I am BECMI all the way. It has everything worth having. D&D is two-dimensional without weapon mastery rules and dominion rules. The BECMI structure allows for unlimited game-play.
Well, thanks a lot! Now I've got to unearth those old modules and gazeteers for Mystara. I know they're buried in one of those boxes. You've given me several ideas for, umm, repurposing those golden oldies. Thank you!
I love Mystara, I’ve just started DMing my first time and am have a general idea of the whole campaign in Mystara and the modules I want to use, but am leaving a lot of wiggle room. My players are all halflings of various classes (using 5e rules mostly with limitations on races and what classes those races can be). Started with Eye of Traldar, and then a stop in Specularum on the way to the seer for a murder mystery with Veiled Society, where I’m going to introduce Bargle briefly in the riot as a chaos agent blowing stuff up and disappearing, and will introduce Aleena as part of the clerical council to question the players on their whereabouts on the night of the murder. She’ll come in later to recruit the players to go to Threshold with her to search for the Shield of Halav. . . All in all, Arik is going to be the big bad, or at least the power behind all the different BBEGs.
@@TheBattlinBarrowGaming the overall campaign is loosely inspired by Masks of Nyalathotep with Arik replacing Nyaathotep and various cults and bad guys having cults about them. I even made Anton Radu owner of an artifact that absorbs life force to send to Arik (a ruby pommeled dagger).
On wandering Monsters: Tips for DM's; its important that wandering monsters are not just "spawned" in. When you read the module or plan the adventure make sure you are familiar with the monster stat blocks that are on the table. have them printed off or bookmarked ready for use. When you get a result that calls in a monster don't just go OHH now this happens! NO. DONT. After that check for "encounter distance" and "Monster/NPC Disposition" (you can roll these before hand too and have this with your prepared information (stat-block etc) for if the monster is rolled. NEXT you slowly bring the encounter into being - I generally wait until the players cock stuff up already in some small way - especially when they are talking rubbish to each other. TIMING: The _KEY_ is you want this encounter to have dramatic tension - its got to fit the story rhythm and feel propulsive. Do that the best you can. Its your wandering monster you bring it when you want (provided it in its environment if unintelligent). if intelligent bring it when ever you feel you want to that will create more wow factor - rule of cool on this. Avoid adding them to other encounters 9-10 times. It can be fun if an encounter was too easy to bring in the new "Wandering" monster at the end or tail end of that easy fight to spice things up. Really that is what these should be. "Added Spice". Also anytime a player rolls a "one" that you think should be consequential in some way time for a "wandering Monster" check - this is "the bucket get knocked down the well. boom. boom. boom. Type of happenstance. So once you have chosen your timing... your when ... its where "encounter distance ENCOUNTER: THE WHAT... At that point you reveal to the PCs, however you want the "encounter distance" and give some vague suggestion of how the Moster/NPC is reacting (i.e. disposition) and enter into roleplay about the new Monsters/NPCs. Unless its an ambush. In which case the players have walked themselves into a improvised but prepared position - this will normally mean the terrain is bad for the PC's and good for the Monsters/NPCs (e.g. the Hobgoblins are one the top of the ravine and the Pcs are down below that type of thing... like if in cavernous environs the hobgoblins go from the front and the rear (they know the secret ways) etc). Resolve this encounter as normal give exp and treasure as normal. I hope that help using wandering monster more fun and useful.
I shall hopefully be running what I covered in this video on Sunday so will do a follow up video about what happened :D Sandboxes are my prefered gameplay method. I actually find running them easier than a modern campaign book in which I get flustered. I guess it comes from Keep on the Borderlands which came in the basic set when I was younger, which pretty much is a mini sandbox.
Castle Caldwell gets a bad rap on some parts of the web, but it's not too bad. I ran it for my wife and kids and we all had fun. I would also recommend B11 Kings Festival as a fairly good low-level dungeon. Hope the campaign goes well! 😃
Actually playing it now (on a mid game break) it's working really well. Yes I can see people's issues with caldwell but as a straight forward dungeon crawl it's great for new players
@@williammoore9794 I ended today outside the gates of the castle next Sunday we will enter. My players are all new so I feel castle caldwell is great for their first real adventure.
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I am BECMI all the way. It has everything worth having. D&D is two-dimensional without weapon mastery rules and dominion rules. The BECMI structure allows for unlimited game-play.
Absolutely 👍
Well, thanks a lot! Now I've got to unearth those old modules and gazeteers for Mystara. I know they're buried in one of those boxes. You've given me several ideas for, umm, repurposing those golden oldies. Thank you!
Haha glad to be of service let me know how it goes. Most of my campaign is running these modules linking them together
I love Mystara, I’ve just started DMing my first time and am have a general idea of the whole campaign in Mystara and the modules I want to use, but am leaving a lot of wiggle room. My players are all halflings of various classes (using 5e rules mostly with limitations on races and what classes those races can be). Started with Eye of Traldar, and then a stop in Specularum on the way to the seer for a murder mystery with Veiled Society, where I’m going to introduce Bargle briefly in the riot as a chaos agent blowing stuff up and disappearing, and will introduce Aleena as part of the clerical council to question the players on their whereabouts on the night of the murder. She’ll come in later to recruit the players to go to Threshold with her to search for the Shield of Halav. . . All in all, Arik is going to be the big bad, or at least the power behind all the different BBEGs.
This sounds fun and right up my alley! Let me know how it all goes
@@TheBattlinBarrowGaming the overall campaign is loosely inspired by Masks of Nyalathotep with Arik replacing Nyaathotep and various cults and bad guys having cults about them. I even made Anton Radu owner of an artifact that absorbs life force to send to Arik (a ruby pommeled dagger).
On wandering Monsters: Tips for DM's; its important that wandering monsters are not just "spawned" in. When you read the module or plan the adventure make sure you are familiar with the monster stat blocks that are on the table. have them printed off or bookmarked ready for use. When you get a result that calls in a monster don't just go OHH now this happens! NO. DONT.
After that check for "encounter distance" and "Monster/NPC Disposition" (you can roll these before hand too and have this with your prepared information (stat-block etc) for if the monster is rolled.
NEXT you slowly bring the encounter into being - I generally wait until the players cock stuff up already in some small way - especially when they are talking rubbish to each other.
TIMING: The _KEY_ is you want this encounter to have dramatic tension - its got to fit the story rhythm and feel propulsive. Do that the best you can. Its your wandering monster you bring it when you want (provided it in its environment if unintelligent). if intelligent bring it when ever you feel you want to that will create more wow factor - rule of cool on this. Avoid adding them to other encounters 9-10 times. It can be fun if an encounter was too easy to bring in the new "Wandering" monster at the end or tail end of that easy fight to spice things up. Really that is what these should be. "Added Spice". Also anytime a player rolls a "one" that you think should be consequential in some way time for a "wandering Monster" check - this is "the bucket get knocked down the well. boom. boom. boom. Type of happenstance. So once you have chosen your timing... your when ... its where "encounter distance
ENCOUNTER: THE WHAT... At that point you reveal to the PCs, however you want the "encounter distance" and give some vague suggestion of how the Moster/NPC is reacting (i.e. disposition) and enter into roleplay about the new Monsters/NPCs. Unless its an ambush. In which case the players have walked themselves into a improvised but prepared position - this will normally mean the terrain is bad for the PC's and good for the Monsters/NPCs (e.g. the Hobgoblins are one the top of the ravine and the Pcs are down below that type of thing... like if in cavernous environs the hobgoblins go from the front and the rear (they know the secret ways) etc). Resolve this encounter as normal give exp and treasure as normal.
I hope that help using wandering monster more fun and useful.
THank you fro sharing these fantastic tips!
Running a sandbox campaign seems super fun! I would love to hear more about how the campaign progresses? :)
I shall hopefully be running what I covered in this video on Sunday so will do a follow up video about what happened :D Sandboxes are my prefered gameplay method. I actually find running them easier than a modern campaign book in which I get flustered. I guess it comes from Keep on the Borderlands which came in the basic set when I was younger, which pretty much is a mini sandbox.
I hope Bargle finally got his comeuppance. I'm still traumatized from that Red Box introduction 40 years ago.
Spoilers he is still at large in my campaign. Plotting, planning and being devious
@TheBattlinBarrowGaming Ooo, keep us informed. I sure hope they get him.
Great video. We have very similar processes.
Just finished playing what I covered here and it went fantastic
Where did you got This map of karameikos and Treshold??? They are gorgeous 😮
HI I got it from www.pandius.com/karameik.html
I live that notice board 😄👍 was it made by yourself?
Thanks! It was made by me. Fairly easy to do too th-cam.com/video/cIIU9urjV5k/w-d-xo.html
Haha thanks Kevin I literally just found it myself! Great job
Have you seen Mr. Welch's 5e Mystara Book?
I've seen the players guide and am very much looking forward to the dmg
Castle Caldwell gets a bad rap on some parts of the web, but it's not too bad. I ran it for my wife and kids and we all had fun. I would also recommend B11 Kings Festival as a fairly good low-level dungeon.
Hope the campaign goes well! 😃
Actually playing it now (on a mid game break) it's working really well. Yes I can see people's issues with caldwell but as a straight forward dungeon crawl it's great for new players
@@TheBattlinBarrowGaming Agreed. It's obvious it's an adventure for new players and in that regard it works very well.
@@williammoore9794 I ended today outside the gates of the castle next Sunday we will enter. My players are all new so I feel castle caldwell is great for their first real adventure.
It’s actually not only for new players, but he designed it for his young kids and their friends to introduce them to D&D.
Try basic fantacy bx with a d20 system