Zardnaar
Legend
So we are playing Curse of Strahd and I'm running a Castles and Crusades ancient Greece themed game. Haven't ran an OSR campaign since 5E dropped just a few one shots or few sessions for 1-2 players.
I set the game in Phocis near Delphi. System is Castles and Crusades. Intellectually I've known some of this since last OSR binge (2012-14) but side by side it's interesting.
1. No archetypes eliminates a lot of options. No feats either.
2. Attrition. After two or 3 days in the wilderness they headed back to town. 1 hit point a day recovery and occasional cure light wounds and goodberry spells don't quite cut it. 1 planned combat and rand9m encounters exhausted them.
3. Bit unclear in the rules occasionally allow a 5Eism in eg advantage/disadvantage. Random encounters 18+ on a d20.
4. None of them played AD&D back in the day or B/X. One has played AD&D last time around.
5. Leveling up similar speed to 5E slightly slower. I'm being generous with xp and 5 ways of getting it.
6. DM style has changed since 2012/14 which was different to pre 3E.
7. Easier to run as DM and explained basic concept in 5 minutes.
8. Classes are a lot simpler and less moving parts.
9. I prefer 5E spell preparation.
10. Players more likely to buff vs pre 3E more kick the door down. Bless and faerie fire are getting used.
11. Players getting used to no concentration role required and changes between 5E and C&C versions of the spells.
12. Interesting to see them relearn some strategies. Eg 1d8+1 is decent damage and a 2HD creature has between 2-16 hp not 9.
13. Hexcrawling. I give xp for hexes explored.
14. More magic items. Several magical arrows found level 1. By level 2-3 several items found including +2 armor.
15. Xp for gold. In strahd they recently found piles of gold. Not much to do with it. 300 Orichlaum (platinum) becomes 3000 xp
16. I'm awarding xp is awarded almost in real time. Several times a session. Some PCs came close to hitting level 3 while the multiclass characters were still level 1. They got lucky and hit level 2 while the others hit lvl 3.
17. They're enjoying OSR multclassing (Ranger/Cleric and Barbarian/Rogue).
18. In effect martials deal more damage even 1d8+2 is better in C&C vs 1d8+4 in 5E. Hit point bloat bleah.
19. Less PC options. PHB and hanful of Greek Pantheon spells. PHB is almost half the size one player printed it. I'm going to print off two copies, ring binding, colour cover for Christmas gifts.
20. Game seems to flow better, pacing etc is easier ymmv.
Last session was lots of fun players commented on it. Every now and then you know you nailed it.
I set the game in Phocis near Delphi. System is Castles and Crusades. Intellectually I've known some of this since last OSR binge (2012-14) but side by side it's interesting.
1. No archetypes eliminates a lot of options. No feats either.
2. Attrition. After two or 3 days in the wilderness they headed back to town. 1 hit point a day recovery and occasional cure light wounds and goodberry spells don't quite cut it. 1 planned combat and rand9m encounters exhausted them.
3. Bit unclear in the rules occasionally allow a 5Eism in eg advantage/disadvantage. Random encounters 18+ on a d20.
4. None of them played AD&D back in the day or B/X. One has played AD&D last time around.
5. Leveling up similar speed to 5E slightly slower. I'm being generous with xp and 5 ways of getting it.
6. DM style has changed since 2012/14 which was different to pre 3E.
7. Easier to run as DM and explained basic concept in 5 minutes.
8. Classes are a lot simpler and less moving parts.
9. I prefer 5E spell preparation.
10. Players more likely to buff vs pre 3E more kick the door down. Bless and faerie fire are getting used.
11. Players getting used to no concentration role required and changes between 5E and C&C versions of the spells.
12. Interesting to see them relearn some strategies. Eg 1d8+1 is decent damage and a 2HD creature has between 2-16 hp not 9.
13. Hexcrawling. I give xp for hexes explored.
14. More magic items. Several magical arrows found level 1. By level 2-3 several items found including +2 armor.
15. Xp for gold. In strahd they recently found piles of gold. Not much to do with it. 300 Orichlaum (platinum) becomes 3000 xp
16. I'm awarding xp is awarded almost in real time. Several times a session. Some PCs came close to hitting level 3 while the multiclass characters were still level 1. They got lucky and hit level 2 while the others hit lvl 3.
17. They're enjoying OSR multclassing (Ranger/Cleric and Barbarian/Rogue).
18. In effect martials deal more damage even 1d8+2 is better in C&C vs 1d8+4 in 5E. Hit point bloat bleah.
19. Less PC options. PHB and hanful of Greek Pantheon spells. PHB is almost half the size one player printed it. I'm going to print off two copies, ring binding, colour cover for Christmas gifts.
20. Game seems to flow better, pacing etc is easier ymmv.
Last session was lots of fun players commented on it. Every now and then you know you nailed it.
