Back to the 90s…

Say 'Cheese!'

 

Short (and Optional) Real-Life Disclaimer: This blog isn’t the place for my life melodrama but, that said, the last years have been hard through all fronts – financially, professionally, emotionally, socially, health… the dread list goes on. That is one of the reasons why I couldn’t keep up this blog with the regularity that I originally envisioned. To keep my sanity, I focused on the one RPG table that, for the last 15 years, has never let me down. I was not disappointed. I was surprised when they asked, 4 years ago, to start an AD&D 2E game but I didn’t hesitate. These guys are my “DM compass”. If they say they want AD&D 2E, there must be a reason. We are now almost 70 sessions later and I have never produced so much content and sessions reports in my life (almost 500 pages!). Let’s see if I can use some of that on this blog (and see if you are interested in AD&D 2E as well).

AD&D 2E Forgotten Realms (post Avatar War) was our “to go game” in the 90s (it was the first TSR setting translated in Brazil). Of course, we found AD&D 2E rules and subsystems confusing. We kept forgetting half of them and never using the other half (and probably what we used, we used it wrong). We rolled stats with such crazy and generous rules that “Strength 18/00” was a common presence at the table. Hit points were always maxed at first, if not increased. We never got why AD&D 2E had so many limitations, so we ignored a ton of requirements. We overused, of course, the most broken class/kit combos and loved it (Hello Specialist Priests!). We still told ourselves that we were playing “official content”, which was not technically true (we did use a ton of house rules that were common in the 90s’ Brazilian RPG zeitgeist… changing stuff like energy drain for example). Those were the golden years. We were all young and foolish (now just foolish), but it was a heck of fun! I think I stop running AD&D 2E around 1999 (because of 3^rd Edition) and yes, I regret dropping that game just because a new one had come up (a common sin among RPG players).

Now, the funny thing is that some players of my current table are old friends (from our 90s’ tables). In the first half of 2022, out of the blue, they pitched me the idea of going back to AD&D 2E. Everyone was instantly excited. My counterproposal: this time, for fun, let’s try it by the rules (not RAW, there is no RAW RPG in my opinion, each table slightly/slowly shapes the system to their style). For me, “by the rules”, meant that we were going to use all the limitations/requirements, subsystems and weird rules (if possible, at the same time, like using both Secondary Skills and Proficiencies). That would be a feature, not a bug. And we used basically everything: Reaction Rolls, NPC Morale, Death’s Door, Individualized XP per class etc. On the XP side, we added that any treasure acquired in the adventure and spent in civilization would give the PC 1 XP/GP… this finally made the XP charts of AD&D 2E make sense (in the 90s, we usually got “stuck” on levels 4-6 and never got enough XP to advance further, forcing the DM to grant us “XP bonuses”). Now, I never felt the need to do that. This rule also encouraged PCs to carouse, lead lavish lifestyles, build stuff etc. It enriched our downtime between adventures.

Yes, we rolled 3d6 in order. No, no one rolled an eligible Paladin PC yet, we barely rolled 1-2 potential Rangers. This actually generated parties that really reflected the “inner logic” of AD&D 2E worlds: tons of Warriors and Rogues, a Wizard here and there, a few Priests. YES, we rolled hit points! One thief with 1 hit point at 1^st level survived to the 5^th level… with 5 hit points! His epithet is “The Immortal”. Having played a ton of DCCRPG before we now embraced “suboptimal” and “weak” PCs and they shined! (Recently, a Priest with really low stats just reached 10^th level!)

After some 33-34 years as a DM, I approached AD&D 2E with maturity and the insights of the OSR, FKR, and other amazing game design (such as the games created by John Harper). No, I didn’t change any rules (not at first), but I let players' description of their actions ("player skill" as we say in the OSR) influence when the dice were rolled. However, once rolled, the bones were the rulers of Fate! Particularly for things like Secondary Skills, Non-weapon Proficiencies (NWPs), ability score checks (and the myriad sub checks in each score) and Thieves Skills, I would often remove the need of a roll if a player prepared carefully and described well their approach. I was inspired by the original rule advice to NWPs in Oriental Adventures 1E: proficiencies are only rolled under extreme circumstances, otherwise you are a professional.

Soon, I started a ruling that, when PCs had to roll under their Thieves Skills (I mean, if they HAD to roll), I would often ask first for them to roll under an ability score (often with penalties) and try to reach as high as possible without going over their stat (blackjack-like mechanic). If they failed, THEN they would roll the pertinent Thief Skill. This made those low percentages make sense for us. And – again, I must stress – ONLY when needed: if the Thief was in a dark cave, with plenty of time, without encumbrance etc... yeah, they CAN Move Silently and Hide in Shadows without rolling (AD&D 2E already has a wonderful precedent for that through the “racial stealth” ability of Elves and Halflings).

Focusing on describing your actions and rolling only when nothing else worked brought all the AD&D 2E crazy (and contradictory) subsystems to life! Rolling 3d6 in order made bonuses rare, which made total sense in AD&D 2E (Str 18/00 caps at +3 to hit and +6 to damage, this system was not made to have those crazy high modifiers of my youth – or of D&D 3th+ editions). The result was impressive for me: the table completely focused on the narrative, checking their character sheet 90% for equipment, and deeply invested in tactics (combat is deadly lethal in pre-3^rd D&D editions as most of you know). Rogues stole the spotlight beautifully, while still being the weakest characters in combat and resistance. Warriors were ESSENTIAL to keep the party alive. Clerics could handle themselves, but both they and Wizards are extremely fragile when spellcasting. Remember, this is AD&D 2E spellcasting: no moving, full concentration, even 1 damage is goodbye to your memorized spell, and you must DECLARE before rolling initiative that you are going to spellcast… what a beautiful risk if you don’t have a meat shield (a.k.a. as Warriors) to protect you. The tactics required were super fun for us! (And, yes, hirelings ARE A MUST!)

Having the experience to use all the subsystems and crazy tables to enrich the game instead of containing it was awesome, but I did add one house rule since the start: Open Saves.

AD&D 2E was the last edition to use the “arcane” and original Saving Throw categories of D&D (okay, a bit changed). I HATED Saving Throw in the 90s, as I could never understand or make sense of each category. Today? I find them quite charming. More importantly, after having read the original D&D and Chainmail, I think I finally get the purpose of Saving Throws: from a wargame perspective, they are a rule applied exclusively to elite (often solo) units, to allow them a chance to avoid death and stay in battle. In other words, they are a “second chance” when everything else has gone wrong.

I really want to bring that principle back, so I proposed the mechanics/ruling/weirdness that I call Open Saves.

Basically, any PC (and only PCs) can negotiate an Open Save with the DM as a reaction to an event in the narrative (a trigger if you like). For example, let’s say that your Fighter missed his charge (the attack roll) against an ogre. The player can request an Open Save. All Open Saves have costs and risks. The player promptly offers the cost: my spear will break. The risk? If he fails the Open Save, the ogre gets an attack of opportunity against them. If the DM agrees, they select a Saving Throw category (let’s use Rod, Staff or Wand). If the Fighter succeeds, his spear breaks but he hits the ogre. If he fails, the loses his spear and is about to be smashed. If the trigger is something that involves already a saving throw, then the Open Save must take that into account. For example, a Cleric is hit by a fireball and the DM asks for a normal saving throw. The player calls for an Open Save, describing how they raise their shield to protect themselves. Originally, a save against fireball is that you reduce damage by half if you succeed. The player wants to reduce damage to zero and proposes losing their shield (cost) and having their arm crippled if their fail (risk). The DM deems the cost too low for the benefit but accepts the risk. After some back-and-forth, the Cleric reframe the description as they desperately call for divine intervention, raising their shield. The cost now is the shield plus one random memorized spell. The DM loves it and asks for a saving throw against Breath Weapon. (If you ever read/played RPGs like Blades in the Dark, that deal with Position/Impact, this is the same idea. NeoclassicalGeek Revival approaches saves in general with the same open-mindness regarding negotiation between DM and player.)

I hope in the following months to share with you the stuff that I created for my AD&D 2E campaign: races, classes, kits, spells etc. (and the crazy rulings and house rules that we developed). We added considerable content from Dragon Magazines, the Complete Handbook series, Player’s Options* etc. (and even stuff from AD&D 1E, D&D BECMI and other previous editions). The campaign right now has PCs that have ventured through the Dalelands, Waterdeep, the Abyss, Elysium, Sigil, the Outlands… even the past during the glory of Netheril. And we still have a long way to go!

Fight on!

*But not the new “sub-Ability Scores” of Skills & Magic, there are limits to my madness.

We were young and foolish... it was fucking awesome!