Some Old Friends (NPC Party)

My 2nd Level NPC party was an easy one to come up with, because Frank Mentzer did all the work.

If you've got the Mentzer Basic Players Book, you've got these guys.  I just took the nameless Fighter from the tutorial and the pre-rolled characters from the center of the book (p. 34), and the names provided in the section on level titles for each class.  Because they're all using the 2nd level titles, I bumped the pre-gen stats up to level 2.  Voila.

Other than giving everyone an extra hit die, and spells for Clarion the Adept, Felonious the Seer, and Belrain the Warrior-Seer, it's all the same as what's in the book.  Also, unlike with the Level 1 roster, where I plan to just pick 4-6 of the guys on the list at any time, these seven would always be encountered together.

Clarion the Adept, Lawful Cleric 2
Str 9, Int 11, Wis 17, Dex 8, Con 14, Cha 16; AC 5/15, HP 13
Spells: Cure Light Wounds
Mace, Chainmail, Shield, Sling, 30 bullets, Holy Symbol
Personality: Steadfast and compassionate

Fleetwood the Warrior, Neutral Fighter 2
Str 17, Int 9, Wis 8, Dex 11, Con 16, Cha 14; AC 2/18, HP 18
Sword, Dagger, Platemail, Shield, 1 vial Holy Water, 1 Potion of Healing
Personality: Brave but naive

Felonious the Seer, Lawful Magic-User 2
Str 8, Int 17, Wis 11, Dex 16, Con 14, Cha 9; AC 7/13, HP 9
Spells: Shield, Sleep
Silver Dagger, Wand of Trap Detection (10 charges), Spellbook, 1 vial Holy Water
Personality: Instructive and humorous

Greegan the Footpad, Chaotic Thief 2
Str 16, Int 14, Wis 9, Dex 17, Con 11, Cha 8; AC 5/15, HP 8
Sword, Dagger, Leather Armor, Thieves Tools, Wolvesbane
Personality: Greedy but fair

Rolf the Dwarven Warrior, Lawful Dwarf 2
Str 16, Int 7, Wis 11, Dex 14, Con 9, Cha 9; AC 1/19, HP 14
Sword, Dagger, Platemail, Shield, Hammer, Spikes, Wolvesbane
Personality: Honest but foolish

Belrain the Warrior-Seer, Neutral Elf 2
Str 16, Int 9, Wis 7, Dex 14, Con 9, Cha 11; AC 3/17, HP 11
Spells: Charm Person, Hold Portal
Sword, Longbow, 20 arrows, Chainmail, Shield, Spellbook, Wolvesbane
Personality: Flamboyant but absent-minded

Touchberry the Halfling Warrior, Lawful Halfling 2
Str 16, Int 11, Wis 14, Dex 9, Con 9, Cha 7; AC 4/16 (2/18), HP 11
Short Sword, Short Bow, 20 arrows, 5 Silver Arrows
Personality: Cautious and moody

Have we met before? (NPC Party)

For my megadungeon project, I've already made a few rosters of NPC adventuring parties that could be encountered within.  This is the lowest level roster, made up of the 3E Iconic characters converted to Classic D&D (with my homebrew classes for a few of them*).  I kept the ability scores at the 'default array' for 3E D&D, 15-14-13-12-10-8 which means that in Classic D&D terms, none of them have any ability bonuses above a +1, but I like that.

Anyway, here they are:

Jozan, Lawful Cleric 1
Str 12, Int 10, Wis 15, Dex 8, Con 14, Cha 13; AC 4/16, HP 7
Mace, Banded Mail, Shield, Holy Symbol, 2 vials of Holy Water
Personality: Sanctimonious but kind

Tordek, Lawful Dwarf 1
Str 14, Int 10, Wis 13, Dex 12, Con 15, Cha 8; AC 3/17, HP9
Battle Axe, Plate Mail
Personality: Impatient and covetous

Mialee, Neutral Magic-User 1
Str 8, Int 15, Wis 12, Dex 13, Con 14, Cha 10; AC 8/12, HP 5
Spells: Sleep
Dagger, Scrolls (Charm Person, Ventriloquism)
Personality: Haughty and distant

Kerwyn, Neutral Thief 1
Str 14, Int 12, Wis 8, Dex 15, Con 13, Cha 10; AC 6/14, HP 5
Short Sword, Leather Armor, Thieves Tools
Personality: Outgoing and reckless

Regdar, Neutral Fighter 1
Str 15, Int 10, Wis 12, Dex 13, Con 14, Cha 8; AC 3/17, HP 9
Two-handed Sword, Banded Mail, Light Crossbow, 30 bolts
Personality: Brooding and quiet

Lidda, Chaotic Halfling 1
Str 12, Int 14, Wis 10, Dex 15, Con 13, Cha 8; AC 3/17, HP 7
Short Sword, Chainmail, Shield
Personality: Brash yet soft-hearted

Krusk, Chaotic Ranger 1
Str 15, Int 10, Wis 12, Dex 14, Con 13, Cha 8; AC 6/14, HP 9
Polearm, Leather Armor, Long Bow, 20 arrows
Personality: Rude and slovenly

Devis, Neutral Bard 1
Str 10, Int 14, Wis 8, Dex 13, Con 12, Cha 15; AC 5/15, HP6
Spells: Charm Person
Spear, Leather Armor, Shield, 3 Javelins
Personality: Friendly and trustworthy

Vadania, Neutral Druid 1
Str 10, Int 12, Wis 15, Dex 14, Con 13, Cha 8; AC 5/15, HP 7
Spells: Cure Light Wounds
Staff, Leather Armor, Shield, Sling, 30 stones
Personality: Aloof and suspicious

Soveliss, Lawful Elf 1
Str 14, Int 13, Wis 8, Dex 15, Con 12, Cha 10; AC 3/17, HP 6
Spells: Light
Sword, Chainmail, Shield, Short Bow, 20 arrows
Personality: Jocular but unforgiving

Alhandra, Lawful Cavalier 1
Str 14, Int 10, Wis 13, Dex 8, Con 12, Cha 15; AC 4/16, HP 8
Sword, Banded Mail, Shield, Holy Symbol
Personality: Uptight yet generous

Hennet, Chaotic Magic-User 1
Str 10, Int 15, Wis 8, Dex 14, Con 13, Cha 12; AC 8/12, HP 5
Spells: Magic Missile
Staff, Silver Dagger, Scroll (Protection from Evil)
Personality: Egotistical and lustful

*for those not using similar home brewed classes, Druid=Cleric, Ranger and Cavalier=Fighter, Bard=Elf

Not quite a New Years Resolution

More ninja on the blog! 

Of course, you won't see them.  You won't hear them.  You won't know they're here until they totally freak out and cut off your head for dropping your spoon, then wail on their guitars.

But 2011 will likely see an increase in shinobi here on "What a horrible night to have a curse..."  Google's been sending ninja fans my way, I might as well make some sort of attempt to please them. 

Don't worry, though, it should have no impact on my normal RPG posts.

By the way, does it seem like some people are taking their gaming a bit too seriously?  People claiming the 'best dungeon ever published is really only mediocre to good' or how the OD&D equipment lists are fucking up the game for over 30 years, or the 'social mechanics' discussion even I participated in still kicking around.

Meanwhile, I plan to give you plenty more Bumbles and silly videos and tales of WWF wrestlers battling the undead in the new year.  Oh, and Presidents of the Apocalypse will be coming soon, as well.

And if I start taking either my gaming or my blogging too seriously, I've ordered the ninja to step in and take control.

Too much treasure?

I was thinking yesterday about the spread of treasure in my megadungeon.

What I've been doing is just rolling on the Moldvay/Mentzer random dungeon room contents (roll d6 twice, first is room contents 1-2 empty, 3 trap, 4-5 monster, 6 special; the second is treasure in the room or not).  I'd then switch some things around for certain rooms or areas I know I want to have a monster, trap, or special, or occasionally adjusting for density (if, for example, there are too many specials in a cluster).

Anyway, what I've been doing, if the room has a monster and treasure, is to roll on the creature's lair treasure type.  This results in an awful lot of treasure.  Just on the upper works (level 0, as it were), a lucky and clever party of 4-5 1st level characters could reach 3rd level before they even venture down into the dungeon proper.

I like that, as it allows for PC attrition.  Some characters will die early, and get not treasure.  Others will survive a session or two, gain some XP, then die.  The high amount of treasure allows for this.  It also allows for a party to not feel the need to "clear" the dungeon level like you would in a video game like Diablo.  You can leave some white space on the map if you choose.

But one house rule I've taken to using recently is that XP totals are earned by the PLAYER, and carry over to their next PC.  With my very infrequent gaming schedule, it would take forever to have characters level up otherwise.

So I was wondering if I've been doing the tables wrong.

Obviously, the empty and trap rooms just get treasure from the 'Unguarded Treasure' table.  But should rooms with monsters and treasure listed from the random roll also use this (usually) lower value treasure?  Should the 'Lair' Treasure Types only be for purposely placed monster lairs within the dungeon?

It would really lower the amount of gold there is available on each level.

I'm not going to change the way I've been doing it, but it's food for thought.  Just wondering though, how do the rest of you use the second roll on that table for treasure in a room?

Board Game Review: Pandemic

Yesterday afternoon, Josh, Pat and Steve came over and we played some Pandemic.  It's a cooperative board game, and this is the first time I'd had to try one of them out.  Pat had played it once or twice at Gen-Con, but the rest of us hadn't played it before.

For those that don't know, cooperative games are set up in a way that the game is out to beat you, and players need to work together to 'beat the game.'  In the case of Pandemic, there are four global virulent diseases spreading around the map (the game board).  2-4 players each pick a role (there are five roles, so one will always be left out), and set out from Atlanta's CDC to try to contain the spread and find cures to the diseases.

If any disease spreads out of control (all the disease cubes of one color are on the board), or if there are 8 outbreaks (where one city has so much disease that all neighboring cities get infected), or players run out of player cards to draw, the players lose.  If the players can find cures to all four diseases (cure 1 disease if one player collects 5 cards of the same color, gets to a research station, and spends an action), they win.

We played three games of it.  We lost the first two games, but realized each time we'd been playing it slightly wrong.  The third time, we think we got all the rules right, and we actually managed to win. 

It's definitely a fun and challenging game.  It plays fairly fast, too (unlike Arkham Horror, another cooperative game we'd like to try, that from what Pat says, takes about 1 hour per player before Cthulhu and Co. eat your minds).

Recommended.

One More Christmas Monster!

It's Boxing Day morning here in Busan.  We had a crazy busy Christmas, but it was good.  It's a very Thomas the Tank Engine Christmas at the Laffey home this year.  Our son got 3 new Thomas trains, and one James.  He's pleased as can be.

Anyway, I promised some RPG posting, but still being in the Christmas mood, here's another monster for the season:

Bumble
AC 4
HD 8
Move: 120 (40) [in stop motion!]
Attacks: 1 claw
Damage: 2d8
No. Appearing: 1d4 (2d4)
Save As: Fighter 8
Morale: 8
Treasure Type: E
Alignment: Neutral
XP: 650

Bumbles are 12-15' tall hairy white monsters that live in Arctic climes.  They have strong claws and wicked looking teeth, but because of their poor dental hygiene, their teeth often rot so they rarely bite (a Bumble bite does 1d6 damage).  While they are not overly aggressive in normal times, when they have a toothache they are touchy and may attack any creatures that disturb them.  Bumbles are immune to all falling damage--they bounce!
Bumbles are believed to be cousins to the feared Wampa.

Merry Christmas!

Not my actual tree

Merry Christmas to everyone reading this blog!  [Belated Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish readers, and Joyous Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays, and Festive Festivus for the rest of us.]

It's less than 30 minutes to midnight here in Busan, so I might as well post this before going to bed!  (Santa's on his way!)

Not my Festivus Pole either

RPG related posts will appear tomorrow!