Mallus Rediscovers AD&D

[Treebore]

Just to clarify, Robert: you're talking about DF, right?

Yeah, DF. Like I posted earlier I quit going to K&K years ago despite liking a fair number of posters there. The Alehouse had some overly excitable people I just didn't want to deal with back then, certainly can't speak about them now.

 

[Henry]

Can't say as I'm a regular anymore at DF or K&K, but I fully recognize those as the places you want to be if you have an in-depth AD&D question that needs discussion or answering. I actually used to see more cross-pollination between places like DF and ENW before Gary died; it's a shame it kind of died off.

 

[Treebore]

Can't say as I'm a regular anymore at DF or K&K, but I fully recognize those as the places you want to be if you have an in-depth AD&D question that needs discussion or answering. I actually used to see more cross-pollination between places like DF and ENW before Gary died; it's a shame it kind of died off.

Yeah, thats what I have been saying all along. You want to talk 2E D&D and earlier, great places to go. Just be very aware that even mentioning 3E or later, especially in the "WRONG!!" forum, is much like trying to bypass land mines. Potentially very explosive.

 

[Mallus]

Getting back to this thread...

Anyway...I did some work here to rework Dwellers of the Forbidden City to my liking: mysticbull / OSRIC

There's some C&C and savage world stuff on there, too...

Thanks for the link. I love Dwellers and would love to some/some version of it, if the campaign lasts long enough, and I'll definitely check out the Savage World stuff. I see my group alternating between AD&D & SW, if all goes according to the current plan.

I have come to the realization that AD&D and retroclones are great for immersive, seat of your pants gaming.

I'm with you re: seat-of-your-pants gaming. Both in terms of prep -- we decided to meet for AD&D on Thurs. afternoon, and we had a good session under our belts by 11:30 Friday night-- and in terms of what the game felt like; fast, tense, and driven by a lot of random rolls (more on that later).

My prep time was cut considerably by the decision to use the 4e homebrew we'd been using to the past 2.5 years, though I didn't convert it so much as I ran it through Babelfish.

Simpler is better. At least that is why I returned to the "old school" games, and it sounds like your definitely getting into how "simple" it is.

Simpler is certainly faster, and faster meant more variety in each session.

Mallus, how are you handling initiative?

I believe the answer is: incorrectly. Each side rolls a d6, high goes first. Haven't had a tie yet -- I'll think of something. Last session we forgot to roll a new init each round. C'est le vie. I'll probably use some ad-hoc situational modifiers in the future: for readied missile weapons, spears set against charges, comparative weapon speeds on ties, etc. I might even read the whole section on initiative!

I haven't found Dragonsfoot to be anything other than friendly and relaxed. Their focus is on pre-3e, to be sure, but it's not true that you can't discuss other editions.

Thanks Mark --and everyone else who chimed in-- for the correction. I'll probably register at Dragonfoot and K&K -- if they have open registration. I feel like I've gained a lot of (interesting) perspective on AD&D/OD&D from the people here --even though I started with AD&D-- and more would helpful.

YYou have to get past room 25 in a Tomb of Horrors run before we'll even let you register.

I'll lie on my application! (and I'll keep my critiques of ToH to myself -- for a while).

 

[dagger]

I believe the answer is: incorrectly. Each side rolls a d6, high goes first. Haven't had a tie yet -- I'll think of something. Last session we forgot to roll a new init each round. C'est le vie. I'll probably use some ad-hoc situational modifiers in the future: for readied missile weapons, spears set against charges, comparative weapon speeds on ties, etc. I might even read the whole section on initiative!

This is how we do it:

Each side rolls 1d6 each round, high roll goes first, ties are simultaneous (if we feel like it, if not, reroll). Spellcasters must announce any spell being cast before init is rolled. Casters suck it long, and suck it hard. Spell disruption ftw.

 

[Mallus]

Casters suck it long, and suck it hard. Spell disruption ftw.

That's another thing I forgot! Declare actions then roll init. Thanks!

 

[dagger]

Yes our AD&D combats, even at high level are fast and furious (most of the time).

 

[Henry]

That's another thing I forgot! Declare actions then roll init. Thanks!

I remember well one instance during a gameday AD&D session where a player who had never played AD&D before had his character charge straight into a friendly cone of cold spell, because of "declare actions, then roll." Rather than be ticked off, they were actually fascinated and amused, because they had NEVER seen "friendly fire" in D&D before.

 

[Agamon]

That's another thing I forgot! Declare actions then roll init. Thanks!

I like the init modifier rule I read in Dark Dungeons:

If PCs announce intentions before monsters: +1
If PCs wait for monsters to announce intentions first: -1

 

[dagger]

That's actually a very interesting little twist that I would like to try out. Right now we only make those casting a spell declare ahead of time, but we are always open to try new things.