Morris' Wargaming Escapades

 It has been discussed to exhaustion how these medieval rules were a crucial influence in the genesis of Dungeons & Dragons. This is not the purpose of this post. I will focus on its virtues strictly from a wargaming perspective as a mass battles ruleset.  Chainmail contains a variety of rules. I will only discuss point 1 in the following list: Medieval mass battles rules Siege rules. Man-to-man (skirmish) medieval Jousting rules Fantasy additions to mass battles rules and sieges It is history of gaming how Dave Arneson meshed 3 with 5, added  Hit Points and created the concept of RPGs. There is plenty of books and articles discussing this. On the contrary, I will highlight 3 sub-systems of the mass battles rules that I think deserve more attention. WEATHER  This table in my opinion is pure genius. So simple, dynamic and elegant. It can be overlaid into any ruleset. I would only add perhaps the possibility of mist (reduced visibility) in the cloudy table. O...

This will be a heresy both to Classic Traveller and B/X fans, but bear with me for a little while because it's just a fun reskin. STEP 1 . Roll a character using Classic Traveller Character generator as written. STEP 2 . Convert the characteristics of the rolled character to B/X in a straightforward manner: STR > STR +2 INT > INT +2 WIS > EDU +2 DEX > DEX +2 CON > END +2 CHR > SOC +2 The rolled skill levels become old-school Saving Throws Modifiers , to be used only in tight spots, after a string of bad decisions or really unfortunate outcomes. They are rolled when there is something critical on the line and everything is SNAFU. The base saving throw for an unskilled character is 10 (pure luck). Example: a Pilot-2 rolls against a Piloting Saving Throw of 8 in tight spots (10-2) . Ignore other B/X saving throws except against spells (becomes against psionics). Psionic characters use the spells from B/X. STEP 3 . Pick a Classic Traveller B/X class f...

Yesterday I played a very interesting one-shot in Spanish hombrewed by dungeon master Alejandro and called 'El cuerno de los caídos'. I played a human rogue in a mercenary party searching for a moveable underground cathedral. A thrilling four hours session!