Kreations
I cooked up a simple record sheet to track hirelings and men-at-arms:
Labyrinth Minions Record Sheet - PDF
It’s simple and general enough to work with nearly any system. The ‘Notes’ section can, of course, be used to record all sorts of info, including ability scores (if needed for hirelings) and various traits and characteristics. For the latter, I recommend checking out Robert Lionheart’s Random Hireling Generator in Knockspell #1.
If you’re in need of a quick and simple system to determine the number of applicant hirelings, their type, and their armor and weapons, check out Labyrinth Minions.
Also, don’t miss a 4×6 index card take on the Labyrinth Minions system at Dungeons and Digressions. I liked ze bulette’s idea of including the 0-level attack matrix on the sheet so I did the same here.
UPDATE: Now that I’ve posted this, it dawns on me that I wanted to also make a landscape version. I’ve been preferring digest-sized books and landscape sheets lately. I’ll have one up in a day or two.
Tags: Kreations, Labyrinth Lord
Was flipping through an old notebook when I came across this:
Unstocked Tower and Dungeon - PDF
A 9 level, 50′ diameter tower with a small 3-level dungeon below.
To be honest, I have no idea what this was for. I don’t remember drawing it up, though it’s definitley my writing. My guess is that it’s from the late 1980s, though it could be as recent as 1993.
One thing I find a little curious are the diagonal rooms, particularly the parallelogram chamber on the 3rd level. That isn’t really like me. I wonder if that was something special.
In any event, it’s free for the taking. If anyone happens to use this, let me know.
After some feedback, discussion, and reflection, I’ve tweaked the original draft of Labyrinth Minions a bit. Here’s the final product:
Labyrinth Minions - PDF
I changed the roll for the number of potential hirelings found per recruiting effort to a d6 and added a couple of simple modifiers for city size. GMs can further modify this roll quite easily to take campaign conditions, regional attitudes, and party reputation into account. The result of a massive recruiting effort which canvases all the taverns and inns in a city will result in a roll of a handful of d6s. Which is always a lot of fun.
I also modified the weapons an armor table a bit. Swords & Wizardry players may want to tweak the armor chart a bit more, perhaps substituting ring mail for one of the scale mail results. A little more variety was added to the weapon/shield column.
A quick note regarding hit points: I stuck with 3-6 hit points for men-at-arms as I feel that the weaker types simply will not attempt that line of work. Another possibility is that a 1hp weakling wants to be a man-at-arms but is not regarded as such by PCs and gets lumped in with the non-combatants anyway. Who wants employ someone lacking in even the most basic toughness as hired muscle? I upped the non-combatant hit points to 1d4+1 for similar reasons. The most fragile just won’t choose this line of work, or won’t be seriously considered by adventurers as labyrinth material.
I also added a quick note about wages, reaction checks, and loyalty. This quick system is not meant to replace any of that. It’s simply a quick way to see who’s looking for work, how tough they are, and what sort of gear the fighting men have.
Finally, I must point out the nifty card-sized Labyrinth Lord Hirelings Generator and Record Sheet at Dungeons and Digressions. Very cool, and I particularly like how he incorporated the attack tables and saving throws for 0-level hirelings into the card. That’s something I always have to glance at during play, and it always sort of drives me nuts.
Jeff Rients commented that he’d probably hand the thing out to his players and “let them roll their own dang hirelings.” That, as they say, is brilliant. I like this record concept and the idea of letting players roll up the red shirts. I will probably have to do something similar for my own game.
Also, I just noticed that he included a note that his card was “inspired by a Lord Kilgore creation.” That’s very classy and very appreciated.
I will also be adding this to the Kilgore Kreations page. The collection of free stuff is slowly growing.
Tags: Kreations, Labyrinth Lord, rules
UPDATE: The final version of Labyrinth Minions has been posted. The link on this post now points to the new version. It can also be found on the Kilgore Kreations page.
Over the past several sessions of my son’s ongoing Labyrinth Lord campaign, we’ve cooked up a simple system for PCs to look for hirelings. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s been serving pretty well so far and I thought I’d toss it up here and see if anyone had any thoughts:
Labyrinth Minions - PDF
I allow PCs to use their reaction modifier for charisma to adjust the cost. My son’s thief, for example, has a reaction modifier of -1. So he only has to pay 4gp per effort rather than 5.
I don’t see why this wouldn’t work with Swords & Wizardry as well, though studded and scale are not armor types in the White Box game. (Maybe work in ring for Core.)
UPDATE: I should make clear that all normal rules for reaction checks, loyalty, wages, treasure shares, and the like remain in effect. This is intended to merely serve as a quick way to determine how many potential recruits show interest and what sorts of NPCs they are.
Also, I mixed up the die types for armor and weapon/shield. Armor is d8 and weapon/shield is d6. This will be corrected in the next version.
Tags: Kreations, Labyrinth Lord, rules
I’ve been tinkering with a random Swords & Wizardry White Box NPC generator and I’ve reached a point where I’m ready to post a sample for feedback.
40 Random NPCs - PDF
The generator currently only creates fighters, clerics, and magic-users, no demi-humans.
I’ve stuck to standard White Box rules, though I will probably develop a version that incorporates our own house rules once the standard is completed. Here is the methodology I’ve used:
- 3d6 in order for abilities
- Class determined by prime requisite
- Hit Points rerolled each level, keep if higher than previous level
Where I had to stray from by-the-book random generation was with weapons, armor, and magic items. I’ve tried to create a sensible system to arm and armor NPCs, with a chance for magical arms and armor based on level.
Additional magical items are even trickier. What I’ve tried to do is get a list of magic items for each class, rank them subjectively by “power” and make more powerful items only available to higher-level NPCs, and determine the number of magic items based on NPC level, taking previous determination of magic arms and armor into account. Suffice it to say that I feel my formulas need some tweaking yet. At the same time, I don’t think I’m too far off. And I’ve learned over the years that seemingly-inconsistent random results can force a DM come up with rationalizations that are far more interesting than mundane results would have created.
For instance, #37 on the list is a 10th level fighter with no magic items whatsoever. What’s his story? Were his items recently stolen by the local thieves’ guild? Was he a captain in the royal guard but cast out (perhaps over an affair with the duke’s daughter)? Maybe he’s a gladiator that won his freedom but hasn’t two coppers to rub together. Or maybe he didn’t win his freedom, he’s actually an escapee from the games with a massive reward offered for his return. (Good luck convincing him to go back to the pits below the arena…) Of course, the DM is always free to adjust anything as he or she sees fit, but working sense out of senseless randomness can be half the fun.
All that said, I do want NPCs generated by this to conform more or less to standard expectations. I want outliers to be the exception, not the rule. If I’ve overlooked anything, don’t be shy. Let me know.
UPDATE: I should add that actual errors (wrong armor class, impossible hit point total, wrong saving throws or base hit bonus, etc.) are of the utmost importance. For AC, for instance, the number should be correct taking dexterity, armor, shield, and magic items in consideration. (One possible problem would be if a character ends up with two cloaks or protection, for instance. Right now they would both count.)
Tags: Kreations
I’ve cooked up a digest-sized character sheet for Swords & Wizardry White Box. Actually, it’s probably good to use with all sorts of old school games, though the “hit bonus” is S&W specific.
White Box Character Sheet - PDF
It’s a two-sided sheet laid out on one side. This allows you to print one out, flip the sheet, print another on the back, and cut them in half.
I’ll also be adding this to the free Kreations page.
Feedback is, as always, very welcome.
Tags: Kreations, Swords & Wizardry
White Box Thievery - PDF
Sneaking and Skullduggery for Regular Adventurers
I’ve updated my take on thief skills for White Box Swords & Wizardry. No mechanical changes were made other than specifying some racial modifiers to some of the skills.
I’m still not sure if 25% XP is enough or not. I also haven’t decided if the ability to read magic scrolls is really needed, as thieves can be magic-users with this system.
Check out the updated version if interested. Any feedback (and don’t be afraid to hurt Kilgore’s feelings) is welcome.
I’ve also added the WB Thief to the Kreations page.
Tags: Kreations, rules, Swords & Wizardry, thief
I wanted to get this up and maybe get a little feedback, so even though it’s a bit rough and I don’t have a lot of time to talk about just this minute, here is my take on thieves for Swords & Sorcery White Box:
White Box Thievery
A Sub-Class option for Rogues and Footpads
I haven’t played this yet, so it’s very beta. However, I feel that this sub-class (or additional class) approach solves most of the problems I personally have with the thief, particularly when a large part of explaining how it works really involves how all characters engage in what have come to be called “thief skills.”
Check it out if interested. I’d love to hear what anyone thinks about it.
UPDATE: It seems that I’ve jacked up the PDF a little bit. I didn’t used dedicated PDF creation software, but rather printing software that also can make PDFs. Some of the punctuation marks are missing in the document. I’ll get a corrected version up tonight.
The current version is fine, just some quote marks and such are missing.
UPDATE 2: I’ve got a second draft up now.
Tags: Kreations, rules, Swords & Wizardry, thief
