My conversion of the Brigand Gang of the Moathouse(T1-4), Floor 1 - Location 7, to Earthdawn 3rd Edition mechanics. I've reduced nine brigands (each with a to-hit roll in the old system), into four ED3 statblocks.

These stick very closely to the gear laid out for them in the Dungeon Key, with a slight bit of generalization to fit into my mass combat system. Loot is not given, except where it strays from the dungeon key. The D&D Gold standard is converted into ED Silver standard (by shifting most denominations down, ie. 100 GP would be 100 Theran or Throalic Silvers, Plat would be Gold, etc. I left the copper amount alone, because dealing with 2,000 coppers... LOL).

Keep in mind that with Units, bringing 2 or 3 unit members to bear on each target gives the Unit +2 or +4 to Action/Effect rolls.

Grodak Eyecutter, Brigand Boss
Non-Adept Ork Brigand

Spoiler

Actions: 1
Karma: None
Initiative: 2
Move: 6

Defenses
Physical: 8
Spell: 6
Social: 4

Armor
Chain-Shirt + Shield (Physical 7+3, Mystic 0, Init -4 total)

Health
(note, starts w/ 3 Blood Magic Damage from Death Cheat Charm, value deducted from loot)
Wound Threshold: 9
Unconscious Rating: 26
Death Rating: 34
Recovery Tests /Day: 3

Attributes (Steps only)
Dex: 6 Str: 6 Tou: 5
Per: 5 Wil: 4 Cha: 3

Powers/Effects
Wound Balance(1):7
Tactics(2):7 (may grant bonuses, up to 10 troops)
Throwing Weapons(2): 8
* Damage - Spears x3 (4):10
   OR - Daggers x2 (2):8
Melee Weapons(5): 11
* Damage - Spears x3 (4): 10
    OR - Broadsword forged+1 (6): 12
Second Weapon(1): 7
* Damage - Daggers x2 (2):8

Legend Award: 3rd Circle

Brezox Scarclaw, River Pirate
Non-Adept T'skrang Brigand

Spoiler

Actions: 1
Karma: None
Initiative: 8
Move: 6

Defenses
Physical: 10
Spell: 6
Social: 7

Armor
Espagra-Scale Cloak (Physical 3, Mystic 1, Init -0)

Health
(note, starts w/ 3 Blood Magic Damage from Death Cheat Charm, value deducted from loot)
Wound Threshold: 9
Unconscious Rating: 26
Death Rating: 34
Recovery Tests /Day: 3

Attributes (Steps only)
Dex: 8 Str: 6 Tou: 5
Per: 5 Wil: 5 Cha: 5

Powers/Effects
Haggle(2): 7
Taunt(2): 7
Diplomacy(2):7
Missile Weapons(3): 11
* Damage - Light Crossbow (4):10 [1-16/17-32]
Melee Weapons(2): 10
* Damage - Dagger(2):8
Second Weapon(2): 10
* Damage - Dagger(2):8

**Cloaksense Brooch (loot) - for 1 strain, Per vs Spell defense to foil Surprise or Blidside of enemies within 10 yds/ 5 hexes.

Legend Award: 1st Circle

Brigand Pikemen
Mook Unit (orks and humans), Size 4/4

Spoiler

Actions: 1 (Unit)
Karma: None
Initiative: 6
Move: 6

Defenses
Physical: 8
Spell: 8
Social: 8* (11, via Social Unity)

Armor
Padded Leather (Physical 4, Mystic 0[+1 nat.], Init -0)

Health
Wound Threshold: 10
Thrashed Rating: 70
Recovery Tests /Day: 3

Attributes (Steps only)
Dex: 6 Str: 7 Tou: 6
Per: 5 Wil: 5 Cha: 5

Powers/Effects
Parry(2):8 (GM note, Parry represents the polearms keeping opponent at range)
Maneuver(2):8 (These guys aren't 'elite', but they've trained in tactics)
Melee Weapons(2): 8
* Damage - Looted Polearms (assorted) (7): 14
    OR - Daggers(2): 9

Legend Award: 2nd Circle [Group]

Brigand Crossbowmen
Mook Unit (t'skrang), Size 3/3

Spoiler

Actions: 1 (Unit)
Karma: None
Initiative: 6
Move: 6

Defenses
Physical: 8
Spell: 7
Social: 7* (9, via Social Unity)

Armor
Leathers (Physical 3, Mystic 0[+1 nat.], Init -0)

Health
Wound Threshold: 10
Thrashed Rating: 60
Recovery Tests /Day: 3

Attributes (Steps only)
Dex: 6 Str: 6 Tou: 6
Per: 6 Wil: 5 Cha: 6

Powers/Effects
Missile Weapons(2): 8
* Damage - Light Crossbows(4): 10 [1-16/17-23 hexes]
Melee Weapons(1): 7
* Damage - Studded Clubs(3): 9

Legend Award: 1st Circle [Group]

Darn it, Telarus, you're going to make dig through my boxes to find my copy of Earthdawn and check it out so I can follow the stats! LOL. (It's a good thing).

Also, cliffhanger!  Do they capture the bandits, or do they get away?!

Session 2, Part 3 (continued)

Sorrel's stone fists and Elmo's sharp axe make short work of the door. Sorrel then heaves the bracing timber up and out of the way while Elmo and Lux slip underneath and into the room.

Light filters down through blasted stone into the "Black Chamber", the fire-touched remains of the keep's master suite. Lux and Elmo rush through the room, barely noting the fireplace and scattered bedrolls. Half of the room's ceiling is gone, and what would have been a tower lies scattered into the moat as huge stepping-stones. The steep angle of the mott (earthworks) means that the last two human bandits have just finished picking their way down to water level when Lux and Elmo jump up from the Black Chamber to the rubble on top of the steep incline of broken stone.

Brezox and his 3 t'skrang crossbowmen are just across the makeshift crossing stones, while Grodak the ork and his other 2 pikemen are pinned down behind some light tree cover by the party's NPC crossbowmen (Burne's Badgers) firing from the Moathouse's arrowslits. Elmo decides to Run down the slope (and makes his Dex check), making it down that round, skidding to a halt before rolling into the swampy moat. Lux picks her way down the toppled stones, wary of the enemy crossbows and using the large stone blocks as partial cover.

Grodak pulls off a nice Tactics roll, giving his t'skrangs +1 Attack and Damage ("Fire! Fire!"), and his remaining two pikemen a +1 Physical Defense bonus ("Hold the line until we can get to you, boys!"). The ork and human turn on Elmo, brandishing their pikes. Elmo does something fancy with his Axe and chuckles at how they are holding their weapons, "One chance to surrender, men. Then I cut those fancy toothpicks in half." He smiles and drops into stance himself. The 3 clash weapons and dance, with no clear advantage as the pikes keep Elmo's axe at range even with the 2-on-1 odds. [OH snap! "Sword"Masters have the Taunt Talent, rolled vs Social Defense.. this is the first time Elmo got to use it. Effect: -1 to all of the bandits Tests for 2 rounds!]

Sorrel has at this point cleared half the room (Obsidiman have low Move), but used the time to threadweave the 1 required thread for Earthdarts (having an abundance of ammo nearby).

The next round, the pikemen score a hit on Elmo for about 4 Damage. Meanwhile, Grodak and his men across the moat can't seem to shake those Badgers with crossbows. Lux gets to water level and blindsides the 2 pikemen fighting Elmo. Sorrel comes to the edge of the slope and lets off his Earthdarts as Elmo tears into the pikemen from the front. The 2 bandits go down HARD, one bleeding from the head (Wound Die exploded).

Grodak snarls and orders his remaining bandits to retreat on the path south towards the road and drier ground. Elmo looks at Lux. "Let them go," she says. "We'll tend to these captives and learn what they know."

Sorrel picks his way down the slope and helps Lux and Elmo move the captured bandits (one of whom is now losing consciousness) back to the Black Chamber. Trina and the Badgers join them. The players confer with each other in character a bit (with GM as Trina or Elmo chiming in every now and then).

They decide that they will treat the wounded and use a bit of Sorrel's Elementalist magic to stabilize the ork with the headwound. Lux sends Trina flying back towards the cart and the party's two ork hirelings, with instructions to have them find a clear path to the moat along the northeast corner where the bandits have been crossing. Sorrel breaks out some of his traveling rations to cast Heat Food on it (triggers a Recovery Test w/ a slight bonus), and with a bit of water and a wet cloth gets the wounded ork conscious enough to eat it. He soon stops looking so pale and can sit up while the party bandages his head.

Afterwards, they grill the other bandit in classic PC fashion. We played it out as a series of Intimidate checks, very interesting. Eventually, Lux spotted that the bandits hands were caked in soot (while Sorrel idly wondered what would happen if an 800 pound obsidiman 'accidentally' sat on the bandit's foot, because hey, they had a cart, right?). Having no real loyalty to Grodak, and when called on the soot covered hands, the guy spilled that Grodak had them hiding a chest in the fireplace.

Lux commends the guy, remarking that he might be smart enough to live through this whole situation. The party digs up the chest and cracks it open, marveling at their first big score. Meanwhile, the ork-twins and Trina have found a good spot to park the cart, just across the moat from the Black Chamber. A quick discussion is held, and it's decided that they haven't cleared enough of the Moathouse to satisfy Jaroo.

Elmo and the Badgers will load the loot onto the cart and guard the prisoners, while Lux, Sorrel, Trina and the young ork twins finish scouting the location. The orks grin at the chance to do some exploring. They quickly clear out locations 14 and 15 (finding the treasure), and find the door to the real kitchen (area 16) from which they can also make out loud buzzing sounds.

[See this map of the Moathouse (not mine) for location references. I had replaced the giant Tick in the kitchen with giant Blood Bees!]

Sorrel takes a quick peak and rolls his Creature Lore. Yup, a hive of giant Blood Bees... they decide that the kitchen isn't worth exploring and move on.

[I've rolled one or two other Random Encounter checks during this whole time because of the downtime the party took. Mostly "footsteps" and other environmental effects. Then I roll up another pair of bandits. I decide that these 2 guys are reinforcements that Grodak has gone to fetch from a hunting camp the bandits use nearby. Grodak is pretty sure that the two captured bandits will spill the location of his horde of coins, and he aims to ambush the party when they leave the Moathouse. I adjust the pikeman bandit Unit to Size: 4/6 to represent the two captured bandits and then the two reinforcements.]

The party then clears locations 8, 9, 10, and 11 (and manages to loot them clean, although the bats did give Sorrel a shock). Having gotten warning of the giant snake in location 12 from grilling the captives (part of the Dungeon Key), they are prepared for that fight, and while tough it goes down without poisoning anyone dead.

Giant Adder

Spoiler

A 12 foot poisonous Adder. Based on Snake [ED GameMaster's Guide, p199]

Actions: 3
Init: 7
Move: 5

Defenses
Physical Def: 9
Spell Def: 4
Social Def: 6

Armor
Snake Scales (Physical 2, Mystic 0)

Health
Wound Threshold: 11
Unconscious Rating: 37
Death Rating: 46
Recovery Tests /Day: 3

Attributes
Dex: 6 Str: 5 Tou: 7
Per: 3 Wil: 4 Cha: 4

Powers/Effects
Attack(2): 8
Damage:
* Bite(3): 8 (Poison - Spell Defense 5; Damage 5, same round – GMG p123)
Silent Walk Skill(3): 9
Climbing Skill(2): 8
Durability (1)
Enhanced Senses (Smell, Heat Sight)(2): 5


Legend Award: 1st Circle (Group)
Loot: Jeweled Dagger (worth 850 sp) amidst the rubble

Rules notes: Allow all resist-poison healing aids to mitigate snake poison, allowing a free Recovery test against the poison damage (along with their normal effects). Recommend to the players that they drink Kelia's Antidotes or Resist Poison Potions after the first bite.

Once the snake was dead and the room looted (geez, these players... well, my girlfriend has played D&D, but it's great to see the 12 year old soak it up), Sorrel rolls Wilderness Survival to skin the snake. Trina, meanwhile, is at the south end of the room, where that wall has partially collapsed outwards. She spots something moving down in the trees close to the road. (It was handy that we played with Maptool and I could actually use the sight-range features.) Tipping Lux off, I let Lux's player roll both their Perceptions.

They roll well and spot Grodak maneuvering his men into position for the ambush, which looks like it is about to go down any second! Can they make it back to the other end of the keep in time to aid Burne's Badgers and Elmo?

This is really fun to read. I could smell the mouldering fortress.

Do you find the mass combat rules make things go a lot faster?