TAKE THE INITIATIVE [from TROIKA!]

 Wow! \I'm really doing it! I'm making a post about initiative! I mean, I re-blogged shuttered room once... https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2020/01/shuttered-room-classic-six-initiative.html

Actually I have no really contribution to the discourse, just wanted to say what I like about Troika! initiative and there's a bit of chat about it's application in skirmish games and/or tactical RPGS... here's my take...

Such a beautiful cover!
You can buy it from The Melsonian Arts Council and they'll even include a free book inside it!

The memorious among you may remember that I was working on a Salute of the Jugger game a little while back and one of the most fun elements of the playtest with Tinhead Ned and Eugene was the random initiative system which I adapted from Troika.

...most fun for me at least, I don't think anyone else enjoyed themselves...

ACTIVE DEFENCE

This is a follow up to my post about alternative armour systems for OSR games, which can be found here: https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2020/01/80s-armour-two-alternative-armour.html

This post concerns replacing enemy hit rolls with PC defence rolls, and some other variable rules to either expedite combat, or add additional flavour without layering on too much simulationist crunch. I was first exposed to this idea while looking into u/giffyglyph’s Darker Dungeons O5R homebrew document but have since discovered that it’s a very common house rule, especially in GLOG circles including the excellent Die Trying by Spwack.

"Wow!" indeed... courtesy British Library

This represents my own interpretation of similar houserules.

80s ARMOUR - Two Alternative Armour Systems from the Gazeteer Series

As part of my ongoing project to disseminate material from TSR's BECMI products (begun with the Dwarf-Cleric post), I thought I'd share two alternative armour systems put forward in Gazeteer 10 The Orcs of Thar and the Dawn of the Emperors boxed set.

DoE showcased the two major powers in Mystara (the D&D Challenger, BECMI and B/X setting), Alphatia and Thyatis, with additional rules and classes provide in the Thyatian section to emphasise that nation's martial prowess. Among the additional rules was a full system for armour acting as a damage reducer rather than making characters harder to hit.

Orcs of Thar was concerned with the humanoid hordes inhabiting the broken lands, and included rules for running humanoid PCs (which I may adapt one day). There was also an interesting system for assembling piecemeal armour, in keeping with the crude bricolage aesthetic associated with goblins and their brethren.

I've summarised both systems below.