The Saga of Malchor

Next time you play old school D&D try waging war on the dungeon... Fighter, cleric, mage, thief (FCMT). Over the years it has become the fundamental party framework, and the idea has carried forward from the old-school into modern games. D&D 4e seemed explicitly tuned for this framework, but it goes way back. Certainly, the Holmes rules include the four core classes even if OD&D did not. Old school D&D doesn't play very well if you assume FCMT is the ideal, at least not at low levels. You need a whole squad of fighters -- meatshields -- to form the front line. Even then, casualty rates in any combat are going to be high. The average F1 Veteran will only be able to take a single good hit, just like a solider on the battlefield in Chainmail. After all, he's just one guy, not a Hero or Superhero! In the Holmes wandering monster tables for a dungeon level 1, you could encounter 3-12 kobolds or 2-8 goblins. They're not particularly tough creatures, but it would b...

  The Demise of Lefzer of the Silver Cloak This is an OD&D solo play report inspired by  Smoldering Wizard . I’ve been doing a lot of solo role-playing lately, but this is my first time using the random dungeon generation rules from Strategic Review #1, and I’m curious how it will go. My character is  Lefzer of the Silver Cloak  (name generated randomly using the Zenopus  Holmesian Random Names . He is wholly underwhelming, with low average scores except for CON and DEX, which are both 5 (giving him a penalty on hp and missile attacks). I rolled well for hit points though, so he can at least take one solid hit and survive (7 hp). I rolled with dice (3d6 in order, as per the rules) rather than using one of the character generators to enjoy the sound of the bones rattling. Tools BLUEHOLME Prentice Rules Wandering monster table from BLUEHOLME Random dungeon generation tables from Strategic ...

In the Wilderness Part 2 A solo-roleplaying session with Mythras RPG in a pseudo-medieval low magic setting. Recap In the last session, Rayburn and Mildred set out across the countryside. Mildred said that she had seen something while hunting in the woods (I see her as an aspirational ranger-type). The first post is here if you want to get caught up: Session 1 Part 1 . Play Notes This is a solo-roleplaying session and largely randomly generated. I used a hex grid edited in Gimp, and each hex is added as R&M encountered that hex. I created some random tables ahead of time (and borrowed a few from the internet), and this seemed surprisingly effective. The "writeup" is in blockquotes below. If you just want the summary without the mechanical notes on gameplay, you can just read those bits. I hope you enjoy the session report -- I enjoyed playing it! Tools Mythras Core Rules (pdf) Recluse v1 Oracle The Lair: Random Wilderness Encounters (creaturespotlight.blogspot.com) A...

In the Wilderness During the last session I tried the Mythras rules for the first time. Rayburn St. Millê arm wrestled a friend and got into a bar fight with one of Lord Gillesby's henchmen. I enjoyed the relative crunch of the system. In this session, I will make Mildred (barmaid from Session 0) into a fully-realized character and do some completely random hex-crawling. Should be fun! Tools Mythras Core Rules Recluse v1 Oracle I’ve been using Recluse as my oracle for these sessions since I was introduced to it. I’ve previously used Mythic, which is a good system, but I enjoy that Recluse offers quick resolution and still seems to provide a good degree of interesting outcomes. Recap In the last session, blacksmith journeyman Rayburn St. Millê felt the injustice of Lord Gillesby who paid only half for the sword that Ray and his master had toiled over for many months. Rayburn confronted the henchman at the tavern and had his ass...

Character demise is a constant in OSR Dungeons & Dragons. It’s practically a mark of pride. I remember a magic-user I played when I was probably twelve years old getting cut down in one stroke by a stray wandering goblin. Grognard. While I can appreciate the simple stat-block character and the deadly funnel (and it’s how I usually run my home games), I like the fact that characters in later editions are less squishy at low levels. I’m one of those people who was brought up with Moldvay/Mentzer who really enjoys 4th edition. When I’m running old school, sometimes it’s nice not to need a raft of new characters to offset the deadliness of, well, anything in the dungeon. I read plenty of ideas for toughening up low-levelers. You can start them at a higher level, give them max hit points, implement some kind of death save, and the like – all good suggestions, btw. The option that I like the best is to give more hit points at first level, and here’s how it works: Allow your PCs to roll f...

This is a hasty one-shot test of the Mythras game (which contains the DNA of the RuneQuest and Basic Roleplaying (BRP) rules). I’ve created a character, Rayburn St. Millê , and have imagined a rather barebones setting in a mythic Britannic kingdom that has echoes of medieval Earth. Tools & Rules Mythras Rules Recluse v1 Oracle There’s a lot that I don’t know yet about the Mythras system – this is my very first time trying the rules – but these are where I landed on Ray’s Passions. I’m hoping that I can leverage these at some point, although I’m not sure how yet. Passion     % Hate (Local Lord) 51% Loyalty (Blacksmith/Adopted Father) 75% Desire (Elaine) 75%   Lord Gillesby is widely known as a cruel and unforgiving man, and most of the residents of the vales in the shadow of his keep try to avoid his notice. One day, a dour man wearing a woolen cloak and mail shirt beneath shows u...