D&D 1E Old Timers: How was D1 supposed to be run/go down?

[Dannyalcatraz]

It never occurred to me at the time, but looking back I wonder why an evil wizard would go through all the rigmarole of attaining lichdom just to lay down in his pyjamas in a random tunnel in the middle of the Underdark, surrounded by only a few magic mouths:
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He’s been around a while- he knows high nails get hit with a hammer. He knows from past experiences that a lich with an ostentatious hoard and doing all kinds of nasty things is a tall nail, soon to be hit by adventurers. (“Meddlesome kids!”)

So he decided to lay low- literally- for a few centuries.

 

[GuyBoy]

He’s been around a while- he knows high nails get hit with a hammer. He knows from past experiences that a lich with an ostentatious hoard and doing all kinds of nasty things is a tall nail, soon to be hit by adventurers. (“Meddlesome kids!”)

So he decided to lay low- literally- for a few centuries.

Great suggestion. You have to feel sorry for him in this case; he makes this wise decision then all these adventuring parties in the 1980s get stirred up by Eclavdra and poor old Asberdies’ chill out cavern becomes D&D super-highway

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Great suggestion. You have to feel sorry for him in this case; he makes this wise decision then all these adventuring parties in the 1980s get stirred up by Eclavdra and poor old Asberdies’ chill out cavern becomes D&D super-highway

“D’oh!”

I did a campaign once in which the supposedly BBEG was a Lich who had raised a great army of darkness to snuff out the light of the world…

Only to have the party find out that the Lich is actually brain damaged and senile, and has been researching great magics like Magic Missile, Grease and Sleep over and over for centuries. The Lich had virtually no understanding of the world outside of the few chambers in which it existed. It even thought the party were servants.

So the party had to figure out who was REALLY commanding the dark army…

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Gnomes.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

Greatest battle report I've ever come across.

To me, who was introduced to D&D with 3E, this reads like an entirely different game.

• There's so many actors (players, henchmen, NPCs, monsters) in this battle.
• What the hell are segments?
• I'm shocked by two PCs dying outright at the start.
• I don't how how a GM manages all the hidden information when it is described that X moves Y, but the party doesn't know. I've done that with smaller groups (4 players, as many monsters). But this is on a whole other scale.

 

[Yora]

AD&D is a very different game from the d20 D&D editions.
Though that fight is of course very unusual even for AD&D.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

To me, who was introduced to D&D with 3E, this reads like an entirely different game.

• There's so many actors (players, henchmen, NPCs, monsters) in this battle.

Most of them are much simpler than in later editions though.

• What the hell are segments?

6 seconds, 1/10th of a 1 minute round. Most important for spell casting times, determining when a spell goes off and how likely it is to be interupted.

• I'm shocked by two PCs dying outright at the start.

That's 1st edition. The player simply plays their henchman instead.

• I don't how how a GM manages all the hidden information when it is described that X moves Y, but the party doesn't know. I've done that with smaller groups (4 players, as many monsters). But this is on a whole other scale.

A separate map behind the DM's screen, a pencil and an eraser.