Knight Errant Generator

This is from the upcoming Yellow Book of Brechewold. I'm thinking about putting out a zine of just the enchanted forest section while I finish the full book. The heraldry is a stripped-down version of this post to make it manageable with dice.

One of my illustrations for the book

Roll one die of each type d4-d12 and three d20s to generate a knight. The knight’s HP is equal to all the even numbers you roll added together, and the attack bonus is the first even number you roll. Assume AC is equivalent to plate + shield. Have one or two knights pre-generated as random encounter rolls.

Heraldry

d4 Metal

1. Argent (silver) field, coloured charge (symbol)
2. Coloured field, argent charge
3. Or (gold) field, coloured charge
4. Coloured field, or charge

d6 Colour

1. Azure (blue)
2. Ermine (white with black spots)
3. Gules (red)
4. Purpure (purple)
5. Sable (black)
6. Vert (green)

d8 Charge (symbol) *see following tables*

1. Ordinary
2. Two ordinaries
3. Beast
4. Two beasts
5. Bird
6. Sea creature
7. Plant
8. Object

d10 Ordinaries

1. Chief
2. Bend
3. Fess
4. Pale
5. Chevron
6. Saltire
7. Cross
8. Cross botonny
9. Cross crosslet
10. Cross flory

d10 Beasts

1. Lion
2. Wolf
3. Bear
4. Boar
5. Horse
6. Bull
7. Hart
8. Hound
9. Hind
10. Fox

d10 Birds

1. Eagle
2. Martlet
3. Peacock
4. Pelican
5. Swan
6. Cock
7. Crane
8. Dove
9. Duck
10. Goose

d10 Sea Creatures

1. Pike
2. Perch
3. Salmon
4. Squid
5. Octopus
6. Dolphin
7. Cod
8. Eel
9. Whale
10. Seashell

d10 Plants

1. Fleur-de-lis
2. Rose
3. Trefoil
4. Thistle
5. Grapevine
6. Oak
7. Pine
8. Pine-cone
9. Aspen
10. Willow

d10 Objects

1. Sun
2. Crescent
3. Moon
4. Star
5. Key
6. Constellation
7. Ship
8. Tower
9. Crown
10. Clarion

Characteristics

d12 Fighting Style

1. Uses shield to steamroll opponents
2. Only fights from horseback
3. Stoic and defensive with greatsword
4. Graceful duelist with sword and dagger
5. Uses long flail to toy with opponents
6. Berserker with two handaxes
7. Jumpy with crossbow
8. Bruiser with huge warhammer or battleaxe
9. Hidden weapons all over body
10. Claims sword has a mind of its own
11. Only fights in by-the-book jousts or duels
12. Invents ever more elaborate reasons not to fight

d20 Personality

1. Dour, joyless
2. Pompous, thinks everyone is a fan
3. Droll, always amused
4. Monomaniacal about quest
5. Jaded, disillusioned
6. Adheres to chivalry to the letter
7. Generous and rare champion of the oppressed
8. Insufferable warrior-poet
9. Quick to take offense
10. Boisterous bully
11. Ambitious schemer
12. Tight-lipped and suspicious, always considering worst-case scenarios
13. Sarcastic to hide insecurity
14. Mirthful, spontaneously bursts into song
15. Constantly complains, especially of ill-fitting armour or undergarments
16. Believes quest is beneath him
17. Easily bribed or otherwise distracted by mead
18. Is aghast at people less educated and well off than he
19. Plays trombone (which he invented) to ease the stress of battle
20. Hears whispers that others do not

d20 Quest

1. Save maiden from controlling father
2. Test self discipline and resistance to temptation
3. Seek holy relic
4. Slay a giant or other eater of Christians
5. Track a beast entangled with family history
6. Save lost, enchanted love
7. Win the heart of a cold fairy princess
8. Deliver dying wishes of king or queen to relative
9. Search for lost heir to a throne
10. Rescue noble baby stolen by fairies
11. Protect last child of a murdered royal family
12. Duel old rival
13. Capture and return villain to face trial
14. Seek advice from old hermit
15. Hide the child of a lady’s affair from her wrathful husband
16. Recover the Mourning Veil for a noble who wishes to deal with the Fairies
17. Forge a sword of iron troll hearts in Brechewold’s forge Belcher
18. Find a vizier at Brechewold to bring back to court
19. Gain entry to the Smoking Mountain
20. Find cure for a dying maiden

d20 Name: Sir...

1. Lionell
2. Bors
3. Kay
4. Tristram
5. Gareth
6. Bedivere
7. Bleoberis (woman in disguise, true name Elaine)
8. Lucan
9. Palomedes
10. Lamorak
11. Pelleas
12. Ector
13. Dagonet
14. Degore (woman in disguise, true name Laudine)
15. Brunor
16. Alymere
17. Uwaine
18. Aglovale (woman in disguise, true name Viviane)
19. Fergus
20. Morganore

Welcome to Brechewold

Saints preserve us, I'm writing a book. The map I posted the other day is from that. I don't quite know how to feel about joining in on OSR oversaturation and commercialization except to say that I don't feel this is a play for "relevance" or "hype," and certainly not for "money." I just think it's a good idea that I can do well.

It is called The Yellow Book of Brechewold unless I can think of something better. It will detail a small campaign setting: a school for magicians (the titular Brechewold) and its environs in post-Arthurian western Britain. It will include:

1. A completely keyed big (what's the cutoff for "mega?") dungeon: the school and abandoned, haunted levels beneath including tombs, a zoo, a body farm, a giant orrery, portals to other planets and fairy pocket-dimensions, a goblin diploma mill, seniors growing drugs, and more!
2. Detailed faculty with personalities and goals, and a more sparsely detailed student body
3. A small keyed enchanted forest surrounding the school including knights, giants, witches, elfs and other fairies, a unicorn, a relic from the Last Supper, religious hermits, anarcho-atheist bandits, &c
4. A chapter on the conflicts between factions and individuals to facilitate sandbox play
5. A chapter summarizing the treasures found elsewhere in the book, for ease of reference
6. Full color player-facing maps and illustrations, black and white DM-facing maps and illustrations
   
7. As many of the best practices of OSR design as I've been able to absorb

Here's a portrait of the headmaster and the introduction. It will be ready when it's ready.

1. Introduction

You may have heard, old chap, that wizards are wise. This is untrue. Don’t let their robes, beards, or pig Latin fool you. Wizards are lazy, greedy, vain clowns who would rather spend a lifetime in a library looking for shortcuts around reality than do a single honest day’s work. The only thing worse than a wizard is two wizards, and the only thing worse than that is a damned college of them. Welcome to Brechewold.

The first wizard who got it into his head to teach magic on this rock in the woods was that hoary necromancer Merlyn. Yes, the Merlyn who made a right mess of England because he thought he knew best of all how to pick its ruler. I’m not saying I would have done better in Art’s place, mind you, but I am saying that I’ve never slept with my sister.

Merlyn, knowing as he did that his time among the men of Albion was nearing an end, hung a sign on the old Celtic fort at Brechewold Promontory that anyone who wished to learn a few tricks and incantations in defense of the realm was welcome. A nest of knaves coagulated, and the old boy left this world to let the living sort out his mess.

A brief scuffle for succession followed, and Gertrude Malory of Newbold Revel became the school’s first headmistress. As the years stretched into centuries, the school grew like a layer cake into the current Brechewold Castle. Wings now exist which have lain unoccupied for decades. The castle squats like a great cephalopod above Lake Hart, its lower tentacles fallen into disuse.