“Four of them. Four of us. Fair fight,” whispered Galidor to his companions. How they’d made it this close to the goblin camp without discovery the gods only knew. By his side, Marco whimpered as he silently mouthed the words of his spell. Galidor lay a hand on the novice Magic User’s shoulder.
“Save it,” he said with a grim smile, “we can take them.”
Where are the heroes when you need them? The village is spooked and something is taking the sheep from the fens. Something worse than wolves too – something clever and cunning. Something that spooks the dogs and slips past Auld Ben as he dozes when it’s his watch. Whatever they are, they’re getting closer to the village each night and folks are already putting their Winter shutters up even though it’s only mid-Summer.
Galidor the Scribe’s Son and his three friends set out, armed with their grandparents’ weapons and arms from the Last War, emboldened by bad brandy and the promise of a silver from each house in the Village.
Where are the heroes?
Right here.
Notes: Once upon a time not so long ago, 1st level old school meant a character like Galidor where the risk was that any battle might be your last. It meant single-digit Hit Points, poor-to-moderate Armour Class and an ability to strike back that wasn’t worth a damn.
And we loved every minute of it. This is gaming right at the beginning of an adventuring career fresh off the farm where the starting party was little more than a bunch of village toughs with thoughts above their station. The attrition rate meant that 3 our of 4 “heroes” wouldn’t make it beyond the first couple of adventures, but those lucky bastards who survived became much prized characters who earned their place in our hearts.
This is my new character for a starting pure old-school campaign using the D&D Rules Cyclopedia (praiseitsholyname). There’s none of this computer-using PDF-reading character generator wimpery here – it’s 100% notepad-and-paper gaming using real rulebooks, hand drawn maps and characters created with pencils and dice. We’re using the (excellent) Weapon Mastery and Skills rules as we usually do with the Rules Cyclopedia. I really like the skill system for it’s simplicity and openness – at first level pick any four skills, meaning you have as as much (if not more) character flexibility as you do with 4e D&D. Oh, the irony that decades of game development brings.
Here’s hoping he survives beyond the first encounter!
Galidor, Fighter-1
STR 15, INT 10, WIS 11, DEX 13, CON 14, CHA 12
HP 9, AC 3 (Chain & Shield), THAC0 19
DR/P 12, MW 13, P/TtS 14, BA 15, R/S/S 16
Longsword (+1), 1d8+1
Shortbow (+1), 1d6, 50/100/150, 40 arrows
Basic training: Longsword, Shortbow, Mace, Spear
Skills: Riding, Leadership, Military Tactics, Law & Justice
Those are pretty good ability scores…enough for that +10% experience, anyway!