unit Card

Hero Card

Now that I have run Battlesystem I am really impressed with it. At its heart it uses a Binomial distribution chart to quickly resolve d20 combat. This means it can be applied to ANY edition edition of DnD. Something I intend to try with the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.

The player complaints was the switch to 2d6 low, and the fact we were using counters.  Unfortunately any method to use a d20 roll high would be cumbersome. And any simple method would not be accurate or fair. Binominal distribution allows to calculate the odds of success over many trials (i.e. rolls) . The result is a bell curve which means multiple dice need to be roll. Battlesystem elected to use 2d6.

I hope you find this informative and give 1st edition Battlesystem a try. 

One Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty Orcs Slain

Recently at Gold Star Anime the party prevented a war between a duke of City-State and the Dwarves of Thunderhold. Battered but victorious they returned to City-State to rest, recuperate and raise a dead member of their party. One of the highlights of their stay was stopping at the Sorceror Supply House and browsing through the magic items. The barbarian in the group was determined to make sure his sword was properly guarded while being enchanted and stood outside of the magic shop all night.

While wandering the city they encountered a cleric of Thor organizing a party to hunt orcs in the Forest of Dearthwood just to the east of City-State. Intrigued the party decided to go along. Or rather one of the party liked the idea and it snowballed until the entire party decided to go.

For the next session I prepared some notes on Dearthwood and the party was gun-ho to enter the orc infested forest. Since the group's average level is around 7th level or so I knew they would deal a severe blow to one or more orc tribes. So for the first time in 25 years, I read up on 1st Edition ADnD's Battle System. Along with that I prepared a small orc outpost and a main tribal cave complex.

Playtesting Battlesystem I found that it works perfectly fine with Swords and Wizardry. All was needed was some changes in the formulas to handle Ascending AC and the To Hit Bonus system.

Adapting 1st Edition Battlesystem to Ascending AC
Quick Battlesystem with Swords & Wizardry Update

The party went northeast into the territory of the Vile Rune Orcs. Two days in they were ambushed by an Orc raiding party and easily wiped them out. The party found two sets of multiple tracks and elected to follow the one with a smaller number of orcs. That lead them to an outpost which they promptly wiped out. However there were some tense moments on an unexplored lower level when they ran into a level draining wraith. Also they found that the caves were once a hideout of a rouge Thothian mage before the orcs took it over.

Afterward they followed the larger set of tracks through the forest to the Vile Rune main underground warren. They carefully took out some sentry and got inside without rousing the the alarm. Prowling the network of caves they found the main hall of the Vile Rune King and slaughtered the monarch and his court.

Thus ended the first session.

Two weeks later we picked it up there and the party quickly found the main hall of the warren a massive cave 170 feet in length and nearly 120 feet wide.

Each miniature is an obvious better equipped high status orc and the counters represent 4 orcs each. There was nearly two hundred of orc warrior, women, and children in this cave. Well the party made short work of them with liberal use of fireball spells and scrolls. Disappointed in the treasure the party started milling around and talking among themselves. A few wise party kept an eye out and were able to snip off some scouts sent in from the rest of the complex. It quickly became obvious that the alarm was raised.

From the western entrance (left edge of the photo) a thundering noise was felt and heard. A herd of cattle and pigs swarmed into the cavern!

Behind them were a half dozen warg riders chargining into the party. But even this valiant effort by the orcs came to naught as the high level fighters and magic users quickly killed them. The Cleric of Silvanus used her knowledge of the natural world to calm the pigs and cattle. The only one that was seriously hurt was the human knight who rolled a 22 and severed the head of one of the cow as it passed by. Unfortunately this meant the cows following got tripped and slammed into the knight. He failed his saving throw and took some damage from the two cows plowing into him.

The Orcs then tried to smoke party out by building burning pyres at each of the entranceways. But an Ice Storm took care of one and the party charged outwards to continue the slaughter of orcs.

\By this time the survivors had enough and fled the warrens. The only casualties was the Cleric of Thor and his Viking henchmen who left to guard the entrance of the warren.

One thing the party noticed when they finally got back outside was the silence. Throughout their journey there was the constant sound of drums as one tribe challenged another.  As the party prepared to leave they started heard the challenges from the surrounding tribes go unanswered. Realizing that they may have company they quickly started returning to City-State. Several hours later the party spots an large number of orcs heading in their direction. They founded a defensible hill by a river and waited.

Each counter represents 10 orcs and 1" = 10 yards. The squares on the table are one inch each. Nearly 500 orcs from the Purple Claws headed to the ford. However due to foolishly advancing in close order the magic-users quickly blasted them with fireball runes and the orcs broke and ran. The party chased down a few stragglers and killed them.

The next day the party continued on to City-State but were slowed down by the mud and rain. (Randomly rolled from the Harn weather chart).  Around noon another large force of orcs was sighted this time from the Bloody Heads.

Party fled to another head but didn't have the time to choose as good of a defensive position.

650 orcs from the Bloody Heads advanced on the party. Having come across the blasted remenants of the Purple Claws they elected to advance in Skirmish formation. Also with the orcs was a party of 20 ogres and trolls.

While yet more fireball runes were let use this time it only barely slowed them. As the tide of orcs swept up the hill they revealed their trump card. Paltak one of the few orcs to have mastered magic. A full wizard (9th level) he let loose with a fireball of his own on the party. Three members of the party fell to the ground!

Recognizing the danger and heedless of his inexperience (4th level) the human knight charges through the open ranks of the orcs and engages the orc wizard in one on one combat. He was able to strike the first blow and nearly cleaved the orc wizard in two but a Cone of Cold felled the brave knight.

However his sacrifice was not in vain as it bought time and allowed the Dwarven Runecaster to activate one of his most precious of runes and summon a Fire Elemental!

With the Orc Wizard engaged and finally felled by the elemental, the tide of battle slowly turned in favor of the party. The fighters truly came into their own. Their multiple attacks on 1 HD creatures resulted in the slaughter of whole ranks of orcs. Even as the orcs flowed around the party's right flank the tide was starting to ebb as they lost heart. Only the 150 orcs of the wizard's guard managed to leave the field in good order.

With the rain continuing and more drums in the distance the party immediately picked up their fallen comrades and a few hours later managed to make it back to City-State before nightfall.

My next post will talk about how well the system worked and feedback I got.

The difference between Clerics and Paladins

Paladins show what possible.
Clerics turns that into something that lasts

In short it not their abilities that set the two aparts but the roles they play in their religion. My view of paladins and what they are is heavily influenced by Elisabeth Moon in her Deed of Paksenarrion series.

Paraphrased From page 579 of the Trade Paperback the Dead of Paksenarrion.

Most think being a holy warrior means gaining vast arcane powers, that they would be nearly invincible against any foe. But truth is that while Paladin are skilled at fighting, that was the least of their abilities. A quest might involve no fighting at all, or a battle against beings no steel could pierce.

Above all paladins show that courage is possible. It is easy enough to find reasons to give in to evil. War is ugly as many know. But we do not argue that war is better than peace; paladin are not that stupid. It is not peace when cruelty reigns, when stronger men steal from farmers and craftmen., when the child can be enslaved, or the old thrown out to starve, and no one lifts a hand. That is not peace: that is conquest and evil.

Paladins do not start quarrels in peaceful lands, never display their skills to earn applause. But we are the sword of good defending the helpless and teaching by our example that one person can dare greater force to break evil's grasp on the innocent. Sometimes that can be done without fighting, without killing, and that is best.

But some evil needs direct attack, and paladins must be able to do it, and lead others in battle. Wonder why paladins are so likable? It is important, we come to a town, perhaps, where nothing has gone right for a dozen years. Perhaps there is a temple there and sometimes there is not. The people are frightened, and they have lost trust in each other, in themselves. We may lead them into danger, some will be killed or wounded. Why should they trust us?

Because we are likable, and other people will follow us willingly. And that's why we are more likely to choose a popular adept as a candidate rather than the best fighters.

To me this is most gamable summary of a DnD style paladin I ever read and the basis for how I referee them. It is the core of what went into the Majestic Wilderlands supplement not only for Paladins but Myrmidons as well.

The Cleric job is work with a specific group, locale, or organization for his religion. Wisdom is required not just for common sense but also the willpower to endure the slow millstone of time that comes along with the job. A paladin will come through, lead the charge to break evil's grasp, and go off on his next quest. Then it become the Cleric's job to pick up the pieces and build something lasting in the name of his god.

Quick Battlesystem with Swords & Wizardry Update

I didn't get to use Battlesystem on Saturday as the party hasn't finished clearing out the main cavern of the Vile Rune orc tribe. Although they did probably broke their back when they slaughtered the king and his court while they were feasting and betting on a fight between a panther and a bear.

During prep I noticed I needed to handle Table 9: Ration Adjustments for Determining AR in section 8.2

Basically the idea behind this is that the less individual a figure represent the less damage they will do. In normal Battlesystem the higher AR lowers your damage.

I did run a short playtest to see how it would out. I have to say the fighter types against 1 HD  creature just rule as individuals. I manage to have one guy to 50 HD of damage in one Battle System round wiping out five figures of orcs (50 orcs). I know in some editions that only works if they are HD 1-1 or less. In my S&W/Majestic Wilderlands I allow it for HD 1 or less due to the lack of multiple attacks at higher levels.

After playing around with the number I found that I need to subtract the above to use this with a To Hit Bonus and Ascending AC. So Sir Mighty a fighter who has +8 to hit will have an AR of -7 in Ascending AC Battlesystem. A group of 4 HD Ogres in Swords & Wizardry  have an AR of -1  due to the fact they are setup as figures with a 5:1 to ration.  The ogres are +4 to hit - 5 for the 5:1 ration = AR -1.

I also did some looking at the DCC RPG and I feel it would work as far as spells goes. It would be a more random compared to D&D due to the spell charts. But however it would probably be more interesting due to the increased variety of results. I will look at the fighters next and see how that would work out.

Adapting 1st Edition Battlesystem to Ascending AC

I always been a fan of 1st edition Battlesystem. Namely because out of all the miniature wargame ruleset for DnD that have been produced I feel it is the one that operates the most seamlessly with ADnD 1st edition. As well as intregrating individual heroes well. There is nothing like seeing the true power of a fireball when you chuck it on a incoming formation of orcs. With makes even more nice that there are notes that tell you how to make it work for plain DnD namely the Mentzer's BECMI line.

I am probably going to use it for an upcoming game using Swords & Wizardry and my Majestic Wilderlands. Now the original Battlesystem used THACO and descending AC to calculate how much damage is done each round. So how do I use it with a retro-clone that has Ascending AC and To-Hit bonus?

Normally it works like this.

2d6+ THACO-AC + modifiers.

I played around with the numbers and found this works

2d6+Ascending AC-To Hit Bonus+modifiers.

So if you have a THACO of 17 and trying to AC 8 the original formula will give you +9
17-8 = 9

With Swords and Wizardry, d20 or any other retro clone using Ascending AC it would work like this.

A THACO of 17 means the character has a +3 to hit bonus as AC 0 in Ascending AC is 20.
AC 8 means AC 12 in Ascending AC so the formula is now

12-3=9

The rest of the Battlesystem rules with dice of damage, modifiers, even the unit stats work pretty much as is with anything from ODnD to 3.5.

Manor #4 is out!

Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor just released Manor #4. This issue has two major section, a short adventure and a mini-monster manual that has been illustrated by Jason Sholtis' excellent illustrations. I contributed two monsters myself, the Temple Guardian which include a bonus section on how to create them. And I contributed the Boglings, a frog-like amphibian race. I am not quite sure what to make of Jason's illustration of those guys. You will understand when you see the picture.

The print version of the Manor can be purchased from here. It comes with a cool extra that reminiscent of a old TSR Product.

The PDF Version can be bought from RPGNow or Lulu.

Alia Juliet Rose, a Swords and Wizardry NPC.

Kelly Anne, my wife, drew this for the Saturday get together.

Swords & Wizardry/Majestic Wilderlands

AC 1[18]; 8th level Burglar; HP 17; HTB +2; Atk 1 Dmg 1d6; Move 120'; Save 8;
ABL Climbing +5, Eavesdropping +3, Legerdemain +8, Perception +2, Stealth +8;
Posses:  Leather [+1], Shortsword (1d6)  Dagger (1d4) (15 ft), Shortbow (1d6), 20 arrows, Broom of Flying, Portable Hole, In Portable Hole [One Petrified Orc, A iron door], five throwable Hairsticks (1d3), one throwable hairstick inscribed with a Fireball Rune*, Two Arrows with Lightning Bolt runes on arrow head*


*In the Majestic Wilderlands, Runes are created the same way as scrolls and work the same. They can be inscribed on any surface. When inscribed on a weapon the rune will activate where the weapon hits.**

**Runes have the range of the original spell but only when a Runecaster activates it. For everybody else activating a rune makes it takes immediate effect centered on the rune. The use on hairsticks and arrows allow the user to activate it from far away.

Revisiting Rulings not Rules

In Matt Finch's Quick Primer for Old School Gaming the first zen moment is Rulings not Rules. He describe how in the absence of mechanics or guidance the referee has to rely on his common sense and experience to come up with the mechanics to adjudicate the actions of  a character.

Since I started actively refereeing Swords & Wizardry several years ago I come up with some handy concrete guidelines that help make up a ruling without staddling the game with overly complicated mechanics.

First off I look at Swords & Wizardry and the classic editions to see what tools I can come with.

1. There is the to hit roll.
2. Saving Throws
3. Modifiers 
4. Some type of roll based on a characteristic.
5. A skill roll.

The To Hit Roll
This is best used when the ruling involves throwning, swinging, or hitting something. If it is just about hitting the target with no real damage I usually set the target number based off AC 10 (or 9 depending on the edition).  The same with targeting a piece of floor or a specific section of a wall. If just hitting a large building, wall, rock, etc. Then I will add +2. I will also use the range guidelines for darts and other thrown weapons as a guide to when to impose range modifiers.

Saving Throws
I use saving throw to resolve actions where player is attempting to have his character do something non-lethal to another character. A character wants to do disarm or trip an opponent. I will generally say he needs to hit the target and the target gets a save. If the save fails then the character is successful in his action.

The implication is that it harder to do certain things against higher level character or monsters. I feel this is OK as in my mind higher level or HD represent characters/monsters with more points or build in other systems.

Modifiers 
The benchmark I go by here is that it is -4 to hit an invisible opponent or to fight in complete darkness. Generally this means modifiers range from +4 to -4.
There is also the issues with modifiers granted by characteristics. Some editions like ADnD have extensive modifiers while other don't. I found I was happy with this chart.

18 +3
15-17 +2
12-14 +1
9-11 +0
6-8 -1
3-5 -2

Some type of roll based on a characteristic.
I don't use this a lot myself but other referees. The basic options are
1) Roll under the characteristic with a d20
2) Roll a d20 add the characteristic and get 20 or higher
3) Multiply the characteristic by 5 and roll under the number with percentile dice.

A skill roll.

With the introduction of the Thief class skill rolls became part of DnD. The original class used percentile dice modified by race and dexterity. This is something I never really liked.  I preferred something similar to 3rd Edition version which is a d20 roll and beat a target number. I consider skill rolls valuable because they allow the creation of character class that are better at various non-combat things. Ultimately what I adopted was roll a d20 and equal or beat a 15 modified by the relevant characteristic and any bonus given to you by your class.

However the spirit of the oldest editions make for a game where characters can attempt anything. So instead of skill I added abilities. That way anybody can still try to pick a lock but burglars are better than anybody else.

By combining these various elements I can come with the mechanics needed to adjudicate just about any a players wants to do in my campaigns. With the virtue of still making the game feel like you are playing a classic edition.

A Basic Outline of Ur-Dungeons & Dragons

Here is something I think that will be useful for folks writing supplements and/or retro-clones. It was adapted from Matt Finch's Swords & Wizardry Core Rules. 

---

Chapter 1: Introduction

• The Dice
• Creating a Character
• Character Sheet
• Roll Ability Scores

Chapter 2: Character Classes

• Choose a Character Class
  Cleric
  Fighter
  Magic-user
  Thief
• Choose a Character Race
  Dwarves
  Elves
  Halflings
• Choose an Alignment

Section 3: Items and Equipment

• Buy Equipment
• Starting Gold
• Calculating Armor Class
• How Much You Can Carry
• Movement

Section4: Playing the Game

• Gaining Experience
• Time
• Saving Throws
• Combat
• Damage and Death
• Healing
• Morale
• Magical Research

Section 5: Spells

• Cleric Spell List
• Magic-user Spell List

Section 6: Monsters

• Monster List

Section 7: Treasure

• Magic Potions
• Protection Scrolls
• Unusual Armors
• Unusual Weapons
• Wands
• Rings
• Staffs
• Misc. Magical Items
• Cursed Items

A tale of two sessions, Session 1 Swords & Wizardry

After dealing with family matters, I got back into refereeing, both the Swords and Wizardry campaign at Gold Star Anime and the Monday Night GURPS campaign using Fantasy Grounds over the internet. Both are set in the Majestic Wilderlands.

Swords and Wizardry

The last game I ran was a month ago using Champions and Hero System 5th edition. A grand finale to a excellent campaign involving the shutdown of an alien base on the moon and my son's herofactory toy subbing in as Giant Robots (capitals intended).  As a consequence all my fantasy material (both GURPS and S&W were scattered around the house). 

So I put away the Hero stuff, hoping it not another 10 year or so before I run it again, and gather all the Swords & Wizardry materials. Dang I now have four S&W print rulebooks, three of the Core version and one of the Complete version. I got the word I have four new players so I pack them all.

Also printed out some more characters sheet, and made duplicates of the cheat sheets that allow complete character gen in 20 to 30 minutes for an arbitrary number of folks.  If I still had the damn files I used to create them I would share them. Perhaps in a month or so I will spend some time recreating them and post them. With these you can jettison pre-gens and make character generation part of your game-store game or convention game.  And still need to fix the fact I haven't printed out an attribute bonus chart. Although I did finally reformatted Jeff Rient's starting XP chart from Tower of Xylarton. 

As for adventure prep I earlier adapted the X3 Curse of Xanaton for the Majestic Wilderlands so I didn't have much to do for that. So I decided to break out Dwayne's Dwarven Forge style tiles he made and give the newcomers a spectacle as the party was at the point of assaulting the Temple of Ceria. I did have to make a player map at the last minute as part of the clue to where the Shrine of Ceria was located. 

When the session started I found, I had ten players this time. About the limit I can properly handle individual roleplaying. Need to figure out a better table setup tho as jamming three together meant a bunch of space in the middle that was almost inaccessible. But on the other hand I could lay out half the dungeon with plenty of elbow space. Although I ran out of game tiles. Something I hope to fix with me backing the Dwarven Forge Kickstarter.

The adventure in this session had its ups and downs. The party succeeded but not before the Thothian Mage and the Rune-caster died due to an errant fireball. A couple of sessions back the Rune-casters in the party found that they could get runes on their bolts and arrows  and have them go off.  Naturally they gravitated to bolts and arrows with Fireball and Lightning Bolts runes.

This is not as unbalancing as it sounds due to the generous ranges the Swords and Wizardry spells already have. It is a consequence of how rune-casters, runes, and charms work in the Majestic Wilderlands. In fact it is probably sub-optimal due to the possibility of fumbling a bow or crossbow shot.

Which is what ultimately how the session ended. Since writing the Majestic Wilderlands supplement I have some up with some additional rules I use. One of them is that if you roll a natural 1 you fumble. If that occurs you roll on the following table.

1-3 You drop or lose control of the weapon and must spend the next round picking it up if you want to use it.
4-5 Your weapons breaks unless it is magical.
6 You hit yourself or a nearby party member.

In the last room where the bad guy mage was being attacked, Alaghazar the Thothian Mage decided to use a Knight Killer Crossbow and a bolt with a fireball run on it to shoot the mage. Mind you he could just activated it and cast the spell normally. But somehow in the coolness of having fireball arrows, everybody just forgot about it.  So he elected to shoot the crossbow. Now being a mage, he has a hefty penalty but all he needs to do it get into the room. Literally needing to hit a broad side of a barn.

And he rolls a 1, sigh, I tell him to roll a d6 to see what type of fumble it is.

He rolls a 6!

So not only he fumbles but manages to hit himself with it and activate the fireball.

Given that he is 7th levels the result wasn't pretty. Alaghazar and another player failed their save and died from the damage.

The rule I use you die at negative constitution starting at -3 at first level and decreasing by -3 per level until you hit your con.

Of course they were out of range of the enemy mage who teleported away to a nearby corridor. Where it just happen that the party's burglar was sneaking out. One quick backstab later and the enemy mage is eating dirt too. Which was nice as the players was pretty much taking a backseat in the adventure up to that point.

Here is a picture of everybody playing, courtesy of Jerry Humes of Gold Star Anime. Like I said before it was a big crowd with a lot of good players.

Regular readers know that I am the type of referee who likes to use miniatures. The next picture shows how I lay everything out for a game session.

The near wooden box has Dwayne of Gamer's Closet Game tiles that he made. The miniature are all in trays sorted by type. Across the aisle is my referee stuff and I use the wooden crates I carry miniatures as shelves to hold the prop trays. Finally on the left edge of the picture are the two boxes of big miniatures. 

Dwimmermount News and open gaming

Tenkar has the latest details here. I am involved in a peripheral way drawing up a map of Muntberg and adapting my take on the old Outdoor Survival Map to the details of James campaign. Tavis was in contact with me and the other Dwimmermount artists when he was trying to handle James silence.

During this I was one of the persons who suggested that the original draft of Dwimmermount be made open content in the same way that Blackmarsh is.  While the project was stalled people been crafting their own version and that got me to think why not just give formal permission in the form of an open license.

One of the main reasons that I opened Blackmarsh was to serve as an easily accessible and modifiable example of a hexcrawl formatted setting. An open Dwimmermount can do the same for Megadungeons. The fact that James grounded Dwimmermount tightly to the roots of D&D and classic fantasy makes it  ideal for this.

While Blackmarsh was used as the foundation of Hexmoor and a setting for Heroes and other worlds,  what I encounter the most is people cherry picking selected elements for their own campaign. I think that how people will use an open Dwimmermount.

So I am glad this is getting resolved and looking forward to what Tavis and the Autarch team come up with.

Help out OSRCon

One of the fallouts of the Dwimmermount mess, is that OSRCon lost the ability to use Grognardia to get news out. Given that they are having difficulty securing an inexpensive location to hold the con that makes things doubly harder.

So to do what I can, I want to let folks know about the OSRCon and it's blog. As a favor hop on over and see if you can help Chris and his crew keep this fun corner of the OSR in Toronto going for this year and for years to come.