NPC DruidThorn Greenwood
Polyhedron 20
Posts
Equipment- Damage During Combat
Dragon Magazine 73 presented an alternate system for handling damage to equipment:
Mercenaries
Developing a Random table of Mercenaries to generate something a little different for your campaign? You could do a lot worse than starting with the list of miniatures for sale back in 1980.
Spy Networks - JG0470 Dungeoneer 25
Creating and running a Spy Network can add multiple layers to your campaign. The implications of a Faction with a well developed SPY Network are obvious. Judges Guild developed a set of rules for adjudication these types of Factions. Published in the February/March 1981
Weaponless Combat
Roger E. Moore's comments in Polhedron 17: The referenced article in Dragon 83: In case you were interested the comment from GG in Dragon 67: Somewhat strange, since they published an alternate weaponless combat system in Dragon 61:
Armor Descriptions
AD&D has some interesting organization for the rules. Not until DMG 165 does GG give us some description of the various armor types used throughout the system. I've tracked down a copy of the work referenced by GG here and will be examining it in future posts. How is magical armor explained? Interesting the different metals result in the magical bonuses.
Sieges - SPI's Conquerers Series
This SPI game recounts the expeditions of Philip of Macedon's expedition into Persia. It reduces sieges to a single roll on a combat results table. Each city has a defensive value due to their fortifications which can be augmented by troops. Mechanics:
Spell Components
Often overlooked, spell component's can drive character participation and limit spellcaster ability from dominating the game. TSR addressed this in 1982 in their newszine Polyhedron Issue 8: As was their habit, Dragon magazine took its tao a whole other level in issue 81: Over the Top? Absolutely. But maybe take a few and make them difficult to come by or in particular demand. Or a sudden scarcity of a few particular items can spur on the spellcasters at your table to certain adventures. Entering a new town while crossing unfamiliar territory? Maybe solo one of the spellcastqers around town. Dragon revisited the subjectq in issue 147: I like Table 2 particularly. This could really drive interest. In addition to giving your party reasons to change up their standard oper...