5e Old School Rules We Tried Out

By Old School Rules, I mean rules that I though would make 5e more Old School. And *spoiler alert* they didn't work. But I'll let you know what they were, why decided on them, and why I think they didn't work.

We used a mod that long rests don't auto heal, but I modified it some. Base HP was Con + HD + mods, of which your Con represented your actual physical ability to take damage. So HD were the abstract portion of the HP. Once you started taking damage that went below your Con your were taking physical damage, in essence--bloodied. That could only be healed magically or on a table I had devised. You could still regain HD and heal via HD, which represented your ability to bounce back from combat stress and fatigue and be back on your A game. But that nasty belly cut you got in the last battle--yeah, you're still nursing that. Not a perfect system, but it was a compromise between player ability to withstand damage and the notion that combat dealt more than abstract hits. This was important mainly for the second rule...

No death saves. If you got to zero you were going to bleed out in 1d4 rounds + your Con mod. This was a big blow. Because, honestly the death rate has been very low in my campaign so far because of those blasted death saves! I have only had one PC actually die in two out of three death saves. Which, by my calculations is actually much higher than what is supposed to be statistically happening. And few Players even roll three saves, since some other PC usually uses an individual or party heal that spares them. My experience is that it's hard to die in 5e--am I doing something wrong? Anyway the HP rules above were a compromise in making PCs a bit tougher in the HP area, while realizing that if they drop to zero they ar more than likely to die.

Shields splinter and armor breaks. As per Ubiquitous Rat we used these rules almost verbatim. I really liked them in print, not so much in play--but I'll come to that in a moment. We also used the spell acquisition rule that wizards had to find spells to acquire them and not acquire them automatically. We also used critical hit and fumble tables, but this is somewhat of a norm at our table anyway.

Now, having said all that I did allow 4d6 drop the lowest arrange as your like, and I gave them inspirations points to start with, and allowed them to have feats. I know, I know, not at all old school. Well, I truly expected a high death count, and wanted to blunt the edge to the moral blow to their power quotient the new "old school" rules would impose. Turns out this was wrong on both counts.

So, how did it go? Well, the new healing rules were a pain to implement. Required way too much in game tracking, and my players, being somewhat younger generally and relatively new to RPGs were not fond of or adept at the extra record keeping. Also, healing was still sufficient to avoid too much trouble for them, and the cleric and other healing classes (grrr) just made sure to compensate. So we literally had no death saves to make--it seemed that the game was a tad grittier, but the rules would need modified to work fluidly. Maybe more work with them would have helped, but frankly, I felt like I was tacking on a clunky addition to a game that simply wasn't designed to work that way.

The shield splinter and armor breaks rules also became clunky--same problem as above. And we quickly dropped them. I dropped the healing issues next, as I found I was having to police HP more than the players were. As we dropped these about the third session we also dropped the inspirations points. I didn't take their feats, but we made it clear we wouldn't be playing with them for future characters.

So we went back to a pretty much regular 5e game, and pressed ahead. We are now over a dozen sessions in and they are fourth level--another thing I hate--how quickly low level characters zoom to mid levels. And what is my conclusion?

I'm sure a group could play 5e what might be called classically old school. But, it aint easy, and the game isn't really designed to do that. I am just now wrapping my brain around bounded accuracy, and I can't say I like it all that much. So, here I am again. Not pleased with 5e as a game itself, and it is just that: a different game from every game that has come before. It is not like AD&D, nor like 3.5 or like 4e. It is a rebranded package designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator in gaming. I personally think that is why so many of the old school crowd has picked it up--it is "sort of" old school, at least when compared to the last couple of editions. And I think those who did like 3.5, Pathfinder, and 4e, find enough of 5e likable that they are okay playing it as well. Maybe that is what the company aimed for--hit the broadest swath of gaming culture they could. Problem is, they have alienated the fringe. And I am on that fringe. I tried it, and I am not liking it. I will say, I have given it longer than any other edition I have played thus far except of course AD&D. But it is about time to change that.

My Current 5e Game

The Edition Wars Continue

5e aint old school. Let's just get that right out of the way up front. Yes, yes, with all the proper caveats and clarifications. I'm using my own definitions and my own rubric, so there you go. But, the point is I've played it for almost two years now, and my current campaign for over a year straight. I've run several 3rd party commercial modules and a home brewed campaign thus far. I run it straight out of the three core books, nothing new and fancy. Hell, the rules as they are, are plenty fancy enough for me, and I'm still trying to get them all straight. I get them wrong now and then, using old school stand bys when I have to punt and don;t want to look something up, but my players have started calling me on it, so, there you go again.

Anywho, it's not been bad. And comparatively, it plays about like 2e did compared with AD&D and is a far cry better than either 3rd or 4th so ... there you go a third time. We've had fun, but then I had "fun" in 4e, it's just that nothing since AD&D has hit my sweet spot. And as I have been learning lately not even AD&D quite did that--to really get to that I'm going to have to write my own game I think, but that's a tale for another campfire. Today's post is a reflection on my thoughts about 5e and my old school sensibilities.

I am of course behind the times on such a topic. Ubiquitous Rat, Raging Owlbear and others were talking about this two years ago or more, but things are relevant when you need them to be and not a minute sooner. I have been wanting to drop 5e since about the playtest. But, no matter what, I seem to end up playing the current edition and all my carefully worded philosophy go to hell and back again. The reasons for this are manifold, however, today I want to focus on just one: my players like 5e.

And do you really need anything else? I mean the birthdates of my current crop of players is: 1993, 1999, 2000, 2002, & 2006. We've got a old guy :-) in there who was born in '81, but he is having trouble getting his schedule together to play regularly.  My point, however, is that I've only got one regular player who was even born when TSR still existed, and his first edition ever played has been 5e. They are loving it, and that's awesome. I really think that is why I end up playing current editions so much, because my situation and, it seems more and more, that my lot in the gaming world is about introducing new players to the game.

Now, that being said, many might opine that it would be a hell of a lot easier to do so with a low demand entry level game like BFRPG or C&C and we have used C&C, but I always take a calculated jump and choose the current edition because it is linked to D&D. What I mean by that is that WoTC holds the current D&D IP and the host of content that goes a long with that. And because I am so damned partial to that game I want people new to gaming to be connected to that IP, that brand if you will. As we do so, we begin to share a huge common vocabulary that includes names like Elminster, and Rary, and Leomund, and Greyhawk and Flanaess and Faerun and Acererack, and rust monsters and mind flayers on and on. I suppose I could do it without the connection to the copyright holders, but in such a ready made package online and off it is hard to do all that work without help. Plus, anywhere they go they are immediately hooked up into the most popular and widespread community that exists in tabletop roleplaying games. Yes, it's sad, but I am a victim of marketing and advertising even if I realize it and hate it.

But does that even really matter? Does it matter that my players can immerse themselves in D&D stuff all week long between games online? That they can be assured of a constantly flowing stream of new, easy to find product? Even if I at times curse that product? Hell, of course it matters. It matters even if I am lamenting the fact all along, pining for the good old days and cursing these damned new fangled contraptions that pass for games these days. It's a new world grandpa, time to buy some new dice. Hey! You know what? Frack you and the Cylon Raider you rode in on! I am damned proud of my old school history and my old school leanings, so you can take your shiny new dice and shove them where the Drow party all night like the remains of bad bean burritos!

Is there some means of reconciliation to this emotional impasse? Can I be happy, or at least happi"er" playing 5e and my players learn a bit of what the old school has to offer? Maybe there is.

I actually had plans to shift our game to a Classic edition D&D game of house rules that I'm currently working on and shelve 5e for awhile. But our last game made me start reconsidering my plans. I mean they really do love 5e, and I have always felt guilty about forcing people to play what they consider an inferior game. And let's face it, compared to what they have been playing OS games will be harder, deadlier, the art is more minimalist, it will be slower to level up and the rules will throw them for a loop. I will have a hard time seeing that they are going to claim my preferred play edition "better" or superior to the slick new game that is 5e. Maybe there's a way I can change, and the rest of the players don't have to. They won't have to much anyway.

Taking Ubiquitous Rat as a guide, I'll soon be publishing a list of recommended 5e house rules to trick it out old school. I'll admit right up front, it will be a lot easier to do than it ever was in 3rd or Pathfinder, and a heck of a lot easier than 4e (though admittedly 4th Core did move in that direction). We are due to finish our current campaign soon, and the players are wanting to start fresh with first level characters, so I've got some time to prepare, and the new campaign will be ideal to start an old school 5e campaign. I, for one, am excited. More excited about 5e than I have been in a awhile. More next time on these house rules.

Sharing Goodness

I know there are some who don;t like when a blogger simply reblog's someone else's blog entry, or posts a link to some other blog. However, I'm having a tough time writing entries the past few weeks, and have been pouring most of my energy into game writing. But I do still get around the blogosphere, and there are still some high quality old school bloggers out there, aking astute observations, sharing cool stuff and keeping the old school flame alive.

Today, I wanted to second a post from BreeYark on old school story telling through dungeon-crawls. Check it out, you won't be displeased.

Another great post I came across was Joseph Bloch's over at Greyhawk Grognard--one of my favorite AD&D old schoolers. He opined on the classic megadungeon topic. Though I think he might be over minimizing the definition some (I love the mythic underworld concept--but I do think this was something that was less than spelled out in the old days) but I can't say I disagree with him on the idea that endless is key. Also, very, very, good stuff.

And lastly, for today anyway, Ars Ludi's West Marches campaign, to which Greyhawk Grog referred in the above post (so now I'm linking to a link to which I previously linked ...) is a great reference, idea and source of inspiration for a sandboxy sort of old school style campaign. Admittedly it's not a dungeon per se, but a center that could lead to many dungeons. It also rings the bell for Expert style Wilderness adventures that were very old school as well. Be sure and follow the links to other West Marches entries he writes--great stuff.