This is gonna sound a lot like an old man, telling the story of how he would walk 5 miles to school, in waist deep snow, uphill, both ways. I assure you. There is no jealousy of how easy it is for the younger generations involved. To the contrary, I lament their loss.
Throughout Basic D&D, 1e AD&D, and I can only presume 2nd ed. (I didn't play that one) Magic items were a rare occurrence. If you found a +1 sword, you named that S.O.B. and held onto it until your character died. Maybe the dice gods would smile on you, and might end up with a +2 Frostbrand. Heaven forbid you ever got hold of +5 Holy Avenger. Your character finishes out the adventure, then runs away to hide and stroke "The Precious".
I can't speak for anyone else, but most of the games I played in were low magic. We really didn't start getting any serious magic items until we were at least 6th level.
"and by gum, we were happy to have nothing"
ok, sorry about that...
It was the elimination of Treasure Types. That's where they lost the feel of Old School gaming, for me at least. The random treasure generation tables were never your friend. When I used to play (a VERY long time ago it seems) the only actual "placed" treasure you would find was in commercial modules. Our group designed our own most of the time. It's a philosophy I still follow now. Design your own material. We would place the monsters and let the dice gods decide what we found. That was where the excitement of the dungeon crawl was for me. That's where you found out if your dice liked you.
Later on with the advent of 3rd edition, the amount of gold typically found after an encounter had gone up. The creation of magic items became formulized. Consequently, that's when I think I lost my sense of wonder with the game. I've been searching for it ever since, but the collective play style has evolved away from that. They all seem to want that custom item for their character. I even fell for it myself, once or twice.
Part of it was the games got shorter. There seems to be a rush to get leveled up fast. They started cramming special abilities into every level you gained. You gained the levels, but as a player the fast leveling deprived you of experience in creative thinking. Why try and figure out a way around the orc infested hills, when you can just go to town and buy a fire ball scroll? Why pay the street urchins for information, when you can just use the Scrying spell. You get he point...
I don't think that you're having fun wrong. I think that maybe you're missing a chance to become that hero of legend by using your wits. Of course I also think the addition of skills diminish player creativity. But what do I know, I'm just an old man that doesn't really play anymore.
Go out and fun however makes you happy. Happy gaming!
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
Healing for fun and profit Part Duex
So...
Listening to one of my favorite podcasts Gamerstable they were talking about healing recently. I've already posted some ideas on how to make healing more interesting here. I had a few more ideas on healing that I will be incorporating into my homebrew world.
Idea the first: Clerics can only heal in a pinch. In an effort to make my games a bit deadlier (and I do like them deadly) Clerics are not the healbots everyone thinks they are. Clerics can lay on hands much like a Paladin, but only twice per day, and they have to make a Devotion check. The Devotion check is a d20 roll, where they must roll under their class level, if the prayer fails, they did not heal the target. If they roll at or under their class level, then the target is restored to half normal hit points. To ensure wily players can't get around this, there will be NO healing spells, potions, or magic items. because I don't completely hate PCs, I will be allowing for NPC healers. Whether it be an old crone in the woods, or a town elder, some healing will be available for the PCs. (I'm not completely heartless). Much of the healing available will not taste good. Refer to my previous healing post. ;-)
Idea the second: Healers will have a healing skill. They will only be able to heal at the moment. No saving that salve for later. Healers will NEVER, and I mean effin NEVER go adventuring. This is an NPC class only. (Anyone remember the Death master?) The GM will decide what form the healing takes. Potion, Payer, bandages, etc... A thought I just had: Spells like Remove Curse, Resurrection, etc. Can also only be performed by NPCs.
Idea the Third: Some damage sustained by the characters will be a permanent loss of health. If the Character receives a wound that exceeds more than half their hit point total, they will roll a die and permanently lose that many hit points. This may seem a bit extreme, however, have you ever seen someone with really severe injuries? They are never quite the same again, or quite 100% healthy.
That's all I have for now. Use it or not. I realize not everyone is as bloodthirsty as I am, but if you find something useful, enjoy the anguished look on your players faces.
Happy gaming!
Listening to one of my favorite podcasts Gamerstable they were talking about healing recently. I've already posted some ideas on how to make healing more interesting here. I had a few more ideas on healing that I will be incorporating into my homebrew world.
Idea the first: Clerics can only heal in a pinch. In an effort to make my games a bit deadlier (and I do like them deadly) Clerics are not the healbots everyone thinks they are. Clerics can lay on hands much like a Paladin, but only twice per day, and they have to make a Devotion check. The Devotion check is a d20 roll, where they must roll under their class level, if the prayer fails, they did not heal the target. If they roll at or under their class level, then the target is restored to half normal hit points. To ensure wily players can't get around this, there will be NO healing spells, potions, or magic items. because I don't completely hate PCs, I will be allowing for NPC healers. Whether it be an old crone in the woods, or a town elder, some healing will be available for the PCs. (I'm not completely heartless). Much of the healing available will not taste good. Refer to my previous healing post. ;-)
Idea the second: Healers will have a healing skill. They will only be able to heal at the moment. No saving that salve for later. Healers will NEVER, and I mean effin NEVER go adventuring. This is an NPC class only. (Anyone remember the Death master?) The GM will decide what form the healing takes. Potion, Payer, bandages, etc... A thought I just had: Spells like Remove Curse, Resurrection, etc. Can also only be performed by NPCs.
Idea the Third: Some damage sustained by the characters will be a permanent loss of health. If the Character receives a wound that exceeds more than half their hit point total, they will roll a die and permanently lose that many hit points. This may seem a bit extreme, however, have you ever seen someone with really severe injuries? They are never quite the same again, or quite 100% healthy.
That's all I have for now. Use it or not. I realize not everyone is as bloodthirsty as I am, but if you find something useful, enjoy the anguished look on your players faces.
Happy gaming!
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