Blending AD&D2E and Five Leagues from the Borderlands - The Adventure Begins

 

Prelude - The Adventure Begins

What is this?

This is an amalgamation of the campaign rules from Five Leagues from the Borderlands (3^rd edition) blended with the combat, character, and roleplaying rules from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2^nd Edition (AD&D2E).

Almost all the games* (just so I don’t rule myself out from ever playing this with my minis) will be played and managed in Tabletop Simulator for ease and convenience. Right now this is a solo-gaming project but I may be able to rope some friends into it in future for guest appearances.

I’m going to make some house-rule tweaks to AD&D for this, especially around movement – movement rates will be used straight as a number of inches, with the same applying to ranges for missile weapons. This will work well with the wargaming focused approach. I’ve also allowed Roland the paladin to specialise in a single weapon. Any fighters will be able to take weapon specialisation in multiple weapons.

The Setting

I’ve created a ‘homebrew’ setting this campaign – the characters follow gods from the Forgotten Realms setting, but the map has been procedurally generated using Perilous Shores by watabou (itch.io). This generator is fantastic, but has limited editing and saving controls right now – I’m glad I exported my map when I did. My inspirations and ideas are, admittedly, derivative. I’m a big fan of Forgotten Realms post-apocalyptic-fantasy background and have recently been listening to the Conan short stories by R. E. Howard which have so much ‘flavour’ to them I couldn’t help but absorb some of it.

Like Howard’s Hyborean Age setting, I imagine this will grow over time for as long as the project goes on, gaining detail as it is needed for the story of the party.

So, to the setting itself: this is the Vantage Coast – an independent city state. To the north-east beyond the Bloodridge mountains I imagine there is some Conan-esque waste land that breeds barbarians. To the north-west, west, and east are other kingdoms or small duchies.

Much of the duchy’s economy is driven by trade – from the sea going inland, and from inland to the sea. I picture it as something of a melting pot of merchants and traders who risk the danger for the easy protected access to the sea in the large bay. Of course, a large volume of trade wealth flowing through the region attracts the attention of ne’er-do-wells. One of the threats for our campaign is ‘The Ruin Within’ – bandits, brigands, and monsters in other words. Another is the aforementioned barbarians (‘Duskling Warbands’ in Five Leagues’ speak) who come from the sea and across the mountains to the north-east looking to pillage and take the region’s wealth for their own.

Vantage Coast is ruled over by (still developing in my mind) Grand Duke Viscatti, from the capital of Port Vantage. The village of Shoryhill is a fortified fishing community with a motte-and-bailey castle, garrisoned by Viscatti’s men against sea-raiders.

All of this is built on the ruins of an ancient seafaring kingdom – Pashant – in the same spirit as Howard’s idea of civilisations rising and falling. Perhaps some ancient calamity befell them, or a barbarian invasion in that time scattered the kingdom à la the ‘fall’ of the Roman Empire. The ruins of Ancient Pashant will provide our third threat of the campaign – ‘The Whispers From Beyond’ – undead and cultists in Five League’s definition. Perhaps the party will learn more of what fate befell the Pashantis during the campaign?

Introducing the Party

Following Five Leagues’ rules for creating a warband, we have one avatar (representing the main character/’me’ in the campaign), three heroes, and two followers.

As follows, our party members and their overall motivations are:

• 1.        Avatar - Roland, a Paladin of Torm, who looks to grow his career and reputation as a knight in service to the god of duty.
• 2.       Hero - Argwyllem, a Cleric of Torm and Roland’s personal priest and confessor.
• 3.       Hero - Garagrim Hammercrag, a dwarfen mercenary in service to the order. He has a particular interest in exploring the mountains and hills of the region.
• 4.      Hero - Eleonora, a wizard who seeks the knowledge of ancient Pashant to further her own studies.
• 5.       Follower (Five Leagues: Wily Thief) – Alucia ‘Quickfingers’, an opportunistic but good-at-heart thief looking to make her fortune. Provided a trap doesn’t kill her.
• 6.       Follower (Five Leagues: Brave Villager) – Brun, squire to Roland. He is loyal to Roland having travelled with him for some time (this was rolled on Roland’s background table).

All of them have been generated following the AD&D2E player’s handbook. Stats were generated using the 4d6 drop lowest rolling method. I’ll make character sheets available with each post so people can follow their growth. As follower’s, Brun and Alucia will only gain 50% of the experience from each adventure following the AD&D rules for henchmen.

Premise – The Narrative Hook

Grand Duke Viscatti has put out a call for adventurers to help fight against the various threats to his realm - especially the threat of barbarian invasion. The invasion and raiders threaten trade in the region which would strangle Vantage's economy and destroy the state, leaving it easy pickings for nearby kingdoms.

Roland, the junior paladin leading the expedition brings his entourage with him - Argwyllem his personal priest, Garagrim a dwarf mercenary eager to explore the mountains, and Eleonora the wizard who seeks out ancient knowledge from the ruins of Pashant. Accompanying them are Alucia the thief who wants to make their fortune, and Brun who aspires to knighthood and hopes to achieve it by serving as Roland's squire.

Roland has been sent to the region by his order with a mission in hand: give aid to the embattled people of the coast, slay evil wherever he might find it, and put an end to the rising threat of the undead.

Their first objective is to reach Port Vantage and to report to a representative of the Order of Torm; from there they can plan expeditions into the wilderness. Roland hopes to gain an audience, or at the very least, the notice of Viscatti as well – taking work directly from the grand duke would be a significant step in advancing his career as a paladin.

Roland’s band arrives in the region from the south-east and are taking the direct road to Port Vantage when they are ambushed whilst travelling through the marshy river lands.

The party’s location, marked by the blue token.

The location of the ambush, on the road to Port Vantage.

As they travel through a stretch of marshy woodland, the party’s attention is drawn by a great stone arch, flanked by ancient statues and once part of a larger aqueduct. In the shadow of the trees and the arch they come across a terrible sight. By the side of the road a merchant lies murdered by his ruined wagon. His wounds are ragged – of a kind only made by goblin blades. The cooking fire of his makeshift camp still smoulders. The attack must have taken place only a few hours before dawn.

The party investigates the site of the murder – Argwyllem gives the merchant his last rites.

The statues of the great stone arch watch over the party – silent witnesses of this wild land across the centuries.

 As Argwyllem the cleric gives the fallen merchant his last rites, chanting the ancient words of his order the dwarfen mercenary Garagrim stiffens, sniffs the air, and turns back to the group.

“Goblins, coming through yonder trees beyond the arch. Be ready – the foul ones return to pick through the wreckage once more.”

Readying their weapons, Alucia leaps atop a small outcrop of rock to give better vantage for her bowshot. The wild lands of the Vantage Coast are about to test the party for the first time.

The goblin war party returns to search for any loot they missed during the night attack on the merchant.

The Starter Scenario

This initial engagement uses the setup given for the Starter Scenario in Five Leagues 3^rd edition (pp.54-55 in my PDF version) with a few modifications to the rules for the outcome to better suit my story.

My board, courtesy of TTS and having few limitations on space, is larger than the suggested 2’ x 2’ square. This will also help accommodate the large move distances allowed in AD&D. Any casualties the party suffers here will apply to reflect the chance for them to gain a little bit of loot (albeit not much from a mere 7 goblins) using AD&D’s treasure tables.

The starter scenario pits a newly created warband (or a stock one provided in the book for players to learn the rules with) against either 4 or 7 opponents – the latter for a created warband ready to take on a campaign.

For the first round, I’ll give a lot more detail on the maths that’s going on behind the rolls, then cut things down to just the action.

The board is set up as follows:

The goblin war party of seven – two archers, and five armed with melee weapons (short swords in the AD&D rules) approach from the top edge.

Roland’s party is gathered around the ruined wagon, with Alucia the thief taking post on the small outcrop to provide a bonus to ranged fire.

Battle Round 1

Battle round 1 sees the goblins win the initiative – they can move and act first. AD&D asks the party to declare their actions (and for the GM to decide the actions of the monsters) before both sides roll a d10, with the lowest number winning. With solo play, we’re skipping the actions declaration part. More complex initiative rules exist, but for now these will do well.

In line with Five Leagues, the goblin archers move first, using their 6” move, seeking out positions of cover on the left of the ruined aqueduct.

Only the first of the goblins reaches a position to shoot, but had to move his full distance to get there. AD&D allows shooting on the move at half a weapon’s rate of fire only if half a move was made. No shot this turn, much to Alucia’s relief.

The rest of the goblins jog (doubling their movement rate to 12”), forming a battle line beneath the arch.

With the goblins advancing, initiative turns to the group. Garagrim moves first, making a charge attack (+50% movement, +2 to hit, but giving him an AC penalty of +1 unless the party wins initiative next turn).

He makes contact with the goblin battleline and makes the first of his two attacks (as a weapon specialist with his battleaxe, he can attack 3 times over 2 rounds) – +1 from weapon specialisation, the +2 from the charge, and +1 from Garagrim’s dwarfen hatred of goblins to hit gives an effective THAC0 of 16 vs. the goblin’s AC of 6 (18-6 = 10 to hit). A roll of 17 does it. For damage, he rolls a 7, for 11 total (+3 - +1 for his high strength, +2 for weapon specialisation). The goblin is slain!

The second attack doesn’t go quite as well – with a roll of 9, Garagrim just misses the second goblin.

Alucia goes next – staying stationary she can make two shots with her short bow. From her high ground, she gets a +1 to hit, giving an effective THAC0 of 19. A hit with a roll of 19 on one of the goblin warriors, and a damage roll of 4 kills the goblin outright. Her second attack misses as well – this one aimed at the goblin archer poking out from behind the arch.

Roland is next to go – he charges as well, surely with a battle cry to Torm. Barrelling into the centre of the group, he makes his first attack with an effective THAC0 of 17 (charging + weapon specialisation). A natural 1! A terrible miss, and no better on his next attack, missing with a 10. (17-6 = 11 to hit). In the midst of all the goblins, he’s surely in for a bad time next round.

Argwyllem the cleric also joins the melee, to equally little effect rolling a 3 to hit. Eleonora goes next, casting her Armour spell (her only memorised one) to improve her armour class to 6 from 10.

Finally it’s Brun the squire – unarmoured, he moves to the cover of a dead tree, ready to flank around the goblins next turn and attack their archers in melee.

Our tally then, at the end of round 1, is this:

·         Garagrim slays a goblin – bonus XP for him at the end as a fighter.

·         Alucia slays a goblin with her bow.

·         None of the party injured or slain.

Two is above the 25% needed for the goblins to need to make their first morale check (following AD&D’s ‘Dice for morale’ system in the DMG).  Rolling for the group (rather than individually) we roll 2d10 – the goblins need equal or lower than their morale number of 10. The monster manual tells us goblins hate humanoids, especially dwarves, so we give them a +4 bonus to their morale score, but a -2 for no enemy slain. A roll of 12 means they keep fighting – just!

Battle Round 2

This time initiative is a tie – both groups roll a 7. This means all actions take place simultaneously, with the results taking place at the end of the round.

The second goblin archer uses his full move to join his comrade by the arch. The other looses an arrow at Alucia over the heads of those in melee on the road. With an 18 he easily hits her, and rolls a 4 for damage – with only 4 hit points, Alucia will be slain at the end of the round!

Not before loosing her own arrows however – and rolling two 3s in a row means she doesn’t even get to avenge herself. A sad end for the plucky thief.

Next we’ll handle Brun – he rushes around the side of the dead tree and strikes at a goblin archer with his quarterstaff. Low rolls all around so far for the party as he gets a 4, missing as well.

Next the road goblins. Two of them make attacks at Roland but neither a 10 or 3 are enough to hit the armoured warrior. The third goblin swings at Garagrim, the hated dwarf – a 16 is a good roll, but not good enough for the THAC0 20 goblin to strike AC3 Garagrim. The melee fighters hold on.

Garagrim strikes back, but misses with a 10. Argwyllem next, who also misses with a roll of 7! The party is seemingly cursed by the ominous arch, as Roland too rolls a 7 for his attack. Eleonora advances up to the battleline, and makes a short range sling attack against a goblin – also rolling a 7. That number might be lucky for some, but not for this party.

At the end of round 2, the result are then:

·         Alucia the thief is slain!

·         Not a single point of damage is done to the goblins.

Battle Round 3

After the disaster that was round 2, round 3 might look a little more promising for the party. They win initiative with a 2 vs. the goblins’ 3.

Brun starts the show, rolling an 11 and missing the goblin archer. Garagrim misses with the first of attacks, but finally something lands – a 19! No matter what he rolls, a 1d8+3 is more than enough to slay a goblin and his opponent finally goes down in a heap on the road.

Next is Roland – he follows Garagrim’s example, two swings: a miss, and a hit. His 2d4+2 damage (using a Lucerne Hammer) is enough to slay another goblin outright. Two down!

Freed up by Garagrim’s victory, Argwyllem advances and strikes at the remaining goblin on the road with a single attack from his Morningstar mace. A roll of a 2 isn’t going to do it.

Eleonora’s turn now, and she makes a sling attack against one of the ranged goblins, hoping to reduce the hurt they might do to Brun. No such luck, with her rolling a 7. The sling bullet whizzes past the goblin’s head and off into the swampy woods.

Now to the goblins. The archer engaged with Brun drops his short bow, and draws a dagger. His roll of a 6 isn’t enough to hit even the unarmoured Brun, who escapes unscathed. The next archer fires his short bow at the hated dwarf – with a roll of 17 he just scrapes the hit. A roll of 2 for damage barely scratches the bulky dwarf; a much better result than when the same goblin shot poor Alucia down.

Finally the goblin on the road makes a pitiful attack against Roland with a measly 5 – a miss.

With a much better round for the party, the end of round 3 looks like:

·         Two goblins slain – one by Garagrim, one by Roland.

·         The goblins must make another two morale checks – one for 50% of the group having fallen and one for ‘facing an obviously superior force’*.

*This is given as a DM discretion thing – with 50% of their number killed, and only one casualty for the heroes, it perhaps feels fair at this point.

With no enemy slain (-2), making two checks (-1 for the one additional check), but fighting a hated enemy (+4), their morale number is 11. A roll of 13 isn’t it, and the goblins turn and flee!

Opportunity Attacks

AD&D doesn’t include attacks of opportunity in its core rules, but they did come later in one of the many supplements (Combat Options I believe), so I’ll use them here. Every character in melee with a goblin may make one.

Neither Roland nor Argwyllem make their hits against the goblin on the road, so he breaks away scott-free, fleeing into the forest. Brun doesn’t succeed either with a roll of a 9, so the goblin archers too make their escape.

Final Results

The battle is over, and Roland’s party have certainly been blooded in the wilderness of the Vantage Coast. Their party is down a useful follower, but they have gained some experience of combat and can arrive in Port Vantage with reports of marauding goblins on the southern road. Perhaps they might receive a quest to find the source of them and destroy them utterly.

Let’s tally what the party earns:

·         For defeating* 7 goblins, the party earns 105 experience points, split between the survivors (21xp each).

·         For personally slaying 2 goblins, Garagrim earns an additional 20xp (10xp per monster hit die per character level)

·         Searching the pockets of the goblins, the party finds 48 silver pieces (worth 4.8 gold pieces).

·         Alucia’s equipment is salvaged from her body before burial, equipping Brun with her leather armour, short bow, and broad sword.

·         A Five Leagues Story Point is earned, which can be spent to make things happen in the story, or as a way to re-roll something particularly disastrous during a combat encounter.

*AD&D gives fairly loose guidance on this – a defeat can include forcing opponents to retreat, as long as it took some level of challenge to do so.

For characters less motivated by their faith and duty, that might seem like a paltry sum and not worth the loss but for Roland and Argwyllem, the loss suffered to such evil creatures before entering the land proper will only galvanise them to greater adventure.

Onwards, to the Next Adventure

With Alucia and the dead merchant buried, it is time for the party to move on. Next time, their journey will continue with a Five Leagues travel roll to see if they encounter difficulties and danger on their way to the city of Port Vantage.

I hope you, dear reader, have enjoyed this post. Any feedback, rules suggestions I should incorporate into the campaign, or directions you’d like to see the story go would be greatly appreciated in the comments.