Forgotten Realms Hex Grid Overlay

Dear Friends,

I have recently decided to include map exploration system to my Forgotten Realms campaign. To my great surprise it turned out that the Grey Box I possess (I can't honestly say own as it is borrowed for an unlimited term) lacks the fantastic hex grid overlay sheets that would be so handy for that purpose. As it is not a popular product and as such is not commonly available I thought - let's make one. There surely must be a good template on the web. Surprise again! I could not find a single remark on the web about the actual template of the original hex grid overlay.
Fortunately, the authors of the box were kind enough to give some general indications of the scale. And as it is said in the "Running the Realms" manual that on "1 inch = 30 miles" map 5 hexes equal 1 inch, thus 1 hex equals 6 miles. Splendid. Now we should calculate a proper hex grid scale so that a flat-to-flat hex distance (or height) is equal 1/5 of an inch.
I will spare you the details of my laborious calculations, but thanks to an online hex generator Incompetech ,which I gladly present here, I was able to get the desired result.

But what now? You can print it on paper, but it will hardly do as a transparent plastic overlay now, will it?
"That's where some studio engineering comes in handy my hard-rocking amigos!"
You will need:

• A4 plastic sheet from your local graphic arts store
• A black alcohol marker, one that writes on CD's & DVD's
• some scotch tape

stick your hex grid printout with the scotch tape to the plastic sheet, so that you can see the hexes through the plastic. Now trace all hexes' sides with your marker. The hex printout serves as a pattern so that you can draw your hex grid flawlessly. Voila!

The milage controversy

Now, since I reviewed the map exploration system for Forgotten Realms 2E I noticed that the 1 hex = 6 miles scale is slightly flawed. In a nutshell, it implicates, that during a day of walking over a clear land, a man can cross a distance of 12 miles, while the PHB2E clearly states it should be 24 miles. 

In Forgotten Realms 24 miles can be done only while using roads. I dare to disagree. I am used to cross country walking and there isn't much difference between walking on a dirt road and meadows or fields. Not twice the difference at least. So as an experiment I suggest you could use a different scale hex grid.

1 inch = 10 miles or in other words 3 hexes per 1 inch

This brings some improvement to the scaling and distance crossing. See for yourself.

For your convenience I provide both hex grids templates: original hex (5 hexes per 1 inch) and bigger hex (3 hexes per 1 inch).

Available at the Bibliotheca. Enjoy and good travelling!

Chase / Pursuit System

Dear Visitors,

Your host is back from the depths of role-playing abyss. After the successful expedition to the motherland of all role-playing goodness I have been involved in extensive testing of the AD&D2.1E and some side-projects that did not leave much time for writing.
However I have learned and discovered a lot. And I am ready to share my observations with you, Dear Guests.

And so, quite recently while running a classic AD&D2E Forgotten Realms module "Doom of Daggerdale" I have come across an interesting problem. How to adjudicate pursuit course and success in game environment. The DMG2E and PHB2E state merely, that an individual (or party) who possesses faster Movement Rate outruns the  slower individual (or party). If the Movement rate is equal - roll d10 and the higher roll wins. Simple? No! Simplistic? By all means.

Well, it will not work for me though. So I turned to the WWW brethren for a hint or any convenient solution.
Bear in mind, that the requirement was that any "new" rules need to integrate with the core mechanics seamlessly. So, following some very good ideas provided for D&D3.0 by mxyzplk of Geek Related I started off with this idea and translated it to the 2E language and mindset.

Chase / Pursuit Track

The chase is divided into stages or steps that together form a Chase Track. First the DM determines at which stage does the chase start. The stages reflect the distance (in game terms) between the pursuing and pursued Party. Then every round a roll determines whether the stage (distance) advances or regresses.

Chase Track	Range
Close contact	Melee or Overbear
Point Blank	Short/Blank
Short	Short
Medium	Medium
Long	Long
Outrun!	End of chase

Chase and Escape roll

The Pursuing Party's roll is called a Chase Roll.

The Pursued Party's roll is called an Escape Roll.

Both Parties roll a d10 and add the modifiers from the below table to see the final result.

Factor	Modifier
MOV rate difference	+1/each 3 pts
Familiar terrain	+2
Adaptation to terrain	+2
Encumbrance	as per PHB2E
Exceptional Agility	+1
Add. Skills (e.g. acrobatics)	+1

If Escape Roll is 2+ points higher than Chase Roll = Chase Track progresses by 1 step for each 2 points of difference between rolls (distance increases)

If Chase Roll is 2+ points higher than Escape Roll = Chase Track regresses by 1 step for each 2 points of difference between rolls(distance decreases)

If roll results are equal or differ by 1 point only the Chase Track stage does not change.

Obstacles & Stamina

The DM might add obstacles during the chase and influence the pursuit results by adding Dexterity checks. Because there might be various obstacles depending on the environment I believe it is best to leave it to the DM's discretion. Failed Dex check might either end the chase or bring extra penalties to the rolls.

Also, in case of long distance pursuits Constitution check should be made for all Parties involved to see whether thehy can keep up with the chase. Use sprint modifiers from PHB2E. If the Party fails its Consitution check the chase is over.

_________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you enjoy some dynamic and exciting pursuits using this system.

Should anyone have any comments I am eager to consider and adjust the system if need be.

Letter from the voyage 2

Dear Friends,

My research in this distant yet resourceful land brought some new, wonderful results.

It is scary at times how easy it is to overlook a gem among old, dusty trinkets. However, your host is not one that would abandon a mine until it is depleted (after hours of force mining of course).

Therefore the collection has been enriched with the following, marvellous positions:

• Forgotten Realms: The Savage Frontier
• Forgotten Realms: Shadowdale - The Avatar Trilogy pt 1 module
• Forgotten Realms: Tantras - The Avatar Trilogy pt 2 module

After having procured these findings though I have to announce there is nothing more to salvage in my current location. Fortunately I will be moving Southwest soon and I already feel the gold fever...

Until then!

Letter from the voyage

Dear Fellow Travellers,

At last I have a spare moment to sit down and pour my thoughts into (electronic) ink. Your faithful host has ventured into the motherland of tabletop adventuring, to the other side of the big puddle named after the famed ancient hero - Atlas.

Beside filling in some gaps in my own cartographic collection, the goal was also to expand my collection of tomes of AD&D lore, browse through the forbidden vaults of the indigenous bookstores and libraries in search of the lost manuscripts and parchments.

I have spent only a few days here so far, yet thanks to my luck and expert detective skills my personal library has expanded by the following positions:

• AD&D 2e - Bard's Handbook
• AD&D 2e - Barbarian's Handbook
• AD&D 2e - Priest's Handbook
• AD&D 2e - Book of Humanoids
• Forgotten Realms - Guide to Waterdeep and the North
• Forgotten Realms - Empires of Sands
• Forgotten Realms - Doom of Daggerdale module
• AD&D 2e - Monstrous Appendix - Forgotten Realms
• AD&D 2e - Forgotten Realms Adventures
• Pathfinder - Godsmouth Heresy module
• Pathfinder - Masks of the Living God module

I am certain this shall not mark the end of my hunt. I am on a track of several ancient D&D 1e books. A temptation too strong to resist.

On a related topic, I deem myself to possess one of the biggest collections of archaic D&D and AD&D material on the old continent. However I have not had much chance to meet other prudent librarians.

Should one of you Dear Patrons wished to present his/her collections here I would be more than happy to hear about it.

Well met and ahoy!

Encounter Tables - cont.

And what would complement the Encounter Table better than a complete, handy monstrous manual?
I have just come across a great site designed by Seva (I believe) providing access to the complete AD&D2e Monstrous Manual.
To all you GM's out there! No longer you shall fear that the players will catch you monster-less and unprepared (provided you have internet access at all times).
I added to the Bibiliotheca mainly for my convenience, but should you take advantage, all the better!

A few words on Encounter Tables

In every Game master's career there comes a time when one has to tackle the subject of encounter tables.

It is a controversial one, caught between fires of the Creationists and Referees. By Creationists I mean GMs who leave nothing to fate and accident, laboriously defining every slight detail of the campaign and the adventures. There is no place for a random encounter here, nothing can escape the almighty GM's attention.

By Referees I obviously mean the GMs who allow a certain amount of hazard, they focus more on the interaction with the players and less on creating and telling a story of their own design.

Creationists would rather invent and run their own adventures. Referees allow for a commercial campaign.

Of course I am aware that this division is superficial and does not embrace the whole complexity and variety of the GM's lot. But let's accept it for the sake of argument.

 I, being of a rather creationist sort, never ever accepted random encounters and thus deemed encounter tables redundant. 

Lately however, thanks to my deepened experience with boardgames I came to understand the usefulness of such tools.

Facing the fact that I no longer have so much time to design a new adventure and ponder over the tiniest detail I must admit that I run a risk of being repetitive. There is only so much information my troubled mind is able to store at a time with fast access to memory slots. And in order to populate an area with creatures I come to reach for a limited range that I remember at the time. And how fun it is for the players to constantly battle orcs and goblins? How much more alive the world feels if they encounter strange and exotic (or at least rare) creatures instead of bandits and wolves?

The fantasy setting is based on all things wondrous. And I don't necessarily mean there should be a  unicorn around every corner. But a well prepared encounter table might serve as a crib sheet when the GM needs to come up with an encounter right off the bat. I personally do not even need to roll the die, it suffices to look at the chart and instant inspiration is granted.

Say you want to run a game in the caverns. How many subterranean creatures can you name at this moment?

Well, my encounter table provides you with almost three dozens of interesting foes that might make the player's time pleasant in the underdark. This also helps to give its own particular feeling to every surrounding that the player's find themselves in. If you wish to provide for a deep swamp atmosphere, then beside moody descriptions use its denizens to make the players feel it. They might get the idea that the setting you play in actually makes some biological sense. This will help them get "in the zone". And help yourself focus on controlling the plot while still providing a rich background. Of course, you can create a thick atmosphere with  two zombies and all human campaign setting. But should you be toying the idea of running a high fantasy setting - consider encounter tables. They will make your life easier.

My concluding thought would be that the encounter tablea are a great idea, one just needs to find its purpose in one's gaming. I sure have.

P.S. Basing on that notion I have re-read the AD&D2e Monstrous Manual and put together a collection of Encoutner Tables to meet my needs. It can be accessed in the Bibliotheca should anyone liked to use it.

The Bibliotheca - library, is now open!

Dear Friends and Fellow Gamers.

Today your humble scribe has finally achieved his long time goal which is setting up an open & free library.

In the Bibliotheca section to your right you will be able to access parchments and scripts that you may find useful in your future journeys.
I have either tediously prepared them myself or gathered during my long and wondrous journeys.
The initial collection of documents is as follows:

• A summary sheet for the new combat rules presented in one of the first articles
• A summary sheet of the new magic system
• A summary sheet of the new combat rules & manoeuvres
• A collection of encounter tables
• An ornamental and comprehensive Character Sheet for AD&D
• A not less ornametal annexure for wizards, mages and priests

I hope you will find these documents to your liking.