NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Monayuris" data-source="post: 8715867" data-attributes="member: 6859536">I've been running B/X and other retro clones regularly for about 10 years now.Here's my tips...<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Use the Reactions rules. - B/X and OSE can be very deadly if combat is commonplace and frequent, especially at low levels. The Reaction rules are key to mitigating some of the deadliness. Encourage players to parley and use the Reaction Roll mechanic to determine the reaction of the monsters. The most common outcomes of the Reaction roll allows the players some way to avoid combat or at least choose if they engage in combat. In most cases, combat should be a choice available to the players.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Use Morale Rules - monsters will not always fight to the death, and there are situations where a monster will make a morale check and fail and run. If a monster fails and runs, have the monster run and consider it a WIN for the players. Don't always have running monsters come back to ambush later or come back with reinforcements. Consider breaking morale to be the same as a combat victory.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Use wandering monster checks in the dungeon. When you implement advice 1 and 2, they aren't so bad. But you need the constant pressure of potential encounters to build tension and provide challenge and risk. This encourages decisiveness and keeps the pace moving.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">If you use followers and retainer, let the players run them as additional character's. Some DM's run all NPCS, I'd let players take them over. If you need to, you can override a player's action with a follower if it is too abusive.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">When dealing with traps remember that dungeon movement rate is very slow. It assumes careful movement. I'd give players a chance to notice pits and traps or at least describe hints of their existence. Its more fun to know there's a trap but figure out how to overcome them that to just be forced to seemingly randomly have to make a save or take damage. Also (and this is general advice, but very important in OSE/B/X) remember that players rely on you for their knowledge of their environment. If they seem to be doing something profoundly stupid, its probably because your players misunderstood something you said. Clarify your player's intentions and assumptions before letting them do something dumb.</li> </ol></blockquote>

Verification