Building Zeb's World - Learning AD&D 2nd Edition
Where to Begin?
Where else should one begin but at the beginning. The game is tonight... er well at least it is as of the time of writing this, whether it'll be published before the game tonight really has to do with how my brain feels about writing. I spent some time last week digging into things that might make my journey into this game feel a little more like something I know.
Character Creation
Unlike the primary method for 2nd Edition Character Creation using 3d6 Down the Line, I am going to use creation method III, or the one that lets you roll 3d6 and place wherever you want. Since this is an open table and I want to learn the system, I don't really want to struggle with characters that are dead folk walking. I want them to be heroic or at least feel that way, while still playing within the boundaries of 2e. In the same vein I'm going to allow for max HP at first level, but it'll be a random roll for every level above 1st.
I think that there is something worthwhile for the "historical" aspect of playing old games in Current Year, I also think that you really have to temper expectations when pulling into an open table at a FLGS. I've GM'd games at conventions that are very much "THIS IS HOW THE GAME WAS MEANT TO BE PLAYED AND PLAY IT LIKE THAT WE SHALL!" such decrees and how I play games mostly come from how I was taught the game. An example I tend to go back to in these cases is Blades in the Dark. My first interaction with that game system was the Marielda season of Friends at the Table. This little interlude season started with a great game of The Quiet Year and after Austin Walker and crew created the world of Marielda, a heist ensued and this gave me unrealistic expectations of how to run this game. I love Forged in the Dark games, but I'm never going to run them because I don't feel like I'm the right type of GM for those games, and that's okay. So to really pull it back to my point, I have never played 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons and so I want to learn it by play. I feel much more confident in my ability to GM these because at the end of the day, it's a flavor of elfgame. If I get bogged down in the minutiae I can just rely on 20 years of various other editions of Dungeons & Dragons I've played. This is why I'm okay with things like adjusting the character creation method to something that suits my personal tastes.
House Rules & General Vibes
It's an open game and I want to keep it lax, but I know that I might straddle the line between dark and gory and light and gag-filled. I know that Session 0 is important, and public games might not have the luxury of that conversation, I know that I rarely do when I run convention games, so I try to keep my games somewhere in the realm of PG-13 or like mid-80s R rating. Nothing too gory, nothing sexual, maybe one "Fuck" somewhere in the campaign. I also will be implementing lines and veils.
- Critical Hits - A result of a 20 will give the attacking character an extra damage die
- Hovering on Death's Door - The optional rule on page 75 of the DMG
- Skill Proficiency - Unless the players are all 2e vets and don't want it, I'll probably do this to keep the semblance of a "skill system" for players that might be used to it.
- Post Combat Ammo Recovery - Palyers can recover half of the arrows and bolts fired during combat, bullets are always destroyed, but it's easy to find a few stones in the dungeon. Thrown weapons can always be recovered.
- Starting Equipment - Every character starts with a set of clothes, a backpack, and 2 pouches.
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