Hit dice in the original little brown books only used six sided dice. Plusses were applied to modulate the values by class. So (ignoring constitution for simplicity), a fourth level fighter would have 4d6 HP, whereas a fourth level magic-user would have 2d6+1 HP. Coming to OD&D from one of the later editions, the absence of different hit dice is one of the most striking differences (along with flat d6 weapon damage, to which the size of hit dice is related). This approach was dropped almost immediately, in Supplement I: Greyhawk, and forever after different classes have used different sized dice for their hit points.

I have come to appreciate the hit dice being only from six siders. It keeps the totals grounded. It works particularly well with rerolling per session (the scalar bonuses feel less strange, as they just modify the per-session expected value slightly). However, the actual progression seems somewhat arbitrary and unmotivated. For example, the original fighter “dice for accumulative hits” progression was, by level:

What’s up with that?

It’s relatively easy to fix, though. Here is my proposal, broken down into progressions for high (fighter), medium (cleric), and low (magic-user) hit dice.

The patterns should be easily intelligible. The expected values are relatively close to the originals, though in Men & Magic the magic-user gets all the way up to 9+2 (by 16th level). Gary sure did love the wizards.

What about after tenth level? My inclination would be to halt HD growth entirely past tenth level. A sort of soft E10. It would also be reasonable to keep adding some bonus HP though, in the manner of AD&D. I would probably just make it a flat +1 per level for every level above ten, irrespective of class. Going much above +1 would start to overwhelm the d6 values, unlike the larger hit dice sized used by AD&D, so probably best not to adopt the AD&D numbers (given characters of equal level, the relationship of fighter > cleric > magic-user will still obtain, which I think is the most important thing).

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:

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.

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.

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.

Ability scores are explained on pages 10, 11, and 12 of Men & Magic. Here is an alternate presentation.

I think this table makes the effects of ability scores much clearer without needing to shoehorn them into a common pattern. This table could be printed on character sheets, and then the character attributes could be circled, or highlighted like a bar graph, as shown below.