Mob | United | Malcolm | Sheppard

These are my translations/simplifications of the DMG’s social systems — the ones I use in The Hundred Millionth Day game. I basically converted these to a d20 from d%, made a few implied things explicit and matched up tables that were already very similar, but made few (not none, but not many) changes that affect the actual output of the system or the in-game factors that influence it.

These rules determine what NPCs do in my game. I use them frequently. Using them has completely changed how AD&D feels. The game has an edgier quality and an understanding that enemies don’t just fight to the death, but for as long as they can stand the stress. Monsters don’t always attack. Allies matter.

I didn’t invent this system. I just adopted and tweaked it after ignoring it for over 20 years.

So:

Social Systems

The Social Check Table below governs NPC actions in situations where they are not determined by well-developed motives or story logic. The DM uses these as is, or uses them as one factor when it comes to deciding NPC actions. Checks occur at break points: occasions where a roll is warranted due to an important event or condition. Like other rolls, a natural 20 applies a +5 bonus and a natural 1 earns a -5 penalty.

Optionally, players may use these systems as well to help them decide how to react in a particular situation. They are never required to obey the results of these rolls.

To simplify things a bit, checks are generally designed so that rolls of under 20 can be considered “failures” (NPCs dislike PCs, flee battle or are disloyal) and rolls of 20 or higher are considered “successes” (NPCs make friends, stay in the fight or remain allies). You may use this to simplify rolls into Yes/No binaries.

Types of Checks

Reaction Check: A reaction check is used to determine the attitudes of one or more NPCs to a group of characters.

• Roll 1d20 + 10 + Medium Charisma Bonus + Modifiers
• Roll once per break point for the group
• In an encounter, the party designates a leader. (This can change from one break point to the next – players’ choice if it makes sense.) The leader’s modifier is used to determine the disposition of the encountered group or individual. If there is more than one individual in the encountered group, other characters may prompt additional checks interacting with individuals.

Morale Check: Use morale checks to determine the disposition of enemy forces – whether they will fight, flee, or surrender.

• Roll 1d20 + 10 + Modifiers
• The DM rolls at each break point and adjusts results if they cannot be easily rationalized.

Loyalty Check: A loyalty check is used to determine the trustworthiness of henchmen, hirelings and allied NPCs.

• Roll 1d20 + 10 + Small Charisma Bonus
• The DM chooses whether he/she or the leader’s player rolls at each break point. The DM may keep the roll or some modifiers a secret.

Break Points

Break points trigger social rolls. A DM may call for a social roll at any time or ignore a break point, but unless he or she intentionally exercises that privilege he or she should make the appropriate check when its break point arises.

Reaction Break Points

• Start of encounter
• Non-leader PC engages individual for the first time
• Each organized offer in parley/bargaining
• Significant fact revealed (character possesses desirable magic item; NPC learns PC allies are nearby; servant of an important NPC reveals himself, etc.)
• Dramatically appropriate occasions (as DM judges)
• End of encounter

Morale Break Points (And Modifiers)

• First enemy down (Note: “Down” indicates flight, surrender, incapacitation or death); +1
• First ally down; -1
• Enemy leader (as perceived by NPCs) down; +3
• Own leader down; -3
• Frightening combatant  revealed (monster, paladin, etc. – based on NPC standards); -2
• Horrific event (devoured by monster, weird spell, etc.) claims ally; -4
• Quarter of own force down; -2
• Quarter of enemy force down; +2
• Half of own force down; -4
• Half of enemy force down; +4
• Enemy force routed or broken; +6 (determines pursuit and surrender opportunities)
• Enemy revealed as greatly superior (each round this holds true); -1
• Dramatically appropriate occasions (as DM judges)

Loyalty Break Points

• Offered a bribe
• Coerced to act against leader or leader’s allies
• Opportunity to steal
• Leader breaks a promise
• Leader or ally insults NPC
• Horrific encounter
• Ordered to help new ally
• Argument with other ally
• Ordered into danger
• Put into danger without consent
• In combat with superior foe
• Offered surrender terms
• Leader down
• Forced to diminish personal resources
• Dramatically appropriate occasions (as DM judges)

Check Modifiers

Reaction

• Characters are invaders: -4
• Language barrier: -2
• Place of business; visitors expected: +3
• Civilized region: +2
• Characters threatening or insulting: -1 to -5
• Characters polite or kind: +1 to +5
• Characters appear tougher than encountered group: +1 to +5
• Characters appear to be weak: -2
• Misc. DM modifiers

Morale

• See Morale break points
• Charisma check to Intimidate: +2 on a success (1d20 + Cha, score 20+)
• Misc. DM modifier

Loyalty

• Misc. DM modifier
• Casual ally: -2
• Captured and coerced: -3
• Slave: -6
• Henchman: +1
• Long term hireling: 0
• Occasional help: -1
• Association of less than a month: -1
• Association one month to one year: 0
• Association over a year to five years: +2
• Association more than five years: +5
• 0 level, not trained to fight: -4
• 0 level: -2
• 0 level, veteran: 0
• 1^st level: +1
• 2^nd or higher level: +4
• No pay:  -4
• Inconstant and low pay: -2
• Partial share: 0
• Equal share: +2
• Gets performance bonuses: +2 (in addition to usual pay adj.)
• Per step difference in alignment: -1
• Leader good aligned: +2
• Leader lawful aligned: +2
• Leader or allies generally fair: +1 to +5
• Leader or allies generally callous or unfair: -1 to -5
• Leader/allies coerce through threats: apply adjustment of 2 to 6 based on threat. Add this to rolls of 20+ and subtract from rolls of less than 20. NPC will always attempt to escape harm through the most expedient means regardless.
• Treatment of other NPCs: average best and worst morale modifiers among other NPCs and halve the result.
• Other adjustments: See DMG(1st Edition) for guidelines

Social Check Table

In many countries, a passive lay public heeds a bureaucracy of professional spiritual masters. As a priest I can’t completely object to this system, but here in the mountains righteous beings heed the Great Peace; we keep shrines close, pray together and attune our spiritual lives not to the demands of a pontificate, but the ways of our professions. As a priest, my dharma supports others’ by bringing knowledge of the Gods (especially my Destroyer) so we can find solace even after exposure to Their fiercest aspects.

I ‘d go into the paths of soldiers, dungeon-spiders, weavers, even thieves, but that would be tedious, wouldn’t it?  It’s a fact that history and special training gives some life-ways a sharper spiritual focus than others.

Assassins: The so-called Society of Humility deserves mention because it was founded by the Gods. They gave its Grand Ancestors the secrets of Death: weaknesses of the body, moments of inattention that plague all Woman-born, and the powers of stealth and betrayal. They were dark warriors in the Titanomachy, but nowadays the average waghalter is barely religious. The Guild retains consistent rites only in the upper echelons, where the ritual hunt and and murder-bardos still guide the Grandfather and his inner circle.

Bards: Kin to druids, bards preceded them. Animist faith took root among old warriors and dungeoneers. It grew into the third stage in the heroic life-way. A true man or woman grew into a warrior-youth, then a lord and family head, and later still left the high seat and returned to his or her own spiritual journey: a literal wandering life. Music is their way, to tell tales learned over exceptional lives, and search for the primordial spirituality (a “true vibration”) that lies at the heart of animist longing. (I believe this is a fruitless search, but I can’t condemn a faith that found root in my own children.)

Clerics: We keep the temples, scriptures and the full Way of the Gods. We know the full secrets of theurgy. As a mark of the Peace we abandoned the sword, the bow and their cousin arms. What more needs to be said?

Now some legends say that as the Gods battle in myths so do their orders, but that’s not true; the high mysteries of each sect might be morally incompatible with each other, but each God rules a primal chord of the universe. In the cities, clergy of all Gods work together, teaching people through sermons, art and righteous works. I can’t comment on extremists, and some sub-orders have particular duties that might lead to increased conflict. That’s more prevalent in these parts, where dungeoneering unearths religious divides best left buried! In the end, all Gods intersect, shadows of a great Principle. This ultimate Truth, which the titans could not comprehend, is what makes the Gods more than the symbolic automatons they were created to be.

Druids: As I said, bards — heroes taking up the flute and wandering life to look for meaning — spearheaded the animist revival (animism being a perennial tendency among the common and self-educated). After a a dozen or so human lifespans young men and women decided to practice the faith from a young age, populating the woods in ascetic communes. Bards and druids have indeed unlocked their own strange theurgy, but remember that divine magic is not driven by faith alone, but by a technical knowledge of divine attributes, symbols and manifestations.

Illusionists: This ten thousand year old tradition is an offshoot of the sorcery life-way. They reasoned that the magical universe’s artificiality makes it an idealist construct built atop the Real: a product of mind over essential truth. From there, illusionist metaphysics questions categories of being, mind against body, and includes studies in psychology and perception in both the theoretical and practical realms. Illusionists are masters of sleight of hand and misdirection as well as their brand of quasi-true sorcery.

Magic Users: The Great Peace divided magic into theurgy to be governed by the Gods, and sorcery that could be learned through meditation and study without moral foci. The sorcerer’s dharma is the deep study of reality divorced from inherent purpose, save perhaps for that of some distant, ultimate Godhead. Many wizards learn antiquated crafts, sciences and languages. They’re smart, but poor moral guides; they court madness and the influence of malefic beings. The titans left some things in this cosmos undone. There are fearful gaps.

Monks: Unlike the assassins, monks have preserved their spiritual focus. They were originally the titans’ elite warriors, trained to fight with any weapon or none, and heir to certain secrets where an adept might align mind and body with the cosmos’ hidden codes. I’m happy to say that monks are no longer priest-slayers, but they still don’t come to worship, and won’t give Gods even token respect.

Paladins: The Palatine Order is ancient, founded by a Goddess to defend the Last Empire. They walked from world to world as soldier-beggars, righting wrongs in the failing frontier. The paladins still live simple lives as followers of Sec Menvra. They master the Alabaster Lady’s theurgy alongside their battle-craft. Popular operas portray them as intolerant fanatics, but that doesn’t match my experience at all. The paladin I met was compassionate, yet cautious to intervene. She knew that to end one life boldly changed ten thousand others — and I saw her exercise this boldness only when absolutely necessary. She gathered an army and overthrew the Three Tyrants of Ostrakopolis, but that was long before you were born.

Rangers: I think that if I’d never felt the Goddess’ call I would’ve wanted to become a ranger. They vow to protect anyone who travels the lawless reaches, charging only token fees to feed themselves and maintain their arms. The rangers rose from conscientious men and women who sensed the Last Empire would be short-lived. They study sorcery and theurgy together, and cultivate a broad respect for life. Rangers are pragmatists who believe an ultimate Truth will appear to men and women who comport themselves with honour. That Goodness will in the end provide a metaphysical revelation is a ranger’s core faith. I admire that even if I myself am not attuned to that alignment.

Last session saw the defeat of Sneer, half-orc bandit chief and assassin, sub-director of some sinister alliance between failed adventurers and powers deeper in the Rock. The party slaw Sneer and his sorcerer, but captured a priest of Xasu Nazarist, the tyrant god. (Note that they’ve tried capturing these clerics before.)

Arisha returned to turn the tide after near-mortal arrow wounds took Kaith and Eileen. She didn’t come alone. She hired Aethelred the ranger (played by returning long-time player Lea! Hot damn!). The human warden-scout stayed past his agreed period of service because he sensed danger — and in fact, because he wished to prove his worth to the singularly rude monk, who disobeyed the custom of paying a gratuity.

Rifling through the bodies (and prisoner) they found assorted gems and monies, a strange rod, an arcane brooch, enchanted mail and leather armour, a magic long sword and short compound bow, and a scroll tube, marked with rune-heraldry from the same apprenticeship line as Eileen and her master, Liam the Perspicacious! The scroll inside proved to be a well-executed example of the Fireball spell.

Aethelred chose a defensible camp site and they settled down,  Xasite cleric bound and gagged, but once they settled down to sleep she chewed through her gag, listened for a nearby orc patrol and screamed at them to save her and kill her captors!

The mailed orcs strode up in phalanx formation as the adventurers rolled out of bed. Seeing no other choice against massed spears, she used the Fireball scroll. Stellar plasma channelled through anthropic-elemental wavelengths obliterated them all, leaving a shower of char and molten metal.

“Holy shit,” observed Eileen.

And as they gathered their gear to find a new site, Quareth caught site of a man sneaking around the blast site. Aethelred tagged the man with an arrow, and they heard him meet his fellows below. They were survivors of the massacres that had so recently turned the bandits from a minor power into running curs. Adventurers loosed arrowed from their cliff-side camp, but their enemies were too far away, and sought cover.

Quareth and Aethelred heard them plot and guess that the burnt horror on the hillside was the product of a scroll, not native talent. The bandits recovered their confidence and readied an ambush — but the adventurers ambushed first. Kaith swung halfway down a rope to use his bow. Arisha leapt, tumbled (natural 20!) and sprung up behind an enemy. She missed with a ridgehand, however, and Kaith’s arrows only caused superficial wounds, but Aethelred rappelled, rolled and swung his two-handed sword, decapitating an enemy. Arisha killed another with her halberd, then one more. After that, they were content to let the last three flee.

The bodies had orc-forged gear, and a strange sigil combining Xasu’s cross with the mark of Colm Devilbinder, mad wizard of the depths — the one whose sign originally inspired Liam to hire them. Eileen noted these factions’ opposed ethical parameters — Law against Chaos — and wondered what would inspire an alliance.

They struck a new camp to sleep out the last watches. Just before dawn, Aethelred saw a silent, strangely-garbed woman with a slashed face, bearing scalpels and pantomiming. Aethelred stepped out of the shadows to show himself.

A shadow crossed the moon. The woman went from wandering some distance away to appearing right in front of him. Then she tore her face off.

Aethelred’s hair grew white streaks and he ran, screaming. This awoke his allies. Kaith and Arisha also ran away from a terror that robbed them of years. The rest stayed calm, but still ran; Quareth had the presence of mind to summon a mist that hid their passage. Each of them saw the worst thing in the world on that fleshless face.

Later, far from the camp, all but one of them regrouped. Only Kaith ran astray. He looked into the night, lost, and the others wondered where he was as dawn broke on October 11th, 250,000 years from now.

Notes: They levelled up from treasure this time — and from one high value item they haven’t yet identified. Tonight was all random encounters — three from the table I made for the vicinity of the dungeon (a double orc encounter and  the last bandits) and one wilderness encounter from the DMG: a ghost.

Mechanical imbalance was a big factor in making tonight fun. Eileen’s scroll was too powerful for her enemies. It obliterated them. The bandits started on bad footing because they were intimidated, and never managed to regroup even though they were actually 2 HD elites. The ghost was so overpowering as to make anything but clever flight suicide. Half the party aged 10 years! Good times.

I decided to change magic user spellcasting to remove normal rest times. Now spell slots have a study period of 1 hour + 1 hour per spell level, and a refresh/rest period of the same duration. High Intelligence magic users can eliminate one 1st level slot study or rest period per point of large Int bonus, 1 period per point of medium Int bonus for 2nd level spell slots, and 1 per point of small Int bonus for 3rd level spell slots.

What am I talking about with the bonuses? I now use a unified table for ability scores — but not unified just as they are in BECMI or D20. Check it out:

Ability Score Modifiers

They killed the riders sent to avenge their ambush on the bandit fortress. After that, they disposed of the bodies via dead fall and began a slow circle back to the enemy’s ancient citadel. After killing sixteen enemies they were determined to finish the job. Eileen’s retainer Lon was an able guide, newly loyal after his former employers proposed to use him as a scapegoat in parley.

(I also misunderstood and thought the characters were headed home, so they probably should have taken less time to get back. Fortunately they said they were concentrating on stealth and safety over speed, so I got to even things out based on a rough estimate of how quickly they would travel.)

The adventurers rightly predicted that the bandits would send another group. Lon told them that perhaps half of the original bandit camp remained. The leaders — half-orc assassin Sneer and his confidantes — would take up the case.  They saw signs of another party as they made their way to attack the fort on the night of the third day, and it was confirmed when Kaith, hunting for a stealthy scouting route, spotted the death-white half-orc taking aim from a perch in a tree. Kaith had time to take a defensive posture, but Sneer’s arrow still had a chance to bury itself in a lung, dropping him instantly.

(We use critical hits for double damage — real double damage, not “roll twice” — on a natural 20, provided it would have hit. The assassin inflicted 10 points, leaving Kaith at -2, but he was lucky! No surprise meant no Assassination Table, where the 4th level Sneer had a 65% chance of success, if I remember right.)

Battle was a desperate exchange of missiles. Lon loosed arrows from his bow — one wide, the other ripping through the enemy’s triceps and Eileen unleashed a Magic Missile to moderate effect. Quareth ran to heal his half-brother. They heard hooves from around the corner of the nearby cliff face.

Sneer gutted Eileen with an arrow next. She fell. (Dropped to negative HP as well. Ow.)

Lon was there to administer a potion, but it was still a frightening setback. The hooves — two horses — got louder, then . . . stranger?

Little did they know that they weren’t just tracked by enemies! Arisha the monk, long absent to pursue martial-meditative studies in Ostrakopolis, had returned to Heron’s Rock. She’d hired a ranger (whose odious do-gooding was grating, but at least ensured an honest job) to set her on the right path and from there, had shadowed the enemy as they prepared the ambush!

(The truth: I sent Arisha away because her player was busy with PhD studies in Toronto. Player K. knocked on the door at PM, surprising us all in a great way, and I rapidly improvised a way for her to get back in the thick of things.)

Arisha cut one horse’s leg and its rider lost control, falling off his mount. She let him lie and ran for the other.

The duel of targeteers continued. Kaith recovered with a handful of Goodberries and rolled behind cover. Quareth let loose with his sling.

Eileen got revenge, hurling a dart into Sneer’s cheek. (Another crit!) but he stayed in his perch (Natural 20 morale check!).  Sneer and Lon exchanged superficial arrow-wounds. Arisha caught up with the mounted cleric, vaulted on her horse, and knocked her out instantly, sending her crashing to the ground. The monk revealed her return as the horse ambled around the corner, confused at the sudden loss of its original rider. She paused only to wince at being struck with two Magic Missiles — the enemy magus! — turn her horse around, trample her foe with the horse, and decapitate him with her halberd.

That was enough to convince Sneer to flee. He jump from tree to cliff, but wounded and frightened, could not find handholds to make his way down (failed Climb roll!). Quareth entangled him, Eileen struck him with another dart, and Kaith shot an arrow into his neck, spraying the vine-covered cliff with blood.

The only living enemy was the cleric, who recovered consciousness just in time to be grappled, locked and put in a position to be offered instant death if she continued to resist.

(K, the player, succeeded in a grapple using the old AD&D rules, and then rolled 00 on the results table!)

That was it. The bandits leaders were dead or captured. Lon guessed that once word made it back to the fort, the survivors would be a broken force and flee. It was the evening of October 10th in the future.

Notes: This session featured another fun fight. The PCs improbably prevailed against a 4th level assassin and his two 3rd level buddies — a magic-user and cleric. Some fluke rolls definitely helped. The enemies were the bandits’ main NPC elites (well, in their level of the dungeon) so that’s basically it! Funny thing is that they haven’t even set foot in the main dungeon — the one I’ve had mapped since the first session!

Said it before and I’ll say it again: Missile attack priority for bows and darts (due to multiple “attack routines”) makes AD&D way different from the game you probably played when you chucked out half of the rules. Darts kick ass at 3 RoF — they go first and last in most situations.

I’m thinking of further simplifying “thief” abilities, though the automatically-better principle (you can sneak as a non-thief, but people can find you — thief-y sneakiness has almost no chance of detection) will still get used.

I’ve doubled monster/NPC XP values and I usually round up to the nearest easy number. I do want to speed things up, and this works well. Steve finally got Kaith to 2/2. I don’t notice any problems with the new system I use for multiclassing (add half Fighter advancement to the table of most expensive class, advance in both classes equally).

One last thing: Some of you might wonder how the game ties to the fiction I’ve been working on. Think of them as being like the old DC multiverse or like standard Marvel vs. Ultimate Marvel. They share concepts but are not beholden to each other. The stories are from a bit further back in time, and some events might have happened in the game. The Bahn-Erl from Descent will replace the drow, but I’ll call them “drow” in the game just to make things flow off the tongue naturally.