2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary - Day Eighty-Three

Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!

Today is Part 28 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Monsters & Treasure Volume 2.

Now we will start on the monster descriptions.

MONSTER DESCRIPTIONS:

MEN: There are several categories of men:

Remember that men who are not player characters are monsters by definition.

BANDITS: Although Bandits are normal men, they will have leaders who are supernormal fighters, magical types or clerical types. For every 30 bandits there will be one 4th-level Fighting-Man; for every 50 bandits there will be in addition one 5th- or 6th-level fighter (die 1–3 = 5th level, die 4–6 = 6th level); for every 100 bandits there will be in addition one 8th- or 9th-level fighter (die 1–3 = 8th, die 4–6 = 9th). If there are over 200 bandits there will be 50% chance for a Magic-User (die 1–4 = 10th level, die 5–6 = 11th level) and a 25% chance for a Cleric of the 8th level. If there are exactly 300 bandits there will absolutely be a Magic-User, and the chance for a Cleric goes up to 50%. There is also a chance that there will be magical accouterments with the super-normal types:

Alignment: 50% chance of Neutrality, 50% chance of Chaos. 

There is a table to fill out the composition of a group of Bandits. Then it gives and example of a group of bandits along with the Makeup and Composition of the group.

I have used all of these in game and others of my own devising. I also have had them of mixed composition, by which I mean groups made of men and monsters together.  Mostly bandits, brigands, buccaneers and pirates, but sometimes among the other types as well.

BERSERKERS: Berserkers are simply men mad with battle-lust. They will have only Fighting-Men with them as explained in the paragraphs above regarding Bandits. They never check morale. When fighting normal men they add +2 to their dice score when rolling due to their ferocity.

Throughout this section there are examples on how to create groups of the various kinds of men.

BRIGANDS: Same as Bandits except +1 morale and Chaos alignment.

Essentially tougher bandits.

DERVISHES: Dervishes are fanatically religious nomads who fight as Berserkers, never checking morale, with +1 on hit dice, and otherwise as Nomads (below), except they will always be led by an 8th–10th level Cleric and are Lawful in alignment.

I divided them into three types: dancing, whirling, or howling.  I also allowed them to be Lawful or Chaotic, not just Lawful. I made them as very touchy and hard to read during an encounter.

NOMADS: These raiders of the deserts or steppes are similar to Bandits as far as super-normal types and most other characteristics go:

There is an example and it details Nomads as Nomads of the Desert and Nomads of the Steppes. Usually they road horses, but sometimes they road something else. These were also inspired later on by the Horseclans books that we got the first few copies of during the four years of college. The first three were published in 1975, 1976 and 1977. We had copies starting in early 1976 and continued to look for them as they came out.

BUCCANEERS: Buccaneers are water-going Bandits in all respects except composition of their force.

Sometimes buccaneers teamed up with Mermen, who are covered below. Sometimes the players adventured as buccaneers and competed against pirates.

PIRATES: Pirates are the same as Buccaneers except they are aligned with Chaos.

Of course you have to have pirates, what would you do without them.

CAVEMEN: Cavemen fight as 2nd-level Fighting-Men, armed with weapons equal to Morning Stars. They have no armor but get 2 Hit Dice. They have –1 morale. Alignment is always Neutrality.

Note the two Hit Dice and they fight as 2nd Level Fighting-Men, a group of Cavemen are no joke.

MERMEN: Mermen are similar to Berserkers in most respects, but they fight at –1 on land. They are armed with tridents and darts (50/50). Armor class is equal to Leather Armor.

I interpreted the "similar to Berserkers in most respects" to mean that they would fight at +2 in the water.