D&D 5E What should be in the "retro" module for 5e . . .

[slobo777]

OK, so I'm not going to be serious here, but any combination of serious nostalgia or parody welcome in the thread.

In the 5E "retro" module, what rules are required to re-create the 1970s and 1980s games you remember (or you've been told about by gramps!):

Suggestions:

1) Rules for how to kill, butcher and prepare a paladin's warhorse once you run out of iron rations (or accidentally deliberately forgot to pack them).

2) Suggestions for how to pass the time when you failed save vs poison against the giant centipedes in room #1.

3) Tactical advice on how to engage a gazebo.

4) What planes Boot Hill and Gamma World are currently on (yes, I really had all three boxed set games, and did a cross-over encounter D&D/Boot Hill using those rules .

5) How to bend rules of probability when rolling 18/## strength (the number of fighters with 18/76-00 I saw compared to 18/01-50 would make any statistician blush)

6) How to fully randomise the difficultly level of an encounter using devil gate powers.

 

[the Jester]

There need to be many different modules for people to recapture their 70s and 80s games, since each group's playstyle was pretty distinct back then.

As [MENTION=3586]MerricB[/MENTION] likes to point out, "Old Skool" is really a lot of different things to different people.

 

[Abstruse]

• Replace the to-hit number and AC with a Trigonometry textbook and a slide rule.
• Print all maps using light blue on off-white with nothing but 4pt font labels in the same color.
• Add 11 foot poles to the inventory.
• Require all names be either a pun, a fart joke, or an anagram of your own name.
• All players must roll a Constitution save every 5 minutes or they drop dead from forgetting to breathe.
• Random table for determining boot lace length.

 

[Li Shenron]

I quite think that "no-modules" is the retro module...

But perhaps some rules about automatically getting henchmen and strongholds, a list of "name levels", and pages of random tables would do.

 

[IanB]

Ghouls do +10 damage to gnomes.

 

[DEP]

Are all the 4e grognards now hating on the history of the game?

 

[Abstruse]

Are all the 4e grognards now hating on the history of the game?

Can't speak for the others, but this player of every edition from 1st through Next is making fun of some of the sillier aspects of the 1st and 2nd Editions as well as making jokes based on tropes from those editions. Want to start a humorous thread about 4th Edition rules modules? I'll be there. Or Pathfinder for that matter.

Assuming that others are being prejudiced and mean-spirited with no proof makes you yourself prejudiced and mean-spirited.

 

[slobo777]

Can't speak for the others, but this player of every edition from 1st through Next is making fun of some of the sillier aspects of the 1st and 2nd Editions as well as making jokes based on tropes from those editions. Want to start a humorous thread about 4th Edition rules modules? I'll be there. Or Pathfinder for that matter.

Assuming that others are being prejudiced and mean-spirited with no proof makes you yourself prejudiced and mean-spirited.

Well said, I was there (dude), and enjoyed Basic, AD&D et al . . . so a little nostalgic, too, for the combinations of random tables, bolt-on special rules, combined with schoolboy days playing "theatre of the mind" in lunch breaks!

I probably won't be getting out the old core books any time soon, any more than going back to program the ZX Spectrum to make maps or NPC name tables . . . so I'd rather remember it with a pinch of humour. But hate it . . . never!

 

[GX.Sigma]

Genuinely?

• Dungeon exploration rules with clearly defined "turns" and wandering monster rolls
• Wilderness exploration rules with hexes, survival mechanics, several pages of random encounters, monster reaction rolls, etc.
• Hirelings & henchmen

I will be very disappointed if these are not included in 5e when it comes out.

 

[howandwhy99]

Wizards of the Coast owns Avalon Hill. Plus everything Gary put out for Dangerous Journeys. I'd look at what I own.

• Wooden Ships & Iron Men (for sailing games)
• Epic of Aerth - as a campaign setting
• Necropolis - as a high level module
• Old Modules of TSRs, of course - the best stuff released slowly, including Dungeon Magazine (Empire of the Ghouls, Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, etc.)

Plus something like Outdoor Survival for getting lost and pursuit & evasion rules through overland exploration. (Add ones for underwater wilderness travel too / other environments).

And whimsical stuff like the Potion Miscibility table, Harlot Encounter subtable, and every polearm ever published.