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Saturday
May222010

Swords & Wizardry Wheel Chart

Heres how my mind works- When I think of 1974, there is one tool that epitimized nerds more then anything else- the Slide Rule.  Its an amazing piece of technology that was pretty much killed off by the pocket calculator, and later the PC.  But looking at the attack roll charts in S&W, I had the thought - "I bet I can make a sliderule type tool to make that easier."

So after a few nights puttering around I came up with this volvelle design.  Pretty simple- you cut out the two circles, and pin them together through their center- and then just line up your character's level with the target's AC.  Pretty simple.

Now some folks might argue that part of the fun of retro-gaming is looking up to-hit numbers in giant charts in the book.  But I figure I don't want players asking for the book everytime they want to hit something new.  Also wheel charts fit with the whole math nerd side of classic gaming.

Anyhoo, I figure I can probably make a similar chart of Labyrinth Lord/Moldvay, since the charts work in a similar fashion.  Let me know in the comments if that is worth doing.

Download the Sword & Wizardry Wheel Chart (350kb PDF)

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Reader Comments (5)

Very nice! I'd love to see one for Labyrinth Lord (of course, I really like Volvelle's. :)

May 23, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJames Smith

This is very cool, I have to put it together immediately. Thanks!

May 29, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterze bulette

Very cool work Jedmc. I'd second the request for an LL version if you have the time/inclination.

May 29, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterChris

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