KaeYoss said:
The book has a blue mage on the cover? I *knew* they stole that concept when they wrote Encyclopaedia Arcana: Nymphology
I'm actually working on a campaign to recreate the feel of 1st edition, using the 3.5 rules. I'd love to get some comments on the following house rules from the older gamers like me, and we're the ones most likely to be reading a thread called "Nostalgia." Give me your comments, guys, if you can dredge up your recollection of the days when wizards were magic users and rogues were thieves!
1) Treasures will be considerable, and the campaign is brutal, like First Edition. Remember: true resurrection means not losing a level when you’re resurrected.
2) Magic items and spells are not as readily available for purchase as the PH suggests. However, there are many spells out there that are 20 to 25% more powerful than the PH norm for a spell of that level. Similarly, most magic weapons and armor will have a “kicker” added to them (such as +1/+2 vs. magical beasts).
3) I have identified the power levels of the major players in the world. If your goal is political domination of an area, that goal will not continually be out of reach; it will be attainable if you survive long enough to defeat the existing power players.
4) You must train to reach the “feat” levels, 3rd, 6th, 9th, etc. Training costs 1,000 gps for third level, and doubles for each subsequent training.
5) I will roll all monster combat rolls publicly, and I will not pull any punches in monster strategy, hit points, or number. You get what you get. The players are playing against the rule system to survive and become legendary.
6) In any place that calls for random encounters, the area will have a challenge rating, per the rules. The random encounter table for the area will have an EQUAL possibility of encounters ranging from five below to five above the area’s CR. The players will have to decide whether to fight or run. This will probably be a life-critical decision in any but civilized areas.
7) Each feat level for each class has a well-recognized title.
8) At level 11, a character must have a stronghold to advance to level 12. The stronghold may be jointly held by a party. A stronghold reduces training expenses by 10%, for various reasons depending on class.
9) At 15th level, the character’s bloodline will almost certainly be recognized as a noble line.
10) At level 20, epics will circulate about the character’s deeds, and eventually one of them will become the “standard” bardic poem, with codes and secret knowledge encrypted into its wording and music. While this is gratifying enough, it may draw challengers seeking fame who want to kill the characters or take their equipment.
11) At level 30, a character has enough internal power to be made immortal by epic spell or otherwise. To advance further, the character needs a stronghold on a plane other than the material plane. The existing stronghold can be moved (if the character has that sort of magic), kept as an extra fortress, or relinquished.
12) At level 40, a character has the potential to become divine.
13) The players will start at level 10, with 55,000 gps to spend on equipment. No training cost is incurred for any of these levels from starting gold.
14) I want to avoid the “video game” feel of the 3.0/3.5 advancement. Experience awards will be half the amounts shown in the book, to slightly draw out the amount of adventuring time required per level (anticipated at 3 sessions per level). Large roleplaying experience point bonuses will apply for interactions with NPCs, advancing a character’s network of contacts, undertaking religious development, political development, or initiating research (especially research that leads to quests). A “day” of research means eight hours, permitting limited adventuring for a wizard even during research. An adventure spent in roleplaying as described above will yield almost as much experience as a session spent in a dungeon adventure (but not, obviously, as much treasure).
15) The sorcerer class is not available to players.
16) A well developed personality profile and backstory for the character will gain between one and three fate chips at the beginning of the campaign, depending especially on whether you give me adventure hooks and potential friends and enemies. Each of you may describe a mentor of 12th level, who will help you from time to time (not their character sheet, just who they are and what they are all about). Beware of trusting your mentors too much, though; they are NPCs under my control, and we all know what that means.
