2023-12-26
When I got my copy of the german edition Swords & Wizardry Complete I was suprised to see, there are no details about "Numbers [of Monsters] appearing", or "Composition of Force". For me, both are important aspects of the Original Game as well as the Advanced Game.
But in fact all editions of Swords & Wizardry prior to the current revised one are lacking details about how many creatures might be encountered of each kind. Instead each monster entry gives a "Challenge Rating" (CR) for each monsterr. A design decision some what dubious, given that the author also wrote the Old Scholl Primer wherein it is stated, that old school games don't need to be balanced.
Be that as it may, my rules set - and also most other retro clones - is in need for a house rule to allow me to come up with number of monsters, and possibly also composition of forces.
So here is my idea, basically an application of common sense and real life experiences and expectations:
These will be encountered in packs, but also possibly singly. Thus I'll roll just one die for those. Depending on size, there will be more or fewer individuals:
small animals like foxes, and giant rats: 1-20
medium sized animals like wolves and black bears: 1-10
large animals like grizzly bears, or tigers: 1-6
and so on.
In fact any kind of broadly human like creature. I'll roll a d6 to come up with a multiplier, then I roll the percentiles to get the actual number:
Number = 1d6 x 1d100
This will yield a number between 1 and 600, averaging around 175 individuals with a very widely spread distribution (you should try it on https://anydice.com/.
Humans, Half-Humans and Humanoids, will show some kind of hierachical, military organisation. As a rule of thumb: each group of 10 combatants needs a Sergeant. From two to four of these "squads" (10 each, one sergeant) need a Captain, two to up to four of these "companies" need a Lieutenant and two to up to four of these "battalions" need a Colonel or Commander.
I'd rate every rank of officer in steps of the usual levels. So a Sergeant would be level 1, a Captain level 2, al Lieutenant level 3 and a Commander level 4.
Accordingly a force of 200 combatants would break down into 20 squads of ten each, and 20 Sergeants, being organized into five companies led by five Captains, which again would be split up into one battalion of three companies and one of two companies, each led by a Lieutenant, who both finally answer to the Commander.
Companies, two to four squads, will be equipped according to the different unit types given in Chainmail: light foot, heavy foot, armored foot, archers and light horse, medium horse and heavy horse.
So say these 200 combatants were Orcs: I'd envision four squads of orcs mounted on wargs ("medium horse" types), and 8 squads each of heavy foot Orcs, and archers. Sounds like a reasonable band of Orcs to me 👹.
I wouldn't go so far as to formulate a rule about Clerics and Magic-Users in human- and humanoid type groups, settlements and forces. But there sure'll be a few. I'd place them individually as circumstances imply. Best, the presence of these magical types would be a consequence of immersive story telling and world buliding.
These always come in huge large numbers. To keep things simple, just roll a d6 and then that many d20s:
Number = 1d6 x 1d20
At times of large scale migrations probably the same approach as for humanoids would make sense.
Be it mythical creatures like giants, medusae or aberations of pop culture. I'd start with a flip of a coin: In 50% of encounters, characters will meet a single creature. In all other cases, I'd roll a d4 or d6 depending on size - simple, really.
Please send any comments or questions to wandererbill@betola.de or @wandererbill@tabletop.social
Copyright: ~lkh • Di. Dez. 26 12:53:33 CET 2023 • License: CC BY-NC 4.0 • Hosted by: SDF-EU Public Access UNIX System - https://sdf-eu.org