Game Viet Nam

I use d6 group initiative.  One player rolls a d6 and I roll a d6.  If they meet or beat the bad guy's roll then the party members all act first.  The actual numbers rolled don't matter.  "Bad guys 3, Players 6"  has the exact same mechanical effect as "Bad guys 2, Players 3".  What if that wasn't the case?  What if the number rolled indicated how much you could get done before the end of the round?  Below is a stab at the idea.  I don't usually like new mechanics that require you to consult a new chart all the time, so I'm not sure I'd use it as a hard and fast rule.  But I think I will start considering the number on the inish die as a means of gauging how much the PCs can achieve in a round.


Players' Roll
1
Cast 1st level spells safely
Wielders of two-handed weapons may not attack this round.
Only weapons in hand may be used to attack.
Scrolls/potions/wands/oil may only be used if in hand and ready for use.
Missile fire into melees targets randomly. 

2
Cast 1st and 2nd level spells safely
Wielders of two-handed weapons may only make unarmed attacks, weapon out of position.
Scrolls/potions/wands/oil may only be used if in hand and ready for use.
Swords and daggers may be drawn and used immediately. 

3
Cast 1st-3rd level spells safely
Scrolls/potions/wands/oil may only be used if in hand and ready for use.
Swords and daggers may be drawn and used immediately. 

4
Cast 1st-4th level spells safely
Swords and daggers may be drawn and used immediately.
Fighter types who drop their foe may make an extra attack. 

5
Cast 1st-5th level spells safely
Any melee weapon may be drawn and used immediately.
Anyone who drops their foe may make an extra attack.
Missile fire may fire at small targets (a sword hand, the wizard's magic eyeball, etc)
Hand held weapons may be thrown and a new weapon drawn for use next round. 

6
Cast any spell safely
Missile fire may fire at small targets (a sword hand, the wizard's magic eyeball, etc)
Crossbow users may fire and immediately reload (but not fire at small targets)
Any melee weapon may be drawn and used immediately.
Hand held weapons may be thrown and a new weapon drawn for use next round.
Anyone holding a dagger may make two melee attacks.
Anyone with a shield may make an extra shield bash attack.
Anyone who drops their foe may make an extra attack.

Monsters' Roll (humanlike foes use the above chart) 
1
Claw/Claw/Bite Types: one claw only
Tentacled Horrors: one tentacle attack only
Monsters that Swallow Hole: bite but no swallow possible
Breath Weapon: no breath weapon allowed
Gaze Attack: no gaze allowed
General: Only front line party members can be meleed

2
Claw/Claw/Bite Types: both claws
Tentacled Horrors: d6 tentacle attacks
Monsters that Swallow Hole: as normal
Breath Weapon: small puff targets 1 foe for half damage, does not count as a usage per day
Gaze Attack: gaze attack 1 target
General: Only front line party members can be meleed 

3
Claw/Claw/Bite Types: both claws
Tentacled Horrors: d6 tentacle attacks
Monsters that Swallow Hole: as normal
Breath Weapon: full breath weapon
Gaze Attack: gaze attack 1 target
General: Only front line party members can be meleed 

4
Claw/Claw/Bite Types: full attacks
Tentacled Horrors: d6 tentacle attacks
Monsters that Swallow Hole: as normal
Breath Weapon: full breath weapon
Gaze Attack: gaze attacks d6 party members
General: Party members behind front line can be targeted in melee, but front line makes rear attacks 

5
Claw/Claw/Bite Types: full attacks
Tentacled Horrors: d6 tentacle attacks
Monsters that Swallow Hole: as normal
Breath Weapon: full breath weapon
Gaze Attack: gaze attacks d6 party members
General: Party members behind front line can be targeted in melee, but front line makes rear attacks

6
Claw/Claw/Bite Types: full attacks plus some bonus (grab, tailslap, headbutt, etc)
Tentacled Horrors: all tentacles attack
Monsters that Swallow Hole: bit/swallow up to d4 adjacent targets
Breath Weapon: full breath weapon
Gaze Attack: gaze attacks all possible targets
General: Party members behind front line can be targeted in melee

Blixa the Adventurer offers a 5,000gp reward for the heads of Lenny and Squiggy, wandering vampires of the Dungeons of Dundagel.  These brutes are accused of murdering Blixa's war-poodle Gleichman, beloved NPC visitor to no less than four campaign worlds.  The above likeness comes from the hand of Hugo the Bastard, one of the eye witnesses to this foul act of canicide.

Don Herbert, a.k.a. Mr. Wizard, was the first guy to host a kid's TV show all about science.  He was basically the Bill Nye the Science Guy of the black and white era.  He also had a revival on Nickelodeon that some of you might remember.

I think I recall reading a few years back that a toy company wanted to release a retro Mr. Wizard Chemistry Set based upon the ones sold back in the 60's, but it turned out that most of the contents of the original were no longer legal to sell to the general public.

Dragon #109 (May 1986) contains one of my top 10 all-time favorite articles from that venerable magazine.  "Customized Classes" by Paul Montgomery Crabaugh.  I've sung the praises of Crabaugh before.  Dude wrote only a handful of published articles but each were brief and focused, with a strong grasp of the mechanics he was deploying.

Which is one of the reasons why "Customized Classes" is so interesting.  In just five pages Crabaugh gave us a system for making our own BX classes, demonstrated how it worked by redoing all seven canonical classes, and supplied us with five new classes to show how his system is meant to be used.  Kick ass.

But one thing has bothered me about this article for 25 years now: Crabaugh's numbers for the seven BX classes don't add up to the totals in the rulebook.  Dig these numbers for achieving 2nd level.

Fighter: rulebook 2,000xp; Crabaugh 1,760xp
Magic-User: rulebook 2,500xp; Crabaugh 1,840xp
Cleric: rulebook 1,500xp; Crabaugh 2,160xp
Thief: rulebook 1,200xp; Crabaugh 1,460xp
Dwarf: rulebook 2,200xp; Crabaugh 1,840xp
Halfling: rulebook 2,200xp; Crabaugh 1,560xp
Elf: rulebook 4,000xp; Crabaugh 2,780xp

For a long time I thought that the dude just did his level best to hit the numbers in the rulebook but only came close.  Two things have turned me around on this reading in the past four or five years.  First of all, every other Crabaugh article I've encountered (not that there are many) indicates that the dude was on the ball with the rules, suggesting to me that he didn't just eyeball his numbers and hope for the best.  Secondly, Crabaugh's version of the cleric gets a spell at first level.  You don't write a BX article and give 1st level clerics a spell unless you are critiquing the rules as written.  (I guess you could do that if you're a cheap hack and not really paying attention to the edition you're writing for, but those kind of guys generally wrote AD&D articles during this period.)

So what do Crabaugh's numbers tell us about his opinions of the various classes, at least with regards to their first level version?  Here's what I think he's saying:

• The vast 500 point difference between fighters and MUs is not justified.
• Thieves advance too fast, but they are still wimpy enough that they should advance faster than the other human classes.
• Halflings are not nearly as useful as dwarves or fighters.  I love halflings but I think I agree.
• Elves are clearly the most potent class in the game, but they aren't worth nearly as many XP as the BX rules suggest.
• IF you give the cleric a spell at first level it is the most potent human class and not that much less powerful than an elf.

 What does everyone think about Crabaugh's numbers?  I think a lot of players will agree that the MU has a big hill to climb.  Should the elf XP requirements be reconsidered as well?