Chainmail - Battle of McGuillicuddy's Farm, Fall 46 AD

Sunday, I solo-gamed the small Chainmail scenario that I had planned out last week. Rather than three-peat the play-by-play and questions here, I'll point you to the OD&D Board thread and Knights & Knaves Alehouse thread where I have some specific questions. This post... is a flight of fantasy... a tale of bravery and woe.

It was a bit before dawn on the 13th day of Fall, 46AD and Gilroy squinted off into the distance. A bit of light bobbed and weaved, much like a will-o-wisp of legend. Gilroy spat into the ground and nudged his partner, Vomin. Vomin was a young lad, newly enlisted into the guard. Most landowners and homeowners within the town walls would grudgingly serve their requirement, but Vomin was excited to be doing something to mark his ascent into adulthood. Gilroy didn't begrudge him that, but it was still annoying all the same.

"That's someone with a torch." Vomin said, peering off into the pre-dawn gloom. "He's runnin' awful fast."

Gilroy grunted in response and waited. Soon enough, they heard gasping shouts as the figure approached. 

"Wassat he's sayin?" Gilroy asked.

"I ... I think he's yellin' goblins." Vomin said, a twinge of excited fear in his voice. Gilroy sighed and started to tighten his helmet. He hoped it was nothing more than an excited farmer's nightmare, but deep down, a disquiet grew in his stomach.

Horses neighed and snorted as the knights pulled up before the troops. Most of the Town Guards were red and puffing from the long forced march, while the Keep's soldiers drew deep breaths and drank some water. The bowmen were already stringing their staves and checking their quivers.

William shifted his lance and watched in pride as Marshall Henrick Roehm rode out before the troops and squinted off into the distance. The old warhorse had been out with his knights to do a small patrol when the word came in that goblins, goblins!, had come raiding. The Marshall hadn't blinked an eye, but upon querying the frantic farmer, he rounded up some lances of his cavalry, a few platoons of foot soldiers, collected the Town Guard that had been summoned and immediately marched north. William couldn't remember a time when old Hardtack Henrick hadn't been decisive, although some said he had often gotten into more trouble than he could handle. Rumor had it that his son was soon to be raised in status and leadership within the Keep, a sign that Henrick was relinquishing control due to his age. William hoped it wouldn't be true soon... he trusted the old warhorse more than he could name.

"Alright men! It looks like the goblins are setting themselves up in a line just beyond McGillicuddy's farm. Let's ride forth and see what they're up to. Archers and foot, form a line and follow behind!" Henrick bawled. William turned his horse in line and drew his sword. Today would bring victory, with Henrick in charge!

"Bah! They're moving the archers forward, cowards!" Henrick snarled. "Damnable creatures."

He waved to the cavalry. "We ride through the archers! By the time those green-skins know what hit 'em, we'll be through them and can trap the others between! Then we'll get on down the road. I know what those cowards are after, our harvest!"

Gilroy watched the horsemen line up and begin to ride as the lieutenants and sergeants bawled their commands and got the foot and archers moving up behind. He watched Henrick wave his lance and everyone cheered them on. As they advanced the archers fired volleys of arrows over the cavalry's charge to pepper the goblins. The knot in his stomach tightened further as the missiles didn't seem to have much effect...

William couldn't believe his eyes! The goblins had moved more troops from behind the woods and they were bearing down on their right. Even more unbelievable, the goblin archers were tossing down their bows and reaching for their swords rather than retreat from the charge! Henrick was to his right and yelling at his knights to ware the flank, but they were already among the archers and lances and swords were flashing as man and bestial fought.

Goblin blood sprayed in the air as the horsemen pushed their way into the archer's lines. William stole a glance to his right and watched as Henrick's knights tried to halt their charge and face the flanking danger. Then...

Three goblins jumped at Henrick from the side and one plunged his sword into the old man's neck as the other two pulled him off his horse. His knights milled in confusion as the goblin foot soldiers beat them to the side and rear and more men fell as horses died and goblin blades drank human blood....

The cavalry finally halted their charge some twenty to thirty yards behind the now destroyed line of archers. Some fled away, broken by the advance, but the spirit had broken much harder for the Enonians. The goblins were cheering and hooting... and they were advancing!  

"Back at 'em!" called out one of the cavalry lieutenants. "For the Marshall!" William wheeled his horse around and gripped his lance tightly as the horsemen advanced towards the jeering foot. With a crash, the two lines hit each other. The last thing William saw were two goblin blades coming from either side of his horse...

"They're all dead! I don't see the horses anymore!" Vomin cried out. Gilroy nodded grimly. 

"Keep your eyes to the front, boy! Those goblins advancing on us only care if we're dead... and we don't want to end up on a goblin's spear!" 

The two lines crashed together as Enonian footmen hewed at the goblins who stabbed and gibbered as they thrust their blades at the troops. Men screamed and fell and slowly the Enonians were pushed back till they retreated.

Gilroy wiped goblin blood from his face as the sergeants pulled the men back in line to face the advancing goblins. "Stand ready!" they called out urgently. Beside Gilroy, arrows flew as the archers desperately tried to hold the goblins off, but again, few fell and then the goblins were among them.

Gilroy was sporting a deep gash in his arm from a goblin blade. Vomin seemed none the worse for wear but he was clearly frightened. Around them, the battle seemed to go well, but men were falling, much too fast. Already, the humans were starting to pull back, but the goblins seemed to be doing the same. Then, several goblins advanced towards them. More and more men were starting pull back from the goblins onslaught. Gilroy saw that they were about to be cut off.

"Get going!" he said as he shoved Vomin towards the retreating men. "I'll hold them off!"

Vomin's grateful glance heartened Gilroy and Gilroy's grim look burned itself into Vomin's memory.

There's too many of them! The Marshall's dead! Retreat! Get back to the city!" screamed a bloody lieutenant, his nerve broken. The few men remaining from the foot soldiers began to flee, their resolve having fled. Vomin started to run with them, casting glances backwards in vain attempts to see if Gilroy was among them... but he never saw Gilroy again.

---

History records that on the thirteenth day of Fall, 46 AD, the goblins launched a successful raid of a particular rich harvest. A diversionary force had been sent towards Enonia while the remainder of the goblins plundered the grain stores and livestock to be carried back to their dens within the Dark Woods. Unfortunately for Enonia, Marshall Henrick Roehm was killed in the Battle at McGillicuddy's Farm, where Enonian forces responding to the attack encountered the diversionary force.

The knights were virtually wiped out, with only a couple of nobles surviving, and the cavalry was lost as an effective unit. The Town Guard and Keep footmen, losing their nerve at so many of their fellows dying, as well as shock over their Marshall's death, fled the battle alongside the archers. The goblins never attacked the city itself, but the loss of grain and cattle caused a great deal of privation in the ensuing harsh winter. Victor Roehm, Henrick's eldest son, assumed the title of Marshall, but some say he never was able to get over the death of his father.

Tids and bits

- As of the 3/13 AD&D Dark Ages game this past Sunday, we've reached the 50 game milestone. That's pretty damn cool! If I were a more prepared DM, I'd have some compiled statistics and trivia, but all I got is me trying to prep for the Garycon game. If I do have a dwarf visit from another realm, it's going to be epic... the last dwarf was seen about 257 years ago by elves. Visiting characters from other campaigns though... very cool!

- The online game keeps rolling and I may have a new player. Welcome Slatz! Good luck and don't pick up any dolls. :) You might also just start cursing Kellri right now, all my other players are. It seems to rain A LOT in Skalfier. For some reason, the players blame his CDD#4...

- I started painting my Sumerian DBA I/1a army last night and realized what all shiny-new army painting n00bs realize... this shit is hard! And I was just working on the flesh areas. This is not as easy as slopping together 18 or 25 orcs...

- Been ruminating about how I'll be incorporating a megadungeon into my campaign and realized this is going to be tricky with an already skittish bunch of folks who saw a high level (for my campaign) PC die and another fall the next game. The players are convincing themselves that they're not ready for what lies to the East, although I think this is more the first time they've really struggled. The world has presented them an opportunity and while I'm not going to push them there, they've opened Pandora's Box. I'm now walking a fine line between coming off as some sort of "you must follow my plot!" DM and presenting the consequences of their actions.

"Do you hear that sound, Mr. Anderson? That's the sound of inevitability..." - Agent Smith, The Matrix


Yea. Tricky. I know how I'll navigate it (without giving anything away to the players that read this blog. *waves* Hi there!) but it's gonna be tricky. You ever run into that?

Have a great weekend!

Interest in playing Dark Ages AD&D at GaryCon?

(UPDATE 3/16 - Confirmed/Maybe count is at the end of the post.)
(UPDATE 3/21 - added links to wiki, chargen/houserules and player handout that covers the basics)

GaryCon is coming in less than two weeks (Mar 25th to 27th) and judging by how the weather is shaping up, there's a good chance I can hop on the Harley and have a nice ride up to Lake Geneva for a Saturday day of gaming. One of the hallmarks of GaryCon is the huge number of open gaming tables and pickup games - it was only last year (GaryCon II) that they started doing events and event registration.

If there's interest in exploring a bit of my Dark Ages world, I'd be more than happy to lug the campaign binder and minis up for the event. If not, I'm fine with that as well, I'm hoping to get into some great games and have a good time and meet a lot of great RPG'ers.

If you're interested, just leave me a comment. If I get 4 to 8 players, I'll definitely plan on it. Say about a 4 hour scenario? Please note that this would take place "in-situ" in the campaign world as it exists right now and anything that is done will be canon and affect the ongoing tabletop game. I'll also be happy to look at people who want to bring their AD&D/1e (and OSRIC) characters from other campaigns to visit. Levels can range from 1st to 4th level and we can judge on magic items and other devices brought into my world.

Locations available:
1. A troll mage is rumored to live under the bridge on the road from Enonia (the PC Home Base) to the fabled/lost city of Irecia. It has claimed the lives of many adventurers and rumors hint it may also be opposed to the marauding orcs who've begun to threaten Enonia.

2. Dark rumors have been heard now and again about a sacred druid's temple or tomb somewhere to the north of the old Enonia Wayfarer's Inn. Of course, that's goblin-infested territory, and with the goblins now outright attacking Enonia, it's sure to be a contested journey.

3. The Dale Woods have not been explored since the Doom of Man fell 57 years ago. A generation of hunters and locals have begun to die out, making the area one of mystery and rumor. It is said a dragon lurks in the woods, as well as a "Crystal Lake". Nobody knows for sure, but now that a mysterious mage's tower has arisen from the Dale Woods, some say it's time for exploring. Who knows what could be found... or what local tales may lead to riches.

Let me just say that I'm somewhat intimidated by making this offer, knowing the high caliber of DMs and games that will be running at GC. It would be an honor to have people there play in my world, which is why I'm making the offer. So we'll see what happens...

UPDATE: Player list -

Confirmed:
1. Delve Lord
2. Friend of DL
3. Friend of DL

Maybe:
1. Mr. Zed
2. grodog
3. Jon K.
4. Charley
5. Druvas (GC Forum)
6. Tron (GC Forum)
7. Totan (GC Forum)
8. Smokin (GC Forum - maybe w/char)

UPDATE #2: Links
Player Handout - brief summary of my campaign
Campaign Chargen/Houserules
Campaign Wiki - has a lot of information and adventure logs

AD&D/OSRIC campaign - Requiem for a warrior/mage

I had a post set up musing about charm person but events at last night's game are worthy of note. Last night, one of the more powerful characters, Teela the elven fighter/mage, played by Bryan N. fell.

The party crept into the strange room, populated by a large metal table and chairs. A very thick layer of dust covered the furniture, but strange ridges in a pattern could be seen in the dust covering, as if the table bore some strange symbols in its surface. At one corner of the table, the dust appeared disturbed, as if someone long ago had push it aside, the covering here was much lighter. The chairs around this area were lying on their backs, pushed away in a haphazard manner. 


The party was exploring an area of the Dwarf mines, searching again for the "Hall of Records" to find treasure. Their other paths had not been fruitful and they found themselves winding through rooms with corroded, rusting metal shelves and debris, gear-works and strange pipes.

Rhys, the ranger, moved over to the eastern wall to cover the other exit. Dargellon, the ranger, stayed close to Teela, peering at the table while Talos, the druid, hung back at the south entrance to the room. Teela looked at the disturbed dust and confidently swiped her arm over the table and strange symbols, which revealed themselves to be part of a map! 


"Look!" she said excitedly. "It's a map with ancient Dwarf symbols wri...." and then the dust "exploded" with a burst of yellow spores, filling the corner of the room her and Dargellon stood in!


Yea... Yellow Mold. This is the same Yellow Mold trap, in the same room, on the same table, that claimed a character almost two years ago.  Bryan's character moved the dust, the 50% chance of spores popping hit and then the dice rolled for saving throws. Both players opted to invoke the d30 rule to give themselves higher chances of rolling their saves.

Dargellon coughed and gasped, stumbling away from the cloud of spores as both Rhys and Talos shouted in horror at the sight. Dargellon hacked and spat phlegm a few times and stood up, his face pale. 


"I'm OK." he gasped. Then they both turned to look at Teela, who was lying on the floor next to the table. Her breath wheezed in gasps as she clawed at her throat and chest. The spores were settling down, but Teela's fate was already sealed.


Bryan needed to roll a 13 on the d30, he rolled a 7. The stunned looks on everyone's face, including mine, and even the store owner, who had been watching us play, told the tale. Teela was dead from poison. After 11 sessions over 14 months, gaining 10,354 XP, the third level fighter/third level mage was brought down. It was a pretty heavy moment and the mood grew extremely somber.

I gave Teela 6 turns to do as she wanted, I left it up to Bryan. Bryan plays another character, Jorann the cleric, and he willed most of his wealth and possessions to Jorann, which I allowed. Bryan has run both characters faithfully especially for moments where he might lose one. He's been cooperative in not linking the two as mules or trying to exploit them once we figured out how playing two characters worked best in my campaign. Teela had become a somewhat mysterious, but visible figure in the town of Enonia - becoming friends with the only NPC mage in town and serving as a type of informal ambassador for the Elven nation. She had faced terrible monsters, seen the effects of Chaos under the abandoned monastery of St. Eggyx and helped to explore the wild lands east of Enonia. This was someone that Bryan had put 14 months into, and it required consideration, respect and some understanding.

"Please give these to Jorann... and take what you need. I am almost gone." Teela gasped as her party members lay her gently on the ground. They had trekked as quick as they could to escape the mines, but civilization and help was just too far away. Her companions looked shocked and bereft and the two hirelings Aldred and Killas stood quietly in respect. 


The end was quick and merciful and Dargellon swore to take her to Jorann and pass word to the elves so that her family could bear her away.


Bryan stayed in the game as one of the hirelings and he had a good nature about it. Bryan and I had to come to an understanding early on of how things worked. Bryan's a good player, he knows the rules, he is skilled at many things and most importantly, he understands the fairness and risks of the game. He was disappointed, but he was a good sport. We all were sympathetic. It was hard for Bryan to shift out of "Teela" mode, and we all joked that somehow Teela had gotten into "Killa's head" as Killas suddenly seemed to know a great deal about the mines, similar to how Teela had known.

It was a shock, to see a powerful character like Teela be brought down by lowly Yellow Mold, but that's the game. The remaining party made sure to burn the mold and pushed on, facing an undead shadow which they killed with fire and the use of the druidic shillelagh spell. They pushed on to places dark and deep, but the Hall of Records eluded them and they were forced to turn back.

Silently, the party made their way back to Enonia. Their grim visages warned the usually inquisitive guards away, who watched in a bit of awe as the returning adventurers bore Teela's body between them. They made their way to the humble church of Tangorin where a distraught Jorann ushered them in. Slowly, the rumors started spreading that one of the mightiest of of the strange adventurers of Enonia had fallen in the deadly Dwarf mines.


Farewell, Teela. You were fun to have in my game and you will be missed.

AD&D/OSRIC campaign - Player's recap

Following yesterday's post, one of my players posted a recap from his character's POV. I really wanted to share it. For him, Sunday's AD&D adventure included:

• Winged kobolds that spit poison - I've been waiting for awhile to pull these guys out of the bestiary.
  
• A 3 to 1 monster/human ratio, at over 90 monsters in a little hamlet, we were in skirmish territory. I brought a lot of d20s. As soon as the players heard the NPC reveal what was going on, you could hear the needle scratching on the record as the players' initial plan went south in a hurry.
  
• Orcs riding warhorses and riding down players. The ranger took 15 points from one charge which got everyone's attention in a hurry. In this case, the treasure from the adventure wasn't gold, it was light warhorses. At 200+ gold a pop, and the ability to charge into battle and stay mounted, this was real profit.
  
• Orc shamen performing evil rituals by ripping the hearts out of human prisoners... and I managed to make the players all say some version of "yuck!" (@thePrincessWife jokingly asked me "What is WRONG with  you?!?" to which I replied "Hey, YOU married me...")
  
  The Orc Shamen from Otherworld Miniatures made an appearance, complete with heart and blood spattered arm/blood dripping from the heart. That picture is coming in a couple of days.
  
• The funniest wandering monster result I've had to make in a long time. I rolled a hit for an encounter on the day the players were going to ambush the goblins to free the human slaves. It was my not-zombie-but-zombie-like monsters - the Damned. Well, howinthehell do I work this out? While the players are figuring out their ambush, I'm rolling dice like mad to figure it out - do the PCs encounter them before or after the ambush (3 in 6), do the PCs find them or are they active, etc.... and it ends up that one of the hirelings sat on the grass-covered Damned in their somnolent slumber. Imagine a poor hireling sitting down in garbage disposal... that's about what it was like. The groans heard 'round the table as I pulled out the zombie miniatures was funny though...

AD&D/OSRIC campaign - Happiness is...

... surveying the wreckage that the PCs have caused over the campaign setting and enjoying the glorious chaos that will ensue as the world reacts.

... watching a miracle missile attack succeed with a natural 20 and derail the villians' plans.

... sacrificing a favorite NPC to save a PC and seeing real emotion from the players as "a short female scream is heard... then cut off and silence."

... watching half your monsters cut down by a well executed ambush and contemplating the screamings and cryings when you (the DM) pull off that same tactic in the future.

... hearing players say "Wow, that was an awesome/amazing/fun/crazy game!" as they pack up to leave.

I'm exhausted, mentally, from the game yesterday, so this is the extent of posting today. I'm going to be busy this week finishing up my tweaks and prep for the Classic D&D Marathon this coming Saturday (11am to 9pm at Unique Gifts & Games, Grayslake IL) using the X1 Isle of Dread module. Don't be surprised if you see Morrowind influences here... something about both module and setting go together like peanut butter and chocolate.

But man... what a cool game. Nothing like doing a warhorse charge on the players. Good thing the hirelings weren't there.. immediate morale check. Oh yea...

No game tonight - but here's a free AD&D/OSRIC tool

... thanks to this miserable cold. I've had two this year already and I'm really ^@#$@#$%#@!!! done with the cold season, thankyouverymuch. I hate cancelling games, but as I told my players, if I can't give 100%, I won't waste my time or their's. Nor do I want to get anyone sick with this crap...

There is quite a bit of planning going on the campaign email list, much of it centering around coming up with a strike force to attack a slaver town. A couple of games ago, my players were exploring the plains between Enonia (their home base) and Irecia (the abandoned city that everyone wants to get back to) and they stumbled onto a hamlet that seemed to be occupied by orcs and goblins! They were about to mount an attack when a mysterious figure rose out of the ground in a gilly suit - it was the former mercenary Anya! She seems quite off her rocker now, but she's waging a one-crazy-woman campaign against the orcs, leaving heads on spikes all over the place. She let the players know how overmatched they were, as the force was at least 30 orcs/goblins but that they met at the location approximately every 30 days or so.

Now the effort is to raise a force to strike at the orcs and the players are discovering that things are expensive. It's not like hiring a two or three zero-level meatshields for a jaunt to the old dungeon, no, this requires planning, it requires expert hirelings and it requires gold. Lots of it.

One of my Dark Ages campaign players, Tyson, made a spreadsheet for figuring out how much a force would cost. I made a copy of it and updated it against the OSRIC/tables. It's AD&D compatible. It's a Google Spreadsheet (AD&D/OSRIC Army Calculator) and the only thing it lacks is a lookup dropdown list - if you want to use it, you're more than welcome. I'm not sure if you have to copy/paste to your own document or if you can save your own copy, but by all means, go for it! You will have to unhide the data to update for your own campaign prices, but it should be fairly straightforward. The prices are all in silver (as OSRIC listed silver for the wage) and the wages are on a monthly basis.

Here are the valid names to put in the cyan column header in order to populate the calculator. If you need to expand the number of calculated columns, don't insert a column, move stuff over. The columns under the grid are the data for calculating all those numbers.

Archer, Longbow; Archer, Mounted; Archer, Shortbow; Crossbowman; Footman, Heavy; Footman, Light; Footman, Hvy Mount; Footman, Light Mount; Horseman, Heavy; Horseman, Light; Horseman, Medium; Pikeman; Slinger

Sgt, Longbow; Sgt, Archer Mount; Sgt, Shortbow; Sgt, Crossbowman; Sgt, Hvy Foot; Sgt, Light Foot; Sgt, Hvy Foot Mount; Sgt, Light Foot Mount; Sgt, Hvy Horse; Sgt, Light Horse; Sgt, Med Horse; Sgt, Pikeman; Sgt, Slinger

(To create lieutenants or captains, simply replace Sgt w/ Lt or Capt)

Some assumptions - Sgts are first level, Lts are 2nd level, Captains are 5th level. Although it's not automatic, my metric is a Sgt for 5 to 10 men, a Lt for every 10 men, a Capt for every 20 men.

Enjoy!

A few bits...

In lieu of a real blog post, I'm going to post a few links.

Dark Ages Elves - my online Google game has encountered some elves on a pilgrimage to their home base of Skalfier. So I've been busy fleshing out more details on elves. It's interesting how sometimes the online game pushes me, then the tabletop does and so on.

The different thing about my elves is that they're more human than most D&D games allow for. Think of Norsemen sailors that are shorter than humans. Or think of the iconic OD&D elf picture to the left there. Those are my elves. I've never quibbled about the ears thing, but I've never seen elves as almond-eyed, pointy-eared in my campaign. I've mostly let the players go about elves as they typically seen them. As I'm maturing into my campaign and growing comfortable in how to articulate (and document) these little tidbits, I'm stressing them more and more.

Solo Game - Blade of Runes - @thePrincessWife finally freed herself of the influence of the "Fancy Blade" and now she has a nice shiny Blade of Runes. If you own "Wrath of the Minotaur", you can look up the stats on it - it's a nice little blade! We're still trying to get some peace and quiet time when neither of us is exhausted to try and finish the Tomb of Alaxus. In speaking of the solo game, I've also codified the Combat - Fighting Man attacks houserule and the Combat - Fighting Man Cleave houserule. Nice additions for her to survive better in a solo game, maybe you'll find them useful.

Oh yea, and one other thing - the Classic D&D Marathon is coming up in 11 days! This means that 1) It's time to officially PANIC [haha] and 2) it's time to repimp the game. This year, it's at Unique Gifts & Games in Grayslake. I know 4 people have RSVP'd on the meetup group and the owner tells me he has some signups. Whether I have partial or full table, there will be a lot of fun to be had! I'm running X1 - Isle of Dread with some quirks and twists... no telling if Dragon Turtles will be seen or not... muahahaha...

Followup on "Revisiting Alignment"

Inspiration comes from  unexpected places.

I have a slight confession to make. I'm very much the tinkerer, but I also have this odd habit of avoiding sources of inspiration from other people's games. I've taken some great rules (d30, Shields Shall Be Splintered!, Philotomy's Combat) but for the most part, I tend to be Mr. Homebrew/Homegrown. So I'll download and read a lot of great stuff, but I don't lift it as-is.

So while I posted my thoughts Monday on alignment, I still wasn't entirely happy. I didn't like the thought that to the players, this all would still be arbitrary and I still was missing "something". Then Rob Conley laid a comment on me:

For clerics and paladins (myrmidons and the other crazy stuff I use in MW) I spell out what the creed and exceptions are in my one page handout. Players taking those classes catch on pretty quick to how things work.
...
However it is import to have some type of culture/society. Even if it the default merrie olde england fantasy kingdom. This give context to the player in which to make moral decisions.

That sound of "click click BOOM" was the gears in my head sliding into place. Pretty much every religion has it's expectations and limitations - so write them down and codify them. Make the players figure out how to follow the Light, but with something to anchor on, they can figure it out and explore it themselves. It gives me the yardstick to measure their actions.

BTW, reading Majestic Wilderness was a treat to jogging the brain cells. Get it. No really, it's worth it, just for some seeds. I know all 137(x2) of you already know that but hey...

So this is what I came up with for "the Light" and sent to my players as a starting point for discussion:

The Tenents of the Light

• Protect your fellow human against the forces of darkness, but do not let the acts of Chaos and Darkness become your weapon of protection.
• Show mercy for the weak and unprotected, but show no mercy to the forces of Darkness and Chaos that threaten our great civilization.
• Truth shall be the beacon of Light that clears the darkness from our souls and brings us back to our rightful place. Be truthful and honest in all that you do.
• Stand forth and show no fear, lead your fellow humans to work together to overcome all that is lost.
• The Holy Priests, Champions and the King are the flames of the Light that shine in the darkness. Follow them and their orders. Without their orders, Chaos will darken the world.

Simple and direct, but gives my clerics something to hang their hat on. I've also started talking to clerics of the "old gods" (Jorann who worships Tangorin, and Kjeld who worships Vanir).

Edited 2/10 to add:
Here's a link to the campaign wiki's description on Tangadorin - one of the Judges Guild "Unknown Gods" entries that a player of mine uses as his cleric character's deity. The creed/rules for Tangadorin are there. The player helped me to come up with some of these.

This is why the d30 rocks...

“... Still more Goblins poured forth. Irem and Mazlor took grave wounds and a score of Goblins converged on our four man front, threatening to drive them back into the river! Then, to our horror, the great Goblin shaman and his elite guard emerged from the tunnels. Our forces were split, our front line crumbling and our most powerful adversaries had now just entered the fray.

The situation was dire. Then, when things looked darkest, a brilliant flash of light erupted from Treen and streaked across the cavern, striking the Goblin Shaman. The Shamans head turned to pulp, like a rotten tomato under hammer and he fell to the floor lifeless and twitching.”

This is a completely awesome adventure recap from a player's POV. Man, I want to play in this game! Oh wait...

Heh. It was a fun Sunday.

26 goblins + one shaman vs. a party of 8 PCs + 7 hirelings. I'm running the goblins like the slimy bastards that they are, pinning the players down with crossbow teams and the goblins charging the ford to cut off the attack. The players were unloading spells left and right.

Then... the Goblin shaman comes out and the player of Treen invokes the d30 rule and wastes the shaman with a single magic missile that somehow delivered 17 hit points of damage. Blam! One d12 = 12 roll later and there are now 12 surrendered goblins (4 were KIA, 10 magically sleeping) keening a lament over their fallen leader and the fact that they will "never reach perfection" from "the Master."

Talk about awesoming up the players. Now they have a new pretty wand and some very evil looking arm wraps with bits of a strange ebony rock embedded within to play with.

Revisiting alignment

Quick recap on my opinion on alignment. I'm ambivalent towards alignment. I use a form of Jeff Rient's "Ragnorak" explanation of Law vs. Chaos with the opinion that most of us probably lean towards Neutral. For the first two years of my AD&D campaign, I've kept alignment out of focus because there was no need. For my game, alignment's not important.

Except when it is.

Clerics are a good class to be in. You advance quick, you have decent HD (d6) and you get the best of both worlds - spell-casting and fighting. You can use all armors, there's no real disadvantage to blade vs. blunt and you can be assured of at least one chance at saving your own ass - Cure Light Wounds. You have access to ALL your level spells (assuming you're not a DM like me that makes the clerics go ask the gods for 3rd level and above spells...) unlike the poor mage that has to collect/amass libraries.

So where' the catch? Ah, you're subordinate to a deity(ies)/religion that might have its own agenda. Membership has its privileges and responsibilities.

I have two clerics of "the Light" that are 4th level. In OD&D terms, they're "heroes" and they are starting to gain a reputation of their own. (It also helps to have an annoying hireling who runs around proclaiming the grand stories of the "Mighty Mazlor" and "Amazing Alana"! The other players are cracking up now everytime "Isty" is hired to come along.) So they are cranking along... except now I'm starting to show them a new side to being a cleric... being responsible TO your ideals.

The Light is "lawful" in that it has rules, structure and believes in a code of conduct and morality. The good of mankind, the benefit of all, we're all in this together, kumbayah. No, really. It has a hierarchy but it also has people at the grassroots who really do believe and are trying to do the best they can. The people want to have some hope and after the Doom, "the Light" became the official religion of the Kingdom.

So now Mazlor and Alana are more than just joe-priests running around exploring dungeons and getting rich. The actions they do have consequences. The choices they make will affect more than just the party. The hirelings look to them (as they do the other 4th and above level players) as heroes, as bigger than life and they watch what they do. So do the deities. They're not high priests, but the choices they make can and will affect them.

So if the characters do something that I as the deity in question would not like, the clerics will face consequences. At this point, it was the "light" not giving Mazlor a 2nd level spell back for a couple of days. He'd not stood up to what was (in "the Light"'s opinion) a chaotic/evil act and so there was a small consequence.

Alignment won't be a huge DM hammer. It'll be reactive, but there will be reminders. This gave the players on Sunday a stage to really have a discussion on what was right (from their character's POV) and they thought hard about it and RP'ed it pretty good. I only asked "clerics, how do you feel about this" and now Mazlor/Alana are giving thought to actions - as they should be! They are heroes of the Light, they should be promoting what the Light is about. Benefits have costs.

It's still a fine wire and I want to avoid what Mazlor's player spelled out:

"But trying to restrict/penalize player actions very easily and frequently slips over the line into rigid stereotypes and/or a DM trying to dictate values.
So far, I haven’t had problems with feeling handcuffed or being pigeonholed, but I’m a little bit apprehensive and I hope whatever you’re planning involving alignment isn’t going to change that.
For example, I liked how Phalleum and Averin have both served as heads of the local Temple of Light, but were totally different people with very different attitudes and philosophies towards the Marshall, other religions, etc.

Trust me, buddy, neither do I. I won't stop players from doing things, nor do I have a "code of conduct/values" that everyone has to follow. If Mazlor wants to tie up helpless prisoners and brain them, I'm not going to stop him. If "the Light" disagrees with his actions/choices, he'll find out. If he goes over to the Dark Side, well, that's awesome as well and I'll have no problem with helping him adjust to his new world - but it will be his choices and his decisions, not mine. I won't use alignment as a limit, but I will use it as a consequence or reaction.

That seems to fit well with me and it's something I'm going to continue to explore gently.

In the minority...

Hello all! I survived the Great Chicago Blizzard of 2011, although I made myself very sick by too much exertion at the snow removal. I was already with a cold and I pushed myself too hard. Go figure, me do that? Heh.

Anyway, back for a moment and I wanted to mention something that's an unexpected item that I have to take care of due to the nature of my campaign being "drop in/drop out" ... player/character maintenance.

Judging from a recent thread I participated in on K&KA, I'm apparently in the minority when it comes to gaming. Most of the people I chatted with seem to game with mainly an already established group of social friends, and that doesn't lead to much new blood? Me? I have had close to 30 people participate in the campaign since it started two years ago. About half of those stay in touch or continue to game, most have been onsie-twosies. That's OK! That was something I brought into the West Marches game and while it has given me grief a couple of times (in the form of players who didn't match the social/campaign style/flow that we have going) on the whole it's been a positive, rewarding thing.

Still, I'm in the unusual position today of "doing maintenance" in the form of contacting long silent players to see if they ever plan on returning or if I should retire their characters. I've already heard back from a couple, which is a nice surprise - it's always nice to hear from the original players who've had to break away for life reasons. It's probably something that is particular to my style of campaign - the people with established gamer/social circles probably don't have to do this.

Another thing that I seem to be in the minority of, when it comes to "old/original gaming" is using email to conduct business or "in between games" activities. I do have a limit on what I can do/accomplish between games, usually subject to my ever-shrinking amount of free-time. I usually also limit this to transactional type of things or the results of stuff done off-table, like making scrolls, carousing, etc. To me, if I can limit the amount of "paperwork" like activities on game day, it's a benefit. And sometimes we have some great discussions/RP via email. Maybe it's because I'm comfortable with the medium, or maybe it's an aspect that my campaign group isn't a social friends group, although there are some overlaps between the two?

A couple of quick minis notes...

- Painting with a Winsor/Newton Series 7 brush is like moving from a demolition derby car to a NASCAR Sprint Cup series Late Model. Holy crap! I may have made the vast majority of my other brushes obsolete!

- JB Weld is going to become my friend. I love Otherworlds Miniatures, but some of the figures are decidedly difficult to pin/glue and one particular arm on one particular skeleton is giving me fits. I'm up to attempt #5.

- I also attempted serious sculpting with green stuff by making an orc shield! We'll see how it goes, I had to make the hand as well. It's going on one of the Otherworlds pig-nosed orcs, so I'm feeling "meh" about doing such a radical modification. If it works, I'm going to be thrilled!

January Minis Painting recap

I'm going to start doing my minis recaps/picture posts as monthly updates, we'll see how this works.

I started the month with 103 minis primed/unpainted.

I added 104 miniatures this month:

• 2 Mega-Minis cockatrices
• Mega-Minis ghost
• Mega-Minis Guthrie Druid
• 3 Mega-Minis dogs: bull terrier, Scottish terrier, German Shepard
• 2 unnamed Reaper monsters (Dark Ages campaign-specific)
• 92 HäT Sumerian infantry (1/72 DBA Army)
• 3 HäT Sumerian chariots (1/72 DBA Army - 12 donkeys, 6 figures, 3 war wagons)

I ended the month with 168 miniatures primed/unpainted.

AD&D/OSRIC campaign - this is why he plays

Awhile ago, my players stumbled onto a treasure map in the form of a letter, indicating a great treasure was in a particular place. It took a little while, but my players finally returned to attempting to find the location.. and what they found totally thrilled one of my players who plays a cleric of Tangorin. (Tangorin is based off of the god Tangadorin from the old JG "Unknown Gods" supplement.)

I've had this place set up for awhile, but without a real story behind aside from a cryptic entry in my hex map notes. This is the best part of "just in time" DM'ing and sandbox creation. Here's a location, now plug a story around it. You've got cockatrices, a treasure map and a temple to a forgotten god nearby. The story practically wrote itself and the result on my treasure generation just fit to a T. Taichara's Little Treasures finished it off, as I got this result from her table: "A cultic text: furled hundred-page scroll of golden parchment, inked in black and crimson and mounted on crystal rods."

And thus the players now had a meaningful purpose to the treasure map and since it was near a recently discovered sacred site for my player's god...

Long ago, when Tangorin's Tower of Light was erected, his most highest and fervent of priests (who had just about bankrupted himself in erecting this strange edifice that most called "folly" as it was stone/metal but mostly of glass) journeyed with a few faithful to fill the tower with the treasures of Tangorin as well as his most holy words, enscribed on golden parchment, with crystal rod ends. Unfortunately, this unknown priest never made it to the tower and it remained empty (some said haunted) until it was long forgotten after the Doom. Forgotten... until someone stumbled onto a treasure map, had a vision and then quested to rediscover the holy text.

Jorann's player was almost beside himself when the chest from the cockatrice lair was opened and gave up all claims to other treasure  in exchange for the magic mace and text of Tangorin. (which was about the equivalent of about 4,750 gold pieces. It was a huge haul, representing the wealth of this dude. Imagine a lonely guy, not quite like a cult leader, but definitely on the fringe, investing all his wealth into this tower, then journeying with the last of his belongings... anyway, you get the idea. Sad ending. Cha-ching for the players.)

You'll see her when she kills you.

It was a fun game, full of divebombing cockatrices (my first time using Aerial combat rules), five of the six players wanting to strangle the last one due to some unscripted combat, the "Mighty Mazlor" being smacked on the back of the head by his religion for overlooking a Chaotic act (the Light wouldn't give him his forgotten spell for a couple of days... alignment post coming later this week!), death-from-above large spiders, and a half-crazed woman commando who is on a mission to rid the world of all orcs, one severed head at a time.

It was one of those games. Totally awesome!

AD&D/OSRIC campaign - many books, many meaningful options

Last night was the forty fifth (45) session of my AD&D campaign "The Dark Ages." This party continued on their explorations of the deep Dwarf Mines that had been discovered. These mines are "Moria-like" in their vastness - roughly a half-mile between main junctions. The party had one member knocked below 0, rendering him incapable of combat for the rest of the game, and a ranger that kept getting whacked by dice and monsters, but somehow managed to survive. Surprisingly, all of the hirelings lived. There was a lot of laughter about that!

First, a picture:

Yes, there are three OSRIC books at the table - my hardback and two softcover prints. My apologies for the bad cell phone pic. When I spoke about the availability of AD&D 1e books to this group, I got the impression that OSRIC was just considered "easier" to get? Maybe that's my own impression, but I may invest in a couple of 1e PHBs to pass along. Still, we end up using the OSRIC books as much as the PHBs. It makes me smile, though, to see the pace-setter for the retroclones steadily chugging along. Many of the other clones get more press, but OSRIC seems to have amassed quite a bit of traction under the radar. If one of the more vocal "OSR" publishers got behind it in a major way, I wonder what would happen?

A couple of notes from the game:

Guys?!? Help! They're eating me!

A way to make your  sub 1HD or 1HD small insect or invertebrate creatures a lot tougher? Have them in a swarm. Take your basic centipede. Depending on the D&D you play, or how you implement your 'pede, it probably does minimal damage by itself and is 1 or 2hp and has a weak, non-lethal poison. Not so tough!

However, put them in a swarm (for purposes of movement and grouped together to attack the same target) but have them attack individually, and take damage individually, and you could have 6 to 10 small creatures suddenly acting like one big tough one. 1 centipede attacking ain't nothing. 8 to 10 attacking at the same time... one target and now you're rolling lots of d20s at once and players are turning various shades of green and blue. My worm swarm last night chewed through one guy and took aim at another before two quaking hirelings chucked oil and torch (thank you Dr. Holmes, for the nice oil rule) at the cluster, burning them up. (The swarm can cut both ways, I ruled that the oil and subsequent burning applied to the entire swarm.)

"Make your player's meaning choices have meaningful results." That has been one of my personal implementation issues with sandbox campaigns. The players are free to do as they like, including chasing their own tails and never finding anything meaningful in their trips. This can dissuade them from continuing on, if they are the type of player who is after a quick hit. So while I will not spoon feed a guaranteed ending, I will also make sure that the major choices, the destinations and the things they seek, have the possibility of meaningful results, especially over a period of time.

My Dwarf mines are based in part on ICE's implementation of their MERP "Moria" supplement. It's a fascinating book about how to run Khazad-dûm and I've used it for generating my Dwarf mines. It is completely random, I have an organized one-pager that allows me to quickly determine what they'll find and it's contents and then my own improv on the area they are exploring. To that end, though, I sprinkled some meaningful results that they could find randomly (or perhaps follow clues they may find...) so that in the end, their choice to explore what is a random dungeon does have some odds of finding something.

They hit that last night with a wandering monster encounter. The party holed up in what appeared to be a 40 foot tall tower in the mines. In the middle of the night, they awoke to soft whispers and someone trying to enter the tower - and they were speaking in Elf! They ended up being the only survivors of the elf encampment that had been utterly wiped out by orcs a couple of weeks earlier. Definitely meaningful - they had been lost in the mines for weeks, barely surviving and starving to death. Now the players are not only heroes for rescuing the elves, they also gained some valuable information on the mines.

I won't spoon-feed results, but the results are there and I'm doing a better job of ensuring that. I probably walk a fine line between Alexis's uber-realistic-uncaring world and the more standard fantasy hero game. I'm never 100% comfortable one way or the other, which is probably a good thing.

Line of the game, by Mazlor (played by David): "Bet you 5 gp you won't eat them!" - said as Talos, the druid, opened a door and a swarm of worms with humanoid faces greeted him.

(edited to clarify what I meant by "swarming")

DM Failure (long, freakin' long post)

I've been writing and rewriting this post for about two weeks now, and I'm hoping that I can still say what I'm thinking and it doesn't come out as tripe and trash.

Anyway... back on the 16th, my players encountered quite a bit of difficulty in their game. First, one of my players decided to try to confront the troll mage that has caused the party a few problems in the past. This was a complete surprise as this player's character had become one of those PCs that you "count on" to help grease the game to be good. You know what I mean... there are just some PCs that really keep things moving. Well, this PC was one of them and he waved a bag of candy in front of the Troll Mage. Well, one charm person spell later and the PC was now a slave to the troll. The rest of the party did a "Oh crap, sucks to be you... let's move on..." -- so now the player took over a hireling for the evening.

They hit a Wizard's Tower that appears to have quite a few wards & guards in it, from webbed staircases to gusts of wind, to random confusion to doors that have to be nearly battered down. After figuring out a way to struggle past these wards, they encountered a room where a Magic Mouth boomed "Be sure to read the words in the correct order!" After dealing with a Damned, the party found a mirror that may have entrapped the wizard (according to a sarcastic imp perched outside on the balcony) and a door with writing in common on it. A player read the inscription and the Explosive Runes blew. Scratch one player, another player's spellbook and some clothing.

Faces grew grim around the table, but the party pressed on. They found a ladder that seemed to have strange properties and the thief made it to the bottom, only to find a very strange dungeon underneath. Facing the timelimit of our session, the players were forced to retreat back to town, along the way encountering a mounted guard of orcs that they hid from.

After the game, I thought everyone was OK with what had happened, despite it being a rough game, but the private and public emails that I got over the next few days proved otherwise. One player who I thought I was more "in tune" with, meaning that I thought he grokked my game pretty well hit me with some good criticism, but it hit me in a sore spot. Another player (not the mage) groused at how I had not tracked the individual flamelets to ascertain the precise location of where the mage's spell book should have been so it would not be burned. The player who had the charmed PC was OK with what happened, but he was eager to know where things were going. The player of the mage who lost the book was "WTH do I do now?" and I received some other criticisms from other corners.

I snapped. One player kept emailing about the upcoming game on Sunday. My head was not in the right place and I decided that I needed a bit of time to process everything. I wrote on the group's email list that the Sunday game was cancelled. This same player immediately wrote back "OK, so let's start putting together the roster and schedule for the next Tuesday game." At that, I snapped even further and sent a terse "All future games are canceled."

Yea, snap big time. I spent a good chunk of the day in a "fuck 'em all" mood. I felt like nobody trusted me as a DM, everyone wanted a smooth flowing game, but heaven forbid that I actually destroy something, because now it was "game over" and yadda yadda... I was righteously pissed, hurt, and just down in the dumps. I was probably about >< this close to taking down the wiki, the blog, the whole nine yards.

(I should also mention all the pressure and financial stress and worry over my wife's illness and other life stuff... but although it contributed to my state of mind, it's not germane to this...)

But I didn't. My DM mentor told me to "take a chill week" and I wrote a terse email to that effect, apologizing for my snap but letting them know that I needed some time to think.

Think I did. What exactly was my problem? I was hurt... hurt that after a year of playing together, after a tough game my players would think I would permanently fuck someone over with a no-win scenario. I was mad, mad at my players for wanting to not have any risk. I was also down on myself, I apparently had made the Worst Campaign Ever that everyone *should* hate.

But after a few days of thinking, and painting minis, and just backing off, I rethought everything and came to some equilibrium. The majority of complaints were probably the initial "Oh shit" reactions. It was a tough game. There was no payoff because the players had either missed a HUGE hint and they hadn't gotten far enough. Death is never fun, but it is a reality in my campaign and one that I've grown somewhat impassive about. Not a dick, but more of "man, that sucks... but it happens..."

I'm still struggling with one of my players. Nice person, but I think a little much, even for me, but I'm trying to struggle as to "why" I'm having struggles with this person. The player is obviously excited and enjoying my game, but I think I got used to the types of players that I already have, so this new player is a bit different. I'll adjust but it still is something that I chew on.

Last week, I wrote a pretty big missive to my players, each one, a personal note. I then wrote an email to the group and reopened the doors. Some things I heard loud and clear from the feedback, some things I tossed back to players and gave them advice on how to work in my world. I may lose players and I accept that. A game has to work and mesh for everyone and even after awhile, you may discover that things are not going to work out like you hoped.

Some things that are on me to help with:
1. Make some defined missions available. Not everyone wants to go out and explore and just figure out the world on their own. The thing about my sandbox is that while I made this wide open dynamic world that keeps moving on, the players don't feel connected. So I will give them direct opportunities to get connected.
2. Provide opportunities for smaller missions. I had an adventure earlier that was a quickie. It was the knife adventure, where the players cleared the place out, but the payoff at the end was borked by an out of game disagreement. Some players liked that, so I'll make them available.
3. Keep tweaking the rewards. The nature of West Marches means you either lock onto a mission and keep hitting it, or you spread yourself out. The majority of play has been spread out, a little here, a little there. I've got big payoffs, but they do require some getting to. So, I need to make that a little more spread out - smaller, more frequent rewards. OK, I get that. That makes sense for the type of game I'm running.

Things that I laid back on the players:
1. Yea, you're right, don't assume. You were just in a wizard's tower, where everything was decaying. Except this one room with completely bare tables. Nobody looked on the tabletops. A thief said "I'm looking under the table." I asked specifically how they were doing that. They didn't touch the top, so the illusion didn't break and the many magical workshop items weren't revealed. Now they're gone - since I had to explain how things can work in my game, they're not there anymore.. but yes, I don't assume what a player does, especially when it pertains to something that can be chance, or can reward careful, thoughtful behavior.

2. Trust me. If I burn up your spellbook, I'm not going to rape you by making you be a forever mage with only one spell left (Joel Rosenberg already explored that in his Guardians of the Flame series. Exec summary? It fucking sucks.) But... you're in a WIZARD'S TOWER! Spellbooks are probably going to be there. Don't tell me I'm being a dick DM.

3. If you want a fast flowing game, I'm going to abstract some things. Rather than.roll.every.goddamn.item.saving.throw, I simply said, let's roll for most vulnerable things - paper, clothes, glass. That doesn't mean your backpack, having not had a saving throw, is somehow invulnerable. It means I don't want to freakin' deal with it and I'm trying to give you the effect of having read an exploding rune and make it important to avoid traps. I tried to make the puzzle as flowing as possible, but there was some rolling for it. That's an aspect of my game that may be there... you can use brute force (rolls) or you can somehow figure it out.

4. The game is up to you. Yes, the world moves on, and yes, you'll see it happen, but if you want to get involved in the Goblyn/Ko-bald war, you have to go out there and get involved. If you want to clear out a dungeon, you have to stick to it and schedule games and make it to games so that you can get it done. Going two sessions at the monastery, then changing your mind and heading to the mines, then changing your mind and heading to the abandoned inn... that's going to result in visiting a lot of places, but it's also going to mean you're facing a lot of 1HD monsters and low treasure. BUT, if that's what you want to do, I won't force you down railroads. It's your game. Do what you want to do... but understand that you are getting the game you ask for.

So we'll see how things go forward. I'm willing to keep trying and tweak my approach, but up to a certain point.

So did I fail? Probably more in my snap than anything else. Everything else is more of a tweak or just a good honest discussion.

One final thing.. I've had some people indicate they want a party leader. I was at first against it, but now I'm going to leave it up to the players. If you want a party leader, designate one. If not, that's fine too.

I think what may happen is that some people decide they are going to take charge of the roster, of the games and start laying out their own agendas. I think it's time, after a year.

Grappling with Grappling

Ugh. Ha. I'm sure every single DM who's played D&D/AD&D has come to terms with this very issue at some point, so I am walking on long-treaded roads here.

So the insanity from last game's grapple-fest had me comparing the rules on grappling in OSRIC to how I used Philotomy's rules on Combat Sequence. I wanted to simplify it down so that it's 1) clear who can do what/when and 2) make it reflect some realities (size of opponents).

Here's the OSRIC rules on Grappling/Overbearing:

Two other unarmed attack forms are possible: Grappling attacks and Overbearing attacks. A successful grappling attack inflicts 0-1 (1d2-1) points of damage, but also restrains the target and prevents him or her from fi ghting. The chance of breaking a successful grapple should be determined according to the relative strengths of the creatures concerned. (An ogre could restrain a kobold almost indefinitely, and would be able to break free of the kobold’s grasp at will.)

Overbearing attacks are Grappling attacks exercised at the end of a Charge (see “Charge” above). If successful, the opponent is prone rather than restrained. Otherwise the attack is treated as a grapple.

Simple, right? For one on one, yes. The situation Sunday was that we had several opponents (goblins) trying to take down a human. It was not fun to roll through this, and I didn't like trying to roll each individual attack and determine it on an attacker by attacker basis. Now 1E's grappling rules are non-existant in the PHB, while DMG and UA has insane grappling rules.

I proposed the following rules to my group and there was no consensus on whether this was a Good Thing or not - so I'm going to at least try them on for size and see how it goes. A trial post at Knights & Knaves got a couple of questions, but the only real feedback I got was "It's close to UA" so I'm guessing at least I'm not way off base. I don't think I've made a fantastic rule that will change RPG-dom, but I like it and it's stood up to most questioning.

Chgowiz's OSRIC Grappling rules

I want to make attacks and freeing attempts as a simple attack vs. AC roll. I want to keep the max # of modifiers to 3 - Number of opponents involved, size and any STR modifiers available.

Grappling attacks are made against an opponent using the standard modifiers applicable to melee combat (including attribute and magical effects.) If an grapple attack is successful, the opponent is now held. Any future attacks by the held combatant are at -2 for each grappler holding. A grapple attack results in 0-1 (1d2-1) points of damage.

Multiple opponents may attempt to grapple one opponent. For each additional grappler, +2 is added to attack roll. If the grapple attack is successful, then all grapplers are said to have a hold. Only dice once for damage. For mixed level groups, designate a primary attacker (would usually be the highest level.)

A held combatant may attempt to free themselves the next attack (this round if they lost initiative, next round if they've already attacked this round) by rolling a successful attack roll. They suffer a -2 penalty per grappler having a hold. If they are prone, they also suffer the normal -4 to the attack. A held combatant may not perform any other combat action or movement.

In the round following a successful grapple, the grappler(s) may attempt to force them prone (pin) with a successful attack. The multiple opponents bonus applies.

Alternatively, rather than forcing a pin, the grappler(s) may choose to pummel the held opponent (think sucker shots here...). Roll an attack normally, with +2 bonus to the attacker. Damage is 1d2 with normal bonuses/penalties.

Size matters in grappling attacks or freeing attempts. Any penalty is applied ONCE to a single die roll, and multiple attackers vs a larger being may end up negating the penalty. Bonuses are cumulative.
If an attacker is Small, they have +0 versus other Small, -2 versus Medium, -4 versus Large.
If an attacker is Medium, they have +2 versus Small, +0 versus Medium, -2 versus Large
If an attacker is Large, they have +4 versus Small, +2 versus Medium, +0 versus Large

Example:
Aramin faces 4 snarling goblins who wish to force him down. They win initiave and attack first. Aramin's AC is 3. The goblins gain a +6 for 3 additional grapplers, and a -2 for the small size penalty, for a total bonus of +4. They roll a 15 (+4) for 19 total, a successful attack. Aramin has now been grappled. The goblins dice a 0 for damage. This ruins the attack that Aramin had planned for that round, but he can try to free himself. Unfortunately, he rolls a 14 which is penalized a -8 (-2 per attacker) although he gets a +2 for STR and +2 for size difference. His total attack is an 10. He cannot free himself.

In the next round, the goblins win intiative (again) and attempt to force Aramin prone. They have the same bonus (+6 for 3 additional grapplers, -2 for small size) of +4. This time, they roll a 3. Aramin is proving too strong for them to pull down!

Aramin will now attempt to free himself. He has a +2 for strength of 17 (example), a +2 for the size difference, and a -8 for 4 grapplers, for a total penalty for -4. The goblins' AC is 7. Aramin dices a 16, which is enough for a successful attack. He throws off the grapplers and frees himself!

Now, this is not perfect, but it serves to abstract the inclusion of multiple attackers and the size differences enough without being too cumbersome. We can also run through this and tweak it if it works. I should also note that group vs. group grapples, I would resolve singly or however the party wanted to divide up the attacks.

(Edited to update that I will allow an attempt to free oneself if they still have their attack to perform that round.)

Also, as an edit addendum, someone asked me about AC and the fact that AC would actually hinder someone. Well, I says, this is abstract D&D combat and I'm thinking that while someone might be easier to pull down in plate, I'm also thinking that if I'm trying to grapple someone in armor and he smacks me in the head... well, then I wouldn't care so much about AC, I'd just have a lump. I may go to ignoring AC for grapples, but since the grapple-fest previously mentioned, it hasn't come up again. We'll see.

Conclusion of my D&D campaign economy rambling

Well, thank you all for your comments on my last economic rambling for my Dark Ages campaign - I've gotten "Weeping/grinning" to "it's flawed in lots of minor ways" to "Dire chickens!" but nobody screamed "URDOINITRONG!" so either you all think I'm nuts (a good thing) or you're all stunned by my sheer idiocy (more probable).

Either way, it was gratifying to hear that I'm on the right track, with determining land costs based on their food producing potential. I concentrated on meat as the "main food driver", I handwaved that grain would be roughly equivalent in terms of cost. I know that's probably wrong - but I chose meat as my starting point and since I've confessed that this is all napkin math, I'll take that logic to the end. I'm not simulating Earth realistically, so my basis of economy is not going to match "real life" either. However, I've tried to give it some thought and some tenuous logic, so here's the end point - how much land costs:

All this assumes average harvest. 30 acres fed 4 people for a year (360 day year) - 7.5 acres a person (360 day year)

However, Dark Ages has a 240 day calendar, so we'll do some math to adjust for the difference in days per year. (240/360 = .67)

20 acres (30*.67) provides for 4 people a year in DA. 5 acres feeds a person for a year in DA.

24gp in either grain or meat/year can be earned by that 5 acres (72gp average cost a person for meat/grain/liquid a year).

1 acre can make minimum 4g 8s a year. The acre measures 43,560 sq ft - approx. 208.7' x 208.7'. The earning potiential of a square foot of land is 0.0001gp per square foot. (4.8 / 43560)

(Good thing my monetary system is 10cp = 1sp, 10sp = 1gp. )

10x10 area = 100 sq ft = 1cp/yr. (100 * 0.0001) (That orc sitting on a chest with pie better pay his taxes!)

That's just napkin math for the earning potential of land. Now, how's that equate to living spaces? I did really quick and dirty 30 min research on Google on rough idea of living spaces in Middle Ages - got a couple of figures that "felt" right. The prices below are the amount of rent based on food earning potential alone - my players should note these are not final prices - the landlords would no doubt want to make a bit of a profit.

Peasant 'Wattle' house: 20' x 40' = 800sq ft = 8c/year for renting of the living space alone (The people who "rent" farmlands from kingdom pay taxes in form of food produced from land rented, or would work on the local lord's farmlands for a percentage of their time.)

Single "Manor" building: 66' x 33' (took dimension from reconstructed English Village) - 2 stories - 4s 4c.

Moral of story - when land is not the commodity, but merely the vehicle for producing food and seen as such - land is cheap.

Now that I have a starting place, I can look at what Marshall Roen and the Priest Phaellum might charge for their land, assuming they want some sort of profit.

The players have a question outstanding on the list as to the size they imagine the structure they've been "squatting in". Once they give me that, I can do a rough calculation of the rent and take a guess at how much they would sell the land for.

BTW, this strangely "feels" right where taxes have been assessed on the treasure that the players are bringing in (commerce taxes) versus land taxes. The players haven't been taxed on purchases because the merchants bringing the goods into Enonia are taxed, and they raise their prices accordingly. Land isn't the main driver. Food and commerce is.

This also means I may have to cast a hoary eye at my price list at some point and see if it makes sense to the earning/spending potential of a person, in relation to food costs. And this means my assumption for 40% of their yearly wage going to housing is dead wrong - a person in Enonia would need to make a lot less.

My head hurts.

Economy in the Dark Ages campaign

So much for "light posting" - I always say that and then I have half a million things to yack about. However, in light of the really fascinating articles that Alexis has been posting on Tao about economies in a "D&D Earth Simulation", I thought I would post this "letter" I just sent to some players in my Dark Ages campaign. I'm going to send all of them the link to this post.

(BTW, Alexis, I have no doubt this will make you weep, but this is my first crack at even thinking about this sort of thing - in the past, I would have thrown dice and pulled a number out of my ass... but you are inspiring me to think about it.)

The whole thing started when the players requested to know how much housing would cost. It was a reasonable question, but it's opened up a whole can of worms.

Up till now, I've put "drain costs" (cost of living) at 1cp for subsistence, 1sp for "common room" living and 1gp for "private room" living, per day. This means a certain amount of food - subsistence, getting by, and comfortable, respectively. That was just by "seat of my pants" and no thought behind it. However, it doesn't give me any sort of metric of how to estimate the cost of renting a room, or building. Again, I could wing it, but this time I wanted to see if I could crunch numbers in a reasonable way.

The name of the game for human civilization in the current time of my Dark Ages game is survival. Civilization is sliding backwards thanks to a cataclysmic event. Food is the "driver" of the current economy, moreso than property. In better times, property and goods were more of a basis, but it was related to food. Now food is king. People want to eat and the economy drives on the unit of food - how much someone eats per day.

What you're about to read below will probably make you wince. It's not an accurate simulation by any means. I used my cost for a chicken (10sp) as a starting point. Why? Because it "felt" right to me. I'm not much of a simulationist, but I am trying to be somewhat reasonable in my thoughts - and I needed a starting point.

I've calculated that it costs roughly 3sp a day to eat a portion of meat, bread and beer/water to have a decent living. This does represent a change to what I had originally just "winged" as a cost of living. How did I get there?

Let's take a chicken and a cow. On "just pulling numbers from books and whatnot", a chicken costs 10sp in Enonia, and a cow costs 20gp. I think that came from the 1EPHB, or perhaps OSRIC.

This means a chicken, which can feed 10 people (8oz meat per person, 80 ozs, 80/16oz in a lb is 5 lbs which is a reasonable weight of a chicken) costs 1sp/day/person. A cow, which can feed 820 portions from a 1,000 lb cow at 42% usage (rough estimates), would cost about 82gp on the basis of meat alone. A cow and chicken have the ability of reproducing and bringing more animals and therefore increased profits, so they should cost more. This is all "napkin math" to get us to a certain point. I like the feel of a chicken feeding 10 people a day, so I feel good about the 1sp a day for meat.

This also means my prices for cows are way low and my chickens are probably going to cost more now too.

So... on the basis of those assumptions - 1sp/day meat (8oz), 1sp/day bread, 1sp/day beer (3cp @ pint - roughly 4 pints for enough "liquid" for a day) - An average person needs to earn 720 sp a year to eat. (3 * 240 days). 72 gold. Roughly 2.5 gold every 30 days.

Figure the average tax is about 20% of wages - so we're up to 90gp to just eat.

Now figure housing is roughly 30 to 40% of wages after taxes, if the person is out and out renting and not in some sort of service to the landowner (like farmers) - so now we're up to wages being around 150 a year (30gp for taxes, ~48gp for housing, ~72gp for food) just to pay taxes, live in a small place and eat.

Now that's not including things like clothing and other items to merely live by. However, THAT gives me a basis for the economy of an average Joe. An average person would earn 6sp, 3cp a day. 3 sp for food, 2 sp for living, 1sp 3cp for taxes. Anything above that is profit.

If we go to 175 gp a year - then we make a profit of 25 gp. That *might* handle inflation and price changes - winter is roughly a 1/3 of the year in my campaign and prices will go up - so if we figure 25% increase on average - that increases the cost of food by 6gp - so now we're up to needing to earn ~ 156, which gives us 19 gp to do things to improve our station during a year.

19gp profit - not much - when you consider that a cow costs 82gp... which means that we're probably looking at someone who wants to afford some "breathing room" probably needs to earn about 200gp a year. (A cow could feed a family of 3 for a year, not counting spoilage).

So, I know that an average person, like a craftsman or apprentice (non-indentured) needs to earn 175 to 200gp a year in my campaign. How does that translate to basic housing costs? I don't know... I have to think about that more. I'm assuming basic living - a roughly 2 room dwelling for sleeping and food preparation.

This also means that I may have to revisit ALL the pricing because now that I have a basis of economy - 150gp a year for an average person - a short sword which has x amount of metal and materials, plus y time for a person to create and make a profit...

In terms of land ownership in my campaign...

Prior to the Doom, the King was considered to own all lands, except for the lands he titled to others (or his official regents titled/deeded to others) as their own. This would be "name class" and nobility. Someone like Kristian Sion or Rirallo MacKine were probably titled the land that their shops are on, due to family and importance to the community. All other lands are either run by the town/cities or administered by the nearest Lords/representatives of the King, which in this case is Marshall Roen. So in terms of ownership, the abandoned buildings would revert in ownership back to the King, if they had ever left the King's ownership in the first place.

Part of the town guard's duty is to prevent squatters and to note who is living where. I've been making weekly rolls based on an even 10% chance that the players will be noticed/rousted - so far, they've gotten very lucky - no hits. At some point, they're going to be noticed. So their first stop will be to inquire to the Town Council clerk(s) as to the availability of the building they're squatting in.

The lands outside the Kingdom, in the now abandoned wildlands? A person is on their own. No taxes, but no protection. The Settlers who wanted to settle a new farm hamlet in Valenia were hoping to stake a claim - but there be monsters out there...