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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 9838544" data-attributes="member: 6796661">Exactly. I think running away and even attempting to parley was more core to the game then. Morale rules in OD&D were there from the start. Combat was not default annihilation. Failed morale would lead to monsters fleeing or attempting to parley. Morale was even more strongly emphasized in AD&D. The AD&D DMG has rules for encounter reactions, fleeing, and parleying. XP awards favored how much treasure you extracted over combat. It was not assumed that all encounters would end in combat, even during a dungeon crawl.I recently listened to a podcast where Keep on the Borderlands was given as the quintessential clear the dungeon adventure. That's not how I read or run it back in the 80s or today.  I think it is much more about exploiting inter-tribal rivalries and breaks down if run as a slaughterfest.Older FGG adventures are less challenging in 5e. 5e characters are simply hardier and more competent at lower levels. I would expect that PF1e would be the same, compared to S&W, but I've heard good things about many of FG's PF1e adventures.  I think they were a bit lazy with their conversions to 5e and I believe with some material, like Rappan Athuk, they started the conversions before the final, official rules were release to too soon after the release of 5e to have a through understanding of it.I still ran an enjoyable, multi-year campaign, and certainly it could be deadly (especially because it was easy for players to move to areas/levels meant to be a challenge to characters at higher tier levels), but it didn't really live up to its reputation as especially deadly. I think it would shock players who were new to D&D and used to typical WotC adventures, but for careful, tactical players, who don't assume that every encounter is leveled for them to beat, it doesn't end up being that deadly.</blockquote>

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