Solo Dungeon Crawler - Solo DnD Tutorials

I've just got done listening to an episode of Blogs on Tape. Specifically episode 172 - Pleasures of the OSR: Emergent Story and Open Worlds, by Ben. L. This got the cogs turning in my brain thinking about "faction play" or "domain play". In particular I felt inspired to take a trip down the rabbit hole to explore what the original Dungeons & Dragons rule pamphlets says about these concepts. From memory, not much considering this original system was marketed as a "top-down" war game. However I have a suspicion that much can be extrapolated from what these pamphlets do say. So let's take a look... OD&D Domain & Faction Play In Men & Magic the character section provides details of high level character play, which is very applicable to domains or factions. In particular what income is available to high level characters: "Top-level fighters (Lords and above) who build castles are considered “Barons,” [...]. Base income for a Baron ...

Typically in old school Dungeons & Dragons games it takes a full turn (usually 10 minutes of game time) to search a 10' by 10' space. The player will tell the Dungeon Master which area they want to search and the Dungeon Master will describe (if anything) what has been found. This is straight forward enough, but who could this possibly work in a solo game of D&D in which everything is randomly generated? Searching a Dungeon Room in a Solo D&D Game The Judges Guild handled this problem quite well with their searching method described in the 1978 Ready Reference Sheets. This method handles the problem by allowing a roll on a table which may result in treasure, a trap, a secret passage, a wandering monster, a sound, a clue, a combination of any of these or nothing at all. The table may also result in what is called a "finding roll" which at the Dungeon Master's discretion can allow a roll on a sub table to see what mundane item is found. When rolling on t...

I've recently started experimenting with some simple rules in my OD&D solo campaign "The Castle of the Quest". I'm trying to create an interesting mechanic regarding management of excess treasure. The intention is to contribute towards keeping the motivation of characters high in terms of seeking out additional adventures and also attempt to create a more realistic economy that reflects the middle-ages. Things to Spend Money on in an OD&D Campaign - Part 3 I came up with the following rules for "Treasure Tallage" and "Squanderage" All characters must pay a tallage to the local ruler of the parties home base for any treasure acquired at a rate of 10-30% of the overall hoard. Once this has been paid, rangers, paladins and monks must donate all excess treasure from their share to a worthy cause, holding back no more than 250 encumbrance worth. Clerics must tithe 10% of treasure from their share.   After each adventure when tallage, donations a...

It's no secret to most avid solo roleplay (or "roll" play) enthusiasts that enjoy old school that random dungeon generation has been around since at least the spring of 1975 and can be attributed to the co-creator of D&D, Gary Gygax himself. If you're familiar with any of my content then you'll know that from time to time I mention Gary's method as it appeared in the TSR newsletter known as Strategic Review (the first issue to be exact). What is perhaps less known is another method introduced in the Autumn of 1977. This method of generating random dungeons on the fly was published in the third ever issue of UK's White Dwarf magazine. Famous these days for focusing solely on Warhammer products, but interestingly enough at its inception it was focused primarily on Dungeons & Dragons. Roger Moores'’ "Solo Dungeon Mapping" from White Dwarf #3 Roger Moores'’ "Solo Dungeon Mapping" from White Dwarf #3 (November 1977) presents ...

There are almost endless challenges to forming a suitable set of rules to enable solo play of Dungeons & Dragons. This hobby has kept me fully occupied in trying to solve many of the problems I have come across so far and I wouldn't want to change that. It is very much part of the fun! A recent challenge for me has been handling positive reactions rolls by monsters. What happens? In a group game this is left up to the referee who gets to keep the players on their toes. This is difficult to recreate in a solo experience. However, I enjoy the challenge of giving it a go! OD&D Handling Positive Monster Reaction Rolls in Solo Play One approach I have recently been experimenting with is allowing myself (as the solo player) to decide what the outcome of a positive reaction roll will be. To make this work a finite number of options should be available that best represent what is typically offered in an OD&D game. Studying the rulebooks inside out is the best way to decide what...

 I've come across some examples of solo TTRPG enthusiasts attempting to create what they sometimes call a "Monster A.I.", which is designed to determine the behaviours of monsters when encountered in a game of solo D&D or the like. It got me thinking about OD&D and how in those earliest rulebooks monsters behaviour is already (albeit in a very simple way) codified to some extent. OD&D Default Monster Behaviour for Solo Play To begin with are some basics to setup a typical Wandering Monster encounter. Typically the circumstances of the encounter are determined as follows: A roll for Surprise is made. To quote Underworld & Wilderness Adventures "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. Distanc...

Monster Reaction Rolls have become a Dungeons & Dragons staple since its inception in 1974. Adjustments to this kind of roll have always applied but there is some abiguity involved that may be considered to affect consistency. If you are a solo gamer like myself and playing original Dungeons & Dragons then consistency is key and therefore some level of robustness is necessary! OD&D Applying Consistency to Random Actions by Monsters In Underworld & Wilderness Adventures there is some discussion in regards to Random Actions by Monsters. These rules tell us that "Other than in pursuit situations, the more intelligent monsters will act randomly according to the results of the score rolled on two (six-sided) dice: 2–5 negative reaction 6–8 uncertain reaction 9–12 positive reaction The dice score is to be modified by additions and subtractions for such things as bribes offered, fear, alignment of the parties concerned, etc. There is also some additional...

In a game of Dungeons & Dragons it is never surprising if a group of Player Characters decide to visit an inn or a tavern in order to gain some local information pertaining to myths and legends. This is to be expected, so if you are playing solo (and like me you strive to achieve an authentic version of the game) then picking up a legend in this manner should be standard procedure! In Underworld & Wilderness Adventures (the 3rd Volume of Original D&D rulebooks), it says, "RUMORS, INFORMATION, AND LEGENDS: Such activity as advertising will certainly gain the notice of the locals and begin a chain of rumors. So will almost any other unusual activity. Even the departure of a party from a town is likely to be noticed. Obtaining such news is usually merely a matter of making the rounds of the local taverns and inns, buying a round of drinks (10–60 Gold Pieces), slipping the barman a few coins (1–10 Gold Pieces) and learning what is going on. Misinformation is up to the ref...

I previously shared a Len Lakofka article that I transcribed from an old Diplomacy Zine called “Liasons Dangereuses” discovered via the Diplomacy Zine archive. I've been doing some more digging through these scans of old zines since, and there are OD&D gems to be found therein. I’m hoping to transcribe some more bits and pieces in the coming months, but as some of these articles are badly faded away and the scans quite poor there are words lost unless of course I can find a better scan (which in many cases is difficult) or find the article republished much later in Dragon or some such more well preserved form. A recent discovery is an article written by Len Lakofka in regards to dungeon doors in Liasons Dangereuses #73. This article along with many others by the same author might be considered an authoritative take on supplemental OD&D rules given Lakofka had a close working relationship to Gary Gygax. Len Lakofka’s OD&D - Dungeon Doors The particular rules regarding d...

The use of hired NPCs is heavily implied across the various OD&D rule books, but of course, a heavy amount of ambiguity regarding these "hired hands" meant that it wasn't all too obvious how to approach such a matter. The problem was however, addressed in a little more detail in the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide and my initial attempt at producing a set of rules for both solo and group play to handle NPC recruitment was heavily based on the DMG. However, I have since rediscovered a set of "Advertising" rules included in the Judge's Guild Ready Reference Sheets (published in 1979), which provides an alternative (and slightly simpler) method. OD&D Hiring Non-Player Characters As the JG Ready Reference Sheets, as well as other OD&D third party products by the Judges Guild were popularly used throughout the mid to late seventies, it seemed appropriate to look at these rules in more detail and revisit my own rules to see how they might then be i...

When it comes to modern editions of D&D following the D20 system, many player actions are resolved through what is known as an Ability Check. i.e. the player rolls a twenty-sided die adds his ability score modifier (a bonus or penalty) and compares this to a target Difficulty Class (DC). In earlier editions of the game an Ability Check was popularly carried out by attempting to roll under a characters Ability Score on a d20 but as far as I know this method does not predate (at least) Holmes Basic and possibly later products such as B/X and BECMI D&D. The earliest attempt I can find in regards to crafting some form of OD&D Ability Check dates back to June 1976 and can be attributed to Wesley D. Ives with his article in Dragon #1. However his method is rather complex and not so elegant. The article is never the less worth a read because he sets out some useful descriptions of what sort of tasks are appropriate for each ability score and this is not "sullied" by any ...