Quote:
Originally Posted by mearls  I think that, for me, "old school" means:
1. Player choice drives the game.
1a. Really bad player choices lead to TPKs.
1b. Really clever player choices lead to rewards and advantages beyond the norm.
2. There are strains of an almost Lovecraftian incomprehensibility to many gods and demons, a la the chaos temple in Keep on the Borderlands.
3. The forces of evil gather on all sides of the Realms of Man.
That's pretty much it, to me. Rule 1 and its sub-rules are the critical parts of it. Quick, creative thinking is key. Mindlessly attacking is a fool's gambit. |
I think those are very good points, Mr. Mearls, but you left one out: in Old School play, you don't handle with a roll what can be handled by common sense and description, such as searches, negotiations etc.
You don't get to roll your Int to 'solve' a riddle, or roll your Sense Motive to find out if the bad guy is lying to you. You have to figure out those things for yourself.
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