A worthy quote

Since I'm busy with life:

Once you look closely, you come to understand that with all the bells and whistles intact, AD&D1e is a game of remarkable cohesion and subtlety. You can encounter some crazy things, but encounter reactions determine whether you’ll step right in to a fight. Charisma is an extraordinarily powerful ability score because it influences henchman and hireling numbers and loyalty. Weapon vs. AC adjustments justify the large weapon table. So do the special abilities of certain weapons. It’s not a perfect game, but it’s not just a bunch of crazy shit hacked together in the way even supporters claim. It sure seemed that way to me when I was a teenager, but I played it in an impatient, edited form. It looks to me that this half-game is the AD&D OSRIC emulates.

Source.

Hireling Ideas Induced by Allergy Drugs

Initial Hirelings:

The character will start out with a number of hirelings already in their employee equal to his Charisma bonus, with their first month of wages paid. Equipment must still be provided, but these hirelings are considered generally loyal and happy in their position. Future wages will be paid as normal. Characters with a negative Charisma modifier must pay d10 times their modifier in monthly wages as a signing bonus before any hireling will agree to serve such an odious employer.
Example: a hireling with a monthly wage of 3GP, must be paid a signing bonus of 6GP to be employed by a character with a Charisma of 5 (meaning a -2 modifier).

The Start of a new Sandbox: The City of Yrem

I'm starting a new sandbox game, using a draft form of the Tactical Situation Rules. The setting I'm making up as we go along. Rather than a megadungeon, the tent-pole is a ruined city, cribbed from many sources:

The city of Yrem sits on the border of the Great Northern Empire's Stillmarsh province, upon a rocky ridge amongst the swampy forest that dominates the region. Generic fantasy history, blah blah blah.

Long a favorite of scholars for it's isolation and quiet, it gradually grew as a hub for experimentation and research by the Imperial Guild of Magicians. Unbeknownst to most of the guild, a faction under the control of Xagnus the Animated had begun capturing demons in ritual vaults beneath the city. During a heated argument with his assistant Ambrosia, one of the demons was freed, who in turned freed the rest. Chaos and slaughter ensued.

As his final act at the cost of his life, Xagnus funneled his power and soul into a magical stasis field containing the demons and city within.

Last winter - 500 years after it's creation - the stasis field fell. With the spring thaw, imps and winged beasts harassed nearby villages and towns. Factions from across the provinces (and beyond) began exploration of the city's edge.

The Paladin Rules

I like to keep Paladins rare, but they're virtually impossible to qualify for using any sort of "roll in order" attribute generation, which is my preferred method. In order to mitigate the problems of qualifying, I've added these two "Paladin Rules" to make it possible, but still interesting:

In order to mitigate the problems of qualifying for Paladinhood when rolling attributes "in order", the following options are available:

1. Poverty is Next to Godliness

The character spends years in a isolated monastery. Swap any attribute with CHA. Sacrifice 10% of your starting money as a tithe.

2. Judged and Found Lacking

Flaggelation, fasting and other allows the character an opportunity increase their Charisma, but the scars may persist. Roll 4d6. Take the 3 highest dice as your Charisma if it will allow you to qualify as a Paladin. If not, take the three lowest dice as your Charisma score.

As a bonus, here's a summary of the Paladin rules:

Paladin

• Required Attributes: Strength 12, Wisdom 12, Charisma 15
• Allowed Armor: Any
• Allowed Weapons: Any
• Melee Attack Bonus: Current Level
• Ranged Attack Bonus: 1/2 Level
• Defenses:+2 Spirit Defense
• Initial Hit Point Roll: d10
• Initial Combat Proficiencies: 3
• Initial Class Skills: Diplomacy, Religion, plus an additional bonus skill
  
• Hit Points Gained Levels 2-10: d10
• Hit Points Gained Levels 11+: 3
• Combat Proficiencies Gained: Levels 3,6,9,12,15,18
• Attacks: L1-6 1/round, L6-12 2/round, L13 & up 3/round
  
• Class Abilities: Detect Evil, Aura of Protection, Lay on Hands, Rituals, Spell Casting, Stronghold Creation: Temple

Reading 'The Secret Fire' and Some Sunday Links

I'm currently doing a read and review of The Secret Fire rpg on rpg.net

Here are some links showing what's bubbling in my mind:

You Too Can Run Empire of the Petal Throne

Rythlandor: an 80 page campaign chronicle from 1975-77

Verdammelt's Compiled Sandbox Bookmarks

Keys to Good Dungeon Design

Megadungeon Design