One Thousand and One Nights and One Night
a role-playing game campaign design ’zine
Issue #10!
I made it to issue #10. Yay! Go me.
I hope you are getting some good
gaming in this summer. Lots of
conventions are happening,
including Gen Con, Origins,
Dragon*con, and my local
Dragonflight. I went to Gen Con So-
Cal last year (the last year, it turned
out) and I hope to get to one of the
others next year.
Actual Play: The Army Man Game
I have over 10 nieces and nephews, and three of
my nephews live pretty close to me. They are 12
year old JW, 10 year old MW and
6 year old TW. A couple of years
ago, I was watching them for my
sister (so she and her husband
could get a night off) and I
brought over some very large d6. Yep, I
inducted them into wild world of gaming.
We gathered up their various army men, plastic
robots and foam blocks and cleared off the
dining room table. Dividing
into teams (usually it was the
older two against TW and I),
we pieced out the armies and
set up the battlefield on the
table with the blocks. I kept
the rules simple. After all, I
didn’t want to deal with Feats
or thAC0 or anything like that. A roll of 5 or 6
was required to hit and a roll of 5 or 6 was
needed to survive being hit. Movement
occurred before combat and was a set distance
for all like-sized soldiers, with giant robots
having a larger move.
The game started with setting up the soldiers
around the table. By convention, we agreed that
they had to be within a foot or two of the short
table edge, which left the center of the table as
no-man’s land, territory we were hoping to
gain. A quick contest of rolls to see the order of
play and we were off.
(continued on Page 2, Second Column)
Content © Wooden Leg Named Smith Productions 2007
Website: 1001nightsand1night.110mb.com
Vol.: 1, Issue: 10, August 1, 2007
Monsters! Naga, Naga! Ya, Ya, Ya!
So I’ve been a fan of the Naga ever since AD&D
Module N1: Against the
Cult of the Reptile God
(TSR) where the main
baddie is a Spirit Naga who
charms mostly everyone it
encounters. Nowadays,
though, if you have a
creature with a snake body
and a human face show up,
everyone knows what it is
PDQ so there is no surprise there. How to get
the surprise back? Read on ....
Almost three centuries ago, an evil human
priest (who was also a cattle breeder) convinced
a group of four Black Dragons to mate with four
Spirit Nagas. Actually, he was promptly eaten at
the suggestion, but the idea piqued the dragons
and the nagas interest so they gave it a try. The
result was a half-Black Dragon/Spirit Naga that
had a snake-like body, no wings and a snake-
ish/dragon-ish head. Even from close-up, it
looked like a big snake. Perfect camouflage
since most adventurers don’t expect giant
snakes to breathe acid on them or cast spells.
Thus Clan Blackscale was formed. Despite the
differences in species, the dragons (two of
which have survived to the present) and the
nagas (three still around) are working together,
and while there is some in-fighting among their
brood (none of it particularly lethal), the clan is
cautiously growing in power and influence.
Family, it seems, is everything to these hybrids.
Richard is one such hybrid. He likes his clutch-
mates (well, mostly), and
recently moved out of the
clan holdings to a small
city some distance away
to get experience and
treasure. Woe to any who
slay him, as his very large
family will surely come looking for revenge.
Richard’s D&D3.x (WotC) stats are as follows:
Size/Type Large/Dragon; Hit Dice 9d10+45
(continued on Page 2, First Column)
published in association with the Corvis Babbage Cliological Society
’zine art is either open source or through fair use of copyrighted works
One Thousand and One Nights and One Night
a role-playing game campaign design ’zine Vol.: 1, Issue: 10, August 1, 2007
Monsters! Naga (cont.)
(95 hit points); Initiative +1; Speed 40 ft. (8
squares); Armor Class 20 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +6
natural, +4 half-dragon), touch 10, flat-footed
19; Base Attack/Grapple +9/+17; Attack Bite
+12 melee (2d6+9 plus poison); Full Attack Bite
+12 melee (2d6+9 plus poison); Space/Reach
10 ft./5 ft.; Special Attacks Charming gaze (30
ft., Will DC 19 negates), poison (Fort DC 18,
initial and secondary damage 1d8 Con), spells
(as a 7th level sorcerer, spells known 6/7/7/5,
save DC 13 + spell level), breath weapon (60 ft.
line of acid, 6d8 damage, Ref DC 20 for half
damage); Special Qualities Darkvision 60 ft.,
Low-light vision, Immune to sleep and
paralysis effects, Immune to acid; Saves Fort
+8, Ref +6, Will +9; Abilities Str 26, Dex 13,
Con 20, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 19; Skills
Concentration +15, Listen +14, Spellcraft +14,
Spot +14, Bluff +14, Diplomacy +14, Gather
Information +14, Intimidate +14, Use Magic
Device +14, Sense Motive +13, Survival +13;
Feats Ability Focus (charming gaze), Alertness,
Combat Casting, Eschew Materials, Lightning
Reflexes; Environment Sewers beneath the city;
Organization Solitary; Challenge Rating 11 (+2
half-dragon); Alignment Chaotic evil.
Richard’s stats for Savage Worlds!
(Pinnacle/Great White) turn out to be:
Agl d8, Sma d10, Spi d10, Str d12+4, Vig d12;
Skills Fighting d10, Guts
d10, Intimidate d12,
Notice d10, Spellcasting
d10, Stealth d8, Taunt
d8; Pace 8; Parry 6;
Toughness 10; Edges
Bite Str+1, Constrict (as
naga), Arcane
Background (Magic), 30
Power Points, Powers
(armor, bolt, boost /
lower trait, burrow, deflection, detect/conceal
arcana, dispel, fear, invisibility, obscure,
quickness, and speak language), Hypnotic Gaze
(as naga), Quick, Size +6, Strong Willed, Acid
Breath (2d10 damage, Agl -2 to avoid), Hardy
(as dragon), Tail Lash (as dragon).
Content © Wooden Leg Named Smith Productions 2007
Website: 1001nightsand1night.110mb.com
Page 2
Potter Puppet Pals
With the just-recent release of Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows
(Scholastic), my 12 year
old nephew JW told me
about these very funny
flash animation and
YouTube movies that
were made by the guy
who did the Ultimate
Showdown of Ultimate
Destiny video. You can
find them at www.potterpuppetpals.com. They
are very well done and a must see for any HP
fan.
Actual Play: Army Man (cont.)
The first four or so moves were usually to cover
ground into the center of the table, but
strangely my nephews moved left or right or in
circles rather than forward and so my side
usually penetrated deep into enemy territory.
When I asked why they moved that way, they
came up with some very bizarre but humorous
reasons.
At first, they treated each soldier as a single
individual rather than as a group-unit. But they
caught on when I started moving my guys
together in order to concentrate firepower, and
after a few games they started doing the same.
Fights were short, with small groups of soldiers
volleying back and forth until one side was
wiped out. I charged in at all opportunities,
taking horrendous losses, yet I sometimes had
to chase them around the table because they
were concerned about “winning” with numbers
and didn't want to lose any of their men.
As we became more “skilled” with the game, we
modified rules and added others. They even
thought through some simple pincer-type
tactics. Best of all, my nephews really liked
rolling those big dice and the game usually
lasted a couple of hours (or long enough to
waste time before I sent them to bed). Everyone
had a good time and it was pretty fun to see
them learning gaming skills from me.
published in association with the Corvis Babbage Cliological Society
’zine art is either open source or through fair use of copyrighted works