I remember that when we started playing D&D back in the mid 1970's, we sometimes allowed player characters to have 1 or 2 special abilities from any of the first 3 volumes of the Arduin Grimoire. The only one I still remember is "Flesh tastes bad to monster, 95% chance they'll spit you out."
Wow! I haven't though about the Arduin Grimoire in a long time. While they did publish a stand-alone rule book in the 90's, the original three Arduin books were intended as supplements to D&D, so it made perfect sense to use them to further develop PC's and magic. I had a friend who ran in college using the Arduin books, and it was really fun. But of course, that was in a galaxy far away and long ago!
In Roll20, with a Plus subscription, in Explorer Mode it's actually perfectly viable to have an explorable map and even world map. You put a rough, simple version down on the Map layer, and then the same size map with the actual graphics on top but on the Token layer, adding Dynamic Lighting with walls restricting sight and such. What ends up happening is that the Players can see up to their vision of the Token layer map, and anything they have seen but which is outside their vision will only show the explored parts of the Map layer.
I have done the same with Fantasy Grounds, though I've heard the dynamic lighting is better in Roll20. It was a return in part to the old days, and you could have very weird shaped rooms without having to take the map and draw them as the GM. The only issue was the process of moving the tokens on the map instead of just using theatre of the mind: too often I saw GM's have a monster attack a solo character who moved first, as though we all wouldn't have moved as a group. Easily fixed I know, but I saw this more than once.
Hey Kevin, love these videos, brings back so many memories. I had my own house rules, at level 1 you would get max HP (a player actually suggested that) and you got to roll one death saving throw vs. Death Ray when your character went down. The group got one magic item, normally a +1 Dagger, a random potion (low level), farm tools, food, little things to round out there character. As a DM in the BECMI system you learn how to keep the party alive, sometimes you just have to put the kids gloves on, especially if everyone is new to D&D. If everybody dies just go back in time and let the party do it again, it's good practice for both the DM and the players. BECMI is special it's a solid system, some say it's the best! Thanks Kevin you have a wonderful day!
Really fun ambush - what I find interesting (playing my solo game) with running “by the book” is that the game is way more “dangerous” than when you actually have players at your table - they do out of the box/ non-standard things and that seems to make all the difference. I’m not sure a healing potion would have made a difference here - unless you are using the optional rules you showed of course. I’m guessing max HP at level 1 would be a better option if you are going for a more survivable vibe.
There were a number of "unlucky" rolls that contributed: most notably the goblins getting initiative and then rolling an 18 & 20 on the AC 1 dwarf. Plus the thief failed his listen check (though only 30%). Someone else suggested max hit points at 1st level as house rule, while another said to start at higher levels to avoid simply lowering the suggested the number of monsters appearing. Plus one might argue that I made the goblins too smart in hiding and wedging the door. But you're right about the phenomena of solo running being more deadly. You don't want to be fudging things because the interest is in seeing how things fall together "as written", so you make only the obvious (or useful!) moves and let the dice roll as they might. And you can't really simulate out of the box actions because you're not reacting as a GM to those decisions: and I suspect the tendency is to dismiss simulating those kind of actions as either ineffective or unrealistic, instead of being pleasantly surprised and responding to your players creativity with some of your own. But again, it's hard to be creative when you lose group initiative and they surround you and start rolling like that. As a side note, I would have put something in the altar that the goblins hadn't noticed. A gem and maybe a map. Just something to teach the players to thoroughly search rooms and give this place a history that predates the creatures living there now.
Every DM who made up their own dungeons created one or two killer dungeons that would wipe out a party in the first room. Usually they didn't realize it until the wipe out happened, and learned to be more generous with player knowledge and survivability. But some DMs were happy to stay killer DMs. They'd be generous handing out magic items and exotic spells, but combine that with an adversarial mindset. For example the approach to the dungeon might award a scroll of burning hands and a couple of healing potions. It could be fun. But a character was temporary and players knew not to get attached.
It's hard to remember that LJ because we've played so long now under the "everybody lives" ethos of D&D. But you are exactly right: we had TPK's when we started at 1st level and even some when we started higher. And you knew some DM's played it right to the bone and wanted to kill you if they could "within the rules as written." That was the ethos of the game. And we learned as DM's that to sustain player interest, be aware that 9 goblins waiting in ambush in the first room could be deadly if they get initiative!
@@DDHomebrew my first exposure to D&D was as a level 1 monk in a dungeon where we ran into a medusa and two gorgons. We knew exactly what was in there with all the startled stone statues of adventurers, being well read in greek mythology. But it was a tpk by the second room. So the lesson to be careful was beaten into me PDQ. By the next game I had bought the brown box, chainmail, greyhawk, some dice, and the Judge's Guild First Fantasy Campaign (basically Dave Arneson's campaign notes). Now I was the DM and pretty quickly a group of players developed around my brother and I and we connected to the other groups playing in our neighborhood.
@@ljmiller96 Same story with me, except there was a group of kids a few years older who knew the game and warned us about how deadly it was. Yet we still got killed a lot, and learned to accept it as part of the game.
I was moving them in encounter mode once they entered the room, but it could start only when the goblins attack. But I only moved the goblins 30 each round to encircle the group.
I'm trying to show the rules as written, where all characters start at 1st level. But once you're familiar with the system you should start off higher. Too much time spent going up those early levels and too much risk of death.
It's just good to see someone acknowledge BECMI and that the game wasn't meant to stop at expert. May St. BECMI smile on you and this fine work.
It's been a great trip down memory lane going over these rules again. And seeing how important initiative can be!
I remember that when we started playing D&D back in the mid 1970's, we sometimes allowed player characters to have 1 or 2 special abilities from any of the first 3 volumes of the Arduin Grimoire. The only one I still remember is "Flesh tastes bad to monster, 95% chance they'll spit you out."
Wow! I haven't though about the Arduin Grimoire in a long time. While they did publish a stand-alone rule book in the 90's, the original three Arduin books were intended as supplements to D&D, so it made perfect sense to use them to further develop PC's and magic. I had a friend who ran in college using the Arduin books, and it was really fun. But of course, that was in a galaxy far away and long ago!
In Roll20, with a Plus subscription, in Explorer Mode it's actually perfectly viable to have an explorable map and even world map. You put a rough, simple version down on the Map layer, and then the same size map with the actual graphics on top but on the Token layer, adding Dynamic Lighting with walls restricting sight and such.
What ends up happening is that the Players can see up to their vision of the Token layer map, and anything they have seen but which is outside their vision will only show the explored parts of the Map layer.
I have done the same with Fantasy Grounds, though I've heard the dynamic lighting is better in Roll20. It was a return in part to the old days, and you could have very weird shaped rooms without having to take the map and draw them as the GM. The only issue was the process of moving the tokens on the map instead of just using theatre of the mind: too often I saw GM's have a monster attack a solo character who moved first, as though we all wouldn't have moved as a group. Easily fixed I know, but I saw this more than once.
Hey Kevin, love these videos, brings back so many memories. I had my own house rules, at level 1 you would get max HP (a player actually suggested that) and you got to roll one death saving throw vs. Death Ray when your character went down. The group got one magic item, normally a +1 Dagger, a random potion (low level), farm tools, food, little things to round out there character. As a DM in the BECMI system you learn how to keep the party alive, sometimes you just have to put the kids gloves on, especially if everyone is new to D&D. If everybody dies just go back in time and let the party do it again, it's good practice for both the DM and the players. BECMI is special it's a solid system, some say it's the best!
Thanks Kevin you have a wonderful day!
Great stuff as always Matt! We had all sorts of house rules like that back in the day, all from playing the system and seeing what worked.
Really fun ambush - what I find interesting (playing my solo game) with running “by the book” is that the game is way more “dangerous” than when you actually have players at your table - they do out of the box/ non-standard things and that seems to make all the difference. I’m not sure a healing potion would have made a difference here - unless you are using the optional rules you showed of course. I’m guessing max HP at level 1 would be a better option if you are going for a more survivable vibe.
There were a number of "unlucky" rolls that contributed: most notably the goblins getting initiative and then rolling an 18 & 20 on the AC 1 dwarf. Plus the thief failed his listen check (though only 30%). Someone else suggested max hit points at 1st level as house rule, while another said to start at higher levels to avoid simply lowering the suggested the number of monsters appearing. Plus one might argue that I made the goblins too smart in hiding and wedging the door.
But you're right about the phenomena of solo running being more deadly. You don't want to be fudging things because the interest is in seeing how things fall together "as written", so you make only the obvious (or useful!) moves and let the dice roll as they might. And you can't really simulate out of the box actions because you're not reacting as a GM to those decisions: and I suspect the tendency is to dismiss simulating those kind of actions as either ineffective or unrealistic, instead of being pleasantly surprised and responding to your players creativity with some of your own. But again, it's hard to be creative when you lose group initiative and they surround you and start rolling like that.
As a side note, I would have put something in the altar that the goblins hadn't noticed. A gem and maybe a map. Just something to teach the players to thoroughly search rooms and give this place a history that predates the creatures living there now.
Hey KR! Much as I enjoy these videos, I am SALIVATING to hear the continuing adventures of your in-person game.
Glad you like them. I've been busy with other topics, but I will get back for a multi-session review soon!
@@DDHomebrew I like all your content, but those I'm particularly fond of.
@@bigklu4756 Glad you're enjoying these! It's been a very fun campaign so far.
Every DM who made up their own dungeons created one or two killer dungeons that would wipe out a party in the first room. Usually they didn't realize it until the wipe out happened, and learned to be more generous with player knowledge and survivability. But some DMs were happy to stay killer DMs. They'd be generous handing out magic items and exotic spells, but combine that with an adversarial mindset. For example the approach to the dungeon might award a scroll of burning hands and a couple of healing potions. It could be fun. But a character was temporary and players knew not to get attached.
It's hard to remember that LJ because we've played so long now under the "everybody lives" ethos of D&D. But you are exactly right: we had TPK's when we started at 1st level and even some when we started higher. And you knew some DM's played it right to the bone and wanted to kill you if they could "within the rules as written." That was the ethos of the game. And we learned as DM's that to sustain player interest, be aware that 9 goblins waiting in ambush in the first room could be deadly if they get initiative!
@@DDHomebrew my first exposure to D&D was as a level 1 monk in a dungeon where we ran into a medusa and two gorgons. We knew exactly what was in there with all the startled stone statues of adventurers, being well read in greek mythology. But it was a tpk by the second room. So the lesson to be careful was beaten into me PDQ. By the next game I had bought the brown box, chainmail, greyhawk, some dice, and the Judge's Guild First Fantasy Campaign (basically Dave Arneson's campaign notes). Now I was the DM and pretty quickly a group of players developed around my brother and I and we connected to the other groups playing in our neighborhood.
@@ljmiller96 Same story with me, except there was a group of kids a few years older who knew the game and warned us about how deadly it was. Yet we still got killed a lot, and learned to accept it as part of the game.
Great example of play! One question though, at the end, when making the Death Saves, why did you use a D8 and a D6, instead of the traditional D20?
Because I messed up! I didn't notice it until I had posted the video. I thought I had grabbed a D20 but clearly I was wrong. No wonder they died!
@@DDHomebrew Oh! I thought you had done some kind of on-the-spot probability crunching beyond my understanding hahaha
@@arturbb I should have pretended that I was playing some kind of three dimensional math chess on that! 😂
Wouldn't there movement rate be 90,and once the party has an encounter it's 30?
I was moving them in encounter mode once they entered the room, but it could start only when the goblins attack. But I only moved the goblins 30 each round to encircle the group.
Great!
Thanks!
Death saves with a d8 and d6 ?
Good eye. I screwed that up because of the dice roller, didn't notice it until the edit.
Interesting how BECMI wants to create murder hobos saying only combat spells are useful.
They did say "miscellaneous" spells could be useful. Just don't use them.
Your awesome😎👍
I keep trying!
Stop trying to play low level characters. Its rather useless.
I'm trying to show the rules as written, where all characters start at 1st level. But once you're familiar with the system you should start off higher. Too much time spent going up those early levels and too much risk of death.