Labyrinth Lord Monster Stocker update

The recent release of Oubliette #8 included Monster Mark tables for levels seven and eight. The inclusion allowed for the expansion of the Labyrinth Lord™ Monster Stocker to include the new tables. The upgraded generator is now live. Monster Stocker generates 100 random monster entries for the specified level . Results include NPC Party generation. Additionally, treasure can be toggled on or off depending on the needs of the user.

Issue #8 is free for a limited time. The contents include some great material including setting materials and two mini-adventures placed within the setting. The adventures can easily be dropped into other campaigns.

(Labyrinth Lord) Tweaks on NPCs in the Monster Stocker

NPC generation is tricky business.

Magic

Some campaigns are bereft of magic while others have it in abundance. As a starting place, I added the possibility of magic armor, shields, and weapons to be added to the NPC routines in the Monster Stocker. Rather than leaving the poor gals (and occasional guy) without some magical gear, I settled on functional chance based on level:

The chance of a magical weapon or set of armor is equal to 5% plus the level of the NPC * 5. For example, a 4th level NPC has a 25% chance of having magical gear. The percentage covers her primary weapon, armor and shield. Secondary weapons suffer a -20% penalty to being magical with a minimum set at 5%.

After looking at a few thousand results, the level of magic appears lower than what I expected. My campaigns trend toward magic being uncommon — not rare. I may be over analysing the results.

Personality Traits

In addition to the magical gear, I also added a personality trait line based partially from the Masks supplement and other sources. Keyword traits can never define the complexity of an individual. Treat them as nothing more than a starting place and adjust as you see fit. Occasionally you will see terms that appear to conflict. You can either to choose to deconflict them or imagine a deeper personality based off those rough traits.

Future Stuff

I still need to work in some level of treasure for the NPCs. Not lair level hoards. Something approaching a general level of magical gear and treasure people of level X may be carrying. I intend to lean toward sparse magic. Adding to scarcity is far easier than scratching off abundant items. Especially for filler results.

The PDF output is nearly done. Test site has it but the layout is still giving me some fits.

(Labyrinth Lord) Minor Utility Updates

I updated the Resource List with several new resources. After doing so, I realized I should keep track of the updates to pimp the new resources. I’ll do better the next time around.

I added a couple of levels to the Labyrinth Lord Monster Stocker. The new levels are NOT based on the cool Oubliette tables noted previously based on the Monster Mark system. Instead, I used gut feeling and the stock LL wandering monster tables as a starting point. NPC’s now have weapon selection but still lack treasure entirely. Finding a balanced approach to NPC treasure has proved more difficult than I thought it would be.