D&D Rules Comparison 5

Author: DHBoggs / Labels: ,


Reaction Table: is modeled on D&D74 hireling reaction table but with the “roll again” info added:
Dice Score
Reaction
2-3
Monster attacks
4-6
Monster Growls: roll again in one round at -4
7-9
Monster cautious: roll again in one round
10-11
Monster friendly: roll again in one round at +4
12
Monster friendly

Experience Points
XP per monster follows Greyhawk values
Total XP earned in an adventure is divided by # in party (shared experience).

Encumbrance
Coins of weight one can carry for encumbrance values reduced by a few hundred coins.

Mapping
Map rules given for moving figures on gridded dungeon maps at 5’per square including sideways and diagonally.  Two characters cannot occupy the same square,  and cannot move past a square occupied by an unfriendly creature. (p34)

Suggests players rotate mapping duty “so everyone gets a chance”.

Discussion: Of encumbrance their is not much to note; experience points are interesting in that a careful reading of D&D74 and knowing the historical context reveals the surprise that XP were originally thought of as being individually earned, not shared.  It is an interesting, and somewhat competitive way to play D&D, and is well known to players of Empire of the Petal Throne.

The grid based mapping rules are of little use for an OD&D game, but the suggestion to rotate mapping duties might work for some groups.

Of the four topics discussed above, the reaction table of D&D94 is the most interesting and potentially useful. Although it is closely modeled on the D&D74 hireling reaction table, it adds a "roll again in one round" feature that is really intriguing and useful.    I think this is a unique feature of D&D94 and one I like a lot.

1 comments:

Peter Fröhlich said...

The AD&D DMG, page 63, has a reaction table (based on d100) that implies a re-roll feature. I am less sure about it being a good idea since it can potentially "drag out negotiations" a lot longer. In any case, thank you for pointing out yet another version of the 2d6 reaction roll, one that I didn't know about when I wrote this: http://nilisnotnull.blogspot.com/2014/11/riffing-on-2d6-reaction-rolls.html

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