Two canceled sessions in a row are partly to blame for the gap in campaign news. Summer is a tricky time for playing AD&D around here as we are all busy with visitors, summer-only activities, busy season at work, etc. I'm looking forward to September when the summer complaints thin out and we all have a little more time for games!
PLAYERS & CHARACTERS
Last night's game got off
to a late and slow start, but finished strong for the two players
present. Pursuing the legend of the black sapphire, "Réalta Dhubh," the
characters ended up in Killarney.
On the Leader Board,
Andy and John both improved their ratings. Andy's new character Frang,
debuted ahead of the bottom four characters, while John's character Eoin
advanced from 5th to 3rd place in the rankings.
SCHEDULE
Our next game is scheduled for 13:00 on Saturday, August 30 at Footbridge. The game date then will be September 22, 1479.
The
current downtime period is September 1 - September 21, except for Eoin
and Frang who are already up to September 11, and Shay who is still at
August 20.
Orders for all characters through September 21 are due by 19:00 on Sunday, August 24.
TIPS & TRICKS
Casual and Serious Approaches to the Game
As
complicated as it is, AD&D is a very easy game to play. Unlike board games like chess, one can play AD&D without reading or knowing
any of the rules. Most people who play the game, first played it in
that manner with other people who already knew the rules (at least some
of the rules). It's very easy to just "show up and play" with an
experienced referee at the table. For casual players, an evening
with friends, beers, and snacks is all they're interested in having, and
there are plenty of players who continue their D&D careers at this
level. They absorb a few rules through osmosis, but never really read the rules or find ways to exploit them. These players are at the
table for "fun," not to "win." That seems fine, because nobody wins or
loses at D&D, right? It's cooperative, not competitive. Isn't it?
Yes and no.
AD&D is a very difficult game
to play well. It is extremely complex, and the rules not only constrain
the players' every actions, they actively work to reverse the players'
progress when they're not at the table! Monthly upkeep is akin to
backing the player's piece up on the board periodically, or undoing
moves the player previously made. The board is in constant flux as well,
so a metaphorical space on the board a player was aiming to hit one
session, might no longer be there, or be desirable to reach, the next
session. The clock continues to run down the time whether the players
are on the field or not. To play the game well, the player needs to grasp
a fairly large body of interlocking rules and find ways to squeeze
advantage out of those rules that are by default working against him. Players
who are unable to out-swim that counter-current are doomed to cover the
same ground over and over. They are never going to move out of grimy,
shitty dungeons, and assume positions of authority in a world where they
would fight wars and gain territories and engage in a whole different
mode of play. The scale and the scope are altered so that after hundreds
of hours of game play they aren’t still farting around like a bunch of
scrubs in a roaming gang and robbing people.
If, as a serious
player, you'd like to do something besides mucking around in moldering
fun-house dungeons, you need to use your characters to learn about the
fictional world, and you need to read (and re-read many times) and
exploit the rules of the game to get your character ahead.
Remedial AD&D
About
a year ago I came to the startling realization that I had been playing AD&D incorrectly for more than 40 years. I thought I was playing by rules,
pretty much. I had a few house rules that filled in gaps and
shortcomings in the book rules (secondary skills and family background),
but by and large, I thought I was refereeing a by-the-book,
rules-as-written kind of game. I was dead wrong. Fortunately, I had the
rule books and I like to read and figure out hard to understand things.
Gary Gygax's writing is hard to figure out. So, I started over and read
the rule books cover to cover. There were dozens of rules I hadn't even
heard of. I went back to remedial referee school to learn it all again.
This time the right way. I'm still working on it.
As a player, reading the rules (Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide)
is the only way to learn the game well enough to win. And by "win," I
mean get out of the murder-hobo mode of play. Additionally, there are
some basic steps you can take to improve your game if you're not already
doing them:
- Take notes during the session. Keep these notes and your character's downtime orders and results in a timeline for each character you have. Re-read your character's timeline when planning for the next session in which you will play him and when preparing new downtime orders.
- Prepare for sessions ahead of time by submitting downtime orders to take care of equipment purchases, money exchange, hiding treasure, information gathering, travel, etc.
- PLAN WITH OTHER PLAYERS BEFORE YOUR NEXT SESSION.
- Keep your rating low by submitting high quality downtime orders and killing off characters that are hurting your ratings average.
- Read "Successful Adventures" on pp. 107 & 109 of the Players Handbook.
