1st Edition adventures with small parties

[frankthedm]

So for example, if none of the PCs can pick locks or detect traps, I would avoid sending the PCs into a dungeon full of locks and traps and have an NPC do all of the work.

Let the players decide what they want to tackle and how they want to go about it. If the players encounter a dungeon with many deadly traps they can't find and locks they can't pick [ or chisel ], the onus should be on them to decide to try their luck elsewhere or return to town and hire a thief. If the party is worried about a hired thief stealing anything, it probably won't be the spotlight.

 

[grodog]

I'm still very much a newbie at DM'ing 1st Edition AD&D, and need some advice. I'm keen on running the Slaver series (A1-A4), which recommends 6-8 players of level 4-7. However, I don't have that many players (more like 3, or 4 at the most), and managing multiple characters seems to be a pain for them.

Are there any time-tested tricks to running a smaller-sized party through published adventures?

I'd start training up the players to learn to manage a larger number of characters---main PCs and/or henchmen and hirelings, as suggested by folks up-thread. If you start them out with a lower-level module like say B1, B2, L1, or T1, they should get used to the larger parties pretty quickly.

We used to play AD&D regularly with 1 DM + 3 players running ~10 PCs + 2 NPC party members. If you have a mix more like 1 DM + 4 players running ~4 PCs + 2-4 henchmen + 2-4 hirelings, it should get pretty manageable with some practice.

If you're familiar with Ars Magica's "Troupe Style" play, you might allow any of the players to control the hirelings, and perhaps the henchmen too (instead of having them mapped 1:1 to a specific player).

Attrition will also help keep things manageable, of course

 

[Halivar]

I'd start training up the players to learn to manage a larger number of characters---main PCs and/or henchmen and hirelings, as suggested by folks up-thread. If you start them out with a lower-level module like say B1, B2, L1, or T1, they should get used to the larger parties pretty quickly.

I see you mentioned T1; that's Hommlet, right? Would you recommend the Temple of Elemental Evil as a whole as a campaign for new 1st Edition players?

 

[steeldragons]

I see you mentioned T1; that's Hommlet, right? Would you recommend the Temple of Elemental Evil as a whole as a campaign for new 1st Edition players?

I can't speak for grodog, but for my two coppers, if you have players starting out/new in 1e, Hommlet is a perfect starting point, imho.

Tons to explore. Tons of NPCs to interact with. Potential hirelings/henchmen/npcs to add to the group if you go that route. And decent combat with the perfect blend of "starting out" monsters and villains. A lil' bandits, a lil' (were they) orcs or gnolls?, a lil' evil cleric (but not so much more powerful than the PCs).

GREAT place for people who never played 1e to get their adventuring feet wet.

Now, whether you want to then extend it to the whole ToEE as the campaign is up to you. Just as easy for them to set off from Hommlet and go the Slavers route (or have agents of the Slavers come to Hommlet for potential "human currency") you mention in the opening post.

But I highly recommend using Hommlet as your starting point.

Look forward to hearing how it goes. Have a great time wherever you start from.
--SD

 

[Halivar]

Hrmm... it might be a little extra work, but I could possibly put the Slave Pits of the Undercity underneath Nulb, since Highport and Nulb share many attributes. Then tie in the slavers to the ToEE somehow, so that at the appropriate level (4-5?) they get a tip-off that an outside faction of slavers allied to temple has an outpost under the ruins of Cuthbert's temple in Nulb. Then the players can either continue with the ToEE, or jump to the Slaver's campaign.

How does that sound?

 

[steeldragons]

-snip cool ideas-

How does that sound?

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

I'd play it! lol.
--SD

 

[the Jester]

Hrmm... it might be a little extra work, but I could possibly put the Slave Pits of the Undercity underneath Nulb, since Highport and Nulb share many attributes. Then tie in the slavers to the ToEE somehow, so that at the appropriate level (4-5?) they get a tip-off that an outside faction of slavers allied to temple has an outpost under the ruins of Cuthbert's temple in Nulb. Then the players can either continue with the ToEE, or jump to the Slaver's campaign.

How does that sound?

Full of win.

 

[grodog]

Sounds reasonable to me. I'm not a huge fan of T1-4 but I am a huge fan of T1, so in general I favor taking T1 as a baseline, and then running with it. I think you'll end up with a more varied, and interesting, game, than if you rugh T1-4 straight up.

 

[Jarloch]

Another thought - I agree with the use of hirelings (0 level men-at-arms and such) and henchmen (leveled NPC followers). Hirelings are probably going to start becoming liabilities rather than help after about level 2; maybe a couple of dedicated spear guys protecting the M-U but that stay off the front line. If any of the hirelings have good rolls and kick some major butt than field promote them up to henchman. Lots of good RP there.

But if your group wants to minimize the number of characters, than I would also consider using the specialization/double-specialization out of Unearthed Arcana if there are fighters in the group. Modules written before 1985 were not balanced for that, so giving the PCs that extra edge will equate the parties firepower to a bigger group. I normally am not fond of the rules, because they turn all the classic modules into pushovers and wreak havoc with AD&D's balance, but a smaller group would be the exception.

 

[Halivar]

Another thought - I agree with the use of hirelings (0 level men-at-arms and such) and henchmen (leveled NPC followers). Hirelings are probably going to start becoming liabilities rather than help after about level 2; maybe a couple of dedicated spear guys protecting the M-U but that stay off the front line. If any of the hirelings have good rolls and kick some major butt than field promote them up to henchman. Lots of good RP there.

That's pretty typical for our group. Nameless minion NPC's we run in 4E typically get names and hit-points if they survive long enough (we're an RP-heavy group). Also, T1 has a number of higher-level NPC's available for hire, so that will fill-out the ranks.

But if your group wants to minimize the number of characters, than I would also consider using the specialization/double-specialization out of Unearthed Arcana if there are fighters in the group. Modules written before 1985 were not balanced for that, so giving the PCs that extra edge will equate the parties firepower to a bigger group. I normally am not fond of the rules, because they turn all the classic modules into pushovers and wreak havoc with AD&D's balance, but a smaller group would be the exception.

I was planning on doing this for henchmen, but not hirelings. I don't want the mercenary option to be so powerful that they neglect proper acquisition of henchmen. The PC's have always used this, but I found that in our initial games they were still overwhelmed when large numbers of creatures were present.

Also: I didn't see anything in the rules about advancement for henchmen. Do they get a share of XP, or do they remain at level 1?