Looking through an old Dragon magazine the other night, I re-read some letters to the mag about the craziest D&D campaigns. I’ve seen a few crazy wild game sessions, but I’ve played in only one crazy wild extended campaign:

AD&D2, early 90s — Our PCs started at 5th level, and eventually made it into the low 20s. In less than a year of playing, my cleric made level 23. I remember taking my war cleric, alone, (just me and the DM at the table), into the mountains to ambush hill giant war parties, just to build up xp outside our regular weekly group game sessions.

As a group, we literally built a metropolis using magic — repeated, daily use of wall of stone, move earth, wall of iron, etc. We quickly built up a huge population, and defended them from all kinds of crazy mighty threats.

A couple of PCs went on an adventure by themselves one time, and accidentally opened a gate to Hell. Devils started gating in and the PCs retreated. From then on, that mountain range was literally crawling with all kinds of devils. We could kill them by the dozen when we ventured into that area, (again just for the xp).

We fought ridiculously powerful foes. In one battle, three PCs (including my own) leapt through a prismatic sphere to get at the archmage inside. We all three survived and killed the enemy.

The wizard’s guild was literally on the moon above the planet. You had to have teleport without error to reach it. (We had two magic-users in our party.)

Now, this may not be that crazy to some people, but for me, it’s the only time I’ve played “epic” levels, and the stuff going down in various battles (and outside of battles) was so far beyond anything I had ever experienced before (or since) that it boggles my mind.

Bullgrit

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My gaming group finally got around to giving the latest edition of D&D a trial run. I’ve had the Player’s Handbook for many months, and I’ve read most of it. Reading it just didn’t turn me on to the system.

Reading the rules gave me one main feeling: this ain’t D&D.

The rules/mechanics — races, classes, abilities, etc. — seem well balanced, but there’s a lot of stuff that just feels like a new game system than D&D. But I withheld real judgment of the game until I could actually play it.

Well, now that I’ve played it, I have one main feeling: this ain’t D&D.

I know “this ain’t D&D” is an inflammatory statement among D&Ders, and I fully understand how and why it will completely piss off some of 4th edition’s fans. But it’s an honest feeling from me. Just too much has changed, too much is drastically different from the game’s predecessors. It feels like a whole new game system, not a new edition of D&D. I don’t see an evolution, or even a revolution. It’s just, different.

There are some things that I just don’t want in my D&D, like dragonborn and tiefling player character races. There are some things that just seem alien to D&D, like 1st-level characters having two dozen hit points (and goblins having equal combat lasting power). And there are some things that seem to go counter to making D&D “better,” like so many character abilities and even more things to keep track of.

But when I look at the game system as a new game (rather than an evolution of D&D, specifically), I still see problems. For instance, the 1st-level characters have half a dozen abilities. (My pregen tiefling warlord had 7 abilities to choose from each round.) That’s a hell of a lot of stuff for beginning players, with 1st-level characters to deal with. (It was a lot for me, an experienced gamer, to keep up with.)

I like some of the concepts the designers said they were trying to incorporate into, or eliminate from, the game. Like make the characters abilities work well with a group of allies, and give the characters the ability to keep going beyond the 15-minute adventuring day (after expending their big daily powers). But many of the systems the designers put in place really didn’t solve the problems, or worse, made things more problematic.

I thought the new edition was supposed to make the game easier and smoother, especially when running combat. But what it really did was make combat more complicated and longer. Absolutely not an improvement.

Playing the game felt like trying (but failing) to mimic D&D with an entirely different system not actually meant to be played as D&D. It felt as weird as playing in the Star Wars universe with the Marvel Super Heroes rules set — a bad fit.

Now, I don’t hate this game, though I do see some flaws in the design (especially when I consider what the designers said they intended to make better). But it really does not feel like D&D. A new edition of D&D should be like coming home to find your spouse has dyed their hair, lost weight, and put on sexy new clothes. 4th edition as D&D is like coming home to find a new person there, posing as your spouse. No matter how good they may look, it ain’t what you know and love, and want.

Bullgrit

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The next PC lineup:

Player 1 = fighter, fighter (new)

Player 2 = thief (new), magic-user (detect magic)

Player 3 = magic-user (magic missile), magic-user (sleep)

Note: the below is an overview of how the adventure went. I’m leaving out a lot of little details.

The PCs re-entered the dungeon, walked up the entry corridor, and again opened the west secret door (the spike holding it open was gone, now). They followed their previous path part way, and then went through a door they had only opened and looked beyond before.

They ended up in room 21 — the meeting room with lots of benches — but it was empty of monsters and treasure. They spent a lot of time searching around in there, but there was nothing to find.

They left that room and walked back the other direction, going round and round the spiral, until they came to the center, where a single ghoul was waiting to pounce on them.

I was looking forward to this ghoul encounter. Three attacks and paralysis — I knew it was going to make things interesting. But:

Round one: party wins initiative. Fighter kills ghoul with one shot. Combat over.

<sigh> Using the stats in the book, the ghoul only had 6 hit points even though it had 2 hit dice. But at least I placed some treasure in the ghoul’s “nest.” Among the module’s treasure list is a silver mirror and a crystal goblet.

By the book, the mirror is “of exceptional quality” and valued at 90gp, and the goblet is 15gp. Because I wanted more treasure in this adventure, I upped the values to 400gp and 250gp respectively.

The module text doesn’t give the mirror a size, so I, just off the cuff, described it as two feet by three feet (thinking of a mirror hanging in our home). The Players discussed the treasure and figured it was unlikely these fragile treasures would survive dungeon exploration and combat, so they decided to take them out of the dungeon. I don’t blame them — this was their first real valuable treasure. They didn’t want to take the chance of loosing the gold and xp.

So the party backtracked their way out of the dungeon. It was almost 11:00 at night, so I called the game session at that point. We all gathered our gaming stuff and got up from the table to move to the living room for our regular after-game gab session.

The subject came up that we might try D&D 4th edition next week. There was a couple of mentions that this Basic D&D game session had been fun, but I could tell no one was really excited by the game. It seemed to be an interesting game to try, but not interesting enough to continue.

I don’t really blame the Players for feeling that way. I mean, it was bad luck that they ended up spending all their time basically just wandering the bare halls of the dungeon. In an email a few days later, one of the Players asked if the dungeon had any set monsters and treasure, or if it was just a big dungeon with wandering monsters.

I replied:

It’s a big dungeon with pre-set monsters and treasures in specific rooms/corridors. There are almost 40 rooms on that first level of the dungeon — you found 3 of them. Through no fault or bad decision on your part, the direction you went through that secret door (which is a one-way door, so it was good for you that you spiked it open) took you to the “maze area” of the dungeon where it’s mostly just long corridors and random wandering monsters. Bad luck.

Had you discovered and gone through the secret door on the other side of that entry corridor (or gone straight ahead), you would have found lots of rooms with set monsters and treasures. Bad luck.

I had spent a couple of hours reading over that module, deciding on and placing monsters and treasures, and through just pure bad luck, they encountered one placed monster and treasure.

Well, at least I didn’t have to describe a lot of rooms to them — finding and reading room descriptions from the wall of text can be difficult. This is a problem I have with many old classic modules — back before boxed text came into use. Check out this typical page from B1:

So I’m disappointed. Not in the game or in the module, but just that my first (and now probably only) chance to run a Basic D&D game for my group turned out so relatively boring, just because of the direction through the dungeon the PCs ended up taking (through no fault or mistake on the Players’ part). I would have loved to play through the whole dungeon — I see, now, that’s really the only way to get a true feel for classic D&D. A one-game session shot just isn’t enough.

Although, had the PCs gone a different way, and discovered some of the rooms and monsters and treasures, I’m sure the Players would have been excited enough to continue another game session.

Bullgrit

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The Basic D&D party:

Player 1 = fighter (Str 15, AC 1, HP 7), cleric (AC 6, HP 5)

Player 2 = thief (AC 6, HP 3, bow), magic-user (detect magic)

Player 3 = magic-user (sleep), magic-user (magic missile)

Note: the below is an overview of how the adventure went. I’m leaving out a lot of little details.

With freshly equipped PCs on paper in front of the Players, and the dungeon module in front of me, we started the adventure off standing before the front door of the dungeon. They tapped the door with their 10’ pole, the thief checked it for traps, and they listened at it before opening it.

• A 1st-level BD&D thief has a 10% chance to find and remove a trap. No adjustments for ability scores. Just ten percent.

They entered the dungeon, and began walking down the corridor, tapping ahead of them with the 10’ pole as they went. In our years together before this game session, we have all gabbed about classic D&D dungeons. Like me, one of the Players is a veteran of such dungeons, way back. So they brought their paranoia, caution, and patience with them into this delve.

• Interestingly, by the core rules, pit traps only have a 2 in 6 chance of opening up when walked across. So probing with a 10’ pole has only a 2 in 6 chance of revealing a pit trap before the front rank of adventurers walk on it.

The party reached the first pair of alcoves along the entry corridor. They 10’ poled all around the area, then moved on. When they came to the second pair of alcoves in the entry corridor, they decided to search for secret doors – but only one character searched each alcove. I guess they weren’t real serious about it. But my rolls came up with them finding the secret door to the west.

• Finding secret doors is a 1 in 6 chance (2 in 6 for elves) per character searching.

Before they could do anything with their discovery, two wandering berserkers found them and attacked. I forgot that I’m supposed to roll for the monster’s reaction instead of just attacking, but what the hell? We play D&D for the excitement of battling monsters, not talking to them. (This is my after-the-fact excuse for forgetting to roll reactions throughout the adventure.)

I would say this was my first BD&D combat since circa 1982, but I pretty much ran my AD&D1 combat by the BD&D rules. This is probably the main reason I think back on my AD&D1 campaigns as easy and smooth to run, compared to if I had used the complicated AD&D1 combat rules as written. I ran my BD&D/AD&D1 hybrid up through the mid-90s.

Although, I don’t think we ever really ran our old-days BD&D combats in the Movement-Missile-Magic-Melee order. We just let the PCs do all their stuff without ordering in the MMMM pattern. But for this game session, I was trying to run everything honestly by the rules as written. So we did movement, then missile fire, then casting spells, then hand-to-hand rolls, in order, on the winning side of initiative, then the same for the losing side.

In this battle, the fighter engaged the berserkers in melee, the thief shot his bow from 20′ away, and the cleric and magic-users hung back out of harm’s way. The fighter killed one enemy, and the thief killed the other. No PC was injured. But:

A flaw in old school modules, in my opinion, is the incomplete way they write up monster stats. For instance:

Berserkers (1-2) – AC 7, HD 1+1*, hp 5, 4, #AT 1, D 1-8 or by weapon, MV 90’ (30’), Save F1, ML 12

For some monsters, that’s information enough – orcs, goblins, and other basic monsters. But, for example, berserkers get a +2 on their attack rolls against humans and “human-like” creatures. I didn’t notice that little nugget until I looked berserkers up in the rule book, after that fight was completed. One berserker missed hitting the PC fighter by one point –- that +2 would have made the attack a hit.

The module stats for troglodytes and giant centipedes also leave out important combat information: stench and poison, respectively. After the berserker mistake, I opened the rule book before each combat to check for such missing info.

Now, I think monster stats in contemporary published adventures is information overload – far more info than is necessary for a combat. Although some people like/praise the bare-bones stats given in classic modules, for me, stats that omit important combat info aren’t a good thing anymore than stats that fill half a page with a wall of text.

In this battle, that little piece of omitted text made a difference in the result.

Then the party set about opening the secret door. After opening it, they spiked it to keep it open. They didn’t know it, but that was a good idea, as the door is a one-way valve, and they wouldn’t have been able to come back through it later if it closed.

Shortly after moving down the new hallway, I told them their torch was running out. It was also time for me to roll for another wandering monster check.

The Player whose PC was holding the torch joked and fiddled around, pantomiming holding the torch as it burned low. After several seconds with no one saying they were lighting a new torch, I said it went out. Darkness. “You might be eaten by a grue,” I said. That got chuckles all around.

My wandering monster roll came up with four giant rats. I described the party’s new torch lighting up, revealing the rats right on them. “Check for surprise,” I instructed. They were surprised. Uh oh.

The rats bit at the fighter and thief, and hit the thief for 3 points of damage. The thief only had 3 hit points, so he dropped dead. After the fighter killed two of the rats, the other two failed morale and fled. The cleric and magic-users again just stayed out of the fight.

First PC death in the second battle, just 8 turns into the adventure. The thief’s partner PC, one of the magic-users, picked up her brother’s body and carried it while the party moved on through the dungeon. (That M-U had 15 strength –- should have been made an elf.)

A couple turns later, the party came upon a giant centipede on the other side of a door. The party won initiative, and the fighter killed it in one blow. This encounter isn’t really worth mentioning.

The party continued their walking through the corridors, still probing the floor with their 10’ pole all along the way. They were wandering around in the maze area of the dungeon (the south west corner). They eventually made their way all the way around and up to the back door of the kitchen (area #2) (no other wandering encounters). They were keeping a map of their trek so they wouldn’t get lost.

They entered the kitchen and looked around (I had not placed a monster or treasure in this room). They gave the dead thief a burial by fire in one of the cooking pits. After that, they opened the front door of the kitchen and found the remains of a battle in the dungeon intersection (not really area #1 marked on the map, but described there).

They carefully examined and searched the bodies, finding and taking the small change on a couple of the dead adventurers. After this, they decided to back track some to check an area of their map that didn’t fit right (simple mapping error in the triangular hallway around area #10).

During this double-checking of the hallways, a pair of orcs wandering up and attacked. Again, the PC fighter tanked while everyone else hung back from the danger. But then the fighter took a 5 point hit, taking him down to 2 hit points. Uh oh.

One of the magic-users cast magic missile at one of the orcs, for 2 points of damage (orc had 4 hit points). The cleric stepped up to fight, but got immediately cut down by an orc. Second PC dead. With the cleric down, and the fighter hurt bad, and both orcs still fighting, another magic-user pulled out his big gun: sleep.

Checking the sleep spell description, I got a big surprise. There is no area of effect listed for the spell. No instruction at all about this. Really? So I ruled that it just affected everything around the caster (but not including the caster). The Player rolled and got 10 hit dice of effect. Everything, including the PCs fell to sleep (no saves for this). The victorious magic-user then killed both orcs with his dagger, and woke his comrades.

The Str 15 magic-user (who hadn’t cast anything yet – detect magic not being a combat spell) carried the fallen cleric as the party made their backtracking way through the maze area to get back out of the dungeon.

Along the way, a wandering troglodyte attacked them. It scored 3 points of damage on one of the magic-users (who had 4 hit points), and then the fighter killed it in one swing. I was lenient here and used a D&D3 concept — the troglodyte only took one attack when it moved up (trogs usually get claw/claw/bite).

They continued their hurried escape and got out of the dungeon.

41 total turns in the dungeon

5 wandering monster encounters

only 1 room discovered (but no monsters therein)

only 7 gp looted

and 2 PCs dead (from one hit each)

The 4 surviving PCs got something around 30-40 xp each. Not a very exciting reward for someone’s first time experiencing Basic D&D.

If you are familiar with the layout of this dungeon, you will recognize that the PCs (through no fault or mistake of the Players) managed to take the most boring route through this dungeon. I don’t think I could have intentionally plotted a better path to completely miss rooms, set monsters, and placed treasures.

Upon returning to town (I handwaved everything after exiting the dungeon), they healed up, rolled up two new PCs, restocked torches, and headed back into the dungeon for another go.

To be continued.

Bullgrit

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Our game session with Basic D&D started with the Players creating their characters at the game table. I let the three Players create two PCs each, because I knew some were going to die. (Death can be swift and arbitrary for 1st-level BD&D PCs.)

I have two BD&D rule books, and the Players are already experienced D&D gamers, but there was a moderate amount of stuff to learn and unlearn. Creating the six PCs took 30-40 minutes:

Roll ability scores, 3d6, in order, no arranging or changing. (There’s an option for lowering certain stats by 2 points to raise a certain other stat 1 point, but I skipped this for our first time.) The overall ability score range fell between 16 and 7. No one rolled up a “helpless character.”

• Ability score order in BD&D is different than in the contemporary editions: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma

Check the ability score tables for modifiers.

• Ability score modifier grouping in BD&D is different than in the contemporary editions: 3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12 (average), 13-15, 16-17, 18
• Strength modifies attack, damage, and open doors rolls
• Intelligence gives bonus languages (1 to 3)
• Wisdom modifies saving throws versus magic
• Dexterity modifies range attacks and AC
• Constitution modifies hit points
• Charisma modifies encounter reaction rolls, and sets max number and morale of hirelings

Read/teach/learn the basics of the classes. Choose a class

• Classes are: cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter, halfling, magic-user, thief — dwarf and halfling are basically fighters with racial extras, and the elf is a fighter/magic-user with racial extras

Roll hit points. There is a DM’s option to allow Players to reroll 1st-level hit point rolls of 1 or 2. I used this option when two PCs came up with 1 hit point (both PCs belonged to the same Player).

• Hit dice are: fighter, dwarf = d8, cleric, elf, halfling = d6, magic-user, thief = d4

Roll up starting gold, 3d6 x10, and purchase equipment. The BD&D equipment list is very limited compared to other editions. There are only 3 types of armor suits, about 15 weapons, about 20 other odds and ends.

• Armor choices are: leather, chainmail, platemail, plus shield
• AC starts at 9 and the lower the number (even into the negatives), the better the protection

Spellcasters choose a (1, one) spell from a relatively short list.

• There are 12 first-level spells, including sleep, charm person, detect magic, and light (which is an effective attack spell in BD&D)

Look up and write down to-hit numbers and saving throws. All 1st-level PC classes have the same to-hit numbers (called THAC0 and BAB in other editions).

• There are five saving throws: “Death Ray or Poison”, “Magic Wands”, “Paralysis or Turn to Stone”, “Dragon Breath”, “Rods, Staves, or Spells”

Jabber and joke about games, movies, and women (not necessarily in this order). This hasn’t changed much since I originally played BD&D in the early 80s. (Well, we’ve more experience with women, now. Though we don’t understand them any better than we did then.)

Creating a BD&D character is relatively easy and quick because there are very few decisions to make. Equipment is the only decision point for most characters, and choosing just one spell for a magic-user or elf is pretty easy. (BD&D clerics don’t get a spell at all at first level.)

The PCs:

• Player 1 – Fighter (Str 15, AC 1, HP 7), Cleric (AC 6, HP 5)
• Player 2 – Thief (AC 6, HP 3*), Magic-User (AC 10, HP 3*, Spell: detect magic) [Yes, AC 10 – low Dex]
• Player 3 – Magic-User (Spell: magic missile), Magic-User (Spell: sleep)

* Player 2 is the one who originally rolled 1s for hit points. His rerolls netted 3 each.

No one expressed dislike of the rules for character generation, and most of the differences were taken in stride. The only thing that got any real comment was: magic-users get just 1 spell known, castable just once per day. They can’t wear any armor, and can use only a dagger (not even a staff or crossbow).

There’s an oddity about the equipment list: there’s no description or explanation of any items other than the ACs for the armors. Although we, as experienced D&D gamers already, knew what the items in the list were, novices to the game, (for which BD&D was designed and marketed), probably wouldn’t know.

From a newbie’s perspective:

• What use is a holy symbol? There’s no mention about what it is or what it’s used for or why it would be needed in the BD&D book. The rules for a cleric turning don’t even mention a holy symbol. Reading the rules as written, it’s a waste of 25gp. (Better to spend that amount on better armor.)
• What’s the difference between iron rations and normal rations? One is preserved, the other is not. But what does this mean in adventuring terms? How long do normal rations last? How much longer do preserved rations last? You buy both in 1-week units.
• What’s the purpose of a silver dagger? I remember way back when I first started playing BD&D, we didn’t yet know about some creatures needing silver to hit them. Our DM ruled that a silver dagger automatically hit. It was some months later that we discovered the real purpose of a silver dagger. And then we immediately asked why there aren’t silver swords.
• What’s a ten-foot pole for? What are iron spikes for?

As experienced D&D gamers, we knew what the above were (although I still don’t know the BD&D game rule difference between normal rations and iron rations). The Players made sure the party had 10′ poles, spikes, torches, and plenty of sacks — they were ready for old school dungeon delving.

I didn’t enforce the encumbrance rules for this game session (other than setting their movement by their armor worn). No one went crazy with their starting equipment, so I could wait until they started picking up stuff in the dungeon crawl to bring up encumbrance. For such an otherwise very free-wheeling rules set, calculating encumbrance is a pretty precise operation.

To be continued.

Bullgrit

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I’ve offered to run a Basic D&D (Moldvay edition) game session for my group, and they’ve accepted. I’ve actually offered a few times through the years, but this is the first time they’ve agreed.

I started D&D with the Basic edition. One of my Players started with OD&D (1974), another Player started with AD&D1 (early to mid 80s), and the third Player started with D&D3 (2002-2003). So at least two of my guys have no previous experience with BD&D, and the other two of us hasn’t had the experience for around 30 years or so.

My goal with this one-shot is to get and give a little taste of the old, classic D&D play feel. So I’m going to use a classic module, and I’ll run everything right by the book. And this is where I have a slight problem.

The adventure module I plan to use is: B1 In Search of the Unknown – it’s a classic dungeon crawl, with plenty of classic monsters, traps, tricks, puzzles, and gimmicks. Strangely, though, what it doesn’t have plenty of is treasure. For those who don’t know or remember, B1 maps out and describes the dungeon areas in great detail, but it leaves the monster and treasure placement up to the DM.

There are 25 monster encounters listed in the back of the book. The text says to use only 16-20 of these encounters, but because there’re 56 rooms in the dungeon, I’m going to place all 25 encounters somewhere. That will still leave over half the rooms empty of monsters. (Random wandering monsters are 1 in 6 every two turns.)

There are 34 treasures listed in the back of the book. The text says to use only 15-25, and the treasures are relatively very small – at total gp value of just 2,841 (counting all 34). That’s not much gp (or xp) for a two-level dungeon of 56 rooms. In fact, it seems extremely cheap compared to other classic modules I’ve read – even the Caves of Chaos (in B2 Keep on the Borderlands) has a total treasure of 29,852gp (over 10 times the B1 amount).

If I were designing this dungeon, with an eye on playing the numbers, I’d put enough xp on the first dungeon level for a party of six 1st-level PCs to reach 2nd level if they fully completed (secret rooms and all) the first dungeon level (assuming all beginning PCs survived the dungeon level completion – not at all a sure thing by BD&D standards).

Then enough xp on the second dungeon level for a party of six 2nd-level PCs to reach 3rd level if they fully completed (secret rooms and all) the second dungeon level (assuming all PCs survived the dungeon completion – not at all a sure thing by BD&D standards).

You may think this leveling is too fast or too slow, but this is what I would like. It’s enticing to the Players. But with the dungeon as written – with only 2,841 gp – it’s not likely (arguably not possible) a group of 6 PCs would gain a single level even by fully completing both levels of this adventure. Wouldn’t that be rather disappointing? To complete a whole dungeon and still all be only 1st level?

So, I’m considering placing enough treasure in the dungeon to make this level-gain formula happen. (Again, assuming they fully complete everything, and all survive.)

Or, maybe I could use the Basic D&D rule book to roll the entire dungeon randomly? I’m thinking, though, this is a lot of work.

But whichever I do, I’m concerned that it might not be a “fair” example/test of classic Basic D&D if I increased the treasure in a published adventure. Hell, my Players may not care to play more than this one game session, regardless of the treasure/experience haul their PCs get. But then I’d hate for them to decide they don’t like the game because for all their work in the adventure, all they ended up with a rather pathetic/unexciting reward.

Bullgrit

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Sample combat with the AD&D1 rules.

*******************

The PC:

Yrag, the Lord* [I will refer to the Player as "Gary"]
Fighter 9

Strength: 18/46 (+1 to hit, +3 damage)**
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 14
Dexterity: 16 (+1 reaction/missile, -2 defense)
Constitution: 16 (+2 hit points)
Charisma: 17

Armor Class: -4
plate mail +2, shield +2, dexterity

Movement: 12″ (magical armor is weightless, and does not hinder movement rate)

Hit Points: 81

Attack: 3/2 rounds; +2 with longsword on level 9 column of fighter attack matrix
Longsword +1, Flame Tongue

Damage: +4 to 1d8 against Small or Medium size creatures, or 1d12 against Large size creatures
Longsword +1 Flame Tongue

Notable Equipment
Plate Mail +2
Shield +2
Longsword +1, Flame Tongue
Boots of Feather Falling
Ring of Invisibility
Scroll of Protection from Elementals (all)
Potion of Storm Giant Strength

* This is one of Gary Gygax’s old characters, taken straight from a module by EGG’s old DM.
** I’m only including the modifiers that actually affect combat.

* * *

The opponents:

8 goblins, 4 hobgoblins, 2 bugbears

Goblins x8
AC: 6
Move: 6″
HD: “1-7 hit points” – that’s technically 1-1 HD
HP: 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7
Attack: 1 short sword or 1 [footman's] military pick in 1-1 HD column of monster attack matrix
Damage: 1d6 or 1d6+1

Hobgoblins x4
AC: 5
Move: 9″
HD: 1+1
HP: 4, 4, 5, 7
Attack: 1 [long] sword or 2 composite [short] bow in 1+ HD column of monster attack matrix
Damage: 1d8 or 1d6

Bugbear x2
AC: 5
Move: 9″
HD: 3+1
HP: 14, 16
Attack: 1 spear (thrown) or 1 morning star in the 2-3+ column of the Monster attack matrix
Damage: 1d6 or 2d4

Now, the fight:

Yrag starts this encounter by entering a large chamber with a group of goblinoids about 50 feet away. [Yrag's sword is out and ignited before entering this encounter.]

Check for surprise: DM rolls 1d6 [4] for goblinoids (not surprised), Gary rolls 1d6 [2] for Yrag (surprised for 2 segments, but Yrag has +1 surprise modifier for Dexterity 16, so he is only surprised for 1 segment).*

[According to the rules, DMG 62, if surprise occurs, the parties must be 10-30 feet apart. So, the goblinoids are not 50 feet away, they are now moved up to 30 feet away. The rules are pretty clear that this "must" and "will" happen based on the surprise, not on the original placement.]

The goblinoids have 1 surprise segment for action:
The goblins move 6 feet toward the human intruder (Movement 6″ = 6′ per segment).

The hobgoblins shoot their bows. Normally, they get a full round’s worth of attacks, but if their bows are “ready”, they get three times the normal number of attacks. Well, I’ll say half of the hobgoblins have their bows ready. So, two hobgoblins get to shoot their bows 2 times, and two get to shoot 6 times. Range is Short.
Hobgoblin#1 shot 1: roll 1d20 [3] -3 short composite bow vs. AC 2*** = 0 total attack = miss (needs 20)
Hobgoblin#2 shot 1: roll 1d20 [14] -3 short composite bow vs. AC 2 = 11 total attack = miss
Hobgoblin#3 shot 1: roll [11] = 8 = miss
Hobgoblin#4 shot 1: roll [8] = 5 = miss
Hobgoblin#1 shot 2: roll [19] = 16 = miss
Hobgoblin#2 shot 2: roll [17] = 14 = miss
Hobgoblin#3 shot 2: roll [11] = 8 = miss
Hobgoblin#4 shot 2: roll [15] = 12 = miss
Hobgoblin#3 shot 3: roll [7] = 4 = miss
Hobgoblin#4 shot 3: roll [9] = 6 = miss
Hobgoblin#3 shot 4: roll [20] = 17 = miss (natural 20s are not autohits)
– Well, we see here that the hobgoblins can’t possibly hit AC -4 with their bows, so I’m not going to roll the remaining 5 attacks.

The bugbear wait for the pipsqueaks to test the human.

The surprise segment is over. The goblins are 24 feet away from Yrag and closing; the hobgoblins are 30 feet away and shooting, and the bugbears are 30 feet away and standing their ground.

Round One

Time for initiative. Gary must declare “precisely and without delay” his intended actions for this round, and the DM must decide on the goblinoids’ actions. Gary says he will attack the goblins. The DM decides the goblins will attack, the hobgoblins will change weapons, the bugbears will hold.

Check for initiative: DM rolls 1d6 [5] for the goblinoids, Gary rolls 1d6 [6] for Yrag. Yrag has the initiative, on, technically, the 2nd segment of the round.

1st - Yrag actions:

Since the goblins are more than 10 feet away, Yrag must charge to engage them this round. [A strict DM could say that since Gary didn't "precisely" say he was going to charge, that he can't. I'm going to be lenient and say he can include a charge as part of his declaration to "attack the goblins".]

Yrag charges 24 feet and attacks the goblins. As a fighter, Yrag can make one attack per opponent if they are less than one hit die — and goblins are so. But as the goblins are arrayed in a front line, and looking at the grid chart**, Yrag can only attack 3 this round.

Yrag attacks goblin#1: roll 1d20 [10] +2 from character sheet, +0 long sword vs. AC 6 = 12 total attack = hit (needs 6)
Yrag damage: roll 1d8 [2] +4 from character sheet = 6 total damage = kills goblin#1
Yrag attacks goblin#2: roll 1d20 [18] +2 from character sheet, +0 long sword vs. AC 6 = 20 total attack = hit
Yrag damage: roll 1d8 [6] +4 from character sheet = 10 total damage = kills goblin#2
Yrag attacks goblin#3: roll [8] = 10 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [3] = 7 = kills goblin#3

2nd - Goblinoids’ actions:

Remaining goblins close and surround Yrag and attack him with their military picks. Since Yrag killed the 3 originally in his front squares**, the remaining goblins close on his 2 front flank squares and his 3 rear squares. Goblins #4 and #5 are in Yrag’s flank, and so Yrag doesn’t get his shield for his AC (making him AC -1). Goblins #6, #7, and #8 are on Yrag’s rear, and so Yrag doesn’t get his shield, nor his Dexterity bonus, and the goblins also get a +2 for the rear attack (against AC 1).
Goblin#4 attack: roll 1d20 [6] (against AC -1) +2 footman’s military pick vs. AC 3 = 8 total attack = miss (needs 20)
Goblin#5 attack: roll [18] (against AC -1) +2 footman’s military pick vs. AC 3 = 20 = hit
Goblin#5 damage: roll 1d6+1 [4] = Yrag takes 4 damage (puts him at 77 hit points)
Goblin#6 attack: roll [13] (against AC 1) +2 footman’s military pick vs. AC 3, +2 rear attack = 17 = miss (needs 19)
Goblin#7 attack: roll [12] (against AC 1) = 16 = miss
Goblin#8 attack: roll [8] (against AC 1) = 12 = miss

If the hobgoblins fire into the melee, they have a chance of hitting the goblins — 5 goblins count as 2.5 targets, and Yrag counts as 1. The hobgoblins already know they can’t possibly hurt the human with their bows, so no need to bother trying. They draw their swords and hold their ground.

The bugbears continue to hold their ground (getting a kick out of seeing the little pipsqueaks get quisinarted).

Round Two

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will turn around and continue to attack the goblins. The DM decides what the goblinoids will do. Technically, the DM should check for the goblinoids’ morale, but 1) that is more rules to learn for this sample, and 2) it wouldn’t be much fun to have the fight end or turn into a pursuit — so fight on! The DM decides the goblins will continue attacking, the hobgoblins will hold their ground, and the bugbears will still hold.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [1], Gary rolls [6]. Yrag has initiative, again.

1st - Yrag’s actions:

Yrag turns to put his front on the 3 rear goblins. (This puts his back to the hobgoblins.)
Yrag attacks goblin#4: roll [12] = 14 = hit (needs 6)
Yrag damage: roll [8] = 12 = kills goblin#4
Yrag attacks goblin#5: roll [1] = 3 = miss (natural 1s are not auto misses)
Yrag attacks goblin#6: roll [4] = 6 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [5] = 9 = kills goblin#6
Yrag attacks goblin#7: roll [10] = 12 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [3] = 7 = kills goblin#7
Yrag attacks goblin#8: roll [13] = 15 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [3] = 7 = kills goblin#8

2nd - Goblinoids actions:

The remaining goblin (#5) attacks. (I can’t find anything that says you can’t move around an opponent to attack his flank, but for this fight, the goblin will stay were he is — Yrag’s front flank.

Goblin#5 attack: roll [14] = 16 = miss (needs 20)

Hobgoblins are disappointed they didn’t declare shooting at the human’s now exposed rear.

Bugbears smile at the carnage.

Round Three

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will leave the sole remaining goblin and move to the hobgoblins (6 feet away). The DM decides that the goblins will continue attacking, the hobgoblins will attack, and the bugbears will still hold.

Check for initiative. DM rolls [2], Gary rolls [1]. Goblinoids have the initiative.

1st - Goblinoids actions:

Goblin#5 attack: roll [12] = 14 = miss (needs 20 for AC -1)

Hobgoblins move up the 6 feet and take up Yrag’s 3 rear squares (for hobgoblins #1, #2, and #3, Yrag has AC 1) and the one vacant flank square (for hobgoblin #4Yrag has AC -1).

Hobgoblin#1 attack: roll 1d20 [17] -1 long sword vs. AC 3, +2 rear attack = 18 = hit (needs 17)
Hobgoblin#1 damage: roll 1d8 [6] = Yrag takes 6 damage (puts him at 71 hit points)
Hobgoblin#2 attack: roll [7] = 8 = miss
Hobgoblin#3 attack: roll [11] = 12 = miss
Hobgoblin#4 attack: roll 1d20 [19] -1 long sword vs. AC 3 = 18 = miss (needs 19)

Bugbears wait.

2nd - Yrag’s actions:

Yrag turns to the face the hobgoblins.
Yrag attacks hobgoblin#1: roll 1d20 [14] +2, +0 vs. AC 5 = 16 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll [5] = 9 = kill hobgoblin#1
Yrag attacks goblin#5: roll [16] = 18 = hit (needs 6)
Yrag damage: roll [8] = 12 = kills goblin#5

Round Four

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will turn around and face the hobgoblins and attack them and the goblin. The DM decides that the goblin will continue attacking, the hobgoblins will continue attacking, and the bugbears will continue watching.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [3], Gary rolls [4]. Yrag has the initiative. (But even if Yrag had lost initiative, he’d still get his extra attack at the beginning of the round, before the goblinoids who don’t have extra attacks.)

Yrag attacks hobgoblin#2: roll [5] = 7 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll [3] = 7 = kills hobgoblin#2

1st - Yrag’s actions:

Yrag attacks hobgoblin#3: roll [3] = 5 = miss

2nd - Goblinoids’ actions:

Goblins are now all dead.

Hobgoblin#3 attack: roll [15] -2 long sword vs.AC 2 (this hob is now on Yrag’s front) = 13 = miss (needs 20)
Hobgoblin#4 attack: roll [20] -1 long sword vs. AC 3 = 19 = miss (natural 20s are not auto hits)

Bugbears figure they will have to fight in another round or two.

Round Five

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will continue to fight the remaining hobgoblins (unfortunately, they are arranged such that no matter how he turns, one will be on his flank). The DM decides that the hobgoblins will continue to fight, and the bugbears will wait their turn.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [6], Gary rolls [6]. (The DM considers checking Gary’s d6 for a load, because he’s getting a lot of 6s on his initiative rolls :-) Tied initiative. So they check weapon speed factors. Both Yrag and the hobgoblins are using long swords (speed factor 5), so the initiative is truly tied. The DM lets Gary roll for Yrag’s actions first, but any damage will only be applied after the hobgoblins attack too. (Although, it is apparent, now, that the hobgoblins can’t actually hit Yrag, at all, anyway.)

1st - Yrag’s actions:

Yrag attacks hobgoblin#3: roll [1] = 3 = miss (needs 7, and natural 1s are not auto misses)

2nd - Goblinoids’ actions:

Hobgoblin#3 attacks: roll [16] = 14 = miss (needs 20)
Hobgoblin#4 attacks: roll [3] = 2 = miss

Bugbears stop smiling.

Round Six

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will continue to fight the remaining hobgoblins. The DM decides that the hobgoblins will continue to fight, and the bugbears will throw their spears.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [4], Gary rolls [2]. The goblinoids have the initiative. But this is an even numbered round, so Yrag gets his extra attack at the beginning.

Yrag attacks hobgoblin#3: roll [7] = 9 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll [3] = 7 = kills hobgoblin#3

1st - Goblinoids’ actions:

Hobgoblin#4 attacks: roll [13] -1 vs. AC 3 = 12 = miss

The bugbears throw their spears at Yrag’s front. Since there is one medium sized hobgoblin and one medium sized human in the melee, the ratio of hitting an ally is 1:1. By the book, the DM should determine where the missiles go by decision (determining by random die roll is a secondary option). So the first thrown spear will roll on Yrag, and the second will roll on hobgoblin#4.
Bugbear#1 attacks Yrag: roll [15] -3 thrown spear vs. AC 2 (as a thrown weapon — is different adjustment than used as melee) = 13 = miss (needs 20)
Bugbear#2 attacks hobgoblin#4: roll [11] -2 thrown spear vs. AC 5 = 9 = miss (needs 11)

2nd - Yrag’s action:

Yrag gets his regular attack now, and he turns to face the hobgoblin.
Yrag attacks hobgoblin#4: roll [19] = 21 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [6] = 10 = kills hobgoblin#4

Round Seven

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will engage the two bugbears. The DM decides that the bugbears will engage Yrag.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [5], Gary rolls [3]. Goblinoids have the initiative.

1st - Goblinoids’ actions:

The bugbears move the 6 feet up to Yrag, but they take up opposite sides. This means bugbear#1 is on Yrag’s current front (AC -4), and bugbear#2 is on his current rear (AC 1).
Bugbear#1 attacks: roll 1d20 [14] +0 morning star vs. AC 2 = 14 = miss (needs 20)
Bugbear#2 attacks: roll 1d20 [1] +1 morning star vs. AC 3, +2 rear attack = 4 = miss (natual 1s are not auto misses)

2nd - Yrag’s action:

Yrag attacks bugbear#1: roll 1d20 [17] +0 long sword vs. AC 5, +1 Strength, +1 magic sword = 19 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll 1d12 (bugbears are large size creatures) [4] +3 Strength, +1 magic sword = 8 = bugbear#1 now at 6 hit points

Round Eight

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will continue to fight the bugbears. The DM decides that the bugbears will continue to fight Yrag.

Check for initiative: DM rolls [3], Gary rolls [3]. Tied initiative. So check weapon speed factors. Long sword has speed factor 5, morning stars have speed factor 7: Yrag gets initiative. But this is an even numbered round, so he gets his extra attack first.

Yrag attacks bugbear#1: roll [14] = 16 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll 1d12 [9] = 13 = kills bugbear#1

1st - Yrag’s actions:

Yrag turns and attacks bugbear#2.
Yrag attacks bugbear#2: roll [5] = 7 = hit (needs 7)
Yrag damage: roll 1d12 [7] = 11 = bugbear#2 now at 5 hit points

2nd - Goblinoids’ actions:

Bugbear#2 attacks: roll [16] +0 morning star vs. AC 2 = 16 = miss (needs 20)

Round Nine

Time for initiative. Gary declares that Yrag will continue fighting the bugbear. The DM decides the bugbear will continue to fight Yrag.

Check for initiative: The DM roll [1], Gary rolls [5]. Yrag has the initiative.

1st - Yrag’s actions

Yrag attacks bugbear#2: roll [15] = 17 = hit
Yrag damage: roll [7] = 11 = kills bugbear

End of this combat.

At the end, Yrag killed 8 goblins, 4 hobgoblins, and 2 bugbears, and he stands well at 71 hit points (lost 10). The fight took 9 rounds. Did I miss any rules?

* 10 six-second segments to the one-minute round. Combat normally happens in rounds, but some special situations (like surprise and spell casting) break down into segments.
** Contrary to some claims, even AD&D1 used battlegrids (squares or hexes) for combat — check the DMG page 69, and the DMG screen third, back panel.
*** The weapon vs. AC chart listed ACs by number, not by type. Plate +2 and shield +2 and Dexterity bonus +2 may give a total AC of -4, but for this chart, it still counts as AC 2 (standard plate and shield) or AC 3 (plate only) for flank/rear attacks.

Bullgrit

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