Mallus Rediscovers AD&D

[Mallus]

For me, minis are mostly inspirational eye-candy, rather than tactical tools for exact relationships.

We'll probably use dice/coins as positional markers when the need arises. The problem --for us-- with minis *is* that they're eye-candy, a lot of time gets spend finding the just the right minis to represent the scene or the most ridiculous-looking *wrong* mini for the PCs.

I go back and forth on this one. Minis hunting is a big time-sink. On the other hand, it frequently produces gales of laughter.

 

[The Shaman]

Also, each session, I say a little mantra to myself: let as much of the game as possible emerge from the dice (and tables!). Numerous posts by [MENTION=26473]The Shaman[/MENTION] have drilled that into my head. I owe him one for that...

And how's that working out for you?

 

[Mallus]

And how's that working out for you?

Really well, so far. I'm trying to find the right balance between random/emergent and scripted/extrapolated.

In the 1st session, I rolled randomly, as per the MM, for how many giant rats were feeding on the corpses in a manor the PC's were investigating (the owner, a magic-user, had recently been killed by thieves).

Turns out there were 23 of them! Far more than the party wanted to tackle. This led to a memorable where the daring-yet-stupid goblin thief jumps on the back of a scurrying rat, rides it like bronco through the open door to the master bedroom, and discovers it's pals swarming over the bodies of several dead thieves.

The rest of party quickly slams the door shut. The thief wins initiative, climbs up a tall dresser, and escapes out a window.

In the 2nd session, the party returns with a magic-user who's got a Sleep spell. They make short work of the rats, but then had to face the thieves come back as undead (ghouls and zombies). I didn't roll randomly for them -- they were the ex-thieves who died by magical violence. I did roll for their treasure though, and party scored some valuable clerical scrolls.

Now they've taken a contract with the magic-user's sister to avenge her death. It means going up against a full thieves guild -- a 10th level master and his baker's dozen of leveled associates.

Using the chart in the DMG, I sketched out the whole guild out (races/classes/levels) in the 10 minutes I spent waiting for the players to show up Thurs. night.

Oh, and while the party fighter was trawling the city looking for a trainer, I checked for a random encounter, which resulted in the PC getting embroiled in a fighters guild turf war down on the docks.

 

[Mallus]

And on the subject of random encounters...

... I more-or-less stopped using them while running 3e and then 4e. It took me too much time and effort to create reasonably challenging opponents. Crafting opponents soon became a matter of selecting, then advancing, and probably templating and applying class levels to each and every foe. Granted, there was a fair amount of gearhead fun to be had in that, and I'm still proud of the ghost-ninjas I rained down on my unsuspecting players one memorable session.

But that that amount of foe design work was something I reserved for special/scripted encounters. Random encounters straight from the books would be nothing more than dull speed-bumps for my group.

Partly this is because I was quite liberal in the materials I let the group use to build their PCs. But it was also an inherent property of 3e... namely the force-multiplication effect any moderately well-designed party is going to present.

By 4e I gave up on random encounters, which in a way was probably the wrong decision, because its MM entries came with suggested encounter groups of complimentary enemies.

Ah well, much like AD&D, if I ever go back to 4e, perhaps I'll run it better...

 

[The Shaman]

Really well, so far. I'm trying to find the right balance between random/emergent and scripted/extrapolated.

Judging from this?

In the 2nd session, the party returns with a magic-user who's got a Sleep spell. They make short work of the rats, but then had to face the thieves come back as undead (ghouls and zombies). I didn't roll randomly for them -- they were the ex-thieves who died by magical violence.

I'd say you're doing great.

Seriously, it sounds like you're having a blast.

 

[Mark CMG]

Stumbled across this thread while double checking on your location before mentioning you in the game store in Philly thread. How's this been going?

 

[Mallus]

How's this been going?

Thanks for asking -- the campaign's going well, ie the players want me to keep running it!. The next session will be the 7th or 8th, which, thanks to the time of year, probably won't be until early Jan.

AD&D is really working for us. It helps that I no longer want to "fix" the system like I did when I was 17. We use what works for us and handwave/use judgment/fiat the rest, though I'm surprised to see how many of the rules-as-written I do use. Heck, earlier today used the pummeling and grappling rules -- though, to be fair, I doubt I would have at the table, but we're playing-by-post between sessions, so I had the time to puzzle them out...

I feel like we're hitting the beginning of the sweet spot for the campaign. We're done with the first contrivance-powered adventure and now the characters have several concrete and personal goals to pursue -- like trying to take down a Thieves Guild (even though the PC's are only 4th/5th level), getting a ghost-killing magic sword reforged for the fighter, and finding a body for the soul of a dead Dragonborn mad scientist currently stuck in the clerics brain. At this point, I can stop thinking in terms of "the next adventure" and just... respond.

There is a touch of a metaplot forming, too, involving the two miniaturized dryads --based on the Mothra Girls-- and the Mothra-like changeling dragon-god thing they helped them hatch from a giant egg... I'm sure that will be important father down the line. Unless, of course, it's not...

 

[David Howery]

You're playing actual 1E AD&D? That makes me feel... um... what's the phrase... insanely jealous? Yeah, that's it...

sounds cool...

 

[Mallus]

You're playing actual 1E AD&D? That makes me feel... um... what's the phrase... insanely jealous? Yeah, that's it...

sounds cool...

It is cool. Why I even used the pummeling and grappling rules in the DMG --as written!-- though, to be fair, we were playing-by-post, so I had plenty of time to parse them, and I wouldn't have used them face to face.

Currently, I'm running what's shaping up to be a combat (by post) for the records book: a well-equipped 7th level half-orc assassin --using Dust of Disappearance!!-- vs. a 4th level goblin (halfling) thief PC and a 4th level caveman (half-orc) fighter PC. Who are drunk and in their bedclothes. The assassin was attempting to murder the PCs in their sleep and rob them, half of the PCs stumbled across a secret door in their room at an inn and decided, drunkenly, to go exploring. The twain met in the cellar.

The fights been a wonderful combination of luck, semi-realism, and violent slapstick that really defines the AD&D experience for me; the PCs surprise the assassin so badly he almost gets knocked out before he can act, he and the fighter knee each other in the stones, the thief hides wonderfully and back-stabs awfully. Finally, the assassin gets to use more DoD and promptly fails to assassinate the fighter, while getting a taste of the caveman's Drunken Boxing-style. By this point the assassin has had enough; the child paladin is shrieking taunts, and any thought of a little light night-murder and looting is gone from his head.

So he flees invisibly up the cellar stairs, assassinating the ranger who was staying as the inn as he was coming to investigate the ruckus. The fighter, armed, drunk, and in civvies, grabs a bucket of ash from the ash pit and goes after him.

I really have no idea how this is going to pan out!

Mechanics-wise... surprise can by murder in AD&D. And the unarmed attack rules are... interesting. I kinda love how being unarmored greatly improves your grappling chances.

 

[howandwhy99]

You must spread some Experience Points around before giving it to Mallus again.

Yeah, that big green glow coming off the screen? Jealousy. But I am running a hodgepodge OD&D/AD&D game of my own every month, so I get a little bit of the love myself.