Encounter Tables - Basic / Holmes Campaigning

Encounter Tables - Basic / Holmes Campaigning

I am reworking my encounter tables for the Warholds of the North. This means looking at all of the flora and fauna, organizations, cults and plots available in the North and organizing these into the appropriate charts. I don't run everything off of these charts but I do reach for them frequently as they help flesh out adventuring content for the players.

STEADING ENCOUNTERS - A steading in the Warholds of the North is a semi fortified farming community too small to really be called a village. More a few farming families and maybe a tradesman who have built their homes close together for protection. Population 3d4 Male Adults, 3d4 Female Adults, 1d6 Seniors, 2d6 Children / Minors of varying ages.

Roll an Encounter only once per day spent at the Steading. Chance of an encounter is a roll of a six on 1d6 but as DM you can decide to throw in an encounter any time you want to spice up the action.

Roll 1d100
01-02 Sleeping Guard
03-04 Door, Gate, Window left open and obviously unsecured and unwatched
05-06 Overly Friendly Dog - Follows a character until driven off, does nothing useful.
07-08 Barking Cowardly Dog - Barks and Barks and Barks, then runs out of kicking range to return to bark, on and on for 1d12 + 4 Minutes. Dog belongs to a farmer or guard or the only tradesman in the Steading.
09-10 Hanging Tree - One Dead Bandit. Has been hanging there for 1d6 days.
11-12 Human Mercenary for hire. Chaos / Evil aligned.
13-14 Cultist of "The Piper".
15-16 Small Stone Shrine of Ohcnabog - Northern God of Metal and Smithing
17-18 Wandering Serene Temple Monk
19-20 Wandering Druid of the Henge - Doom Speaker
21-22 Sworn Warriors of Hraedir 2d4, Riding through on their way to the Kingdom of Morgwen. Will look for opportunities to get into fights.
23-24 Small Accidental Fire. If ignored in 2d4 Combat Rounds will turn into a large accidental fire. If ignored in 2d6 more combat rounds will spread to 1d3 other nearby buildings.
25-26 Serious Weather Develops. A deep fog. A sheet of pouring rain. A howling thunderstorm. Heavy Snow and sleet. Serious weather lingers in the region for 2d12 hours impacting travel.
27-28 Playing Local Children 1d6+1
29-30 Arguing local husband and wife.
31-32 Teenage local. "Running away to become an adventurer, join the warriors in Hraedir, headed to Svordheim to find the Pentagarchy to learn to become a wizard, etc...
33-34 Rumor Subtable
35-36 Growing Herbs - Apple Leaf 2d6 Gatherings
37-38 Growing Herbs - Butcher's Grass 2d6 Gatherings
39-40 Growing Herbs - Beggar's Buttons 2d6 Gatherings
41-42 Growing Herbs - Candle Wick 2d6 Gatherings
43-44 Elven Grain growing wild at the edge of a farmer's garden. 1d6 Gatherings.
45-46 Sworn Warriors of the Kingdom of Morgwen, 2d4. Traveling towards the Kingdom of Hraedir on business. Will keep to themselves unless pressed and then will get suspicious, defensive, even hostile.
47-48 Renegade Trollborn Youth / Escaped Convict
49-50 Scorched One Beggar - Untouchable individual so badly disfigured by dragon fire that they are forced to beg for the rest of their lives.
51-52 1d4 Human Prospectors. Coming for supplies. Very suspicious and protective of their very minor surface mine about a day from the location.
53-54 Lizard Man Mercenary - Neutral Alignment
55-56 Hallow - Human warrior who specializes in hunting and destroying undead, is currently between assignments.
57-58 Gupper Halfling Spies 1d4+1
59-60 Militia performing their rounds, will stop and question adventurers about their business and remind them of the rules of the Steading. 1d4
61-62 Dwarves 1d4 - Wandering members of a regional Free Company looking for opportunities for wealth.
63-64 Cultist of the "Rag Man".
65-66 Centaur Traders 1d3
67-68 Wandering Apostate Monk. Will challenge any other monk to a non lethal martial combat. "Your monkey style is no match for my three legged dog style!"
69-70 Temple of the Voice - Missionary.
71-72 Pentagarchy Scarlet Riders 1d4+1 - Roaming the Kingdom of Ostvick looking for any rumors about arcane spell casters who might be either unsanctioned practitioners of "legal" magic or heretics.
73-74 Ragged Cloak Druid - Scouting for Queen Geirrid.
75-76 Attack on the Steading by Picts (Berserkers) 2d6+2 Berserkers
77-78 Attack on the Steading by angry Neanderthals 3d6+2
79-80 Attack on the Steading by Pig Faced Orcs 4d6 + 1 Orc Shaman
81-82 Small Shrine to Balder - God of Warriors and Leadership
83-84 Gnome Wagon with 2 sway back horses and 1d4+2 wandering Gnome entertainers.
85-86 "Metal Warrior" located near the town well at the center of town, half grown into the side of a tree and almost completely covered in weeds and vines. The warrior is an ancient automated warrior constructed by the Elves many centuries ago. It is without power BUT if an Elf touches this robotic creation its internal mechanism will slowly power up and whir into action. The Metal Warrior will not move or do anything unless ordered by the Elf that activated it using their TAS either purposely or accidentally. The Metal Warrior is badly damaged but will follow the Elf and will attempt to guard it from perceived enemies until it is destroyed.
87-88 Herbs Flame Petals Plant 1d6 Gatherings
89-90 Herbs - Monk's Weed 1d4 Gatherings
91-92 Herbs - Maiden's Skirt 1d6 Gatherings
93-94 2d6+1 Bandits riding into the Steading on light riding horses posing as either a militia patrol from a nearby village or wandering mercenaries. They are at the Steading to peacefully purchase supplies and relax for a few days but they are still bandits. If provoked they are evil and will have no problem jumping the characters or local guards.
95-96 Local Leader on his or her way to perform important duties, followed by 1d6 militia acting as guards.
97-98 High King's Ransomed Men - 2d6+1 mounted on light riding horses. They are from the garrison at the Kingdom's capital and are currently on an errand hunting a group of monsters which have been causing trouble for the area. They do not want the character's help but will chat with them in a friendly fashion unless provoked. If they are attacked or severely insulted they carry the authority of the High King and they can subdue and arrest and hang anyone who insults the authority of the High King or who attacks his sworn warriors.
99 The characters observe that the white graves blanket flowers planted in the local graveyard has a swath of bruised purple leading to an open barrow, new grave or old cairn or sepulcher.
100 A Drake attacks the Steading. It hopes to inflict enough property damage to drive the men out of the area, hoping to pick off any livestock they abandon or cannot defend during its raids. If the Drake cannot grab a cow or other large domesticated animal to fly off with for a meal it will happily grab a human child or any other available target to fly off with to its lair to gobble up. It will return once every 2d12 hours to keep damaging and raiding the Steading until it is abandoned. It will attempt to escape by flying off any time it reaches half hit points. Every hour that it is away and resting it regenerates 5 hit points until it is fully regenerated.

Got my plane ticket for Gary Con today!

Got my plane ticket for Gary Con today! Will arrive Thur afternoon, leave Sunday evening. Already have room reservations for the Grand Geneva. Still need to submit my games.

We went live this morning. Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners is now live at DriveThruRPG!

We went live this morning. Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners is now live at DriveThruRPG!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/250628/Zero-to-Hero-Uncommon-Commoners?affiliate_id=242797

Musing on the similarities between the Ochre Jelly and a jelly creature in the Conan story, The Curse of the Monolith

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Musing on the similarities between the Ochre Jelly and a jelly creature in the Conan story, The Curse of the Monolith

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/08/ochre-jelly-inspiration.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/08/ochre-jelly-inspiration.html

Fascinating thread on Dragonsfoot where we try to pin down the color of the AD&D Beholder.

Fascinating thread on Dragonsfoot where we try to pin down the color of the AD&D Beholder. So far the colors are all over the place, from drab to vivid.

Sources considered:
Greyhawk Supplement (1975)
Monster Manual (1977)
AD&D Coloring Album (1979)
Grenadier "Dwellers Below" miniatures boxed set (1980)
AD&D Paints from Polly S (~1981)
AD&D Rubdown Transfers (1981)
D&D Cartoon episode (1983)
D&D Puffy Stickers (1984)
FR1 Waterdeep and the North (1987)
Curse of the Azure Bonds (1989)

Any others?

https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=80568
https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=80568

Finished with the map for now. Moving on to the next fun bit.

Finished with the map for now. Moving on to the next fun bit.

Work continues on my Northern Warholds campaign wilderness map.

Work continues on my Northern Warholds campaign wilderness map. One square is one mile. I use terrain partly like dungeon levels, so encounters and wandering monsters on a road within five miles of a village might be level one, a road or cultivated area further out might be level one and a half. Wilderness open fields might be two. Light forest level three. Hills and deep forest different tables similar to a dungeon level of four. Bogs and Swamps level five and deep bogland / wilderness level six. You get the general idea.

Kruthiks for Holmes Basic

Tristan Tanner wrote:

I know I've been doing a lot of these, but there's a lot of stuff in 4e that would be usable if it wasn't for the system.

https://bogeymanscave.blogspot.com/2018/08/kruthiks-for-holmes-basic-converted.html

Balhanoth for Holmes Basic

Tristan Tanner wrote:

An alien abomination that could assist the Dagonites perhaps...

https://bogeymanscave.blogspot.com/2018/08/balhanoth-for-holmes-basic-converted.html

Looking for OSR Lizard Man PC Class/Race examples.

Looking for OSR Lizard Man PC Class/Race examples.
Early Edition compatible (B/X, Holmes, OD&D, AD&D or their Modern Simulacra) preferred!

Skeleton Variants for Holmes Basic

Tristan Tanner wrote:

Skeletons! I always liked that Holmes's skeletons only had 1-4 hit points, it made it easier to have battles between large numbers of opponents and still have it be a decently fair fight.

https://bogeymanscave.blogspot.com/2018/08/skeleton-variants-for-holmes-basic.html

Folks attending Garycon next year --- any time preferences for my game, Return to the Tower of Zenopus?

Folks attending Garycon next year --- any time preferences for my game, Return to the Tower of Zenopus? I'll probably run it twice, once Fri, once Sat. Last year I scheduled for morning (9-1), but I actually enjoyed running it in the evening at North Texas, so I was thinking about that too. #brazenheadofzenopus

Drakkoths for Holmes Basic

Tristan Tanner wrote:

More 4th edition stuff rescued from the monster manuals and put to good use!

https://bogeymanscave.blogspot.com/2018/08/drakkoths-for-holmes-basic-converted.html

I first read this as HYPERBOREAN COFFEE. Been reading a lot of Conanlately...

I first read this as HYPERBOREAN COFFEE. Been reading a lot of Conan lately...

I first read this as HYPERBOREAN COFFEE. Been reading a lot of Conan lately...

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

I first read this as HYPERBOREAN COFFEE. Been reading a lot of Conan lately...

Oldschoolfrp Tumblr on Warlock's Tower, part of the Complete Warlock trilogy.

Oldschoolfrp Tumblr on Warlock's Tower, part of the Complete Warlock trilogy.
http://oldschoolfrp.tumblr.com/post/177318170112/warlocks-tower-by-balboa-game-co-served-as-a-sort

Witherlings for Holmes Basic

Tristan Tanner wrote:

I always thought the witherlings seemed off in 4th edition, not quite fitting in with the high magic setting. They feel more old school D&D to me.

https://bogeymanscave.blogspot.com/2018/08/witherlings-for-holmes-basic-converted.html

Just finished re-reading "Three Hearts and Three Lions" and something caught my attention at the outset of the...

Just finished re-reading "Three Hearts and Three Lions" and something caught my attention at the outset of the battle with the troll, when it surprises the party:

"Alianora screamed. Even then Holger thought he had never before heard real fear in her voice. "God have mercy," Carahue choked. Hugi crouched and snarled. Holger dropped his sword, stooped to get it, dropped it again as sweat spurted out of him."

I always wondered where Holmes got his rule about a 1 in 6 chance of dropping what you're holding, if surprised...could this have been an influence?

For the Tolkien fan(atic)s --- like myself ---

For the Tolkien fan(atic)s --- like myself ---

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

The Fall of Gondolin is due out in the US next week (Aug 30), and there is already a "Look Inside" preview up on Amazon that is quite extensive, including the Table of Contents ---

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1328613046

Getting ready for #TBT with a retrogaming title.

I'm in the process of producing a gaming supplement.

I'm in the process of producing a gaming supplement. I have the OGL 1.0a, but rather than copyrighting my own images and introductory text, I was thinking of going creative-commons, attribution only.

I'll probably go the pay-what-you-want route. Is CC-BY route too legalistic? I don't expect to make a penny off of this and highly doubt the art is worth anything either.

Opinions?

Russ Nicholson art gallery by russ nicholson (member here), best known in D&D circles for his Fiend Folio, White...

Russ Nicholson art gallery by russ nicholson (member here), best known in D&D circles for his Fiend Folio, White Dwarf and Fighting Fantasy work.

Originally shared by russ nicholson

Thought I'd 'build' a little portfolio of some of my work done over the years. They are in no particular order and maybe I posted too much... if so apologies to those who look.

Just got my first copy of Holmes basic.

Just got my first copy of Holmes basic. Just the book, not the entire box with B1 or B2. It is fun to read the system and compare/contrast to the other early editions.

Save or Die Side Adventure #13

Michael Calleia wrote:

Save or Die podcast talks about using minis in D&D, with a mention of Holmes Basic and Eric Holmes's enthusiasm for miniatures​.

http://saveordie.info/?p=1669
http://saveordie.info/?p=1669

Tales of Peril auspicious copy number

Carl Heyl wrote:

I only recently noticed how auspicious a number I received in Tales of Peril.

Demonically Possessed People

Tristan Tanner wrote:

Demonically possessed people (with Bonus Holmes stats for funsies) (:

https://bogeymanscave.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-demonically-possessed-with-holmes.html

Doing dwarven forge builds of each of the buildings in my campaignstarting village, have write ups for these room...

Doing dwarven forge builds of each of the buildings in my campaign starting village, have write ups for these room by room up on my campaign website. A nice way to do building references to show the players. Also, if a major encounter looks to be in the works at or near a particular location I can just reference my pictures and quickly build it.

https://sites.google.com/view/dragonsmarch/warholds-blueholme-adventures

Got to drop into a Barrowmaze game last night with my friend Matthew at Jetpack Comics in Rochester NH.

Got to drop into a Barrowmaze game last night with my friend Matthew at Jetpack Comics in Rochester NH. My first time exploring the Barrowmaze. I played Zell the Barbarian, follower of Crom. He did well against a rock creature but then fled the dungeon after smashing a door open and waking a coffer corpse. The other PCs defeated the creature and got haul - a jeweled crown and armbands. If anyone is in the area, they are looking for more players.
https://www.facebook.com/events/170846250286290/?ti=cl
https://www.facebook.com/events/170846250286290/?ti=cl

A bit of a fun thought experiment.

A bit of a fun thought experiment.

It's 1978. You find a Holmes basic set that has one additional RPG book in it, and that's what you have to develop a campaign from. It can be any book from 1978 or earlier - but only one. What would you pick, and how would you use it?

Billy Galaxy ebay listing (with article by J Eric Holmes)

Billy Galaxy ebay listing (with article by J Eric Holmes)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/CRYPT-OF-CTHULHU-97-J-Eric-Holmes-H-P-Lovecraft-1997-fanzine-Robert-M-Price/351233599469?hash=item51c72767ed:g:~cgAAOSwcldUY9ew&_sacat=0&_nkw=j+eric+holmes&_from=R40&rt=nc&LH_TitleDesc=0

Today's used bookstore find.

Today's used bookstore find. I've never read these. These are Ballantine Books paperbacks first printed in '63, 13th-16th US printings from '80-'81, which means they were continuously in print for at least 17 years, including the formative years of D&D. #AppendixN

trey causey with two recent posts on TSR's ill-fated yet intriguing Indiana Jones RPG ---

trey causey with two recent posts on TSR's ill-fated yet intriguing Indiana Jones RPG ---

Boxed Set ---
http://sorcerersskull.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-adventures-of-indiana-jones-role.html?m=1

IJAC1 Judge's Survival Pack ---
http://sorcerersskull.blogspot.com/2018/08/indiana-jones-judges-survival-pack.html?m=1

**comments off due to spam**

Complete scan of old DCS letter from an EPT box set auction on ebay recently

Complete scan of old DCS letter from an EPT box set auction on ebay recently
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DbHC6paPQX-Nt56XEtz2guOYDXo_safk

Still available as a free download from WOTC - a 4-page extract of Appendix A: Random Dungeon Generation.

Still available as a free download from WOTC - a 4-page extract of Appendix A: Random Dungeon Generation. This was made available in 2012 as a preview of the reprinted DMG. The webpage linking to it is long gone, but can be viewed in the Internet Archive ---https://web.archive.org/web/20120629233528/http://www.wizards.com:80/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20120628

The file iteself is still on the WOTC site -
http://www.wizards.com:80/dnd/files/excerpts/excerpt_dmg4.pdf


http://www.wizards.com:80/dnd/files/excerpts/excerpt_dmg4.pdf

This is fun

This is fun

https://www.facebook.com/colbertlateshow/videos/1500143763463703/UzpfSTU0NTc3NTEzMjIzMzkwOTpWSzoxNTAwMTQzNzYzNDYzNzAz/
https://www.facebook.com/colbertlateshow/videos/1500143763463703/UzpfSTU0NTc3NTEzMjIzMzkwOTpWSzoxNTAwMTQzNzYzNDYzNzAz/

Heydee, anyone interesting in a Bluholme Journeymanne Play-by-Post, oneof the members over on Unseen Servant is...

Originally shared by Ronald Redmond

Heydee, anyone interesting in a Bluholme Journeymanne Play-by-Post, one of the members over on Unseen Servant is starting one up:

http://www.unseenservant.us/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7689

You have to register on the site to post and play, but anyone can lurk. The DM is going with Harn as a setting. Should be interesting. :)
-Ron-
http://www.unseenservant.us/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7689

Great 2014 video from Aaron Day (hedgehobbit) on reconsidering your use of "Roll for Initiative".

Great 2014 video from Aaron Day (hedgehobbit) on reconsidering your use of "Roll for Initiative". Well worth watching again for tips even if you've seen it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj0MGjuGADA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj0MGjuGADA

Anyone know where I might be able to get a copy of Tales of Peril: The Complete Boinger and Zereth Stories of John...

Anyone know where I might be able to get a copy of Tales of Peril: The Complete Boinger and Zereth Stories of John Eric Holmes. Now that I can afford to get one I can't find any. Thanks.

Gygax D&D revision plans from early '77, including the "beginner's guide"

Gygax D&D revision plans from early '77, including the "beginner's guide"

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/08/gygaxs-d-revision-plans-1977.html

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/08/gygaxs-d-revision-plans-1977.html

Eric ("Murray the M-U") Frasier's D&D books from 1976-1977 and lastMurray character sheet.

Eric ("Murray the M-U") Frasier's D&D books from 1976-1977 and last Murray character sheet. This picture appears in B&W in Tales of Peril, page 303 as part of Eric's essay "My Time As Murray". I believe the Manual of Aurania is a first printing (there is a second printing with corrected typos).

Over on FB, I just heard from D.

Over on FB, I just heard from D. Daniel Wagner (inventor of the thief class and co-author of the Manual of Aurania) that Holmes played a PC named "Eric the Cleric" with his group, which was centered around Aero Hobbies. A pretty fitting PC name for a doctor named Eric. http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-manual-of-aurania-1977.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-manual-of-aurania-1977.html

Anybody have the original Psychology Today issue including "Confessions of Dungeon Master", or a clipping of it?

Anybody have the original Psychology Today issue including "Confessions of Dungeon Master", or a clipping of it? There's a tiny author photo at the end that I will include in the Holmes Photo Gallery if I can get a better scan of the original. The two different pdfs I have of the article are photocopies of low quality (see below, if it looks too large click on it for a smaller view). Allan Grohe or Tony Rowe perhaps one of you?

A new scan of the photo on the back cover of the dust jacket of Holmes' FRPG book.

I've made a new scan of the photo on the back cover of the dust jacket of Holmes' FRPG book and added it to the photo gallery on the sites page --- https://sites.google.com/site/zenopusarchives/home/holmes/j-eric-holmes-photo-gallery