Review: Judges Guild Encounter Chart Fragments 2

[I actually found another couple of pages, including the first page (page 5). So I can finally credit these tables to "the prolific and talented Judicator, Richard T. Mueller, of the Iowa City Wargaming Confederation." I will add the full credits and information when I go back and review page 5.]

Enchanted Monsters

If a random wandering enchanted monster was encountered directly in my old campaign it was usually because they had escaped the control of their dead master/summoner/maker. Such creatures were almost always considered to be Enemies and thus have a natural hostile reaction to any creature capable of making/summoning them. [In my current game they would roll 1d6 on the the Reaction Table instead of 2d6, increasing the chance of a hostile reaction to the player characters, but not automatically attacking.] Elementals would be particularly destructive as they attempt to reduce the world to their elemental nature.

Two of my favourite enchanted monsters are the Infernal Machine (essentially a magical killer robot with all the endearing qualities of a Berserker from Saberhagen's stories), and the Animus (an immaterial spirit that possesses things and animates them, usually with great animosity). Eradicating the animus was quite difficult as it needed to be banished (either by a cleric or a magical spell). Breaking the object that it was animating simply frees it to find another body. Fighting furniture may seem quite farcical, but can actually be rather dangerous (said, as the chair runs off with the magic user).

Whilst "Statue" on this table is supposed to represent an enchanted statue, I felt that these were better placed as part of a Ruin, which was a different part of my own encounter tables (which included encountering locations). Not to mention that my Special Encounters lucky dip box was initially filled with the contents of the Wilderland's hex crawl locations (as more involved and less improvised encounters). So "Statues" (with a lesser probability) became an encounter with a petrified creature. Roll again on the encounter tables and see who had the misfortune to piss off a medusa or cockatrice (the basilisk in my game was poisonous - in that it would kill you stone dead).

ENCHANTED MONSTERS	CT	TN	RD	CL	FR
Animus	03	05	08	07	06
Clay Golem	13	17	18	15	13
Flesh Golem	21	27	26	21	18
Stone Golem	27	35	32	25	21
Iron Golem	31	41	36	27	22
Statue	80	78	70	49	53
Homonculus	84	89	77	59	63
Infernal Machine	86	85	80	62	66
Invisible Stalker	91	90	87	72	78
Juggernaut	92	92	92	82	83
Efreet	93	93	93	85	86
Djinn	94	94	94	88	89
Air Elemental	95	95	95	90	91
Water Elemental	96	96	96	92	93
Fire Elemental	97	97	97	94	94
Earth Elemental	98	98	98	96	96
Salamander	99	99	99	98	97
Other	00	00	00	00	00

ENCHANTED MONSTERS	HL	MN	RV	SW	JG
Animus	05	05	04	03	03
Clay Golem	10	11	--	04	05
Flesh Golem	14	15	08	08	09
Stone Golem	16	17	10	10	10
Iron Golem	17	18	11	11	11
Statue	43	43	37	41	41
Homonculus	53	53	47	51	51
Infernal Machine	55	55	54	54	54
Invisible Stalker	67	67	66	69	69
Juggernaut	72	70	74	70	70
Efreet	77	77	78	75	75
Djinn	82	82	82	80	80
Air Elemental	85	85	85	83	83
Water Elemental	86	86	95	91	91
Fire Elemental	89	89	--	92	92
Earth Elemental	92	92	96	94	94
Salamander	95	95	97	95	95
Other	00	00	00	00	00

ENCHANTED MONSTERS	DS	CO	SE	PS	AE
Animus	02	08	--	02	--
Clay Golem	04	16	--	03	--
Flesh Golem	07	22	--	40*	--
Stone Golem	08	26	--	05	--
Iron Golem	09	28	--	06	--
Statue	18	34	24	55	--
Homonculus	26	42	--	65	08
Infernal Machine	41	50	54	76	38
Invisible Stalker	56	60	64	91	48
Juggernaut	71	70	67	92	--
Efreet	76	72	72	93	58
Djinn	81	75	74	94	68
Air Elemental	85	79	80	95	80
Water Elemental	--	86	90	96	--
Fire Elemental	88	88	--	--	90
Earth Elemental	91	91	--	97	--
Salamander	95	93	--	98	96
Other	00	00	00	00	00

Other suggestions for encounters: Demon Warriors, Demon of the Black Hand, and Familiars.

Huornings

This table was actually accompanied by an note (one of the few tables to have an explicit explanation of an entry).

"Note: Huorns are defined as all semi-aware plant life as might be affected by a speak with plants but otherwise non-communicative, non-mobile and relatively harmless."

There was also a helpful listing of various Carnivorous Plants (with OD&D stats) written by Greg Jacobs that accompanied this page of the encounter table in the Journal.

The revised tables I used in my campaign had a much greater listing of dangerous plants, based on the fact that an encounter shouldn't just be a passive meeting with something, but rather something that interacts directly with the party. For example encounter tables shouldn't provide an encounter with normal animals like a deer or a kangaroo. They may be frequently encountered whilst travelling but won't really interact with the party. Instead if the party wishes to interact with them they go on an explicit hunting expedition and depending on the hunter's abilities it determines what they come back with (and if the fumble their hunting roll, they get an encounter instead). Similarly if a character wishes to find a huorn, they can simply go look for one (I tend to use the Celtic Tree Calendar as a guide to the personality of each sort of tree).

HUORNINGS	CT	TN	RD	CL	FR
Huorns	72	64	62	61	35
Dryads	73	65	63	64	45
Carnivorous Plants	75	68	68	69	60
Ents	80	85	83	81	80
Shambling Mounds	82	88	86	85	87
Running Vines	95	93	93	93	97
Others	00	00	00	00	00

HUORNINGS	HL	MN	RV	SW	JG
Huorns	72	72	43	32	30
Dryads	75	75	48	35	35
Carnivorous Plants	80	80	63	55	65
Ents	87	87	73	60	66
Shambling Mounds	89	89	80	70	70
Running Vines	96	96	95	90	95
Others	00	00	00	00	00

HUORNINGS	DS	CO	SE	PS	AE
Huorns	82	59	--	07	--
Dryads	83	61	--	08	--
Carnivorous Plants	88	68	--	--	--
Ents	89	78	--	98	--
Shambling Mounds	90	80	--	99	--
Running Vines	95	90	--	--	--
Others	00	00	--	00	--

Suggested others: Vampire Vine, and Vampire Tree.

Simians

This is table which was entirely too passive for my liking. Although I should state that "Monkeys" should be added to every encounter table. Both because they act in a similar manner to "Birds" (cf Avians below) that may alert others to your presence, but they can also be used to steal things and trash a party's camp looking for food. Plus they throw shit and can thoroughly be a bane to a party if they don't like you.

SIMIANS	CT	TN	RD	CL	FR
Apes	05	07	09	10	15
Carnivorous Apes	06	09	12	17	25
White Apes	16	19	22	27	35
Yetis	17	20	23	29	38
Baboons	19	23	26	55	50
Chimps	79	76	75	75	60
Orangutan	89	88	87	85	80
Gorillas	90	90	90	90	90
Others	00	00	00	00	00

SIMIANS	HL	MN	RV	SW	JG
Apes	17	15	10	08	10
Carnivorous Apes	25	25	15	20	20
White Apes	32	32	25	25	25
Yetis	40	45	27	26	26
Baboons	50	50	35	40	40
Chimps	90	90	65	70	70
Orangutan	95	95	80	85	85
Gorillas	96	96	90	90	90
Others	00	00	00	00	00

SIMIANS	DS	CO	SE	PS	AE
Apes	10	10	--	03	--
Carnivorous Apes	25	15	--	05	--
White Apes	30	30	--	21	97
Yetis	--	32	--	23	--
Baboons	55	45	--	26	--
Chimps	85	75	--	76	--
Orangutan	90	80	--	81	--
Gorillas	95	90	--	90	--
Others	00	00	--	00	00

Suggested others: Trogs, Mountain Apes, and Clakars.

Avians

Again the idea that an encounter should have a direct interaction with the party rather than simply be something the party passively meets had an effect here. In this case the bird species that are specifically named were all intelligent species in my old campaign (as a direct result of this table), and thus provided an opportunity for direct negotiation. Many could speak the common tongue (in fact a bird's tongue was the material for a tongues potion), although eagles generally didn't deign to converse with lesser creatures (unless they grovelled in appropriate awe of it's majesty).

The exception was storks, which were replaced by cranes as a symbol of good luck that granted you a Blessing. [I also added a few more mythical birds such as Firebirds to my version of the encounter tables.]

Birds was a fun one, because, unless you were suitably stealthy, they would raise a clamour which might alert others to your presence and location, increasing the chance for a subsequent encounter.

AVIANS	CT	TN	RD	CL	FR
Birds	13	09	11	13	14
Crows	38	29	31	33	29
Eagles	43	45	38	40	36
Great Eagles	45	47	41	43	39
Harpies	47	50	45	48	46
Ravens	57	60	55	58	56
Rocs	62	65	61	63	61
Stirges	67	72	69	70	71
Storks	82	84	79	75	76
Swan Maids	83	85	80	76	77
Giant Owls	84	86	82	78	82
Flightless Birds	85	87	84	83	84
Owls	87	90	89	89	94
Vultures	89	93	94	94	97
Gulls	95	98	99	99	99
Others	00	00	00	00	00

AVIANS	HL	MN	RV	SW	JG
Birds	02	01	20	13	10
Crows	11	11	32	18	16
Eagles	21	23	39	23	20
Great Eagles	30	31	42	36	30
Harpies	36	36	48	46	46
Ravens	45	45	58	56	56
Rocs	56	56	61	61	61
Stirges	66	66	71	73	74
Storks	69	69	81	76	76
Swan Maids	70	70	82	77	77
Giant Owls	77	77	84	84	84
Flightless Birds	79	79	85	85	85
Owls	86	86	90	95	95
Vultures	96	96	93	97	97
Gulls	99	99	99	99	99
Others	00	00	00	00	00

AVIANS	DS	CO	SE	PS	AE
Birds	14	04	14	30	20
Crows	24	16	19	35	35
Eagles	31	23	26	37	42
Great Eagles	34	26	29	38	45
Harpies	39	32	31	39	48
Ravens	43	42	36	45	58
Rocs	55	45	39	46	66
Stirges	62	55	44	47	67
Storks	64	62	54	54	74
Swan Maids	65	64	55	55	75
Giant Owls	68	65	57	58	78
Flightless Birds	78	68	--	59	--
Owls	83	78	58	64	81
Vultures	96	84	59	65	89
Gulls	99	99	99	99	99
Others	00	00	00	00	00

Suggested others: Finnish Eagles and Melnibonean Owls.

Saurians

There are lots of reasons for me to dislike this one, and as a result it was the first table I modified. In fact I removed the dinosaurs and created a Lost World table that featured a lot more dinosaurs. In fact I eventually created two, one for Pleistocene megafauna as well. I believe a lot of my source material was the excellent Chivalry & Sorcery supplement Saurians.

The Surrounding Terrain exception was made a part of the initial terrain type determination. Along with coasts (CO), rivers (RV), ships passengers (PS), and aerial encounters (AE). The lizard and snake types were expanded so the nature of the snake was immediately determined. Amphisobeana and Hoop Snakes were added (of course). Crocmen were added (which are much more like the pictured Lizard Men - my Lizard Men were lithe and fast and great dancers and very aboriginal). Probabilities were altered to embrace Australian sensibilities.

Still it is interesting to see what was considered "Saurian" back in the day.

SAURIANS	CT	TN	RD	CL	FR
Basilisks	01	01	01	02	02
Brontosaurus	--	--	--	03	04
Bulette	--	02	02	05	05
Cockatrices	02	03	03	07	07
Couatls	--	--	--	--	08
Crocodiles	--	--	--	--	--
Elasmosauri	--	--	--	--	--
Frogs	19	15	18	15	22
Gargoyles	21	18	21	18	26
Giant Crocodiles	--	--	--	--	--
Giant Frogs	--	--	--	--	27
Giant Lizards	--	--	--	19	28
Giant Sea Snake	--	--	--	--	--
Giant Snake	--	--	--	20	29
Giant Toad	--	--	--	21	30
Giant Tortoise	--	--	--	22	31
Kopoacinth	--	--	--	--	--
Lizards	41	28	31	37	46
Lizard Men	43	31	34	40	49
Manticoras	44	42	35	42	51
Medusae	45	43	36	44	53
Monitor Lizards	--	--	37	46	55
Mososauri	--	--	--	--	--
Mottled Worms	--	--	--	--	--
Plesiosauri	--	--	--	--	--
Pterodactyls	46	44	38	47	57
Purple Worms	47	45	39	48	58
Ropers	48	46	40	49	59
Salamanders	--	--	--	--	--
Sea Ropers	--	--	--	--	--
Sea Snakes	--	--	--	--	--
Stegosauri	--	--	--	50	61
Toads	58	56	50	60	66
Tortoises	68	66	60	70	71
Triceratops	--	--	--	75	76
Trolls	73	73	67	77	81
Turtles	88	83	82	82	86
Tyrannosauri	--	--	--	83	88
Snakes	93	93	93	98	98
Other	95	95	95	00	00
Surrounding Terrain	00	00	00	--	--

SAURIANS	HL	MN	RV	SW	JG
Basilisks	03	03	02	01	02
Brontosaurus	--	--	07	08	09
Bulette	04	04	--	--	10
Cockatrices	07	07	08	09	11
Couatls	08	08	09	10	12
Crocodiles	--	--	19	19	19
Elasmosauri	--	--	20	--	--
Frogs	18	18	28	31	31
Gargoyles	23	23	29	32	32
Giant Crocodiles	--	--	32	33	--
Giant Frogs	--	--	35	38	38
Giant Lizards	24	24	36	39	40
Giant Sea Snake	--	--	37	--	--
Giant Snake	26	26	38	40	42
Giant Toad	--	--	39	41	--
Giant Tortoise	--	--	40	--	--
Kopoacinth	--	--	41	--	--
Lizards	46	46	45	46	46
Lizard Men	47	47	49	48	50
Manticoras	50	50	51	49	51
Medusae	53	53	53	50	53
Monitor Lizards	56	56	54	51	54
Mososauri	--	--	--	--	--
Mottled Worms	--	--	--	--	--
Plesiosauri	--	--	--	--	--
Pterodactyls	61	61	55	52	55
Purple Worms	62	62	56	53	56
Ropers	63	63	57	54	57
Salamanders	--	64	--	--	--
Sea Ropers	--	--	58	--	--
Sea Snakes	--	--	59	--	--
Stegosauri	--	--	62	60	60
Toads	68	68	67	65	65
Tortoises	73	70	70	67	67
Triceratops	--	--	72	70	70
Trolls	78	78	83	79	79
Turtles	88	88	89	82	82
Tyrannosauri	--	--	94	89	89
Snakes	98	98	98	98	98
Other	00	00	00	00	00
Surrounding Terrain	--	--	--	--	--

SAURIANS	DS	CO	SE	PS	AE
Basilisks	03	01	--	01	--
Brontosaurus	--	04	--	--	--
Bulette	05	05	--	--	--
Cockatrices	08	06	--	02	25
Couatls	09	07	01	03	28
Crocodiles	--	09	02	--	--
Elasmosauri	--	--	17	--	--
Frogs	10	19	--	04	--
Gargoyles	15	20	19	05	58
Giant Crocodiles	--	21	20		--
Giant Frogs	--	22	21	06	--
Giant Lizards	16	23	22	07	--
Giant Sea Snake	--	--	27	--	--
Giant Snake	--	24	--	08	--
Giant Toad	--	25	--	09	--
Giant Tortoise	17	26	--	10	--
Kopoacinth	--	--	31		--
Lizards	69	40	34	13	--
Lizard Men	70	55	49	64	--
Manticoras	73	56	--	65	73
Medusae	74	57	--	66	--
Monitor Lizards	77	58	--	67	--
Mososauri	--	--	64	--	--
Mottled Worms	--	--	65	--	--
Plesiosauri	--	--	80	--	--
Pterodactyls	79	59	81	68	93
Purple Worms	81	60	--	--	--
Ropers		61	--	69	--
Salamanders	83	--	--	--	98
Sea Ropers	--	--	83	--	--
Sea Snakes	--	--	88	--	--
Stegosauri		64	--	--	--
Toads	85	67	--	72	--
Tortoises	88	69	--	77	--
Triceratops	--	74	--		--
Trolls	--	75	--	84	--
Turtles	--	78	98	93	--
Tyrannosauri	--	81	--	--	--
Snakes	98	88	--	98	--
Other	00	90	00	00	00
Surrounding Terrain	--	00	--	--	--

Suggested Others: Lybits, Remorhazi, Typhoonagators, Fire Snakes, Winged Serpents, Finnish Black Snakes, Dragon Lizards, and Ice Worms.

Review: Judges Guild Journal Encounter Fragments 1

Having recently uncovered some badly degraded copies of the Judges Guild Journal which contained the encounter tables that were the original basis for my old campaign's encounter tables, I thought I'd do a quickie review, page by page, for those who are interested in the sort of These are the three encounter tables from page 7 (these reviews will be badly out of order and pieces will be missing).

[I think I have another complete copy of this issue somewhere (plus a few others), but I thought I'd take the advantage of encountering these whilst going through boxes of papers to review them (and take a break from sorting boxes and boxes of old papers).]

The Great Races

I like the idea of having a Great Races table, even if creatures will also appear on other encounter tables (for example there is a Dragon encounter table for when you need Dragons and a True Giants encounter table for when you need giants). In particular if you need to know who is sovereign in a particular area (such as the nature of the village, castle, temple, army, or patrol you just rolled on the Master Encounter Chart(s), then this table is the one you would probably consult.

The encounters are by terrain type. So wilderness style terrains tend to be inhabited by non-humans, which is appropriate. But one of the things that is great about this chart is that you can also encounter races outside what might be considered their natural terrain. And this is where you really get to generate stories from encounter tables, explaining why you would find a group of ents in the city. I suspect that this is the reason why it was eventually determined that the Named Giants came from outside the World and were just travelling through it. The only "natural" giants were the Hill Giants who their kin considered degenerate brutes. It was suspected that if a giant spent too long in the World, they would eventually degenerate into a hill giant (albeit one with more natural HD).

I once worked out what the missing entry on the table had to be, but have since forgotten it.

THE GREAT RACES	CT	TN	RD	CL	FR
Chromatic Dragon	01	01	01	01	01
Vampires	02	02	02	02	02
Trolls	03	03	03	03	05
Ogres	04	04	04	04	10
Gnolls	05	05	05	05	11
Hobgoblins	06	06	06	06	12
Orcs	07	08	08	10	22
Kobolds	08	09	09	11	26
Goblins	09	10	10	12	27
Mithril Dragon	10	11	11	13	28
Red Dragons	11	12	12	14	29
Blue Dragons	12	13	13	15	30
Green Dragons	13	14	14	16	32
Black Dragons	14	15	15	17	33
White Dragons	15	16	16	18	34
Werewolves	16	17	17	19	36
Cloud Giants	17	18	18	20	37
Fire Giants	18	19	19	21	38
Frost Giants	19	20	20	22	39
Stone Giants	20	21	21	23	40
Hill Giants	21	22	22	24	41
Weretigers	22	23	23	26	44
Wererats	24	25	24	27	48
Wereboars	25	27	25	28	51
Leprechauns	27	28	26	29	53
Platinum Dragon	28	29	27	30	54
Golden Dragons	29	30	28	31	55
Silver Dragons	30	31	29	32	56
Bronze Dragons	31	32	30	33	57
Copper Dragons	32	33	31	34	58
Brass Dragons	33	34	32	35	59
Titans	34	35	33	36	60
	35	37	34	37	70
Storm Giants	36	38	35	38	71
Werebears	37	40	36	39	79
Gnomes	39	42	38	40	80
Hobbits	42	47	40	52	84
Elves	47	54	48	54	94
Half Elves	54	64	58	70	97
Dwarves	58	69	61	72	98
Humans	00	00	00	00	00

THE GREAT RACES	HL	MN	RV	SW	JG
Chromatic Dragon	01	01	01	01	01
Vampires	02	02	02	02	02
Trolls	04	03	12	13	13
Ogres	05	05	13	15	14
Gnolls	06	06	28	29	30
Hobgoblins	09	09	29	31	31
Orcs	20	24	49	51	45
Kobolds	25	25	50	53	47
Goblins	27	27	51	55	53
Mithril Dragon	28	28	52	56	54
Red Dragons	31	31	53	57	55
Blue Dragons	33	33	54	58	56
Green Dragons	34	34	55	59	59
Black Dragons	35	35	59	63	61
White Dragons	36	36	60	64	62
Werewolves	37	39	61	65	63
Cloud Giants	38	40	62	66	64
Fire Giants	39	41	63	67	65
Frost Giants	40	43	64	68	--
Stone Giants	41	44	65	69	66
Hill Giants	47	46	66	70	67
Weretigers	48	48	67	71	71
Wererats	49	49	74	77	76
Wereboars	50	50	75	78	78
Leprechauns	51	51	76	79	--
Platinum Dragon	52	52	77	80	79
Golden Dragons	53	53	78	81	80
Silver Dragons	54	54	79	82	81
Bronze Dragons	55	55	80	83	82
Copper Dragons	58	58	81	84	83
Brass Dragons	59	59	82	85	84
Titans	60	60	83	86	85
	61	61	85	88	89
Storm Giants	62	62	86	89	90
Werebears	63	63	87	90	91
Gnomes	78	78	88	91	92
Hobbits	79	79	90	92	--
Elves	80	80	91	93	93
Half Elves	81	81	93	94	94
Dwarves	96	96	94	95	95
Humans	00	00	00	00	00

THE GREAT RACES	DS	CO	PS	SE	AE
Chromatic Dragon	01	01	01	01	01
Vampires	02	02	02	--	03
Trolls	03	04	03	02	--
Ogres	05	05	04	--	--
Gnolls	06	08	05	03	--
Hobgoblins	07	09	07	04	--
Orcs	09	14	12	05	--
Kobolds	10	15	14	--	--
Goblins	12	17	16	--	--
Mithril Dragon	13	18	17	06	04
Red Dragons	14	19	18	07	07
Blue Dragons	17	20	19	08	10
Green Dragons	18	21	20	09	13
Black Dragons	19	22	21	10	16
White Dragons	20	23	22	11	19
Werewolves	21	24	23	--	--
Cloud Giants	22	25	24	--	--
Fire Giants	23	26	25	--	--
Frost Giants	24	27	26	--	--
Stone Giants	25	28	27	--	--
Hill Giants	26	29	28	--	--
Weretigers	27	30	29	--	--
Wererats	28	31	30	--	--
Wereboars	29	32	31	--	--
Leprechauns	30	33	32	--	40
Platinum Dragon	31	34	33	13	41
Golden Dragons	32	35	34	14	43
Silver Dragons	33	36	35	15	63
Bronze Dragons	34	41	36	25	66
Copper Dragons	37	42	37	26	69
Brass Dragons	40	43	38	27	72
Titans	41	44	39	28	82
	42	46	41	--	--
Storm Giants	43	47	42	29	00
Werebears	44	48	43	--	--
Gnomes	45	49	44	30	--
Hobbits	46	51	46	31	--
Elves	47	54	49	32	--
Half Elves	49	57	53	33	--
Dwarves	51	59	54	34	--
Humans	00	00	00	00	--

True Giants

True Giants are the traditional enemies of Rangers! And yes, anything on this list could be a Favoured Enemy of Rangers (definitely including Humans). A True Giant encounter is more likely to be a more traditional (and probably hostile) "wilderness" encounter. If I roll on this table I'd probably use only 1d6 on my Reaction Table (which means that when encountered these creatures would be Unfriendly at best, and even have a chance of Attacking Immediately (a Hostile reaction would consider the odds and situation and react accordingly). And yes, I've had a lone goblin berserker charge a player (with the inevitable consequences) as a result. And so was born the Goblin Suicide Cult.

TRUE GIANTS	CT	TN	RD	CL	FR
Pixies (*Nixies)	01	01	01	01	01
Leprechauns	03	03	03	03	03
Hobbits	07	09	09	08	09
Kobolds	11	14	14	11	12
Gnomes	15	19	19	14	15
Goblins	20	02	02	19	20
Dwarves	25	31	31	24	25
Humans	51	42	42	50	30
Marshwiggles	52	43	43	51	31
Orcs	57	49	50	59	37
Half Elves	64	57	58	69	47
Elves	69	64	65	77	59
Hobgoblins	72	68	69	82	64
Gnolls	74	71	72	83	66
Trolls	76	74	75	84	68
Ogres	78	77	78	86	72
Yetis	79	78	79	87	73
Bugbears	81	80	81	88	75
Cyclopi	83	82	83	89	77
Ents	85	86	86	91	84
Umber Hulks	87	87	87	92	87
Cloud Giants	89	89	89	93	89
Hill Giants	91	91	91	94	91
Fire Giants	93	93	93	95	93
Frost Giants	95	95	95	96	95
Stone Giants	97	97	97	97	97
Storm Giants	98	98	98	98	98
Titans	99	99	99	99	99
Other	00	00	00	00	00

TRUE GIANTS	HL	MN	RV	SW	JG
Pixies (*Nixies)	01	01	01	01	01
Leprechauns	02	02	03	02	02
Hobbits	04	04	08	03	03
Kobolds	12	12	13	04	04
Gnomes	20	21	18	05	05
Goblins	27	28	22	06	06
Dwarves	36	36	26	07	07
Humans	37	37	27	08	08
Marshwiggles	38	38	44	58	50
Orcs	47	47	52	61	60
Half Elves	55	55	60	62	61
Elves	61	61	66	63	62
Hobgoblins	67	67	71	65	65
Gnolls	68	68	76	67	67
Trolls	69	69	82	77	75
Ogres	73	73	84	84	84
Yetis	77	77	85	85	--
Bugbears	79	79	87	86	86
Cyclopi	81	81	89	87	87
Ents	82	82	90	88	88
Umber Hulks	84	84	92	89	89
Cloud Giants	86	86	93	90	90
Hill Giants	89	89	94	91	91
Fire Giants	91	91	95	92	92
Frost Giants	93	93	96	93	93
Stone Giants	95	95	97	97	97
Storm Giants	97	97	98	98	98
Titans	99	99	99	99	99
ther	00	00	00	00	00

TRUE GIANTS	DS	CO	PS	SE	AE
Pixies (*Nixies)	01	01	01	40*	45
Leprechauns	02	02	03	49	50
Hobbits	03	05	07	--	--
Kobolds	06	08	11	--	--
Gnomes	08	11	15	--	--
Goblins	13	15	20	--	--
Dwarves	18	19	25	--	--
Humans	74	57	51	--	--
Marshwiggles	75	67	52	50	--
Orcs	80	72	57	--	--
Half Elves	81	76	64	--	--
Elves	82	79	69	--	--
Hobgoblins	83	81	72	--	--
Gnolls	84	83	74	--	--
Trolls	85	85	76	--	--
Ogres	87	87	78	--	--
Yetis	88	88	79	--	--
Bugbears	--	--	80	--	--
Cyclopi	91	90	82	--	--
Ents	--	91	86	--	--
Umber Hulks	92	92	87	--	--
Cloud Giants	93	93	89	59	59
Hill Giants	94	94	91	--	--
Fire Giants	95	95	93	--	--
Frost Giants	96	96	95	--	--
Stone Giants	97	97	97	--	--
Storm Giants	98	98	98	90	90
Titans	99	99	99	99	99
Other	00	00	00	00	00

The possible others that they suggest might be encountered include (but are not limited to): Light Elves, Dark Elves, Nissies, Black Seers, Pan Tang Warriors, Myyrrhm, Ribhus, Indian Ogres, Hyborean Frost Giants, Greek Cyclopi, Satyrs, Norse Storm [presumably Giants], Norse Dwarves, Norse Stone Giants, Norse Rock Giant, Aliens, Mist Giants. Delmains, Chinese Fairies, and Homo Superiori.

Undead

Undead being unnatural creatures can appear anywhere. Actually one change I made when I adopted these tables was to give the chance of an aerial encounter with a Morkoth, or rather the Morkoth spiral, since I always considered it to be far more effective when viewed from above. There was one particularly shallow sandy bay that was dotted with many Morkoth lairs, including a big one for the Dire Morkoth at the centre. Nobody sailed or flew over the bay, although it was rumoured that a certain corsair had mapped the lairs had a hidden base on an island in the bay, full of treasure.

UNDEAD	LAND	SEA	AIR
Skeleton	15	--	--
Zombie	30	--	--
Ghoul	45	--	--
Lacedon	--	25	--
Wight	55	--	--
Wraith	63	--	--
Mummy	73	--	--
Special Mummy	76	30	--
Spectre	82	55	30
Morkoth	--	80	--
Shadow	86	90	50
Vampires	89	--	70
Ghost	92	96	90
Other	00	00	00

The suggested others include: Ollam Onga, Red Shadows, and Ghouls of Yaniadar.

[More reviews to come.]

C&S Alignment

A Quick Review of C&S First Edition Alignment

The first edition of Chivalry & Sorcery actually had an Alignment attribute. This meant that it was possible to roll alignment (although most C&S gamemasters would allow a player to pick an alignment for their character). It featured the original Law/Chaos dichotomy of original D&D, but represented this as the Good/Evil morality of the medieval European mindset. As with many attributes in first edition C&S, it was accompanied by a brief description of what the number actually represented (for example a character with a 14 Wisdom was "Discerning," which meant that "the character reads other men’s characters well and tends to make sound decisions").

What I find interesting is comparing it to more modern interpretations of alignment as morality. In particular how selfish behaviour generally is shifted much more to the chaotic end of the spectrum. I mean how many people would classify "law-abiding" as neutral behaviour. But really, it is. Similarly a lot of people would classify the "base" behaviour as being fairly neutral (heavily-weighted self-interest).

Die Roll	Lawful Alignment
1	Saintly: The character will take Holy Orders or join a Fighting Order. Wisdom is a predetermined 15+. He is an implacable foe of all Chaotics and “heretics.”
2	Devout: The character will take Holy Orders or join a Fighting Order. Wisdom is a predetermined 13+.
3	Good: The character chooses the “right” path at all times, eschewing the ways of evil and temptation.
4	Virtuous: The character seeks the “best” path and, though he fails at times to do the right thing, he makes restitution afterward and does penance.
5	Worthy: The character tries to live by a high standard but slips on occasion.
6	Trustworthy: The character has flaws in his moral fibre but attempts to meet his commitments and do his duty out of a firm sense of self-respect.
7	Honourable: The character can be counted on to do the honourable thing.
	Neutral Alignment
8-9	Law Abiding: The character is tempted by self-interest but does the “socially correct” thing, particularly with respect to all matters governed by custom and legality.
10-13	Wordly: The character is knowledgeable in the ways of the world and sees moral issues in the grey half-tones of his self-interest. He will not be a party to truly evil conduct but sees no real impediment to a little larceny or mayhem if it brings a profit.
14-15	Corruptible: The character sees his duty as beginning with himself. He is not evil, but he has his price.
	Chaotic Alignment
16	Unscrupulous: The character has no real scruples when it comes to his picking a pocket or slitting a throat. If he can he will try to weasel out of any of his obligations or cheat his friends. Yet he also cares about his reputation.
17	Base: The character will stoop pretty low on occasion, pays lip service to all of the conventional prattlings about good and decency, and never lets himself be blinded to a profitable deal when he sees it.
18	Immoral: The character is corrupt to the core; Capable of great iniquity and depravity, he enjoys every minute of it. This is the character of the true “robber baron.”
19	Villainous: The character is capable of real depths of evil and no moral code or conscience worth speaking of. If he has any friends they have learned to count their fingers after shaking hands with him and never leave their backs unguarded in his presence.
20	Diabolic: The character is the complete Chaotic — so utterly void of any sense of right and wrong and devoted to hellishness in all its forms that there is no crime, no atrocity, no sacrilege that he will refrain from committing. This malevolent personality is true Evil Incarnate, so fiendishly demoniacal that even the Dark One is ashamed of his excesses at times.

Since this was replaced by the more abstract Piety characteristic in the second edition of C&S, I felt it was worthy of a quick review.

[Aside: My current alignment system uses a Pollution/Corruption mechanic. If you have no Pollution or Corruption you are Holy. However to stay free of spiritual Pollution requires considerable effort (depending on the actual tenets of your faith many things might cause Pollution), but in return you automatically get the status of Blessed. If you have Pollution (the normal random amount is 3d6), you are Worldly, which means you have taken no special efforts to avoid minor spiritual pollution and to cleanse yourself of it. For example as a Christian you might have "coveted your neighbour's ox." Note that if you are not actually trying to purify yourself there is no need to keep track of your spiritual pollution during actual play. A Worldly character can generally pay for a temporary Blessing (and this is commonly done before embarking on a venture, such as travel or childbirth). A character that has even a single point of Corruption is considered Unholy. They have usually made a deal with the demons who are trying to overthrow and replace the gods, or done something equally heinous against the gods. whilst the gods are generally unwilling to help their worshippers (beyond extending a Blessing), the demons are often willing to reward their servants directly.]