Generating Ability Scores in B/X D&D, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, etc. (How I like to do it these days)

I've used many methods to generate ability scores in my games over the years.  We started, of course, with 3d6 in order, letting the fates decide what type of characters we would play.  We quickly moved to 3d6, arrange them as we wished, in order to give ourselves the ability to make character whose stats better matched the classes that we wanted to play.  We tried the approach of rolling up 6 characters apiece with 3d6 in order and then choosing the one that we liked the best.  Later, we moved on to 4d6 drop the lowest.  We even experimented with 2d6 + 6 in our real power gaming days.
These days though, I like to use a slightly different approach.  I have players roll up two characters with 3d6 in order, and then allow them to swap one score from one of the characters with any one score of the other character.  This allows them the opportunity to get the prime requite that they want for at least one of their characters, while still allowing fate to play a role.  The caveat here is that they must equip both characters, and choose one to be their starting character and the other to be their replacement character should the first die under unfortunate circumstances (as characters are wont to do at first level).

Example:

Character 1:

STR: 11
INT:   9
WIS:  9
DEX: 11
CON: 10
CHR:  17

Character 2:

STR: 10
INT:   8
WIS:  12
DEX: 11
CON: 14
CHR:  9

The 17 in the first character's charisma is a prime target for moving, so lets say that we swap that with the strength score of the second character, ending up with one character who would make a good fighter and another who would make a good torchbearer. :-)

Torchbearer:

STR: 11
INT:   9
WIS:  9
DEX: 11
CON: 10
CHR:  10

Fighter:

STR: 17
INT:   8
WIS:  12
DEX: 11
CON: 14
CHR:  9

I think that this presents an interesting dilemma for the player.  Do you go with your best character first, or do you test the dungeon with your lesser character, expecting him or her to die and allowing you to trade up?  We've had many instances where a player took their best character first and sadly wound up playing the other after the first encounter.  We've also had at least one instance where the player took an obviously inferior character as their first, and through incredible luck they ended up surviving and never getting around to using the character with better stats.
So what about everyone else?  Do you have a method of character generation that you prefer which you think is a bit off the wall but works for you?

Revised Swords & Wizardry Armor Table (For more Conan-like armor)

So one of the issues that I've had with armor in D&D like games has been that I never felt it did a particularly good job of emulating the loincloth or battle harness wearing barbarians.  I like armor in my games to be more Hyborian Age and less Medieval Times.  Of course, I guess I could always just say that they are wearing leather armor, but I've always wanted something a bit different.  So I decided to put together a quick revised armor table.  My goal was to separate armor into 3 parts, Helmets, Gloves and Greaves, and Chest Armor, while still keeping the overall armor protections close so that it's not necessary to adjust the armor class of monsters as well.  Below is what I came up with.  Leather become a bit more powerful when worn with a Helmet and Gloves and Greaves, but this can be handled in the case of thieves by not allowing them to wear helmets but not Gloves and Greaves.  Like I said, I just whipped this together, and I'm sure that someone else has already done this (probably better), but I think that I'll give it a whirl and see how it works out.  If it works out, I'm planning to do the same thing for Dungeon Crawl Classics and Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

Armor Type	Effect on AC from a base of 9[10]	Weight (pounds)	Cost
Shield	-1 [+1]	10	15g
Helmet	-1 [+1]	5	10g
Gauntlets and Greaves	-1 [+1]	5	10g
Battle Harness	-1 [+1]	5	5g
Leather Cuirass	-2 [+2]	10	10g
Chain or Scale Hauberk	-3 [+3]	30	65g
Steel Breastplate	-4 [+4]	40	90g

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day: (D100 table of Items)

I've been down with a kidney stone for the past week or so, but in honor of Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day, I put together another d100 table of magical item ideas.  Now in keeping with my views on magic of course most of these sound cursed, but I think that some of them could be quite beneficial.  These are just the item names and would need to have stats made up for them for either S&W or whatever game system you prefer, but hopefully some of you will find some inspiring ideas in this list.

If you enjoy this, be sure to check out these free resources:

1,001 Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

and

1,001 More Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas