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Variety of "Old Schools"
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<blockquote data-quote="Grazzt" data-source="post: 5827915" data-attributes="member: 7"><p>Campaign started in 1986 using AD&D 1e. Homebrew fantasy. Medium to high lethality influenced by Moorcock's Elric, Norton's Witch World, Tanith Lee, RE Howard's Conan, etc. Basically the grim/gritty, dark fantasy, magic is evil, let's summon demons, type stuff.</p><p></p><p>Never was really over the top adversarial, though I think it started that way <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> We shifted more to dramatic stuff as the game progressed but the game remained fairly lethal. Both me and my players like death to be a real possibility for the characters, not just a speed bump that can be overcome with a night's rest.</p><p></p><p>We ignored rules we didnt like or that seemed to slow the game down somewhat (weapon vs. AC, weapon speed factors, etc). We changed or added some rules because they felt "right" (to us). For example, vorpal blades were +6 longswords, not +3 as in the 1e DMG. (Got this from a DM friend when I played in his game and liked it so i used the idea.) Since we used the "Good Hits, Bad Misses" article for crits and fumbles from Dragon #39, there was a chance of weapon breakage on a nat 1. And breaking a vorpal blade caused an explosion that radiated out from the weapon, dealing damage to everyone in the area...and possibly killing anything that was low on hit points...like the wielder or his allies. It kept the vorpal blade in check quite a bit actually. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>We ran some modules in the beginning but moved on to homebrew addys. Some written out by me with a specific goal laid out for the PCs (like a lot of the canned modules you could by); others free-form and sandbox, basically "So, what do you guys wanna do today? Rob the treasury in the Tower of the Black Serpent? Ok..." or "Wander the countryside looking to see what's out there? Ok..." and off we'd go.</p><p></p><p>Memorable moments would be:</p><p>* The party's world-spanning quest to find and assemble the Rod of Seven Parts. (Which they eventually did.)</p><p></p><p>* Party fighting with Demodragon (yes- I lifted him from the D&D cartoon and statted him out; he was the main adversary for many many years). The party's fighter sacrificed himself by jumping in front of Demo's lightning breath weapon to save the party's magic-user who was performing the 'ritual' to send Demo back to the Abyss</p><p></p><p>* My brother playing a paladin who was swallowed by a remorhaz and died. Party killed remorhaz, cut it open, pulled out paladin. Journey back to town, cleric prepares to restore the paladin to life, only to watch my brother's dice roll 00 when making his resurrection survival chance. Paladin dead. Forever.</p><p></p><p>* The party's dwarf fighter running into a cave opening, then tearing out of there screaming as he's being chased by giant bees. He swan dives off of a cliff to escape them, crashing into the rocks and water 100+ ft below. He didnt die, but almost did.</p><p></p><p>* Fighter having his arm bitten off by a dragon (remember, we used the crit rules). Fighter was mid-level at the time. Retired. Opened a business called "The Severed Arm Inn" which the party frequented and used as a base camp for quite a while.</p><p></p><p>* Party walking through town. Chamberpot emptied onto the head of one of the fighter's from a window above. Fighter refuses to wash off his armor. After party leaves town and is attacked by a couple of wandering monsters, the fighter, still refusing to wash himself, is ceremoniously tossed into the nearby river, platemail and all, by the rest of the party. He survived.</p><p></p><p>We moved from 1e to 2e, and then ended up playing a mashed up version of 1e/2e (we liked some 2e stuff but not all). Migrated to 3.0 and then 3.5 when they arrived. Tried 4e. Hated it. Never switched. Still run the same campaign (with some of the original players; some of the original characters are still active as well, ruling a kingdom, running a thieves' guild, etc.) using a modified version of 3.5.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Grazzt, post: 5827915, member: 7"] Campaign started in 1986 using AD&D 1e. Homebrew fantasy. Medium to high lethality influenced by Moorcock's Elric, Norton's Witch World, Tanith Lee, RE Howard's Conan, etc. Basically the grim/gritty, dark fantasy, magic is evil, let's summon demons, type stuff. Never was really over the top adversarial, though I think it started that way :) We shifted more to dramatic stuff as the game progressed but the game remained fairly lethal. Both me and my players like death to be a real possibility for the characters, not just a speed bump that can be overcome with a night's rest. We ignored rules we didnt like or that seemed to slow the game down somewhat (weapon vs. AC, weapon speed factors, etc). We changed or added some rules because they felt "right" (to us). For example, vorpal blades were +6 longswords, not +3 as in the 1e DMG. (Got this from a DM friend when I played in his game and liked it so i used the idea.) Since we used the "Good Hits, Bad Misses" article for crits and fumbles from Dragon #39, there was a chance of weapon breakage on a nat 1. And breaking a vorpal blade caused an explosion that radiated out from the weapon, dealing damage to everyone in the area...and possibly killing anything that was low on hit points...like the wielder or his allies. It kept the vorpal blade in check quite a bit actually. :) We ran some modules in the beginning but moved on to homebrew addys. Some written out by me with a specific goal laid out for the PCs (like a lot of the canned modules you could by); others free-form and sandbox, basically "So, what do you guys wanna do today? Rob the treasury in the Tower of the Black Serpent? Ok..." or "Wander the countryside looking to see what's out there? Ok..." and off we'd go. Memorable moments would be: * The party's world-spanning quest to find and assemble the Rod of Seven Parts. (Which they eventually did.) * Party fighting with Demodragon (yes- I lifted him from the D&D cartoon and statted him out; he was the main adversary for many many years). The party's fighter sacrificed himself by jumping in front of Demo's lightning breath weapon to save the party's magic-user who was performing the 'ritual' to send Demo back to the Abyss * My brother playing a paladin who was swallowed by a remorhaz and died. Party killed remorhaz, cut it open, pulled out paladin. Journey back to town, cleric prepares to restore the paladin to life, only to watch my brother's dice roll 00 when making his resurrection survival chance. Paladin dead. Forever. * The party's dwarf fighter running into a cave opening, then tearing out of there screaming as he's being chased by giant bees. He swan dives off of a cliff to escape them, crashing into the rocks and water 100+ ft below. He didnt die, but almost did. * Fighter having his arm bitten off by a dragon (remember, we used the crit rules). Fighter was mid-level at the time. Retired. Opened a business called "The Severed Arm Inn" which the party frequented and used as a base camp for quite a while. * Party walking through town. Chamberpot emptied onto the head of one of the fighter's from a window above. Fighter refuses to wash off his armor. After party leaves town and is attacked by a couple of wandering monsters, the fighter, still refusing to wash himself, is ceremoniously tossed into the nearby river, platemail and all, by the rest of the party. He survived. We moved from 1e to 2e, and then ended up playing a mashed up version of 1e/2e (we liked some 2e stuff but not all). Migrated to 3.0 and then 3.5 when they arrived. Tried 4e. Hated it. Never switched. Still run the same campaign (with some of the original players; some of the original characters are still active as well, ruling a kingdom, running a thieves' guild, etc.) using a modified version of 3.5. [/QUOTE]
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