I recently finished watching series 2 of the 1980s TV series Robin of
Sherwood. I was overjoyed when I found that all the episodes were available on
ITV Encore, and pretty dejected when, after finishing series 2 which I had
downloaded, I found that none of the series were currently available. So no
Jason Connery.
Watching the first two series did remind me of just how much of my imagination
of the ‘fantastical’ has been shaped by Robin of Sherwood. In fact, I’d say
that the lingering mid-1980s influences on my imagination are Robin of
Sherwood, Fighting Fantasy, and 2000AD. I won’t be able to shake these, ever.
So, Fighting Fantasy and Robin of Sherwood? Why not? I know
that Dragon Warriors is often described as evoking that Robin of Sherwood feel, and dates to the right period of UK gaming. Indeed Legend is a fantastic pseudo-historical medieval game world. But
Dragon Warriors is a class-based system, and worse (for our purposes here) its
classes are not generic ‘roles’ but are fairly specifically fixed in the fiction,
if that makes any sense. In Basic D&D, for example, Fighter can be anything
from a knight, to an outlaw, to a barbarian, to a samurai, etc. Fighter, to
some degree, represents an area of expertise, not a particular profession or
social role. Knight and Barbarian, the Dragon Warriors ‘fighting’ classes,
however, are much more specific, the theme built into them from the start. Yes,
I know that the Player’s Guide includes new classes, specifically Hunter,
Knave, and Priest, which would fill out Robin’s Merry Men very well, but I am
still unsure as to how I feel about the additions in that book – I worry that
it will be for me what Unearthed Arcana is for AD&D grognards.
Anyhow, how would be build Robin’s Merry Men in AFF2e? Let’s
start with a simple one. No, not Much! Little John (as played by Clive Mantle).
When ‘modelling’ a character in AFF2e it is best to work
backwards. Forget SKILL, STAMINA, and LUCK for a moment, and start by
considering what this characters Talent(s) will be. What will make them unique:
a Hero rather than an NPC who needs only SKILL and STAMINA as their mechanical
presence.
Of course, Little John would have ‘Strongarm’.
With regard to Special Skills, I’m going to (more or less)
build these characters as if they are starting Heroes. Beginning Heroes in
AFF2e are powerful characters, certainly on a par with an PC from an Expert Set
D&D campaign. So Little John’s Special Skills would look like this:
Combat
Bows 1, Brawling 2, Staves 2, Strength 2, Swords 1
Movement
Climb 1
Stealth
Awareness 2
Knowledge
English 4, Forest Lore 1, Hunting 1, Religion 1, Secret
Signs 1, World Lore 1
It occurred to me as I assigned the points to these starting
Special Skills that, were I do develop my pseudo-historical AFF game properly I
would need ‘packages’ of skills representing social class, culture, or
profession. Or maybe two of these, layered on top. What a peasant knows (and
knows how to do) is very different from what a noble knows. While this can be
done by players taking care over their Special Skill choices, this involves
spending more time on character creation, involves asking players to understand
the system a little, and the setting. Better, I feel, to present them with
packages, as Daniel Sell has done in Troika!
The same is true for the ‘racial’ stat ‘bonuses’ – in AFF2e
these each race is given, effectively, an extra point in their basic stats
according to whether a Hero is Human, Dwarf, or Elf. In an all-human game, adding
an extra point to every Hero’s LUCK seems pretty pointless. Where that extra ‘point’
is assigned ought be either a decision for the player, or enforced by a
thematic ‘package’. This extra point could even be an extra Talent in some
cases – after all, the ‘demi-humans’ get a free ‘Dark Seeing’ Talent.
So, I’ve given Little John the Dwarf’s +2 to STAMINA, giving
him a character sheet which looks as so:
Hero: Little John (Player: Clive Mantle)
SKILL 7
STAMINA 18
LUCK 9
MAGIC 0
Talent: Strongarm
Special Skills
Combat
Bows 1, Brawling 2, Staves 2, Strength 2, Swords 1
Movement
Climb 1
Stealth
Awareness 2
Knowledge
English 4, Forest Lore 1, Hunting 1, Religion 1, Secret
Signs 1, World Lore 1
Treasure: 2d6 silver pennies
Provisions: 2
Equipment
1 Quarterstaff
2 Sword
3 Dagger
4 Long Bow
5 Quiver w. 20 Arrows
6 Furs+Leathers (treat as ‘Leather Cuirass’)
7
8
9
10
You will see that I have simply assigned him appropriate
equipment, and if we did play we would be using the ‘silver standard’. While we’re
on the subject of equipment, I am thinking of adopting the neat little
encumbrance and item retrieval system from Troika! But more on that another
time.
