Two Hour Wargames are light weight role playing games. Like all role playing games they require generating a character. Being light means the characteristics are few and high level.
To make a character for my Legends of Al-Andalus you must determine:
- Origin
- Star and Grunts
- Reputation
- Special Characteristics
- Armour and Shields
- Weapons
- Attributes
Refer to: Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay (p. 4-6) and Legends of Araby (p. 2-5)
Origin
Either pick an origin or roll on this table.
| 2d6 | Origin |
|---|---|
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 8 | |
| 9 | |
| 10 | |
| 11 | |
| 12 |
Star and Grunts
Player characters are “Stars” and start with these advantages (Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay, p. 4):
- Larger than Life
- Cheating Death
- Star Power
- Free Will
- Home
Non-player characters might be “Stars” but are more likely to be “Grunts”.
Home / Hideout
The other advantages are covered in Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay but Home is new and corresponds to Hideout in Legends of Araby.
Your character’s Home is a safe place where he can store his belongings and rest. it is also a good place to recruit new members for your group.
During the first month at Home a character does not have to roll for an encounter.
Example: Zayed Al Nahyan the warrior decides to go Home. He heads back to the Sierra Village of his birth. He can relax there and leave his belongings in safety.
A player rolls 1d6 starting with the second consecutive month his character remains in his Home. If the score is equal to or less than the number of months he has been Home, he has been discovered by enemies and will be subject to a Raid: Defender encounter.
Reputation (Rep)
Normally in Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay player characters start with a reputation of 5 from a scale of 1-7+. But in this campaign they start at Rep 3. Rep 3 isn’t great; “These are guys of unknown quality who have seen little or no action. Feudal levies would be Reputation 3 troops”.
In converting the reputation values from Legends of Araby I used this table:
| Rep (Legends of Araby) | Rep (Legends of Al-Andalus) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2-3 | 2 |
| 4-5 | 3 |
| 6-7 | 4 |
| 8-9 | 5 |
| 10 | 6 |
Special Characteristics
The “special characteristics” are really a character class. This affects how the character reacts in combat. Typically the character’s origin will determine their special characteristics:
- Civilian (C)
- Knight (K)
- Missile Armed (M)
- Warrior (W)
- Soldier (S)
Armour and Shields
Players choose your armour (Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay, p. 5):
| Armour Type | Code | Description | Legends of Araby Equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | N | None means none | NA 3 Little or no armour |
| Protected | P | light armour such as leather or small amounts of chain | MA 5 Metal armour |
| Armoured | A | heavily armoured with metal or similar | SA 7 Special Creatures |
Legends of Araby (p. 3-4) also offers:
- Enhanced reflexes
- Thick and hardened skin
You can also have a shield although this will restrict you to a one handed weapon (Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay, p. 5):
- Small (Sh)
- Large (LSh)
Weapons
Missile weapons include (Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay, p. 14):
- Throwing axe
- Crossbow
- Dart
- Javelin
- Longbow
- Short Bow
- Sling
Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay also has rules for Arquebus and Pistol but they’re not applicable to the setting I’m interested in.
Melee weapons include (Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay, p. 18):
- Lance – long spear used mounted
- Spear – long thrusting weapon used in overarm in one hand. Can be used on foot in two ranks.
- One handed sword, mace or other one handed cutting, stabbing, or bashing weapon.
- Polearm – two handed hack, slash or stab weapon. Can be used on foot in two ranks.
- Two-hand axe, sword, or club
- Improvised weapon – farming implement, dagger, chair leg, etc. -1d6 in melee.
Attributes
Attributes are optional (Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay, p. 6). A star can pick two attributes from the list.
| 2d6 | Attribute |
|---|---|
| 2 | Born Leader |
| 3 | Faint hearted |
| 4 | Agile |
| 5 | Slow |
| 6 | Brawler |
| 7 | Slow to React |
| 8 | Athlete |
| 9 | Runt |
| 10 | Marksman |
| 11 | Clumsy |
| 12 | Nerves of Steel |
Legends of Araby (p. 3-4) also offers these special attributes (?? TODO ?? figure out what they do in Chain Reaction 3.0 Swordplay)):
- Mounted (p. 3)
- Frenzy (p. 3-4)
- Flight ability (p. 4)
- Terror (p. 4)
- Magic Users (p. 4)
Mounted
Those characters that are riding beasts, including horses, camels, elephants, chariots, and similar mounts. This category also includes some wild animals that fight without riders. Obviously, these latter cannot dismount. Whether a character is mounted may affect movement, missile fire, and melee combat abilities. Mounted characters may dismount, taking a full turn of activation, after which they function as foot troops.
Frenzy
The character always passes a minimum of 2d6 on the Test of Wills and Charge Test.
Terror
Terror troops, by their nature or reputation, inspire unreasoning fear in their opponents. Demons, great beasts, and wild animals are but a few types of troops that may inspire Terror. Characters facing Terror count negatively in the Test of Wills and Charge Tests regardless of Rep.
Magic User
The character may cast spells using the magic rules. I’m not sure I’ll include magic but if you’re interested both Legends of Araby and Warrior Heroes have magic systems.
Army
| Recruit | Type | Rep | Armour | Weapon | Other | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Noble (W) | 6 | A/Sh | Lance, Sword | Horse | 26 |
| 3 | Light Cavalry (Jinete) (M) | 4 | N/Sh | Javelin, Sword | Horse | 17 |
| 4 | Heavy Cavalry (W) | 4 | A/Sh | Lance, Sword | Horse | 20 |
| 5 | Negro Infantry (M or W) | 4 | N/LSh | Javelin | 14 | |
| 6 | Militia (S) | 3 | N/LSh | Javelin, Spear | 16 | |
| 7 | Horse Archer (M) | 4 | N | Short Bow | Horse | 14 |
| 8 | ||||||
| 9 | ||||||
| 10 | ||||||
| 11 | ||||||
| 12 |