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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 5662856" data-attributes="member: 3586">At present, I'm running two 4E campaigns and playing in one more. The levels of the campaigns are 26th, 16th and 6th, with the last being the one I play in. I'm expecting that our epic-level campaign (which we started when 4E was released and has played through most of the HPE series) will end up around Christmas.My players have said to me that they'd like the new campaign to return to my version of the World of Greyhawk (which most of my campaigns have been set in over the past 15 years), and to be set in the land of the Frost Barbarians. This is fine by me, as I've unfinished business up there - my brother's PC became King of the Frost Barbarians once, long ago, but it was all part of the Five Shall Be One storyline and he was duped by Iuz. What's happened since then? (My campaign has advanced to 20 years after those events). It'll be good to find out.However, I've indicated to the players that we'll be using the AD&D 1st Edition rules for this campaign. They seem to be ok with it so far. (It might be that it all falls apart before we start, but for now I'm progressing with the assumption that I will be running AD&D).Why AD&D? Why not 4E or 3E? A large part of it is due to the length of time it has been since I ran AD&D. I'm fascinated by the development of the D&D system, but I feel I'm losing touch with how AD&D actually plays. There are bits and pieces that I think I know about it (combat runs quicker than 4E!) that I'm not actually sure are true.I expect that when the players realise they need a cleric, their experience will change a bit. I'm actually quite interested in seeing how much the cleric ends up being "after encounter" healing and not "in encounter" healing - which is where the 3E and 4E cleric tended to live. Then too, there are certain parts of AD&D that have de-emphasised in later editions, and I'd like to play them up in this game. In particular:* Henchmen* Wandering Monsters* Reactive DungeonsHenchmen, in particular, have had a rocky ride. They were tremendously important in AD&D. In 2E, the system for henchmen disappeared, and became "DM makes things up". In 3E, the system became a feat - which we used. And in 4E, henchmen exist as part of the optional rules from Dragon magazine.However, for a smaller group such as I have (4 players) where not everyone can make each session, they allow the filling of holes, and they also provide good world-building and roleplaying possibilities.Wandering Monsters exist - to a certain extent - in 3E and 4E, but there are problems with their usage, in particular with how long a combat can take. (I'm rather pleased with the brevity of our 26th level 4E combats, but even so...) Likewise with Reactive Dungeons. Actually, it's less of a system-specific thing than a DM thing. Gary writes about them in the AD&D DMG, where he discusses the different approaches of a lair to being attacked, then being attacked a week later after resupply. (I've a feeling that running a reactive lair is much, much easier when you've designed it yourself than when you're running from a published adventure).I bring up Wandering Monsters and Reactive Dungeons precisely because I think they're the two biggest elements for stopping the 15 Minute Adventuring Day. We'll see how that goes...Another thing that I expect will be greatly different between AD&D and 4E is the role of magic items. In 4E, magic items are (mostly) dull. They pretty much have to be - the design space they would have occupied has been taken by class powers. When a fighter gets a magic item, it isn't really granting him something that he couldn't do before. I think this is different in AD&D, but it will be interesting to see how it goes.(I've already placed a wand of fear with 7 charges into the first dungeon... as I plan ahead by four months or so).The other part of AD&D magic items as opposed to 4E is that 4E expects the characters have the "big three" items. It's part of the maths. It's less so in AD&D... with both damage and AC not really scaling that much. I'm going to be very interested to see how it actually plays, as opposed to my theorising about it.Oh, and as for the campaign itself: A small village on the edge of the Frost Barbarian lands is in trouble: their last raiding party to the lands of the south was destroyed and their dragon ship with it. Now the village is being plagued by goblin bandits. The goblins have come into possession of a map to a mystical dungeon - a shrine to the old gods of the barbarians, now forgotten but holding old magic - but the goblins don't know what they have...(As for the other campaign I run, it will continue in Greyhawk 4E).Cheers!</blockquote>

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