I have wanted to go back and do some solo gaming in AD&D1e. I have wanted to use the terrain/hex generation rules found on page 173 of the Dungeon Master's Guide and construct a campaign map based on what could be rolled there.
After about 2 hours of solo gaming, I generated the map above. Each hex is 6 miles. I started in Halranburg with a Paladin named Jorund the Just.
Strength 15
Intelligence 11
Wisdom 13
Dexterity 11
Constitution 14
Charisma 18
HP: 9
He is armed with a morningstar, longsword, and shortbow. He wears splinted armor.
So Jorund started in Halranburg. I had him seek out some mercenaries for him to lead and found 3 shortbow men. Per the rules on page 30 of the 1e DMG, some shortbow henchmen can have the rate of a longbow man and thus fight in melee. The rules state that regular shortbowmen will generally not fight in melee unless they must and I wanted to make sure Jorund had a chance so I paid the extra wages.
Jorund's high charisma meant they joined me enthusiastically.
We traveled around the hexes around the town and discovered a little hamlet named Arnraff. I had his group keep going. Eventually Jorund and his men came across a will-o-wisp in the north eastern hex adjacent to Halranburg. The encounter distance was 19 yards. Using the percentile rules for escaping on page 69 (nice) of the DMG, the Jorund and his men were able to flee. Will-o-wisps are no joke and there is no way he and his men could take one on.
That third night they camped in the marsh and a band of 150 orcs marched by with 9 guards, assistance, 6 wagons, and 40 slaves. Using the evasion rules again, Jorund and his men were able to avoid the warband.
I was curious about where the orcs were going so I asked the Oracle found in Scarlet Heroes if the orcs were marching towards Halranburg. The answer was "yes".
4 men could not do much so instead I took a step back to see what would happen if the orcs attacked the town in the night. The town was not surprised. No doubt the orcs were probably quite loud and the nigh watch could see their fires and hear them from a distance. I didn't want to play out a massive battle because it's getting late, even as I type this, so I used the War Machine rules for mass combat found in the Rules Cyclopedia. I determined that the town had about 300 full-time soldiers based on the population of Halranburg. My thinking is that 15% of the population could be supported as full-time warriors. I determined the battle ratings for both sides. The town won and lost 60 men but was not fatigued. Meanwhile, the orcs were routed and took 112 casualties.
Jorund will head back to town and I'm sure there will be a quest there to put this orc scum to rest. Permanently. Being a lawful good paladin, Jorund will probably be all about it too. I may attempt to see if I can get more henchmen as even though the orcs had a devastating loss in attacking the town, I'm sure however many were in their lair is too many for Jorund's current company.
More to come I hope!