Hacking 2e: Surprise

I touched on Surprise in a prior post, but it’s time to solidify it. Surprise is codified in every edition of the game, so it’s a must-have. However, it’s worth a look at how those other games (and later works) handled surprise, and how 2e stands apart from them.

Hacking 2e: Hirelings, Followers, and Henchmen – Part 2

Last week, I reworked these NPCs into a single category: Followers, with a subcategory of ‘Sworn Followers’. This week, I’ll work on experience and leveling rules, administration mechanics, and a final ruleset.

Hacking 2e: Hirelings, Followers, and Henchmen – Part 1

My players really like henchmen. I think all players do, even if it’s not coded into the game. The trope of the adopted goblin in the party exists because players love to make an NPC their own. The henchman is that concept on steroids. You’re telling the players “not only will this NPC tag along, they’re specifically your NPC, if you can keep them.” Once my group figured this out, they started trying to recruit everyone they met.

Before we really get into this, I want to share a very cool resource with you:

Meatshields! The Classic Fantasy Hireling & Henchman Generator

You gotta love a good generator. This one, obviously, makes people of the hench persuasion.

Anyway.

In 2e, these tag-along NPCs are broken into three groups: Hirelings, Followers, and Henchmen. Let’s look at each.

Tools for Planescape and Sigil

AD&D 2nd Edition heralded the Age of the Campaign Setting, and with it came an endless parade of unique ideas and overfilled splatbooks. That collection is a goldmine, a rich vein of pure imagination that can and should be pulled from the ground.

For me, the best of the lot is Planescape. It’s a wild setting with incredible locations, bizarre characters, and fantastic ideas. However, the act of getting these things to the table is a daunting task. There’s so much to remember, so many pockets of brilliant worldbuilding spread across so many sources, that it can become paralyzing. And that’s just for Sigil!

To mitigate that, I use tools. Here are some of the resources I have found invaluable for running the setting, along with one which I created myself.