When I started to get into Basic D&D, I bought a ton of modules. The idea was to string them together in a sort of quasi-campaign, and to use them as a means to learn how to run a game for myself.
Module B1 was explicitly made as a tutorial, bundled with the Holmes Basic set of D&D and intended as a teaching aid to new dungeon masters. In practice, this meant that the module was only a map, a collection of rooms, treasure and monster lists that you had to combine yourself. Thanks for the homework, Mike Carr! I ran it as written once, and actually did enjoy the experience. Quasqueton is an interesting dungeon, but its missing necessary pieces of a D&D campaign.
Module B2 is much larger in scope, providing a starting town, a small overland map, and the Caves of Chaos dungeons. It fills out the necessary material and thankfully doesn't expect you to stock the dungeon yourself, but due to the brevity of space and the assumptions of the author, still leaves a lot of the module for the beginning DM to fill out for himself. The starting town and overland are described in broad strokes, and the details need to be filled in individually. B2 is meant to be expanded on, so there's a lot of open space for players to add in their own material into the world. One of those open spaces is the Cave of the Unknown, a blank cave in the middle of the map with no linked dungeon map.
I saw Jon's D&D Vlog on B2, and he mentions placing the Tomb of Horrors inside the Cave of the Unknown. I thought that idea was genius! Then I read a post talking about placing the dungeon from B1 inside the Cave of the Unknown, and suddenly it all fit together.
Combining the material from B1 into B2 allows the DM to expand the content of both. The rumors about Rohan and Zelligar could be told alongside the rumors of the Caves of Chaos, which would let players choose the campaign they want to be on. And because there are a lot of rumors, it would provide extra content for them on return visits to the tavern. B2 provides context for B1, including a town base and a means of getting to the dungeon, without starting the players at the entrance of it.
Initially, I was disappointed by reading through B1 and B2 seperately, I felt that they didn't really provide the answers I was looking for as a novice DM. But running them both seperately really did allow me to see how D&D looks "in action", and combining them both gives me all the material I need for a long campaign for early level characters. Highly recommended.
Online, a lot of players suggest places to fit B1 or B2 in existing campaign worlds such as Greyhawk, Mystara or Undermountain in the Forgotten Realms. Since they were originally written to be generic in setting, I think its best to keep them separate, and allow them to form their own campaign world. The "supermodule" B 1-9 tries to fit both into Mystara, and ends up basically cutting out half of each module individually. Not recommended.
Friday, February 7, 2020
Things I legitimately don't like about AD&D
The number inflation
Armor Class in Basic and OD&D goes from 9 to 2, and fits in neatly with the math from a d20 roll. The only way to gain armor was to buy and equip your character from a small selection of armors and shields. In AD&D, armor class goes from 10 to -10, and your character's dexterity bonus is added to your it, and certain classes like the Paladin get special boosts to armor class. The THAC0 of monsters and PCs rises quickly as well, while AC itself doesn't change from its initial value. This means that, to keep up the player's protection from damage, by the high levels they need armors +3 and shields +2, and other such nonsense.
This sort of AC number inflation, and the irregular way in which it rises, eventually led to the 3e notion of constantly increasing stat bonuses and 4e's level scaled AC. In AD&D's AC system, I see the beginnings of the trend that eventually led D&D to the numbers game that it now is.
I understand that, at the time, AC and to-hit inflation seemed like a good idea, or maybe it was an unintended consequence of how early D&D was played, once the PCs started getting their hands on magic swords and armor. IMO, Chainmail had the best system for magic weapons - a magicked weapon granted at most a +1 bonus to a roll of 2d6. "Double magic" weapons and "Triple magic" were almost unheard of.
In modern D&D, if players don't have +5 weapons by the time they're out of the early levels, they scream blood. To me, this cheapens the nature of magic weapons, and turns them into simple stat bonuses. Its the same silliness that video games have, when by the time your character hits lvl 100 he's carrying a rare legendary masterwork sword of vampiric fire +10.
Armor Class in Basic and OD&D goes from 9 to 2, and fits in neatly with the math from a d20 roll. The only way to gain armor was to buy and equip your character from a small selection of armors and shields. In AD&D, armor class goes from 10 to -10, and your character's dexterity bonus is added to your it, and certain classes like the Paladin get special boosts to armor class. The THAC0 of monsters and PCs rises quickly as well, while AC itself doesn't change from its initial value. This means that, to keep up the player's protection from damage, by the high levels they need armors +3 and shields +2, and other such nonsense.
This sort of AC number inflation, and the irregular way in which it rises, eventually led to the 3e notion of constantly increasing stat bonuses and 4e's level scaled AC. In AD&D's AC system, I see the beginnings of the trend that eventually led D&D to the numbers game that it now is.
I understand that, at the time, AC and to-hit inflation seemed like a good idea, or maybe it was an unintended consequence of how early D&D was played, once the PCs started getting their hands on magic swords and armor. IMO, Chainmail had the best system for magic weapons - a magicked weapon granted at most a +1 bonus to a roll of 2d6. "Double magic" weapons and "Triple magic" were almost unheard of.
In modern D&D, if players don't have +5 weapons by the time they're out of the early levels, they scream blood. To me, this cheapens the nature of magic weapons, and turns them into simple stat bonuses. Its the same silliness that video games have, when by the time your character hits lvl 100 he's carrying a rare legendary masterwork sword of vampiric fire +10.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Frank Mentzer on religion in BECMI, from a facebook post
Frank Mentzer J Conrad, I think a more detailed answer is appropriate.
To address your point -- Belief Systems, aka Religions.
I very specifically avoided all mention of any major real-world faiths in the entire BECMI line.
I avoided derivatives of their beliefs, too. (Compare to extensive Christian influence on Gary's works; he was a Jehovah's Witness, and I'm agnostic.)
I also avoided lesser-known Beliefs as much as I could. Frex, some people still believe in Astrology or Phrenology, so I didn't go there.
I toyed with a religious setup that was 100% fictional, but it turned out indistinguishable from Parody, so I stopped.
You want details of the religion in your game? Fine, please make your own. But don't mock others.
Underlying: Think about it. In this fantasy world, high-level clerics know what comes after death. Some of them chat with gods/immortals on a regular basis. They also control health care, and probably education. So why don't they take over? The Only Possible Answer: the gods/immortals rule that off-limits; if you covet mortal power, leave the faith and start a Dominion (and forget about cleric spells). It's a matter of multiversal balance, preventing excessive power from congealing in one place (clerics) and ruining the balance of Everything... thus upsetting the Prime Plane in general, and thus decreasing the likelihood of getting more Immortals thru ascension.
So for the gods/immortals, it's just a matter of self-interest. It's about getting more Immortals.:)
To address your point -- Belief Systems, aka Religions.
I very specifically avoided all mention of any major real-world faiths in the entire BECMI line.
I avoided derivatives of their beliefs, too. (Compare to extensive Christian influence on Gary's works; he was a Jehovah's Witness, and I'm agnostic.)
I also avoided lesser-known Beliefs as much as I could. Frex, some people still believe in Astrology or Phrenology, so I didn't go there.
I toyed with a religious setup that was 100% fictional, but it turned out indistinguishable from Parody, so I stopped.
You want details of the religion in your game? Fine, please make your own. But don't mock others.
Underlying: Think about it. In this fantasy world, high-level clerics know what comes after death. Some of them chat with gods/immortals on a regular basis. They also control health care, and probably education. So why don't they take over? The Only Possible Answer: the gods/immortals rule that off-limits; if you covet mortal power, leave the faith and start a Dominion (and forget about cleric spells). It's a matter of multiversal balance, preventing excessive power from congealing in one place (clerics) and ruining the balance of Everything... thus upsetting the Prime Plane in general, and thus decreasing the likelihood of getting more Immortals thru ascension.
So for the gods/immortals, it's just a matter of self-interest. It's about getting more Immortals.:)
Monday, January 27, 2020
The sprint button in DOOM 3
I have discovered the sprint button in DOOM 3, and my experience has been enhanced 1000 fold. The trick is to realize that every time you engage in combat, you must mash the sprint button. Suddenly it becomes possible to outmaneuver the enemies and actually dodge bullets. It's possible to shoot out enemy projectiles in DOOM 3 but it was a feat I had only accomplished with the plasma rifle before. With the increased speed from sprint, now I can shoot out fireballs with just the pistol. I had always found DOOM 3 to be atmospheric as fuck, but with the faster movement speed now I greatly enjoy the combat as well. The only downside is that the speed is on a limited duration, which really shouldn't be a thing on a DOOM game, but no game is perfect.
And I'm highly excited for DOOM: Eternal
And I'm highly excited for DOOM: Eternal
Monday, January 20, 2020
Challenging the Players
I went into AD&D with the notion that if the players accurately described what they were doing, I would allow them success or failure on their task depending on their description. I thought this would be a refreshing change from modern D&D, where everything is resolved with a skill check and a die roll.
Unfortunately, this did not work in practice. My players simply described what they were doing and blazed through most challenges with nary an effort. How would you adjudicate climbing a tree in AD&D, without the Thief's climb skill? Surely you don't need to specialize as a thief to climb a tree. 5e's athletics or acrobatics skill would be an easy fit, but if I use AD&D's climbing speed rules and give my player an instant success on the climb attempt, the loss of a few segments of time is hardly worth tracking and what should have been a mobility challenge just became a few seconds of wasted time IRL.
This is especially true for the most common dungeon challenges - locks and traps. By letting players describe 'alternate' methods of cracking them open and disabling them, I merely taxed them by only 1 turn of action, and so they moved past the challenge virtually unhindered. The occasional wandering monster did little to impede them. On the other hand, D&D 5e would approach these challenges with a die roll that has to meet a target Difficulty Class number. Failing die rolls is often frustrating, but the hidden upside is that it causes a natural deterrent to player behavior. If they fail a die roll multiple times, in the AD&D system, that means that they're losing multiple turns. Which means that other players are doing other things, and there are more frequent wandering monster encounters.
Sadly, it seems like I'll have to implement more dice rolls in my game. A 1-in-6 chance or % out of 100 seem like the best fit for AD&D. The Difficulty Class system is a better fit for BECMI, since it uses attribute stat bonuses anyway.
Unfortunately, this did not work in practice. My players simply described what they were doing and blazed through most challenges with nary an effort. How would you adjudicate climbing a tree in AD&D, without the Thief's climb skill? Surely you don't need to specialize as a thief to climb a tree. 5e's athletics or acrobatics skill would be an easy fit, but if I use AD&D's climbing speed rules and give my player an instant success on the climb attempt, the loss of a few segments of time is hardly worth tracking and what should have been a mobility challenge just became a few seconds of wasted time IRL.
This is especially true for the most common dungeon challenges - locks and traps. By letting players describe 'alternate' methods of cracking them open and disabling them, I merely taxed them by only 1 turn of action, and so they moved past the challenge virtually unhindered. The occasional wandering monster did little to impede them. On the other hand, D&D 5e would approach these challenges with a die roll that has to meet a target Difficulty Class number. Failing die rolls is often frustrating, but the hidden upside is that it causes a natural deterrent to player behavior. If they fail a die roll multiple times, in the AD&D system, that means that they're losing multiple turns. Which means that other players are doing other things, and there are more frequent wandering monster encounters.
Sadly, it seems like I'll have to implement more dice rolls in my game. A 1-in-6 chance or % out of 100 seem like the best fit for AD&D. The Difficulty Class system is a better fit for BECMI, since it uses attribute stat bonuses anyway.
Monday, December 9, 2019
Tyranny of Dragonlance
There's a lot in the published Tyranny of Dragons campaign that's nonsensical, and the whole reason is because this storyline is a bad fit for the Forgotten Realms. Stripped of the setting of Faerun, and this adventure is almost exactly the Dragonlance storyline condensed into two volumes. The way to fix the fundamental story flaws is to bring that War of the Lance goodness back into plot.
No, I don't mean bring back Goldmoon and Raistlin.
In the adventure as written, Tiamat is almost an entirely passive entity and if run strictly by the book she should not appear at all at the Well of Dragons, as the Cult of Dragon's plans to resurrect her would be completely thwarted. What fun is that? Instead of such an anticlimactic end, Tiamat should be given a more active role in the story by taking cues from Dragonlance's Takhisis and restored to her place as the main antagonist of the story.
Similarly, Bahamut is not mentioned or used at all in this storyline, and the only time the Metallic Dragons are involved is during a turgidly dull political council scene. Instead of that scene, whisk the players away to Bahamut's castle, in Celestia from 4e's Scales of War adventure path, or Paladine's Glitter Palace, and have the heroes undergo Paladine's tests of worthiness.
The final assault on the Well of Dragons is meant to be a massive clash between the armies of good and the Cult of the Dragon, exactly like the climax to the War of the Lance, but this first publication for 5e lacks any sort of mass combat rules so it all falls by the wayside. Honestly though, I would rather leave it there, as I feel that shoehorning in a mass combat wargame would only detract from the chapter. Contextualize the PCs as a special unit sneaking behind the battle lines while the main forces of good hold off the enemy just long enough to give the players an opening.
The Well of Dragons itself is a terrible dungeon, as it only exists as an area for a large battle and a pit for Tiamat to rise from. Replace it with any of the Temples of Takhisis or Tiamat.
These suggestions change the ending, and in doing so re-contextualizes the whole adventure. Now it truly is an epic battle between good and evil, between the two dragon deities, and not a hodgepodge collection of loose allies from around the Sword Coast fighting a demented cult and some scheming wizards.
To build up to this finale, I sprinkle in references to the two dragon deities and explicitly have their mortal avatars show up in certain instances. For example, Takhisis speaks to Frulam and Cyanwrath in the dragon hatchery just before they are interrupted by the players, and Paladine is encountered during the long caravan ride and offers words of wisdom and caution.
This also resolves my issues with the "half-dragons" introduced in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, as they are clearly meant to be Dragonlance's Draconians, but the official races of 5e have already retrofitted Draconians into the Dragonborn race, so why do half-dragons even exist? Well now they don't, they're just evil dragonborn leading an army of dragon kind in service of the Queen of Dragons.
No, I don't mean bring back Goldmoon and Raistlin.
In the adventure as written, Tiamat is almost an entirely passive entity and if run strictly by the book she should not appear at all at the Well of Dragons, as the Cult of Dragon's plans to resurrect her would be completely thwarted. What fun is that? Instead of such an anticlimactic end, Tiamat should be given a more active role in the story by taking cues from Dragonlance's Takhisis and restored to her place as the main antagonist of the story.
Similarly, Bahamut is not mentioned or used at all in this storyline, and the only time the Metallic Dragons are involved is during a turgidly dull political council scene. Instead of that scene, whisk the players away to Bahamut's castle, in Celestia from 4e's Scales of War adventure path, or Paladine's Glitter Palace, and have the heroes undergo Paladine's tests of worthiness.
The final assault on the Well of Dragons is meant to be a massive clash between the armies of good and the Cult of the Dragon, exactly like the climax to the War of the Lance, but this first publication for 5e lacks any sort of mass combat rules so it all falls by the wayside. Honestly though, I would rather leave it there, as I feel that shoehorning in a mass combat wargame would only detract from the chapter. Contextualize the PCs as a special unit sneaking behind the battle lines while the main forces of good hold off the enemy just long enough to give the players an opening.
The Well of Dragons itself is a terrible dungeon, as it only exists as an area for a large battle and a pit for Tiamat to rise from. Replace it with any of the Temples of Takhisis or Tiamat.
These suggestions change the ending, and in doing so re-contextualizes the whole adventure. Now it truly is an epic battle between good and evil, between the two dragon deities, and not a hodgepodge collection of loose allies from around the Sword Coast fighting a demented cult and some scheming wizards.
To build up to this finale, I sprinkle in references to the two dragon deities and explicitly have their mortal avatars show up in certain instances. For example, Takhisis speaks to Frulam and Cyanwrath in the dragon hatchery just before they are interrupted by the players, and Paladine is encountered during the long caravan ride and offers words of wisdom and caution.
This also resolves my issues with the "half-dragons" introduced in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, as they are clearly meant to be Dragonlance's Draconians, but the official races of 5e have already retrofitted Draconians into the Dragonborn race, so why do half-dragons even exist? Well now they don't, they're just evil dragonborn leading an army of dragon kind in service of the Queen of Dragons.
Monday, December 2, 2019
Retooling Hoard of the Dragon Queen...again Chapter 1
I'm starting to run this campaign again, because I just can't let it go. I posted a retrospective and a "what I would have done better" blog entry earlier, but now that I have more experience as a DM I have a lot harsher criticisms for this module and a lot more restructuring I would want to do.
Starting with Chapter 1, I like the metaplot of this chapter - a dragon attacks a town. It's the stuff of high fantasy and a great set-piece introduction. However the implementation of this chapter is terrible. The missions and encounters are written to be given to the players in a purely reactive manner. The DM is supposed to spring the encounters on the players in a random order, or have a quest giver NPC, Governer Nighthill, merely give players the missions in sequence, like an NPC in a video game. I do not like running my games this way and I prefer players to be more proactive and choose the encounters that they are involved in.
I never run the opening as written, where the PCs are assumed to be a random band of adventurers who see Greenest being attacked in the distance, and take it upon themselves (i.e. are railroaded) to help. Instead, I always use the classic opening - the players meet at an inn. I give them time to introduce themselves and their characters, and form some base level of comfort with each other. Then I tell them that they can hear sounds of an attack outside. The tavern that they're inside is in Greenest.
From there I let the players choose what they want to do. I've given them the basic hook - they're being attacked and the city is burning around them. Whether they choose to fight or flee is up to them. I'm still using some subtle railroading, but its much more interesting than the heavy handed method that the module itself provides.
But I do run one thing as written, which is the first encounter with Linan Swift and her family. I use this to give the players their first goal - run to the Keep for safety, and it helps me keep them on the rails in a subtle manner. The usefulness of Linan Swift as the voice of the DM cannot be understated.
But the worst part of the opening chapter is how the players get to the keep. By the book, for every 100 feet the party moves, the DM is to roll for a random encounter, then have those encounters sprung on the players. This is awful, because who is going to measure 100 ft increments? And with what map, the tiny quarter page one in the book? What is there to keep the players from simply making a beeline to the keep? Instead, I run this sequence as scenes of rioting or street fighting. I have Linan direct the way to the keep, but the party will frequently find their path blocked by fighting, looters, or fires and other hazards. This lets them choose whether to fight or find another way around. Sometimes I let them escape from the bands of kobolds and cultists roaming the streets, sometimes I have them give chase. Eventually the players reach the keep and bargain for entry with the Sergeant of the Guard, where they can finally rest and recover some HP and spells. By this point they should advance from level 1 to 2, and make it a little of the way to level 3. Since level 1 characters are fairly fragile, only one or two encounters are really necessary for them to cross into level 2, and if HP is a concern, a single short rest somewhere in the town should be enough, or the encounters can turn into roleplay or skill challenges instead of combat for XP. Inside the keep, I offer professional healing services and some minor provisions for the players to replenish their fighting capacity.
The advice in the DMG is that players should have around 6 encounters per level, one easy, one hard, and four of moderate difficulty. I think that results in a bit too much combat for this chapter, so by granting all players 100XP just for reaching the keep I lower the number of encounters necessary to level up by two. Using the option to grant players XP for saved civilians also lowers the necessary requirement, and boosts them on their way to level 3.
This means that the missions in the Keep bring the characters along the way to level 3. Honestly, I only run 3 of the encounters in this chapter - the secret tunnel with the swarm of rats, an optional save the mill, sanctuary or sally port, whichever is the player's choice, and the dragon assault. After the dragon assault, the players engage in the duel with Cyanwrath. With these 3-4 encounters, the players can make it just shy of level 3 and prepare themselves for Chapter 2.
As I said before, I think the assault on Greenest is a fantastic set piece battle, but the actual direction for running it in the book is lacking. By restructuring it so that players have more freedom of choice and more agency in their character actions, and by keeping a closer eye to the mechanical details of XP progression and encounter challenge, the event becomes much more enjoyable for the players, much less frustrating for the GM, and a better springboard into the larger campaign.
Starting with Chapter 1, I like the metaplot of this chapter - a dragon attacks a town. It's the stuff of high fantasy and a great set-piece introduction. However the implementation of this chapter is terrible. The missions and encounters are written to be given to the players in a purely reactive manner. The DM is supposed to spring the encounters on the players in a random order, or have a quest giver NPC, Governer Nighthill, merely give players the missions in sequence, like an NPC in a video game. I do not like running my games this way and I prefer players to be more proactive and choose the encounters that they are involved in.
I never run the opening as written, where the PCs are assumed to be a random band of adventurers who see Greenest being attacked in the distance, and take it upon themselves (i.e. are railroaded) to help. Instead, I always use the classic opening - the players meet at an inn. I give them time to introduce themselves and their characters, and form some base level of comfort with each other. Then I tell them that they can hear sounds of an attack outside. The tavern that they're inside is in Greenest.
From there I let the players choose what they want to do. I've given them the basic hook - they're being attacked and the city is burning around them. Whether they choose to fight or flee is up to them. I'm still using some subtle railroading, but its much more interesting than the heavy handed method that the module itself provides.
But I do run one thing as written, which is the first encounter with Linan Swift and her family. I use this to give the players their first goal - run to the Keep for safety, and it helps me keep them on the rails in a subtle manner. The usefulness of Linan Swift as the voice of the DM cannot be understated.
But the worst part of the opening chapter is how the players get to the keep. By the book, for every 100 feet the party moves, the DM is to roll for a random encounter, then have those encounters sprung on the players. This is awful, because who is going to measure 100 ft increments? And with what map, the tiny quarter page one in the book? What is there to keep the players from simply making a beeline to the keep? Instead, I run this sequence as scenes of rioting or street fighting. I have Linan direct the way to the keep, but the party will frequently find their path blocked by fighting, looters, or fires and other hazards. This lets them choose whether to fight or find another way around. Sometimes I let them escape from the bands of kobolds and cultists roaming the streets, sometimes I have them give chase. Eventually the players reach the keep and bargain for entry with the Sergeant of the Guard, where they can finally rest and recover some HP and spells. By this point they should advance from level 1 to 2, and make it a little of the way to level 3. Since level 1 characters are fairly fragile, only one or two encounters are really necessary for them to cross into level 2, and if HP is a concern, a single short rest somewhere in the town should be enough, or the encounters can turn into roleplay or skill challenges instead of combat for XP. Inside the keep, I offer professional healing services and some minor provisions for the players to replenish their fighting capacity.
The advice in the DMG is that players should have around 6 encounters per level, one easy, one hard, and four of moderate difficulty. I think that results in a bit too much combat for this chapter, so by granting all players 100XP just for reaching the keep I lower the number of encounters necessary to level up by two. Using the option to grant players XP for saved civilians also lowers the necessary requirement, and boosts them on their way to level 3.
This means that the missions in the Keep bring the characters along the way to level 3. Honestly, I only run 3 of the encounters in this chapter - the secret tunnel with the swarm of rats, an optional save the mill, sanctuary or sally port, whichever is the player's choice, and the dragon assault. After the dragon assault, the players engage in the duel with Cyanwrath. With these 3-4 encounters, the players can make it just shy of level 3 and prepare themselves for Chapter 2.
As I said before, I think the assault on Greenest is a fantastic set piece battle, but the actual direction for running it in the book is lacking. By restructuring it so that players have more freedom of choice and more agency in their character actions, and by keeping a closer eye to the mechanical details of XP progression and encounter challenge, the event becomes much more enjoyable for the players, much less frustrating for the GM, and a better springboard into the larger campaign.
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