Vaalingrade
Legend
Dude from the Sunday Funnies has an RPG?
wait, you mean buying a $500 DM screen won't make me a better DM??Maybe that's a useful clue... practically every hobby is infested by the idea that your problems will be solved by buying something more. "How can I get better at playing guitar? Buy a faster guitar!" (recurring joke on music forums). There is a whole industry around each hobby, the sole purpose of which is to get your money. That isn't a problem per se, but it becomes a problem when you don't realize it is also taking your time.
I feel that Perkins has good concepts but poor execution. It's interesting to listen to Dice Camera Action because you can see he runs his own adventures more as toolboxes than as something to be played through in their entirety.Virtually every other gaming company can release genuinely complete campaigns, except WotC. I'm going to blame this one firmly on Chris Perkins personally, because he has to be letting it happen, and has been involved with several of them.
However, my GMing has been influenced quite a bit by Blades and Spire, in particular. Even when running D&D. I design a loose scenario much like I would for Spire.
I feel like if we really want to make people better at DMing and teach DMing better we're probably going to need someone academic to actually study this kind of thing! WotC's got the money to back studies like that, maybe they should think about it.
Pretty much what @Paul Farquhar said. They taught me how to run a kick in the door dungeon with an adversarial attitude. Where my job was to try to get the players to tolerate a TPK just enough that they thought the next campaign they might lie through it and so they wanted to try again. Nothing about social interacting, or roleplaying. It was all about roll playing, tactics and stupid (to me) player puzzles and challenges that had nothing to do with the characters.
I have to tell you, that's pretty slick. If I used a screen I would be tempted.wait, you mean buying a $500 DM screen won't make me a better DM??
It's the second easiest WotC version of the game, that's for sure.
I skipped 3X so I'll take your word for it. 4E was dead simple to run. The DMGs were amazing. Still worth picking up for the advice and tips and pointers. Print out the monster. When it's that monster's turn, do the biggest thing they could that was available. You didn't need understand much, that was mostly on the players' side. PCs working together was the design intent, if the PC's did not, bad things happened.
It's absolutely a personal preference.
That's not true. Unless you define "less casual" as being DMs. A lot of people in the OSR are the same age as the bulk of the new-to-5E players. They just gravitated to the older, deadlier, and more challenging versions of the game. Entire OSR groups and discords are filled with people with less than 5-years experience with RPGs. Not all the old timers are in the OSR. There is a significant overlap in the Venn diagram, but they're not one perfectly overlapping circle.
From being told by a few hundred 5E players that is exactly what they expected.
You skipped the important word "almost" in that sentence. And I got the idea from running and playing 5E since the Next play test. The PCs are absolutely dirty with healing even from 1st level. The only way a PC dies is if the referee drops infinite dragons on them or the players simply let their friend's character die. After 5th level and you have access to raise dead, it's literally only a question of if the players will let the character stay dead.
Wow. That's either the easiest AD&D game ever or the hardest 5E game ever.
And that works...up until 5th level. Then it's a speed bump at worst.
If we're talking about old-school players and the OSR crowd, then I'd agree with you. If we're talking about the 5E crowd, then I'd disagree with you.
I've never seen it until 5E. I've played AD&D with people who would literally throw the video game controller against the wall across the room when they lose and even they gleefully tossed AD&D characters into the meatgrinder.
Yes. And when there's less rules for those characters there's less chance for misunderstanding. More rules means more misunderstandings.
It's not just the rules but the players' expectations and play style. But if you don't see how AD&D is more deadly than 5E, our points-of-view are so wildly divergent that there's essentially no common ground.
One thing I picked up from Blades is just to put as much information as possible "on the table" (that is, make it player facing). I don't bother with fleshing out a lot of NPCs ahead of time for example. I might have a vague idea of an important npc but until it comes up in play it doesn't matter, and when it does the details can be randomly generated or improvised.
I can only relay that we did not have a high body count in any edition. At least not higher than we wanted.Okay. Just for giggles, here goes...lethality of AD&D vs 5E.
How many hit points at 1st level? AD&D: rolled and magic-users get 1d4. 5E: max and wizards get 1d6.
What happens at zero hp? AD&D: death*. 5E: your options are death in 2-3 rounds, you stand up with 1 hp, or you stay unconscious until someone heals you.
How much healing can a 1st level party expect? AD&D: one cure light wounds, if the cleric memorized it. 5E: two of cure wounds or healing word, if the cleric prepared it...plus medicine checks, healer feat, and healing kit.
What's the best AC you could start with? AD&D: if you got lucky and rolled high for starting gold...splint & shield, AC 17**. 5E: several classes automatically start with chain mail & shield, AC 18.
What happens when you rest for 8 hours? AD&D: regain all spells slots, but magic-users and illusionists spend 15 minutes per spell level to memorize; regain 1 hp. 5E: regain all hp, all spell slots, and up to 1/2 hit dice.
Who picks the PCs' spells? AD&D: the DM. 5E: the player.
What level do you have to be to cast raise dead? AD&D: 9th and only if you have at least 17 WIS. 5E: 5th.
What are the material components to a raise dead spell? AD&D: none. 5E: a diamond worth 500 gp.
What are the best basic melee and ranged attacks? AD&D: melee is a two-handed sword or halberd for 1d10; ranged is an arrow for 1d6 (cost 1 gp for a dozen). 5E: melee is greataxe or lance for 1d12 or greatsword or maul for 2d6; ranged is eldritch blast for 1d10 and infinite ammo.
What are your ability score bonuses like? LOL.
What are goblins like? AD&D: 1-7 hp, 1d6 damage, AC 14**, number appearing 40-400. 5E: 7 hp, 5 damage, AC 15, number appearing 3...a medium encounter for a 1st-level party is 3 goblins.
* An optional rule gives PCs up to -10 hp before death.
** AC is weird in TSR D&D compared to WotC D&D. I did the easy math and am intentionally presenting them on the same modern ascending scale to avoid confusion.
In literally every single one of those categories the rules for AD&D are far deadlier and more challenging that in 5E. There's a lot more. I just got bored so stopped.
The one exception might be the material cost of a raise dead spell, if you ignore that it's not available until nearly twice the level and only to clerics with a 17 WIS...which you have a 1.85% chance of rolling.
So you don't see the rules as being different and causing one to be more deadly? Okay. Then you must be house ruling the lethality out of AD&D and house ruling lethality into 5E.
We were able to play 1e without PC deaths and we've had at least one TPK in tier 3.I can only relay that we did not have a high body count in any edition. At least not higher than we wanted.
The game has always been what you want to make it.
We were able to play 1e without PC deaths and we've had at least one TPK in tier 3.
The game is and always has been as deadly as the people at the table want it to be.
In Gygax's AD&D death is below 0 hp (or optionally below -3 hp) - being reduced to zero hp without dying causes unconsciousness, and the loss of 1 hp per round with death at -10.What happens at zero hp? AD&D: death*.
In AD&D a cleric gets bonus spells based on WIS, and with 14 WIS will have 3 1st level spells memorised.How much healing can a 1st level party expect? AD&D: one cure light wounds, if the cleric memorized it.
In AD&D, DEX adds to AC for all armour types; the bonus is +1 per point of DEX above 14, up to +4 at 18 DEX.What's the best AC you could start with? AD&D: if you got lucky and rolled high for starting gold...splint & shield, AC 17**. 5E: several classes automatically start with chain mail & shield, AC 18.
In Ggygax's AD&D, the memorisation time is no different for clerics or druids from what it is for MUs and illusionists. And to memorise 1st level spells requires only 4 hours of rest, not 8 (but with no interruptions).What happens when you rest for 8 hours? AD&D: regain all spells slots, but magic-users and illusionists spend 15 minutes per spell level to memorize
This is not generally the case in Gygax's AD&D. Generally a cleric or druid play picks their spells from the class list. A MU or illusionist player picks their spells from their spellbook, whose contents are determined randomly.Who picks the PCs' spells? AD&D: the DM.
In Gygax's AD&D, there is no WIS requirement for a cleric to cast 5th level spells. 17 WIS is necessary to cast 6th level spells. I think 2nd ed AD&D is the same.What level do you have to be to cast raise dead? AD&D: 9th and only if you have at least 17 WIS.
That number appearing is only for a Goblin warren or meeting a Goblin army on the march, not for dungeon encounters. In Appendix C of Gygax's DMG. the number appearing for Goblins on the 1st level of the dungeon is 6-15 (presumably 1d10+5).What are goblins like? AD&D: 1-7 hp, 1d6 damage, AC 14**, number appearing 40-400.
TBH, I think you have me beat!No, I don't think so. In fact, maps and plans make something "click" in my brain. I dunno.
ETA: To elaborate after thinking about it, the spatial image in my mind/memory is probably wrong. Give me a map and it snaps into place. If that makes any sense...
D&D was presented as pretty adversarial in the core rules back then. AD&D too. I think Gygax was an adversarial DM. There was material about in magazines, such as White Dwarf, that presented other approaches though. And I brought in things from other early RPGs, such as Traveller and Runequest.The 1983 Basic Set taught you to DM with an adversarial attitude?
Correct, but the published modules from the time period we are talking about did not have that information (generally). I'm not of an opinion one-way or other about location based vs other adventures, I'm of the opinion (related to this thread) that: 1) their has always been a DM shortage, it is not new. 2) Their are more and better tools and it is easier and cheaper to learn to be a DM today than any time in history.But I don't think location-based adventures inherently lack social interaction or character motivations. Dungeons, for example, can have factions to interact with, and stories that are communicated in non-linear, non-expository form (through found items, for example).
Well, apparently my memory is flawed. Woe is me.We are talking about a teaching tool that came out in 1983 and you are arguing against it based on your 1978 experience. I mean...