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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6981158" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Gygax-style AD&D (as presented in the rulebooks, and as discussed in the RPG magazines of the period) is based around dungeon exploration.</p><p></p><p>The GM builds the dungeon, but the players are the ones who (via their PCs) scout it out and choose which bits to try and assault, which bits to avoid, etc. If you look at Gygax's discussion of "Successful Adventures" on pp 107-9 of his PHB, you will see this very much in evidence. For instance,</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em><s>et an objective</s></em><s> . . . Once the obiective has been established, consider how well the party playing will suit the needs which it has engendered. . . . <em>Avoid unnecessary encounters</em>. This advice usually means the difference between success and failure when it is followed intelligently. Your party has an objective, and wandering monsters are something which stand between them and it. . . . The easiest way to overcome such difficulties is to avoid the interposing or trailing creature if at all possible. . . . <em>Do not be sidetracked</em>. A good referee will have many ways to distract an expedition, many things to draw attention, but ignore them if at all possible. The mappers must note all such things, and another expedition might be in order another day to investigate or destroy something or some monster, but always stay with what was planned if at all possible . . .</s></p><p><s></s></p><p><s></s></p><p><s>Notice the emphasis on the <em>players</em> being the ones to set an objective, to choose which encounters to engage and which to avoid, etc. This is very different from (eg) the DL modules, or a more contemporary module like (eg) Speaker in Dreams, which assume that the players will proceed through a series of encounters chosen by the GM.</s></p><p><s></s></p><p><s>This is why AD&D doesn't need encounter-building guidelines, other than the very basic idea that the 1st level of a dungeon should have mostly 1st level monsters on it.</s></p><p><s></s></p><p><s>Yes. This is why I said "AD&D does assume that the players have a reasonable chance of dealing with EVERY encounter they come across - either by defeating monsters that the players have chosen to assault in the dungeon, and either by defeating or evading randomly encountered monsters."</s></p><p><s></s></p><p><s>AD&D does not assume that there will be encounters that the PCs can neither defeat nor evade. Ie that there will be hopeless situations in which the PCs find themselves. (At least in general - especially for low-level PCs this may sometimes happen through sheer misfortune, but it's not meant to be a ubiquitous feature of the game.)</s></p><p><s></s></p><p><s>I don't think this is right. There are also enforced "social" encounters - eg the GM has a red dragon turn up to talk to a group of 1st level PCs. And there are enforced "escape" encounters - eg this is part of the first DL module, I think.</s></p><p><s></s></p><p><s>The difference between these and the Gygaxian style is that the GM has deliberately placed the encounter to generate a certain sort of response from the players. (And you can see plenty of posters still advocating this approach in 5e threads.) Whereas in the Gygaxian style, if the encounter is a placed one - typically, a dungeon room occupant - then the players are expected to control their interaction with it (via scouting, planning etc); and if it is a random one then there are general reaction rules, evasion rules etc to make the outcome a combination of player choice and random chance rather than GM pre-determination.</s></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6981158, member: 42582"] Gygax-style AD&D (as presented in the rulebooks, and as discussed in the RPG magazines of the period) is based around dungeon exploration. The GM builds the dungeon, but the players are the ones who (via their PCs) scout it out and choose which bits to try and assault, which bits to avoid, etc. If you look at Gygax's discussion of "Successful Adventures" on pp 107-9 of his PHB, you will see this very much in evidence. For instance, [indent][i][S]et an objective[/S][/i][S] . . . Once the obiective has been established, consider how well the party playing will suit the needs which it has engendered. . . . [I]Avoid unnecessary encounters[/I]. This advice usually means the difference between success and failure when it is followed intelligently. Your party has an objective, and wandering monsters are something which stand between them and it. . . . The easiest way to overcome such difficulties is to avoid the interposing or trailing creature if at all possible. . . . [I]Do not be sidetracked[/I]. A good referee will have many ways to distract an expedition, many things to draw attention, but ignore them if at all possible. The mappers must note all such things, and another expedition might be in order another day to investigate or destroy something or some monster, but always stay with what was planned if at all possible . . .[/s][/indent][S] Notice the emphasis on the [I]players[/I] being the ones to set an objective, to choose which encounters to engage and which to avoid, etc. This is very different from (eg) the DL modules, or a more contemporary module like (eg) Speaker in Dreams, which assume that the players will proceed through a series of encounters chosen by the GM. This is why AD&D doesn't need encounter-building guidelines, other than the very basic idea that the 1st level of a dungeon should have mostly 1st level monsters on it. Yes. This is why I said "AD&D does assume that the players have a reasonable chance of dealing with EVERY encounter they come across - either by defeating monsters that the players have chosen to assault in the dungeon, and either by defeating or evading randomly encountered monsters." AD&D does not assume that there will be encounters that the PCs can neither defeat nor evade. Ie that there will be hopeless situations in which the PCs find themselves. (At least in general - especially for low-level PCs this may sometimes happen through sheer misfortune, but it's not meant to be a ubiquitous feature of the game.) I don't think this is right. There are also enforced "social" encounters - eg the GM has a red dragon turn up to talk to a group of 1st level PCs. And there are enforced "escape" encounters - eg this is part of the first DL module, I think. The difference between these and the Gygaxian style is that the GM has deliberately placed the encounter to generate a certain sort of response from the players. (And you can see plenty of posters still advocating this approach in 5e threads.) Whereas in the Gygaxian style, if the encounter is a placed one - typically, a dungeon room occupant - then the players are expected to control their interaction with it (via scouting, planning etc); and if it is a random one then there are general reaction rules, evasion rules etc to make the outcome a combination of player choice and random chance rather than GM pre-determination.[/s] [/QUOTE]
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