Category Archives: Rules

Weapons & parrying draft

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Dacian Draco weapons from Wikipedia

Dacian Draco weapons from Wikipedia

This is for a more complete alternate system that is in progress, but should also work with traditional D&D, clones, and simulacra. I know some people don’t like any kind of “roll for defense” mechanics, but these weapon abilities should still work minus the parry (which only comes up occasionally in any case). I’m still not totally sold on the parry mechanic myself; I believe it needs more play testing (but I am optimistic).

WEAPONS

All weapons do 1d6 damage. Some weapons have additional benefits, as described below. The anti-plate weapons should obviate the need for a weapon versus AC table.

Melee Weapons

  • Spear: can be thrown, hold at bay, attack from second rank
  • War hammer, military pick, mace: +2 against plate
  • Dagger: can be thrown up to 50’, concealable, auto-hit grapple
  • Axe: re-roll damage of 1, may attack shields directly (and destroy them)
  • Sword: draw and use in same round, allows one riposte
  • Two-handed sword: 2DTH
  • Javelin, can be used as a melee weapon, longer range than dagger or spear
  • Pole arm: hold at bay, 2DTH, -2 when not attacking from the second rank
  • Quarterstaff: one free parry vs. melee weapons
  • Lance: 2d6 damage when mounted and charging

Missile Weapons

  • Bow: one shot per round, better range than anything thrown
  • Crossbow: +2 vs plate, one round to reload
  • Sling: light, cheap ammo

DEFINITIONS

  • 2DTH: roll two dice and take the highest for damage.
  • Riposte: if an enemy misses you with a melee strike and rolls 5 or less on the attack roll, you get a free counterattack.
  • Parry: make a saving throw versus paralyzation to deflect an attack that hits.
  • Hold at bay: attacker must make a save to attack you, upon failure you get a free counterattack.
Or, in more detail:

PARRY

Rather than make an attack, characters may choose to focus on defense. This is called “parrying” but should not be thought of as a single block or deflection (any more than a sword attack is a single cut or thrust). Any character may parry, but must be wielding a weapon or holding a shield in order to do so. Parrying allows you to make one saving throw versus paralyzation to avoid what would otherwise be a successful melee attack. Characters trained in unarmed combat may elect to parry even if not using a weapon or shield. Using a shield also grants you one free parry per turn (this may be used any time before the beginning of your next turn), and unlike standard parrying, shields may also be used to parry missile attacks. Quarterstaffs also allow one melee parry per round in addition to an attack (though note that a quarterstaff requires two hands to wield). No more than one parry may be attempted per turn.

HOLD AT BAY

Usable in place of a standard attack, must target one enemy, no attack roll, usable with spears, tridents, and similar weapons. If enemy attacks the spear wielder, enemy must save versus paralyzation or fail in the attack and be subject to a free attack from the spear wielder. Creatures bigger than large size require multiple spear wielders to be kept at bay.

Thanks to the people on G+ who contributed to the discussion that led to these rules, first here back in May and then here yesterday. Also see The Dragon’s Flagon regarding a similar (but slightly more complex) system for holding enemies at bay with pole arms. The flail is intentionally omitted, though if I did include it I would have it bypass shields and have a bonus to disarm.

OD&D loyalty & morale

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In OD&D, when a retainer is hired, the referee secretly rolls 3d6 (adjusting for employer charisma) for the loyalty of that specific retainer, and records the result (this is in Men & Magic, page 13). Morale bonuses are then derived from this loyalty score, as follows:

Effects of Loyalty on Morale (OD&D)
Loyalty Morale
3 or less
 Will desert at first opportunity
4-6
 -2 on morale dice
7-8
 -1 on morale dice
9-12
 Average morale dice
13-14
 +1 on morale dice
15-18
 +2 on morale dice
19 and above
 Need never check morale

This mechanic is, in terms of D&D at least, unique to the 3 LBBs as far as I know. Holmes does not seem to include rules for loyalty or morale, though the paragraph on charisma notes that it should affect retainers (just not how). Moldvay breaks this indirect relationship and just derives retainer morale directly from employer charisma.

What advantage might be gained by doing it the OD&D way? Well, being a 3d6 score gives loyalty a nice bell curve distribution. Most retainers are going to have average loyalty most of the time (adjusted for charisma, of course), but all retainers are going to have poor loyalty every once in a while. This doesn’t guarantee that they will seek other work, but it does affect the morale checks that happen until the next loyalty check. Speaking of which, when should loyalty be re-rolled?

Periodic re-checks of loyalty should be made. Length of service, rewards, etc. will bring additional plusses. Poor treatment will bring minuses.

Per adventure seems like a good starting point, but per session might be a bit too frequent. For the kind of game that I am running right now (G+ hangout, 3 hours per session, explore whatever you like), a re-roll per significant event might be more reasonable. Or maybe I’ll just leave the loyalty score as a constant once it is rolled, a sort of reliability and trustworthiness measure for the retainer in question. The actual morale system is also not clearly defined in the 3 LBBs. They suggest either using the negotiation reaction table on page 12 or the morale rules from Chainmail.

The rules in Chainmail don’t look very well suited for use with retainers. For one thing, they are based on the type of unit (heavy horse having the best morale and peasants having the worst). Also, morale checks are triggered by percentages of casualties taken. The 2d6 reaction/negotiation table from Men & Magic looks much more usable (something like: 3-5, flees/refuses; 6-8 follows orders; 9-12 obeys enthusiastically).

To compare, in Moldvay Basic retainer morale is derived directly from the employers charisma score. This would work out to be 7 + charisma modifier (which has a nice elegance to it, given that the expected value of 2d6 is 7), but this nice symmetry is ruined by the fact that the Moldvay charisma modifier only goes up to 2 in either direction! I never noticed that before.

Morale of Retainers (Moldvay)
Charisma Morale of Retainers
3
 4
4-5
 5
6-8
 6
9-12
 7
13-15
 8
16-17
 9
18
 10

 

According to Moldvay, retainers only need to check morale between adventures “unless the danger is greater than might reasonably be expected” (page B27). The check is done with 2d6, just like monster morale, against the number from that table above, though modified for good or bad treatment. In this system, all retainers have the same inherent loyalty for any given employer.

I’m leaning towards using a system based only on material in Men & Magic. That would be the 3d6 loyalty score as described above, along with a negotiation roll using the morale bonus for situations that require a morale check. I kind of like the individualization the loyalty score gives to NPCs.

Level Drain

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D&D wraith (source)

In my OD&D session this past monday, one of the PCs was hit by a wight and lost a level. Miraculously, four first level characters with a few zero level retainers defeated a group of 5 wights (3 HD creatures with numerous invulnerabilities and the fearsome energy drain). Thus, I had to clarify how level drain was going to work.

Talysman posted this interpretation of level drain back in January. When levels are drained, experience points are not decreased, though all level-associated characteristics (hit dice, spell progression, attack rank, turning undead, etc) are adjusted down. Assuming the character survives the ordeal, the lost levels can be regained. This separates the idea of experience points from the idea of level in this limited case, but I don’t think that will cause any major problems.

In Talysman’s example, gaining a single experience point is enough to recover a level, but no more than one level can be regained per session. So, in essence, a drained level forces a PC to be run at below strength for one or more sessions. This is a bit less final than permanently losing all that XP, but still costs the player time. I can see how this would make sense in game world terms, too. An encounter with undead should be a harrowing experience, and characters need some time to recover their confidence and abilities afterwards. I don’t think this weakens level drain too much, as the wickedest aspect of level drain remains: PCs killed and reduced to level zero rise again, adding to the ranks of the undead.

The basic idea works particularly well for Vaults of Pahvelorn, as HP is rerolled every session in any case. So there is no hassle about remembering the previous hit dice rolls. However, it does require a few minor adjustments to fit my other rules. For example, I award XP when treasure is spent, so by Talysman’s rules a surviving PC that has been level drained would immediately regain a level following the session (assuming they had some treasure to spend). I think that PCs should be required to run at least one session at the lower level for the drain to have impact. Thus, rather than regaining lost levels after accumulating more XP, one lost level will return per following session survived. Practically speaking, this is almost the same thing, as it is a rare session that results in zero XP.

Magical Research Assistance

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Image from Wikipedia

The only method given in the 3 LBBs for acquiring new spells is magical research. No mention is made of copying scrolls into spell books, as is common in many later editions. The magical research system (detailed on Men & Magic page 34) is based on GP investment followed by a percentile roll for success. Costs per 20% chance are, by level of spell:

  1. 2000 GP
  2. 4000 GP
  3. 8000 GP
  4. 16000 GP
  5. 32000 GP
  6. 64000 GP

There are no spells above sixth level that can be prepared in spell slots (though there may exist more powerful ritual magic). The expense is cumulative, so that if you spend 10000 GP on researching a first level spell, there is a 100% chance of success. One week per spell level is required per attempt.

This is quite expensive, but in my game there are some house rules for increasing the chances of success without investing more GP. Here are some such ways (a few are based on ideas described in more detail in Spells by Reverse Engineering & Dissection). The epiphenomena of researched spells will likely be affected by the type of research employed.

Reverse Engineering
If you are willing to destroy a magic item in pursuit of magical insight, that is worth a 20% bonus to the spell research roll. The item must be relevant to the spell effect in some way. Note that this covers using scrolls in magical research rather than casting the spell from them directly.
Dissection
If you can procure (by capture or purchase) a magical creature that is related in some way to the spell being researched, that is worth a 20% bonus to the spell research roll. For example, a creature that can use shadows as portals might be useful for researching dimension door. Mundane creatures are not generally useful for this bonus (thus, dissecting birds does not help with researching fly).
Studying Another Magic-User’s Spell Book
You can’t just copy a spell, but if you have access to another magic-user’s version of a spell, that is worth a 20% bonus to the spell research roll. Access to a grimoire works also.
Human Sacrifice
Magic-users with flexible morals may consume sentient, intelligent lives to help power their dark investigations. The number of souls required for a 20% bonus to the research roll is equal to the GP value of investment by spell level divided by 1000. Thus, a first level spell requires 2 while a sixth level spell requires 64. Not all spells can benefit from human sacrifice.
Places of Power
Some locations are inherently magical, either due to the echoes of past events, or strange connections to other places and times. Some examples are ancient standing stones and sites that exist half in the mortal realm and half in Dream-Land. Performing research for some kinds of spells in certain places is worth a 20% bonus on the research roll.
Self Sacrifice
Some magic-users crave power so much that they are willing to give of themselves. You may spend 1d4 ability score points or one hit die for a 20% bonus to a spell research roll. These reductions are permanent. Spells researched through self-sacrifice are said to be more deeply tied to their creator than other spells.
Assistance
What are apprentices good for, if they can’t help you with magical research? An arcane entourage will provide a 20% bonus to spell research rolls. One apprentice per spell level is required for this bonus (so six assistants are required to get any benefit during the research of a sixth level spell). The assistants in question must be skilled enough to prepare spells of levels two beneath the level of the spell being researched.
Mind invasion
ESP along with a subdued magic-user that has a given spell prepared is much the same as having access to a spell book with the magic formula. Not for the squeamish or ethical.
Specialized Library
Large collections of specialized books are quite rare and valuable, but may in some cases be worth a 20% research bonus.
Diabolism
Demons know a lot about magic. If you give a demon or spirit something, it might help you out enough to get a 20% research roll bonus.
Image from Wikipedia

Each attempt must include at least one unit of monetary investment (for example, at least 16000 GP must be spent on any attempt to research a fourth level spell). In general, other forms of assistance may be used no more than once per attempt. For example, a magic-user could capture and dissect a salamander during the research for wall of fire, but capturing and dissecting another fire-oriented creature would not grant another 20% bonus for this particular spell.

Abstract magical research may be performed at any point, if the GP is available. This may be applied to any future specific attempt, but abstract magical research functions like carousing and requires a saving throw versus spells to avoid unintended (but often amusing) consequences.

What happens if the roll fails?
The preparation and investment are not totally lost, but some aspect of the magic-user’s understanding or ritual preparation was off. One of the 20% bonuses is wasted. So, if you only invested the minimum needed GP and didn’t use any other form of assistance, you must start over from scratch. The magic-user may try again in one moon with the reduced percentage (if any is left over), or invest further in the procedure. The same preparation may not be used for a different spell.
What about researching a spell in the rules versus making up your own spell?
Mechanically, these two cases are handled the same way. However, it will generally be easier to find non-monetary components to assist with the research of spells from the rules, as scrolls and NPC spell books will contain formula for those spells. Also, I have seeded the campaign world with other features and items that are useful for researching particular spells.
How does this interact with the grimoire system?
If you have a grimoire, and cast read magic to interpret a spell in it (only needed before preparing the spell for the first time), you may prepare the spell as normal. However, the spell is not “yours” and if you lose the grimoire in question, you will not be able to prepare the spell again. Researching a spell (either one from the book, or a new one from your imagination) does not allow you to create a grimoire, which is a special kind of magic item. Creating a true grimoire is the feat of a great archmage. Thus, finding a grimoire is the least expensive way to get access to a new spell that is not consumed after one use (as a scroll is so consumed).
How does this apply to clerics?
Clerics use the same system for magical research, but the list of potential aids is different, and will likely be covered in a future post. Cleric magic is more limited than the sorcery of magic-users; methods of discovering new cleric spells generally include activities like copying holy scripture and staging secret rites.
Image from Wikipedia

There are stories about guilds of magic-users that share spell books, thereby easing the cost of magical research (one only needs time with another magic-user’s spell book to use it as an aid in magical research). No such actual organizations near Pahvelorn are known, however, and magic-users tend to be a jealous, paranoid, secretive lot. Also, legend has it that learning another magic-user’s spells will give you insight into the weaknesses of those spells and potentially even power over their creator, much like knowing a true name.

Why I Love Saving Throws

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Saving Throws Solve Many Problems With Hit Points

As long as you are at least willing to grant some degree of abstraction to combat and hazards, saving throws can mitigate some of the edge case problems inherent with hit points. Are you put off by the idea of high level characters being able to jump off of towers without fear because they know they have the HP to absorb any damage? In my game, a high fall is a saving throw versus stone (failure meaning death) rather than HP damage. Saving throws (coupled with critical hit tables) are perhaps the best way to model serious injuries (allow a save versus critical hit when HP drops to zero or whenever your system of choice would threaten an injury).

If you are playing a wuxia or superhero game maybe you want players to be able to do that HP calculation for jumping off towers. Here, I’m interested in a more human scale. Being able to not worry about falling requires something wondrous, like a levitation or fly spell.

Progress Without Certainty

The essence of the traditional saving throw is progression with level. What this means is that better saving throws are a reward for surviving a long time. However, even if your saving throw is really good (down in the single digits), there is still a nontrivial chance of failure, and failing a saving throw is often fatal. The best saving throw value in Men & Magic is granted to high level clerics (saving against death rays or poison is 3). But that’s still a 10 percent chance of failure. Are those good odds for a character which may have multiple real world years of history? Thus, it is almost always a good idea to avoid recourse to the save, so skilled play is always rewarded. This is in contrast to fate point mechanics, or even hit points, which serve as a quantifiable buffer before there is any real danger.

Proactivity

Saving throws are proactive in the sense that they are something the player does. They get to do something in order to avoid some potential bad outcome. This is mostly psychological (as the math of a passive defense and an active save might be the same), but psychological does not mean unimportant. For example, in Fourth Edition, attacking a PC’s reflex defense is something the referee does. Whereas in earlier games, the player gets to make a save versus wands or a reflex save. This is also good design, because the referee has enough dice to roll without rolling the player’s saves too.

Atmosphere

This is a minor point compared to the others (which in my opinion are critical to traditional Dungeons & Dragons), but it is still worth mentioning. The saving throw categories in original D&D are:

  • Death Ray or Poison
  • All Wands – Including Polymorph or Paralization [sic]
  • Stone
  • Dragon Breath
  • Staves & Spells

This communicates a tremendous amount of information about the setting and the challenges that are present. If these categories don’t match the challenges that characters are likely to face in your campaign, I would recommend changing them. In fact, that would be an excellent way to customize the game. Consider for example a hypothetical game set in mythological China with a save versus bureaucracy. Or the save categories in Mutant Future: energy attacks, poison or death, stun attacks, and radiation.

3 LBB Thief

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Hokusai Ninja

The thief class was not included in the original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set. The only classes at the beginning were the cleric, fighter, and magic-user. The thief was introduced in the first add-on product, Supplement I: Greyhawk (which, despite its name, is a collection of new game options rather than a setting). (Note regarding the image to the right: the oriental style is not really appropriate for Pahvelorn, but it’s really hard to find a good public domain image that evokes the thief archetype. Submissions welcome!)

Greyhawk also introduced a whole host of rules which will be familiar to players of later D&D (different hit dice for different classes, difference dice for different weapons, more influential ability scores) but which differ rather drastically from the game as presented in the three little brown books. If you play with all the rules changes in Greyhawk, the game begins to resemble proto-AD&D.

I really like the thief though, and want to include it in my otherwise “3 LBB only” setting. It only requires a few minor tweaks to fit in. Most of the following details come from Greyhawk unchanged. The divergences are noted.

  • Combat ranks: as cleric (steps based on 4 levels; 1-4, 5-8, etc)
  • Saving throws: as magic-user
  • Prime requisite: dexterity (bonus or penalty to XP like other classes)
  • Hit dice: as magic-user
  • Strike silently from behind: +4 attack, +1d6 damage per combat rank
  • 3rd level: 80% chance to decipher obscured treasure maps
  • May cast spells from scrolls with a successful save versus magic
  • 10th level: may use scrolls of all but the most powerful spells reliably
  • Name level is “Master Thief” at 11th level
Skills by level: climb sheer surfaces, open locks, remove traps, pickpocket or move silently, hide in shadows, hear noise. As per Greyhawk; just look the values up in the booklet or ask me. The progressions could probably be rationalized (I’ve seen several such approaches on blogs and forums), but my goal here is not streamlining so much as interpretation in the light of the original booklets (though I did make a few minor changes).
DESIGN NOTES
With the exception of picking locks and removing traps (see below), thief skills are not unique to thieves. Anyone may attempt to move stealthily or listen at a dungeon door. Thieves, however, are the only class that gets better at these things. Also, in most cases, the abilities function as a saving throw. That is, where a character of another class would fall, a thief gets a climb sheer surfaces chance. Where a character of another class would be noticed, a thief gets a hide in shadows chance.
WEAPONS (Greyhawk page 4):

Thieves can employ magic daggers and magic swords but none of the other magical weaponry.

Thieves may use any mundane weapon in my game. They may use magic daggers and swords to their full potential. Magic weapons other than daggers and swords count as magical for determining if certain creatures (like golems) can be hit at all, but do not grant any mechanical bonus to the thief. For example, an axe +1 would not get a +1 to attack or damage when wielded by a thief, but it would be able to hit monsters that can only be damaged by magic weapons.

ARMOR (Greyhawk page 4):

They can wear only leather armor and cannot employ shields. 

Wearing armor heavier than leather will result in penalties to thief skill rolls. Some skills may not be attempted or are penalized while employing shields (preternatural climbing and striking silently from behind for sure, and others by context).

TRAPS (Greyhawk page 4):

remove small trap devices (such as poisoned needles)

The thief ability to “remove traps” is not an arbitrary trap deactivation skill, but rather a limited skill to disarm small mechanisms.
SCROLLS (Greyhawk page 4):

Thieves of the 10th level and above are able to understand magical writings, so any scroll that falls into their hands can be used by them — excluding spells which are clerical in nature. However, with spells of the 7th level and above there is a 10% chance that the effect will be the reverse of that intended (due to the fact that even Master Thieves do not fully comprehend such great magic). This reverse effect can be known only after the spell is read.

Well, first thing, in the 3 LBBs there are no spells of the 7th level and above (there may be magic more powerful than sixth level spells, but it is not the kind of magic that can be prepared in a spell slot). So, by those rules, the 10% chance of failure would never come into effect. So I have decided to extend the use of spells from scrolls backwards to lower levels, given a successful save versus spells (failure miscasts the spell and consumes the scroll).

The ability to use scrolls (unreliably) at lower levels is the only substantial change I have made to the class. I think it is reasonable because it encourages fun play (“roll to see what fun way the thief is going to screw this spell up!”) and means that players of thieves will be more likely to get some use out of scrolls (since few characters reach name level). I don’t think this “save to cast from scrolls” steps on the magic-user’s toes because it will always be more reliable to give scrolls to magic-users (since they never fail when casting a spell from a scroll). At tenth level, thief scroll use also becomes reliable, though the thief never learns how to scribe scrolls and thus still must still find them or procure them from magic-users. Also, the same societal pressures regarding diabolism and black magic apply to thieves, especially since thieves don’t usually advertise any sorcerous power they may possess. Also, many magic-users will not look kindly on their secrets being stolen.

Though I have tried to stay within the parameters of the class as written in Greyhawk, my interpretations are heavily influenced by the following sources.

You can also check out my previous attempt at a thief class rewrite.

2012 10 30 edit: see also my clarification on thief skill use.

Converting GP to XP

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In Pahvelorn, you get XP from treasure recovered from the underworld or perilous wilderness. This happens when you spend the GP so recovered. Note that you don’t get XP just from spending money, it has to be money derived from recovered treasure. There are lots of good explanations about why this works well in D&D, but here’s one over at the LotFP blog if you’re curious.

This should very much be considered a draft set of rules. I’ve used some of these systems in play before, and the community at large has had, it seems, a positive experience with carousing as a game mechanic, but generalizing these ideas to other activities (magical research, alternatives for clerics, etc) very much seems to be an active and ongoing project (for example, see this post over at In Places Deep and this one at Kill it with Fire).

ALL CLASSES

  • Upkeep. Choose a standard of living: squalid, standard, or luxurious. Squalid gives you a -1 penalty to pretty much everything due to poor nutrition and low-quality rest. Living luxuriously won’t help you swing a sword, but it might affect some reaction rolls and may attract attention (both good and bad). Living squalidly may give you some reaction roll bonuses if you are trying to blend into poorer social groups. Preliminarily, upkeep costs per week are (rounded up, if fewer days than one week are spend in civilization between adventures): 1 SP (squalid), 5 GP (standard), and 100 GP (luxurious). I reserve to right to tweak those as I see fit.
  • Other Expenses. Repairing or replacing weapons, paying retainers, purchasing passage on a caravan, etc. Some other referees only like to give XP for spending on things that you don’t get other utility from, but I don’t have that concern. As long as the source of the money was treasure, anything is fair game.
  • Advertising. Advertising may be the only way to find certain specialized kinds of retainers. I will be using something similar to the system in the Ready Ref Sheets. This allows you to spend from 1 – 600 GP per week looking for special kinds of hirelings.
  • Strongholds. Traditionally, characters build a stronghold at name level (for fighters, this is 9th level, Lord; for clerics this 8th level, Patriarch). Magic-users often build towers to study and practice their dark crafts, though name level is not as clearly defined (though it is probably the Wizard title, gained at level 11). In any case, to have the funds for such a venture, you need to start saving. Once you locate a stronghold site, even if the area is not totally cleared, you may start to put money towards its creation.
  • Big Ticket Items. Like a ship, for example. You can take XP without spending the GP if you bank the funds with some reputable moneychanger, but if you spend that money on anything else you will take an XP penalty in the future. Maaaaaybe you can do this for strongholds too.
  • Goals. Perhaps your character collects pottery from a particular lost civilization, or is obsessed with any tidbit of knowledge regarding elves and Elf-Land. If you spend money on a PC fascination, you can take XP for that expense.
In addition, there are some class-specific ways to spend recovered treasure. In general, they work by spending GP and then making a saving throw to avoid unintended consequences (this procedure was adapted from Jeff’s carousing rules).
CLERICS
  • Rites, ceremonies, marriages, funerals, naming ceremonies, consecrations, purifications, sitting in judgement, and exorcisms. I have had so many ideas for this recently, I think they deserve a separate post. Also, remember, clerics are widely respected, but as demon hunters and travelling law men, not sedentary priests.
FIGHTERS
  • Carousing. This can be either public (a feast) or private (wine, lotus powder, etc).
  • Competition. Wrestling, jousting, non-lethal gladiatorial combat. The specific options will vary based on location.
MAGIC-USERS
  • Magical Research. See here. Money spent this way should be recorded and can be used towards magical research rolls later.
THIEVES
  • Carousing. See fighter entry above.
  • Surveillance. This should be appropriate to your character concept (e.g., an urban rogue can surveil city contacts whereas Robin Hood might be talking to shepherds and watching the comings and goings of the Sherif’s soldiers). This can get you some sweet rumors or threat level information that you might not be able to discover any other ways.
  • Poisons. Brewing or buying; both require GP.
A character may spend money in off class ways, but takes a saving throw penalty, if one is required. The side effect might be interesting… what happens when a fighter sneaks a peak at the magic-user’s grimoire and can’t restrain her curiosity? I don’t know, try it and I’ll make up some system to resolve what happens.

I think that should be enough for now.

The OD&D Engine

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In preparation for my OD&D game, I’ve been going back through the 3 LBBs to review the rules. Here is a summary of what makes up the game. Of all of the systems discussed below, only four are affected by ability scores. The social reaction mechanics are affected by charisma, the attack roll for missile weapons is affected by dexterity, and the hit die (HP) roll is affected by constitution. I have marked these with the tag [ABILITY]. Some other systems are affected by level, and I have marked them with the tag [LEVEL].

Here are the major player-facing resolution systems:

  • Attack roll (d20 roll high with difficulty matrix) [ABILITY, LEVEL]
  • Saving throw (d20 roll high with difficulty matrix) [LEVEL]
  • 2d6 roll for turning undead (for the cleric) [LEVEL]
  • Percentile roll based on investment for magical research
  • Percentile skills for the thief [LEVEL]
  • 1d6 damage roll
  • 1d6 HP per hit die is the other side of the damage roll [ABILITY]
  • 3d6 determination of ability scores

Magical research is arguably based on level, since you can only research spells of a power that you can cast, but other than that characters don’t get better at it, so I’m leaving off the tag. A roll-under ability score check is also easy to bolt on (and something I will almost certainly use), though it doesn’t show up anywhere in OD&D that I am aware of.

The referee uses all the player-facing systems, along with several others:

  • 2d6 reaction roll (for social interactions) [ABILITY]
    • Monster reaction: 2-5: negative, 6-8: uncertain, 9-12: positive
    • Hiring monsters: 2 attack, 3-5: hostile, 6-8:uncertain, 9-11: accept, 12 enthusiast (+3 loyalty)
  • 3d6 determination of retainer loyalty [ABILITY]
  • Evasion/pursuit actions: too complicated to summarize
  • Chance to drop something if surprised: 25%
  • Random encounter: 1d6, chance by location, 1 in 6 is common
  • Hear noise: 1 in 6 or 2 in 6 for demihumans
  • Force doors: 2 in 6 or 1 in 6 for smaller characters
  • Search: 2 in 6 or 4 in 6 for elves, which also have passive 2 in 6
  • Party/monsters surprised: 2 in 6
  • Trap triggers: 2 in 6
  • Stronghold occupant action: 3 in 6, 2 in 6, or 1 in 6 (by hex distance)

This may look complicated, but all other than the first several they are really just 16%, 33%, or 66%. In other words: rare, uncommon, and common; or hard, medium, and easy. Talysman also has a good summary of the various d6 rolls.

There are other systems for stocking dungeons, generating treasure hoards, and populating strongholds, but they are more prep aids than game mechanics (I’m not saying that prep aids are unimportant to the game, merely that they are not required for running it). There are also subsystems for ariel and naval combat, but they are closer to separate minigames.

In the alternative combat system (which is really the standard “roll a d20” combat system), characters don’t just gain an attack bonus (or THAC0 improvement), instead they advance through a series of combat ranks (the LBBs don’t use this terminology, but it is clear from the tables). All classes begin with the same “to hit” skill (a 10 being required to hit an unarmored enemy). Fighters improve in groups of three levels, clerics and thieves in groups of four, and magic-users in groups of five. For example, magic-users of level 6 – 10 attack as fighters of level 4 – 6.

The only tables required during play are:

  1. Attack matrix 1: characters attacking (M&M p19)
  2. Attack matrix 2: monsters attacking (M&M p20)
  3. Saving throw matrix (M&M p22)

These can be considered the engine of play (what might be called core mechanics in more recent games) rather than game entities which are affected by engine results. Also notable, the game is almost entirely located in Men & Magic, whereas the contents of Monsters & Treasure and The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures are more implied setting (with the exception of the mass combat minigames). And data from items one and three will probably be copied to PC character sheets, which means that the sum total of required lookup tables for 3 LBB D&D is one!

There is clearly space here for a few more play tables, such as the Arduin critical hits table, or Jeff’s carousing table. Equipment prices, spell details, and monster stats are not strictly speaking required during play, as those are generally referenced between sessions with the relevant data being copied to character sheets or referee notes. They can be used “just in time” during play, but may be predecided, unlike the systems noted above which must be consulted during play. The following tables are on the borderline between for prep and for play; I could see occasionally wanting to consult them at the table, but most of the time they can be used offline.

  • Ability score consequences (M&M p11-12)
  • Experience and hit die progression tables, one per class (M&M p16-18)
  • Spell progression table for the magic-user (M&M p17)
  • Spell progression table for the cleric (M&M p18)
  • Clerics versus undead monsters (M&M p22)
  • Thief skills (Greyhawk p4-5, p11)

Given how these systems are scattered around the 3 LBBs, I’m sure I missed one or two, but I think I have covered all the important ones.

Speed factors & multiple attacks

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In this post I started off talking about d20 initiative, but I also mentioned d10 individual initiative. I called this AD&D initiative, but then I couldn’t actually find a reference in the core AD&D books. I did find such rules in the Second Edition Player’s Handbook, however, on page 95. This form of individual initiative system uses 1d10 per player (with modifications) and a “count up” method to see who goes first (lower is better). For those who never understood AD&D segments (this included me, until very recently), each tick on this “count up” corresponds to one segment.

Then I was thinking that this system might actually support multiple attacks using fast weapons without too much hassle. To simplify the optional modifiers to initiative slightly, here are the following factors that would be relevant:

  • Weapon speed factor
  • Casting time
  • Dexterity
  • Armor
  • Monster size (small/medium +3, large +6, huge +9)

Everything is a penalty except (potentially) dexterity.

So here’s how it would work. Say someone has a dexterity initiative bonus of two and is fighting with a fast weapon like a short sword (speed factor 3). Thus, overall the PC is taking a +1 penalty on initiative when fighting with the short sword (this should be calculated beforehand by each player for each weapon commonly used).

Each round is broken up into 10 segments (we don’t need to worry about exactly how long each round or segment is, only that one is finer grained than the other). Each number on the initiative die corresponds to one segment. So you roll 1d10. Say you get a 4, then your modified initiative is 5 (continuing with the dex +2 short sword example begun above). Some monster or other PC might do something before you, but then the ref calls out your number (which you had been keeping in your head), so you make you attack.

Then, you roll you initiative again immediately, and add the number to your previous modified roll (which was a 5). You’re lucky, and roll a 2, leading to a modified result of 8 (5 from the previous action, 2 from the roll, 1 from using a short sword). Now, when the ref calls out segment 8, you get another attack and get to repeat the procedure. You might get another attack if you roll a 1 (which would be 8 + 2 = an action on segment 10). But probably you will roll higher and not get another action this turn.

Now, I can see two possible ways to handle initiative rolls greater than 10. The first and simplest would be to cap initiative at 10. If your first initiative result is greater than 10, than you act on count 10. This is easy to remember, and guarantees everyone at least one action per turn, while giving the possibility of more actions to characters wielding faster weapons. If you have already acted (like the short sword example above), then you would ignore any further results above 10, and start over with another d10 roll at the beginning of the next turn.

However, there is another option. If you roll higher than 10, you remember that number but subtract 10 from it (i.e., modulo 10). That is the count you act on during the next round (so you don’t need to roll initiative again at the beginning of the next round, only after your next action). This would mean that big, unwieldy weapons might not get an attack every round, which could be a feature or a bug.

If using the second option, the round abstraction is only really necessary because it simplifies the referee’s counting task by resetting the numbers every 10 segments. It also allows new combatants to enter the fray at clearly defined times. Weapons will really be acting on their own clocks (for example, a character with an attack that has a speed factor penalty of 10 is going to be attacking approximately every 1.5 rounds, if I’m doing the math right in my head). I think this is somewhat elegant because it allows you to subsume reload times into speed factors. And, someone might get a string of good luck even with a relatively slow weapon, making the system continuously interesting to all involved. Because everyone likes to pull the lever on the slot machine, right?

I think this might work because each player would be strictly responsible for tracking the segment that they act on, and any following penalty. As a referee, in most cases I would probably roll singly for all opponents, and only possibly break out individual monster groups in special cases (example: a dragon and a group of goblins might each deserve their own initiative die, but it would definitely be extra work). I’m sure there are some rough edges here (missile weapons? might work as is).

This does give benefits to short, quick weapons (modeling quick weapons, is, after all, the point of this exercise) and to balance that we probably need to allow users of longer weapons to keep enemies at bay, even though this is already partly offset by greater the larger damage dice of bigger weapons (if using variable damage rules). It would be nice if this could work for d6 weapon damage (or damage by hit dice), but that probably requires even more tuning. Many larger weapons were designed primarily with this purpose in mind (spears being the obvious example, as they have existed in various forms for pretty much every martial culture the world has ever seen). But that is a task for a future post.

The Uses of Monsters

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The Capture of Cerberus (image from Wikimedia)

In the Vaults of Pahvelorn game, no XP is awarded for defeating monsters. From a game design point of view, this is probably the only house rule with a potential for major unintended consequences, so I am approaching it enthusiastically but with caution. The main intention is to break the primary association between killing monsters and advancing in the game.

Sometimes you do just want to kill creatures and take their stuff, but that is not the only profitable way to interact with strangers. Here are some other possibilities.

  • Minions. Many intelligent foes would be just as happy working for you as against you, if you make it worth their while. Payment is a good start, but subdual and enslavement can also work sometimes, and fighting against a someone’s enemies is always a decent way to get on their good side. The magical option is traditionally charm person or charm monster.
  • Mounts. Some rideable creatures are intelligent and can be bargained with. See the entry on retainers above. If not, feeding creatures is a good opening gambit (though you need to discover what they eat first, if you don’t want to offend them). Unintelligent creatures will require some training time, and paying an animal trainer (or beast master, if you can find one) can help speed up that process. The magical method is charm monster.
  • Taxidermy. Preserved monsters are a sign of wealth, power, and erudition. It is considered especially chic to replace eyes with precious gem stones. Specimens of The Beautiful People are particularly prized by collectors.
  • Resources. While you won’t generally encounter NPCs that send you on quests for 10 hell hound ears (or whatever), many creatures do provide components of value. For example, fire beetles contain an unstable compound useful in creating high quality oil and other combustibles. Poison, if safely extracted and stabilized, is also always valuable in the black market (if you don’t want to use it yourself). Sometimes, a poison sample is required to formulate an effective antitoxin. If in doubt, haul a carcass back to a sage and get it examined.
  • Gladiators. Pitting slaves or monsters against each other is good sport in some lands, though it is not permitted (publicly) in Zorfath.
  • Menageries. Travelling circuses and menageries will often pay good coin for captured or subdued beasts. Sometimes, they just transport them to distant customers (zoos, arenas, sorcerers) while other times they are trained as circus creatures. Enslaving and selling creatures will not endear you to their relatives, however.
  • Dissection. Useful for a bonus on spell research, and perhaps for things like the creation of chimeras. I have an earlier post about this too.
Anything that is potentially dangerous can also be used creatively. This includes hazards, traps, and monsters.

Any other ideas for how to make use of monsters?