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2E Question - and maybe more to come.
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<blockquote data-quote="haus48" data-source="post: 5282063" data-attributes="member: 31181"><p>2nd edition is much more unstructured than the later editions. The idea of "encounter levels" did not exist. The belief was that it was okay to travel out into the wilderness or dungeon and run into a vast array of creatures of very different power levels. Parties could and would commonly encounter situations where running away, trying to parley with the monsters, or begging for one's life was the only way to survive. They could also be 10th level characters and run into a dozen basic goblins they mopped up without blinking an eye. Later editions created the rough encounter level guidelines so no player would have to face an unwinable or effortless challenge in an adventure. My best advice if you chose to go with 2nd edition would be to view each encounter as a possible role playing encounter with multiple outcomes rather than an automatic 1 on 1 fight the players will either have to win or lose, that way you have more room to let the characters escape or roleplay it out depending on if the encounter turns out to be too hard or too easy. </p><p> </p><p>A few things to remember:</p><p>1. Earlier editions expected characters to die more often and rolling up a new character during a session could be common depending on the DM (there is a reason it is called SAVE or DIE). </p><p>2. Earlier editions used a lot more nameless/disposable NPC helpers to join and help the party in combat. They could be hirelings, henchmen, purchased guard dogs, or just randomly encountered adventurers that offered to help and were often sacrificed in combat to save the players. (I remember a priceless cartoon in dragon where you see a porter carrying the parties supplies slipping and falling off a cliff and the caption says Gads! there goes whats his name).</p><p>3. Earlier editions had a much less formalized rule base so DM fiat was expected to be more common. Try and free yourself from the more ridged video game adventure structure and allow yourself to ad lib more, letting the players guide the adventure paths, outcomes, and goals. I would say that more than 50% of my 2nd edition adventures were random encounters, spur of the moment side treks to bail out a character that made a bad choice, or missions started by my players going off on their own direction. </p><p> </p><p>You may also want to check out the new haven games website since they are playing with the 2nd edition rules right now and trying to update them for a more modern approach. Cannot comment on it though since I have not looked into it too closely.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="haus48, post: 5282063, member: 31181"] 2nd edition is much more unstructured than the later editions. The idea of "encounter levels" did not exist. The belief was that it was okay to travel out into the wilderness or dungeon and run into a vast array of creatures of very different power levels. Parties could and would commonly encounter situations where running away, trying to parley with the monsters, or begging for one's life was the only way to survive. They could also be 10th level characters and run into a dozen basic goblins they mopped up without blinking an eye. Later editions created the rough encounter level guidelines so no player would have to face an unwinable or effortless challenge in an adventure. My best advice if you chose to go with 2nd edition would be to view each encounter as a possible role playing encounter with multiple outcomes rather than an automatic 1 on 1 fight the players will either have to win or lose, that way you have more room to let the characters escape or roleplay it out depending on if the encounter turns out to be too hard or too easy. A few things to remember: 1. Earlier editions expected characters to die more often and rolling up a new character during a session could be common depending on the DM (there is a reason it is called SAVE or DIE). 2. Earlier editions used a lot more nameless/disposable NPC helpers to join and help the party in combat. They could be hirelings, henchmen, purchased guard dogs, or just randomly encountered adventurers that offered to help and were often sacrificed in combat to save the players. (I remember a priceless cartoon in dragon where you see a porter carrying the parties supplies slipping and falling off a cliff and the caption says Gads! there goes whats his name). 3. Earlier editions had a much less formalized rule base so DM fiat was expected to be more common. Try and free yourself from the more ridged video game adventure structure and allow yourself to ad lib more, letting the players guide the adventure paths, outcomes, and goals. I would say that more than 50% of my 2nd edition adventures were random encounters, spur of the moment side treks to bail out a character that made a bad choice, or missions started by my players going off on their own direction. You may also want to check out the new haven games website since they are playing with the 2nd edition rules right now and trying to update them for a more modern approach. Cannot comment on it though since I have not looked into it too closely. [/QUOTE]
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