D&D General The Renewing Charm of the Old School Play Experience

[pogre]

We have been playing pretty much every other night and my M-U just hit 3rd level!

Now, the key question: Do I paint a miniature specifically for this character? Thereby, virtually guaranteeing his death next session.

 

[Fenris-77]

We have been playing pretty much every other night and my M-U just hit 3rd level!

Now, the key question: Do I paint a miniature specifically for this character? Thereby, virtually guaranteeing his death next session.

Of course you do! I mean, maybe don't spend a couple of hundred hours on it or anything, this ain't the Golden Demons, but yeah, paint that sucker.

 

[werecorpse]

No, paint a “distraction mini” make it a drow ninja Paladin dual wielding katanas and tell the DM that’s what your new character will be if the current one dies.

 

[Lanefan]

We have been playing pretty much every other night and my M-U just hit 3rd level!

Now, the key question: Do I paint a miniature specifically for this character? Thereby, virtually guaranteeing his death next session.

With us, painting a mini is usually not too dangerous for the character; if only because the mini will one day inevitably be reused for another character anyway - all you're doing is getting some painting done, and nobody complains about that.

Rewriting the character sheet from scratch, however, spells certain doom!

 

[Libramarian]

With respect, it doesn't take, "old school rules" to play a game with high lethality, which is most of what you speak of here. Just build every encounter in the "deadly" range, and you'll hit it just fine.

In old school D&D straight combat is actually not very scary. The scariness comes from save-or-die effects, most often poison.

I will add btw that save-or-die poison actually makes complete sense (there's usually someone who complains this is unrealistically lethal). The venom of real snakes/scorpions etc. kills their prey almost immediately. I would presume giant D&D monsters to be similarly deadly to their human-sized prey.

Deadly poison on a needle trap set 200 years ago is a little more gonzo.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

In old school D&D straight combat is actually not very scary. The scariness comes from save-or-die effects, most often poison.

I will add btw that save-or-die poison actually makes complete sense (there's usually someone who complains this is unrealistically lethal). The venom of real snakes/scorpions etc. kills their prey almost immediately. I would presume giant D&D monsters to be similarly deadly to their human-sized prey.

Deadly poison on a needle trap set 200 years ago is a little more gonzo.

Doesn't snake venom actually take about 30 seconds? That's 5 combat rounds in D&D...

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Doesn't snake venom actually take about 30 seconds? That's 5 combat rounds in D&D...

[EDIT to add some googling more like 20 minutes or longer - 200 combat rounds...]

 

[rczarnec]

It wouldn't be that many rounds if you are going old school. In AD&D a combat round was 1 minute.

 

[Libramarian]

Doesn't snake venom actually take about 30 seconds? That's 5 combat rounds in D&D...

[EDIT to add some googling more like 20 minutes or longer - 200 combat rounds...]

I'm talking about how quickly RL venomous predators kill their typical prey.

A mouse is to a rattlesnake as a D&D character is to a D&D poisonous monster.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

In some ways my S&W game (OD&D clone) is less deadly that 5e since it doesn't have the crazy critical hits. IME those make the fights crazy "swingy".

But save or die and hold type effects that you don't get to save each round against are brutal. Level drain is much harder to remove as well, so Ghouls and Wights and similar undead rarely lose their luster.