The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[Malmuria]

I haven't actually run a game in over a year. I play semi-weekly, but running... I haven't done. So I'm going to scratch that itch by running a solo game for my wife, whose introduction to the tabletop hobby was startlingly recent (2010s). I was thinking of running her through Keep on the Borderlands, since it's an iconic adventure and one she'll be able to talk to other people about, and using OSE to do it.

So, since she's one PC, I'm thinking of shrinking the maps. @Dyson Logos has drawn Zath Gor Bastion as a miniature version of the Keep, and the Caves of Carnage as a miniature version of the Caves of Chaos. I was also thinking of naming the tavern in the Keep "Gavin's Inn" from the Willingham-drawn D&D comics advertisements of the 80s, although that would canonically be in Porttown, as the adventurers there are delving into Zenopus Castle. I don't know, maybe I'll put Zenopus Castle elsewhere on the frontier; I don't want to get too far ahead of myself*.

Anyway, what do other people think? Are there more references that should go in there? It'll just be me and my wife, so I'm shrinking things to keep them manageable.

* Too late.

If you want to go in a different direction, I feel like Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh could be a good solo adventure?

 

[RealAlHazred]

If you want to go in a different direction, I feel like Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh could be a good solo adventure?

I ran that before, way back in the day, and the modules were written just as the era of "large adventure parties with hirelings" was coming to an end. In particular I'm having a hard time envisioning doing the pirates justice with a single PC -- if I run them as smart as they're supposed to be, they'll be really troubling.

EDIT: Also, thanks for the thoughtful reply! I love that whole series, more interesting stuff was coming out of the UK, then, than the US!

 

[overgeeked]

Some people will literally argue about anything until everyone else simply stops responding. Sigh.

 

[J.Quondam]

From the early 1e days I had a rabid dislike of "save or die." I wouldn't use it. If the party made a bad or outright stupid decision, that was one thing, but I didn't want an entire campaign to potentially turn on one die roll.

I mostly didn't mind save-or die effects in earlier editions, but I loathed level drain. Not because of the danger, but because of the bookkeeping on the character sheet. Ugh, no thanks.
To this day, any wight in my games was probably tax collector in its former life.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I mostly didn't mind save-or die effects in earlier editions, but I loathed level drain. Not because of the danger, but because of the bookkeeping on the character sheet. Ugh, no thanks.
To this day, any wight in my games was probably tax collector in its former life.

I think that's probably why they got rid of ability score damage, as good as it was in 3E. Tracking six additional stats going up and down is a lot of hassle, even if the payoff was pretty high.

 

[Malmuria]

I mostly didn't mind save-or die effects in earlier editions, but I loathed level drain. Not because of the danger, but because of the bookkeeping on the character sheet. Ugh, no thanks.
To this day, any wight in my games was probably tax collector in its former life.

Ahh, and now taxes levels, I like it

 

[J.Quondam]

Ahh, and now taxes levels, I like it

As they say, the only certain things in life are undeath and taxes.

 

[trappedslider]

 

[el-remmen]

Some folks post like anyone describing how they run an element of the game is a direct attack on their playstyle even when they are not being addressed.

 

[overgeeked]

The surest sign that someone doesn’t have an argument to make or a leg to stand on is they turn to insults.