So you've been doing your BrOSR homework: playing 1e RAW,
lifting heavy things, and repudiating gross-woke-nerds. You decide to roll up a
Goblin lair for a Patron and crack open your Monster Manual. It isn't
very difficult, but I figured that, since I'm doing it, I'll run through
how I lay it out to make it easier for me to reference during a
session. If I am preparing content in advance, such as a lair, I try to write it all up on a sheet so I don't need to reference the MM entry, PHB, or DMG.
First up, roll for the total population. 40-400 can be simulated a few ways. I don't care about every number in that range, neither do your players. Big round numbers work best, especially for figures in mass combat. Rolling 4d10x100. I got 270 goblins.
Next, using Dave Arneson's methods from the First Fantasy Campaign, I roll 1d6x10%. This gives me the total OUT of lair population (at that point in time). This could be patrols, raiding parties, etc. Roll another d6: 1-5 = that many miles away from the lair (or center of the hex), and 6 = split the group in half and do that again. To determine the direction, roll a d6, each result representing a hex face (such as in the Wilderness Travel rules).
My results so far:
Goblin Lair
Total Population: 270
@ Lair: 189 (70%)
@ 2 miles South-West of Lair: 81
This excludes all leader types.
Now, I lay out a table with all the population split into their weapon types and if any leaders are present (for Goblins it is 1 leader and 4 assistants for every 40 goblins). Note that I make one of these tables for each population "group" (i.e. the ones at the Lair, the ones 2 miles SW, etc.) However when calculating conditionals such as "If 200 or more goblins are encountered there will be the following additional figures:..." I consider the total lair population. In this case I placed those types at the Lair. I round down all the forces by weapon type if the percentage gives a fractional amount, and leave the largest contributor in the population to make up the balance. Here is a snippet of the table:
| Goblin Town – Lair Forces | ||||||
| Unit | # | AC | MV | HD | Damage/Weapon | Notes |
| Short Sword & Military Pick | 18 | 6 (SL+S) |
6” | 1-7 HP | Short Sword: d6/d8 Military Pick: d6+1/2d4 |
-1 to hit in sunlight 60’ infravision |
| Short Sword & Sling | 18 | 6 (SL+S) |
6” | 1-7 HP | Short Sword: d6/d8 Sling: d4/d4; FR1; R4,8,16 |
-1 to hit in sunlight 60’ infravision |
| Short Sword & Spear | 18 | 6 (SL+S) |
6” | 1-7 HP | Short Sword: d6/d8 Spear: d6/d8; FR1; R1,2,3 |
-1 to hit in sunlight 60’ infravision |
| Sling | 18 | 6 (SL+S) |
6” | 1-7 HP | Sling: d4/d4; FR1; R4,8,16 | -1 to hit in sunlight 60’ infravision |
| Morning Star | 36 | 7 (SL) |
6” | 1-7 HP | Morning Star: 2d4/d6+1 | -1 to hit in sunlight 60’ infravision |
| Military Pick | 18 | 7 (SL) |
6” | 1-7 HP | Military Pick: d6+1/2d4 | -1 to hit in sunlight 60’ infravision |
| Spear | 63 | 7 (SL) |
6” | 1-7 HP | Spear: d6/d8; FR1; R1,2,3 | -1 to hit in sunlight 60’ infravision |
| Leaders | 4 | 6 (SL+S) |
6” | 7 HP | Short Sword: d6/d8 Morning Star: 2d4/d6+1 |
As above Fight as 1HD |
| -> Assistants | 16 | 6 (SL+S) |
6” | 7 HP | Short Sword: d6/d8 Morning Star: 2d4/d6+1 |
As above Fight as 1HD |
For brevity, I omitted the rest of the additional forces - chief, subchief, wolves, bugbears, females & young, etc. Now, roll up the Lair Treasure. BTB the treasure tables are for a middling population and should be adjusted for extremes - so I will just leave the outcomes for this group. They have 2000SP and 3000EP. Not much by adventurer standards. The Chief is probably sleeping on this in a pile with his goblin mistresses around him.
Now you have fully-detailed lair forces divided by unit/weapon type, along with their treasure & non-combatant population.
Looking to the future, consider the factions alignment, who or what is in the surrounding area, and what the group wants. These guys live in the forest and it sucks for them - but they do know of a neglected and small human settlement nearby...
