I’ve been wanting to add more whimsy to my games by including monsters
from other game systems. But of course, I need to be systematic in my
whimsy.
I’ve been creating area specific random encounter tables for awhile,
where I create a list of ten or twenty monsters from the generic random
encounter tables in whatever system I am currently fooling around with. I
decided that these would be the least intrusive place to add in monsters from
other systems, for encounters near the City State. I started by making a list
of all of my game systems with appropriate monsters.
Advanced Dungeon and Dragon 1e - the classic, still
have the books I bought in college
Adventurer Conqueror King - My current go to, I backed one of the
kickstarters and love the seamless transition from murder hobo to
ruler within the rules
Barsoom - The ‘Not Published by TSR’ pdf by “Doc”
Call of Cthulhu 1e - picked it up in college. Most
memorable roleplaying session of my ill spent time
was playing this at the Armory at the University of
Minnesota, right after I filled out the paperwork for
Officer Candidate School.
Carcosa - a pdf of McKinney’s system for use with Lamentations of
the Flame Princess. I find it a good source of things for the bad guys
to be doing.
Chivalry & Sorcery 1e - first game I bought in 1977
(the LBBs were out of stock at the game store in
Superior, Wisconsin). Introduced my college and
Navy friends to it, and we played regularly for several
years. One of the best feudal world building resources
I have. The original has long since fallen apart, but the
pages are safe in a three ring binder.
Dark Eye 3e - picked this up from my late friend and RPG buddy. He
had acquired it when Atari was looking at writing a computer game of it.
Empire of the Petal Throne - The World of Tekumel by M.A.R Barker.
The first RPG I ever played in 1977 also the last time I ever played it..
I actually overlapped at the University of Minnesota with the good professor,
but didn’t know it at the time.
Gamma World 1e - I picked up the reprint and pdf recently
HP Lovecraft’s Dreamlands - a Chaosium pdf I acquired recently.
Infernum -A d20 game set in Hell by Mongoose Publishing. The “Mutation
Chain” concept is worth the price of the pdf.
Labyrinth Lord - picked up the pdf on DriveThru a few years ago.
Metamorphosis Alpha - picked this one up in
high school I think, might have been my first year
of college. Ran it a couple of times back in the day.
Still have the original copy.
Runequest 2 (Classic) - picked up an original off of a
friend in the Navy and backed the reprint kickstarter. A
lot to love, but very different system from the D&D family.
Traveller (GDW) - probably the second to most
played game in my college group. Still have
the little black books and the box.
Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing 1e - picked it up
in the Navy in the 80s. Never played it but a great
resource for world building. Converted parts of the
Death on the Reich campaign for Pathfinder several
years ago. But had to abandon it when no one
wanted to play a human (required plot hook)
I then built a couple of simple tables
Roll
|
System
|
Roll
|
Other System
| |
1-10
|
AD&D
|
1-10
|
Empire of the Petal Throne
| |
11-15
|
ACKS
|
11-15
|
Labyrinth Lord
| |
16
|
Gamma World
|
16
|
Barsoom/Dark Eye
| |
17
|
Metamorphosis Alpha
|
17
|
Traveller
| |
18
|
Runequest/Warhammer
|
18
|
Carcosa
| |
19-20
|
Other
|
19-20
|
Infernum
|
City State of the Invincible Overlord was designed for D&D and
I’m using ACKS for my game system, so I wanted the bulk of
the encounters to come from there.
Where there are two systems listed, I use a 50/50 chance to see
which one to select from.
I didn’t use Chivalry & Sorcery, because it really only has two unique
monsters, the Blatant Beast and the Questing Beast (although the
latter can be found in TSR’s Deities and Demigods)
I forgot to include Call of Cthulhu and Dreamlands when I was making
the table. Oh, well next time. Labyrinth Lord turned out too close too
the AD&D and ACKS selections, so I’ll drop that from the table.
[Adding pictures to the post, I see I also forgot Space 1889 and the
Petal Hack!]
Creating Encounter Tables for each area is then a two step process
(1) determine the system and
(2) randomly determine an appropriate monster.
Here’s the encounters for the Mermist Swamp
(1)
|
(2)
|
(1)
|
(2)
| |||
Roll
|
System
|
Monster
|
Roll
|
System
|
Monster
| |
1
|
Metamorphosis
Alpha
|
Dart Weed
(MA)
|
11
|
AD&D
|
Gnoll
| |
2
|
Warhammer
|
Amphisbana
(WH)
|
12
|
AD&D
|
Catobelpas
| |
3
|
AD&D
|
Hobgoblin
|
13
|
Metamorphosis
Alpha
|
Blister Plant
(MA)
| |
4
|
AD&D
|
Shedu
|
14
|
AD&D
|
Giant Frog
| |
5
|
AD&D
|
Giant Toad
|
15
|
Empire of the
Petal Throne
|
Dnelu
(Tekumel)
| |
6
|
Labyrinth
Lord
|
Black Dragon
|
16
|
AD&D
|
Orc
| |
7
|
AD&D
|
Criosphinx
|
17
|
ACKS
|
Hydra
| |
8
|
Empire of the
Petal Throne
|
Ngrutha
(Tekumel)
|
18
|
AD&D
|
Gnoll
| |
9
|
AD&D
|
Giant Frog
|
19
|
Gamma World
|
Barl Nep
(GW)
| |
10
|
AD&D
|
Poisonous
Frog
|
20
|
AD&D
|
Constrictor
Snake
|
Because this is solo play, I don’t need to convert a monster
unless they encounter it. For group play I would want to either
pre-convert the monster or work out the system conversions for
quick reference.