pming
Legend
Hiya!
As [MENTION=23029]FL[/MENTION]exor the Mighty said, we pretty much role-played it. If there was a loose stone under the bed that hid a belt pouch with 50sp in it....then the player had to go into a bit more detail than "We search the room". The player would have to engage in actual conversation with the DM. Yeah, scarrryyyy!
The player had to say "We search the room. Tongo will examine the armoire...tapping on all sides, seeing if it moves easily, feeling around inside and stuff. Felician will check out the book case looking for stuff behind books or between them. I will search the bed, the bedding, the headboard, looking underneath it, and checking to see if something his hidden in the floorboards...er...I mean flagstones". That's when the DM gives all the good info about what kind of wood things are made of, if there are any unusual designs carved into them, how old stuff is, and all that other stuff that more and more 'modern' gamers and games are classifying as "the boring stuff". In my example, I'd tell the character searching under the bed that the bed itself has nothing but bugs, but that there does seem to be a loose flagstone under it.
That's when the players take that info and decide what to do about that new information and how to go about it. I don't blurt out "Under a loose flagstone is a pouch with 50sp"...because if I do this all the time, and then suddenly say "Uh, how are you moving the flagstone?", it's a dead giveaway that it's trapped (or whatever). So, yeah, that's how you "searched" in 1e AD&D; the PLAYERS had to actually use their brain and role-play rather than just roll a d20 and blurt out "I got a 19".
As for sneaking and Thief stuff...generally gave everyone 1/2 what a 1st level Thief would have. However, the Thief was still MUCH better at it. A non-thief or sneaky type (which was based on character personality, background and how the player role-played him as much as his class/race), would have to make a roll every time they might mess up. With a thief, one roll would get you 'to your goal' unless there was an unforeseen complication. In other words, a fighter would have to make his MS and HS rolls to sneak up to the doorway, then again to move through it, then again to go down the hall, around the corner, and up the stairs, then again to move through a doorway. A Thief would have to roll ONCE. Success gets him all the way up to the 'end goal'.
Climbing, swimming, intimidation, diplomacy, religious knowledge, etc? That was all based mostly on the character as a whole (with class, race and 'Secondary Skill' ["job", basically] all playing a part). A player with a human fighter who's father was a sailor, for example, would likely be able to tie all manner of knots, estimate the strength of rope, guess if it's going to rain, and be able to swim well. If some situation came up in game where the player of the fighter figured his 'sailor' secondary skill might help in a situation, he mentions it and I (DM) either decide and outcome, or have the player make a roll...
...speaking of rolls... Random. Not based on any stat. Usually a "X chance in Y", depending on all the pertinent circumstances and factors. Fighter trying to loosen the ropes tieing him up? 4-in-6. Fighter is almost dead, freezing, and in the dark? 2-in-6. The half-elf cleric who worships the goddess of commerce and has lived in the city her whole life? 1-in-6. Sometimes I'd use odd dice, just to spice things up (3-in-8, or 5-in-12, etc.). If I ever did do a stat check, it wasn't 1d20; it was 3d6, 4d6, etc.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
As [MENTION=23029]FL[/MENTION]exor the Mighty said, we pretty much role-played it. If there was a loose stone under the bed that hid a belt pouch with 50sp in it....then the player had to go into a bit more detail than "We search the room". The player would have to engage in actual conversation with the DM. Yeah, scarrryyyy!
The player had to say "We search the room. Tongo will examine the armoire...tapping on all sides, seeing if it moves easily, feeling around inside and stuff. Felician will check out the book case looking for stuff behind books or between them. I will search the bed, the bedding, the headboard, looking underneath it, and checking to see if something his hidden in the floorboards...er...I mean flagstones". That's when the DM gives all the good info about what kind of wood things are made of, if there are any unusual designs carved into them, how old stuff is, and all that other stuff that more and more 'modern' gamers and games are classifying as "the boring stuff".
In my example, I'd tell the character searching under the bed that the bed itself has nothing but bugs, but that there does seem to be a loose flagstone under it.That's when the players take that info and decide what to do about that new information and how to go about it. I don't blurt out "Under a loose flagstone is a pouch with 50sp"...because if I do this all the time, and then suddenly say "Uh, how are you moving the flagstone?", it's a dead giveaway that it's trapped (or whatever). So, yeah, that's how you "searched" in 1e AD&D; the PLAYERS had to actually use their brain and role-play rather than just roll a d20 and blurt out "I got a 19".
As for sneaking and Thief stuff...generally gave everyone 1/2 what a 1st level Thief would have. However, the Thief was still MUCH better at it. A non-thief or sneaky type (which was based on character personality, background and how the player role-played him as much as his class/race), would have to make a roll every time they might mess up. With a thief, one roll would get you 'to your goal' unless there was an unforeseen complication. In other words, a fighter would have to make his MS and HS rolls to sneak up to the doorway, then again to move through it, then again to go down the hall, around the corner, and up the stairs, then again to move through a doorway. A Thief would have to roll ONCE. Success gets him all the way up to the 'end goal'.
Climbing, swimming, intimidation, diplomacy, religious knowledge, etc? That was all based mostly on the character as a whole (with class, race and 'Secondary Skill' ["job", basically] all playing a part). A player with a human fighter who's father was a sailor, for example, would likely be able to tie all manner of knots, estimate the strength of rope, guess if it's going to rain, and be able to swim well. If some situation came up in game where the player of the fighter figured his 'sailor' secondary skill might help in a situation, he mentions it and I (DM) either decide and outcome, or have the player make a roll...
...speaking of rolls... Random. Not based on any stat. Usually a "X chance in Y", depending on all the pertinent circumstances and factors. Fighter trying to loosen the ropes tieing him up? 4-in-6. Fighter is almost dead, freezing, and in the dark? 2-in-6. The half-elf cleric who worships the goddess of commerce and has lived in the city her whole life? 1-in-6. Sometimes I'd use odd dice, just to spice things up (3-in-8, or 5-in-12, etc.). If I ever did do a stat check, it wasn't 1d20; it was 3d6, 4d6, etc.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
