It sounds like you all enjoyed it. I have great fun playing lowish level (A)D&D, part of it is nostalgia, part of it is from the sheer danger that faces the PCs, and part of it is because you genuinely don't know what is going to happen next, especially with gonzo scenarios like this one. Now in Trail of Cthulhu, I wouldn't appreciate gonzo, but in D&D, bring it on, the weirder the better.
Sleep and Charm Person would have made a massive difference to the outcome of the encounters.
Yeah, I kept shaking my head at the players as they made really-really suboptimal choices. Sometimes it was in the name of role-playing, so it was cool, as long as they were cool with the outcome. When it was just a strange choice (like Floating Disc), I had to wonder why.
I was amazed by how much I remembered from decades ago. Jamie asked me what the AC of leather armor was, and without skipping a beat I told her "7." Where the hell did that come from? Mind you, I think ACs stayed the same through AD&D, and that represents 8-9 years of my gaming life, but I figured I'd forgotten stuff like that. I mean, I haven't played Basic D&D since 1983 or so, and I haven't played AD&D 1st since 1987 or so.
>>Yeah, I kept shaking my head at the players as they made really-really suboptimal choices. <<
This is what often stings me when I've been in dungeon-crawl old-school-ish experiences. I'm a pretty serious optimizer, and capable of doing said optimization while remaining in-character. When people do stupid shit that lowers our chances of survival, even in the name of "roleplaying," it bothers me.
I had an awesome experience recently playing an old-school-via-4E game at Recess. It took up both slots but was totally worth it. The GM changed some rules to make combats faster and to focus the game on exploration. I really want to do it again. But one thing that really made a difference is we were all doing our best.
Well, there were a couple factors at play. First, the players knew that this was a one-shot so they had very little investment in these characters. Second, they were all into the role-playing more than the tactics, so no one was upset that "being who I am" was getting them all killed. In other words, it was all good, but it's definitely a problem when you're not on the same page as the rest of the group.
Similar ExperiencemarcticAugust 3 2010, 18:42:31 UTC
I'm running a Red Book Basic campaign for my kids including the Keep (detail on the blog) = I have noticed a lot of the same things and they are having a blast!
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Sleep and Charm Person would have made a massive difference to the outcome of the encounters.
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I was amazed by how much I remembered from decades ago. Jamie asked me what the AC of leather armor was, and without skipping a beat I told her "7." Where the hell did that come from? Mind you, I think ACs stayed the same through AD&D, and that represents 8-9 years of my gaming life, but I figured I'd forgotten stuff like that. I mean, I haven't played Basic D&D since 1983 or so, and I haven't played AD&D 1st since 1987 or so.
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This is what often stings me when I've been in dungeon-crawl old-school-ish experiences. I'm a pretty serious optimizer, and capable of doing said optimization while remaining in-character. When people do stupid shit that lowers our chances of survival, even in the name of "roleplaying," it bothers me.
I had an awesome experience recently playing an old-school-via-4E game at Recess. It took up both slots but was totally worth it. The GM changed some rules to make combats faster and to focus the game on exploration. I really want to do it again. But one thing that really made a difference is we were all doing our best.
Matt
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Also...
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Oh, cool. Thanks!
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Lord Blacksteel
http://towerofzenopus.blogspot.com/
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