2nd Edition: The Companion

One thing that popped into my head today was the companion character. Usually an exotic humanoid or beast that shares some kind of close bond with the character.

Often the companion can only speak or communicate with the patron character. In the case of Chewbacca, no one seems to understand his specific language except for Han and C-3P0. Even if others could, they often go through the patron character since their bond means that the patron is more trusted.
Sometimes the patron can even see through the companion's eyes, or listen through their ears, in the case of The Beastmaster.

And the companion is often not human, or even one of the usual demihuman races, but something more strange and unusal, in the case of Dragonbait from the Forgotten Realms.

Game thoughts: My opinion is that the companion should be an NPC under the control of the patron character's player. This would make them synchrynous in how they and their relationship are played out. Plus the companion may be a beast that wouldn't be much fun playing all the time, like Kodo and Podo from The Beastmaster, but fun to pull out when a key needs retrieving or a bad guy needs distracting.

Thinking on it, we often 'adopted' interesting NPCs, making them companions to our regular PCs in our AD&D games. There were the henchmen rules, but we didn't necessarily think of it in rules terms. More like "This guy/girl/furry thing is cool. Let's take him/her/it with us!"

2nd Edition

I'd say everything's been covered regarding the OSR and editions of Dungeons and Dragons that run from the "White Box" up until AD&D. There's not a ton of stuff on 2nd edition, and since that's the edition I spent a lot of time with, I thought I'd start up some thoughts on the subject.

MTV played music videos instead of fake reality road trip shows, we watched Thundercats and Transformers and Star Wars. Our magic wasn't from a Dying Earth, but from a galaxy far, far away, or a land inhabited by Nelwyns. And we inherited D&D from some guys in Lake Geneva, who packaged their strange game with the funny dice, and sold at the corner hobby store, or the Sears catalog.

We didn't have a clue how the game was 'supposed' to be played. Sure, there were the books listed in Appendix N, and the examples of play, but we tossed the rules that didn't make sense at the time, and stuck our own "Appendix N" in there, of battle cats and skesis and luck dragons. I plan to post much more on the subject as I put my thougths together while creating my own 2nd edition style campaign setting, tentativley titled "Palace of the Sun and Moon".

Note that a lot of my 2nd edition inspiration comes from before it was published, as the media and games that influenced my tastes and found their way into my D&D campains predates 2nd edition by roughly a decade.

Interesting Environments

Warehouse
This room is full of boxes and barrel and bags of stuff. Every combatant is considered to have cover for ranged attacks. Whenever a combatant misses in combat, melee, ranged or damaging spell, there is a 1 in 6 chance of breaking a container and releasing it's contents into the room. Roll a 1d6 for what type of contents-
1. Oil. This barrel is broken open and the floor becomes coated with flammable oil. Any fire attack or spell has a 1 in 4 chance of igniting the oil. The fire will cause 1d3 damage to every combatant in the room on the first round, 1d6 damage on the second round, and 1d10 damage for the rest of the turn. At then end of the turn, the fire dies out.
2. Flour. A bag of flour explodes and coats the room. Sneaking rolls for theives is at a DC 20 for the rest of the combat, and invisible creatures lose their invisibility advantage for the rest of the combat.
3.  Apples. A barrel is broken open and it's contents of apples spill onto the floor. Each round, every combatant must make a Ref check vs DC 15 or be off balance, suffering -2 to attacks and checks that require movement or dexterity. A critical 1 on the Ref check indicates that the combatant has fallen prone.
4. Molasses. This barrel is broken open and spills it's contents of sticky molasses on the floor. Every combatant must make a Str test vs DC 15 or be off balance, suffering -2 to to attacks and checks that require movement or dexterity. A critical 1 on the test indicates that the combatant has gotten molasses all over their weapon and suffer the -2 to attacks (non-cumulative) until they spend a round wiping the molasses off.
5. Grain. This sack is punctured and it's contents of grain spill onto the floor. There is no effect on combat unless combatants can think of one. (The grain is fine for flinging into an opponents eyes)
6. Empty crate. Aside from wood fragments and splinters, there is no effect on combat.

Interesting Environments

Some environmental effects for DCC/D&D type games.

Mage Crystal
This room is lined with Mage Crystal, a bluish crystaline mineral that had odd effects on magic. Whenever a spell is cast in this room, or within 100' of the crystal, roll on the following table.
Mage Crystal effects- 1d6
1: Spell is absorbed by the crystal and has no effect.
2: Spell targets caster, for good or ill.
3: Spell targets a random target, for good or ill.
4: Caster is at -1d3 for spell check roll.
5: Caster is at +1d3 for spell check roll.
6: Every living creature within 20' of caster must make a Luck save vs DC 10 + Caster Level, or suffer a minor corruption.
Mage Crystal is rarely found in mines and caves, and is sometimes harvested and used by various persons. There must be at least a total of 10 cubic feet (can be spread around) of Mage Crystal for the effects to happen. Having a chip or stone of Mage Crystal on one's person does not affect spellcasting.

Thirty magic item drawbacks

Thirty magic item drawbacks

1: Only functions during the day
2: Only functions during the night
3: Only functions in direct sunlight
4: Only functions out of direct sunlight
5: Only functions underwater
6: Does not function underwater
7: Only functions for a specific race, roll 1d5

1: Elf
2: Human
3: Dwarf
4: Halfling
5: Other (goblin, orc, ogre, Judge's discretion)

8: While owned, possesor's hair grows 10x as fast.
9: While owned, possesor's hair falls out and does not grow back
10: Character's hair or skin color, or both changes
11: Berserker, character must make a Will save at DC 15 each combat or go berserk
Berserk: +1 to hit and damage, but must attack nearest target, friend or foe
Check at first round of combat. Lasts 1d6 rounds
12: Blood magic, Item requires a point of stat burn per day to function
13: Life magic, Item requires 1 xp burn per day to function
14: Owner cannot cast divine magic while possessing item
15: Owner cannot cast arcane magic while possessing item
16: Owner cannot cast spells of any kind while possessing item
17: A random spell must be cast on the item per day for it to function
Roll 1d5 twice and take the lower result for spell level,
and then determine specific spell randomly.
18: Item will not function against a specific race, roll 1d5

1: Elf
2: Human
3: Dwarf
4: Halfling
5: Other (goblin, orc, ogre, Judge's discretion)

19: Item has 2d10 charges. Must burn a charge per day to function
May be recharged with a method of the Judge's choosing
If item already uses charges, re-roll result
20: Item has a 5% chance per day, cumulative, of losing it's power
and becoming a mundane item
21: Item has a 1% chance per day, cumulative, of turning it's possessor into a wight
22: While owned, possessor glows with a faint light
23: Item has a 5% chance per day, non-cumulative, of striking it's possessor blind for
1d6 turns
24: Unlucky, possessor must burn 1 point of luck per day, or incur a -1 to all die rolls
25: Siren, item causes random encounters to occur more frequently (1 in 1d4)
26: While owned, item causes owner's skin to become scaly like a lizard
27: Owner is at -2 to hit and damage certain types of opponents, roll 1d8

1: Giants
2: Dragons
3: Lycanthropes
4: Manticores
5: Minotaurs
6: Ogres and Trolls
7: Basilisks and cockatrices
8: Medusas

28: Owner is at -2 to all saves
29: Roll 2 times, re-rolling results of 29+
30: Roll 3 times, re-rolling results of 29+

Surprise!

Simple surprise system I ad-hoced, and then wrote up rules for.

Surprise check.
At ease: 1 in 1d4
Prepared: 1 in 1d6
Alert: 1 in 1d8

Note that this sytem follows the dice chain, so a Judge can give a bonus for specific prepardness, like carrying weapons and armor in town, you might give the party a 1 in 1d5 surprise check.

House rules for DCC

Some quick house rules I put together. The reaction table is taken from the Moldvay Basic rulebook, and the encumbrance system is a variant on Delta's stone weight system.

Reaction check, 2d6.
Dice Roll Reaction
2 Immediate Attack
3-5 Hostile, possible attack
6-8 Uncertain, monster confused
9-11 No attack, monster leaves or considers offers
12 Enthusiastic friendship
Character makes sucessful intimidate, bluff, persuasion check: +1.

Morale check, 2d6.
First monster death
When leader is killed
When numbers are reduced below 50%
When there is one monster left
Dice Roll Result
2 Monsters flee in panic
3-5 Monsters withdraw
6-8 Monsters regroup
9-11 Monsters fight on
12 Monsters fight to the death, make no more morale checks
Chaotic: -1, Lawful: +1, Neutral: no mod
Failing a morale check: -1 to subsequent morale checks. (Cumulative)
Rally: Leader spends a full round action. Monsters make a morale check at +1. Once per encounter.
Flee: Monsters retreat by the quickest route. They move at full speed and incur retaliation attacks. Monsters get -1 to attack and damage rolls.
Withdraw: Monsters retreat in the same direction, supporting each other, and monsters in melee do not retreat if they will take retaliation attacks.
Regroup: Monsters move towards the nearest ally, supporting each other. Monsters in melee do not move if they will take retaliation attacks.
Fight on: Monsters do not retreat, and fight on as normal.
Fight to the death: Monsters do not retreat, and do not make any further morale checks. On their next round, monsters get +1 to attack and damage rolls.

Encumbrance
Characters can carry their Strength score in stone without encumbrance.
Over their Strength score = 1/2 movement.
Characters can carry 2x their Strength score in stone maximum.
Weights-
1h weapon 1 stone
2h weapon 2 stone
Ammo 1/10
Shield 1 stone
Padded Armor 1 stone
Leather Armor 1 stone
Studded Leather 2 stone
Hide Armor 3 stone
Scale Mail 4 stone
Chain Mail 3 stone
Banded Mail 3 stone
Half Plate 4 stone
Full Plate 5 stone

Torches, potions, lanterns, scrolls, rope, spellbook, bedroll, etc 1/5 stone
Gems, coins, pearls, nails, caltrops, darts, etc 1/10 stone