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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9394854" data-attributes="member: 7026594">In my experience this is just part of the play loop at low levels in the old editions.  Yes, after a relatively small number of combats/small amount of damage, they need to retreat and rest up.  But thankfully the play mechanics are quick and simple enough that you can easily fit multiple expeditions into a single session.Part of the benefit of gaining levels is gaining stamina to be able to go on longer expeditions with less frequent returns to town for rest and resupply.  Note that the Expert set gives the rules for wilderness exploration/hex-crawling, and those rules cover 4+ level and up.  In my experience that's around when PCs start being better equipped for that.  At 1st-3rd level they're more dungeon raiders.I don't see it as less heroic, but it's definitely paced less like an action movie.  Which is how I often conceptualize the<a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2018/03/healing-through-ages.html" target="_blank"> vastly-increased healing and recovery rates in D&D editions over time</a>- making the game better able to represent action movie-style pacing.Note that you don't take damage ALL that quickly if players don't resort to combat all the time and don't insist on fighting to the death.  Negotiating, Reaction Rolls, Morale checks for enemies after the first casualty and after half casualties, and running away from large groups of enemies (optionally dropping food or treasure behind to deter pursuit, per those explicit rules in B/X) are all ways to mitigate the amount of fighting the party does, and hence damage it takes.  In B/X monster xp is paltry compared to treasure, so being able to minimize fights except where you need or want to is a winning strategy.</blockquote>

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