NOTE: Me no talk good English today. Also, cross-posted to I Wate The Buddha With My Crossbow.
Indeed, me hearties, I ran a bit of AD&D 1st Edition last night.
My wife brought some baggage into it, having had a bummer game in her past, but I like to think she had fun anyway; Kyle, however, just plays what's on the table. He rolled up a thief, she rolled up a fighter; they used the "roll lots of dice and keep the best three" rule from Unearthed Arcana, gave 'em 4 levels, rolled some magic items for 'em and off we went.
The scenario was a simple one. "Bonny" Stefan and Maava of the High Hill had just escorted a merchant named Twitshell (pronounced TWIGHT-shel) to Bloomingvale, a town known for its beauty and gardens, on the occasion of its annual Honeysuckle Festival. This year's fest was to be a special one, because the local Lady's daughter had just come of marrying age and was going to be "presented" during the festival.
The PCs acquired legs of mutton and fresh honeyed bread, and settled in to watch the young girls dance, and the young noblemen coming to pitch their woo. With her Comliness of 19 (yes, I was using it.), Maava turned many a head, but the young nobles did their best not to let their minds wander from the lady's daughter.
Along the way, Kyle made some funny remark which won him a treat: a so-called "Automatic 20". At some point, he would be allowed to cash it in and get, well, an automatic result of '20' on 1 roll. (His brother, Erik, used to do this in his game. Steal from the best!)
Maava noticed among these young bravos an unusual suitor: he came with no tent and no squire, naught but a night-black mare. He wore grey-green leather armor and his hair seemed...damp, like he'd just come out of the water. She tried her best to keep an eye on him, but he eluded her gaze and lost himself in the crowd.
Soon enough, Lucinda (the sexy young daughter) came down from the castle, and the boys were all over her. She, naturally, was all over Bonny Stefan, because he was a PC and the other dudes weren't. Stick it, NPCs! She coquettishly revealed she was more interested in an adventurer's life than a noble's life - or, at least, she'd rather earn a title than just have one handed to her. (Her mother, Linnea, was a former adventuress herself - an 11th level illusionist, actually.)
After a while, she was called away to watch the jousting matches, where the noble guys were hoping to impress her with their manliness or whatever crap. Naturally, that's when the army of toad-men attacked.
The PCs quickly went to work hacking up toad-men. Maava got much use out of that swell 1st ed. rule which allows a fighter in combat with creatures having less than 1 Hit Die to attack as many times as his level, while taking no damage herself on account of her AC being a 0; meanwhile, Bonny Stefan took a few spear-and-trident whilst beating the crap out of monsters.
About 6 or 7 rounds in, they heard a wet, splatty noise -- giant lilypads appeared in midair, and began to fall on the soldiers and populace! Maava blew a saving throw vs. paralyzation and got pinned under a lily pad, and from beneath its slimy embrace she watched as the mysterious, green-clad knight escaped on horseback, with Lucinda his prisoner! The frogs began setting things on fire to cover his escape. Bonny Stefan whipped out his crossbow of speed and fired at the escaping knight; I wrote up some quick, cockamamie stats for the toad lord and let Kyle roll. His first shot missed, but the second one hit square - he used his Auto 20.
Then he rolled a '1' for damage, so Kyle sucks.
In the aftermath, Linnea approached Bonny Stefan and tasked him with rescuing her hot daughter, promising a reward for certain. Then it was midnight and time to go to bed.
I found AD&D 1st remarkably easy to deal with. For skills, I simply let the players have a broad proficiency ("Entertainer" for Stefan, "Hunter" for Maava) and allowed that having said proficiency meant they could do that stuff when they needed to. Skill rolls were fudged expertly using Animalball's free Stories System, and it worked fine bolted on as it was.
My wife still thinks the AD&D 1st. rules are clunky, but I think that if she plays more, she'll see how freewheeling it really can be. Then again, I really have dug down to the simplest features of the system, and everything else be damned.
I'll totally run it again.
You rule. I'm going to begin stalking you and secretly pick up your tab in resturants.
Quote from: Jeffrey StraszheimYou rule. I'm going to begin stalking you and secretly pick up your tab in resturants.
http://www.casabrava.org/
EDIT: Thanks for the props, but I did nothing special.
Awesome. I wonder who the mysterious toad king is, and what he wants with the beautiful noblewoman's daughter.
And why kidnap her during such a high profile event instead of absconding with her in the middle of the night? Surely there is other chicanery afoot.
Quote from: RedFoxAwesome. I wonder who the mysterious toad king is, and what he wants with the beautiful noblewoman's daughter.
He's a villain. And what do you
think he wants to do with her? HINT:
(http://www.watersense.org.uk/images/chemicals/tadpoles.jpg)
QuoteAnd why kidnap her during such a high profile event instead of absconding with her in the middle of the night? Surely there is other chicanery afoot.
Because she's not in the castle. He has an excuse for being there. AND...uh...it's...umn...I thought of it.
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!He's a villain. And what do you think he wants to do with her? HINT:
(http://www.watersense.org.uk/images/chemicals/tadpoles.jpg)
Wow, the visual aid actually made me shudder. Good one.
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Because she's not in the castle. He has an excuse for being there. AND...uh...it's...umn...I thought of it.
Actually I think picking at stuff like this after a session, especially one you were winging, is a good way to make things more interesting afterward. Even if the players hadn't thought to ask questions like this, the fact that you addressed them can often impress.
Regardless, that session sounded mighty fun. Though I don't know what that story system thinger from animalwhatsit you used is.
Quote from: RedFox... I don't know what that story system thinger from animalwhatsit you used is.
Well, hell, boy, download it and read it!
Oh, wait. Link (http://www.animalball.com/Content/Downloads/Stories%20System%20v1.pdf).
Sounds cool. Did you get the toad-men out of a book or did you use any of the techniques from the Spontaneous Gamemaster thread to quickly prep them?
Quote from: PseudoephedrineSounds cool. Did you get the toad-men out of a book or did you use any of the techniques from the Spontaneous Gamemaster thread to quickly prep them?
Totally, totally off-the-cuff. Just wrote down hit dice (1-1) an AC (7), weapon damage and some hit points.
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Totally, totally off-the-cuff. Just wrote down hit dice (1-1) an AC (7), weapon damage and some hit points.
Excellent. I bet the players didn't even notice.
Cool write-up, by the way.
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!NOTE: Me no talk good English today.
Wouldn't worry about that, doesn't slow me down none,
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Well, hell, boy, download it and read it!
Weird I was just listening to this track when reading this, lol (been thinking of running a Hellboy game, maybe here)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDGOjgvuU9g
Quote from: DrewExcellent. I bet the players didn't even notice.
No, they just slew frog-goblins. I woulda used bullywugs but for I don't have the
Fiend Folio. Turned out to be a non-issue.
QuoteCool write-up, by the way.
Domo origami, Mister Salami!
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!No, they just slew frog-goblins. I woulda used bullywugs but for I don't have the Fiend Folio. Turned out to be a non-issue.
I got no objection to how you put together your frog dude stats, but trust me on this
you want a Fiend Folio. Over on my blog S. John and I were just discussing how it is the awesomest of 1st edition books. To the discerning eye half the creatures in it have their own pre-made plot hooks. The other half are just weirdo mutants to freak out your players. More than once I've considered running an AD&D campaign using the FF as my only critter tome. That's right, the Fiend Folio is so cool it makes me consider
giving up orcs.
The new avatar is great, BTW.
I saw the real Fonz Jacket at Smithonian´s!
Awesome stuff! :cool:
Anything that bothered the players? I recently ran some old-school stuff and things like missing perception checks got the group a little miffed.
Quote from: SosthenesAnything that bothered the players? I recently ran some old-school stuff and things like missing perception checks got the group a little miffed.
Not that they complained about. In fact I handled some perception-type checks with the aforementioned
Stories System doohickey and it worked pretty well.
Here's how it works, by the way:
- GM decides how difficult the task is relative to the character's abilities and assigns a modifier (-8 to +8)
- Player rolls a die (or dice; you have options for straight lines or bell curves)
- Compare roll to a chart; high is good, low is not good
So when Amber wanted Maava to keep an eye on the Toad Lord, I figured, "Okay, it's crowded here, and he's good at being hidey. Still, her Intelligence is 17, plus she has the 'hunter' proficiency, so she's good for this kind of thing...it could go either way." I had my wife add 1 to a roll of a d20.
She rolled just under the "Success" level, so the Toad Lord eluded her. "Dang!" she said, and we went on.
JEFF: Next visit to Half-Price Books, man. I've made up my mind.
Quote from: SosthenesAnything that bothered the players? I recently ran some old-school stuff and things like missing perception checks got the group a little miffed.
The listening rules in the DMG and the surprise rules make good substitutions for general perception.
Mind you, I'm with Ron Edwards on the general subject of perception rolls: most of the time the DM wants people to find stuff. So the much over-used "make a roll to find the plot" is probably the worst stakes you can set on a die roll.
Quote from: jrientsMind you, I'm with Ron Edwards on the general subject of perception rolls: most of the time the DM wants people to find stuff. So the much over-used "make a roll to find the plot" is probably the worst stakes you can set on a die roll.
If used that way, yes. I haven't seen that done for a long, long time. Usually perception rolls come into play when it comes to surprise, detecting someone who's shadowing the group, elves finding secret doors, noticing stuff about people etc.
Making your roll makes stuff easier, yes, but some hard work and spilled blood should get you to the same point.
But that "Stories System" doohickey sounds quite alright. If my next old-schol campaign won't use C&C, I'll take that into consideration. Might even work for the deeds-based D20 variant I'm thinking about...
Quote from: jrientsI got no objection to how you put together your frog dude stats, but trust me on this you want a Fiend Folio. Over on my blog S. John and I were just discussing how it is the awesomest of 1st edition books. To the discerning eye half the creatures in it have their own pre-made plot hooks. The other half are just weirdo mutants to freak out your players. More than once I've considered running an AD&D campaign using the FF as my only critter tome. That's right, the Fiend Folio is so cool it makes me consider giving up orcs.
Why have Orcs when you can have Githyanki? Sure, they've been milked to death by 3.5, but back then they were a revelation. The artwork for the book is supeb, too.
Quote from: jrientsMind you, I'm with Ron Edwards on the general subject of perception rolls: most of the time the DM wants people to find stuff. So the much over-used "make a roll to find the plot" is probably the worst stakes you can set on a die roll.
I learned that lesson the hard, embarassing way.
You could use it to gauge how
much of the plot a character perceives, though, why not?
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!I learned that lesson the hard, embarassing way.
You could use it to gauge how much of the plot a character perceives, though, why not?
That's pretty much how I run with it. I informally classify information in my mind as primary, secondary and tertiary.
Primary knowledge moves things forward, and is almost always noticed (the secret door that allows escape from the collapsing castle).
Secondary information is important, but not critical, and can be used to the players advantage. It often involves a complication (the secret door appears to be trapped).
Tertiary knowledge provides little bonuses that allow the swift completion of tasks that hinge on the primary and secondary info (a hidden lever that disarms the trap without a roll).
I apply it to pretty much everything, from npc's and their secrets to looking for shelter in the wild.