Dueling Rules and Combat Options for Classic D&D

A full eight out of ten times I am quite peachy with the abstract (mostly quick)  combat resolution of well-aged edition D&D. The game's primary play arena is granular site exploration and combat typically runs at the right balancing point. (If you don't believe me go run Runequest in a dungeoncrawl setting and see how far you get in a session.)

That said, there are some times when it just runs flat and anti-climatic. Some of the worst let downs being one-on-one fights with a hated villain or worthy opponent.

For going on seven years I've noodled around with a few subsystems to model that kind of fight. The first Hill Cantons Compendium had options for making a pressed attack at an AC penalty (and a defense with an AC bonus). By this Axe used a dice pool and included some scaling options. The following synthesize those with some inspirations from the interesting combat rules from Heritage's old and obscure John Carter, Warlord of Mars.

Warning: none of this has been playtested yet (and I am still working out ways to model fights involving multiple opponents and missile weapons). If you do find yourself using them, drop me a line and tell me how it goes!

Dueling Rules

Dueling rules are used for climatic or otherwise interesting battles between single opponents. Standard rounds and the standard hit/damage system are used but employ non-standard options, modifiers and initiative. Players and the GM write down their option from the following list before the round starts and reveal them as it begins.

Your Options for the Round:

1. Standard Attack. Vanilla measured attack, normal modifiers. Opponent taking Concerted Defense gets an modified attack response, but no Counter.

2. All-Out Attack. Attacker pushes the limits and trades a furious series of blows—at a cost of corresponding amount of AC for the round. If she hits and scores damage at or above the result on the following chart. Opponent taking Concerted Defense gets a modified attack, but no Counter.

To Hit Option	AC Penalty	Damage Inflicted to Stop Counter
+1	-1	5 hp
+2	-2	7 hp
+3	-3	9 hp
+4	-4	11 hp

3. Concerted Defense. Character pulls into a defensive stance, parrying and waiting for an opening to strike. The character opts for a bonus to his AC, taking a corresponding penalty to hit for attacks this round. The character strikes at the end of the round and may gain a Counter (a second similarly penalized attack in the round) if an All-Out fails to hit and/or make the minimum damage threshold.

AC Bonus	To Hit Penalty
+1	-1
+2	-2
+3	-3
+4	-4

4. Dirty Trick. Character attempts to throw sand in the face of her opponent, kick in the nether parts or otherwise distract the opponent (player/GM should go wild giving flavor for this). On a roll of 1-2 on a d6 the opponent can not carry through with their option this round (AC is at normal) and loses the next round completely if the trickster employs a Standard Attack. (In other words the trickster can make a free unmodified, uncountered attack at typical AC the next round).

Who Strikes First in the Round:

1. Character playing a Dirty Trick. If both characters are doing Dirty Tricks, automatic no effect for the round and no effect for the next if they both succeed at their d6 rolls.

2. Character making an All-Out Attack. If both characters are attacking than the character with the higher plus modifier strikes first. If tied than both attacks are simultaneous.

3. Character making a Standard Attack. If both characters choose this, then combat is simultaneous.

4. Character making a Concerted Defense. A defending player now attacks using their penalized attack. If he is defending against an All-Out Attack that didn't hit or makes its damage threshold then the player gets a Counter, a second penalized attack. 

Hill Cantons Compendium II Released

After half an eternity (in internet gaming circles time) the Hill Cantons Compendium has been revised and extended. You can Pay Whatever the Hell You Want for the PDF right here on DriveThru.

Gone thanks to Mike Davison's able layout hand is the clumsy (I would like to think charmingly amateur, but who am I fooling) layout and unused house rule sections. Expanded (almost doubled) are the number of dumb/brilliant player classes and I even threw several pages of special snowflake information about the Hill Cantons proper.

What you will find inside:

• Nine variant old school fantasy (and Labyrinth Lord)-compatible player classes: the Mountebank, Chaos Monk, Robo-Dwarf, Feral Dwarf, White Wizard, Half-Ogre, Black “Halflings”, Pantless Barbarian and, of course, the War Bear.
• Character background mini-game/alternative generator with quick random equipment charts.
• Zero-level character generation and play rules.
• Variant rules for simple attribute checks.

I Am A Golden God. Again.

Detective Cohle had the right of it. Time is indeed a flat circle.

And lest you think I am (again) ragging on the forum-warriors who Vahalla-style arise to fight the same butthurt-battles, I am aiming closer to home.

Mulling over last night's Hill Cantons game, one of those strangely enjoyable “town” sessions that just meanders around, my brain went back to one of the big-ticket PC and high-ranking NPC goals in the campaign: apotheosis.

The punchline here is that I sat down this morning to write a post about that drive to divine ascension in the campaign, ripped the Robert Plant/Almost Famous classic phrase—and realized I had not only written a post on that subject a few years back but gave it the very same header. 

Hmph.

Let's break with the quantum skein of the Norns and take it a different direction. Let's talk about the specifics on how one becomes a god.

Let's take that little tucked-away and sadly dry as sand section on the subject in the AD&D's Deities and Demigods book (page 11) as a baseline. In that version to become a god you must meet four criteria:

1. the character has to have surpassed the average level of all NPCs in the campaign (being something like 25-30^th level in one that 15^th is the average).

2. His ability scores have to be magically raised to beyond human levels on par with the vaguely-defined “lesser demigods.”

3. He must have sincere followers.

4. He must have been a faithful true follower of his patron deity and alignment.

I can live with one as an objective marker of personal power (though the rather low power range of NPCs in the Hill Cantons sets the bar around 11-13^th level). Point two to me seems both a bit dull and munchkin like. Four is just a terrible fit for the tone of my campaign. In fact, I am not even sure who many of the PCs worship as a patron god (if any) and alignment is more about the vague cosmic team you identify with than the codified belief system of AD&D.

Three I like the best as it points to something I believe is more important than just accumulating enough personal mojo, it's more about an open-ended goal that can be played out in the course of the game. It's about the doing. It also sets out the rather interesting gameable and well rooted literary idea that deities power fluctuates with the size and deeds of their following.

Coming to the point here's my rough idea of what you need to do to become a godling in the Hill Cantons:

1. The character has to be personally powerful (at least 12^th level or whatever the class level max is) and known by repute to be powerful.

2. The player has to be able to push their way into the cosmology of the setting. Whether that's stealing/usurping the portfolio of an existing (and perhaps downwardly mobile) god, destroying or consuming their life force, recreating a lost mythic pattern, starting a state cult, being absorbed by a godhead, creating a whole new religious framework, or whatever. There just has to be someway of fitting into it all. In the Hill Cantons where my cosmology is funkier and more hidden than the D&D multiverse, it also means that the player has figured out by the hard work of play at least some of what the hell is going on behind the cosmological mysteries.

3. You must pull around you a real sincere group of followers by hook or crook (the latter seems popular to the party right now). Hoodwink them, dazzle them, whatever but you have to a sizeable group of NPCs believing in your dance. Quantifiable? Dunno.

4. Those followers must have some infrastructure and organization. You have to have temples, shrines, groves, clergy and accountants all the outward trappings of a cult.

5. Finally you have to accomplished several Herculean “great acts” in this world and the others. I like the idea that it the PC has to have successfully undertaken a truly epic mythopoeic “heroquest” (or two, I do so love Glorantha). Fortunately Barry Blatt has already laid out a lovely scheme for in-game heroquesting (in a pointcrawl format no less) that may be portable to a D&D framework. 

6. Importantly it means the player is ready to hang it up at least for that character. It means retiring in the ultimate End Game.

Still want to be a golden god?

Contest Deadline and Holmesian Scroll Creation

A few quick reminders on this lazy day of our Sun Lord.

First of all the two-headed contest ends today at 17:00 CST (-6 GMT). If you have an entry (or two) drop them my way by my email or in the comments section below. The triumphant victors will be announced tomorrow.

Secondly and this is more for players in both the home game and Google Plus Hill Cantons campaign. I am posting below the scroll creation house rules. Long story short, I lean way over to Holmesian liberality allowing spellcasters a chance to pen scrolls as early as 1^st level.

Scroll Creation

Scrolls are the simplest of items to make, all spell casters (except for mountebanks) can make them at first level. All scrolls take one week per spell level to make assuming full-time work.

Magic users create scrolls through arcane research and the use of a wide range of obscure ingredients particular to the make of inks for each individual spells. As such the cost of materials for scroll creation fluctuate wildly as many of the necessary inputs become plentiful or scarce. Thus a magic user making a scroll must pay 50 gp times the roll of a d4 per each spell level.

Clerics scrolls are made through sacrifice and sacramental devotion to their patron deity that cost 150 gp/per spell level. White Wizards on the other hand achieve the same means by arcane research at a cost of 75 gp/level.

Example:

The renowned scholar and mage Mandamus has just reached fifth level. To celebrate his new attainment of a vaunted new spell level he begins work on a scroll of the Fireball spell. Since Fireball is a third-level spell he rolls 3d4 for a total of 7, multiplying by 50 this gives him a total cost of 350 suns (gp) for the scroll's creation. It will take him three weeks of full-time work to complete the scroll.  

Death and Dismemberment Redux

The last few Google Plus Hill Cantons games have been real meat grinders, especially when compared to the sessions of their more stable, wary, and experienced table-top cousins. The mortality rate for men-at-arms is hovering around 100 percent and two PCs had their numbers called—almost.

Instead of InstaDeath I have been using the much-vaunted Death and Dismemberment chart, a veritable old school D&D Texas tradition first brought to fame by Robert Fisher a couple years back (I first encountered it the hard way in Norm Harman's Caves of Chaos hack).

Longtime readers will notice that I have posted a couple versions here before—all increasingly less forgiving then the original—the following version is the one I have been actually using in the campaign in the last year and a half.

May you never have to consult it—unless you damn well deserve it.

Hill Cantons Death and Dismemberment Chart

Roll d10 if a PC reaches 0 to -10 hit points (anything lower is an automatic death). If hit again during the session, the player must make an additional roll at -1 (cumulative for each roll on the chart). The GM can also adjudicate positive or negative modifiers according to circumstance.

With any result the character is out for the session unless magical healing brings hit points into the positive range.

1d10
0 or lower	Grisly Death. Body so spectacularly destroyed that only a resurrection or wish spell can bring it back to life.
1 to 3	Just Plain Dead. Dead as per the usual rules.
4 to 5	Fatal Wound. Character dies in 1d12 rounds unless magical healing is applied. Character is completely incapacitated and will remain an invalid for 3d6 weeks . Scarring makes for -2 to Charisma.
6 to 7	Severed or Mangled Limb or Digit. Roll randomly or GM pick for which limb or digit (can also be eyes, ears, or nose). Unconscious for 3d6 rounds. Character requires 3d4 weeks of healing before being able to adventure. -1 to Charisma.
8-9	Broken Bone. Roll randomly or GM picks limb. 3d4 weeks to heal bone. Also unconscious for 2d6 rounds.
10 or higher	Concussion. Unconscious for 2d6 rounds. 3D6 if not wearing helmet.

Attribute Checks: The Simple Route

“Senior moments” seem to be coming harder and faster for me after turning around that four decade mark. I failed to mention in yesterday's post kicking off the Pendragon D&D thread (the follow-up sections are being worked on tonight) that I had adapted the stress saving throw from AD&D house rules used by the Lord of Green Dragons, Rob Kuntz.

A couple weeks back I had played a less-than-heroic role in the Saturday evening session judged by Kuntz at the North Texas RPG rumpus. One of the more interesting things I noticed from playing with the man was his frequent use of attribute checks.

Depending on the situation he would call for a throw of 3d6, 4d6, or 5d6 against a particular attribute—the dice being added for the relative difficulty of the task at hand. Exceeding the number meant failure. I wasn't entirely sure, but beating a roll handily or failing it badly seemed to have consequences.

Here a 3d6 against would be thrown against CHA for attempting to cajole some information from a hooded servant, there a 4d6 would be thrown against DEX to avoid dropping into an invisible pit of certain death. 

INT checks of various proportions were frequently used to see if he would feed us metagamey knowledge (a sudden perception of a weakness in a trap, the direction that the air currents were taking a cloud of sulfurous gas, etc)

Not rocket science, nothing earth-shattering, but a far simpler and more elegant solution than the constant addition and subtraction of modifiers on a d20 roll or the matching of various challenge systems. 

Consider it borrowed, oh Lord.  

The Fantasy Game

You might have heard this question once or twice (or countless times): do we have too many sets of old school rules being produced? My own head swings indecisively back in forth between “yes, please by all that's unholy stop the madness” and “let a hundred flowers bloom” positions.

Sifting through the massed ranks of posts from the cutting room floor (discussed yesterday), it surprised me--given that ambivalence--to remember that six months back I was thinking of synthesizing a number of the subsystems I had been jacking around with on this blog into an unholy beast of my own.

Like the Domain Game, the Fantasy Game (yes, as Jim the Wampus noticed yesterday the tongue-in-cheek working title was based on the likely apocryphal story about D&D's own working title) was supposed to be less about being a complete system—that likely no one would ever play—but a collection of variant sections that could be plopped piece by piece into someone's campaign.

After yesterday's round of input, I had thought I would clean it up and post as something fully digestable. Memory, though, is a funny thing. Not only do I not remember where some of the ideas were going, truth be told, I didn't even remember typing this out when I rediscovered yesterday.

So instead of a bang-you-over-the-head complete vision, here's a gamble and experiment on my part that can be taken in two ways by a reader: 1. a window into how game design ideas can develop in different tracks over time on a blog (you'll see my bracketed comments from this morning interspersed); or 2. an “open source” outline of a project which you can feel free to add, subtract, modify, riff, comment, or (more likely) ignore completely.

Alternative character generation system

1. Quasi-Traveller, background and event-oriented though, not adult career. Childhood and young adulthood events determine dice pool for attributes. [This system was realized here]
2. Players have choice of background (urban, rural, barbarian, demi-human, exotic) [Brad of Skull Crushing for Justice has been developing something along these lines.]
3. Random equipment table option [modified from my LotFP one]
4. All characters with INT 15 or over start with one cantrip (0-level Magic-User spell)
5. All characters with WIS 15 or over start with one orison (0-level Cleric spell) [I had helped develop some old school-feeling 0-level spells for Basic Fantasy RPG around this time.]

Alternative class advancement

1. Characters start at 0-level. Neutral alignment, chain armor max, only weapons that do d6 max, d6 hit points.
2. First level obtained at 200 experience points. In consultation with GM (based on performance), player picks class and alignment.
3. First level characters can only be picked from the standard Basic or OD&D classes.
4. At 4^th level player can choose to continue in standard class or pick a new sub-class that the PC qualifies for [Thinking on split classes progressed here.]
5. At 5^th level the PC can choose to start a career in a “leader set” class.

Sub-classes

Each sub-class would add a certain amount of exp to level advancement. Maybe same for all classes or each parent class. Each subclass would have new abilities and some restrictions.

Fighter

Hunter

Archer

Beserker

Champion/Noble Warrior

Beast Master

Cleric

Druid

Monk

Rune Caster

Mystic

Witch Hunter

Magic User

Elemental College (Fire, Earth, Water, or Air)

Witch

White mage 

Black mage

Necromancer

Illusionist

Sage

Alchemist

Psionicist

Thief

Assassin

Mountebank 

Scout

Bard/Skald

Delver/Dungeoneer

Leader Set Class

War Lord

Noble

Spy Master

High Priest

Merchant Prince

Guild Master

Court Mage

Optional game play mode in which campaign can be played between two different sets of PCs in alternating sessions.

Typical adventurer set. Played as normal D&D. Footloose characters who will occasionally work for the second set

Leader set. PCs start as leader level class: military, noble, religious, wizard, guildmaster, gang leader, merchant prince, barbarian leader etc. PCs create missions and design/build locales that the other set can play in. Gameplay more similar to Birthright, but with less abstraction [Domain Game grew up out of this germinal].

“Pendragon D&D” epic campaign time 

1. Adventures limited to one season per year.
2. Charts or mini-games for: Matters of the Heart, Wee Ones and Family Relations, Business Investments, Research and Training, Religious and Arcane Affairs.

Even More Ways to Kill and Be Killed in Classic D&D

I find myself coming back time and time again to mucking around with the weapons chart. Usually it is attached to some inexplicable tinkering urge, this time it's a product of the extensive equipment lists I have been putting together for the Domain Game (which will be presented sometime this week).

Notes on the chart:

Urban cost is within 30 miles of a city or town. Rural is outside that range. All prices are in gold unless otherwise noted.

All weight is in pounds.

Str/Dex is the minimum Strength and Dexterity to wield the weapon. If these requirements are not met -2 to hit (fighters -1).

For tech levels see the Rules Guidelines for the Domain Game.

Weapon	Damage	Urban Cost	Rural Cost	Weight	Str/Dex	Tech Level
Arbalest*	1d10	60	90	8	12/8	5
Axe, battle	1d8	6	9	6	11/8	2
Axe, battle (2H)	2d4	6	9	6	9/7	2
Axe, great (2H)	1d10	12	18	14	13/8	3
Axe, hand	1d6	3	3	3	7/7	1
Club	1d4	5sp	5sp	3	-/-	1
Crossbow, heavy	1d8	25	40	8	8/8	4
Crossbow, light	1d6	16	24	4	7/7	3
Dagger	1d4	3	3	1	-/7	2
Dagger, silver	1d4	30	45	1	-/7	3
Dart	1d4	5sp	7sp	.5	-/9	2
Flail	1d6	3	3	5	8/6	4
Flail, heavy (2H)	1d8	8	12	10	12/8	5
Hammer, light	1d4	2	2	2	6/6	2
Hammer, war (2H)	1d6+1	7	10	5	11/8	5
Javelin	1d6	1	1	2	7/10	1
Lance, light	1d6	7	10	10	9/9	3
Lance, heavy	1d8	10	15	14	12/10	5
Longbow	1d8	40	50	3	12/11	5
Mace	1d6	5	7	3	7/7	2
Morningstar	1d6	5	7	6	7/7	4
Pick, heavy (2H)	1d8	8	12	6	12/8	5
Pick, light	1d6	5	8	3	8/8	4
Pike**	1d6	4	6	8	7/7	3
Pole Arm (2H)	1d10	7	12	15	12/8	5
Quarterstaff (2H)	1d6	2	2	4	6/6	1
Scimitar	1d8	15	22	4		3
Shortbow	1d6	25	25	3	7/9	2
Sling	1d4	2	2	5	-/9	2
Spear	1d6	3	3	6	6/6	1
Spear (2H)	1d6+1	3	3	6	5/5	1
Sword, long	1d8	10	15	4	11/9	3
Sword, bastard	1d8	20	30	6	12/10	5
Sword, bastard (2H)	1d8+1	20	30	8	11/10	5
Sword, short	1d6	7	10	2	7/7	2
Sword, rapier	1d6+1	12	18	3	9/11	6
Sword, two-handed	1d10	15	25	15	12/10	5
Trident (2H)	1d6	4	6	4	6/6	3

* A powerful, steel-bowed crossbow. Fires every third round.

** Can be used from the second rank.  

Hill Cantons Compendium of Classic D&D/LL Rules Variants

I finally finished this morning the latest, supposedly-greatest compilation of half-baked house rules and variant systems that I've been tinkering with in our current Labyrinth Lord campaign over the last year or so. (Pictured above, courtesy of the public domain, is the cover illustration from the late, great Russian folk artist Ivan Bilibin). 

Things revised or added in this version (beyond copy edits and minor mechanical adjustments):

1. The revised Mountebank class.
2. The revised Lankhmarian White Wizard class.
3. A new appendix that includes the full version of my alternative character generation system including a new variant ability generator and a revised random starting equipment list .

If you are looking for 28 pages worth of tinkering madness you can download the PDF here. 

Arneson on Experience Points for Special Interests

It's been often noted in the nooks and crannies of old school spaces on the Internet that D&D co-creator Dave Arneson used a heavily house ruled system in his Blackmoor campaign that eschewed a simple gold for experience formula. Experience points were instead given for loot spent on player-chosen special interests, a notion that intrigued me enough to adopt myself.

I had assumed, based on many second-hand accounts, that Arneson's system was either something a bit abstracted and arbitrary based on the stated goals of the players or very class specific. Something like “my character's special interests are in power, so I get an experience point for each gold piece spent on my stronghold, hiring mercenaries and the like; or I am a fighter so gold spent on swords, armor, and training gets me experience.”

A close reading of that wonderful and jumbled mess of campaign notes, the First Fantasy Campaign, reveals, however, an interesting sub-system with some serious rules-specific crunch. I have no idea to what degree these rules were used in actual play--for all I know they could have been closer to my former view in reality. At any rate, they point to ways a GM can inspire crazy fun by tweaking the exp. carrot and stick.

For starters, the FFC system didn't just limit a PC's choice to one area of interest, it gave them seven separate ranges of choices that had varying percentages for treasure spent in a primary area of interest. Gold spent on somewhat related pursuits give smaller percentages of return (80-90 percent) and less related ones smaller percentages or none at all.

A player who chose to have his character specialize in a love of wine, for instance, received 100 percent for all the hard-earned loot spent on booze, 80 percent on women (!), and a mere 10 percent spent on religion.

The specific areas of interest are where Arneson's quirky and fun genius as a GM are really on show--as is the sheer gonzo enjoyability and pulp fantasy sensibility of Blackmoor. Witness the following highly-amusing definitions:

“A. WINE: Spirits with a relatively High Alcoholic Content that is immediately consumed by the player to the limits of his capacity. This MUST be repeated after recovery, by the player until all the alcoholic beverages purchased have been consumed BY THE PLAYER [Arneson's emphasis] before he can proceed on another expedition. An exception to this is if he comes into conflict with other players and loses the purchased WINE, whereupon he can proceed on an expedition...Experience gained while drunk does not count but treasure does.”

Wow. I hope said character did not have to make a systemic shock roll for their liver between expeditions.

“B. WOMEN: The player will immediately-proceed to the local ESTABLISHMENT and expend all funds desired on ROOM plus EXTRAS at that place. Slaves of the appropriate type (left to player) may also be purchased with the funds and utilized to fulfill this classification. These slaves may then be sold at reduced value, the difference being credited to the players account. Money stolen does not count in this area.”

Ok this one is a little embarrassing. Could, ahem, stand for some post-millennial, post-feminist updating.

“C. SONG: The player proceeds to the local tavern and expends his wealth on other players present in either category A or B or C. Damages assessed by the tavern owner are counted towards the players expenditures in this area. Experience gained as a result of area C will count towards this area only if the player is not inebriated when this was done. Inability to pay all debts so incurred in this, or the above areas may result in imprisonment (if they can get you) or banishment (if you get away).”

Partying down to help out your buds. What's not to like with this one. But remember to stay sober to keep that exp award.

“D. WEALTH: Merely the stockpiling of Gold, Silver and similar items of value by the player, If these items are stolen, the player loses full value immediately upon discovery and may lose levels as a result.”

Maintaining said miserly hoard perhaps entailed the creation for strongholds—or dungeons—of your own. An interesting way to again get players busy in co-creation.

“E. FAME: This is gained by straight combat with creatures and players in the game. The qualifying factor is that there must be another player who attest to your prowess in public. Otherwise, no points are gained (referees may award partial point totals if bodies are discovered later by other players (who must also attest to your results up to 75% Normal value). Flunkies (non-Player Characters) can also attest to your success (you get half value then) but can also (depending on loyalty) attest to deeds that you did not do...”

So showing off finally has some in-game utility. Better make sure to hire up some retainers (and keep them alive) to spread word of your greatness.

“F. RELIGION or SPIRITUALISM: Awarded when the player gains experience points while engaged on a QUEST or otherwise co-operating with a Cleric (may be himself) on a task. Funds are given to the local Religious denomination (up to player) where upon he will gain the points. Real Player Clerics may refuse to accept the offering and the player will get no points. Refusal to accept may get the player in trouble, depending on what the CLERIC said. Money given to the denomination may be spent by the Clerical type once 40%-90% (roll six-sided die) is sent to H...See HOW TO BECOME A BAD GUY for other details.”

Leaving aside the puzzling, tantalizing incoherence (what or where the hell is the H that money is being sent to?) there are interesting implications. Clerics have clear obligations to religious institutions, but can also cash in on the piety of their PC brethren.

G. HOBBY: This is a catch all category left to the referee to award details on to the players. Examples of some of the more obvious pursuits would be SPELL research by Magic-Users specializing in say ANIMAL CONTROL or the raising and breeding of LYCANTHROPES. Even the taking of spare parts and building a new creature...One's hobby could even be the devising of better TORTURE machines, making GOLD, the building of flying machines, all up to the referee to outline and define within the limits of his campaign.”

Another simple wow. Who wouldn't want to be a player in this kind of campaign?

New Ways to Kill and be Killed in LL or B/X

Futzing with combat is one of the more common temptations in old school house rules. I, for one, seem to go in a six-month cycle of wanting more and more detail only to turn full circle and move back to the most stripped down and quick (and by the book). Our current house rules (flavored a bit by LotFP) are somewhere in my medium zone, a place I hope to stay.

So with no further ado some of the new weapons, armor, combat options, and the ever loveable Death and Dismemberment chart (adopted and modified in a chain from Robert Fisher to Norm of Troll and Flame to myself). You'll note that the HC version of the latter table is a bit more on the deadly side than others.

New Combat Options

The fighting classes have a few more options in combat. An eligible character has two more attack options to use in melee in place of a standard attack: an all-out attack and a defensive attack. An all-out attack gives a +1 to hit, but costs the player a +2 AC penalty on the next round of attacks on him/her.

A defensive attack conversely gives the character a bonus of -1 on AC at a cost of -2 for the attack. Fighters alone get one other special attack, a shield pummel, in lieu of a standard attack. A fighter equipped with a large shield can inflict 1d4 of fatal or bludgeoning (non-fatal) damage on a successful hit using the shield pummel option. Fighters equipped with a small shield inflict 1d3.

New Weapons and Armor

Weapon	Cost	Damage	Weight
Rapier	15 gp	1d6+1	2 lbs.
Spiked Gauntlet	5 gp	1d3	2 lbs.
Dirk	4 gp	1d4+1	1 lbs.
Pike*	6 gp	1d6	6 lbs.

* The pike is a two-handed spear about 15-20 feet long. A pike-equipped character can strike from the second rank of a party and can be set to receive a charge. It is extremely awkward weapon in cramped underground quarters however.

Armor	Cost	Armor Class	Weight
Hides/Fur	20 gp	7	3 lbs
Bronze Breastplate	80 gp	5	20 lbs.
Field Plate	1250 gp	2	50 lbs.
Large Shield	10 gp	-1	10 lbs.
Small Shield	20 gp	-1	5 lbs.

Death and Dismemberment Chart

Roll d10 after PC reaches 0 or lower hit points For each subsequent hit while below the 0 hp mark the player must make a roll with a -1 for each time he has rolled on the chart previously in the encounter. The GM can also adjudicate positive or negative modifiers according to circumstance.

1d10
0 or lower	Grisly Death. Body so spectacularly destroyed that only a resurrection or wish spell can bring it back to life.
1 to 2	Just Plain Dead. Dead as per the usual rules.
3 to 4	Fatal Wound. Character dies in 1d12 turns unless magical healing is applied. Character is completely incapacitated and will remain an invalid for 3d6 weeks . Scarring makes for -1 to Charisma.
5 to 6	Severed or Mangled Limb or Digit. Roll randomly or GM pick for which limb or digit (can also eyes, ears, or nose). Unconscious for 3d6 rounds. Character requires 3d4 weeks of healing before being able to adventure.
7 to 8	Broken Bone. Roll randomly or GM picks limb. 3d4 weeks to heal bone. Also Unconscious for 2d6 rounds.
9	Unconscious for 2d6 rounds.
10 or higher	Stunned for 1d4 rounds. Unconscious for 2d6 rounds if not wearing helm.

Experimenting with Experience Points Awards

Perhaps one of the most well-traveled topics on old school D&D blog and forums is the awarding of experience points. It's a topic that seemingly no single GM likes to do in the same way as the next guy--and least of all completely by the book. To be sure there is a good deal of buy-in on the need to keep gold for experience as a standard objective marker and spur to exploration, but there seems to be a persistent need to tinker around this standard.

I am no exception. I like the feel of good for experience, but could never really see a way around to what to do with all the player-accumulated swag. At first I fell back on my old simple stand-by, handing out either incredibly stingy amounts of treasure or finding creative ways to make it difficult to convert back into hard cash. The players were progressing at painfully slow rates though and it seem to undermine rather than spur the whole exploration impulse.

Moving from there I began to be won more and more to the “pay to progress” school of thought. Not the unsatisfying AD&D first edition of route of demanding high sums each time that level light bulb went off, but the old player-tailored ways of Arneson and company. What follows are the house rule system we've been using in our Labyrinth Lord tabletop campaign.

Experience Points

Players will receive small bonuses for each real-time hour spent in active exploration of a dungeon, wilderness or other dangerous environ. The baseline rate is 100 exp per hour, adjusted by the GM for the relative rigor of the hour.

Instead of simply earning experience for treasure, PCs gain experience from spending the treasure they have acquired. The rate of experience points to gold pieces spent varies by how a player opts to cash in his loot.

Ways to burn gold for experience:

1. Carousing. PCs can receive 2 exp for each 1 gp of treasure spent in sword-and-sorcery-hero style debauched spending sprees (food, drink, romantic partners, fancy personal accoutrements, etc). Only 100 gp/per level can be spent this way. Obviously, no mentor or training down time is necessary, but there is a 1 in 6 chance that a “complication” may follow (mammoth hangovers, duels, hostile constabulary, angry spouses, etc). Roll on Jeff Rient's Carousing Table for results.
   
   
2. Training/research. PCs receive 1.5 exp for each gp worth of treasure spent on training or research. The PC must find and recruit a mentor of the same class that is at least three levels higher than their current. Game time spent on training sessions will be determined by the GM. There is a 5% percent chance per 500 gp spent in such a way that a player will discover an “object of note” (a well-balanced sword, scroll, treasure map, or the like)
   
   
3. Gear. Finally PCs can receive .5 exp for 1 gp spent on any other possessions mundane or otherwise.

Example: The Swordsman With No Name is a 2nd level fighter returning to the town of Marlankh flush with loot after a sojourn in the Slumbering Ursine Dunes. His share of the treasure amounts to 633 gp. He promptly spends the maximum amount he can, 200 gp, on a drunken rampage and receives 400 exp. Fortunately he rolls a 5 and is free and clear of the worst aspects of said rampage.

Sobering up he enlists the help of a crazy old coot of a dwarf on the outskirts of town to help train him in the delicate art of sword-play. He spends 300 gp on this and nets 300 exp. Before the party's next outing to the dunes, he decides to buy 100 gp worth of gear, a new shield, iron spikes, an ungodly number of oil flasks, etc for which he gets 50 exp.

By the time of the next adventure into the Weird he has squeezed a total of 750 exp from the 600 gold he contributed to stimulating the fantasy economy.