D&D Memory Lane

[diaglo]

- <s>Original D&D (1974) is the one true roleplaying game</s> (shoo, diaglo)

hong said it. it must be true.


shortest session i ever ran was the Original Tomb of Horrors. lasted all of 10 minutes with my veteran players and their experienced characters. it was meant to be a one-shot pull the characters out of retirement. and it was.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

Hmmm, in 3rd edition, how would you do a trap like that where you pull the rope and it is pretty much guarenteed that the person (or people) pulling it dies? Isn't there a max damage cap of 20d6 for even the most heinous traps? That's only about 70 damage average.

Rule Zero?

 

[Henry]

Bah, 20d6 each ROUND as they are trapped beneath the rubble. Even if they are a spellcaster, they'd better have:

(A)Stilled, silent spells, and one HECK of a concentration check
(B) an amazing Fortitude save
(C) a contingency teleport that takes them to the altar of the nearest temple of the god of healing & mercy, and a good insurance plan

 

[Grazzt]

I lost my first character to the giant devil face. But I didn't go in alone, I had convinced half the party to come with me...

LOL- sweet.

As for the original thread topic, no matter what group I played in or DMed, one player would either decide to enter such doorways or they would toss the familiar in. And like one of the above posters, we did have an incident of one character picking up another (halfling I think) and tossing him through an archway "just to make sure its safe."

 

[alsih2o]

1982 i think. playing our "rules light" (we didn't read the whole rulebook) game when we come upon a pool.

staring into the shimmering water we "sensed" great evil. at the same time my cousin dean and i announce "i push (insert other characters name) in"

we didn't know how to resolve this with rules so we went out and spray painted a big orange circle in the yard and decided we would wrestle it out. first real life person to get the other in the circle won, and thier character pushed the other character first.

i was a first string wrestler and my cousin was abot out of shape so i figured i was a lock. after the dm said "go". dean said "you should take off your good coat, if you get that dirty your mom will freak. i had owned the caot maybe 3 days, we were still on xmas break, and took this as good advice.

as soon as my arms were behind me, and i was removing the coat dean grabbed me by the hair and kicked my shin, shoving me into the orange circle.

my platemailed fighter with a vorpal axe (a standard for our games) fell in the pool and managed to defeat the dinosaur and giant spider on the other side. he also managed to "accidentally" turn the wrong way later that day when deans character got on the wrong side of an ettin from the party.

jeez, we knew crap about the game but those sessions were fun....

 

[Henry]

we didn't know how to resolve this with rules so we went out and spray painted a big orange circle in the yard and decided we would wrestle it out. first real life person to get the other in the circle won, and thier character pushed the other character first.

Ah, yes, solved exactly the way young boys will do. (We sometimes used to use padded PVC weapons to resolve initiative. )

jeez, we knew crap about the game but those sessions were fun....

"And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil - for my Bar Stool Shield and my PVC Mace, they comfort me..."


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We had one player whose Cavalier (full plate and all) jumped in a well of water with a beam of light shining into it, because he had earlier received a prophecy to "follow the light"... Pull the rope, indeed...

 

[diaglo]

"And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil - for my Bar Stool Shield and my PVC Mace, they comfort me..."

wiffle ball on a string nailed to a handle....

tennis ball magic missles

garbage can lid shields

 

[Piratecat]

I hope Dean was playing a thief.

 

[alsih2o]

Ah, yes, solved exactly the way young boys will do. (We sometimes used to use padded PVC weapons to resolve initiative. )

we saw older kids playing this in the park and decided to try it. we asked my dad for some "plastic pipe" and explained what we were going to do. he says "just use broomsticks, don't hit in the head and don't tell your mother."

i am sometimes amazed at what we survived.

and as for dean, when i think about it now, i don't think he ever played anythig but a thief. but he would have fought dirty as a paladin too

 

[Plane Sailing]

Some of my early games of D&D at a local wargames club were extraordinarily dangerous for the parties - intra-party conflict seemed almost mandatory. I was as bad at it (or better, depending on your perspective) as everyone else.

At one point another PC blurted out a sworn secret of mine. My PC said that he didn't like that. Ten minutes later during a big combat I cast a death spell and uh, misjudged the range. The DM asked me if I was sure and I bluffed "sure".

I don't know about friends, but it is true to say that particular wizard had few enemies who weren't dead yet. Ah, if it hadn't been for the helm of opposite alignment which had turned him good!

--

Then again there was my druid character who used to summon dark and stormy nights, call lightning to devastate rural villages then wander along in a couple of days time, healing, building and converting the villagers to his cause