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So I ran an oldschool competitive dungeon in 5e...
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<blockquote data-quote="JonnyP71" data-source="post: 7291750" data-attributes="member: 6788862"><p>In addition to Nagol's comments, a key point to make is that a lot of the published dungeons around that time were really not typical campaign play, but were taken from competitive tournaments. In these events a number of groups played the same adventure simultaneously, with points being awarded - and the biggest factor in those points was the number of rooms explored, adjusted for the number of surviving characters. Characters were expected to die! There was always a time limit, and combat took up precious time, so the emphasis was to find a way through as quickly and as safely as possible - killing the beasties was something to be avoided if the group was to get a decent score.</p><p></p><p>However, as part of a campaign, these modules often need some tweaking. If you look at Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan it states character levels 5-7 on the cover, and from what I remember 4-7 in the text. The supplied tournament characters are all higher levels, plus they have a supply of spells and items specifically chosen to counteract the poison gas. In a campaign, the party will not be so lucky.</p><p></p><p>I ran the adventure recently for my AD&D group, 8 PCs that were levels 5-7 at the time. They fell into the Shrine while exploring a ruined temple area in adventure I1, Dwellers of the Forbidden City, and thus were already a little scratched, and totally unprepared. If I'd played the tournament version of the poison gas they would all have been dead within an hour, as the only healing they had was a Cleric with Cure Light Wounds, and a gem with allows it's carrier to regenerate 1 hit point per 10 minutes. </p><p></p><p>I changed the gas to cause 1 hit point of damage per 10 minutes if the PC failed a saving throw vs Poison. This made the slow drip of lost hit points much more gradual, but stuck underground, with no idea of the way out or of the size of the dungeon, it still kept the tension level very high and caused them to make a number of rash decisions in their haste.</p><p></p><p>From what I remember they finally reached clean air with most of the party down to single digit hit points, having run from a lot of creatures, ignored a lot of treasure, and furiously tried to bypass traps, while trying to keep spells in reserve as they knew they could not rest anywhere. None of the party actually died. Perfect! It was a great session. </p><p></p><p>Now to play that in 5E would be interesting, with the poison gas discouraging any form of resting, so resource management becomes ever more difficult as the adventure progress. It's something I'd like to try running.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JonnyP71, post: 7291750, member: 6788862"] In addition to Nagol's comments, a key point to make is that a lot of the published dungeons around that time were really not typical campaign play, but were taken from competitive tournaments. In these events a number of groups played the same adventure simultaneously, with points being awarded - and the biggest factor in those points was the number of rooms explored, adjusted for the number of surviving characters. Characters were expected to die! There was always a time limit, and combat took up precious time, so the emphasis was to find a way through as quickly and as safely as possible - killing the beasties was something to be avoided if the group was to get a decent score. However, as part of a campaign, these modules often need some tweaking. If you look at Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan it states character levels 5-7 on the cover, and from what I remember 4-7 in the text. The supplied tournament characters are all higher levels, plus they have a supply of spells and items specifically chosen to counteract the poison gas. In a campaign, the party will not be so lucky. I ran the adventure recently for my AD&D group, 8 PCs that were levels 5-7 at the time. They fell into the Shrine while exploring a ruined temple area in adventure I1, Dwellers of the Forbidden City, and thus were already a little scratched, and totally unprepared. If I'd played the tournament version of the poison gas they would all have been dead within an hour, as the only healing they had was a Cleric with Cure Light Wounds, and a gem with allows it's carrier to regenerate 1 hit point per 10 minutes. I changed the gas to cause 1 hit point of damage per 10 minutes if the PC failed a saving throw vs Poison. This made the slow drip of lost hit points much more gradual, but stuck underground, with no idea of the way out or of the size of the dungeon, it still kept the tension level very high and caused them to make a number of rash decisions in their haste. From what I remember they finally reached clean air with most of the party down to single digit hit points, having run from a lot of creatures, ignored a lot of treasure, and furiously tried to bypass traps, while trying to keep spells in reserve as they knew they could not rest anywhere. None of the party actually died. Perfect! It was a great session. Now to play that in 5E would be interesting, with the poison gas discouraging any form of resting, so resource management becomes ever more difficult as the adventure progress. It's something I'd like to try running. [/QUOTE]
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So I ran an oldschool competitive dungeon in 5e...
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