New AD&D/D&D podcast - The Dungeon Master's Handbook

[chicagowiz]

Jun 17, 2018 7:40:08 GMT -6 rsdean said:

Jun 17, 2018 6:39:12 GMT -6 chicagowiz said:

Please, if I can help in future episodes, let me know what else you'd like to know about the campaign and world.

Good luck!

It's a little idiosyncratic, but I'm particularly interested in how you translate your troop strengths to the table, and, if you are using multiple rules sets, how you interface them.

There's a section in my rules that deals with that - Section 5.

I list my troops as regular (professional, heavy/med) and militia (levies, town guards, militias, med/light). I list then as REGULAR/MILITIA. Each army is 12 regiments. Each Regiment is 10 companies. Each company is 100 soldiers. So an army is 12,000.

An army rated as "regular" is 10/2 and higher (10/2, 11/1, 12/0). So roughly a 5:1 or better ratio of professional/heavy to militia/light.
An army rated as "regular/militia" or "rm" is 6/6 to 9/3 (6/6, 7/5, 8/4, 9/3). A 1:1 up to 5:1 ratio.
An army rated as "militia/regular" or "mr" is 3/9 to 5/7 (3/9, 4/8, 5/7). A 1:4 up to just under 1:1 ratio.
An army rated as "militia" or "m" is 2/10 or lesser (2/10, 1/11, 0/12). A 1:5 ratio or less.

As they reduce in numbers, I apply the ratios. Rating affects morale values as well as force composition.

For One Hour Wargames battles, or HOTT battles, I have Appendix A, which has random charts for me to determine composition of the forces. Roll a d6 and go to the appropriate chart. I try to reflect campaign situations, rather than have a balanced battle. Sometimes, the forces are outnumbered! Before I get to that point, I decide if this will be army v. army, or if that outnumbered, what would be the likeliest scenario - maybe a regiment level skirmish. Hard to say, it would depend on the situation.

I'm facing that now, with a possible siege! The defenders are outnumbered 2:1.

I hope this helps.

[chicagowiz]

A couple of my recent podcast episodes that deal with using Chainmail as the combat mechanic w/in OD&D:

Using Chainmail in OD&D - podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thedungeonmastershandbook/episodes/Episode-55---The-Adaptability-of-Chainmail-e24fftq

Missile Fire in Chainmail/OD&D - podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thedungeonmastershandbook/episodes/Episode-58---Missile-Fire-in-my-Chainmail-for-ODD-e26el4o

Companion blog post - chgowiz-games.blogspot.com/2023/06/chainmail-in-my-od.html

[chicagowiz]

My latest podcast looks at Holmes and OD&D - what similarities/differences were there? chgowiz.substack.com/p/episode-61-od-and-d-and-holmes-basic

Since then, I've found Zenopus 's entries on the original Holmes manuscript, I'll going to post a supplemental episode sharing them!