Campaign News December 28

There are no updates on characters, players, or schedule since the last news posted on the 17th, so it's just Tip & Tricks today.

TIPS & TRICKS

All we have to decide is what to do with the time we are given. - Gandalf

How to Not Waste Downtime

Characters have limited lifespans. Although their "natural" longevity could be as high as 139 years or as low as 62, it's most commonly it's 92 to 97 years. With 1:1 time, who cares what we do with their time between sessions? The character, which is likely in his or her teens or 20s at the start of play, will outlive the player anyway, right? Well, not likely.

Besides the fact that characters are subject to far more deadly violence than we players are, using magic and sustaining attacks from the supernatural creatures in the game can unnaturally age the characters. They are checking monthly against the (albeit fairly unlikely) chance of random death by disease or infection too. In any case, what our characters accomplish in their fictional lifetimes isn't so much the question as what we, as their players, accomplish with them as our game pieces.

A week or two of time passes in both the real world and the game world between each session. Each session our characters miss adds "slack" to their game clocks as the other characters who did play in the session advance the "global clock." If your characters don't use that time, they lose it. They can only use it if their players give orders for the use of their time to the referee in advance of that time passing. As such, as soon as you have ended a session with your character you should be issuing down time orders for what they're doing next. Every day you wait deciding, or getting around to it, they lose to inaction.

One source of resistance in players against issuing down time orders seems to be uncertainty about what they can do, and what would be valuable for them to do. As in session play, your character is operating with "tactical infinity" to take any action. The actions are only limited by the rules of the game and the integrity of the fictional world which, in most physical, social, economic, and other respects generally resembles our own real world. To that is added magic and monsters and the supernatural, creating a great latitude of possibilities. This wide ranging freedom of action often leads, ironically, to less action being taken.

Here are some suggestions to help players cut through the unlimited possibilities to reach some of the most practically useful choices early in their careers.

• Learn to read & write.
  The culture of the Erin1478 setting is not pervasively literate. Player characters cannot read and write unless they have acquired literacy as part of their class training (clerics, magic-users, and illusionists) or their family background skills (most commonly mercantile). The practical benefits of literacy, even in the fictional AD&D world, are legion. As characters progress in levels, social standing, and political power, illiteracy will increasing become a serious handicap. Acquiring literacy can be accomplished in as little as two months, and the rules are built in a way that attempts to simulate the reality of acquiring the ability while permitting the character to interlace that activity with session play, provided the player pays attention to the rules constraints.
• Gather information.
  Most general information such as the existence of nearby dungeons, the general political situation, recent regional news, and so on, is automatically acquired with a week's worth of effort. No skill or charisma checks required. Specialized information: what is monster XYZ's weakness, where can this rare item / plant / animal be found, or are there any higher level NPCs of a particular class around here, can likewise be found with a little more time or with specific actions such as hiring a sage.
• Plan your next expedition.
  This is the number one best thing you can do as a skillful player. Talk with other players about the next session and get the legwork for it done. Hiring mercenaries, upgrading equipment, figuring out what more information needs to be researched and researching it in downtime uses your between session days instead of your in-session days. It also means that more of the actual session time is available for taking actions that acquire gold and experience.
• Sort out your character's domestic situation.
  A few character classes are required to limit themselves to the wealth that they can carry and that is a significant handicap. If your character is so limited, or has to donate some part of his wealth, sort this out outside the session. Convert coins to gems. Buy a mount. Find a good cause to support. Whatever it is your class requires. If you're not so limited, find a place to stash your stuff. Hire people to guard it and make sure they're loyal. Carrying pounds and pounds of treasure into the dungeon or wilderness makes no sense.
• Find a patron.
  For lower level characters, hiring on as a henchman can be helpful in a number of ways. Most obviously, the money. Henchmen are paid 100 gold per level per month (their upkeep costs) plus gifts and treasure shares. A patron can also give the player who is unsure what he or she wants to do with his character some direction. Perhaps the character will be a loyal minion, then trusted lieutenant, and maybe even heir to their patron. Maybe the player will learn that he or she has been playing for the wrong team. In any case, treasure and experience flows to the character from this relationship. The player who researches possible patrons in downtime will more likely end up with a compatible match and a satisfactory mission in session.

Anyone who feels unsure about how to couch their down time orders, or in what order to do things, or isn't feeling clear and confident about the concept, should just reach out to the referee. I will be very happy to help however I can!

 

Campaign News December 17

Thanks Andy for a profitable and interesting one-on-one session last night. It also generated a shit-ton of homework for me so that's fantastic! Seriously, I love D&D homework. When the players don't generate it for me, I make up assignments for myself. I'm especially excited for 2 of the 4 assignments I got last night.

PLAYERS & CHARACTERS

I sent out a snapshot of everyone's characters' statuses as I like to do periodically. Andy agreed to let me use his for an explanation about reading these.

Player stats indicates how many days it has been since the player last joined a session and the percentage of sessions he or she has attended since first joining. Each of the player's characters have a rating of 1 to 4 which represents the number of weeks of training needed for the next level. This was discussed in June, although not submitting any downtime orders, no longer has a negative impact on a character's rating. The "days behind" column just shows how far in the past each character is relative the character(s) furthest along the timeline. It happens that Calvis is one of the characters at the forefront, so I should point out that this figure is relative to the "globally" most advanced characters, rather than just the player's most advanced character(s). The rest of the columns seem self-explanatory to me, but please don't hesitate ask me about any of these, or anything else about the game any time.

There are a couple of other columns that I track and haven't included, notably the maximum age column. It doesn't come up in play much, especially at lower levels, but every character has an expiration date (unknown to the player) somewhere between age 62 and 139 (for humans), though most commonly between 86 and 119. The primary reason this matters is that some undead drain years of life and some powerful spells cost casters years of life. This unnatural aging counts against the character's longevity limit.

One reason I wanted to highlight this today is to discuss how "1:1 time" is operationalized in our game. As is often the case, Andy pushed the limits of my previous thoughts on this, so I have more clarity on how this works to share with you all.

SCHEDULE

Last night was the last game of 2025 and so I feel compelled to write a brief wrap-up/summary of the year.

• We played 23 sessions with an average of 2.7 players.
• Tuesdays and Thursdays both averaged 2.8 players with 9 sessions falling on each of those days of the week, and the 5 Saturday sessions averaged 2.2 players each.
• We began the year with 4 active players, ended with 6, and peaked with 8. We had 9 different players in game at some point over the year, and there are 4 people who have indicated their intention to join in 2026.
• There were 9 player characters killed in action.
• There are 11 player characters currently active. 
• The highest level character is 5th. There are 4 characters at 2nd level and 2 of these are on the verge of 3rd. The remaining 6 characters are all 1st level.

TIPS & TRICKS

While I've discussed the principle of how our "1:1 time-keeping" works, there are some quirks to operationalizing this that have become apparent. The basic premise is that between game sessions, time from the characters' perspective flows at the same rate as time from the players' perspective. During sessions, time might speed up or slow down as makes sense for handling the character's actions in the game world. Cross country travel taking a couple of days of game time can often be resolved in a matter of minutes, for example. When that happens, the characters' "clocks" are advanced the two days even though we are still on the same day in the real world. If we end a game session, as Andy and I did last night, with a character clock at February 14, 1480 on Dec 16, 2025, then on Dec 17, the character's clock ticks forward to February 15, 1480.

Character Clock Holds: An exception to the character's clock advancing with the calendar has occurred a couple of times so far. In both instances, the players gave me orders that I needed time to resolve in excess of the time passing. In both cases, I held the characters' clocks to the date at which those characters would have had the information that I was providing them so that they didn't lose game days on account of my processing time. Once I provide the results, character time begins ticking again, but they haven't lost any game time due to my dawdling.

Character Orders Must Be Proactive: Another quirk which arose recently was when a player who had not issued any downtime orders for a character that hadn't been played in some time wanted to designate how the character's time had been spent. This retroactive sort of play is fairly common in modern games. I've certainly done it as both player and referee in the past. At those times, when it has been agreed that there would not have been a "game fiction" impact for those actions to have been taken earlier, this was acceptable. It runs against the intent of 1:1 time-keeping, however. If a character is already at such and so date, it is not possible to issue back-dated orders. The player has already missed the opportunity to execute those orders in the past, and must execute them in the future if he or she wants them done.

If the player was allowed to designate what the orders for the last 4 weeks would have been at the end of that period, the character is getting the fruits of that effort without paying any price--the game time has already passed, after all. Instead, if the player is issuing the orders proactively, he or she is "paying" for the results by rendering the character unavailable for use. It's an opportunity cost that can only be paid in advance to be meaningful.

Limits to Downtime Orders: Another quirk that has only become apparent to me through experimentation with using this style of game time-keeping, is just how far to allow out of session action to run. If session play can advance a character's game clock, and game time between sessions runs at 1:1 with real time, does that mean that downtime orders take as many real world days as game days?

Imagine that Andy has a character currently at game date January 30, 1480 in Castlenoe. Barry has a character in Killarney at February 12. There is a session schedule tomorrow in which these two players would like to run both these characters in Killarney. If downtime orders only execute at 1:1 time, then even though it would only be February 2 by the time Andy's character made the journey from Castlenoe to Killarney, 10 days earlier than Barry's character's current date, Andy wouldn't be able to do that unless downtime orders could be executed faster. They can.

Downtime orders can advance the character's clock until hitting the clock of the most advanced character. So they can't advance the global game clock, but they can catch the character up to it. That is the limit on downtime orders. The "days behind" indicates how much slack each character has available to exceed 1:1 time on his or her orders.

Further Thoughts: Remembering when characters were where while they are not all synchronized to the same clock is a little bit of a cognitive load on this referee. For the moment I seem to be keeping my shit together, but I foresee a day when I will fuck it up. Probably badly. It's possible that I will need to force clock synchronizations at some point, so keep in mind your "days behind slack" in case I call upon everyone to use or lose that time at some point in the future!

Campaign News December 5

Thanks to John and Barry for an excellent session last night! 

PLAYERS & CHARACTERS

With Josh's departure, and average session participation dropping from 3.2 in the first half of 2025 to 2.1 in the second half, we are at a bit of a low point participation-wise. However, with three new players who've expressed interest in joining, and the addition of online sessions to the game, I'm hopeful that this will surge in January.

The characters have been generally coalescing in Killarney and two have set up their bases of operations here for the time being.

I have not updated the list of The Fallen in some time, because, happily, it has been 93 days since the last PC fatality and 186 days since the last TPK. Despite this, the XP haul in the last couple of sessions has been the highest of the year, so clearly player skill at risk management has been improving.

SCHEDULE

The next scheduled session is Tuesday, December 16. This tends to be a busy time of year for people and I have low confidence that anyone will be available to play. I already have regrets from all but three players, however, I will run a session with even only one player.

Please also remember that I will run unscheduled sessions on request for one or more players, in person or online, as my schedule permits.

Thanks very much for your input on next year's calendar! I will put that out ASAP.

TIPS & TRICKS

I'm planning on an analysis of how each class might be played in the style of game we're playing here. I also have a couple of ideas for "how to referee" tips, as I'd really like to pass that duty around once in a while at least, and an analysis of territory development as detailed in the DMG. If you have requests for other topics, or a preference of which of these I post next, please let me know! For today, I'll start with the fighter. With three characters of that class in the game, it is our group's most popular.

The Fighter

This class is described in the Players Handbook in about 400 words spread over less than half a page. Perhaps some of the tightest writing in the rule books. It does, however, leave what is arguably the class's most distinguishing and valuable feature unspoken: the fighter's ability to command.

That's a tight definition! It's also incomplete. Gygax had some ideas about how to play this game that are problematic. I am all for following the rules of the game and I'd argue that if one does not follow the rules, one is no longer playing the game. If we decide in chess that it doesn't make sense for the king to only move one square while the queen may move as far as she likes, and we change that rule, we're no longer playing chess. As long as we codify that rule and always follow it, we're still playing a game, even if it's not chess. If we instead judge on a case-by-case basis how the king may move without codifying it in an immutable way, then we are not only not playing chess, we're not playing a game.

Slight tangent here, but where I'm going is that there are also words in the rule books which are not rules, and cannot be rules, and still allow us to play a game. Chief among those is Gygax's admonition in the preface:

As this book is the exclusive precinct of the DM, you must view any non-DM player possessing it as something less than worthy of honorable death. Peeping players there will undoubtedly be, but they are simply lessening their own enjoyment of the game by taking away some of the sense of wonder that otherwise arises from a game which has rules hidden from participants. It is in your interests, and in theirs, to discourage possession of this book by players. If any of your participants do read herein, it is suggested that you assess them a heavy fee for consulting "sages" and other sources of information not normally attainable by the inhabitants of your milieu. If they express knowledge which could only be garnered by consulting these pages, a magic item or two can be taken as payment - insufficient, but perhaps it will tend to discourage such actions. 

Bullshit. I would never play more than one game at a table run by such an ass as this. Hiding rules from players only to spring them after they needed to be known is asinine. It is as much not playing a game as ignoring or changing the rules capriciously during play would be.

With my interest in transparent and stable rules thus established, I'll move on to the hidden ability of the fighter. It is implicit in the rules surrounding mercenaries as well as the description of the organization of human forces in the Monster Manual.

Fighters' Command Ability

Fighters of 1st through 3rd levels may command up to 10 soldiers per level. For fighters of 2nd and 3rd level, in addition to the one 1st level fighter who must act as a sergeant for every 10 soldiers in the force, the fighter may command one 1st level fighter for special duties. For example, a 3rd level fighter may command 30 troops six 1st level fighters, three of whom must be embedded in the 30 troops for proper command and control, and three additional who might take special duties or detach a number of troops for some purpose.

 

For 4th through 8th level fighters, the ability allows for command of 20 troops per level, one lieutenant per level, and all of the sergeants required for that number of troops and the additional troops and sergeants permitted by the reporting lieutenants' command ability.

A mere 4th level player character fighter could command 80 troops and 8 sergeants directly, as well as 4 lieutenants who could each command 30 soldiers and 3 sergeants directly and 3 additional sergeants who could command 10 soldiers each. Such a character could field a force of 320 0-level soldiers, 32 first level fighter sergeants, and 4 third level fighter lieutenants: 356 soldiers and officers in total.

At 9th level the fighter commands captains who command lieutenants below them. At this level, the fighter could command 6,542 soldiers and officers (if I didn't mess up my math)!

At the Table

The first level fighter can command as many as 10 soldiers without the expense of an officer. Provided the fighter and his or her allies can scrape together the gold to outfit them and offer hazard pay, a gang of mercenaries greatly improves the survivability and efficacy of a beginning party delving the dungeon.

Men-at-arms will only accompany characters encountered on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level of the dungeon.

That little army isn't accompanying the higher level fighter into the dungeon, so the fighter also needs allies and henchmen to go on delving expeditions to fund that force.

The 4th level fighter is already able to stand against typical humanoid tribes in the area or pillage smaller human settlements as a raider. Serving a higher level character as a henchman is another profitable choice at this level.

The fighter's army is the means by which he or she exerts power. Maintaining an army requires securing streams of ever increasing income. The fighter must raid more lairs, delve more dungeons, and sack more castles and cities. The fighter might find some passive forms of income to reduce the amount of active fighting required, but it takes a lot of serfs at 7 silver a month to fund an army over 6,000 strong!

Amateurs talk about tactics, professionals study logistics. -- Gen. Robert H. Barrow, USMC

The fighter’s success depends greatly on recruiting, retaining, equipping, and feeding an army in the field. Charisma is far more important for the higher level fighter than the lower level one. Even at the lower levels, with at least a little money, charisma may be more important than strength, dexterity, or constitution to the fighter.

... perhaps a war between players will be going on (with battles actually fought out on the tabletop with minature [sic] figures) one night, while on the next, characters of these two contending players are helping each other to survive somewhere in a wilderness.

It is meant for the fighter to wage war against man and monster alike, taking treasure and territory. And with territory, preserving the populace!

Campaign News November 29

Today's session was another highly successful endeavor for the only PC involved. Pretty sure this was the first one-on-one session I've run in many years. It makes a very significant difference when XP accrues to a single character instead of being split 3 to 5 ways and this is reflected on the Leader Board.

This session widens the gap between the most advanced character at January 28 and the least at January 11. All characters continue to experience 1 day in the game world to each day in the real world, however.

Aside from the joke about clock rules in American football, I haven't seen any discussion, questions, or analysis of the time-keeping rules and my interpretation of them which I posted in the #rules-discussion channel on our Discord. I'm still very interested in everyone's thoughts on it, or questions.

PLAYERS & CHARACTERS

Please invite new players to join us any time. One of the features of playing this game in the club style is that the larger the player pool gets, the more interesting the game becomes. Exponentially so once some characters achieve higher character levels.

 

SCHEDULE

The next scheduled session is in just 5 days, at 17:30 on Dec 4 (this upcoming Thursday) at my house. Please let me know if you expect to play that day and I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE you to discuss plans for your character with the other players playing that day in advance of the session. Because their clocks are no longer forcibly synchronized, the characters are spread out in both time and space. The time gaps between them can be used to advantage, however, to reposition them on the map via downtime orders. Downtime orders are accepted at any time outside the play session.

Please also remember that I will run unscheduled sessions on request for one or more players, in person or online, as my schedule permits.

I would very much like your input for next year's calendar. Please let me know your day of the week and time of the day preferences for the regular sessions ASAP.

TIPS & TRICKS

I think there are enough requests on the table at the moment that I don't want to distract from those with game tips. Next time.

Campaign News November 19

Last night's session was successful on all counts. That the party covered significantly more ground, and took only one casualty, is clear evidence of player skill improvement.

This session also marks the start of individual character clocks not forcibly synchronized. All characters continue to experience 1 day in the game world to each day in the real world, however, the characters in last night's game are continuing forward from January 3, 1480 while those characters not present are still back at December 31, 1479 today.

I'm very interested in everyone's thoughts on time-keeping in the game. On the Discord server, in the #rules-discussion channel, I quoted a section of the DMG which leaves me with some confusion and ambiguity.

PLAYERS & CHARACTERS

Regrettably, Josh L has bowed out of the game for the time-being, bringing us down to 6 active players who are currently running 11 characters. Two new players anticipate joining us in upcoming sessions soon, however.

Please invite new players to join us any time. One of the features of playing this game in the 1970s style is that the larger the player pool, the more interesting the game becomes. Don't worry that the sessions will become too crowded, I'll cap attendance around 5 or 6 if it comes to that, and add more sessions to the calendar. 

SCHEDULE

The next scheduled session is at 13:00 on Nov 29 (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) at Footbridge Brewery. Please let me know if you expect to play that day and I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE you to discuss plans for your character with the other players playing that day in advance of the session. There are lots of "housekeeping" sorts of tasks that can be done outside the session to maximize your XP and treasure collecting time in the session.

Please also remember that I will run unscheduled sessions on request for one or more players, in person or online, as my schedule permits.

With only a few scheduled sessions left this year, I'd like your input for next year's calendar. Please let me know your day of the week and time of the day preferences for the regular sessions ASAP.

TIPS & TRICKS

Rather than a new tips & tricks topis this time, here's an index all the previous topics, in the order in which they were posted. I hope you'll catch up on any you missed or would like to review.

• Quick Tips for Skillful Play 
• Monthly Upkeep 
• Dungeon Definition & Technique 
• Character Records 
• Ratings & Training Costs 
• Hirelings & Henchmen 
• Disease & Parasites
• Approaches to Playing AD&D 
• Downtime Orders 
• Ratings, Class, & Alignment 
• Calculus of the Dungeon 
• "Always On" Time-keeping 

I'd like to hear your comments, questions, and suggestions for new topics! 

Campaign News October 24

It's December 5, 1479 in our game world, and it's a clear, cold morning in our part of it: 34° F with 4% cloud cover and winds 7 knots out of the northwest. I mention this because today's "tips & tricks" is about the 1:1 time-keeping in our game.

PLAYERS & CHARACTERS

The characters are somewhat less widely scattered than they have been at other times.

• Killarney
• Eoin Sweeney (John S)
• Frang MacSiradh (Andy O)
• Granuille (Liam S) 
• Jonathan McSplaine (Adam M)
• Malcolm Reynolds (Barry F)
• Mallow
• Calvis Mulroney (Andy O)
• Shay McFarland (Barry F)
• Mont-Saint-Michel
• Tybolt Gueribout (Cole W)
• Tralee
• Nicole Connery (Andy O)
• wilderness
• Finnan Fitzpatrick (Cole W)

SCHEDULE

The October Saturday game at Footbridge which would normally be played tomorrow, Oct 25, has been canceled. Our next game will be on Tuesday, Nov 6, when it will be December 18, 1479. Please RSVP to let me know whether or not you plan to attend. As always, I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE those of you playing to discuss your plans and prepare for your expedition in advance of the session in order to make the most effective use of the session time.

TIPS & TRICKS

The "Always On" Game

One of the things about our 1:1 time-keeping game that I sometimes find tricky to keep in mind, is that the game is "always on." Any player could send instructions for any of his characters to the ref at any time. The clock ticks in the game world at the same rate as the clock in the real world, but the players and referee are not actively playing the game every minute of the day. So how is that handled?

There are two mechanisms operating to support this. As referee, I consider player instructions as being executed starting at the time the instructions were issued, regardless of when I read them. The execution of those instructions takes game world time as defined by the rules of the game, by the logic of the setting, and by the judgement of the referee (in that order of preference). It's possible players' orders meet resistance from the setting or conflict with another player's orders. Sometimes that will necessitate asking for input from the players. Ideally though, the orders contain instructions that anticipate the resistance or conflict. If the orders don't explicitly say how to deal with a problem the character encounters, and I'm unable to get a timely response from the player or players involved, I'll fall back on their character's agency. Whenever a player is drafting orders (I'm using "orders" and "instructions" interchangeably), including some description about the character's approach or attitude would be helpful for me to apply the character's agency more closely to how the player would have handled the character if present to do so.

Characters below 9th level are likely merely exchanging coin for gems, buying equipment, hiring mercenaries, hiring NPCs to train characters or cast spells for them, gathering information, and so on during downtime. It's pretty easy for the ref to manage those activities without troubling the players. Once characters are building castles, moving troops, building roads and ships, attacking weak neighbors, and so on, it may get a bit more complex, we may find ourselves with things we need to resolve jointly between sessions. I'm not really worried about managing it then, and I'm definitely not worried about managing it now.

Skillful players make the best use of their characters' time in the world both during and between sessions.

Campaign News October 14

PLAYERS & CHARACTERS

I'll reiterate my request for you all to please invite new players to join the game any time. This style of play will not be for everyone, but anyone can try it out and our club-style format means players attending sporadically, or even only once, will not be disruptive to the on-going game. 

SCHEDULE

We're one week away from our next game. Please RSVP at your earliest convenience.

TIPS & TRICKS

The Calculus of the Dungeon

The Dungeon Masters Guide is quite prescriptive about the contents of dungeons. The individual referee can of course deviate from those instructions however desired, but in our game I stay close to the guidelines in order to provide predictability and consistency. One of the features of that predictability is that it's easy to estimate how much wealth and experience a character can hope to gain when delving the dungeon. Here's the break down according to the guidelines:

• 60% of the rooms in a dungeon will be empty of monsters, treasures, and traps
• 15% of the rooms will contain monsters guarding treasure worth an average of 600 gold per level
• 10% of the rooms will contain monsters without any treasure except their personal possessions
• 5% have unguarded treasure worth 272 gold per level on average
• 5% of the rooms have a trap, trick, or oddity
• 5% have stairs, a chute, a chimney, or a sloping passage

That creates a lot of empty ground to cover. Over a large sample set of rooms, the delvers should expect to find treasure worth about 104 gold per level per room. For a party containing 3 first level PCs, that means searching about 60 rooms before finding enough treasure for everyone to make second level.

I've adopted the ratios from the Basic rules in order to have a higher density:

• 28% of the rooms are completely empty
• 17% contain monsters with treasure
• 17% contain monsters without treasure
• 11% contain tricks or traps
• 9% contain stairs or a sloping passage
• 6% contain unguarded treasure
• 6% contain treasure guarded by tricks or traps
• 5% contain stairs/slope/etc. and treasure
• 2% contain an oddity and treasure 

That brings the treasure density up to about 145 gold per room, and the ground needing to be covered in order to get that same party to second level down to about 41 rooms. 

Delving deeper than the first level multiplies the size of the treasure, so that on the second level down guarded treasures average 1,200 gold and on the third level 1,800 gold. An unguarded treasure on the second level, at 544 gold on average, is almost as good as a guarded one on the first level. The threats do increase, too though.

The average hit dice of an op force in the first level of a dungeon is 6, but it could be as high as 15.75 (for something certainly hostile, and 18 if counting gnomes as a possible opposing force). At the second level down the average threat is 10 hit dice and the high as 26.25, while at the third level, 15.5 is average and 40 the max. The deeper level monsters tend to have more special attacks and defenses as well, so the hit dice alone isn't a perfect metric.

There might be any number of conclusions to draw from these statistics, however the one that jumps out to me is that guarded treasure will average a little over 100 gold per hit die of monster guarding it at any of the first three levels of the dungeon.

Campaign News October 5

This will be a brief one.

RULES INTERPRETATION UPDATE

I've had some thoughts on handling downtime orders to bring our game closer to the rules-as-written that I think could have some interesting in-game implications.

Up to this point, I've solicited your downtime orders for the period of time between sessions all at once, by a deadline. Downtime passes 1 day in game for 1 day in life. Our last downtime period ended on November 9, 1479 aka October 2, 2025. Our next game is October 21, 2025 or November 28, 1479. Twenty days in the game and in life. By the "batch" approach I've been using, I've been asking for orders to be submitted for the entire downtime period by some deadline a couple of days before the end of the period so that I can process those before the next session.

What I'd like to do instead is have no deadline. Rather than processing "in batch," I'll process orders as they would be executed. Today is 3 days after the last scheduled session when game date was November 9, 1479. Today, 3 days later, it's November 12, 1479. It won't be November 28, 1479 until our next scheduled session on October 21, 2025. Since I'm just telling you guys about this change today, I'll accept any orders you want to have started 3 days ago, but after today when you submit your orders will be when your character decides to do whatever it is his orders say.

I foresee a couple of advantages to this approach. From the referee perspective, it makes it much easier to handle cases where two characters submit interacting orders. For example, if two characters both try to convert coin to gems with the jeweler in Killarney, who has only so much stock, the player who submits the order first will find a wider selection available than the one who does so later (unless the jeweler gets new stock in the meantime, and he might because of a trade caravan passing through or another player cashing in gems to cover monthly upkeep). It also spreads my work out instead of requiring a lot of work at once a couple of days before the session.

From the player perspective, I think the cognitive load is a little lighter. First of all, it's advantageous to submit orders shortly after the session so as not to lose any game time, and the game-state will still be fresh mind for those who have just played. It also means that one player trying to collaborate with another and not getting a response can revise his strategy and not lose time waiting to see if there will be a response by the deadline.

It's only been 3 days, so you will not have lost much time if I don't get any November 9 - 12 orders from you today, but since this is a new rule it won't "kick in" until sunset this evening (recall that in 1479 Ireland the day ends and the next begins at sunset rather than midnight).

At sunset it will be the start of November 13, 1479 and the start of day-by-day 1:1 time.

Thanks guys!! As always, I'm very interested in any feedback you have. I'm happy to answer questions and debate different approaches as well. 

Campaign News October 3

I received feedback from a few of you about the ratings policy changes and the "roll low" method for resolving melee combat. With two in favor and one neutral, the ratings change is now in effect. I'll hold off on committing to the rolling method until we've used it in one more session, but that seems to make combat resolution move faster. The method is mathematically equivalent to the combat matrices in the rules, so this is really more of a play technique than a rules change.

PLAYERS & CHARACTERS

The Leader Board no longer shows player rankings because players no longer have a metric by which to be rated. Character ratings accrue only to the character, not to the player, now. Make no mistake however, this is still a competitive game.

SCHEDULE

For very good reasons, but still sadly, last night's game was cancelled half an hour before start time. We have a long gap now before our next game on Oct 21 and the following scheduled game is Nov 6. That leaves a lot of space for unscheduled games, which I am very happy to run at your requests, in groups or individually.

TIPS & TRICKS 

Although characters will no longer gain ratings of 4 for not submitting downtime orders, submitting them is still HIGHLY advisable. While it will no longer impact character level training costs, all of the opportunities for skilled play afforded by downtime orders are still lost if they are not submitted. Downtime orders, for lower level characters, should be focused on maximizing treasure and experience acquisition in the session(s) following the downtime period. Activities such as securing previously acquired wealth, upgrading character, henchmen, and hireling equipment, gathering information about lost treasure, researching monster vulnerabilities, and henchmen acquisition can all be accomplished in downtime thereby maximizing both the efficiency and the amount of session time available for gaining XP and gold.

Every character in the game now has a rating of 1.0. Going forward downtime orders and sessions in which the character participates will be rated according to the rules:

Consider the natural functions of each class of character. Consider also the professed alignment of each character. Briefly assess the performance of each character after an adventure. Did he or she perform basically in the character of his or her class? Were his or her actions in keeping with his or her professed alignment? Mentally classify the overall performance as: 

E - Excellent, few deviations from norm = 1
S - Superior, deviations minimal but noted = 2
F - Fair performance, more norm than deviations = 3
P - Poor showing with aberrant behavior = 4

Clerics who refuse to help and heal or do not remain faithful to their deity, fighters who hang back from combat or attempt to steal, or fail to boldly lead, magic-users who seek to engage in melee or ignore magic items they could employ in crucial situations, thieves who boldly engage in frontal attacks or refrain from acquisition of an extra bit of treasure when the opportunity presents itself, "cautious" characters who do not pull their own weight - these are all clear examples of a POOR rating.

Please think carefully about your characters' alignments and (re-)read both the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide descriptions of alignment. Verify your understanding with the referee (outside of the play session). First level characters can change alignment anytime outside of the play session without penalty. Once a character has trained up to 2nd level or higher, the penalties for changing alignment are severe.

Previously, I had added service to the character's goals as part of the basis for his ratings. This is outside the scope of the rules as written, and so I will no longer do that. It remains a key of skillful play to identify and pursue goals for your characters, however that is between you and your character. I will no longer be rewarding or penalizing that outside the natural consequences of playing a character pointedly or aimlessly.

Campaign News September 27

I have recently written a lot of words about what you guys could be doing better to beat AD&D, but I haven't said anything about what you already are doing better. I've taken a rather castigating tone as well with those words, which isn't the nicest way to address my friends. I'm sorry about that.

All of you have more experience with other systems than AD&D 1e. This is a fundamentally different game from D&D 5e, Traveller, etc. This game makes very different demands on players and is brutally unforgiving. You've all adjusted admirably to this system even though it is not to all of your preferred tastes. I know that some of you would prefer a game you can play casually without it meaning that you will automatically lose. Some of you would prefer a game that has a narrative / story focus instead of a board game / simulation focus. I appreciate that you're willing to bend toward my preferences for this game.

That this game is hard to play, that it rewards study and work and planning and innovation, that it punishes inattention and laziness, and that it won't protect even the best players from plain bad luck are the things which make it great in my estimation. These qualities are what make it a game I'm happy to spend hours and hours working on outside of the session.

I'd like to make it a game that, while still having all those qualities I crave, can accommodate more casual play for those players who prefer it without backing them into corners out of which they can't escape. I have some ideas about how to do that. I'd like your feedback on these and ask also for your ideas. Here are the rules changes I'd like to propose to you all:

1. Character ratings apply only to the character who has garnered them instead of applying to the player so that players with more than one character may have different ratings averages for each of their characters.
2. Characters gain ratings for in-session play and for downtime orders as we've played to date. However, characters do not receive any ratings for downtime periods in which they don't have downtime orders.
3. Character ratings are reset at each level change. For example, if a character has an average rating of 1.5 at the time he trains for 2nd level, the 1.5 rating is used as a multiplier for the cost / time to train for second level, but once the character completes that training, all of his past ratings are deleted and only those received after that point until training for level 3 are averaged for his level 3 training multiplier.

This set of changes makes our rules closer to a straight read of the rules as written. I believe it also still rewards players who make good use of downtime periods, but without punishing those players who don't, except by their lost opportunity. It also means that the Leader Board will display character rankings only as there will no longer be a direct player v. player ranking metric.

SCHEDULE
Our next game will be at 17:00 on Thursday, Oct 2 at my house. Downtime orders for the period ending November 8, 1479 are due before 19:00 on Monday, Oct 1 [correction] Sep 29. The October Saturday game on the 25th is cancelled.

Campaign News September 15

This has been an interesting, unusual, happy, and sad period in the campaign.

PLAYERS & CHARACTERS

First the happy. The game was rejoined by Liam S in the last session, on Sep 4, which was well-attended and a successful venture with no PC casualties.

Now the sad and unusual. The second unintentional fatality in downtime occurred this period when Josh L's character was stricken by a terminal case of stomach parasites. The character was fully paid on his upkeep so he had no penalties, but sadly the dice rolled meaningless, undeserved death.

As to the interesting parts, some of the characters are involved in developing situations as seen in this period's orders results, but even more interesting is the jockeying on the Leader Board. Adam M has surged from last to 3rd place, and Josh L and Cole W pushed ahead of Liam S in downtime even though all three had the same downtime rating for this period. For the record, Josh L's rating will stand at 2.31 even though it's listed as N/A until he has a new character enter the campaign at which point he'll have a non-zero ratings count again.

SCHEDULE

Our next game is tomorrow at my house, starting around 17:00 when the game date will be October 21, 1479.

TIPS & TRICKS

This tip may be a day late and a dollar short, but perhaps it will benefit characters in the future. Normally it is not permitted for a player to transfer wealth, belongings, etc. from one of his characters to another. Two notable exceptions are for henchmen, NPCs being (mostly) controlled by the player, and heirs. If you've read "SUCCESSFUL ADVENTURES" on pp 107 & 109 of the Players Handbook, you'll have seen this passage:

 At the same time preparations for the upcoming expedition are underway, each player should see that his or her character has made proper preparations as well. These preparations include the safety of henchmen and/or goods which are to remain behind, wealth safely hidden or placed, instructions as to what to do if the character fails to return left with a trusted person, and a "will" of some sort written out so that the DM will not balk at the arrangements made to assure the smooth transition of goods to the devoted "relative" of the defunct character if those sore straits should ever come to pass.

To date, no players in this campaign have registered a will for the disposal of any of their characters' wealth should they fail to return from an expedition. It would be wise to do so.

Campaign News August 31

We're in the short gap between the last Saturday and the first Thursday, so players have less time than usual to sort out their downtime orders. It is also, however, a fairly short period of game time -- 11 days for most characters and only 4 days for the characters in yesterday's game! Today's tip will be about downtime orders.

SCHEDULE

Our next game will be on Thursday, September 4 at 17:00. As always, please let me know ASAP whether or not you plan to attend. Discussing plans among yourselves before the session will maximize your gold and XP potential.

Orders for all characters for the period ending October 2, 1479 are due by 19:00 on Monday, Sep 1.

TIPS & TRICKS

Downtime Orders Made Easier

Issuing good downtime orders has two very direct and obvious benefits: 1) they allow the players to execute "housekeeping" sorts of activities outside of the play session so as to maximize the time available for recovering treasure and earning experience points during the session; and 2) they contribute to a lower ratings average for the player which allows cheaper and faster level training for his characters. 

The "tactical infinity" offered by AD&D in session play is also offered in downtime play, but that metaphorical blank sheet of paper can be more of a hindrance than a help for a player who doesn't already have a plan in mind. While there are an infinite range of choices available, there are really only a few things that the player not already executing some plan needs to consider.

The two things that bring players the most benefit from downtime orders are information about what opportunities offer the best rewards, and the time to plan and prepare for the pursuit of those opportunities. As such, the first thing a player should accomplish in downtime orders is to find out what opportunities for gold and XP exist. Orders to do that can be pretty simple, but considering what a player knows about the setting already can direct and focus that information gathering better than generically "hanging around listening for rumors." If you don't know where to start, start there.

For players who already know about an opportunity they'd like their characters to pursue, downtime orders are even simpler. Such players should consider what's needed to best accomplish their intended goal, as far as they know, and buy and arrange what they need.

For example, if you know you want to go back to the nearby dungeon and hopefully bring back boatloads of treasure, you know that you're going to need some muscle or stealth to deprive whatever has the treasure now of it, and you'll need a way to get it home. Plus you need to get there and back, and the faster you do that, the less likely you'll run into something on the way that might kill you. So, figure out what other characters are willing to go with yours, hire some mercenaries maybe, buy horses and pack animals if you don't have them. And lots of sacks. A large sack will hold 400 coins. How many coins are you hoping to bring back? That tells you how many sacks to bring.

Torches, rations, arrows, weapons, and armor upgrades can all be purchased outside the session. If your character has already paid at least one month of upkeep, you can ignore the cost of things that cost less than a crown unless you're buying huge numbers of them. Do your encumbrance accounting before the session starts, and have your character sheet all up to date. You'll end up earning more XP faster. Not because the ref is happy, but because you've made the best use of the limited session time.

Campaign News August 20

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.

 

Campaign News July 15

I am sorry to report a sad milestone in our game: the first PC death in downtime. Barry F's character Colm Stewart fell on 17 July, 1479. Of some consolation however, the removal of Colm's ratings from Barry F's has promoted him into the top player position on the Leader Board!

SCHEDULE
Our next game is on Saturday July 26 at 13:00 when the game date will be August 8, 1479. Please RSVP for the session at your earliest convenience.

More than ever, it is valuable for players to coordinate with one another who is playing which characters where before the start of the session. Skillful players will have a plan before the session so that they may take best advantage of referee time for the recovery of treasure and earning of XP! I encourage you to chat on our Discord server in advance to figure this out.

TIPS & TRICKS
Disease and Infestation

You may have noticed that your characters' more recent health check rolls have been more likely to result in disease and parasitic infestation now that the warm season is upon your characters. There are a few factors that are within players' control to minimize their, albeit already small, chance of random death. Crowding is perhaps the simplest. By living alone, or with a few people, in a private home instead of living at an inn, characters avoid the "crowding" factor. Avoiding cities, swamps, and jungles helps as well. Keeping to desert, mountain, and cold environments, on the other hand, reduces characters' risks. Direct exposure is the highest risk factor and triggers a check in addition to the periodic checks, and so should be avoided.