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Using Old School Adventures in 5E - The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford
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<blockquote data-quote="Sparky McDibben" data-source="post: 9169312" data-attributes="member: 7041430"><p>Alright, folks, time to map those expectations! So let's touch on a few that might be problematic:</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Characters Die Easily.</strong> This is not a problem in B/X and its derivatives because character creation is fast (like, 5 minutes and you're done). However, in 5E character creation can take hours, and players can get precious about their characters. You can deal with this in one of two ways. First, you address it in Session Zero, and lay the expectations that everyone should have a backup character ready because this adventure will be deadly. You should emphasize that players will need to think, gather information, and plan, and that combat is <em>risky</em>, not heroic. Secondly, you can take all the OSR monsters out and replace them with the closest 5E equivalent, adjusting for CR as necessary. This will tend to backfire, because if you planned for the PCs to take on the dragon at level 5 and they find it out in the forest (it's on the wandering monster list) at level 2, you're going to have a dead character or two on your hands. I personally prefer option 1. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>XP-For-Gold.</strong> This is largely not an issue except that 5E has quite inflated XP costs. You might need to let the PCs spend a gold for 2 or even 3 XP in order to keep pace, but ultimately that's a matter of scaling. XP-for-gold still works pretty well in 5E, from my experience.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Lateral Thinking Is Required.</strong> This one might really trip up some players. OSR-style adventures require the PCs to come up with creative solutions to apparently intractable problems. That is, indeed, the entire fun of the game. But if you put a dragon in front of an optimizer and tell him that his tricked out sorlock with homebrew invocations can't just <em>eldritch blast</em> it to death, you're killing their fun (this is why Session Zeroes are necessary). I generally address this with a Session Zero conversation, and it tends to work fairly well.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>There Is No Plot. </strong>Some players really don't like exploring or finding stuff to meddle with; they want a story and they want it now. That doesn't make them wrong; it makes them not a good fit for this type of adventure. I typically handle this with a Session Zero conversation and with occasional prompting during the adventure when I see the players start to become passive. Usually a quick, "OK, y'all, what are you doing next?" is enough to get a player either thinking about what they do know, or what they do not know, and either is useful for getting the game moving again. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Player Skill, Not Character Skill.</strong> OSR-style adventures generally don't have DCs for ability checks (although they will occasionally for saving throws). The idea is that the DM will describe the scene, the player will describe how they interact with it, and the DM, if uncertain of a result, will assign an X-in-6 chance of success, and roll a d6 to see what happens. This demands better descriptive skills from DMs, an understanding of what's actually going on and how you can relay that to the PCs, and then letting your players puzzle out what you're describing. See Matt Finch's excellent <em>A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming</em> for worked-out examples of this. This is, again, a note in Session Zero that will need to be updated throughout the game. Alternatively, you can just come up with DCs on your own and assign them to various situations. Even then, though, you'll need to be quick on your feet; a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check isn't the only way to open that stuck door. Players could use <em>knock, thunderwave</em>, grease, axes, and sledgehammers to get through that.</li> </ol><p>These are the five big departures from a 5E playstyle I generally see in the OSR. Some of them are pretty small, but some of them are substantial. I find the best way to try this as a DM is to practice with a single adventure to start, and then branch out into a full campaign. That way you can make sure your players actually like this style of play, and want to keep it up!</p><p></p><p>Alright, folks! Join me next time for part 3: Running This Adventure!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sparky McDibben, post: 9169312, member: 7041430"] Alright, folks, time to map those expectations! So let's touch on a few that might be problematic: [LIST=1] [*][B]Characters Die Easily.[/B] This is not a problem in B/X and its derivatives because character creation is fast (like, 5 minutes and you're done). However, in 5E character creation can take hours, and players can get precious about their characters. You can deal with this in one of two ways. First, you address it in Session Zero, and lay the expectations that everyone should have a backup character ready because this adventure will be deadly. You should emphasize that players will need to think, gather information, and plan, and that combat is [I]risky[/I], not heroic. Secondly, you can take all the OSR monsters out and replace them with the closest 5E equivalent, adjusting for CR as necessary. This will tend to backfire, because if you planned for the PCs to take on the dragon at level 5 and they find it out in the forest (it's on the wandering monster list) at level 2, you're going to have a dead character or two on your hands. I personally prefer option 1. [*][B]XP-For-Gold.[/B] This is largely not an issue except that 5E has quite inflated XP costs. You might need to let the PCs spend a gold for 2 or even 3 XP in order to keep pace, but ultimately that's a matter of scaling. XP-for-gold still works pretty well in 5E, from my experience. [*][B]Lateral Thinking Is Required.[/B] This one might really trip up some players. OSR-style adventures require the PCs to come up with creative solutions to apparently intractable problems. That is, indeed, the entire fun of the game. But if you put a dragon in front of an optimizer and tell him that his tricked out sorlock with homebrew invocations can't just [I]eldritch blast[/I] it to death, you're killing their fun (this is why Session Zeroes are necessary). I generally address this with a Session Zero conversation, and it tends to work fairly well. [*][B]There Is No Plot. [/B]Some players really don't like exploring or finding stuff to meddle with; they want a story and they want it now. That doesn't make them wrong; it makes them not a good fit for this type of adventure. I typically handle this with a Session Zero conversation and with occasional prompting during the adventure when I see the players start to become passive. Usually a quick, "OK, y'all, what are you doing next?" is enough to get a player either thinking about what they do know, or what they do not know, and either is useful for getting the game moving again. [*][B]Player Skill, Not Character Skill.[/B] OSR-style adventures generally don't have DCs for ability checks (although they will occasionally for saving throws). The idea is that the DM will describe the scene, the player will describe how they interact with it, and the DM, if uncertain of a result, will assign an X-in-6 chance of success, and roll a d6 to see what happens. This demands better descriptive skills from DMs, an understanding of what's actually going on and how you can relay that to the PCs, and then letting your players puzzle out what you're describing. See Matt Finch's excellent [I]A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming[/I] for worked-out examples of this. This is, again, a note in Session Zero that will need to be updated throughout the game. Alternatively, you can just come up with DCs on your own and assign them to various situations. Even then, though, you'll need to be quick on your feet; a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check isn't the only way to open that stuck door. Players could use [I]knock, thunderwave[/I], grease, axes, and sledgehammers to get through that. [/LIST] These are the five big departures from a 5E playstyle I generally see in the OSR. Some of them are pretty small, but some of them are substantial. I find the best way to try this as a DM is to practice with a single adventure to start, and then branch out into a full campaign. That way you can make sure your players actually like this style of play, and want to keep it up! Alright, folks! Join me next time for part 3: Running This Adventure! [/QUOTE]
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