Judges Guild City States

I've had the Judges Guild's "City State of the World Emperor" set for 30 years or more, and also got a reprint copy of "City State of the Invincible Overlord" 8 or 10 years ago. 

They are very peculiar items.   Every single shop, temple, government building, beggar's lair, garrison company, tavern etc., is given its own paragraph of detail.  Every building has one or more NPC stats given for it.   In "Invincible Overlord" the descriptions are organized by street, in "World Emperor" they are organized by type, and a large blank is left for the GM to put a key number to place on the city map.

Here's an example from "Invincible Overlord":

Locks:

Scopgradon:  FTR LE  lvl 5   HtK 18  AC 9, Soc Lvl: 6, Str 10, Int 12, Wis 15 Dex 5, Con 10, Cha 14

Scopgradon is noted for super-strong locks (18/00 to break) selling for 100-600gp.  50cp and 15sp in cash box, 550gp triple-locked chest in room chained to steel post. (Invincible Overlord p6)

You'll notice that the locksmith is a 5th level fighter.  This is far from unusual.  In both city state books every single NPC has a class and level, and while many are first level, most seem not to be. 

The system seems to have been a late stage of Original D&D, just before AD&D first edition came out.  It uses the 5-fold alignment system (LG, LE, N, CG, CE) found in the Holmes' basic D&D and in the AD&D Monster Manual, but surpassed by the 9 alignments of the AD&D 1e PHB.   Most AD&D classes are present, but they were present here and there in OD&D too.

Crowbar And Brick: The Wormpriest (ACKS Class)

Crowbar And Brick: The Wormpriest (ACKS Class)

This fellow's class "The wormpriest" is pretty darn cool.  I'd see them mostly as NPC's, but a cult that worships Purple Worms is just too awesome

First ACKS project done

My first completed project for ACKS is the "Level 0 Henchmen" Deck.   I converted some of the hirelings from Badlands and then expanded the collection to around 60 total level 0 henchmen cards.    The two major towns in the campaign are both Market class III, and so they will have 4d8 level 0 henchmen available each month.   60 seemed to be about right to have a variety show up.

ACKS has a bright line between henchmen and hirelings.   Hirelings (who are available in larger numbers) will never go into a dungeon or on an "adventure."  Only henchmen will.  Also, henchmen all need stats and names, whereas hirelings don't. 

Also, it is comparatively easy to advance level 0 henchmen to level 1.  All they need is to get 100xp  (and what is harder, stay alive).  By the book, most level 0 henchmen become first level fighters, but I think many will go into my custom-made "Lacky" class instead in our game, depending on their general function.

There is a surprising variety of types in the deck.   I made most of the high dexterity guys into archers or crossbowmen (equalling level 0 mercenary soldiers).  Some high strength guys I made into Brute Squad guys (mercenaries with heavy hand-to-hand weapons).   Others I gave shields and spears as generic guard-types.  All of those types I would imagine would level into Fighters.

Other guys are more useful flunky types:  pack-haulers, wagon-masters and torchboys (low strength).  These guys are always needed to take care of the crap work.   I could see them leveling into the Lacky class.

Then there are other types entirely:  cooks, minstrels, heralds, healers (these are especially useful),   The system of proficiencies gives a nice basis for setting up different useful level 0 guys.   I didn't include a large number of craftsmen, since I don't think they would be henchman material, unlikely to want to adventure rather than work on their craft.

Some Sample Names:

Uncle Fudd, Bolt Hammerslam, Wingus, Dingus, Clumsy Ralph, Mister Boarley, Stupid Marco, Krankor I, Krankor II, Krankor III  (I printed out the same card three times when getting it formatted), Greasy Bill, Mad Phillip and  Clark (I would keep my eye on Clark).

Old Logs

I spent a good part of yesterday morning reading through the logs from the Badlands campaign.   I had forgotten so much, like when Nigel used Audible Glamour to play "The Girl from Ipenema" to mask the sound of hideous screaming when the hobgoblins were "unshrunk" inside a very small shed.

I also had forgotten that I was using the Hackmaster monster books to come up with interesting monsters in several of the adventures.   Those volumes do have some really useful stuff in them:  the undead skeletal Tyrannosaurus Rex, for one, all sorts of useful undead creatures in general, and things like Prancing Pigdawgs and carnivorous sheep to help out Orcs.

Intra-party violence was pretty wide-spread too.  But, that was almost completely Marlon's fault.  Not that I'm opposed to it by any stretch of the imagination:  other players can be the most interesting enemies.

So, as far as I'm concerned:

Eat the pennies, Quizboy.  

What Fresh Hell is this?

After being bombarded by requests, I finally got myself properly set up with "Linked-In".  Why did I do this?   What fresh hell have I gotten myself into now?   How does this help me in some way?

Mapping musings

Badlands Map Availablity:

I'd like to get a copy of the Badlands Region and the broader Gatavia province in some sort of electronically available format where everyone could reference it when not sitting in my  basement staring at my wall.   Maybe even just cut down to  8"x11" size so everyone could carry a copy.  Does anyone else have an idea how that might be done?   I suppose the simplest way would be just to do a hand-drawn scaled down version and copy it for everyone and then maybe scan it.   But, the grids on graph paper have a bad habit of not scanning or copying well.


Geomorphic Dungeon Tiles:
The other map-related conundrum I'm undergoing is the plan to make some geomorphic squares for quick, instant dungeons.   I see two options for the geomorphic plan:

Option 1:  every square has 4 exits, 1 per side, all at the 6-7" mark of the side.

The first option means that every square matches up with every square along any side, you can just grab any square at random at any side and smack it down.  This will mean more possible combinations, but a certain monotony of result.

Option 2:  every square has 4 exits.   2 of the sides have 1 exit each at the 6-7" mark,  1 side has 2 exits, at the 4" and 8" marks,  and the last side has no exit.   This gives a less monotonous flow, but you can only connect each square in a limited number of ways.

Memories of a filthy cheat

Thinking about starting ACKS got me remembering the "Melvek Wilds" game, which used the Basic/Expert/Master version of D&D as presented in the "Rules Cyclopedia."  It was way back in 2000, the second or third campaign we played with what eventually became our current "Lords of Hack" group.   It was the first game where Bob joined the crew, and no one else in the current line up was with us.

I had started the group with a fellow from Lancaster, we would alternate between his house and mine (although his house kind of sucked because you had to climb two flights of stairs to get from the game site and the bathroom).

This dude always seemed kind of "lucky", rolling a lot of "20"s to hit.   It was when whe started this campaign that I became definitely sure that he was a compulsive dirty cheat.  I mean all of us have fudged a die roll here and there, it's only natural, but this guy apparently never would roll honestly when cheating would do.

The proof came when he rolled his character for the D&D campaign.   The method was to roll 3d6 in order for the scores.   Well, shut my mouth if he didn't end up with 4 "18's" and 2 "17's".  And then he rolled a character for his wife, and son of diddly she ends up with 4 "18's" too.    How much of psycho or an infant do you have to be to do this with a straight face and then look your fellow players in the eye?   Douche.