The Campaign

Unlike most games, AD&D is an ongoing collection of episode adventures, each of which constitutes a session of play. You, as the Dungeon Master, are about to embark on a new career, that of universe maker. You will order the universe and direct the activities in each game, becoming one of the elite group of campaign referees referred to as DMs in the vernacular of AD&D. What lies ahead will require the use of all of your skill, put a strain on your imagination, bring your creativity to the fore, test your patience, and exhaust your free time. Being a DM is no matter to be taken lightly!

Your campaign requires the above from you, and participation by your players. To belabor an old saw, Rome wasn’t built in a day. You are probably just learning, so take small steps at first. The milieu for initial adventures should be kept to a size commensurate with the needs of campaign participants - your available time as compared with the demands of the players. This will typically result in your giving them a brief background, placing them in a settlement, and stating that they should prepare themselves to find and explore the dungeon/ruin they know is nearby. As background you inform them that they are from some nearby place where they were apprentices learning their respective professions, that they met by chance in an inn or tavern and resolved to journey together to seek their fortunes in the dangerous environment, and that, beyond the knowledge common to the area (speech, alignments, races, and the like), they know nothing of the world, Placing these new participants in mall settlement means that you need do only minimal work describing the place and its inhabitants. Likewise, as player characters are inexperienced, a single dungeon or ruins map will suffice to begin play.

After a few episodes of play, you and your campaign participants will be ready for expansion of the milieu. The territory around the settlement - likely the “home” city or town of the adventurers, other nearby habitations, wilderness areas, and whatever else you determine is right for the area - should be sketch-mapped, and places likely to become settings for play actually done in detail,

At this time it is probable that you will have to have a large scale map of the whole continent or sub-continent involved, some rough outlines of the political divisions of the place, notes on predominant terrain features, indications of the distribution of creature types, and some plans as to what conflicts are likely to occur. In short, you will have to create the social and ecological parameters of a good part of a make-believe world. The more painstakingly this is done, the more “real” this creation will become.

Eventually, as player characters develop and grow powerful, they will explore and adventure over all of the area of the continent. When such activity begins, you must then broaden your general map still farther so as to encompass the whole globe. More still! You must begin to consider seriously the makeup of your entire multiverse - space, planets and their satellites, parallel worlds, the dimensions and planes. What is there? why? can participants in the campaign get there? how? will they? Never fear! By the time your campaign has grown to such a state of sophistication, you will be ready to handle the new demands.

Setting things in motion

There is nothing wrong with using a prepared setting to start a campaign. Just as long as you are totally familiar with its precepts and they mesh with what you envision as the ultimate direction of your own milieu. Whatever doesn’t match, remove from the material and substitute your own in its place.

On the other hand, there is nothing to say you are not capable of creating your own starting place; just use whichever method is best suited to your available time and more likely to please your players. Until you are sure of yourself, lean upon the book. Improvisation might be fine later, but until you are completely relaxed as the DM, don’t run the risk of trying to “wing it” unless absolutely necessary.

Set up the hamlet or village where the action will commence with the player characters entering and interacting with the local population. Place regular people, some “different” and unusual types, and a few non-player characters (NPCs,) in the various dwellings and places of business. [14:1] Note vital information particular to each. Stock the goods available to the players. When they arrive, you will be ready to take on the persona of the settlement as a whole, as well as that of each individual therein. Be dramatic, witty, stupid, dull, clever, dishonest tricky, hostile, etc. as the situation demands. The players will quickly learn who is who and what is going on - perhaps at the loss of a few coins. Having handled this, their characters will be equipped as well as circumstances will allow and will be ready for their bold journey into the dangerous place where treasure abounds and monsters lurk.

The testing grounds for novice adventurers must be kept to a difficulty factor which encourages rather than discourages players. If things are too easy, then there is no challenge, and boredom sets in after one or two games. Conversely, impossible difficulty and character deaths cause instant loss of interest. Entrance to and movement through the dungeon level should be relatively easy, with a few tricks, traps, and puzzles to make it interesting in itself. Features such as rooms and chambers must be described with verve and sufficiently detailed in content to make each seem as if it were strange and mysterious. Creatures inhabiting the place must be of strength and in numbers not excessive compared to the adventurers’ wherewithal to deal with them. (You may, at this point, refer to the sample dungeon level and partial encounter key.)

The general idea is to develop a dungeon of multiple levels, and the deeper adventurers go, the more difficult the challenges become - fiercer monsters, more deadly traps, are confusing mazes, and so forth.

This same concept applies to areas outdoors as well, with more and terrible monsters occurring more frequently the further one goes away from civilization. Many variations on dungeon and wilderness areas are possible. One can build an underground complex where distance away from the entry point approximates depth, or it can be in a mountain where adventurers work upwards. Outdoor adventures can be in a ruined city or a town which seems normal but is under a curse, or virtually anything which you can imagine and then develop into a playable situation for your campaign participants.

Whatever you settle upon as a starting point, be it your own design or one of the many modular settings which are commercially available, remember to have some overall plan of your milieu in mind. The campaign might grow slowly, or it might mushroom. Be prepared for either event with more adventure areas, and the reasons for everything which exists and happens. This is not to say that total and absolutely perfect information will be needed, but a general schema is required.

From this, you can give vague hints and ambiguous answers. It is no exaggeration to state that the fantasy world builds itself, almost as if the milieu actually takes on a life and reality of its own. This is not to say that an occult power takes over. It is simply that the interaction of judge and players shapes the bare bones of the initial creation into something far larger. It becomes fleshed out, and adventuring breathes life into a make believe world. Similarly, the geography and history you assign to the world will suddenly begin to shape the character of states and peoples.

Details of former events will become obvious from mere outlines of the past course of things. Surprisingly, as the personalities of player characters and non-player characters in the milieu are bound to develop and become almost real, the nations and states and events of a well-conceived AD&D world will take on even more of their own direction and life. What this all boils down to is that once the campaign is set in motion, you will become more of a recorder of events, while the milieu seemingly charts its own course !

The Ongoing Campaign

While it might seem highly unlikely to those who have not been involved in fantasy adventure gaming for an extended period of time, after the flush of excitement wears off - perhaps a few months or a year, depending on the intensity of play - some participants will become bored and move to other gaming forms, returning to your campaign only occasionally. Shortly thereafter even your most dedicated players will occasionally find that dungeon levels and wilderness castles grow stale, regardless of subtle differences and unusual challenges. It is possible, however, for you to devise a campaign which will have a very minimal amount of participant attrition and enthusiast ennui, and it is not particularly difficult to do so.

It has has been mentioned already, the game must be neither too difficult to survive nor so easy as to offer little excitement or challenge. There must always be something desirable to gain, something important to lose, and the chance of having either happen. Furthermore, there must be some purpose to it all. There must be some backdrop against which adventures are carried out, and no matter how tenuous the strands, some web which connects the evil and good, the opposing powers, the rival states and various peoples. This need not be evident at first, but as play continues, hints should be given to players, and their characters should become involved in the interaction and struggle between these vaster entities.

Thus, characters begin as less than pawns, but as they progress in expertise, each eventually realizes that he or she is a meaningful, if lowly, piece in the cosmic game being conducted. When this occurs, players then have a dual purpose to their play, for not only will their player characters and henchmen gain levels of experience, but their actions have meaning above and beyond that of personal aggrandizement.

But if serious purpose is integral to a successfully ongoing campaign, there must be moments of relief as well. Such counter-plots can be lesser and different themes within the whole, whether some side dungeon or quest, a minor altercation between petty nobles, or whatever. Occasional ”pure fun” scenarios can be conducted also. That is, moments of silliness and humor help to contrast with the grinding seriousness of a titanic struggle and relieve participants at the same time. After all, ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is first and foremost a game, a pastime for fun and enjoyment.

At times the fun aspect must be stressed. Thus, in my [own campaign] I included an “Alice In Wonderland” level, and while it is a deadly place, those who have adventured through it have uniformly proclaimed it as great fun because it is the antithesis of the campaign as a whole. Similarly, there are places where adventurers can journey to a land of pure Greek mythology, into the future where the island of King Kong awaits their pleasure, or through the multiverse to different planets, including Jack Vance’s “Planet of Adventure”, where they hunt sequins in the Carabas while Dirdir and Dirdirmen hunt them.

Of course, such areas represent a considerable investment in time and effort. Many of you will not have hours to spend creating these diversions, so it might seem that your campaign is doomed to eventual stagnation.

Not so. The various prepared modules available commercially are ideal for use as sidelights to the whole of your game. In addition, there are many games which can be “plugged into” your AD&D campaign to serve as relief.

After all is said and done, role playing is role playing and the setting is not of paramount importance. The trick is to adapt one system to the other so as to enable continuity of the characters from AD&D into the other setting.

This allows not only a refreshing change, but it poses new problems to participants and adds new factors to your campaign - new abilities, new weapons, etc. TSR has many games and rules systems which can be used with this game to expand and invigorate your campaign.

Climate & Ecology

It is of utmost importance to some Dungeon Masters to create and design worlds which are absolutely correct according to the laws of the scientific realities of our own universe. These individuals will have to look elsewhere for direction as to how this is to be accomplished, for this is a rule book, not a text on any subject remotely connected to climatology, ecology, or any science soft or hard. However, for those who desire only an interesting and exciting game, some useful information in the way of advice can be passed along.

Climate

Temperature, wind, and rainfall are understood reasonably well by most people. The distance from the sun dictates temperature, with the directness of the sun’s rays affecting this also. Cloud cover also is a factor, heavy clouds trapping heat to cause a “greenhouse effect”. Elevation is a factor, as the higher mountains have less of an atmosphere “blanket”. Bodies of water affect temperature, as do warm or cold currents within them. Likewise air currents affect temperature. Winds are determined by rotational direction and thermals. Rainfall depends upon winds and available moisture from bodies of water, and temperatures as well. All of the foregoing are relevant to our world, and should be in a fantasy world, but the various determinants need not follow the physical laws of the earth. A milieu which offers differing climates is quite desirable because of the variety it affords DM and player alike.

The variety of climes allows you to offer the whole gamut of human and monster types to adventurous characters. It also allows you more creativity with civilizations, societies and cultures.

Ecology

So many of the monsters are large predators that it is difficult to justify their existence in proximity to one another. Of course in dungeon settings it is possible to have some in stasis or magically kept alive without hunger, but what of the wilderness? Then too, how do the human and humanoid populations support themselves? The bottom of the food chain is vegetation, cultivated grain with respect to people and their ilk.

Large populations in relatively small land areas must be supported by lavish vegetation. Herd animals prospering upon this growth will support a fair number of predators. Consider also the tales of many of the most fantastic and fearsome beasts: what do dragons eat? Humans, of course; maidens in particular! Dragons slay a lot, but they do not seem to eat all that much.

Ogres and giants enjoy livestock and people too, but at least the more intelligent sort raise their own cattle so as to guarantee a full kettle.

When you develop your world, leave plenty of area for cultivation, even more for wildlife. Indicate the general sorts of creatures inhabiting an area, using logic with regard to natural balance. This is not to say that you must be textbook perfect, it is merely a cautionary word to remind you not to put in too many large carnivores without any visible means of support.

Some participants in your campaign might question the ecology- particularly if it does not favor their favorite player characters. You must be prepared to justify it. Here are some suggestions.

Certain vegetation grows very rapidly in the world - roots or tubers, a grass-like plant, or grain. One or more of such crops support many rabbits or herd animals or wild pigs or people or whatever you like! The vegetation springs up due to a nutrient in the soil (possibly some element unknown in the mundane world) and possibly due to the radiation of the sun as well (see the slight tinge of color which is noticeably different when compared to Sol? . . . ). A species or two of herbivores which grow rapidly, breed prolifically, and need but scant nutriment is also suggested. With these artifices and a bit of care in placing monsters around in the wilderness, you will probably satisfy all but the most exacting of players and that one probably should not be playing fantasy games anyway!

Dungeons likewise must be balanced and justified, or else wildly improbable and caused by some supernatural entity which keeps the whole thing running - or at least has set it up to run until another stops it. In any event, do not allow either the demands of “realism” or impossible make believe to spoil your milieu. Climate and ecology are simply reminders to use a bit of care!

Social Class and Rank

There is no random table for determination of a character’s social status to be found here. That is because the inclusion of such a factor will either tell you little or nothing of useful nature, or it will abridge your freedom with respect to development of your campaign milieu. That is, if such a table tells you only a little so as not to force a social structure upon your campaign, the table can contain nothing of use. If it states rank, it presupposes you will, in fact, have such classes in your campaign when you might not desire them at all. There are dozens of possible government forms, each of which will have varying social classes, ranks, or castes.

Which sort you choose for your milieu is strictly your own prerogative. While this game is loosely based on Feudal European technology, history and myth, it also contains elements from the Ancient Period, parts of more modern myth, and the mythos of many authors as well. Within its boundaries all sorts of societies and cultures can exist, and there is nothing to dictate that their needs be Feudal European. 1

To aid the harassed referee, I have listed these forms. Additionally, a list of nobility (or authorities) in various medieval cultures is given. I have included the latter as many DMs prefer to base their campaign upon a society of this sort, for they can then draw upon its historical data for game purposes.

Once a set of social structures and cultures has been devised for the campaign, you may or may not find it useful to assign rank, class, or caste to player characters. Will your society have hereditary rank? Will it go only to males? females? both equally? Will only the first-born inherit? Will any inheritance of property be required to be the entire estate to one individual? Deciding government form and culture might well delineate much of the social structure of the nation, state, or city in question.

Aristocracy Example

Let us assume a social structure of an aristocracy which is non-hereditary.

Members of this ruling class are those who have served in the military, own property of 100 or more acres extent, and pay an annual tax of not less than 10 gold pieces on their income. Land ownership may be waived in the case of merchants and tradesmen whose business is such that they pay not less than 20 gold pieces in taxes each year.

In any event, the aristocrats are the only persons eligible for any government office, command of the military, and from their number are elected senators who pass laws and legislate in general. Former senators are eligible to election to various tribunals and judgeships. Former military officers are appointed by senatorial vote to keep the peace and police the land.

The majority of citizens of this state are small land holders, tradesmen, and various workers. They provide the food and goods and labor which make the economy stable. These people are likewise obligated to serve in the military, and if they serve with distinction, they will be awarded land or stipends which will elevate them to the aristocracy. Of course, industry, marriage or other means can move any of these citizens to a higher status. Only a few persons are actually enslaved - criminals and captives of war.

A large number of the workers are bound to labor for a fixed period, and some must likewise serve apprenticeships. These individuals have the hope of eventually earning sufficient funds to become landowners or rich merchants or tradesmen themselves.

In such a society, adventurers would come from the younger children of aristocrats- those who will inherit little and wish to remain in the favored class. Some would come from the middle group - adventurous persons who aim at becoming members of the aristocracy through successes in such adventures. Few, if any, would come from the lowest class, i.e. the bondsmen and common laborers. Assigning a social class to player characters in such a society wouldn’t have any particular value unless you also devised various rivalries within the classes.

With this brief example in mind, it is easy to see how pointless it is to blindly plug in a set of “birth tables” based on some form of hereditary, quasi-European nobility which may have absolutely no meaning within any of the states of your campaign milieu. Furthermore, any use of such material must be carefully considered even if your campaign does have such a society and titles of rank, viz. do you really believe that one of your player characters should be the first born son of a major noble or a ruler? If so, why is he adventuring? Where are his guards and retainers? Does his father know his whereabouts? If so, why is he allowing the heir to his title and estates to risk his life in such a foolish manner? Similarly, do such tables have a logical precedence and order? Are there offices which do not logically belong within a feudal society? Are there classes which are contradictory, anachronistic, or meaningless? Unless you specifically tailor your milieu to fit such tables, it is likely that there will be far too many “yes” answers to the above questions. The intelligent verdict must be that each DM has to accept the responsibility of deciding for himself or herself if assigning class distinctions is a vital part of his or her campaign. If such is necessary, then the DM must further accept the work of devising his or her own logical birth tables, drawn from a society, culture, and government form developed to fit the overall milieu. This is unquestionably a tall order. Those referees who lack time will find that it is perhaps better for them to utilize one of the several campaign scenarios commercially available, adding personal touches, of course, but basically relying on the cultural and societal developments of the unit.

Even with such ready-made campaign settings, you may or may not wish to include social classes immediately for player characters. My own Greyhawk campaign, for example, assumes all player characters (unless I personally place one who is otherwise) are freemen or gentlemen, or at worst they can safely represent themselves to be so. (Note that the masculine/human usage is generic; I do not like the terms free creatures or gentle-beings!)

Outstanding activity can (and has) brought knighthood or social status to certain characters. This was carefully planned as a reward if the characters succeeded, and it now allows them much latitude of action and assurance of reliable aid in certain realms - but it likewise has earned them the enmity of others. With all of that out of the way, consider the list of a few of the possible governmental forms and then the lists of noble/official titles.

Government Forms

Autocracy - Government which rests in self-derived, absolute power, typified by a hereditary emperor, for example.
Bureaucracy - Government by department, rule being through the heads of the various departments and conducted by their chief administrators.
Confederacy - Government by a league of (possibly diverse) social entities so designed as to promote the common good of each.
Democracy - Government by the people, i.e. the established body of citizens, whether through direct role or through elected representatives.
Dictatorship - Government whose final authority rests in the hands of one supreme head.
Feodality - Government of a feudal nature where each successive layer of authority derives power and authority from the one above and pledges fealty likewise.
Geriatocracy - Government reserved to the elderly or very old.
Gynarchy - Government reserved to females only.
Hierarchy - Government which is typically religious in nature and generally similar to a feodality.
Magocracy - Government by professional magic-users only.
Matriarchy - Government by the eldest females of whatever social units exist.
Militocracy - Government headed by the military leaders and the armed forces in general.
Monarchy - Government by a single sovereign, usually hereditary, whether an absolute ruler or with power limited in some form (such as the English monarchs, limited in rule by the Magna Carta).
Oligarchy - Government by a few (usually absolute) rulers who are coequal.
Pedocracy - Government by the learned, savants, and scholars.
Plutocracy - Government by the wealthy.
Republic - Government by representatives of an established electorate who rule in behalf of the electors.
Theocracy - Government by god-rule, that is, rule by the direct representative of the god.
Syndicracy - Government by a body of syndics, each representing some business interest.

This listing is by no means exhaustive, and you should feel free to use other forms, or invent your own, as the needs of your particular campaign direct.

Knights are non-hereditary peers. Their precedence (or importance) falls variously depending upon the order of knighthood they hold. Various officials of the court will rank amongst the nobility; an excellent discussion of this will be found in a good encyclopedia under Precedence, or in the appropriate section of TSR’s World of Greyhawk.

You may find it interesting to mix titles, invent them, and place the whole in the campaign setting you devise accordingly. Research in various histories will be helpful, as will be a copy of a good thesaurus.

The Town and City Social Structure

Cities and towns have typically attracted the independent and freethinking orts, as they offer more opportunity for such lifestyles, even considering the medieval (rather intolerant) community. In towns and cities there are few nobles and gentlefolk of knightly status. The social structure can be shown as follows:

Upper Class. Nobles, gentlemen, the wealthiest of merchants and most important guildmasters, from which are drawn the most important law makers and executives.
Middle Class. Merchants and guildmasters, with master artisans and the like making up the balance. They provide lesser officials.
Lower Class. Tradesmen, journeymen, laborers, and all others form the lower class. From their number is drawn the common council.

This gives a typical medieval city or town government a structure which is formed of:

Mayor, Magistrate or Burgomaster - probably a lifetime office drawn only from the upper class.

Aldermen, Burghers, or Burgesses who are chosen by the upper class to serve as the maor officers under the mayor et al. The judiciary and military commanders of the municipality are likely to fall within this stratum.

Aldermen are elected by the middle class. Law enforcement officials, customs officials, and tax officials all come from the middle class, too.

Councilors of the common council are likely to be selected by the upper and middle classes as well as the free lower class. From this class are drawn the petty officials so roles are advisory or administrative only.

The constabulary of a town or city will be drawn in part from citizen soldiers, the city watch or police force and militia called up in times of great need. Most other soldiery, by far the bulk in most cases, will be hired mercenaries. When any army is fielded, the leading men of the city are likely to be in overall command, with assistance from mercenary captains, the force being a composite of the municipal levies and the hired soldiers. (Note: Such forces could be of considerable magnitude in battle, as noted by the history of London, for example, or the military history of the Hanseatic League.)

Economics

There is no question that the prices and costs of the game are based on inflationary economy, one where a sudden influx of silver and gold has driven everything well beyond its normal value.

The reasoning behind this is simple. An active campaign will most certainly bring a steady flow of wealth into the base area, as adventurers come from successful trips into dungeon and wilderness. If the economy of the area is one which more accurately reflects that of medieval England, let us say, where coppers and silver coins are usual and a gold piece remarkable, such an influx of new money, even in copper and silver, would cause an inflationary spiral.

This would necessitate you adjusting costs accordingly and then upping dungeon treasures somewhat to keep pace. If a near-maximum is assumed, then the economics of the area can remain relatively constant, and the DM will have to adjust costs only for things in demand or short supply - weapons, oil, holy water, men-at-arms, whatever.

The economic systems of areas beyond the more active campaign areas can be viably based on lesser wealth only until the stream of loot begins to pour outwards into them. While it is possible to reduce treasure in these area to some extent so as to prolong the period of lower costs, what kind of a dragon hoard, for example, doesn’t have gold and gems?

It is simply more heroic for players to have their characters swaggering around with pouches full of gems and tossing out gold pieces than it is for them to have coppers. Heroic fantasy is made of fortunes and king’s ransoms in loot gained most cleverly and bravely and lost in a twinkling by various means - thievery, gambling, debauchery, gift-giving, bribes, and so forth.

The “reality” AD&D seeks to create through role playing is that of the mythical heroes such as Conan, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Kothar, Elric, and their ilk. When treasure is spoken of, it is more stirring when participants know it to be TREASURE!

You may, of course, adjust any prices and costs as you see fit for your own milieu. Be careful to observe the effects of such changes on both play balance and player involvement. If any adverse effects are noted, it is better to return to the tried and true. It is fantastic and of heroic proportions so as to match its game vehicle.

Duties, excises, fees, tariffs, taxes, tithes, and tolls

What society can exist without revenues? What better means of assuring revenues than taxation, and all of the names used in the title of this section are synonymous with taxes - but if it is called something different perhaps the populace won’t take too much umbrage at having to pay and pay and pay...

It is important in most campaigns to take excess monies away from player characters and taxation is one of the better means of accomplishing this end. The form and frequency of taxation depends upon the locale and the social structure. Duties are typically paid on goods brought into a country or subdivision thereof, so any furs, tapestries, etc. brought into a town for sale will probably be subject to duty. Excises are typically sums paid to belong to a particular profession or practice a certain calling; in addition, an excise can be levied against foreign currency, for example, in order to change it into the less remarkable coin of the realm. Fees can be levied for just about any reason - entering a city gate is a good one for non-citizens.

Tariffs are much the same as duties, but let us suppose that this is levied against only certain items when purchased - rather a surtax, or it can be used against goods not covered by the duty list. Taxes are typically paid only by residents and citizens of the municipality and include those sums for upkeep of roads and streets, walls gates, and municipal expenses for administration and services.

Taxation is not necessarily an annual affair, for special taxes can be levied whenever needful, particularly upon sales, services, and foreigners in general. Tithes are principally religious taxation, although there is no prohibition against the combination of the secular with the sacred in the municipality. Thus, a tithe can be extracted from all sums brought into the community by any resident, the monies going to the religious organization sponsored by the community or to that of the character’s choosing, at your option. (Of course, any religious organizations within a municipality will have to pay heavy taxes unless they are officially recognized by the authorities.) Tolls, finally, are sums paid for the use of a road, bridge, ferry, etc. They are paid according to the numbers of persons, animals, carts wagons, and possibly even materials transported.

If the Gentle Reader thinks that the taxation he or she currently undergoes is a trifle strenuous for his or her income, pity the typical European populace of the Middle Ages. They paid all of the above, tolls being very frequent, with those trying to escape them by use of a byway being subject to confiscation of all goods with a fine and imprisonment possible also.

Every petty noble made an extraction, municipalities taxed, and the sovereign was the worst of all. (Eventually merchants banded together to form associations to protect themselves from such robbery, but peasants and other commoners could only revolt and dream of better times.) Barter was common because hard money was so rare. However, in the typical fantasy milieu, we deal with great sums of precious metals, so use levies against player character gains accordingly. Here is an example of a system which might be helpful to you in developing your own.

Example

The town charges a 1% duty on all normal goods brought into the place for sale - foodstuffs, cloth and hides, livestock, raw materials and manufactured goods. Foreigners must also pay this duty, but at double rate (2%).

Luxury items and precious goods - wine, spirits, furs, metals such as copper, gold, etc., jewelry and the like - pay a tariff in addition to the duty, a 5% of value charge if such are to be sold, and special forms for sale are then given to the person so declaring his wares (otherwise no legal sale is possible). Entry fee into the town is 1 copper piece per head (man or animal) or wheel for citizens, 5 coppers for non-citizens, unless they have official passports to allow free entry. (Diplomatic types have immunity from duties and tariffs as regards their personal goods and belongings.)

Taxes are paid per head, annually at 1 copper for a peasant, 1 silver for a freeman, and 1 gold piece for a gentleman or noble; most foreign residents are stopped frequently and asked for proof of payment, and if this is not at hand, they must pay again. In addition, a 10% sales tax is charged to all foreigners, although no service tax is levied upon them.

Religion is not regulated by the municipality, but any person seeking to gain services from such an organization must typically pledge to tithe.

Finally, several tolls are extended in order to gain access to the main route from and to the municipality - including the route to the dungeon, of course.

Citizens of the town must pay a 5% tax on their property in order to defray the costs of the place. This sum is levied annually. Citizenship can be obtained by foreigners after residence for one month and the payment of 10 gold pieces (plus many bribes).

The town does not encourage the use of foreign currency. Merchants and other business people must pay a fine of 5% of the value of any foreign coins within their possession plus face certain confiscation of the coins, so they will typically not accept them. Upon entering the town non-residents are instructed to go to the Street of the Money Changers in order to trade their foreign money for the copper “commons”, silver “nobles”, gold “orbs”, and platinum “royals”.

Exchange rate is a mere 90%, so for 10 foreign copper pieces, 9 domestic copper “commons” are handed out. Any non-resident with more than 100 silver nobles value in foreign coins in his or her possession is automatically fined 50% of their total value, unless he or she can prove that entry into the town was within 24 hours, and he or she was on his or her way to the money changers when stopped. Transactions involving gems are not uncommon, but a surtax of 10% is also levied against sales or exchange of precious stones and similar goods.

Monster Populations and Placement

As the creator of a milieu, you will have to spend a considerable amount of time developing the population and distribution of monsters—in dungeon and wilderness and in urban areas as well. It is highly recommended that you develop an overall scheme for both population and habitation.

This is not to say that a random mixture of monsters cannot be used, simply selecting whatever creatures are at hand from the tables of monsters shown by level of their relative challenge. The latter method does provide a rather fun type of campaign with a ”Disneyland” atmosphere, but long range play becomes difficult, for the whole lacks rhyme and reason, so it becomes difficult for the DM to extrapolate new scenarios from it, let alone build upon it. Therefore, it is better to use the random population technique only in certain areas, and even then to do so with reason. This will be discussed shortly.

In general the monster population will be in its habitat for a logical reason. The environment suits the creatures, and the whole is in balance. Certain areas will be filled with nasty things due to the efforts of some character to protect his or her stronghold, due to the influence of some powerful evil or good force, and so on. Except in the latter case, when adventurers (your player characters, their henchmen characters, and hirelings) move into an area and begin to slaughter the creatures therein, it will become devoid of monsters.

Natural movement of monsters will be slow, so there will be no immediate migration to any depopulated area - unless some power is restocking it or there is an excess population nearby which is able to take advantage of the newly available habitat. Actually clearing an area (dungeon or outdoors territory) might involve many expeditions and much effort, perhaps even a minor battle or two involving hundreds per side, but when it is all over the monsters will not magically reappear, nor will it be likely that some other creatures will move into the newly available quarters the next day.

When player characters begin adventuring they will at first assume that they are the most aggressive types in the area - with respect to characters, of course. This is probably true. You have other characters in the area, of course, and certainly many will be of higher level and more capable of combating monsters than are the new player characters.

Nonetheless, the game assumes that these characters have other things to do with their time, that they do not generally care to take the risks connected with adventuring, and they will happily allow the player characters to stand the hazards. If the characters who do the dirty work are successful, the area will be free of monsters, and the non-player characters will benefit. Meanwhile, the player characters, as adventurers, automatically remove themselves to an area where there are monsters, effectively getting rid of the potential threat their presence poses to the established order. There is an analogy to the gunfighter-lawman of the “Wild West” which is not inappropriate. In some cases, the player characters will establish strongholds nearby which will help to maintain the stability of the area - thus becoming part of the establishment. Your milieu might actually encourage such settlement and interaction if you favor politics in your campaign. The depopulation and removal to fresh challenge areas has an advantage in most cases.

As DM, you will probably have a number of different and exciting dungeons and wilderness and urban settings which are tied into the whole of the milieu. Depopulation of one simply means that the player characters must move on to a fresh area - interesting to them because it is different from the last, fun for you as there are new ideas and challenges which you desire your players to deal with. Variety is, after all, the spice of AD&D life too! It becomes particularly interesting for all parties concerned when it is a meaningful part of the whole. As the players examine first one facet, then another, of the milieu gem, they will become more and more taken with its complexity and beauty and wish to see the whole in true perspective.

Certainly each will wish to possess it, but none ever will. Variety of setting is easily done by sketching the outlines of your world’s “history”. Establishing power bases, setting up conflicts, distributing the creatures, bordering the states, and so forth, gives the basis for a reasoned - if not totally logical in terms of our real world - approach. The multitude of planes and alignments are given for such a purpose, although they also serve to provide fresh places to adventure and establish conflicts between player characters as well.

Certain pre-done modules might serve in your milieu, and you should consider their inclusion in light of your overall schema. If they fit smoothly into the diagram of your milieu, by all means use them, but always alter them to include the personality of your campaign so the mesh is perfect.

Likewise, fit monsters and magic so as to be reasonable within the scope of your milieu and the particular facet of it concerned. Alter creatures freely, remembering balance. Hit dice, armor class, attacks and damage, magical and special powers are all mutable; and after players become used to the standard types a few ringers will make them a bit less sure of things.

Devising a few creatures unique to your world is also recommended. As a DM you are capable of doing a proper job of it provided you have had some hours of hard experience with rapacious players. Then you will know not to design pushovers and can resist the temptation to develop the perfect player character killer!

Example

In order to offer a bit more guidance, this single example of population and placement will suffice:

In a border area of hills and wild forests, where but few human settlements exist, there is a band of very rich, but hard-pressed dwarves. They, and the humans, are hard pressed because of the existence of a large tribe of orcs.

The latter have invited numbers of ogres to join them, for the resistance of the men and dwarves to the orcs’ looting and pillaging has cost them not a few warriors. The orcs are gaining, more areas nearby are becoming wilderness, and into abandoned countryside and deserted mines the ferocious and dark-dwelling monsters of wilderness and dungeon daily creep.

The brave party of adventurers comes into a small village to see what is going on, for they have heard that all is not well hereabouts. With but little help they must then overcome the nasties by piecemeal tactics, being careful not to arouse the whole to general warfare by appearing too strong.

This example allows you to develop a logical and ordered placement of the major forces of monsters, to develop habitat complexes and modules of various sorts—abandoned towns, temples, etc. It also allows some free-wheeling mixture of random critters to be stuck in here and there to add uncertainty and spice to the standard challenge of masses of orcs and ogres.

You, of course, can make it as complex and varied as you wish, to suit your campaign and players, and perhaps a demon or devil and some powerful evil clerics are in order...

Just as you have matrices for each of your dungeon levels, prepare like data sheets for all areas of your outdoors and urban areas. When monsters are properly placed, note on a key sheet who, what, and when with regard to any replacement. It is certainly more interesting and challenging for players when they find that monsters do not spring up like weeds overnight - in dungeons or elsewhere. Once all dragons in an area are slain, they have run out of dragons! The likelihood of one flying by becomes virtually nil. The ”frontier” moves, and bold adventurers must move with it. The movement can, of course, be towards them, as inimical forces roll over civilization. Make it all fit together in your plan, and your campaign will be assured of long life.

Placement of Monetary Treasure

Wealth abounds; it is simply awaiting the hand bold and strong enough to take it! This precept is basic to fantasy adventure gaming. Can you imagine Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser without a rich prize to aim for? Conan without a pouchful of rare jewels to squander? And are not there dragons with great hoards? Tombs with fantastic wealth and fell guardians? Rapacious giants with spoils? Dwarven mines brimming with gems? Leprechauns with pots of gold? Why, the list goes on and on!

The foregoing is, of course, true; but the matter is not as simple as it might seem on the surface. First, we must consider the logic of the game. By adventuring, slaying monsters or outwitting opponents, and by gaining treasure the characters operating within the milieu advance in ability and gain levels of experience.

While AD&D is not quite so simplistic as other such games are regarding such advancement, it nonetheless relies upon the principle of adventuring and success thereat to bestow such rewards upon player characters and henchmen alike. It is therefore incumbent upon the creator of the milieu and the arbiter of the campaign, the Dungeon Master, to follow certain guidelines and charges placed upon him or her by these rules and to apply them with intelligence in the spirit of the whole as befits the campaign milieu to which they are being applied.

A brief perusal of the character experience point totals necessary to advance in levels makes it abundantly clear that an underlying precept of the game is that the amount of treasure obtainable by characters is graduated from small to large as experience level increases. [4:1] This most certainly does not intimate or suggest that the greater treasures should be in the hundreds of thousands of gold pieces in value ~ at least not in readily transportable form in any event - but that subject will be discussed a bit later.

First and foremost we must consider the placement of the modest treasures which are appropriate to the initial stages of a campaign.

All monsters would not and should not possess treasure!

The Treasure Types given in the Monster Manual are the optimums and are meant to consider the maximum number of creatures guarding them. Many of the monsters shown as possessing some form of wealth are quite unlikely to have any at all.

This is not a contradiction in the rules, but an admonition to the DM not to give away too much! Any treasure possessed by weak, low-level monsters will be trifling compared to what numbers of stronger monsters might guard. So in distributing wealth amongst the creatures which inhabit the upper levels of dungeons/dungeon-like areas, as well as for petty monsters dwelling in small numbers in the wilderness, assign it accordingly. The bulk of such treasure will be copper pieces and silver. Perhaps there will be a bit of ivory or a cunningly-crafted item worth a few gold pieces. Electrum will be most unusual, gold rare, and scarcer still will be a platinum piece or a small gem! Rarest of all, treasure of treasures - the magic item - is detailed hereafter. [15:2]

If some group of creatures actually has a treasure of 11 gold pieces, another will have 2,000 coppers and yet a third nothing save a few rusty weapons. Of course, all treasure is not in precious metals or rare or finely made substances.

Is not a suit of armor of great value? What of a supply of oil? a vial of holy water? weapons? provisions? animals? The upper levels of a dungeon need not be stuffed like a piggy bank to provide meaningful treasures to the clever player character.

Assign each monster treasure, or lack thereof, with reason. The group of brigands has been successful of late, and each has a few coppers left from roistering, while their leader actually has a small sum of silver hid away - coupled with salvaged armor, weapons, and any odd supplies or animals they might have around. This will be a rich find indeed!

The giant rats have nothing at all, save a nasty, filthy bite; but the centipedes living beneath a pile of rotting furniture did for an incautious adventurer some years ago, and his skeletal remains are visible still, one hand thrust beneath the debris of the nest. Hidden from view is a silver bracelet with an agate, the whole thing being valued at 20 gold pieces. Thus, intelligent monsters, or those which have an affinity for bright, shiny objects will consciously gather and hoard treasures. Others will possibly have some as an incidental remainder of their natural hunting or self-defense or aggressive behavior or whatever. Naturally, some monsters will be so unfortunate as to have nothing of value at all, despite their desire to the contrary - but these creatures might know of other monsters (whom they hate and envy) who do have wealth!

In more inaccessible regions there will be stronger monsters - whether due to numbers or individual prowess is immaterial. These creatures will have more treasure, at least those with any at all. Copper will give way to silver, silver to electrum, electrum to gold. Everyday objects which can be sold off for a profit - the armor and weapons and suchlike - will be replaced by silks, brocades, tapestries, and similar items. Ivory and spices, furs and bronze statues, platinum, gems and jewelry will trickle upwards from the depths of the dungeon or in from the fastness of wilderlands. But hold! This is not a signal to begin throwing heaps of treasure at players as if you were some mad Midas hating what he created by his touch.

Always bear in mind the effect that the successful gaining of any treasure, or set of treasures, will have upon the player characters and the campaign as a whole.

Consider this example: A pair of exceedingly large, powerful and ferocious ogres has taken up abode in a chamber at the base of a shaft which gives to the land above. From here they raid both the upper lands and the dungeons roundabout. These creatures have accumulated over 2,000 g.p. in wealth, but it is obviously not in a pair of 1,000 g.p. gems. Rather, they have gathered an assortment of goods whose combined value is well in excess of two thousand gold nobles (the coin of the realm).

Rather than stocking a treasure which the victorious player characters can easily gather and carry to the surface, you maximize the challenge by making it one which ogres would naturally accrue in the process of their raiding.

There are many copper and silver coins in a large, locked iron chest. There are pewter vessels worth a fair number of silver pieces. An inlaid wooden coffer, worth 100 gold pieces alone, holds a finely wrought silver necklace worth an incredible 350 gold pieces! Food and other provisions scattered about amount to another hundred or so gold nobles value, and one of the ogres wears a badly tanned fur cape which will fetch 50 gold pieces nonetheless. Finally, there are several good helmets (used as drinking cups), a bardiche, and a two-handed sword (with silver wire wrapped about its hilt and a lapis lazuli pommel to make it worth three times its normal value) which complete the treasure.

If the adventurers overcome the ogres, they must still recognize all of the items of value and transport them to the surface. What is left behind will be taken by other residents of the netherworld in no time at all, so the bold victors have quite a task before them. It did not end with a mere slaying of ogres . . . .

In like manner, the hoard of a dragon could destroy a campaign if the treasure of Smaug, in The Hobbit, were to be used as an example of what such a trove should contain. Not so for the wise DM! He or she will place a few choice and portable items, some not-so-choice because they are difficult to carry off, and finally top (or rather bottom and top) the whole with mounds, piles, and layers of copper pieces, silver, etc. There will be much there, but even the cleverest of players will be more than hard put to figure out a way to garner the bulk of it after driving off, subduing, or slaying the treasure’s guardian.

Many other avaricious monsters are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to help themselves to an unguarded dragon hoard, and news travels fast. Who will stay behind to mind the coins while the rest of a party goes off to dispose of the better part of the loot? Not their henchmen! What a problem . . .

In the event that generosity should overcome you, and you find that in a moment of weakness you actually allowed too much treasure to fall into the players’ hands, there are steps which must be taken to rectify matters.

The player characters themselves could become attractive to others seeking such gains. The local rulers will desire a share, prices will rise for services in demand from these now wealthy personages, etc. All this is not to actually penalize success. It is a logical abstraction of their actions, it stimulates them to adventure anew, and it also maintains the campaign in balance. These rules will see to it that experience levels are not gained too quickly as long as you do your part as DM!

Placement of Magic Items

Just as it is important to use forethought and consideration in placing valuable metals and other substances with monsters or otherwise hiding them in dungeon or wilderness, the placement of magic items is a serious matter.

Thoughtless placement of powerful magic items has been the ruination of many a campaign. Not only does this cheapen what should be rare and precious, it gives player characters undeserved advancement and empowers them to become virtual rulers of all they survey.

This is in part the fault of this writer, who deeply regrets not taking the time and space in D&D to stress repeatedly the importance of moderation. Powerful magic items were shown, after all, on the tables, and a chance for random discovery of these items was given, so the uninitiated DM cannot be severely faulted for merely following what was set before him or her in the rules.

Had the whole been prefaced with an admonition to use care and logic in placement or random discovery of magic items, had the intent, meaning, and spirit of the game been more fully explained, much of the give-away aspect of such campaigns would have willingly been squelched by the DMs. The sad fact is, however, that this was not done, so many campaigns are little more than a joke, something that better DMs jape at and ridicule - rightly so on the surface - because of the foolishness of player characters with astronomically high levels of experience and no real playing skill. These god-like characters boast and strut about with retinues of ultra-powerful servants and scores of mighty magic items, artifacts, relics adorning them as if they were Christmas trees decked out with tinsel and ornaments. Not only are such “Monty Haul” games a crashing bore for most participants, they are a headache for their DMs as well, for the rules of the game do not provide anything for such play - no reasonable opponents, no rewards, nothing! The creative DM can, of course, develop a game which extrapolates from the original to allow such play, but this is a monumental task to accomplish with even passable results, and those attempts I have seen have been uniformly dismal.

Another nadir of Dungeon Mastering is the “killer-dungeon” concept. These campaigns are a travesty of the role-playing adventure game, for there is no development and identification with carefully nurtured player personae. In such campaigns, the sadistic referee takes unholy delight in slaughtering endless hordes of hapless player characters with unavoidable death traps and horrific monsters set to ambush participants as soon as they set foot outside the door of their safe house. Only a few of these “killer dungeons” survive to become infamous, however, as their participants usually tire of the idiocy after a few attempts at enjoyable gaming. Some lucky ones manage to find another, more reasonable, campaign; but others, not realizing the perversion of their DM’s campaign, give up adventure gaming and go back to whatever pursuits they followed in their leisure time before they tried D&D.

AD&D means to set right both extremes. Neither the giveaway game nor the certain death campaign will be lauded here. In point of fact, DMs who attempt to run such affairs will be drumming themselves out of the ranks of AD&D entirely. ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS aims at providing not only the best possible adventure game but also the best possible refereeing of such campaigns.

Initial placement of magic items in dungeon and wilderness is a crucial beginning for the campaign. In all such places you must NEVER allow random determination to dictate the inclusion of ANY meaningful magic items. Where beginning/low-level player characters are concerned, this stricture also applies to the placement of any item of magic. Furthermore, you need never feel constrained to place or even allow any item in your campaign just because it is listed in the tables. Certainly, you should never allow a multiplicity, or possibly even duplication, of the more powerful items. To fully clarify this, consider the development of a campaign as follows:

The Campaign (Territory Development)

In stocking the setting for initial play in the campaign, you must use great care.

Consider the circumstances of the milieu and the number of player characters who will be active in it. Then, from the lists of possible items, choose a selection which is commensurate with the setting and the characters involved.

For example, you might opt for several potions, a scroll of one spell, a wand, a pair of boots of elvenkind, several +1 magic arrows, and a +1 magic dagger. As these items will be guarded by relatively weak creatures, you will allow only weak items. The potions will be healing, heroism, levitation or the like. The spell on the scroll will be low level - first or second. If you do decide placement of the wand is appropriate, you will make certain that its guardian will use it in defense, and the instrument will have few charges left in any event, with a power which is not out of line with the level of the characters likely to acquire it.

The magical boots will be worn by a denizen of the area. While the magic arrows might not be used against adventurers, the +1 dagger will be. With all this in mind, you place the items in the countryside and first/upper level of the dungeon/dungeon-like setting. You never allow more than a single item or grouping (such as three magic arrows) to a treasure, nor more treasures with magic items than 1-in-5 to 1-in-10, as this is an initial adventuring setting.

As the campaign grows and deeper dungeons are developed, you exercise the same care in placement of selected and balanced magic items. Of course, at lower levels of the dungeon, you have more powerful single items or groupings of disparate items, but they are commensurate with the challenge and ability of participants. Guardians tend to employ the items routinely, and others are hidden ingeniously to escape detection.

Likewise, in the expanding world around the starting habitation you place monsters and treasures, some with magic. You, the DM, know what is there, however, as you have decided what it will be and have put it there for a purpose - whether for the overall direction of the campaign, some specific task, or the general betterment of player characters to enable them to expand their adventuring capabilities because they are skillful enough to face greater challenges if they manage to furnish themselves with the wherewithal to do so.

In those instances where a randomly discovered monster has a nearby lair, and somehow this lair contains treasure, do not allow the dice to dictate a disaster for your campaign. If their result calls for some item of magic which is too powerful, one which you are not certain of, or one which you do not wish to include in the game at this time, you will be completely justified in ignoring it and rolling until a result you like comes up, or you can simply pick a suitable item and inform the players that this is what they found.

It is only human nature for people to desire betterment of their position. In this game, it results in player characters seeking ever more wealth, magic, power, influence, and control. As with most things in life, the striving after is usually better than the getting. To maintain interest and excitement, there should always be some new goal, some meaningful purpose. It must also be kept in mind that what is unearned is usually unappreciated.

What is gotten cheaply is often held in contempt. It is a great responsibility to Dungeon Master a campaign. If you do so with intelligence, imagination, ingenuity, and innovation, however, you will be well rewarded. Always remember this when you select magic items for placement as treasure!

Territory Development by Player Characters

When player characters reach upper levels and decide to establish a stronghold and rule a territory, you must have fairly detailed information on hand to enable this to take place.

You must have a large scale map which shows areas where this is possible, a detailed cultural and social treatment of this area and those which bound it, and you must have some extensive information available as to who and what lives in the area to be claimed and held by the player character. Most of these things are provided for you, however, in one form or another, in this work or in the various playing aid packages which are commercially available. The exact culture and society of the area is up to you, but there are many guides to help you even here.

Assume that the player in question decides that he will set up a stronghold about 100 miles from a border town, choosing an area of wooded hills as the general site. He then asks you if there is a place where he can build a small concentric castle on a high bluff overlooking a river. Unless this is totally foreign to the area, you inform him that he can do so. You give him a map of the hex where the location is, and of the six surrounding hexes.

The player character and his henchmen and various retainers must now go to the construction site, explore and map it, and have construction commence.

If you have not already prepared a small scale map of the terrain in the area, use the random generation method when the party is exploring.

Disregard any results which do not fit in with your ideas for the place. Both you and the player concerned will be making maps of the territory - on a scale of about 200 yards per hex, so that nine across the widest part will allow the superimposition of a large hex outline of about one mile across.

Use actual time to keep track of game time spent exploring and mapping (somewhat tedious but necessary). Check but once for random monsters in each hex, but any monster encountered and not driven off or slain will be there from then on, excepting, of course, those encountered flying over or passing through. After mapping the central hex and the six which surround it, workers can be brought in to commence construction of the castle. As this will require a lengthy period of game time, the player character will have to retain a garrison on the site in order to assure the safety of the crew and the progress of the work (each day there will be a 1-in-20 chance that a monster will wander into one of the seven hexes explored by the character, unless active patrolling in the territory beyond the area is carried on).

While the construction is underway, the character should be exploring and mapping the terrain beyond the core area. Here the larger scale of about one mile per hex should be used, so that in all the character can explore and map an entire campaign hex. There are MANY one mile hexes in a 30-mile-across campaign hex, so conduct movement and random monster checks as is normal for outdoor adventuring. Again, any monsters encountered will be noted as living in a hex, as appropriate, until driven out or killed. However, once a hex is cleared, no further random monster checks will be necessary except as follows:

Once per day a check must be made to see if a monster has wandered into one of the border hexes which are adjacent to unexplored/uncleared lands.
Once per week a check must be made to see if a monster has wandered into the central part of the cleared territory.

Monsters which are indicated will generally remain until driven out or slain. Modifiers to this are:

Posting and placement of skulls, carcasses, etc. to discourage intelligent creatures and monsters of the type able to recognize that the remains are indicative of the fate of creatures in the area.
Regular strong patrols who leave evidence of their passing and aggressively destroy intruders.
Organized communities whose presence and militia will discourage all but organized groups who prey on them or certain monsters who do likewise.

Assuming that the proper activity is kept up and the castle is finished, then the player character and entourage can take up residence in the stronghold.

By patrolling the territory regularly - about once per week on a sweep basis, or daily forays to various parts of the area, the character will need only check once each week for incursions of wandering monsters (see Appendix C - Random Encounters) on the Uninhabited/Wilderness table. Checks must also be made on the Inhabited table. [c:7]

If no road goes through the territory, then but one such check per week is necessary. If a road goes through, then three checks per week must be made on the Inhabited table. (This can be profitable if the encounters are with merchants and pilgrims, less so with certain other types..)

At such time as a territory has more than 30 miles of inhabited/patrolled land from center to border, then only the second type of monster checks are made, and all unfavorable ones, save one per month, are ignored.

This reflects the development of civilization in the area and the shunning by monsters of the usual sort - things such as ankheg might love it, however, and bandits may decide to make it a regular place of call. As usual, any monsters not driven off or slain will settle down to enjoy the place. If regular border patrols are not kept up, then the territory will revert to wilderness status - unless the lands around it are all inhabited and patrolled. In the latter case all of the unsavory monsters from the surrounding territory will come to make it a haven for themselves.

Because this is a fantasy adventure game, it is not desirable to have any player character’s territory become tame and staid. There must always be a chance for some monster to enter the area and threaten the well-being of its inhabitants.

What is the answer if the territory is located in the heart of some powerful state? Intrigue and petty wars, of course! If the territory of a player character is part of a nation, then there will be jealous neighbors, assassins, and the like to threaten him or her. In this case you will have to devote more personal effort to seeing to it that there is still adventure and excitement involved in maintaining the fief.

In territories hacked from the wilderness, the “fame” of the owner will eventually spread so as to attract inhabitants to the safety (?) of the area.

They will begin to appear after the player character’s stronghold is finished and patrols have generally cleared the area. The populace will match the area and the alignment of the character. When a random monster check reveals some form of creature who properly matches the potential inhabitant type for the territory, then have them move in and settle down, making proper subservience calls upon the master of the territory, naturally.

Hamlets, thorps, and various other settlement farms will eventually be established here and there in the area, starting near the castle and working towards the fringe of the territory. Once these territories become settled and population abounds (relatively speaking) they can be used as centers for activity - good or evil or whatever. That is, they can attract more of the ilk which inhabit them, draw opponents sworn to exterminate them, trigger raids or reprisals, etc. Much of this depends upon some action being taken - hopefully by the player character forming active groups from the population base and doing something, but as a last resort action which you initiate by setting up a series of circumstances which will bear upon the territory.

Fighters and clerics will be the principal territorial developers. Magic-users will typically become involved to a lesser extent, for they have many more demands upon their time. The real benefit of having player characters develop territory is the addition to your milieu. These areas become focal points for action in the campaign if properly encouraged and handled, and if things grow a bit slow, a DM-invented threat to some territory is bound to get things moving with elan.

Going back to the construction of the stronghold, when the player elects to build he or she must be required to furnish you with a duplicate set of plans of the castle grounds, its dungeons, and interiors as well.

At the same time you can give the player a free hand in drawing a small scale map of the area immediately around his or her stronghold - say, on a 1 hex-to-30 yards basis, so about a one-half mile area hex can be depicted on a normal sheet of small hex paper, and a bit beyond shown as needed.

With your copy of this map, you can plan sieges or other attacks as they occur.

If for any reason a player who has developed territory gives up the campaign, or simply drops the character in favor of another, you can then take over these areas and run them as you like to benefit your campaign.

In all respects, then, development of territory by player characters is a highly desirable aspect of the campaign. It gives added purpose to play, and provides long periods where the player can be actively involved in the actual direction of the campaign milieu, which will eventually benefit things regardless of what transpires at a later date.

Peasants, serfs, and slaves

In feudalistic societies, no person not of gentle or noble birth would be allowed weapons of offense, other than those for hunting. Therefore, swords, lances, maces, etc. would be totally banned. In societies which heavily oppress the commoners, serfs and/or slaves will be even more restricted than common peasants. They can have no weapon of any sort whatsoever. They cannot leave their area, be it a farm, estate, village, or whatever. They are chattel.

Peasants, serfs, and slaves generally resent this treatment. Revolts of these sorts of peoples are common in history. Any character who forces peasantry, serfdom, or slavery upon any inhabitants of an area he or she controls will have to be very careful to guard against uprisings. The oppressed folk will most certainly attempt an uprising once every five years, minimum. If there is weakness noted, there will be an uprising immediately. Peasants will demand more freedom, rights, and lesser taxes; serfs will be attempting to gain peasant status; slaves will simply desire to slay their former masters and escape to somewhere where they can be free. Exact details of such uprisings are not possible here, but you should be able to determine them without undue difficulty.

The oppressed populace will give rise to about one fighter for every 5 total, as men, women, and just about anybody able to carry a club or a knife will join in. Arms and armor (if any) will be scant and crude. Troops will be 0-level, peasant class. Tactical ability will usually tend to be nil. The exception is if some mercenary group aids peasants, or if some slaves have had military experience. [14:2:6, 14:4:2]

If a rising does occur, the player character must suppress it as soon as possible. If it lasts more than one month, the revolting folk will gain experience, organization, recruits, and better weapons and armor. Therefore, for each full month of successful revolt, add 10% to the number of people in revolt, assume 10% of the total force becomes equal to regular men-at-arms in training and armor and weapons, and allow them greater tactical ability. After six months of successful revolt, the rebellion can be assumed to have taken on the status of a civil war, and the revolutionaries will be able to field something approximating a regular military force.