TSR Why would anyone want to play 1e?

[Bill Zebub]

I insist players keep old versions of character sheets for a far more pragmatic reason: it's inevitable there will be errors or omissions in the info transcribed from the old sheet to the new, and so the old one is kept as a reference.

Coming soon to a grifter near you: Block Chain Character Sheets!

 

[Bill Zebub]

I assume everyone is wearing gloves or gauntlets when opening a door (just in case the handle has been smeared with contact poison),

This sounds to me like a tree falling in the woods: if the GM never says there was contact poison because everybody is assumed to be wearing gloves, was there actually contact poison on the handle?

I don't always meet the standard to which I aspire, but I try to never use traps (or secret doors) without first telegraphing them, and only do so if it will introduce an interesting challenge to be overcome. I really try to avoid asking for skill checks, where a success means the player takes an obvious countermeasure (such as putting gloves on), and a failure means they take poison damage. There's no decision-making or problem-solving when a player is instructed to roll dice, and the result of the dice determines what happens in the story.

In general I have two categories of traps:

1. Hard to find, but easy to avoid. The challenge is in interpreting the telegraphs.
2. Easy to find, but hard to avoid. The challenge is in bypassing the trap.

Only rarely do I combine both.

 

[Mannahnin]

Coming soon to a grifter near you: Block Chain Character Sheets!

Two years ago.