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Today is Part 7 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Men & Magic - Volume 1.
Today we will talk about Non-player characters(NPCs) although we never used that term even though it was in the rule books. The reason is that the players never read the rule books, so the players called them ref characters and so we referee always referred to them that way too. FWIW, I always preferred the term ref characters. We also for that matter never used the term Player Characters (PCs), we either said what is your character doing often by character name since we played 16-24 hours a week or we just said what are you doing often blurring the distinction between player and character, it was fast and it IMO aided immersion, although of course the word immersion for what we experienced was never used by any of us at the time.
As an aside see this post by Rob Kuntz for more about immersion. Note that he says that this is something that Dave Arneson showed he and Gary Gygax. To me this is the intuitive and natural way to referee OD&D.
Next we have:
In my campaign, characters develop a reputation. A reputation of never showing mercy means you will not be shown mercy. A good reputation means that characters do not have to fight to the death, that surrender may also be an option. This is a feature of the rules that is somewhat explicit and strongly implicit.
It is interesting to watch the effect of this type of play by the adults in the game on any children (of any age) that are in the game. While I have not encountered it at my table I have heard of games where the adults play characters as amoral monsters. I really hope there are no kids in those games.
Next up is:
Up next was encumbrance which is the weight that can be carried measured in Gold Pieces. Weights are assigned to each item in Gold Pieces. A table provides Load in Gold Pieces to movement rates and gives examples too. All coins were the same weight (Copper, Silver or Gold) and they were huge coins. Although not stated here, you could figure out that 10 coins were intended to be a pound. I redid all of this with encumbrance in pounds and coins at more historically accurate weights.
Tomorrow we will look at Levels, XP points and other things about classes and advancement.
Today is Part 7 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Men & Magic - Volume 1.
Today we will talk about Non-player characters(NPCs) although we never used that term even though it was in the rule books. The reason is that the players never read the rule books, so the players called them ref characters and so we referee always referred to them that way too. FWIW, I always preferred the term ref characters. We also for that matter never used the term Player Characters (PCs), we either said what is your character doing often by character name since we played 16-24 hours a week or we just said what are you doing often blurring the distinction between player and character, it was fast and it IMO aided immersion, although of course the word immersion for what we experienced was never used by any of us at the time.
As an aside see this post by Rob Kuntz for more about immersion. Note that he says that this is something that Dave Arneson showed he and Gary Gygax. To me this is the intuitive and natural way to referee OD&D.
Next we have:
Non-Player Characters:Then there is some detail about who can be hired saying "only the lowest level of character types can be hired." Then it goes into how to go about it and what it will cost. It talks about monsters being lured into service or being Charmed. Men found in dungeons are considered monsters and in this way higher level characters can enter service. The a reaction roll is made with Charisma adjustments to determine success.
In all probability the referee will find it beneficial to allow participants in the campaign to “hire into service” one or more characters. At times this may be nothing more than a band of mercenaries hired to participate in and share the profits from some adventure. However it is likely that players will be desirous of acquiring a regular entourage of various character types, monsters, and an army of some form. Non-player characters can be hired as follows:
Capture of Non-Player Monsters: Morale dice can cause a man or intelligent monster to attempt to surrender or become subdued. When this happens an offer of service can be made (assuming that communication is possible) as outlined above. Subdued monsters will obey for a time without need to check their reactions, and such monsters are salable (see Book II).Very important point here monsters are not programmed killbots that always fight to the death. Players benefit by accepting surrender and using available non-slaughter options. It is implicit that characters are also not killbots.
In my campaign, characters develop a reputation. A reputation of never showing mercy means you will not be shown mercy. A good reputation means that characters do not have to fight to the death, that surrender may also be an option. This is a feature of the rules that is somewhat explicit and strongly implicit.
Loyalty of Non-Player Characters (Including Monsters): Men, dwarves and elves will serve as retainers with relative loyalty so long as they receive their pay regularly, are treated fairly, are not continually exposed to extra-hazardous duty, and receive bonuses when they are taking part in some dangerous venture.It then goes into guidelines for the referee to determine Loyalty and Morale of retainers and notes that this is not player knowledge, the referee keeps this on his side of the table.
Non-player characters and men-at-arms will have to make morale checks (using the above reaction table or “Chainmail”) whenever a highly dangerous or unnerving situation arises. Poor morale will mean that those in question will not perform as expected.
Periodic re-checks of loyalty should be made. Length of service, rewards, etc. will bring additional pluses. Poor treatment will bring minuses.This IMO is a vital part of the game(that is often ignored) and players that think retainers are meat shields will develop a reputation and find it nearly impossible and increasingly expensive to hire retainers. Having all your retainers killed, but you come back without a scratch is not looked at favorably.
Relatives: The referee may allow players to designate one relative of his character to inherit his possessions if for any reason the participant unexpectedly disappears, with or without “death” being positively established, for a period of one game month, let us say.This is discussed in excellent detail IMO with the positives and possible negatives of this practice highlighted. But it also is one way to put a stop to the practice of a characters body being looted by his "friends." Of course even without this, I have had some players who will convince the party that this needs to go back to the characters family along with a portion of any loot. Those players understood Lawful alignment and also maintaining a good reputation for being good, honest, kind and ethical. Yes, those players got a recruitment bonus and a haggling bonus for that type of play. Those they hired also got a loyalty bonus and a morale bonus.
Characters without a relative will lose all their possessions should they disappear and not return before whatever period is designated as establishing death.Some characters would not have any known relatives. Usually in this case a donation for the poor would be made and also to the temple in the characters name. Yes, that good reputation thing.
It is interesting to watch the effect of this type of play by the adults in the game on any children (of any age) that are in the game. While I have not encountered it at my table I have heard of games where the adults play characters as amoral monsters. I really hope there are no kids in those games.
Next up is:
BASIC EQUIPMENT AND COSTS:Then follows a table of items and the cost which is all on the gold standard. I converted this over to the silver standard and also added a fair number of items to this table. Back in the day this table was in the Reference Sheets that came with the books and we would pass it around for the players to use. But since that would cause the Reference Sheets to wear quickly, we would usually hand copy it several times over a couple of weeks to have several copies to pass around and preserve the Reference Sheets. These days of course you just print them off and pass them around.
It will be necessary for players to equip their characters with various basic items of equipment. Selection of items is strictly up to the players, and Gold Pieces are taken away accordingly (players may sell to one another, of course, and then Gold Pieces would be transferred).
Up next was encumbrance which is the weight that can be carried measured in Gold Pieces. Weights are assigned to each item in Gold Pieces. A table provides Load in Gold Pieces to movement rates and gives examples too. All coins were the same weight (Copper, Silver or Gold) and they were huge coins. Although not stated here, you could figure out that 10 coins were intended to be a pound. I redid all of this with encumbrance in pounds and coins at more historically accurate weights.
Tomorrow we will look at Levels, XP points and other things about classes and advancement.
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