D&D 5e Survey

I have some burning questions for 5th edition gamers.  Hopefully, you guys can answer them.  It'll help me prepare for the Cha'alt kickstarter that will launch just before Thanksgiving...

1) Back in the day, when playing AD&D many gamers defaulted to the basic version of the game, similar to original D&D, rather than using all the extra mechanical bells and whistles contained within the AD&D rulebooks.

What I want to know is how many 5e gamers play their D&D in a simplified or old school / OSR way?

Specificly, would you consider full 5e stat-blocks to be essential in a 5e compatible product, or would providing the most important stuff be an option / acceptable?

2) Since official D&D 5e settings are few and far between, how much campaign setting material would you like to see in a published adventure?

3) How much guidance (or hand-holding, if you prefer) would be ideal, in your view?  A sentence here and there about the designer's intention or what's going on in general?  Paragraphs on setting things up before each chapter?  Or pages about how to run scenarios with boxed text and sidebars containing GM advice throughout the book?

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Thanks for taking the time to answer this questionnaire!  Keep an eye on this blog for mentions of the upcoming Cha'alt news.

VS

Updated PDF: Player's Handbook Like A Fucking Boss

Some nice changes have been made to the PDF (both bloody parchment with evil red veins and the printer-friendly version), so wanted to blog about it!

A few of the previous illustrations weren't that well integrated into the layout, my fault on that.  And a new image was added, plus text from Draconic Magazine here.  So, the document is looking better than ever. 

If you've already purchased it, the updated PDFs are waiting for you (email notification should have automatically been sent out when the files were updated).  If you don't have it yet, I think it's well worth the price...

Aww Hell, let's put this motherfucker on sale!!!

VS

Delving Deeper Into Old School

Prompted by the possible acquisition of Star Frontier trademark(s) and/or intellectual property, there was a discussion on g+.  Particularly, I want to focus on the exchange between myself and +Pierre Savoie.

What this blog post is about is the slippery notion of "old school" which fits right in with the "old school renaissance" or OSR.  Indeed, we've all thought about, read about, or talked about what defines the OSR.  I've done it myself.

But if we go back to the origins of the OSR - old school itself... what do we find?  Clearly, there's a division.  Two separate camps that occasionally believe themselves one and the same.  The first I'll define as primordial; the second complex (I tried not to use any language bias, either praising or putting down the respective sides).

For examples, I'll go with Basic D&D for primordial and AD&D for complexity.  In the above linked Star Frontiers g+ thread, falling damage was mentioned as a possible litmus test for old school.  Ah, yes... but which old school are we talking about?

Ironically, the falling damage that seems the most "narrative" or "story-game" appears more old school to my eyes.  Is that because we've come full circle?  Have RPGs evolved so far into the future that we're nearly back at the beginning?

Yet, many gamers believe that sophisticated mechanisms and extensive rules make old school what it is.   There are certainly more examples of complex RPGs than AD&D.  Not being as familiar (I'll plainly admit, I'm not a fan of complexity in my RPGs), what other advantages does this style of old school have over simpler systems?

I liken this division (having a number of striking similarities) as the difference between old and new testament in the Bible.  We call early RPGs - such as 80's D&D - old school as if it's all the same.  However, in some ways, those two camps - primordial and complex - couldn't be further from each other.

Do they get at the same things but with different approaches?  Or do they each have completely separate goals?

VS

Printed out the first S'rulyan Vault map

I shall be buried with this giant bastard of an old school dungeon map.  Let this blog post serve as my final will and testament.

For those curious, after my 25% off coupon from FedEx Office, this 46" x 36" color printed and laminated sheet cost me about $90.  Yeah, I didn't have to go that big (see that diminutive blue thing on the right - that's a full-size set of Chessex dice).  No, I didn't have to laminate it.  Sure, it's a pretty penny, but this is my "forever dungeon."

The thing I love most about it?  The little cracks drawn into the dungeon floor.

It'll take up the majority of damn near any gaming table you set it on.  The thing is beautiful!  +MonkeyBlood Design (Glynn Seal) did an amazing job.  This Saturday afternoon, I finally get a chance to try it out.

You see, my lame hand-drawn map of Dwimmermount sucked and even though the rooms and corridors are different shapes and configurations, I'll make it work for the monthly old school D&D dungeoncrawl.

I'm putting the whip to Glynn in order to make The S'rulyan Vault II even more badass, so definitely swing on by and back this Kickstarter.

Thanks,

VS

Old School Artwork - Renaissance Man

Up until the cover for Descent into the Candy Crypts (see sidebar and scroll down a bit), I hadn't painted anything in a year.  The combination of time, energy, and frustration at not being as good as I wanted to be... that's what kept me from my acrylic paints, brushes, and canvas.

I went to Art Fair on the Square on Sunday.  For those not familiar with south-central Wisconsin, it's a hundred or so booths of artists and their art on display all around the capitol.  One thing led to another and that night, continuing on through Monday morning, afternoon, and evening, I finished a work I'm proud to say I painted.  It felt good (my sense of artistic expression - not my back and knees!)

It's a tribute to the AD&D Player's Handbook by David A. Trampier, of course, (with tentacles) on a healthy 36" x 24" wrapped canvas.  Maybe I'll drag it out to Game Hole Con in November if anyone wants to see it in person.  I call it "Demon with Gemstone Eyes".

Thanks for looking,

VS

Concluding the Temple of Elemental Evil

Yes, it is finished.  Faced with the distinct possibility of going out with a whimper, I always prefer a bang, instead.  My home gaming group was disintegrating before me, my only hope was to conclude The Temple of Elemental Evil next session.  That being last Saturday, I have a session report for you...

• Prior to the session's start, Daniel (playing Sir Basil) explained his odd behavior last session.  Taken aback by Xar's disregard for human life, Sir Basil uncomfortably "went along with" proceedings even though the holy knight had deep reservations about slitting the throat of that woman cultist/vessel encountered last time.  Basil decided against confronting Xar for the sake of party cohesion and the greater quest of dispatching the foul remnants of the temple.
• As there was a player shortage, the extra characters who didn't have players to run them (X'fritl and Tidillo, specifically) simply vanished before the remaining characters' eyes.  Left with nothing more than a faint, disembodied evil laugh, the "survivors" marched forward to the unexplored areas of the 3rd level.
• Having an hour's preparation, I planned for two special things, unique aspects of my own devising that would make the Temple stand out... that would make it truly mine.  
• 1) a hexagonal room with six doors.  Four of them led to a jungle.  Upon opening those doors, the PCs saw bits of dungeon floor and walls here and there, slowly giving way to an entirely new environment - a mysterious jungle.  Just in case they got curious or needed a break from the dungeon crawl, I provided an escape.  Those doors led to none other than the islands of purple-haunted putrescence.  After their discovery, the players opted not to venture out into the jungle.  That was fine by me, though I had my book full of weird science-fantasy encounters handy just in case.
• 2) towards the end, I wanted a couple of dimensional travelers to interrupt the party's progress.  We'll get to that later.
• A powerful demon guarded this section of the dungeon.  One or more PCs could have died, but near-constant magic missiles and Sir Basil's frostbrand made short work of him.
• More prisoners discovered:  human, humanoid, and elf.  One of the elves became the party thief.  The rest just wanted to go home or stay in the dungeon.
• An illusion made for interesting combat as the characters were almost totally taken-in by were-jackals.
• A bronze pit for a bugbear was easily scouted by Markus the ragged - a templar revenant who joined the party last session.  The revenant is a character class provided in FH&W.  Tricky to play and DM, I let a lot of stuff fly that wasn't specially mentioned in the rule book.  
• A potentially huge encounter with bugbears, ogres, and a hill giant was cut short by Xar's well-placed fireball.  
• Some evocative and Lovecraftian descriptions provided a dank and dreary atmosphere - perfect for dungeoneering.  
• Stairways showed level 4 having collapsed some time ago.  That kept everyone on level 3 where the action was.  This being the last session, it made sense.
  
  
  
• Finally, a purple throne, an inner-sanctum, and a towering spider demon with cyclopean 9th eye shooting burning rays of fire.  Luckily, two out of the three PCs wore rings of fire resistance.  I got most of the stats from Fiend Folio and converted the rest to be the big bad at the temple's end.  When not using its eye ray, it had four attacks.  I pulled out all the descriptive stops for this one.  I mentioned the viscera and slimy entrails yanked out of its abdomen when Sir Basil scored a critical hit - max damage on both dice!  When he finally struck it down, after almost dying (luckily he had a potion of extra healing), I detailed its severed head twitching and wounds oozing a yellow-green substance, etc.  There was nearly an hour left after the creature's destruction.
• Back to Vengerizing the temple, the party decided to rest up before looting the spider demon's treasure.  Nothing happened while they slept.  Upon waking, however, the party heard voices and clanging noises coming from the inner-sanctum (they slept in the throne room adjacent).  They investigated.  Two humans and a magic portal.  The humans told of their mission - to retrieve a sacred object containing the essence or soul of their unpronounceable god.  Using one of the special abilities of his class, Sir Basil detected that the god contained within the silver container was evil.  The party forced the two dimensional travelers to give up the container.  Before leaving through the portal, they promised to return... with reinforcements.  
  
• This led to an amusing, though brief, chase through the third level.  The PCs hid in a large crack where they left off at the end of last session.  After a DM reminder (I usually refrain from that sort of thing, but couldn't resist), Xar used his limited wish scroll to destroy the evil god trapped in the silver vessel.  Not finding any easy loopholes, his wish was granted.  And not having any way to see if their god was still in the container, the dimensional intruders took back the container.
• Amongst the spider demon's horde of gold and gemstones, the PCs claimed a dragon orb and a few other random magic items from the 1st edition DMG.  At that point, they marched back up to the surface, away from the misery-infused stone of this particular dungeon.  
• Not that it mattered, but everyone leveled before going home.

I was pleased with this session and The Temple of Elemental Evil as a whole.  However, I'm confident that next time I run it, things will go three times as awesome!

VS

More Evil Elements in the Temple

We finally got to resume our dungeon crawl through the Temple of Elemental Evil (see here for last session).  Below is a bullet-point snapshot of what went down...

• Harold returned to the fold.  For awhile there, he was spending every weekend with his girlfriend Carrie.  Luckily, there was space at the table because he brought her to play with us.  She'd never played D&D before but had played Changeling.  Not sure exactly how that happens, but ok.  Carrie played Melanie's character: X'fritl.
• There was a moment where I thought I'd lost everyone's character sheet (again!).  Thankfully, they were tucked in some RPG book upstairs.
• We all went through a re-cap and re-introduction because it had been so damned long since the last time.
  
• Monsters were killed (owlbears, bugbears, trolls, etc.) and humanoid cultists were either tricked or hypnotized.  Speaking of evil priests, I changed a few things around so that one of the lesser head priests had just murdered the high priest of that level in order to have his way with a nubile envoy from another temple.  It was an interesting diversion for a minute... until both their throats were slit.
• Sure enough, the party wanted to descend into the 3rd level of the dungeon before they'd cleared out the 2nd.  Not having read that far ahead, I did my best to wing it.  Either porting parts from the 2nd level to the 3rd or reading the boxed text for the first time... aloud to the players.  At least there was only an hour of game time left by the time they explored that 3rd level.
• Fire's a bitch.  A temple space devoted to the elemental evil of fire contained several salamanders which took awhile to kill.  Kaazor took another PC's life.  Harold's old character Verdilo was chewed up and spit out (or possibly swallowed).  
• After the salamanders, an iron box containing a super-powerful magic sword was discovered and went to Sir Basil, the paladin.  Incidentally, every battle Basil would try to throw himself in harm's way as a monster or humanoid was about to do damage to another party member.  This happened about 5 or 6 times.  From then on, I decided he'd have a 33% chance to take the hit for another PC or his hireling Milo.
• Harold created a new character - Murak the dwarf.  He picked up a trident of yearning and attempted to drown himself.  Luckily, he was saved.

Even though interesting things are happening, I'm ever so slightly starting to get bored with The Temple of Elemental Evil.  It's my own fault, really.  Never made it my own.  I'm going to introduce something weird into the mix... something I've been meaning to do for awhile, but time just gets away from me towards the week's end.  

Because next Saturday is Ben's last game for a couple months and it's difficult to keep a diverse and newly formed group together around the holidays, I think next time will be our last session with the ToEE.  Plus, I'm itching for something fresh.  Who knows, maybe Bell Bottoms, Black Sabbath, and Beltane (here) or the newly compiled and modified WEG Star Wars d6 RPG (here).

VS

P.S.  Oops, I forgot about something.  I did have a chance to use my new O5R Advantage/Disadvantage system.  Just once.

After opening a door and getting attacked, Verdilo (being a gnome) scurried between the troll's legs and stabbed him in the thigh.  It was inventive, cinematic, and tactically sound.  For me, it goes to show that little things aren't really worth worrying about.  But when something is noticeably advantageous (or the reverse), it should get special treatment.  Verdilo hit thanks to the +4 and did a small amount of damage (due to his size, naturally).