Everyone starts at 1st level

[Ariosto]

So you have to do a lot of fudging to keep the adventure on track.

Yes, this is probably not well suited to a game with a track on which to keep.

 

[Remathilis]

Yes, this is probably not well suited to a game with a track on which to keep.

It is especially ill suited to dungeons where bound prisoners cannot immediately appear in the next room ad naseum.

 

[On Puget Sound]

How about redefining what it means to gain a level? Perhaps your HP, AC, damage and hit chance don't appreciably change. Instead you gain more options. Each level you might gain a new daily power, or a daily becomes an encounter, or an encounter becomes an at-will. Or you learn a feat. At level 10 you have more things you can do, but for the few things the level 1 character can do, he can do them almost as well as you can.

 

[rgard]

In 1E we occasionally mixed low and high level characters. It worked fine except for when the plebes were caught with the rest of the party taking a 19 or 20D6 fireball.

Usually we played the lower level folks to about 7th or 8th level then moved them over to the higher level party. Except for one, all of our pcs were played from 1st level on up.

 

[the Jester]

How about redefining what it means to gain a level? Perhaps your HP, AC, damage and hit chance don't appreciably change. Instead you gain more options. Each level you might gain a new daily power, or a daily becomes an encounter, or an encounter becomes an at-will. Or you learn a feat. At level 10 you have more things you can do, but for the few things the level 1 character can do, he can do them almost as well as you can.

This is fairly close to what I have in mind.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Organic character growth and history

Just fake it. It's easy.

I made up a fake history for a WFRP PC once complete with cock-ups and near TPKs. Once you've played and read about enough rpg sessions you can see the same character types and situations repeat over and over.

The lone wolf. The paladin. The kender. The loony with the wand of wonder. The addiction to violence. The miscommunications. The paranoia.

 

[Korgoth]

This is fairly close to what I have in mind.

Have you looked at 1st Edition Gamma World?

In GW 1e, your stats and hit points are set at character creation (hp are xd6 where x=CON, so you have quite a few). Rolling to hit is, like in Chainmail, based on a matrix of Weapon type versus Armor Class... a Fusion Rifle needs to roll a y to hit AC z, etc. When you gain a "level", you get to roll on a chart that has various benefits, such as gaining a to hit bonus, a damage bonus or a stat bonus.

 

[Fanaelialae]

As has been stated, remove the +1/2 level bonus PCs get and pluses on magical items. Reduce monster attack bonuses, defenses, and skills to level 1. Essentially, damage and conditions scale, but attack, defenses and skills do not. This method assures that low level characters are capable of contributing, although not as much as their higher level counterparts. There may also often have to be careful, since high level monsters deal more damage and they'll have low hp.

Alternately, you could have xp requirements (roughly) double every level. (Level 2 at 1000; level 3 at 2000; level 4 at 4000; level 5 at 8000, etc). You'd have to rework the xp values of monsters though (unless you want to severely slow the rate of leveling from 5th level on), which would mean that the encounter design mechanic of 4e would be completely defunct when including monsters lower or higher than the encounter level. I'm not sure how you'd work around that. Under this method low level characters are effectively dead weight, however they will level very quickly assuming they can survive.

Nonetheless, before implementing either of these methods, I would ask myself whether these rules would improve the players' enjoyment of the game.

YMMV

 

[haakon1]

We did this back in 1e and I heard someone on the board (diaglo maybe) that still does this. If the first level character survives the fights they do tend to level faster.

Might have been me, Crothian, as I do still follow the "rule" that everyone starts at 1st level. The ways I make it survivable (in 3.5e rules) are:
1) You can take a "monster" race with a higher ECL, but 1st level character level. You need to "earn off" the XP for the equivalent number of levels before advancing in the PC class. If you start off as a lizardman or a centaur (the two I've seen), you are a bit more survivable at first.

2) Players have the option of taking over an existing NPC. This happened recently, when a new player took over a local militia sergeant (3rd level warrior, in a party of 4th-7th level PC classes), who had been a guide for the PC's. In his case, once he earns enough XP for 4th level, I'll convert the 3 Warrior levels to Fighter levels.

3) Extra equipment. A new 1st level paladin just joined our 3rd-4th level party, but he does have a magic sword he inherited somehow. He's had no trouble surviving so far.

4) Biggish parties. Of my two active campaigns, the first (with the Warrior) has now 9 PC's, the second (with the Paladin) has 5 PC's. This doesn't guarantee survival, but it does increase the chances they are not the target for the deadly X attack, or are outside the blast radius.

5) Lowish power levels. I've never beyond about 10th level in 3.5e for the PC's. And background NPC's don't scale with the PC's -- when they are 10th level, the average soldier or tavern brawler they meet is still a 1st level Warrior (or Commoner). Monsters do get tougher, of course, but I still will throw in stuff like "a pack of 5 wolves" for a forest encounter table, regardless of level. Some folks think that's boring, I think it's verisimilitude -- every once in a while, it's fun to see how outlandishly powerful you've become.

 

[haakon1]

Maybe cap the game at 4th level?

Staying low level does make it a lot more feasible, nod, and up to 4th level (in 3.5 or AD&D) it seems to work without big problems.

This will encourage selfish behaviors of survival among players who are higher than 1st level (and possibly suicidal behavior among new 1st level guys). Higher level guys will be LOATHE to die, while new 1st level characters will pale in comparison to the old character (and hence, players will not be invested in them).

In my experience, it does make dying pretty serious (and quests to get people raised quite urgent). But it doesn't make players more selfish. When your character is in SERIOUS danger (can be killed, and may not be immediately replaceable with something "just as good"), there's more emphasis on survival through cooperation, from what I've seen. For example, everyone carries rations, water, and a healing potion, just in case they get cut off somehow, and everyone knows where the other guy's potion is, in case he goes down and they need to feed it to him.

One question: what is the reasoning behind your wanting to do this? I ask this because there may be other ways to reach your goal.

Mostly tradition. Many of my players are grognards and agree with me on this. Also, my universe supports this style of play, as not every encounter is "level appropriate" for any party. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's not, and part of the fun is knowing when to just fire some arrows, versus bringing out the big spells, versus running for your life. When the players get freaked out about rolling poison saves versus the twig blights, because they aren't sure if they are in a "level appropriate" unknown encounter or something really weird and tough, that's coolness on both sides of the table.

Have hirelings in many adventures. These (or other NPCs) are statted out by players...heck, even the "bad guy" turned good could be used in this way. (This might also be a good way for you to alleviate some of your dm responsibilities). When a player dies, the hireling (usually of a level 3 or less than the pcs) becomes the new player character. Do this, and you have a "pool" of potential new pcs from which to draw, and it makes sense that they "step up" to join the party.

I do allow converting NPC's as an alternative.

Another alternative I allow is bringing in PC's developed in a different campaign. That idea REALLY is cool, I think, for people to be able to play "orphaned" old PC's from long gone campaigns.