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.