Solo Dungeon Crawler - Solo DnD Tutorials

It’s no surprise to any familiar OD&D player just how deadly combat can be for low level characters. Using ranged weapons against the enemy can offer a huge advantage. The obvious choices are short bows, longbows and crossbows etc. But bows aside, what other weapons can be used in this way? The three little brown OD&D books don't tell us anything about how hand hurled weapons can be used. But with a little digging we can quite easily figure things out. OD&D Hand Hurled Weapons The basic equipment listing on Men & Magic doesn’t really clarify which weapons can be thrown but there is a some information in CHAINMAIL; The table which gives missile ranges for the various troop types gives Heavy Foot a 3” missile range followed by an Asterix. The foot note explains “Troops armed with throwing axes and spears [...] fall into this category.“ There is also another footnote that explains “Javelin armed troops [...] have a 6" range.” Under the Missile Fire section of CHAI...

If one were to referee a situation in OD&D where a player character wants to try to be stealthy to either surprise and ambush an enemy, sneak past a sleeping guard or just move quietly through a corridor to negate any chance of being surprised then how would this work? Could we consider this to be subsumed into the surprise mechanic detailed in OD&D Book III “Underworld & Wilderness Adventures”? Here is what that book says regarding surprise: “A Condition of surprise can only exist when one or both parties are unaware of the presence of the other. Such things as ESP’ing, light, and noise will negate surprise. If the possibility for surprise exists roll a six-sided die for each party concerned. A roll of 1 or 2 indicates the party is surprised.” This doesn’t seem to strictly cover specific situations such as trying to sneak up on or past an enemy but we might consider the surprise mechanic as a way to subsume these things into an abstracted game like mechanic. This may even ...

In OD&D most of us eventually come to the conclusion that when a creature of 2 Hit Dice or higher (whether a player character, non-player character or monster) is fighting a creature of less than 2 Hit Dice they are allowed to make multiple attacks. OD&D Book II “Monsters & Treasure” tells us that: “Attack/Defence capabilities versus normal men are simply a matter of allowing one roll as a man-type for every hit die, with any bonuses being given to only one of the attacks, i.e. a Troll would attack six times, once with a +3 added to the die roll. (Combat is detailed in Vol. III.)” Strategic Review issue 2 also clarifies things a little further, whilst discussing a combat example between a hero (4th level fighter) and orcs: “ Note that [the hero] is allowed one attack for each of his combat levels as the ratio of one Orc vs. the Hero is 1:4, so this is treated as normal (non-fantastic) melee, as is any combat where the score of one side is a base 1 hit die or less.” A “base ...

There is a rather curious piece of text that Gary Gygax wrote in Strategic Review issue 2 published during the spring of 1975. The article in question is the famous “QUESTIONS MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED ABOUT DUNGEONS & DRAGONS RULES” and regarding a combat example between a Hero (4th Level Fighter) and orcs it says: “As they outnumber their opponent so heavily it is likely that they will try to over-power him rather than kill, so each hit they score will be counted as attempts to grapple the Hero [...]” What’s curious about this is the implication that forces outnumbering player characters might take prisoners as opposed to killing them. This is not a new concept, as prisoners had previously been dealt with in the D&D predecessor “CHAINMAIL”. OD&D & CHAINMAIL Rules for Prisoners (Taking or Being Taken) In a section of optional rules for added realism CHAINMAIL states: “Before the losing side falls back from a melee, both players roll a die to determine if any prisoners are ...