Ogre UAVs

Here are a couple of unmanned aerial vehicles I plan to use for sci-fi armor gaming in general, and for Ogre/GEV in particular.

These castings started life as Kikyu gunships from Reaper's CAV line of science fiction combat vehicles, but for my games they will make great unarmed recon drones. I can see them scouting in the skies around Monopolis.

They fit in fine with the existing Ogre miniatures, as seen here, and I've come up with some simple spotting rules: All attacks on enemy targets within two hexes of the UAV get a +1 to their rolls. The downside? Any enemy attack automatically destroys it.

Here are the Ogre/GEV stats for the pilotless reconnaissance aircraft:

Attack: --
Range: --
Defense: 0
Move: 4-3 (as GEV)
Special: +1 to other units' attack rolls on targets within two hexes of UAV.

What do y'all think? Is this something you'd allow in your Ogre games?

Ground-Effect Ogre (GEO)

Take a Mark III, replace the treads with hover gear, and you have the Ground-Effect Ogre (GEO)--a fast, deadly, and extremely vulnerable cybertank.

Instead of tread units, a GEO has ground-effect units. While attacks against them are resolved just like for treads, the fragility of g-e units is reflected in their smaller number on the Ground-Effect Ogre's record sheet. In addition, GEOs take double damage from ramming (as attacker or defender). If a GEO loses all its ground-effect units while in a water hex, instead of being immobilized, the Ground-Effect Ogre sinks and is destroyed.

When resolving a cruise missile attack on a GEO, all systems are treated as standard Ogre components except ground-effect units. Use the line for "Any D0 Unit or Any GEV" on the Effects of Missile Explosion table to determine attacks against ground-effect units, but a D result still has no effect.

GEOs have split movement as shown on the record sheet. Terrain affects GEOs the same as any other ground-effect vehicle. All other standard rules for Ogres apply to GEOs.

        GROUND-EFFECT OGRE RECORD SHEET

WEAPONS            ATTACK  RANGE  DEF            
  1 Main Battery     4       3     4    O
  4 Secondaries      3       2     3    OOOO                
  2 Missiles         6       5     3    OO        
  8 Antipersonnel    1       1     1    OOOO OOOO 

MOVE RATE    |  3/2 |  3/1 |  2/1 |  1/1 |  1/0 | 0
 20 G-E UNITS| OOOO | OOOO | OOOO | OOOO | OOOO |  

The model started out as a Matchbox hovercraft. I added some bits from an Ogre repair kit and a bead from my wife's beading supplies for the ball turret. My attempt at using greenstuff for the armor came out horrible, but it shouldn't be too noticable on the tabletop at arm's length--and I can rationalize it as battle damage.

Ogre update and pics

No, I haven't given up gaming (although it's been awhile since I've rolled any dice). As proof, here are some non-canon vehicles I'm working on for my next Monopolis scenario, which I plan on running at Millennium Con this November.

Above is a mobile jamscreen, with a PanEuropean heavy tank for scale. The model is actually a Micro Machines toy that will work nicely as an ECM unit in Ogre. I'm leaving the paint job (except for some detailing) so it can go with either side in my games.

I also got my armored boats looking how I want them. I sprayed them brown and then drybrushed with tan and light gray. I chose this color scheme so I could use them with my North American Combine (green) or PanEuro (gray) forces.

These submarines also look decent on the tabletop. Like my other nonstandard units, these are painted so they can go with either side. In this case, it's a flat black primer with a light gray drybrush.

Here's a size comparison for the aquatic units. For reference, the hexes in this photo are four inches across. So what's everyone else working on?

Naval vessel rules for OGRE

I'm taking my Ogre games to sea. Eventually. Here are some naval units for some amphibious action. The have rules that are a little more complicated than conventional land armor, but like the superheavy tank, the vehicles listed below are affected normally by results of D or X on the Combat Resolution Table.

UNIT           WEAPON  ATTACK RANGE  DEFENSE MOVE                
Armored Boat                                   
               Cannon    4      2       2       3
               Missiles  3      4   
             NOTES: Two separate attacks vs. surface targets
                    Single A3 depth charge vs. subs

LC-GEV                              
               APx2      1      1       2      3/2
             NOTES: Carries vehicles/infantry
                    Moves on water only
                    No road/water bonus when loaded

Submarine                              
               Missiles  6      5      6/3      2   
               Torpedoes 3      1 
              NOTES: D6 vs. surface attacks/D3 vs. underwater


Armored Boat: The Armored Boat is a human-crewed watercraft designed for use on rivers and costal waters. It gets two attacks per turn (one equivalent to that of a heavy tank, and one equal to that of a missile tank) that can be combined if desired. It can also launch a depth charge attack at strength 3 against a submerged target in the same hex once per turn.

LC-GEV: Each Landing Craft-GEV can transport up to two companies (24 squads) of infantry or two armor units (for example, two heavy tanks, four light tanks, a missile tank and two light tanks, etc.). Alternatively, it can carry whatever models fit into its bay. LC-GEVs can only enter a land hex to embark or disembark cargo. Loaded LC-GEVs do not get a bonus for water movement.

Submarine: While submerged, a submarine can launch a single Ogre-type missile attack against a surface target or another sub. It can also shoot a torpedo salvo against a nearby submarine or boat. Submarines have a defense of 6 against surface attacks from Ogre-type missiles and howitzers, and all such attacks are at half strength. Subs have a defense of 3 versus depth charges, torpedoes, and marine infantry. No other unit can attack submarines.

If you use any of these in a game, please let me know how it does.

Ogre at Sea: L.C.A.C.

Continuing my nautical Ogre theme, here we have a Landing Craft, Air Cushion for transporting conventional vehicles across large expanses of water to invade the peace-loving city of Monopolis.

This is another 1:350 scale model, this time from MRC's Gallery Models line of kits. The package actually includes two LCACs. They're display model kits, not gaming pieces, so some of the parts are very small and intricate. Still, there's not that many of them, and it didn't take long to put one of them together.

As you can see, like my armored boat, the LCAC also fits well with my metal Ogre miniatures. For those who are unfamiliar with this craft, it's a modern Navy vessel used to bring troops or vehicles from offshore onto the beach.

Like it's real-life counterpart, my Ogre LCAC won't have any major weaponry on board, since it's a transport vessel. It will get a couple of antipersonnel guns, however. Other game stats will be its defense of 2, and its GEV movement rate of 3/2 in water only. Note that the 3/2 speed is for loaded LCACs--an unloaded craft can travel 4/3.

An attack result of X on an LCAC at sea destroys the vessel and any cargo it was carrying. As noted above, the LCAC can only enter water hexes. The exception is that it can move onto a beach to disembark vehicles or troops its carrying, but this ends the LCAC's move for the turn. Units deployed from an LCAC cannot move during the same turn that they disembarked, although they can shoot normally.

An LCAC that moves onto a beach is considered to move into that hex for purposes of overruns. If an LCAC lands on a beach occupied by enemy forces, determine overrun combat as normal against the LCAC, but not its cargo or passengers. If it is destroyed in the defenders' first fire round, any vehicles or troops it was carrying are also lost. After the defenders first fire round, any units carried by the LCAC are deployed and can take part in the overrun, although they may not leave that hex after the overrun is finished.

So what fits into this LCAC, which is smaller in Ogre than the real-life version would be? Pretty much any two indivirual armor units, as you can see from these photos I took while test-fitting the parts together:

You have room to substitute two light tanks for one larger vehicle, for a total of four light tanks, or one heavy and two lights, per LCAC.

This craft can also hold a company of powersuited infantry. That's three platoons of three squads each, which fit comfortable in the LCAC.

It can hold two missile crawlers, which are die-cast toys repurposed for use in Ogre instead of the official, two part miniatures.

The only big vehicle the LCAC can carry is my mobile command post, which fills its bay. Unfortunately for the attackers (but luckily for the defenders), the superheavy is just a little too wide to fit. Same thing with the mobile howitzer.

I may have to grab some more of these, but I think I will wait until I playtest this model first. Anyone want to help?

New Ogre unit: Armored Boat

I'm always on the lookout for ways to expand my large-hex Ogre miniatures scenario that I ran at Millenniumcon. I have some more buildings I need to put on bases. I even snagged some terrain items the day the convention ended. And now, my latest inspiration is to add enough water hexes to play some nautical scenarios.

To that end, I acquired this Zvezda plastic model at a local hobby store. It's a Soviet armored boat intended for the company's Art of Tactic World War II game. Since I like to repurpose all sorts of models for my gaming, I'm using it as a conventional naval unit for Ogre.

While the scale of this kit is 1:350 and the scale of the Ogre minis is 1:285, the model itself fits in great with my actual game pieces. On the gaming table, this hunk of plastic will represent a manned boat to patrol the waters off Monopolis. Why? Because that's where the invaders will be coming from in my next scenario.

Since the armored boat is about twice the size of conventional vehicles (and has the weapons modeled on it), I'm gonna give this unit two attacks: one strength 4 at range 2, like a heavy tank, and one strength 3 at range 4 like a missile tank. It will also get 2 antipersonnel guns, like a superheavy. It will have a move of 2 on full water hexes only (no streams) and a defense of 4. That comes out to about two armor units, according to the Cobb GEV unit calculator. Sounds about right to me, but we'll see how it does in playtesting.

Gaining followers in Holmes D&D

In the early iterations of Dungeons & Dragons, characters gain followers of some type once they reach a certain level. The Holmes edition of the rules, of course, only takes characters to third level and doesn't mention obtaining followers at high level. Since I like to extrapolate from this version of the game, I want to discuss raising followers according to Holmes basic.

First, of course, in the section on creating characters, Holmes points out that the number of followers is limited by a character's charisma:

A character of charisma below 13 can not hire more than 5 followers, and their loyalty will be luke-warm at best -- that is, if the fighting gets hot there is a good probability they will run away. On the other had, someone with a charisma of 18 can win over a large number of followers (men or monsters) who will probably stand by him to the death.

Next, in the section on nonplayer characters, Holmes mentions letting characters hire "a band of mercenaries" to take part in (and share the loot from) an adventure. He also acknowledges that players may want "a regular entourage of various character types, monsters, or an army of some form." The author then goes on to discuss luring "monsters" (including higher-level men) into service via charisma or charm spell. He adds that surrender may result in service according to the results of the Hostile/Friendly Reaction Table and subdual means an opponent will serve without need of the reaction table.

But what about followers of characters past third level? The monster entries can help.

Take, for example, the bandit. One fourth-level fighting man for every 30 bandits; one fifth- or sixth-level for every 50. Over 200, a one-quarter chance of a tenth- or eleventh-level magic user and the same probability of an eighth-level cleric. If there are 300 bandits, there is a M-U and a 50% chance of a cleric.

And the dwarf: a second- to seventh-level leader for every 40 dwarves.

As well as the elf: one leader (fighter/magic-user, 2-4/2-7 level) for every 50 elves.

Back to bandits: Holmes doesn't explicitly define bandits as fighters, but he gives regular bandit troops shields and possibly chain mail. Since thieves can't use either of those protective devices, we can say bandits are fighters. Further support for this argument can be found in the description of the bandit camp in one of the modules included with the Holmes basic rules, B2 The Keep on the Borderlands. In that adventure, Gary Gygax lists the bandits as fighters or zero-level normal men.

So you've got scores of fighters hanging around with some higher-level type. Why? Charisma. Those upper-level folks must have pretty good charismas scores, and they're therefore able to amass large numbers of followers.

So based on the above, here's one way to go about determining followers when playing with the Blue Book rules:

FOLLOWERS 

In addition to hiring non-player characters through advertising, characters with a charisma score of 13 or more can attract followers as they gain levels, since stories of their adventures will draw others to their service. A character that gains such followers cannot add any more to the ranks until reaching the next level, and any followers lost cannot be replaced until the next level.

Beginning at fourth level, fighting men roll percentile dice each month to determine if they attract 30 first-level fighters into service. A roll of 10 or less succeeds, and the character may not roll again for troops until gaining a new level. At fifth level, a fighting man has the same chance of gaining 50 troops. At sixth level and above, the fighter can obtain up to another 50 soldiers (so a total of 130 troops at sixth level, 180 troops at seventh level, and so on).

Starting at tenth level, magic-users have a 5 percent chance per month of gaining 200 troops, increasing by another 100 troops for each level thereafter on a successful percentile roll.

Clerics have the same chance of attracting followers as magic-users, but can start rolling at eighth level.

At second level and higher, dwarves have a 5 percent chance per month of having 10 dwarves (as described in the Monster List) join their cause, increasing by 10 dwarves per level after that.

Likewise, elves who have reached both the second level of fighting ability and the second level of magic-use have a 5 percent chance to gain 10 elves (from the Monster List). This number increases by 5 elves each time the character gains a level as either a fighter or a magic-user.

Well, that's what I came up with as far as mass followers for the old basic game. It hasn't been playtested, as none of the characters in my short-lived Holmes campaign from last year ever made it past first level (and I didn't come up with it till just now). Also, I didn't include any followers for thieves, since I couldn't find anything in the blue book to draw upon for that class. Any suggestions?

Siege of Monopolis scenario

Here's the OGRE scenario that I ran at Millenniumcon in 2014, cleaned up for your gaming pleasure.  Siege of Monopolis uses Ogre minis, the Designer's Edition rules, a big hex mat from Corsec Engineering, and scratchbuilt terrain from model railroad/diorama supplies and parts from various editions of Monopoly games.  Note there are some special rules that deviate from the standard Ogre DE rulebook.
{I have included designer's notes in bracketed italics.}

INTRODUCTION

The peaceful City of Monopolis rises above the rubble of the Last War, a gleaming center of commerce and industry. But no peace lasts forever. Now invaders march to conquer the city while outnumbered defenders scramble to protect their home.  Join the Siege of Monopolis!

SPECIAL RULES

• COMBINING FIRE: Units may not combine fire unless all the firing units are within a single hex of one another or the target is within the targeting range of a functioning command post.
  {This gives players a reason to destroy the other person's CP and protect their own.}
• COMMAND POST: Allows other units to combine fire against a target within the targeting range of the CP.
• MOBILE CP: D1, M2, targeting range 10 hexes.
  {I had a cool mini I wanted to use.}
• STATIONARY CP: D2, M0, targeting range anywhere on the map. No terrain bonus. 
• CRUISE MISSILE: The detonation automatically destroys all Town or Forest within three hexes and damages all Town or Forest four hexes away. It destroys or damages units according to the standard rules.
  {It slows down a game to roll to see whether hexes on the edge of a cruise missile blast are destroyed, so I just changed it to damaged--and besides, I like showing off the terrain I made. I shrunk the blast radius for the same reason, and because with four-inch hexes, my map doesn't cover as much territory as the Ogre DE maps.]
• HIDDEN INFANTRY: A player may designate some or all infantry units as hidden infantry. They are not placed on the map during setup. Instead, hidden infantry deploy as follows:
  • On any turn, at the start of the defender’s fire phase, the defender rolls a d6 for each unit to be placed. On a roll of 4+, that unit may be placed in any Forest, Rubble, Swamp, or Town hex unoccupied by enemy units. 
  • Multiple hidden infantry units may be placed in the same hex as long as the rolls are successful.
  • Once a roll fails, the defender may not attempt to place any more hidden infantry until the next turn. 
  • Hidden infantry fire normally on the turn they are placed, and move and fire normally after that.
    {I like fog of war, but I wanted to reduce recordkeeping such as writing down which hex your infantry are hiding in (and my map doesn't have numbered hexes). This is a good way to have concealed units while cutting down on paperwork.}
• LASER TOWER: D4. No terrain bonus. Otherwise uses standard rules.
  {Using a defense factor instead of Structure Points eliminates more recordkeeping and also gets rid of an exception to Ogre's combat resolution system, meaning one less rule for convention goers who may be new to the game, to worry about. Besides, it's fun to see what the attackers do after they've disabled, but not destroyed, the laser.}
• MINEFIELD:  Covers one hex until cleared.  On-road: Automatically destroys a vehicle or infantry squad or d6 Ogre treads and blocks the road. Off-road: Destroys a vehicle on roll of 6 or d6 Ogre treads on 5-6; slows infantry to M1. If they don’t move or fire, three squads of infantry can clear a mined hex in three turns, six squads in two turns, and nine squads in one turn.
  {Again, less recordkeeping and no need for special units in a convention game. Each minefield is represented on the map by three tokens per hex, remove them as above to indicate progress in clearing the minefield.}
• SKYSCRAPERS: Town hexes with BPC-reinforced skyscrapers have D8 and treat a cruise missile detonation as if it were one hex further away.  Other than that, they use the same rules as regular Town hexes.
  {I just think the skyscrapers should be a little harder to turn to rubble. And yeah, I like how they look on the tabletop.}

 

FORCES

• ATTACKER
• COMMAND GROUP (player 1)
   Mobile CP
   Cruise Missile Crawler x 2
   Mk V Ogre
  {I gave the attackers nukes to see if they would ever use them.  Every time I ran the siege, the attackers used their nukes!}
• PANZER COMPANY (player 2)
   Light tank x 2
   Heavy tank x 7
   Superheavy tank x 2
• ROCKET SECTION (player 3)
   Missile Tank x 6
   Mobile Howitzer x 3
• LUFTPANZER COMPANY (player 4)
   LGEV x 6
   GEV x 8
• INFANTRY BATTALION (player 5)
   GEV-PC (w/3 Infantry squads each) x 6
   Infantry Platoon (3 Infantry squads each) x 8
   Heavy Weapons Squad (1 infantry squad each) x 4
• DEFENDER
  • HEADQUARTERS SECTION (player 1)
     CP
     Laser tower x 1
     Minefields x 4
     Mk V Ogre
    {This was a Mark III in the convention game, but I upgraded it here because the defense needs the extra help.}
  • ARMOR TEAM WITH ARTILLERY (player 2)
     Heavy tank x 5
     Superheavy tank x 1
     Missile Tank x 3
     Howitzer x 2
     Light Artillery Drone (w/hovertruck) x 1
  • COMBINED ARMS BATTALION (player 3)
     LGEV x 4
     GEV x 9
     GEV-PC (w/3 Infantry squads each) x 4
     Infantry Platoon (3 Infantry squads each) x 6

SETUP

• DEFENDER sets up first on the eastern half of the map except for the following:
• MINEFIELDS: The defender places minefields in six hexes anywhere on the map.
• COMBINED ARMS BATTALION: These units enter from the eastern map edge on any turn desired by the defender.
• HIDDEN INFANTRY: The defender may designate some or all infantry units as hidden infantry. 
• ATTACKER sets up last, up to five hexes in from the west side of the map.  The attacker does not have to bring on all units on the first turn; they may enter on any turn. Units entering on a road get the road movement bonus.

DEFENDER'S ORDERS

1. Preserve your forces.
2. Defend the city at all costs.
3. Keep the attacker from occupying skyscraper hexes.
4. Keep your Ogre alive; it is needed for the war effort.
5. Destroy the enemy Ogre to thwart their war effort. 
6. Keep the road open to the west.

ATTACKER'S ORDERS

1. Preserve your forces.
2. Capture the city at all costs.
3. Keep the attacker from occupying skyscraper hexes.
4. Keep your Ogre alive; it is needed for the war effort.
5. Liberate the prison (have one platoon of infantry spend one turn in that hex without moving or shooting).
6. Destroy power plants (target the hexes containing them directly or through spillover fire).
7. Occupy the House of Government (have at least one vehicle or infantry in that hex until the end of the battle).
8. Keep industrial areas intact; do not allow them to become damaged.

 {I didn't keep track of victory points or have any conditions for one side or the other to accomplish. Instead, like in most battles, each side has a number of orders, some of which contradict each other.  I wanted to throw these orders out there and see what the players did with them.}

Carnivoran fighters in Galactic Knights

Looking over the Carnivoran expansion for Galactic Knights, I noticed that there were not two sets of game stats and rules for fighters and missiles (Standard Rules and Command Rules), like in the core rulebook and the Entomolian supplement.  Instead, the Carnivoran book just offers what appear to be standard rules and stats.

 

Not only that, but the book doesn't specify how many fighters make a squad.  That's important because the original GK rules specify that fighters are costed, stored and launched in squads of three.  However, the Carnivoran book never explicitly states the number of fighters per squad.  In fact, it even mentions that the heavy fighters should be treated just like a ship, and provides a record sheet with five fighters instead of three.

I prefer the Command Rules, so I came up with my own stats for the Carnivoran fighters and missiles.  It's a work in progress, so it may get modified after some playtesting.

Name

Type

Move

Profile

Dmg

Notes

Intercept

Fang	Missile	12	6	0	successful missile hit shorts out one shield generator	none
Bobcat	Light Fighter	12	2	2	not depleted until current target destroyed	2 dice
Leopard	Heavy Fighter	7	6	4	fighter needs two hits to be destroyed	def. die only

Anyone else have house rules for Galactic Knights?

The Kobold Konventions for HotT

Hordes of the Things is my favorite fantasy wargame, but like any set of rules it isn't perfect.  And while the new edition of HotT (available in the U.S. from this seller) made one major fix that had already been adopted by gamers for years (switching the movement rates for Shooters and Warbands), there are still some minor issues with the game.

Kaptain Kobold is a longtime HotT player whose now-defunct website The Stronghold was the go-to internet site for Hordes of the Things players.  His new blog, The Stronghold Rebuilt, covers HotT and other games.  And over the years, he came up with a few rules fixes or tweaks for my wargame of choice.

These optional rules, which I hereby designate the Kobold Konventions, give Sneakers a much-needed fix, merge Water Lurkers with regular Lurkers, let Clerics move into close combat with Gods, and have Paladins destroy Fliers just like Heroes can.  In addition, they allow elements to spend PIPs on multiple march moves in big battles.  Finally, there is random terrain placement to make the battlefields more tactically interesting.

These options seem like logical, well-thought out adjustments to make the game more playable and to make it adhere more closely to the various fictional sources that inspired Hordes of the Things.  I want to try the Kobold Konventions in my next game of HotT.

Critical hits in OGRE

As originally written, OGRE is a game of attrition: You have to wear down the oncoming cybertank piece-by-piece before it reaches its objective.  Unlike traditional tank games, there's no stopping the looming behemoth with a single shot, at least in the official rules.

And this makes sense: If you can take out the OGRE with a single thought, there's no deciding whether you should spend your attacks on the treads to slow the juggernaut down or use all your shots to target the guns and declaw the beast; it's just an exercise in rolling dice till it'd dead.

Still, in big games with multiple OGREs, a critical hit rule can add some excitement to the game: while it's an all-or-nothing shot at the cybertank, it's not an all-or-nothing roll to end the game.

I've found two different ways to resolve critical hits on OGREs; both are on the SJG website:

• The Golden BB: Roll three dice to beat a target number based on combined attack strength (the higher the attack strength, the lower the roll needed), if you fail, the OGRE's not affected.  The attack roll gets a bonus against smaller OGREs, a penalty against larger ones.
• Poor Bloody Infantry: Roll attacks against the OGRE as a whole--but the OGRE has a large defensive strength (double digits for all except the Mark I).  If you do get a hit, you still might have to roll a d6 to see if you knocked out weapons, or movement, or killed it, and there's a chance it's undamaged.

Myself, I'd like to see a combination of the two rules: Attacking units can combine their fire, and the higher their combined attack strength, the likelier they are to score a critical hit.  But even if they do, they still must roll to see if they damaged it permanently or temporarily, or at all. 

That should provide some tough decisions for players: wear down the OGRE a little at a time as usual, or risk everything for a chance to take it out all at once.  Which would you choose?

Humanoid character expansion for Holmes D&D

One of my many uncompleted projects for the Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures computer game was designing a reverse-Keep-type adventure.  In this design, instead of playing the usual character races of human, elf, dwarf, and so on, the player could create orcs, goblins, kobolds, and the like, ultimately invading the titular keep on the borderlands.

While that computer D&D adventure still languishes unfinished on my hard drive, remembering it did get me thinking about how such a game might look using the Holmes basic rules.  I approached this project similar to how I did my expanded wandering monster tables: extrapolating from just the information in that blue Dungeons & Dragons rulebook, supplemented by Gygax's work in module B2, The Keep on the Borderlands.

Without further ado, here's the supplemental rules for playing humanoid characters using the Holmes rulebook:

HUMANOID PLAYER CHARACTERS

KOBOLDS (1-4 damage)

                             Experience

Level                        Points       Hit Dice        Notes

1 (Kobold)                   0                 ½              +3 save (except vs. dragon)

2 (Guard)                  600             1+1            +3 save (except vs. dragon), can have 1-4 gt rats

3 (Chieftain)           2400              2               +3 save (except vs. dragon), bodyguard of 1-6

GOBLINS (1-6 damage)

1 (Goblin)                    0                1-1             -1 to hit in daylight, can see in the dark

2 (Guard)                  750             1+1            -1 to hit in daylight, can see in the dark

3 (Chieftain)           3000            2+1            can see in the dark

4 (King)                    12000           2+1            can see in the dark; bodyguard of 5-30

ORCS (1-6 damage)

1 (Orc)                          0                  1               -1 to hit in daylight        

2 (Guard)                 1000            1+1            -1 to hit in daylight

3 (Chieftain)           4000              3               -1 to hit in daylight; bodyguard of 1-8

 

HOBGOBLINS (1-8 damage; min 14 strength)

1 (Hobgoblin)             0               1+1            +1 morale (including save vs. fear)

2 (Guard)                 2000            2+1            +1 morale (including save vs. fear)

3 (Chieftain)           4000            3+1            +1 morale (including save vs. fear)

4 (King)                    16000           4+1            +1 morale (incl. save vs. fear); bodyguard of 1-4

GNOLLS (2-8 damage; min 16 strength; max 9 intelligence)

1 (Gnoll)                       0                  2              

2 (Guard)                 1250            2+1           

3 (Leader)               5000              3               bodyguard of 1-6

 

BUGBEARS (2-8 damage; min 17 strength and min 15 dexterity)

1 (Bugbear)                0               3+1            surprise on 1-3               

2 (Guard)                 5000            3+1            surprise on 1-3

3 (Chieftain)          20000           4+1            surprise on 1-3; bodyguard of 1-4

A player can adjust any humanoid character’s strength score in the same manner as fighting men.  Bugbear characters may also alter their dexterity the same way as thieves.

All humanoids do the indicated damage, regardless of weapon type.  If a humanoid character acquires a magical weapon, the appropriate bonuses will, of course, apply.

Humanoid characters begin play with the armor typical for their kind (leather for orcs and kobolds, leather & shield for goblins and hobgoblins, chainmail for gnolls and bugbears) and may wear other types of armor, if they can find any of the right size.  Kobolds can use armor suitable for halflings, goblins may wear armor sized for dwarves, and all others except bugbears are able to fit into man-sized armor.  Bugbears will have difficulty finding new armor large enough to fit their giant frames.

When gaining a level, humanoids reroll their hit points using the new hit dice number (instead of rolling one die and adding it to the current total like other characters).  If the new number is greater than the previous hit point total, use the new amount.  If the new roll is less than or equal to the previous amount of hit points, just add 1 to the previous total and use that as the character’s new hit point amount instead.

In order to become a chieftain or king, in addition to gaining the required amount of experience points, the character must defeat the current occupant of that position in the tribe.  While players are free to challenge a leader to single combat in order to accomplish this, nonplayer humanoids are under no such delusion, and will not hesitate to sic their bodyguards on any challenger!

OK, I'm ready to roll up some humanoids and take on the Castellan and his men!  Who's with me?

Energy draining in Holmes D&D

This post on energy draining over at Untimately got me thinking about how to apply the process in a pure blue-book D&D game.  Setting aside the question of whether you should even give foes level-draining ability, I want to explore how it works in the Holmes basic rules.  From the monsters descriptions:

• Spectres "drain two life energy levels each time they score a hit."
• Vampires "drain two life energy levels, as do spectres, when they hit an opponent in combat."
• Wights "drain away life energy levels when they score a hit in melee, one level per it."
• Wraiths "drain life energy, 1 level per hit."

The only elaboration on the process is in the description of the wight: "An opponent totally drained of life energy by a wight becomes a wight under the control of the draining creature."  Likewise, the rules say "men-types" killed by spectres and vampires become lesser versions of those creatures under the control of their killers.  Since wraiths "are like wights, but have more hit dice and are harder to hit," I'd say this applies to wraiths as well.

Now conventional wisdom has it that, like with hit points, once your character's level falls to zero, he's dead. However, what about "normal men"--also known as zero-level characters?  Obviously one hit from a level-draining undead is going to take out your man-at-arms.  But should that apply to a first-level character who is drained of a single life energy level?  Or is he not quite "totally" drained of vitality?

I say no, and there's precedent in the rules to support me: the "normal man" that appears in the combat and saving throw tables.  A first-level character who has one level drained away, or a second-level character who loses two levels, becomes a 0-level "normal man" (whatever the PC's original race and class) for game purposes.  Any hit that takes a character below zero-level, of course, slays that individual and turns him or her into the same type of undead that slew the character.

This means using the appropriate line on the to-hit and save charts, and not being able to use class-specific abilities like spells or thief skills.  Why do this?  First of all, it keeps your brand-new first-level character alive after a hit from a wight, even if at very reduced capability, and therefore gives the entire party a greater chance of surviving the encounter.  Second, it provides new opportunities for adventure in search of a cure, as you can let the players know that there's a certain temple which can restore the lost vitality (for a price, or in return for a quest), or have them meet a ranger who knows how to make a potion which can heal their affliction.  You could even be merciful and allow that several weeks of rest, plus a certain amount of experience points (say, one-fourth of what it takes to reach second level), gets them back up to first level.

Whatever method you choose, these ideas allow low-level characters to survive encounters with level-draining undead.  When they recover, they'll be ready to hit the dungeon again, and hopefully be a little more careful this time.