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<blockquote data-quote="PapersAndPaychecks" data-source="post: 3012492" data-attributes="member: 28854">I'm going to try to answer by example:&nbsp; Tomb of Horrors.By 21st Century standards, ToH is an absolute meatgrinder.&nbsp; People with many years of experience at later systems will often get wiped in there, particularly if they're heavy roleplayers.The philosophy when ToH was written was very different... quite often, people didn't bother to give first level characters names.&nbsp; (You'd call the character &quot;Jerry's dwarf&quot; or &quot;Sandra's fighter.&quot;)&nbsp; And when they did get names, they were often sequential.&nbsp; (Okay, Erac's dead; let's call this one &quot;Erac's brother.&quot;&nbsp; And when he dies, I'll move on to &quot;Erac's cousin&quot;...)The way a 1978 party would've approached ToH was like this:&nbsp; Use a monster summoning spell.&nbsp; (Up pop a bunch of orcs.)&nbsp; Send the orcs in ahead and see how they get killed.&nbsp; Once they're dead, we'll have more information -- but just to be sure, we'll reanimate them as zombies and send them in again.&nbsp; Nobody opens a door or walks into a room or does anything at all unless a minion's been there first.&nbsp; Once the minions have figured out what's safe to touch, we can send one character (not a cleric!&nbsp; probably a thief) into the room to scout it for other traps.&nbsp; If the thief gets attacked he runs back to the party with the monster (we only fight in areas that have been cleared).&nbsp; If he dies we drag him back and raise him, but if he declares it safe, we might move the party forward...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="PapersAndPaychecks, post: 3012492, member: 28854"] I'm going to try to answer by example: Tomb of Horrors. By 21st Century standards, ToH is an absolute meatgrinder. People with many years of experience at later systems will often get wiped in there, particularly if they're heavy roleplayers. The philosophy when ToH was written was very different... quite often, people didn't bother to give first level characters names. (You'd call the character "Jerry's dwarf" or "Sandra's fighter.") And when they did get names, they were often sequential. (Okay, Erac's dead; let's call this one "Erac's brother." And when he dies, I'll move on to "Erac's cousin"...) The way a 1978 party would've approached ToH was like this: Use a monster summoning spell. (Up pop a bunch of orcs.) Send the orcs in ahead and see how they get killed. Once they're dead, we'll have more information -- but just to be sure, we'll reanimate them as zombies and send them in again. Nobody opens a door or walks into a room or does anything at all unless a minion's been there first. Once the minions have figured out what's safe to touch, we can send one character (not a cleric! probably a thief) into the room to scout it for other traps. If the thief gets attacked he runs back to the party with the monster (we only fight in areas that have been cleared). If he dies we drag him back and raise him, but if he declares it safe, we might move the party forward... [/QUOTE]

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