Followers

Jason also suggested that the clerics should gain some leader-types with their upper level followers.  Here's what I've worked up:

CLERICAL FOLLOWERS:  In addition to the level-0 followers that a cleric gains at high level, add a 3^rd level fighter (lieutenant) for each 30 men attracted.  These men do not advance in level but act as officers for the men.   Additionally, add 1d6 level 1 clerics when first gaining followers, and 1 additional level 1 cleric each time the cleric gains a level.

CANON FOLLOWERS:  in addition to the normal cleric troop followers gained by the same rules as clerics, a canon may establish a monastery, consisting of at least a Cloister on an Estate’s worth of land.   If he does so, and takes up a monastic residence therein, he will attract 48 level 1 canons to join his monastery.

GOTHI FOLLOWERS:  a gothi will attract 100 plus 1d100 level 0 warrior followers at the same level the clerics do.  These warriors will all be heavy infantry in chainmail, shield (50% spear and battleaxe, 50% broad sword and hand axe).  Gothar of Woden may substitute Berserkers for the warriors.   Add a 3^rd level lieutenant for each 30 men as for clerics above, and add 1d4 level 1 gothar, plus 1 per level gained above 9.

WARLOCK FOLLOWERS:  a warlock will gain 100 plus 1d100 level 9 warrior followers at the same level the clerics do.  These warriors will either be Brigands or Hobgoblins or Orcs  (using the equipment percentages given in the Monster Manual) as the DM deems most appropriate.  If the followers are brigands, add 1 3^rd level lieutenant for each 30 troops.  If the followers are Hobgoblins, then there will be 1 subchief,(total) plus 1 sergeant for each 20 hobgoblins.  If the followers are orcs, then there will be a leader and 3 assistants for each 30 orcs.  The warlock will also gain a coven of 12 level 1 warlocks (with himself as the 13^th), if one is killed, he will be replaced in 1d4 months, but all the warlock’s followers suffer -1 morale until the replacement arrives.

Help for Summoners

Jason also pointed out that Summoners could be considered completely helpless against an enemy using a simple first level Protection from Evil spell.   So, I've added a new power to the Summoner class:

Attuned Summoning:  summoners are such masters of the art, that creatures summoned by them are allowed to make a saving throw vs. spells in order to attempt to bypass the protection granted by a Protection from Evil spell.

This gives the summoner some chance against the spell, but doesn't nerf the spell completely against them.

New Trait

To add to the list of character traits used for gaining experience from spending treasure,  Jason e-mailed me one that is so freaking awesome that I had to put it up here right away:

Destructive: the character enjoys destroying things.  Vandalism, burning down buildings, slashing paintings, smashing sculptures, feeding a race horse to a pack of wolves, etc all of which would be render the value of items to completely zero.  The characters would get XP from destroying things, but this doesn’t protect them from the consequences of angry owners of property damaged, the law chasing them down, or other players angry the player destroyed 10,000gp worth of loot.

Final Push

I'm making a final push for the Badlands campaign house rules.  The drafts of the four main documents are all at the following site:

http://www.lordsofhack.com/home/doku.php?id=badlands

These have not yet been changed since the last time.   I'm working on the final draft, and if you have any suggestions or contributions, let me know here or e-mail me.  Try to get your suggestions to me by Thursday, November 4th, since I'm planning to print the campaign draft on Friday the 5th (especially the gear book).

Sodium Intelligence Does Not Create Itself

I woke up from a nightmare last night.  I don't remember most of it, but at the end, there was a big cardboard box, inside it was a guy, but he was all electric-sparky and photo-negative-like.  He said "Sodium Intelligence Does Not Create Itself."   Make of that what you will.

DOGS

I've been tooling around with some rules for using various sorts of Dogs in our AD&D game.  This is what I've come up with so far:

1. DOG HANDLING:  dogs must be trained by a skilled trainer/handler to do some functions.  Various level 0 guys are skilled in dog handling, but PC’s must spend a Weapon Proficiency slot in order to become a trained dog handler, in one specific dog type.  A handler can only command 1 type of dog at a time.   Any handler can control 2 war dogs plus 1 per point of Charisma Loyalty Bonus, or 4 guard dogs or blood hounds plus 1 per point of Charisma Loyalty Bonus, or 8 sled dogs or hunting dogs plus 1 per point of Charisma Loyalty Bonus.

            It takes 1 month of familiarity training for  a handler to acclimate a dog to its owner or new surroundings or a new owner.   A owner is someone to whom the dog has been acclimated by a trainer or handler to obey his orders.

2. DOGS IN COMBAT:  each type of dog reacts differently to combat: 

WAR DOGS: size M, AC 6, HD 2+2, move 12”, morale 10, 1 attack, 2-8 damage.

Handler Present: War dogs will attack any target a handler commands when first entering combat.  If the handler is not engaged in combat, he can shift the dogs from target to target as he pleases (1 in 6 chance of the dogs going to the wrong target).

No Handler Present: once fighting starts the war dogs will attack targets completely at random, friend or foe alike.  War Dogs require a true Handler for best results, an owner is usually not the best idea.

GUARD DOGS:  size M, AC 7, HD 1+1, move 15”, morale 8, 1 attack, 1d6 damage.

On Guard:  if guard dogs have been acclimated to a particular place or person they will add 3 to the surprise roll if intruders attempt to sneak up.  They will attack the intruders on a 3 or better on a d6, otherwise they will just make noise.  A acclimated owner can call them off from an attack (they ignore the command on a 6 on a d6).

Handler Present:  a handler can order guard dogs to attack at any time and they will (except if a 6 is rolled on a d6).  However, there is also a 1 in 6 chance that the dogs will attack the wrong target.

No Handler Present: an acclimated owner can order dogs to attack, but they will fail to do so on a 5 or 6 on a d6, likewise they are very likely (4+ on d6) to get the target wrong if there are multiple people present beyond the owner.

HUNTING DOGS: size S, AC 7, HD 1+1, move 15”, morale 7, 1 attack, 1d4 damage. 

Handler Present:  a handler can order hunting dogs to attack, but unless it is their trained game animal, they will only do so on a 4+ on a d6.  However, there is also a 2 in 6 chance that the dogs will attack the wrong target.

No Handler Present: an acclimated owner can order dogs to attack, but they will fail to do so on a 3 or better on a d6, likewise they are very likely (2+ on d6) to get the target wrong if there are multiple people present beyond the owner, unless it is their normal game animal.

BLOOD HOUNDS: size S, AC 7, HD 1+1, move 15”, morale 7, 1 attack, 1d4 damage. 

Handler Present:  a handler can order blood hounds to attack, but, they will only do so on a 4+ on a d6.  However, there is also a 2 in 6 chance that the dogs will attack the wrong target.

No Handler Present: an acclimated owner can order dogs to attack, but they will fail to do so on a 3 or better on a d6, likewise they are very likely (2+ on d6) to get the target wrong if there are multiple people present beyond the owner.

SLED DOGS: size S, AC 7, HD 1+1, move 15”, morale 7, 1 attack, 1d4 damage. 

Handler Present:  a handler can order sled dogs to attack, but unless it is their trained game animal, they will only do so on a 4+ on a d6.  However, there is also a 2 in 6 chance that the dogs will attack the wrong target.

No Handler Present: an acclimated owner can order dogs to attack, but they will fail to do so on a 3 or better on a d6, likewise they are very likely (2+ on d6) to get the target wrong if there are multiple people present beyond the owner.

A Visit to the Comic Shops

Sunday I took a trip both to Comic Store West and the new Planet X comics.   I didn't see any game materials that I had to have, but wanted to support my local merchants, so I bought some comics from both stores (also placed an ad for new game club members at CSW).   Here's a quick review:

Justice Society of America 80-page Annual:  --meh-- I guess when the first story is about a gay superhero at the adoption office trying to adopt a kid, you know you're not going to be filled with action-packed goodness.  I mean, what the hell has happened to comic books anyway? 

Batman #700:---meh--one story over several time periods with several generations of Batmen.  I don't think I really got it.   It was less than exciting or suspenseful.  I guess I'm not up on the current unfolding of the Batman story either.

Tomb of Terror Super Issue #1--meh--a variety of horror themed stories, all in black and white.  I kept drifting away.

IT!  The Terror from Beyond Space #3 (of three)--a sci-fi monster story, very similar to the movie "Alien", in the words of Dom Deluise in History of the World part 1 "nice, not thrilling, but nice."

Magnus, Robot Figher, 4000 AD  #1:  saving the best for last.  In the Far Future, mankind is completely dependent on robots to do everthing.  But, the robots are turning evil!   Magnus, raised by a robot in secret, is mighty enough to snap robot necks with his bare hands, which he does, running around in his short-shorts, sleeveless t-shirt, and short white boots ensemble.   This is a reprint of a book from the 60's, which Dark Horse has ressurected.   Filled with proper robot-neck-snapping goodness.

Conclusion: 
New Fangled comics:  art is high quality, stories suck. 
Old School comics: art is suck, stories are goofy, but awesome.

Classes in Portchester Society

Each person in the Dual Kingdom of Portchester has an assigned status based primarily on property:

King:  the two ruling kings of Portchester are elected by the freemen of the kingdom, one is elected from the house of Osric, the other from the House of Hildric.  Each year one is chosen by the bishop’s augury to run the courts and the treasury and the other to command the armies.  The Kings are not allowed to lead the armies outside the borders of the kingdom without the approval of the assembled freemen.

Atheling:  any person who is descended from a king, to the 7^th generation, or who has married such a descendant is counted as an Atheling.  Members of this class have few legal privileges beyond those of a Lord, but are eligible to be elected king.

Reeve:  a lord elected by the freemen of a district to lead the fyrd (militia) and administrate the petty law courts of the district is called a reeve.

Lord: a man who owns 5 square miles of land (25 hides) and a hall, and employs 25 or more armed housecarls can claim the status of Lord, allowing him to be eligible to be elected reeve and to be considered for a captaincy in the fyrd.

Thane:  a man who owns a square miles of land (5 hides) is expected to serve as a mounted infantry man in the fyrd and form the backbone of the army.

Citizen:  anyone who owns a house or other building in the city of Portchester itself has the status of citizen of the town and is subject to the justice of the town reeves and guilds, not to the reeves and lords of the countryside.

Steadman:  anyone who owns at least 1 hide (120 acres) is considered a freeman stead-holder and is expected to serve in the fyrd at the order of the kings and reeves, but also can elect said officials.

Farmer:  anyone who owns at least 25 acres is considered a freeman farmer and is expected to serve in the fyrd at the order of the kings and reeves, but also can elect said officials.

Crofter:  anyone who owns at least 10 acres is considered a freeman crofter and is expected to serve in the fyrd at the order of the kings and reeves, but also can elect said officials.

Housecarl: a landless man who serves a lord as a soldier is called a housecarl, and is counted as a freeman of the kingdom.

Let:  a farmer who rents his land, or owns less than 25 acres is called a Let, and is not counted among the freemen who serve in the fyrd or elect the kings.

Bondsman: those who have been bound because of capture in war, debt, or inheritance must wear an iron collar and are bound either to a plot of land they work as share-croppers or as household servants.

Stranger: an outlander, who has made an oath of peace for his visit, is allowed to travel and do business in the kingdom, but has no legal privileges, beyond basic protection of life and property.  He can own personal property, but not real estate.

Outlaw: anyone outlawed by the kings can be killed with impunity and has no property rights

Provisional Wergild Schedule

Here's the provisional schedule of what wergild is owed for various classes of society:

Social Rank	Killing Wergild	Injury Wergild
King	250,000gp	25,000gp
Atheling	25,000gp	2500gp
Reeve	20,000gp	2,000gp
Lord	15,000gp	1500gp
Thane	5,000gp	500gp
Citizen	750gp	75gp
Steadman	600gp	60gp
Housecarl	500gp	50gp
Farmer	350gp	35gp
Crofter	250gp	25gp
Let	100gp	10gp
Bondsman	25gp	5gp
Stranger	25gp (unless under protection)	5gp
Outlaw	0gp	0gp

This should be good, but I'm not exactly sure how it will work in with the AD&D economy,  I guess we'll live and learn and perhaps modify it later.  I'll post the definitions for the social classes above.

Crime and Punishment in Portchester

I've been making up some guidelines for Crime and Punishment in the Kingdom of Portchester. here's a sample:

Crimes, Wergild and Outlawry

When a crime is committed, the custom is to call the offender to the court of the King.  The injured man, or the relatives of the dead one, give their evidence and have at least 12 supporters make an oath that it is true.  Then the defendant gives evidence and has 12 supporters swear a similar oath.   The defender has 3 possible pleas:  that he did not do the deed,  that the fight was an honest one or an accident, or that the dead man was an outlaw.  If either party cannot get the dozen oath-men, then he automatically loses the case.

            If the king finds that the attack fight was an honest one or an accident, then the defender must pay wergild for the deed.   If the defender is found to be not the killer, or if the dead or injured party is found to have been engaged in outlawry, then the defender pays no fine.

            Some offenses, however, require a sentence of outlawry. 

·         If a man uses poison,

·         kills a freemen by magic,

·         steals from the church,

·         kills or injures a churchman,

·         summons demons,

·         commits secret murder, 

·         kills by arson, attempts to use violence against a king or his reeves

·         aids foreign enemies against the kingdom,

·         Allowing an Old One, orc, goblinoid, or black-haired sheep, goat or pig to live if discovered in the borders of the kingdom.

If declared an outlaw, he can offer triple wergild to the family of a victim or to the king or church, if they accept, the sentence is set aside.  If they refuse the settlement, then the offender is declared an outlaw and can be killed with impunity by anyone.   Outlaws are branded with an “O” on their foreheads.

            Theft is punishable by a payment of triple the value of the goods stolen.  If the thief cannot pay, he will be branded on the forehead with a large “T”.  If convicted a second time, a thief who cannot pay the fine will be declared an outlaw.

Two Combat Rules

I have had 2 thoughts about combat rules to add to the pile, they aren't in the first combat draft, but might be interesting to add:

1) Shield Sacrifice:  I found this rule in the "Fight On" old-school fanzine and we used it in Return of the Trolls.  With this rule, if you are hit you can call a shield sacrifice, which will cause your shield to break to pieces, but it will stop the damage from that attack.   It was nice in one sense, but was a little too disproportionate.  Perhaps we could either make a shield sacrficie reduce the damage of a hit in half, instead of stopping it completely, or perhaps limit its use to Fighters, Paladins, Rangers and Berserkers with class and level.

2) Knockdown/Knock Back:  to make combats a little more dynamic, perhaps we could say, any time a
"natural" 15 is rolled and the attack is a hit, the target (or equal or lower size to the attacker) is knocked down.  If a "natural" 15 is rolled, and it is a miss, or the attacker is bigger, the defender is driven back 1 inch.

Badlands wish list

I'm interested in any wishes or goals you guys have for the Badlands campaign.  I know some of us got tired of being "heroic" all the time in Slipstream.  Are there things you'd like to do that other campaigns haven't let you do?  Drop a comment or two here, and I'll try to work them in.

Badlands Campaign: Magic Rules

A draft of the magic rules, including the spell list for the Summoner class, is at this page on the Lords of Hack wiki.

http://www.lordsofhack.com/home/doku.php?id=badlands

E-mail me or post comments here.

Badlands Campaign: Combat Rules

I've also created a booklet with modifications to AD&D combat rules and posted it at the Lords of Hack wiki at this page:

http://www.lordsofhack.com/home/doku.php?id=badlands

E-mail me or post comments here.

Badlands campaign: character rules

I've created a draft booklet with all the character-related rules for the Badlands.  It can be found at the Lords of Hack wiki, at this page:

http://www.lordsofhack.com/home/doku.php?id=badlands


Have a look and give me some comments, either by e-mail or here as a comment to this blog post.
If there are classes you'd like to see, that aren't too broken, let me know.

Monster Showcase: The Nasenna (Old Ones)

Inspired by some stories by Robert E. Howard (some Conan, some Kull) I included "The Old Ones", a race of almost humans banished beneath the earth by humanity and the gods, when I ran the Return of the Trolls campaign.  The most noteable member of the Old Ones was the sorcerer "Horrible Cyrus" whose lair the party attacked on what seems to have been countless occassions before they killed him in an anti-climactic battle.

Since the Badlands campaign is set in the same place, and the players never stopped the Old Ones' overall plan, they had to return.  So, here is the full AD&D write-up for the Old Ones (or the Nasenna as they call themselves).

Nasenna (Old Ones)

Frequency:  Uncommon

No. Appearing:  40-240

Armor Class:  5 or 4 (superior bronze breastplate, with or without shield)

Move:  9”

Hit Dice: 2

%in Lair:  40%

Treasure Type: individuals M (x4), lair: G

No. of Attacks: 1

Damage/Attack: by weapon

Special Attacks: leader types

Special Defenses: none (vulnerable to iron)

Magic Resistance: standard

Intelligence: mean: average to very

Alignment: Chaotic

Size: M

           

            They Nasenna are distant cousins of mankind who once ruled over a mighty evil empire on earth, but were driven underground by man, at the instigation of certain ancient gods.   They have recently returned to the surface to inflict their genocidal revenge on humanity.   Nasenna are manlike in shape and size, but their skin is gray, their eyes are completely black.  Nasenna are hopelessly evil, aligned with Chaos and worship the foulest of demons.

Nasenna have an aversion to iron, and each time one is hit by an iron or steel weapon, he or she suffers an additional 1 point of damage.  As as a result of this trait, the Nasenna have become expert bronze-workers.  Their bronze breastplate, greaves and helmets are the equivalent in protection and weight to iron chainmail.    They are armed with a wide variety of high-quality bronze weaponry which can often be sold, used, for twice the price of a new, standard steel weapon, due to its fine appearance and craftsmanship.  A band of Nasenna warriors will typically be armed as follows:

25%:  breastplate and shield, sword

25%:  breastplate and shield, javelins and sword

25%:  breastplate, pole-arm or poleaxe and sword

25%:  breastplate, shield, battle axe, and sword

For every 40 Nasenna there is a leader with 4HD and a sorcerer (2HD and the spells of a 3^rd level magic-user).  For every 80 Nasenna, there is a captain with 6 HD, and for every 160 Nasenna there is a High Commander with 8 HD.

For every 50 Nasenna, there is a 25% chance that there is a master sorcerer with 5HD and the spells of a 7^th level magic-user.  For every 100 Nasenna, there is a 10% chance that there is a grand sorcerer with 8HD and the spells of a 12^th level magic-user. 

For every 80 Nasenna, there is a 10% chance that there is a Shadow Slayer of 2-8 HD(with the powers of an assassin and illusionist of the corresponding levels)

            Each Nasenna leader, captain, or high commander has a 10% chance per hit die of having a magic weapon, armor, shield, and/or potion (check each one).  Each Sorcerer, Master Sorcerer, or Grand Sorcerer has a 10% chance per hit die of having a wand, ring, scroll, potion, and/or miscellaneous magic item (check each one).  A Shadow Slayer has a 10% per HD chance of having a magic weapon, ring, miscellaneous magic item, and/or potion (check each one).

TYPE/HD	XP	TYPE/HD	XP
Warrior (2HD)	20+2/hp	Leader (4HD)	60+4/hp
Captain (6HD)	150+6/hp	High Commander (8HD)	375+10/hp
Sorcerer (2HD)	65+2/hp	Master Sorcerer (5HD)	165+5/hp
Grand Sorcerer (8HD)	650+10/hp	Shadow Slayer (2 HD)	65+2/hp
Shadow Slayer (3HD)	90+3/hp	Shadow Slayer (4 HD)	125+4/hp
Shadow Slayer (5HD)	165+5/hp	Shadow Slayer (6HD)	275+6/hp
Shadow Slayer (7HD)	400+8/hp	Shadow Slayer (8HD)	650+10/hp

One of the fun bits, One of the Weird bits

When I work up a good ruin, I use one of the tables that randomly assigns whether any given room has treasure, a monster, both, neither, or a trick or trap.   Some rooms are stocked outside of those constraints, but I like there to be 20-30 rooms per level with about 3/4 having either a monster, trap or hidden treasure in them.

One of the fun things for me when setting things up is coming up with interesting things to do when the room has treasure but no monster.   Hiding the treasure in secret compartments is one easy method, as is the classic trapped treasure chest.  But, more fun is turning the coins into items made of solid gold or silver and have them part of an item in a room, especially if the item looks like a trap, but isn't.  I also like turning the treasure value into a collection of interesting items and scattering them around.  It also fun for me seeing players thinking some items of worthless junk are actually treasure.

Here is where having a good, solid gear list is really helpful to put prices to strange pieces of treasuse and to convert a gold value of treasure into interesting items without being arbitrary. 

My current list tries to keep close to AD&D norms for items that are covered in AD&D.  I have discovered that the prices for jewlery in AD&D is completely out of whack.  For example, a copper earing costs around 10gp in AD&D (variable range), but that's a bit mad.  Since a copper earing should contain 3-4 copper pieces worth of copper, and I just don't see that the jeweler multiplies the value of the metal 600 times.   I'm sticking with the AD&D prices, but find it kind of whacky.

NPC spells

Of course when characters get horribly killed, level-drained or cursed, they're going to want to go to a higher level wizard or cleric and get it repaired/fixed.   I'm trying to work a fair way to handle it.   It's got to be more than a price list.  

I'm thinking perhaps that for doing certain quests, you can get an official "boon" from the church or the wizard that can be used to get the right to purchase a spell.  I figure that the Lawful Church has some sort of requirement that a large portion of a bishop's Raise Dead and Cure Disease spells must be used to help the poor and helpless, so that you need to have done the church a solid to jump to the head of the line.

It eats me up

I'd really like to post some examples from the dungeons I'm working on, but since many of you guys might be going through the dungeons, it's not a prudent idea.

Miniatures Painting Update

Since I completed all the miniatures I had bought, I have finally gotten around to the box that Pete gave me when he moved back to Texas.  It had a pile of old Grenedier AD&D miniatures from the early 80"s and a selection of "Chainmail" miniatures from the early '00s.  I decided I wasn't going to feel obligation to anything, but only paint what I really wanted to.

I went through and got rid of anything that was broken.  I also got rid of anything that needed to be assembled.  Gluing stuff together is my least favorite part of the process.  It shook out that I kept most of the Grenediers and chucked most of the Chainmails.  

This weekend I painted about 30 of the Grenediers, mostly wizards, adventurers and a few human-sized monsters.   It turns out that I already had copies of 3/4 of these minis, but they are among my favorite figures so I really dug painting them.  One paticular find was a pair of bandits with swords, I have 6 of them already and I have gotten piles and piles of use out of these 6 and getting 2 more was simply awesome (I think I even used one of these for my character Bloody Turpin in the Conan campaign).

I've got another 12 wizards and dwarves to go, then a small bag of bigger monsters, and a pile of skeletons and undead.  I should have all of them done within a month. 

After these are done, the last 3 to go are some special "Gods" miniatures:  Loki, Helen of Troy and Blackbeard the Pirate.   I got these three for free when I ordered something else at some point.  They'd be useful if they weren't almost 1 and a half times the size of my other miniatures.

Off Topic Awesome

I did something today I haven't done in almost 30 years:  build a fire.  We had a pile of sticks in the backyard, the refuse from various storms over the last few months; we also had a Lowe's gift card.  So, we went to Lowes and bought a portable metal fire pit, set it up in the driveway and started burning wood.  We ended up burning about 3/4 of it, baking some potatoes for dinner, and roasting marshmallows for dessert (another thing I haven't done for 30 years).   Pretty cool.

My Ruined Dungeon Design Process

There are many sorts of dungeon.  One sort is a Ruined Dungeon.  These dungeons are dangerous places, interesting to adventurers because the former inhabitants are gone, having left much of their valuable stuff behind.   The classic published example is module B1, In Search of the Unknown.  

I've been working on a few of these lately and I have a process for putting them together.  I make a list of the monsters to be used, divided into three classes:
1) Visitors:  bandits, adventurers, dwarves etc., when placing these monsters you need to have a clear path by which they have entered
2) Squatters:  these are monsters that have made the ruins into their homes.   For example, a goblin shaman and his followers might take up several rooms.   These also must have some route to go out of the dungeon to steal stuff and raid the countryside
3) Varmints:  these are bugs, rats etc, that might have wandered into the dungeon.  I don't really worry about their travel routes, assuming that they can crawl through holes in the walls unusable by humanoids.

The "Visitors" are are part of the adventure that was really common in the old school encounter tables, and the monster/treasure assortments etc., but really have disappeared from the more modern games.  I've had to make up a collection of NPC parties for such encounters (a good exercises to get re-familiar with the rules).   I remember that these encounters were very often the most memorable and exciting ones.