The Broken Lands - Wandering Monsters

Last session, the party made a short foray back into the Undertemple of Akron. They went in with clear plans to continue exploring past the point they had previously explored in an effort to find, and hopefully kill, the god.

After the last session, I took some time to re-stock a good portion of the dungeon, and redeployed those temple Acolytes that remained. I like that this makes the dungeon feel like a dynamic place.

Shortly, after entering the dungeon the party abandoned their plans to instead investigate signs of changes to the dungeon in areas they've already explored. Near disaster, followed on the heels of that decision - in the form of wandering monsters!

I will be the first to admit that I do a lousy job of tracking resources such as torches, etc. That leaves wandering monsters as the primary provider of tension to making decisions that take in-game time.

"Do we search the whole room for secret doors, just part, or not at all?" The only reason to choose not to search the whole room is the number of wandering monster checks. The threat of wandering monsters means the party will usually look at their map, to figure out likely spots for a secret door and only search there.

To be sure the wandering monsters provides the necessary tension to those decisions, I do not make Reaction Rolls for wandering monsters. They always attack. There always has to be the threat that the wandering monster will consume resources (hit points, spells, etc).

However, I do use morale checks for them as morale provides tactical decision making - the party can take actions that trigger morale checks.

So following the wandering monster check coming up with a "1", the party was trapped in a dead-end room by three large, hairy ape-things with jaundiced, watery-eyes, and slavering tusks, armed with long, heavy spears. A fierce battle ensued and before the three creatures were killed (having passed both morale checks), two of the PCs lay dead on the floor.

Going into the next session the party is deciding if they ask Lassering Thay, the High Priest of Hades, to raise the PCs from the dead (insert evil laugh here).

The Octozoid

A combination new BX monster and Stupid Art post! Not so hot in the grammar department, but oh well.

Stupid Art - Orcs

B/X Monsters - Mummy

Happy Halloween!

B/X does not have a ghost monster entry so instead you get the mummy.


The mummy is another great sword & sorcery monster in B/X. Two things I really like about the B/X mummy is the sparseness of the description and the sword & sorcery-esque fear mechanic.

The description on page X36 is very short and really only covers some basic ecology and combat mechanics, leaving the imagery up to the DM's own expectations. This will, of course, mean that most mummies will be of the wrapped in bandages style. Mummies are described to lurk near deserted ruins and tombs (presumably their own). However, their is no mention of deserts or ancient egypt style pyramids or flavour. For the devious DM, this means that a mummy could look like a normal person maybe with the stench of disease and decay enveloping them.

On seeing a mummy, characters must make a save vs paralysis or be paralyzed with fear until the mummy attacks someone or goes out of sight. I like this as a large part of sword & sorcery literature is the instinctive fear of unnatural things— magic and creatures that defy explanation. Such things are unwholesome and evil; therefore, they should be feared.

A mummy causes a hideous rotting disease with a hit. This is nasty as there is no mention of a saving throw and if you are paralyzed by fear the hit is a near sure thing unless someone is able to intervene. The disease causes all healing to take 10 times longer than normal and prevents all magical healing. This really hinders the management of one of the main resources in the game - hit points. The only way to get rid of the disease is with a cure disease spell which is a 3rd level cleric spell which requires an Elder Cleric (6th level) to cast. In my settings, 6th level clerics are fairly rare which sets up all sorts of possible adventure hooks.

Have a safe and happy Halloween and watch out for mummies as you don't want to be paralyzed by fear (as a Normal Man you only have a 25% chance of making your saving throw) or catching a terrible rotting disease.

B/X Monsters - Carrion Crawler

Two thoughts about the Carrion Crawler:
1. What is it about the illustration of the Carrion Crawler? I remember being fascinated by it as a kid and now my kids are fascinated by it.

2. Eight tentacles! Yipes. Given that they are each 2 feet long and a Carrion Crawler is 3 feet tall, I would guesstimate that the spread of tentacles would be about 5 to 6 feet. Put a Carrion Crawler in the middle of a 10 ft wide dungeon corridor and you have a wall of tentacles coming at you. A Carrion Crawler hits Armour Class 2 35% of the time and with eight attacks each round the characters are looking at making a lot of saving throws.

B/X Monsters - Bandits

Another "man-monster", bandits to me really reinforce the relative differences between adventurers, monsters and normal men as discussed in the excellent post by JB on B/X Blackrazor.

We are told that bandits are NPC thieves that have banded together for the purpose of robbing others. Looking at the entries for bandits and normal men we can see that bandits have on average nearly twice as many hit points and are +1 better to hit compared to normal men. Their dangerous and nefarious lifestyles make bandits far more dangerous than normal men. The average farmer would be terrified of a group of bandits as they could easily take what they wanted and kill him and his family.

We are told that bandits have a leader that can be of any class. This leaves open many possible adventure hooks. A bandit group led by a magic-user could have very different goals than one led by a cleric or thief.

Looking at the Wilderness Encounter Table - Subtable: Men on page X57, bandits can be found in nearly all terrain types, except desert and ocean where they are replaced by dervishes and pirates respectively. Bandits are more likely to be found in "Inhabited" or "City" areas which makes sense since you need other people to rob.

In my games, bandits are often one of the most common monsters.

I would like to come up with an adventure hook involving a group of bandits led by a cleric that are hiding out in a jungle.

B/X Monsters - White Ape

White apes are one of my favourite monsters. They illicit a strong sword & sorcery vibe. If I make up the tower of a decadent wizard, odds are that I included a white ape inside as a guard. White apes are tough (HD 4) and quick (move 120') but they are fairly easy to hit (AC 6) and don't cause too much damage with their two attacks (1-4 each). They also have ranged attack - they may throw stones for 1d6 damage.

Another reason why I like them is that they are associated with Neanderthals which I also really like for their S&S vibe.

B/X Monsters - Acolyte

The Acolyte is one of many "man-monsters" in the B/X rules. The roster of man-monsters and lost world monsters are part of what I believe gives B/X a certain flavour. So let's look at the Acolyte…

They have an armour class of 2 which isn't surprising given the low cost of platemail in B/X. This makes them tough foes for low level PCs as they would have a low probability of hitting.

An odd fact is that acolytes have 1 hit dice of the d8 variety even though clerics are only 1d6. Tougher than the average 1st level cleric. Like other 1st level clerics though, an acolyte doesn't have any cleric spells.

Acolytes are on a pilgrimage and are found in groups of 1 to 8 in a 1st level dungeon or 1 to 20 in the wilderness. They will all be of the same alignment with an equal chance of being lawful, neutral or chaotic. This raises a number of interesting possibilities such as a party encountering a group of lawful acolytes on a pilgrimage in a dungeon that is the lair of a bunch of chaotic monsters. Why are they there? Where are they going or where are they returning from? Or maybe the party encounters a large group of chaotic pilgrims in the wilderness. With the low AC, a low level party better hope for a good reaction roll!

While all acolytes will be of the same alignment, the monster listing doesn't mention anything about their god/goddess. Do they all worship the same god or do they worship a pantheon of gods all of the same alignment?

Acolytes may be accompanied by a leader of 2nd to 5th level. The leader's spells may be chosen by the DM or determined randomly. With my love of randomness, I would roll for them. I would love to try to figure out why a Vicar of Chaos has Speak with Animals memorized.

Acolytes have treasure type U which means that the acolyte likely has 5 cp, 5 sp and 5 gp. 1-in-20 will have some gems or jewelry. 1-in-50 will also have a magic item - maybe a holy artifact.

Under a vampire's spell

On page X41, the vampire's charm ability is described as:

"A vampire may also attempt to charm any who gaze into its eyes. The victim must save vs Spells to avoid the charm, with a -2 penalty on the roll. A charmed victim will be totally under the vampire's control, but cannot use spells or magic." (Italicized emphasis mine)

On page B16, the charm spell is limited by:

"Any commands given will usually be obeyed, except that orders against its nature (alignment and habits) may be resisted, and an order to kill itself will be refused."

Is the vampire's charm ability the same as the normal charm spell? If a victim is "totally under the vampires control" can they resist orders against their nature?

Wow, JB nails it

I am late to the party but I wanted to link to JB's excellent post about the differences between classed adventurers and B/X's normal men even if just to make it easier for me to find it again.

B/X S&S: The Basic Rulebook Monster Roster

I think that one of the reasons I keep coming back to a sword & sorcery style game using B/X is the roster of monsters given in the basic and expert rulebooks. I have typed out the list of monsters from the basic rulebook below. Looking at the list there are a few observations that quickly come to me.

1. The high number of man- monsters such as Acolytes, Bandits, etc.

2. The number of normal and giant animals.

3. The number of S&S-type monsters that can be covered, approximated, tweaked from this list. To run a sword & sorcery style game using this list would require very few deletions. I would delete dragons, the demi-humans (dwarves, etc), a few of the fairytale monsters (pixies, sprites) and a few of the humanoids. Many of the humanoid monsters could be relabelled and reflavoured and used in a sword & sorcery game - for example, looking at the picture I posted in the Priest Class post it could easily be an ogre.

List of Monsters from Basic Rulebook
Acolyte
Ape, White
Bandit
Bat (Normal & Giant)
Bear (Black, Grizzly, Polar, Cave)
Beetle, Giant (Fire, Oil, Tiger)
Berzerker
Boar
Bugbear
Carrion Crawler
Cat, Great (Mountain Lion, Panther, Lion, Tiger, Sabre-tooth Tiger)
Cave Locust
Centipede, Giant
Doppleganger
Dragon
Driver Ant
Dwarf
Elf
Ferret, Giant
Gargoyle
Gelatinous Cube
Ghoul
Gnoll
Gnome
Goblin
Gray Ooze
Green Slime
Halfling
Harpy
Hobgoblin
Insect Swarms
Killer Bees
Kobold
Living Statue (Crystal, Iron, Rock)
Lizards, Giant (Gecko, Draco, Horned Chameleon, Tuatara)
Lizard Man
Lycanthropes
Medium
Medusa
Minotaur
Mule
Neanderthal
Noble
Normal Human
NPC Party
Ochre Jelly
Ogre
Orc
Owl Bear
Pixie
Rat (Normal, Giant)
Robber Fly
Rock Baboon
Rust Monster
Shadow
Shrew, Giant
Shrieker
Skeleton
Snake (Spitting Cobra, Pit Viper, Sea Snake, Giant Rattler, Rock Python)
Spider, Giant (Crab, Black Widow, Tarantella)
Sprite
Stirge
Thoul
Trader
Troglodyte
Veteran
Wight
Wolf (Normal, Dire)
Yellow Mold
Zombie

Ghosts in the Darkness

Somewhat related to my previous post about Normal Humans...

I read the the recent article from AP, Study: Man-eating lions consumed 35 people in 1898

When I was flipping through the Monster section from the Basic Rulebook I stopped at the Lion entry under Cat, Great (pg B32).

A Lion has 5 HD (average of about 23 hit points), an Armour Class of 6, and (the real kicker) three attacks: 2 claws (2-5 damage each) and 1 bite (1-10 damage).

I can easily see 2 lions killing 35 Normal Humans (AC 9 and 1-4 hit points) in B/X D&D - and not over nine months, all at once!

The Effects of Leading an Unsavoury Life

I was reading though some of the Basic rulebook and I came across something which reflects the nature of hit points as more than just a measure of physical damage that can be sustained but instead also reflects intangibles in combat such as morale, luck, skill, etc.

The entry for Normal Humans in the Monster section reads:

A Normal Human is a human who does not seek dangerous adventure. A normal human does not have a class. Normal humans have their own saving throws and "to hit" numbers. They have from 1 to 4 hit points (depending on their age, health, and profession). EXAMPLE: An adult blacksmith would have 4 hp, but a young child or sickly beggar would have 1 hp.

In contrast, the entry for Bandit assigns 1 HD and better saving throws for those who band together for the purpose of robbing others.

The difference between the two monster entries, I believe, highlights the impact that leading a dangerous life has on the game mechanics. Why would a Bandit potentially have more hit points than an active and fit blacksmith? Not because of any ability to sustain more physical damage but instead, the bandit's dangerous lifestyle has prepared him better for surviving a fight through skill, luck, etc.

The relative power levels between PCs and Normal Humans also shows that, even though low level PCs in B/X are not of heroic power levels, they are still a definite cut above 98% of the population. The fact that magic-users also have d4 for hit points makes sense as they also do not have the martial abilities of the other classes so their hit points being the same as a Normal Human makes sense. The Thieves d4 hit dice is a bit of a puzzler, however. If Bandits have d8 HD why does a Thief only have a d4? My take would be that Bandits are not "skilled" thieves but instead ruffians and other highwaymen that rob through brutishness instead of the more specialized skills of a thief - Bandits would instead be more like the Bandit Hillmen of the Conan sagas.

This also brings to mind a very sword & sorcery type scenario that low level PCs could survive - a village of evil Normal Humans, led by an vile priest or adept who is aided by degenerate snake men (use Lizard Men stats).

Art Used Without Permission