Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2008 21:58:38 GMT -6
Outdoor Survival wass a board game released by Avalon Hill for almost 20 years. OD&D advises using its board for wilderness maps and adventures.
First, OD&D gets some of the rules incorrect. My copy of Outdoor Survival, second print, says that movement through swamps costs four movement points and mountain trails one. OD&D would have swamps cost three and mountain trails (as opposed to forest or swamp trails) two movement points. Unless this is reflecting a first print version of Outdoor Survival, these numbers are incorrect because it says "as stated in Outdoor Survival."
There is what seems to be an inconsistency in the rules in either event. The Movement table implies that a "man on foot" can cross three hexes in a day (three hexes = 15 miles, a bit conservative.) If the movement penalty through a swamp or mountains is three hexes, that means he could not move through them on foot. Yet he can move through two hexes with a horse? That makes little sense considering how much horses hate moving through rough terrain.
Second, OD&D provides rules for being "lost" that take two elements of Outdoor Survival, namely random direction and single direction changes. However, one should be cautious about using the whole ruleset from Outdoor Survival to simulate the conditions (dehydration and starvation) of a lost party. It is very easy to "not survive" using Scenario 1: Lost.
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Post by driver on Apr 11, 2008 22:39:54 GMT -6
It is very easy to "not survive" using Scenario 1: Lost. I have OS but haven't ever tried to play it, or read the rules for that matter, as I just wanted the map. This review is pretty unfavorable, and mentions the "ease of death" factor: www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/121959I especially love one of the follow-up comments:
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jjarvis
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 278
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Post by jjarvis on Apr 13, 2008 11:50:53 GMT -6
Everyone doesn't die. It's just easy to die. Played it many times myself as a youth. If I recall correctly there may have been different move rates for different scenarios. Some scenarios were certainly easier to survive with a degree of skill instead of falling victim to luck.
I never really figured the outdoor survival rules were to be used with D&D adventures, just the really cool map board. A well equipped D&D party would have a much easier time trying to survive the board if they are permitted to equip themselves with a week or two of rations ahead of time. Throw in some edible wandering monsters and life will be easier for D&D charcter then it ever was for a lost hiker.
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Post by Finarvyn on Apr 13, 2008 12:40:43 GMT -6
I never really figured the outdoor survival rules were to be used with D&D adventures, just the really cool map board. That was always my take on Outdoor Survival as well. I recall OS being mentioned a couple times in the LBB, but always in the context of map useage. Do you have any specific references to the survival rules being used, greathierophant, or are you just making observations about how OS differs from OD&D?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2008 22:51:28 GMT -6
I never really figured the outdoor survival rules were to be used with D&D adventures, just the really cool map board. That was always my take on Outdoor Survival as well. I recall OS being mentioned a couple times in the LBB, but always in the context of map useage. Do you have any specific references to the survival rules being used, greathierophant, or are you just making observations about how OS differs from OD&D? The rules only require you to possess Outdoor Survival's map. However, if you needed some way to simulate the effects of being lost, OS would provide you with appropriate rules. However, out of the box they will not give great odds for surviving the wilderness. Since you are "lost", it would seem appropriate to use OS's Lost Scenario. Unfortunately, that Scenario is perhaps the easiest to die in because it is very easy to die from lack of water. There are virtually no ways to regain water levels, in contrast to the other Scenarios. Here is how I would change it. Once the party runs short of water, they will lose one water or food level for each day they cannot find sufficient water or food. If they are on a river hex, that water not be a problem. If they are on any other hex, then they must roll a die to see if they find sufficient food and water for the day. Sample scores: Desert - 10% water, 15% food. Forest - 40% water, 55% food. Clear - 30% water, 40% food. Mountain - 40% water, 10% food. Swamp - 50% watet, 25% food. In order to gain these percentages, the characters movement rate is halved. Full movement cuts down the percentages by half.
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busman
Level 6 Magician
Playing OD&D, once again. Since 2008!
Posts: 448
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Post by busman on Apr 14, 2008 3:16:00 GMT -6
The rules only require you to possess Outdoor Survival's map. *emphasis mine* Argh! People keep stating this. The rules never required you to have anything. The list on page 5 is even entitled "Recommended Equipment:". As a youth, I and my brother never had anything but the 3 LBBs, some d6, paper, pencils, and imagination. Heck, we didn't have graph paper for the first month or so. We pretty quickly got d20 and used the alt combat tables. We never missed Chainmail or Outdoor Survival. Heck, I'm not even sure I could have told you that Outdoor Survival was mentioned in the rules as a boy. Chainmail was hard to miss since it's mentioned what seems to be every other page, but OS is mentioned I think 3 times in total and never really in a rulesy sort of way.
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Post by ffilz on Apr 14, 2008 10:58:20 GMT -6
First, OD&D gets some of the rules incorrect. My copy of Outdoor Survival, second print, says that movement through swamps costs four movement points and mountain trails one. OD&D would have swamps cost three and mountain trails (as opposed to forest or swamp trails) two movement points. Unless this is reflecting a first print version of Outdoor Survival, these numbers are incorrect because it says "as stated in Outdoor Survival." The way I interpret the movement penalties is not that you move in a swamp is reduced by three, but that it costs 3 movement points (of which you have 3) to enter a swamp hex. That interpretation is pretty much standard for the board games of the time (or at least Avalon Hill board games). Frank
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scogle
Level 3 Conjurer
Posts: 69
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Post by scogle on Jul 25, 2008 19:36:08 GMT -6
Methinks a ranger would prove very useful in a "lost" encounter. I might make a house-rule that it is impossible to get lost with a ranger in your party (or more difficult, perhaps scaling with level), and if you do get lost the ranger is able to find food, perhaps enough food for 10 people per day per level per ranger, or something like that.
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Post by murquhart72 on Jul 23, 2017 17:18:39 GMT -6
They are two different games, but D&D can make USE of the board that comes with Outdoor Survival in the same way it can make use of chess pieces for miniatures.
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Post by howandwhy99 on Jul 23, 2017 19:32:53 GMT -6
I see OD&D as an open game where the Referee develops their own system from the pieces before play. AD&D surely had some reprinting of rules from Outdoor Survival. I don't have a problem incorporating them.
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