B/X Barbarian Prince

Using classic D&D to turn a great boardgame into a full-fledged solo RPG experience

Hey again!

Yesterday, I sent out info on the forthcoming Studded Leather ‘zine (follow that project HERE)

Today, I wanted to give you some ideas for your own table, whether for solo or zero/low prep play with a group!

Barbarian Prince is a game that conjures up a lot of memories for some people - they usually have a mixed sense of nostalgia, wonderment…and frustration, as they recall the game’s notoriously difficult rules and play.

The first maybe dozen times I played the game, I either never made it south of the river or I got lost in the next few hexes, spiraling downward as I ran out of rations (or never had them to begin with), fell prey to wolves, bandits, or those damn mercenaries!

For those who are unfamiliar, Barbarian Prince is a solo boardgame with heavy RPG elements that uses a hexmap and 2 booklets (a rules booklet and an events booklet) to provide a pretty astonishing amount of variety and scope to what was essentially a small box mini-game from the early ‘80’s.

I’ve had a great time with it, and more recently, downloaded the 42nd anniversary edition rules HERE, which add even more layers of complexity and activity to the game.

I ran several sessions using those rules, skinning my hunted game and selling hides, exploring different areas, looking for rare encounters and events…and somewhere along the way, realized I didn’t care about the 500gp you’re supposed to be after to retake your Northland Kingdom from the usurpers.

I just wanted to keep exploring.

Combine this with the only part of the game I really didn’t like (and I mean…I really, really don’t like it), which is the cumbersome and extremely swingy and fiddly combat system that involves you needing to remember way too many plusses and minuses in order to figure out that you’ve somehow missed yet again with a high roll…

And it hit me, like a bolt of vintage, well-weathered, red and blue lightning…

What if I used the exploration and events and travel system from Barbarian Prince (much like I’ve done with Outdoor Survival for ODND), but used B/X for my character and combat and the rest of the stuff not covered in the Barbarian Prince rules - and treated this like a wonderful pre-stocked hex-crawl that a storyline will emerge from through play?

Here’s how it went down:

My binder now held  -

My print-out of Moldvay Basic and Cook Expert (my expert is original, but I lost the Basic rules along the way…)

The 42nd anniversary Barbarian Prince rules and events booklet

A gorgeous re-imagining of the hexmap by Android Arts, which I downloaded HERE

A few sheets printed out of the both excellent “d30 Sandbox Companion” by New Big Dragon Games Unlimited (there’s a mouthful) and “Sandbox Generator” by Atelier. (Both can easily be found on DriveThru RPG)

A few pages from the old-school Wilderness Hexplore.

That’s it. More than enough!

To get started, I used the adventure generator in d30 Sandbox to put together some seed concepts for what the situation was that would kick off the adventure, and then used the NPC charts from the same book to get a feel for who my character was.

Turns out, he is the bastard son of a master of hounds, who has fled his familial responsibilities and become a man of ill-repute and low morality, with a domineering personality, multiple wives, and several bad habits.

I liked him immediately, and named him Von.

Another few rolls of d20’s determined what hex I’d begin in, and using my usual standard dead-simple d6 oracle determined a beginning story much like the 1990’s revenge film “Payback.”

Von had been stabbed and left for dead in a coffin near the Temple of Zhor (hex 1805) by one of his wives and a treacherous former companion.

This led to Von being brought back from the threshold of death by the priests of Zhor, who, using the excellent cult sheets in d30 Sandbox again, I determined was a wholesome and friendly group dedicated to night and the destruction of humanity who worship a black dragon entity. Very black metal!

They demanded he recover what his former companions had stolen, something important to them, which led to a rousing chase through the mountains to the Ruins of Pelgar (hex 2009).

Here, I paused to use the wonderful Wilderness Hexplore pages, where I rolled up both the ruins themselves and the kind of religion and god that it was once dedicated to.

Eventually, Von pursued his prey into the “South Pass” (hex 1912), a road that winds through canyons and tunnels and emerges in hex 1813. I had decided to ambush my prey there, as I had gotten ahead of them, but the dice had something different in mind.

I rolled an Event here, and following the tables, it was determined there was a slaver from the city of Tulith who had been on a circuit, taking peoples from the Kabir region slaves to sell back in Tulith, (1415) and at Huldra Castle (1212). 

He had with him a few beautiful women, and at least one who looked like a fighting man.

There were two guards with him, but Von fancies himself quite the swordsman, and attacked, not liking slavers himself - he has some scruples, after all.

He easily dispatched the first, but the second man at arms morale held, and he proved a seasoned fighter.

He rolled a 20. Von sacrificed his shield to avoid the damage (using house rules, here, too!).

Von misses.

Man-At-Arms rolls…another 20. Takes Von to 1 HP.

Von uses his action to drink the potion given to him by the Priest of Zhor, some 10 days ago.

Man-At-Arms rolls…another. F*cking. 20.

Von goes down, pouring blood from a grievous wound. At exactly 0 HP, I decide to give him a death save (it’s my own solo game, after all, and I get to make the rules, here!!)

He makes it, and awakes in chains, sorely wounded, on a wagon headed for the slave block in Tulith.

I have to say, I had an absolute blast and the nature of the events in Barbarian Prince kept the surprises and interesting happenings coming. The story unfolded in its own way, and now my enemies have gone on to their destination with the stolen goods - south to Aeravir Castle, where Von grew up.

What will become of him on the slave block?

Who can say?

My basic gameplay loop was:

Move to a hex - check to get lost or for event using the Barbarian Prince rules.

If more specificity is desired for a place, person, or event, use solo oracle or pages from one of the supplements. Play it out.

Burn a ration to end the day, and do it again. Use B/X for combat or anything not covered in the Barbarian Prince rules.

Very simple but very satisfying.

Until next time, keep your blades sharp!
(And watch out for level 1 men-at-arms with loaded dice!!!)

PS: I seriously need to hack this and do a massive rewrite for a dark fantasy version. I’m already sketching it out, but holy hell, it’ll be a lot of work.

Also, keep an eye out for

Chaoclypse

to give us a look into his own play of this - he’s using Chainmail/OD&D which was my original plan, but went with B/X instead because I’m currently using that ruleset for my “IRL” table.

- Castle Grief