Campaign Procedures and Generators

This is a sticky post with some random generators and/or procedures for various use cases that aren't explicitly covered in the DMG. Nothing revolutionary, but I wanted a single place for easy reference when I'm generating solo content. I'll update this page as the campaign develops.

Mass Combat Procedure (Super Quick Version)

This is a solo campaign that has the potential for a lot of mass combat. I don't need to do a full tabletop wargame scenario (again solo campaign), so I'm using the following stripped down version inspired by Jeffro Johnson's posts here and here (and I think Purple Druid as well, though I can't find the link). Notes:

1. We're aiming for quick mass battle combat resolution using standard AD&D combat rules NOT a typical detailed wargame scenario.
   
   
2. We'll continue to use Weapon vs AC, morale, surprise, etc. Don't forget that fighters get one attack per level vs critters with less than one d8 hit die, so a 7th level fighter with 3/2 attacks is getting 14(!!) attacks on odd rounds and 7 attacks on even rounds against men-at-arms (d6+1 HD), etc . Blood and souls for Lord Arioch!!
   
   
3. This is all theater of the mind. We're running a solo game so need of minis/maps/terrain that would absolutely matter in a real tabletop scenario. You can also use this pretty easily with Braunstein-style scenarios.
   
   
4. This is for troop battles (i.e. humans/humanoid armies, man-at-arms, etc - basically any "Men", Elf, Dwarf, Orc etc entry in the AD&D MM). Monsters like dragons, giants, etc should be handled by normal AD&D combat rules.
   
   
5. We're tracking hit DICE NOT hit POINTS for damage. What does this mean? Let's say you have 10 berserkers (d6 for HP) with battleaxes (d8 for damage) fighting 10 orcs (d8 for HP) with spears (d6 for damage). 
   
   The berserkers are 2-7hp meaning d6+1 for their hit dice and battleaxes are d8 for damage. 
   The orcs are d8 for their hit dice and battleaxes are d8 for damage. 
   
   If the berserkers land 3 hits, they kill 3 orcs (3d8 damage on a d8 HD critter).
   If the orcs land 5 hits, they kill 5 berserkers (5d6 damage on a d6 HD critter). 
   
   If the weapons are reversed, berserker with spear 3d6 hits equal 18HD of damage which means 18/8=2.25HD damage resulting in 2 dead orcs. Orcs with battleaxe 5d8 hits equal 40/6=6.7 HD damage resulting in 6 dead berserkers (you can either ignore or round fractions based on your personal taste).
   
   Again, remember you're tracking hit DICE not hit POINTS in the interest of speed.

This approach works well for our use case and, most importantly, is fast with minimal bookeeping.

Prisoner Table

Since this comes up with a lot of the various humanoid entries, I made a quick prisoner table loosely based on the encounter frequencies of the DMG Appendix C. I may revisit this in future, but it works for now. 

Enjoy! 

d100     Prisoner
1           Dwarf (Hill)
2           Dwarf (Mountain)
3           Elf (High)
4-6        Gnome (Surface)
7-12      Half-Elf
13         Halfling (Hairfoot)
14         Halfling (Stout)
15-24    Half-Orc
25-35    Peasant
36-40    Men-at-arms
41         Amazon
42-46    Bandit
47-48    Berserker
49-53    Brigand
54         Buccaneer
55         Caveman
56         Dervish
57         Merchant
58         Nomad
59         Pilgrim
60         Pirate
61         Sailor
62         Tribesman

63-100  Human NPC

Random Dungeon Generation Starting Parameters

Although I'm using DMG Appendix A to generate all dungeons, there are no procedures for determining the exact extent and starting lethality of the dungeon since the appendix assumes the DM has an idea of this already in mind. Since this is solo play and I'm relying on emergent play to define the world, I'll need some random starting parameters. I've developed the following which I'll probably revise over time:

1. d4 for number of levels
2. d10 for the starting difficulty level of the dungeon
3. d10 for the starting room of the dungeon (per AD&D DMG pg 169)
4. d8 for number of rooms (repeat for each level of the dungeon)

This will give us anywhere from 1 to 32 rooms per random dungeon which should be more than enough. I kind of want to put a mega dungeon somewhere and may use a commercial product if I decide to do so. I really like Greg Gillepsie's products, and wouldn't mind running Barrowmaze or Forbidden Caverns of Achaia, but we'll see.