OD&D Advice wanted going back to a OD&D game for nostalgia

[Lord Vangarel]

Ok, RAW as much as possible. First session is tonight so should be fun. My reasons for doing it are to experience the OD&D rules again in actual play having had 30 years since the last time and more campaigns than I can remember with AD&D, 2E, 3E, 4E and Pathfinder as well as many other systems.

Should be a blast! Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[Storminator]

First session is tonight so should be fun.

So what happened?!

PS

 

[Mr. Greengoat]

Hope it went well.

Although there is an element of helpless futility at beginning levels (D&D as Vietnam), constantly tearing up character sheets gets old for me. I have found that the leathality starts to diminish after PCs hit 2nd and then 3rd level. The players tend to be wiser and pragmatic while their characters start getting access to magic items, rest spots, healing, and then finaly divine raise-dead. Old D&D can be a long-form game, but it takes time to develop. Gleefully murdering players and making it all seem pointless can turn off a lot of players. So a good DM should be encouraging and not be afraid of making suggestions to exasperated players.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Although there is an element of helpless futility at beginning levels (D&D as Vietnam), constantly tearing up character sheets gets old for me. I have found that the leathality starts to diminish after PCs hit 2nd and then 3rd level. The players tend to be wiser and pragmatic while their characters start getting access to magic items, rest spots, healing, and then finaly divine raise-dead. Old D&D can be a long-form game, but it takes time to develop. Gleefully murdering players and making it all seem pointless can turn off a lot of players. So a good DM should be encouraging and not be afraid of making suggestions to exasperated players.

Well, there's been quite a lot of evolution in design philosophy. Early D&D editions, and especially play style, were explicitly designed to test player skill, rendering PCs somewhat more disposable. Later D&D editions tried to separate player skill from character skill, and decide outcomes base more heavily on character skill.

 

[Ulrick]

I hope you had a fun game. Here's my suggestion.

In the back of In Search of the Unknown, there are lists of potential NPCs to be used as hirelings.

Use them.

Or allow the PCs to hire a 0-level man-at-arms or two from the keep at a reasonable rate.

 

[Mr. Greengoat]

Well, there's been quite a lot of evolution in design philosophy. Early D&D editions, and especially play style, were explicitly designed to test player skill, rendering PCs somewhat more disposable. Later D&D editions tried to separate player skill from character skill, and decide outcomes base more heavily on character skill.

I agree that "player skill" or system mastery has mutated over the editions. (Perhaps it has gotten more abstract with modern char-op versus old-school dungeon-paranoia?)

But I do know 1st level characters are twice as fragile as 2nd level charcters. A second level character can take one hit from an average monster and still live to back away, where a first level charcter (particularly if you don't play with max HP on first level) has a good chance of dying on one hit.
I think the fragility of first level characters is built in to the system but the survivavbility of higher level charcters (3+) is closer to newer editions of the game. Particularly when you do the math to figure out how long you have to play (in real table time) to get to those middle to high levels. The mentioned system mastery (not being a foolhardy PC) just comes with the turf.

 

[Remathilis]

Don't listen to these guys.

You can play Basic, play with low-lethality, and still have fun. When I played BD&D in the early 90s, we had easy access to cure potions (still takes a round to drink one), fudged rolls, used house-rules and had fun. If you're going for a nostalgia kick, do what you need to play. A D&D fighter is STILL miles below a Pathfinder one in simplicity and power. Mix in some AD&D if you need it (hint, most people did).

Don't think that if you don't have a mountain of dead fighters that had 5 hp and 9 strengths that you're doing it wrong.

 

[Lord Vangarel]

So what happened?!

It went well.

I wanted to give the player's some background story rather than just chuck them into the dungeon so the game started with the party escorting a cart back to their home town for a merchant. When the axle broke they could go no further so the npc's with the group headed off towards the town to fetch help whilst the pc's stayed to guard the cart. I wanted to give the players an early taste of combat as I knew there wouldn't be much more until quite a bit later. Next thing the players knew I rolled Listen checks for them and the elf heard some movement nearby. Investigating they spotted some goblins sneaking towards them so the players called out a warning. The goblins didn't want to fight, just wanted easy pickings, (a roll on the encounter reactions table), so a brief parley was entered with neither side willing to give in. Needless to say the goblins attacked and the combat began. Initiative was a d6 and I went with individual initiative as only had 3 pc's. The elf won and shot one of the goblins using his bow killing it instantly. The remaining goblins moved closer on their turn and then the final two pc's attacked. The whole combat took 4 rounds with the pc's winning and about 10 minutes to resolve which was nice however low level combats can be quick.

No more random encounters happened so their companions returned and the cart was fixed. I then skipped forwards a few weeks to a spring festival. Much role playing as the pc's explored and got an idea of the potential plot. I quite like the roll 1d20 on or under your attribute to accomplish something and asked for checks to be made a few times for Charisma checks to see how successful the characters were. The party discovered that an npc dwarf companion had a map of a secret dungeon nearby but he didn't want to share with them and left, however the pc's noticed that others followed him out and decided to see if he needed any help.

The night finished with the pc's helping the dwarf fight off his assailants, again about 4 rounds of combat that was resolved in around 10 minutes, and who knows he may relent and show them the map next session.

Overall I liked some elements, character creation is lightning fast, especially for dm's for npc's, the attribute check was good but not sure whether a static target with 1d20+modifier is better albeit slightly more complex. The combat was quick and fairly simple but tends to be at 1st level. Encounter reactions was good, the goblins didn't automatically attack and I will definitely be using this again. I tried to encourage the players to look at their stats and describe how they reflected their pc's.

This week the dwarf may share the map and we'll get to see the party find and enter the dungeon and test a few more rolls out.

 

[Lord Vangarel]

You can play Basic, play with low-lethality, and still have fun.

All the players opted for their characters to have plate armor and shields. Plate is seriously cheap in OD&D! This gave them AC's down around 3 to 2's and so I had to roll high to even get close to hitting them.

I didn't go too hard for the first session as I wanted to try out ability checks and give just a brief taste of combat.

 

[bryce0lynch]

I have some advice, for both you and the players.

If the creature is intelligent, then have it pretend like it is armed with only a pocket knife, or rather, it should have that attitude.

For the players this tends to shove combat down on the 'list of possible things I could do this turn.' "Are you kidding me? I'm not attacking the pig-men! All I've got is this pocket knife!" This should get people talking to monsters more, sneaking more, coming up with devious plans more, and so on. Parley with the orcs, offer them a poisoned pig, smoke them out, etc.

Same when you are running the monsters. Unless they are VERY confident then I make them more apprehensive of combat. Set traps, circle around and ambush, etc.

You end up being The Brave Little Tailor instead of Boromir, which I think fits the beginning of an OD&D game better.