“Zap! You’re dead!” J. Eric Holmes warns against these sorts of traps in the 1977 Basic D&D (40). I tend to comply. Sometimes, though… sometimes!
During the daily cartography exercise that is #Dungeon23, I noticed an auspicious alignment. Let us go to Deep Dungeon Doom’s Level 2 (image above). From room 37 in Kubra Kowthar’s domain, a corridor runs northwest to an apparent dead end. Stopping to search for secret doors—as adventurers do—we stand above Level 3’s Laughing Rift.
I am doomed to put a pitfall there. The floor opens beneath our feet. We fall 110 feet to the rocky floor below—Zap!
Holmes lets us get away with such a trap, though, if “a character might avoid or overcome [it] with some quick thinking and a little luck.” With that in mind, we set about to give ourselves a chance.
Warning
Beyond the secret door—for one there is—room 23 lies at the bottom of the Bastion of Law. Carved into the stone block wall that disguises the secret door is the following warning:
YOUR DOOM LIES BEYOND FOR BEYOND YOU LIE BELOW
On our side of the door, we read a similar inscription:
YOUR DOOM IS UPON YOU FOR YOU ARE UPON YOUR DOOM
Ignoring the warning—we’re adventurers after all—we find the secret door, whose presence we think obvious. The trap is armed when the opening mechanism is engaged. From room 23, we would walk through, into the space beyond. From this side, the floor opens beneath us.
Chance to Spring the Trap
If the DM is a little soft, we might say the trap is not maintained. It engages when weight is upon it only one-third of the time, to use a B/X-ism (B22).
Saving Throw Conditions
Further, the aperture is 3 feet square. The tight fit allows us a save vs Turn to Stone to catch ourselves with outstretched arms, feet kicking in the void, fingertips gripping a floor stone’s edge. Quick comrades have a chance to snatch us from fate. Otherwise, we might be able to haul ourselves out on our own. DM’s call. This DM would ask how we intend to do it.
Failing that, we have time to feel heart rise to throat, as we plummet into darkness.
Running through the trash heap in the Central Rift Floor (77, below center), the stream turns to a thick sludge of decayed organic waste. It fills a 20-foot-deep pit (78) in front of rough-carved stairs. Runoff flows south and west through a grate to who-knows-where. Endowed with an adventurer’s presence of mind, we make a quick check for treasure at the bottom of the pit while we’re down there.
Unexpected Deliverance
One last chance. Directly below, the Sludge Pit (78) awaits. We save vs Dragon Breath to take half 11d6 damage.
We still have to wrestle off any armor before drowning and swim to the surface through viscous muck. Then we find ourselves all alone and sans armure at the nethermost point of the Laughing Rift—Zap! Welcome to Deep Dungeon Doom!
“Saving Throw VS. Death,” the previous article in the series, wrapped up the Pandemonium Society’s house rules for combat, as published in various issues of the newsletters L’avant garde and Paradigm Lost. We jumped around issue numbers to talk about the combat rules in a coherent manner. Now, it makes sense to take the remaining house rules by book-order, that is, in the order as the rules they modify appear in Holmes.
So, we start here with ability scores, and we’ll end with treasure, which seems appropriate for such an adventure. For, an adventure it is. It may be of the there-and-back-again sort, but Phenster’s contributions to the newsletters from 1980 to 87 are numerous. Between here and there, we have some monsters to fight before we can take the treasure.
This is the 19th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].
Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.
Additions to Ability Scores
by Phenster
The guys at the Game Hoard talk a lot about the ability adjustments[1] they have from high scores in their A(dvanced) D&D games. They get pluses to lots of stuff, like +3 to saving throws for WIS, −4 on AC for an 18 DEX, and bonuses to hit AND damage for STR. They even get "extra strength" (fighters only) that can give them as high as +6!!
We think it's more fun to have bonuses for more high scores besides CON and DEX like in the rules, but according to Hazard we have to be careful of "power creep," or it makes the game too easy. So, Mandykin and Tombs worked out some extra bonuses that Hazard said was OK for his "Great Halls" campaign.
—from Paradigm Lost: the Newsletter of the Pandemonium Society of Neighborhood Dungeons and Dragons Players, #2 (November 1980)
Following this introduction, Phenster provides a table showing modifiers for Strength, Wisdom, Dexterity, and Charisma. I reproduce the table below, adding Constitution and the full Dexterity entry from Basic D&D (1977, 6) plus a couple rows for Intelligence (9) for completeness. Note that rule-smiths Mandykin and Tombs in some cases add bonuses without corresponding penalties.
Power creep aside, while I don’t agree that they make the game too easy, I do think AD&D’s bonuses—similar to those introduced in OD&D’s Greyhawk supplement (1976)—are over-complicated for Holmes. Conversely, Moldvay’s Basic (1981) bonuses and penalties for ability scores are too elegant. Neither has the Holmes spirit we wish to preserve.
Ability Score Bonuses and Penalties [E]
Ability
Score
Bonus/Penalty
Strength
18
+3 attack, damage, force doors
17
+2
15-16
+1
7-14
None
6 or less
−1
Intelligence
11-18
1-8 additional languages
10 or less
None
Wisdom
15 or more
+1 magic saves
14 or less
None
Constitution
18
+3 hit points per hit dice
17
+2
15-16
+1
7-14
None
6 or less
−1
Dexterity
15 or more
−1 armor class
13 or more
+1 missile fire
9-12
None
8 or less
−1 missile fire
Charisma
18
Up to 12 hirelings; +3 loyalty2
17
10; +2
13-16
6-9; +1
7-12
5
6 or less
4; −1
1 From the context, I assume Phenster intends “ability score modifiers.” 2 Phenster covers loyalty in an article about henchmen, which we’ll get to. For now, we note that loyalty, for the Pandemonium Society, is not the same as morale.
The wizard Periphron seeks a powerful artifact called “the Seventh.” His research, which includes use of a crystal ball and multiple castings of contact other plane, aided by a library of esoteric tomes, indicates the Seventh is located within the ruins of an ancient town, purportedly buried under a rocky hill in an arid plain.
After charming the blue dragon that laired within, Periphron rebuilt a ruined tower on the hillside. Beneath the tower, he excavated several tunnels in search of the ancient town. Exploratory tunnels broke into a series of natural caverns, which leads to the ancient town’s underground ruins.
Periphron uses the charmed blue dragon to guard the tower entrance. The excavation is accomplished by move earth spells and stone giants. Periphron’s apprentices handle the excavation’s day-to-day management.
Meanwhile, the wizard continues research. For, with the Seventh, Periphron intends to begin the prophesied Age of Dragons. How he will achieve this is unknown, even to the wizard himself.
But lawful factions want to prevent Periphron’s finding the artifact. Chaotic factions want to steal it. After so many uses of contact other plane, Periphron might be fairly nuts.
Imagining a cover for Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables, I hit upon the idea to draw a dungeon map with stocking notes, examples from the tables. One thing led to another…
Cover in the Making
To create the adventure locale, I string together a series of five-room dungeons. Among Neagley’s nine forms, a “Moose” makes the tower; a “Cross,” the exploratory tunnels; an “Evil Mule” for the cave network, and a “Paw” looks like the excavation site. For this purpose, I use the forms without necessarily incorporating Johnn Four’s five-room-dungeon story framework.
Periphron’s Tower and Excavation, Draft with Notes. Symbol meanings are given in parenthetical notations within the text below.
On my draft, circles are rooms or encounter areas; lines are corridors, tunnels, and stairway connections between. I note the entrance (E) to each as well as its exit (X), which joins the next entrance. This makes a wire frame model. Later, while drawing the thing, other connections between rooms within and without each five-room section—much desired according to Jaquays’ Techniques—may become apparent.
See “Xandering the Dungeon” on the Alexandrian. In five parts and three addenda, Justin Alexander’s treatise exposes the techniques, philosophy, and multiple examples of the cartographic and dungeon design methods of Jennell Jaquays, whose early design credits include “F’Chelrak’s Tomb” (The Dungeoneer No. 1, 1976) and Judges Guild modules Caverns of Thracia (1979) and Dark Tower (1980). Alexander’s series is a must-read for fledgling cartographers and adventure-game designers. Jaquays’ work is a must-study.
Monsters and Treasures
As per guidelines in the 1977 supplements Monster and Treasure Assortments and Dungeon Geomorphs, I chose monsters and treasures according to the scenario in mind. “Specials” are the focus of the dungeon, in this case, the wizard and the object of his search. “Selecteds” are those monsters and treasures that round out the story. For example, apprentices and other monsters the wizard uses as tools—because he’s evil—and wealth and magic items they employ to achieve their goals.
Monsters
To accompany the wizard, I figure he must have apprentices, a charmed monster, and some manual laborers. Periphron is throwing high-level spells in the background story, and the sought artifact has world-changing potential. There happens to be a 13th-level wizard on M&T’s Level 9 monster list. In the same list, I find a blue dragon for the charmed-monster guardian and stone giants to do the heavy lifting.
Special: Periphron (13th-level wizard).
Selected: Apprentices (MU 10-ish), stone giants, blue dragon (charmed monster).
I note that stone giants are neutral in alignment. So, their relationship to the evil wizard is not a simple cooperation, and I’ve already used the charm monster spell. As the scenario develops, we might find an opportunity to embellish the story and explain why the giants do the wizard’s work.
Treasures
The object of Periphron’s search, the Seventh is the primordial wyrm’s last unhatched egg from the Wyrm Dawn campaign. Its discovery and successful use (far from obvious) might create competition for the pretender in Wyrm Dawn’s successor Wyrmwyrd.
See the Legends section of “Myths and Legends” for more on the story.
Special: the Seventh (artifact).
Selected: Periphron’s spellbook, crystal ball, wand of metal detection, helm of read languages and magic, reference books.
In the selected treasure list, I have neglected wealth, which we might think would be necessary to accomplish Periphron’s plans. We’ll be generous with treasure-rolling opportunities in stocking—unless the wizard spent all his money and, so, is now desperate to find the artifact…
Placement and Distribution
I place the special monster (Msp) and treasure (Tsp): Periphron in the tower, the Seventh in the excavation site—yet undiscovered. For contents of other rooms, I roll on one of the tables from the Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables. The principle difference between the three tables is the chance for a monster encounter as noted below.
Dungeon Section
Old-School ’77 Table
Chance for Monsters
Tower
By the Bluebook
33%
Exploratory tunnels
Basic and Lower Dungeons
25%
Caves
Caves and Caverns
50%
Excavation site
Basic and Lower Dungeons
25%
The results are noted on the wire-frame model: selected monsters and treasures (Mse, Tse), other monsters with treasures (MT), monsters without treasure (M—), unguarded treasures (uT), traps (an “X” with a half circle above—my rendition of a skull and crossbones), and interesting variations (star). I also note, with an asterisk (*), a few elements from which I might later derive adventure hooks.
In B/X, Moldvay separates OD&D’s “tricks and traps” into traps and “specials” for “anything not exactly a trap, but placed for special reasons” (B52). Meanwhile, in Holmes’s 1977 Basic D&D, the editor refers to these as “interesting variations.”
Now to draw the map and fill in details. I will of course share the finished adventure module.
In the meantime, with this draft document, you might develop your own version of “Periphron’s Tower and Excavation.” All the elements, the artifact for instance, are interchangeable. Should the cartography be an obstacle, you might browse Dyson Logos’s collection of five-room dungeons (tagged 5RD) or search the network for suitable maps to string together.
This 68-day #Dungeon23 veteran is confident that he can draw a 20-room map.
Justin Alexander changed the verb for using Jaquays’ techniques. See his “Historical Note.” Now we “Xander” the dungeon. I changed references and links accordingly. [13:43 27 November 2023 GMT]
Another fantastic element we don’t see often enough: the magic portal. I imagine Fearthoht, during her reign, had installed a network of magic portals to facilitate communication throughout the underworld empire. This one, broken, presents an unspoken quest.#Dungeon23#DnD, #mappic.twitter.com/4xn7okKHEW
While preparing to stock Dyson Logos’s Deep Halls1 of Amon-Gorloth a couple years ago, we needed a simple way to determine general room contents: monsters, treasures, tricks, and traps. My adoration for Moldvay’s CONTENTS and TREASURE tables (B52) ends at the point I’m wanting to use earlier sources. This is the case for Amon-Gorloth, who speaks to me in Holmes.
So, using guidelines given in Holmes Basic D&D (TSR Hobbies, 1977) and the two supplements that came in early boxed sets: Treasure Assortment and Monster & Treasure Assortment, both Set One (1976, 1977), I devised a single d% table that serves the same function as the Moldvay tables.
The Dungeon Stocking Tables Formerly Known as “Flying” in PDF for Print and Phone
During development, we discovered a distinction between natural and built underworld areas. Dungeon Geomorphs Sets One and Three give a 25% chance to encounter monsters in dungeons, while Set Two: Caves & Caverns gives a 50% chance.2 Prompted by this revelation about OD&D’s implied setting, I made two more tables, adjusted from the first, to reflect this difference between caves and dungeons.
In the solo campaign Dreaming Amon-Gorloth, I use the tables, accompanied by the Monster and Treasure Assortments, to stock the Deep Halls as the adventuring party explores it. We used to call that “winging it” and “DMing on the fly,” hence the title “Flying Dungeon Stocking Tables.”
Since the beginning of this year, the tables serve now and again to fill in where I lack an idea for what’s in the daily room of my #Dungeon23. I’m running Deep Dungeon Doom for a group, though, and rolling for room contents while a pair of 12-year-olds waits to fight something and take its treasure is ill advised.
As they serve so well and might enjoy a wider audience, I am preparing the tables for distribution. “Flying” is a less apt description. I have therefore renamed the document.
Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables are soon available in PDF for print and phone on DriveThruRPG.
1 The map god is spreading a rumor on social media that he is working on the Deep Halls II. I don’t find it yet on the Dodecahedron.
2 This difference is lost in the composite product Dungeon Geomorphs Sets One to Three (1980), which uses yet another distribution—a variation on 50% monsters.
In Deep Dungeon Doom, I follow #Gygax75 and #Dungeon23 to create a D&D dungeon campaign in a few minutes per day for one year. I post irregular updates here. To get the daily rooms, follow me on Mastodon and Twitter.
Extending from the first level and into a second-level sublevel of the dungeon, LYCEUM ARCANUM comprises 39 areas and includes four buried towers, three surface entrances, 11 exits to the first, second, fifth, and unknown levels. It contains myriad secrets and untold riches and magic items, guarded by diverse traps, a cast of magic-users, a lesser djinni, and a baalgaur.
The player party, a pair of neophyte adventurers, descended to the Auditorium (2), took the bronze mask from the statue (b), which they then toppled, and opened the brass door to Baal-Dagan’s Prison (9).
This is the 18th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].
Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.
“If hit points are reduced to zero or below, the combatant is dead” (Holmes, 18).
The following article was printed in L’avant garde #77, dated March 1986. If the Postlethwaite Collection is near complete, this is Phenster’s penultimate contribution to the newsletter. It is the last concerning the Pandemonium Society’s house rules for combat.
Saving Throw VS. Death
by Phenster
The fight with the gnoll-demon's army went bad for us. Phenster Prime only had 3 hit points left when the black dragon raised its head out of the water. I tried to DISINTEGRATE it, but it saved, and I didn't have any other good spells against it, because I already used FIRE BALL on the gnolls and CHARM MONSTER on Charon, who was poling us down the River Styx, taking us to Hell.
We were sitting ducks. The dragon spit acid on us, and it didn't matter if I saved or not, and it didn't matter if the acid was washed away as the boat sank into the current. Phenster Prime was sizzled. Hazard called it an ignominious death.
When we used to play cops and robbers and war or other make-believe games, when we shoot somebody, we just say, "BANG, you're dead! Count to 10!" And you have to fall on the ground and count to 10 really really fast before you can get up and get back in the game again.
But D&D isn't like those make-believe games. The rules say when you lose all your hit points, you're character dies. No bang, no counting--when you're dead your dead. We usually play by the rules. You can be raised or resurrected with magic, but it's expensive and takes time to go back to base town and talk to the bishop or a wizard. Most times at 0 hit points it's faster just to roll up a new character, or take a henchman if you have one, and get back in the game.
Hazard gave me a saving throw versus death, but I didn't make it. You have to roll a 20 minus your level, then add your h.p. bonus. I needed an 8, but I got a 5, so Phenster Prime was dead on the River Styx.
The Bully got sizzled, too, but he made his saving throw against death. (He only needed a 4.) He was still unconscious though with 1 h.p., so Friar Tombs had to haul him to shore so he wouldn't drown. Then the Bully woke up, and Friar Tombs put some healing on him, while I rolled up a new character because I didn't have a henchman.
The dragon disappeared, and so did Charon, and they never found Phenster Prime's body. The party was stranded on the shore of the River Styx, so they had to walk to Hell. Phenster Double Prime joined them on the way.
Save vs Death [P]
A character who reaches 0 or fewer hit points may attempt a saving throw vs Death. The number needed is 20 minus the character’s level. The character’s Constitution bonus to hit points is added to the roll. Failure means death. Success means the character has 1 hit point and is unconscious until the end of the current encounter.
This was a recurring joke among the AD&D crowd when I was a teenager. A game in which one might make a saving throw versus Death couldn’t be serious. For that reason, I throw it in category [P] Pandemonium.
In Deep Dungeon Doom, I follow #Gygax75 and #Dungeon23 to create a D&D dungeon campaign in a few minutes per day for one year. I post irregular updates here. To get the daily rooms, follow me on Mastodon and Twitter.
“Step 2 requires sitting down with a large piece of hex ruled paper and drawing a large scale map. A map with a scale of 1 hex = 1 mile … will allow you to use your imagination to devise some interesting terrain and places, and it will be about right for player operations such as exploring, camping, adventuring, and eventually building their strongholds” (Gary Gygax, Europa, April 1975, 18).
Making the Wilderness Map
Scale
We might assume a “large piece of hex ruled paper” is tabloid (A3) size, although I have no idea where one would acquire hex paper in the mid ’70s, especially tabloid size.1 Even at that size, one mile per hex makes what seems to my eyes a too-small area for building strongholds. I suppose I’m used to establishing a barony and having extensive space to explore.
When perusing Dave Arneson’s First Fantasy Campaign (Judges Guild) map and text, though, I imagine a more intimate setting for several PCs and their interactions, the 1977 map’s scale notwithstanding.
Furthermore, with Deep Dungeon Doom’s focus on the dungeon, a small wilderness area feels right, and Ray Otus points out that we’ll have “time to draw a larger scale map in week 5” (The Gygax 75 Challenge, 11).
The reMarkable gives me a hex grid that comes out to ½" hexes on a letter-size page.2 One hex per mile—and limiting the map size to 8" × 10", so as to fit on either US letter-size or European A4 paper—gives us an area of 16 × 20 miles or 320 square miles. Intimate.
Settlements
Following Otus, I place a large town on the coast and a couple villages support-distance away. I like to work in as many terrain types as is logical for a map’s aesthetic appeal and to exercise the wilderness encounter tables, which are differentiated by terrain.
Domesday and Environs.
Mysterious Locations
I choose a remote, vacant area between highlands for a mysterious location. I don’t know why the vale is forgotten or why it might be important to the campaign, but I’m guessing it’s got something to do with the Doommaker herself.
Also, inspired by the real-world map source, the central hills connecting the north and south mountain ranges also mark a geographical divide between the eastern highlands and the western lowlands. A long, straight, sloping tunnel runs between the two. Parallel to it, a series of level tunnels joined by sheer precipices runs the same length. Both structures are huge and blocked by rubble, debris, and monsters. A surface-level track also traverses the hills.
Cyclopean Tunnels
The parallel tunnels are a remnant of the Greater Ones. The sloping tunnel was used for ground transport. The other, after the builders diverted the river, was a series of locks for watercraft. The elves of the eastern woods re-diverted the river some longtime ago.
Dungeon and Base Town
The dungeon, which I name after its most prominent feature, is located off-center, and I place the base town—a stronghold—nearby. I also add regions inhabited by PC races, plus monstrous races for tension.
So early in the campaign—the PC party is still practically at the dungeon entrance, I don’t expect the neophyte adventurers to explore the wilderness soon. I highlight only geographical features on the map, marking each with a single large icon, and restrain myself from adding further detail—apart from an encounter table.
Wilderness Encounter Table
I divide the wilderness map into quadrants, marked by the central hills. Entries separated by a pipe “|” should be read west|east; those by a slash “/” north/south. For example, a 3 result yields halflings when traveling in the west or elves while exploring east of the central hills.
2d6
Result
2
Magic-User (Men*) (L or N)
3
Halflings|Elves
4
Knights**
5
Orcs/Dwarves
6
Men*|Humanoid*
7
Roll on Wilderness Encounter Table*
8
Bandits
9
Lizard Men|Goblins
10
Ogres
11
Trolls/Hill Giants
12
Magic-User (Men*) (C)
* See Wilderness Encounter Table (X57-8). ** Knights? I don’t know yet.
Daily #Dungeon23 Rooms on Mastodon and Twitter
I post the dungeon map, updated with the day’s room and a brief description, every day on Mastodon and Twitter.
1 Avalon Hill of course. In “Hexmaps and Random Encounters Before D&D,” Tom Van Winkle notes that the makers of Outdoor Survival (1972) sold 22" x 28" hex maps for amateur game designers (Tom Van Winkle’s Return to Gaming, September 2, 2023). In an email exchange, Tom points me to a notice in the July 1964 issue (Vol. 1, No. 2) of the Avalon Hill General. Under the heading “Design Your Own Games” on page 1, AH offers the large hex maps in sheets for $1.00 each.
2 Only interesting for reMarkable users: To achieve half-inch hexes, I use the reMarkable template medium hex grid, portrait orientation, exported to PNG, and printed at 176 ppi. Use the highlighter in different colors and export grayscale to get the varying shades. I have to turn the tablet landscape, because reMarkable got the hex orientation wrong. The engineers maybe never played Outdoor Survival, whose map board has the horizontal lines at top and bottom. This is, therefore, the “correct” orientation.
Added footnote 1. [19:04 8 September 2023 GMT]
Edited footnote 1 to include the source. [5:45 11 September 2023 GMT]
“Stephen’s delightful memoir makes you want to travel upstream to your own formative D&D headwaters, dig out your old graph-paper maps and worn dice, and rediscover the gateway to what the author calls ‘the fantastic path.’” —Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms
“A celebration of dice, maps, friendship, and, above all, imagination—the very stuff from which the hobby of role-playing is made.” —James Maliszewski, author of Grognardia: Musings and Memories from a Lifetime of Roleplaying
Warning: Reading this book will make you want to play D&D!
This is the 17th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].
Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.
The following excerpts are from Phenster’s contribution to L’avant garde #53 (March 1983). Though out of order, they reproduce the entire article.
Dirty Fighting
by Phenster
Sometimes we want to do something in combat besides attacking with a weapon. Like the time Mandykin had to fight an ogre all by herself after she got separated from the group by a falling portcullis. We couldn't lift the portcullis, so the rest of us went to find another way around. Mandykin found the ogre's lair first. She knew she couldn't beat it in a fair fight, so she had to fight dirty.
She had a bag of salt that we use to throw at zombies, so she threw a handful in the ogre's face, first. She had to make a missile attack with a -4 penalty. She hit, so the ogre was blinded. (Sometimes we throw sand, too, and it's the same.) Then she wanted to trip it. So she rolled her hit dice and added +2 for her high dexterity (17) against the ogre's hit dice. She had 7 4-sided vs. the ogre's 4+1 d8s. It was close but she did it. By the time we found the long way around, Mandykin had the ogre tied up and was sitting on its belly.
Then there was the time we fought a balrog at the edge of the Pit to Hell. Only Beowulf and Jinx had magic weapons, and my spells weren't working on it. Jinx said, "Let's rush it." I said, "What?!" He said, "We'll push it back into the Pit to Hell." I said it was a bad idea, because the balrog could immolate. But Beowulf asked me if I had a better idea and I didn't. Hazard said we should all throw our hit dice (+ damage bonus) against the balrog's hit dice. Only four of us could push, and we got 88 all together. The balrog got 49, so we pushed it into the Pit, but it immolated! We all got burned pretty bad, and Jinx got caught by the balrog's whip and was jerked down into the Pit to Hell.
Shoving, Tripping, and Throwing Sand/Salt
Instead of attacking with a weapon, a combatant may take one of the following actions. A character with multiple attacks with a weapon takes only one of these actions per round.
Hit Dice Roll
Shove [E] and Trip [E], as well as Wrestling [E] farther below, use opposed hit dice rolls. That is, each side rolls dice equal in size and quantity to their hit dice. A 6th-level magic-user rolls 6d4; a 10th-level fighter, 9d8+2.1 Constitution bonuses or penalties to hit points are not counted. The higher roll wins the contest.
Shove [E]
Attackers and defenders make opposed hit dice rolls, adding their Strength bonus or penalty to melee attack.2 A successful shove moves the defender a space in the direction opposite the attacker. Attackers move with the defenders, and the combatants are in close quarters (see Close Quarters). In case of failure, the combatants are in close quarters, but the defenders do not move.
Trip [E]
To trip an opponent, an attacker must step into close quarters with the defender. Attacker and defender then make opposed hit dice rolls, adding their Dexterity bonuses or penalties to AC and missile fire.2 A successful trip indicates the defender is prone. (See Prone [E].) On a failed attempt, the defender may immediately attempt a trip, becoming the attacker. A series of failures takes place in an instant of struggle.
Throw Sand/Salt [P]
The attacker, within 10' of the target, makes a missile attack with a −4 penalty. On a hit, the target must make a saving throw vs. Paralysis or be blinded for 2 to 5 rounds, suffering +2 penalty to AC and −4 to attack rolls.
Note: A penalty to an attack roll to effect a particular result is danger close to allowing PCs to “aim for the eyes” with any attack. When using this [P] Pandemonium rule, be prepared to defend against arguments for such “called shots.”
Source of Opposed Hit Dice Rolls
An opposed hit dice roll is also used in a Shield Wall Push [P] (see “Phalanx Fighting” and “The Phalanx and the Shield Wall.”) I find a similar procedure in the Strategic Review Vol. 1, No. 2 (Summer 1975) under the heading QUESTIONS MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED ABOUT DUNGEONS & DRAGONS RULES (3). In a combat example, a group of orcs grapple with a hero. To be successful, the orcs must roll their combined hit dice and beat the hero’s hit dice roll. Prior to the opposed roll, each orc must make a successful attack roll against the hero before its hit dice can be counted in the grapple. The Pandemonium Society seems to ignore this step.
Nonlethal Attacks
Whenever we have a brawl at the Nine of Pentacles (that's our local Sword & Board), we fight with our fists or wrestle, or we use makeshift weapons, like bottles and chair legs. In a fist fight, you do 1 + STR bonus in NONLETHAL damage, which means, if you go down, you aren't dead, you're just knocked out. Makeshift weapons do 1-3 real damage. We can get in big trouble if we kill someone in base town though, so we have to be careful with that. Wrestling is just another hit dice throw that you add your damage bonus to or your dex bonuses. It doesn't really do any damage, but if you win you can make the other guy do what you want, like pin him to the floor or make him say "Uncle" or just about anything else you can think of.
Fist Fighting [E]
A fist does 1 point of damage. Add the attacker’s Strength bonus2 to damage as normal. All damage is nonlethal.
Knocked Out [E]
When a creature takes nonlethal damage equal to its current hit point total, it falls unconscious for 1 to 6 rounds.
Wrestling [E]
The attacker chooses whether to use Strength or Dexterity and steps into close quarters with the defender. The combatants make opposed hit dice rolls adding the chosen bonus or penalty. If the attacker wins, a desired effect takes place.
Feint
Mandykin wanted a way she could do a feint in melee. Hazard said it was a "subtle action," and it's assumed in a combat round. But Mandykin said a feint is about as subtle as a parry and there's a rule for parry right in the book.
A feint is when you trick your opponent into thinking you're going to do one thing, but then you do something else. You catch him off guard, so you get a bonus (+2) on your attack. It only works against man-type creatures. You do a feint on your go, then you have to wait until your opponent goes to see if he fell for it: Roll a 20-sided die, subtract your level, add your opponent's level or hit dice and his bonus for a high wisdom (if he has one). If you roll under your dexterity score, he's tricked! and takes a -2 to his attack, and you attack at +2. If he isn't tricked, he gets a +2 on his attack (because you left yourself open), and you attack normally.
Feint [P]
To feint, an attacker makes a Dexterity check, subtracting his or her level and adding the opponent’s level (or hit dice), plus the opponent’s Wisdom bonus. If successful, the opponent attacks with a −2 penalty, and the attacker, immediately afterward, makes an attack with a +2 bonus. When the feint fails, the opponent attacks with a +2 bonus, and the attacker with a −2 penalty.
Note: I add the attacker’s −2 penalty in the failure case to discourage overuse, and still I class this one as [P] Pandemonium.
1 We’ll see later that the Pandemonium Society uses hit dice by level progression from Greyhawk (1976, 10-11). 2 Also later, we’ll see ability score bonuses and penalties.
