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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Monayuris" data-source="post: 7938624" data-attributes="member: 6859536">A common house rule in Labyrinth Lord / B/X is max hit points at 1st level.I'm an experienced DM in OSR games... my guess is that the DM just decided to have the wild man attack with surprise. In which case that sucks. But the rules make that situation extremely unlikely.In B/X (from which Labyrinth Lord is derived) monster reactions rarely result in automatic attacks. Attacks Immediately only happens on a roll of a 2 on 2d6. This is little under 3% chance. Surprise happens only 33% of the time (1 or 2 in d6). So using the rules of the game, a wild man attacking immediately with surprise is 33% of a 3% chance... just dumb luck. Sometimes the bear eats you.More often than not, reactions result in may attack, indifferent, no attack, or even friendly (the opposite of attack immediately). May attack and indifferent allow for the opportunity for the players to use their skill and tactics to either avoid combat or improve their chances. No attack means the monster wanders off.I think a lot of people who run old school games (or have run them back in the day) ignore the Reactions rules. I think they are VITAL to a fun game experience. Once you use them, you practically stop getting the experiences you describe and you start opening up interesting interactions with monsters.Personally, I like the punishing lethal aspect. It makes me approach the game, in character. "How do I survive in a deadly environment". I can't rely on my hit points or powers or special abilities to cover up for my mistakes. I have to rely on my own decisions and sometimes I'll screw up and my character will die. My response will be to roll up a new one and learn from the mistake. It's only a game.That being said, it's not for everyone and it's not something I want all the time. I have recently discovered <a href="https://lowfantasygaming.com/" target="_blank">Low Fantasy Gaming</a>. I haven't played or ran it yet, but from my reading, so far, it looks to be a good candidate for that in between 5e and OD&D experience.</blockquote>

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