Surviving low-level old school D&D

[Bullgrit]

...

 

[Treebore]

For me, it depends on the game. Usually (but not always), with D&D, I take the approach of "PCs that survive are special." A 1st level PC might be special, with a fantastic story and legendary exploits in his future...or his story might be to die from a giant spider bite twenty minutes into his first foray in the dungeon. (My D&D games are kind of like George R.R. Martin novels, in that respect -- characters might die, but the tale goes on...)

No Kidding! One of my favorite deaths was in 2E, I rolled up a replacement dwarven cleric for a previous character that died, I rolled several real good attributes for him, I remember he had max CON, he had a really high AC, I expected to play this guy for a long time. He died in the first encounter, ripped apart by velociraptors.

My other favorite was actually in a higher level game, and we had the un errata'd reincarnation spell going on in 2E. Every single time that PC ran into a Green Dragon I failed the save and died. Every time, which was 3 times over the time I played that PC. Plus he died several more times versus poisons. All this and he was a mage thief, if anyone should have made thsoe saves, it was him, and I failed EVERY single time I had to save versus the Green Dragon Breath Weapon, and every single time it was save or die poisons. So he got reincarnated a total of 8 times, with no level loss, since we didn't have the "corrected" version of the spell. Plus it was lots of fun adjusting to being a kobold, ogre, even spent time as a thieving bear.

 

[Betote]

Basic low-level D&D survival tips:

* Never, ever, touch anything. Have someone touch it first.
* Never, ever, enter anywhere. Have someone enter first.
* Never, ever, fight anyone. Have someone fight them firs... instead

 

[baradtgnome]

Our first outing was Keep on the Borderlands. Me as DM. TPK in the first encounter.

Over the next year, between alternating DMs in a mixture of homebrew and modules, every player lost at least one character... most more. Yes some were lost to poor play or risky decisions. Many were lost just due to the odds. If you fight, eventually you will be hit. Since 1st level hit points usually ended up being less than the maximum damage that monsters could deal, there was character death.

I remember my first favorite character survived an attack from a wolf only because the wolf/DM rolled 1s on a pair of 4 siders for damage. My elf had 3 hp. He died several evenings later in the adventure when he fell into a trap with a bunch of spiders. None of the others jumped in to help him fight them... mostly due to the fact that it was high risk of death to be there. So they were 'smart' and stood back with missle weapons. Which did kill all the spiders - slowly enough for them to thoroughly annihilate the elf.

Over time we became better players, better DMs and instituted house rules. I find it hard to believe others didn't have the same experience out of the box. Of course YMMV, and some gamers could have spent time analyzing the odds and realized earlier what would happen. We instead opted to roll the dice... and die.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Weird.

When I suggested that 3e was easier to survive than older editions, I was told that I misremembered.

Likewise with 4e.



For the record, I think that the OP is correct. Earlier D&D was harder to succeed in. Low-level bodies piled up. Success wasn't guaranteed. That was part of the game.


RC

 

[Bullgrit]

Interesting how some here were paranoid, expert dungeoneers even in their first experiences with low-level, old-school D&D. Impressive. Or something else.

Bullgrit

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Interesting how some here were paranoid, expert dungeoneers even in their first experiences with low-level, old-school D&D. Impressive. Or something else.

Bullgrit

Now, now, don't take it to heart. Everybody is a badass in D&D. Everybody is a badass over the internet. Compound the two and there's a lot of badasses out there telling you how much badder they are than you.

Basic low-level D&D survival tips:

* Never, ever, touch anything. Have someone touch it first.
* Never, ever, enter anywhere. Have someone enter first.
* Never, ever, fight anyone. Have someone fight them firs... instead

This is good advice for anyone, but especially true for magic-users. I loved-- LOVED-- playing a low-level wizard. Because their survival tips really just basically dove-tailed what any intelligent fighter should have done as well... but you never got called on it.

NOT. YOUR. JOB.

And before you know it, you're the most powerful character in the party.

 

[Bullgrit]

Everybody is a badass in D&D. Everybody is a badass over the internet. Compound the two and there's a lot of badasses out there telling you how much badder they are than you.

Yeah, that's why I added the "Or something else" to my post.

They're all wiser, smarter, faster, luckier, and probably better looking too.

Bullgrit

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Interesting how some here were paranoid, expert dungeoneers even in their first experiences with low-level, old-school D&D. Impressive. Or something else.

Bullgrit

Believe me, I had my share of deaths. That's how we learned we WEREN'T badasses. Trial and error. After Knuckles the fifth died charging in, we learned to be a bit more strategic, and yes, paranoid. When you enter the lair of creatures who rape cattle and flay old women for entertainment, you had damn well be paranoid, because everything IS out to get you. Almost everything, anyway.

 

[Mythmere1]

(and the record on hirelings is bad enough that the PCs have developed a reputation and are having a hard time hiring anyone).

What, you mean just because there's a private graveyard out back of the farmhouse? I don't think we're up to more than about six graves, are we?