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Let's Not Save The World...Again
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7718561" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>That's not an example of play. It's a set of (incomplete) rules for running a hexcrawl. The sample of play is found later in the book, after the combat section. And as is typical for 1st level scenarios, the action begins at the dungeon entrance.</p><p></p><p>The first D&D product I ever owned - Moldvay Basic - included the KotB. It was the first adventure I ever played. But I also read the foreword to Moldvay Basic. The tension between the promise of that foreword, and the experience of the Keep, was something that I did not learn how to resolve until I taught myself around 4 years later (using Oriental Adventures as my medium). But I knew that something was going on that didn't just involve me, because I read magazine articles, including those by Lewis Pulsipher in early White Dwarf; and I learned from experience that when I ran games in the way that he described they were not fun for me or my players, at least in part because they didn't play anything like the Moldvay foreword. (I could also see the weaknesses Lewis Pulsipher described in the so-called "story" approach to play - hence my need to teach myself how to run a game in the fashion that later became known as scene-framing play.)</p><p></p><p>Also, I don't really think of the Keep as involving a hex crawl to find the Caves of Chaos. The caves are not hidden or in an unknown location - you can get to them by following a road for about 3 miles (though rather inexpicably, the module allows for moving only 900 yards per hour, so that 3 miles is half-a-day's journey).</p><p></p><p>I don't trawl through DM's Guild - the contemporary equivalent to Dragon magazine - but I'd be surprised if there's nothing in there that is hex crawl-y or similarly exploratory.</p><p></p><p>My own perception - based on reading online forums, looking at products available, etc - is that the amount of advocacy and product support out there for "old school" play is probably at its highest level (in proportionate terms) since the late 70s or early 80s, and at its highest level ever in absolute terms. Maybe there are new players who would love all that stuff but simply don't come across it - but my own feeling is still that the reason many people play APs is because, on balance, they like them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7718561, member: 42582"] That's not an example of play. It's a set of (incomplete) rules for running a hexcrawl. The sample of play is found later in the book, after the combat section. And as is typical for 1st level scenarios, the action begins at the dungeon entrance. The first D&D product I ever owned - Moldvay Basic - included the KotB. It was the first adventure I ever played. But I also read the foreword to Moldvay Basic. The tension between the promise of that foreword, and the experience of the Keep, was something that I did not learn how to resolve until I taught myself around 4 years later (using Oriental Adventures as my medium). But I knew that something was going on that didn't just involve me, because I read magazine articles, including those by Lewis Pulsipher in early White Dwarf; and I learned from experience that when I ran games in the way that he described they were not fun for me or my players, at least in part because they didn't play anything like the Moldvay foreword. (I could also see the weaknesses Lewis Pulsipher described in the so-called "story" approach to play - hence my need to teach myself how to run a game in the fashion that later became known as scene-framing play.) Also, I don't really think of the Keep as involving a hex crawl to find the Caves of Chaos. The caves are not hidden or in an unknown location - you can get to them by following a road for about 3 miles (though rather inexpicably, the module allows for moving only 900 yards per hour, so that 3 miles is half-a-day's journey). I don't trawl through DM's Guild - the contemporary equivalent to Dragon magazine - but I'd be surprised if there's nothing in there that is hex crawl-y or similarly exploratory. My own perception - based on reading online forums, looking at products available, etc - is that the amount of advocacy and product support out there for "old school" play is probably at its highest level (in proportionate terms) since the late 70s or early 80s, and at its highest level ever in absolute terms. Maybe there are new players who would love all that stuff but simply don't come across it - but my own feeling is still that the reason many people play APs is because, on balance, they like them. [/QUOTE]
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