Using AD&D settings with OD&D

[Mr. Darke]

I did not know where to put this so if I am off please move this to the appropriate forum.

I was and still am a huge fan of the later TSR settings such as FR, Planescape, Ravenloft and others. I make no excuses for this other than when I came into the game, which was during 2e, and enjoying myself during that time.

Now, I was wondering if anyone has used OD&D/S&W with some of those settings and how they went about adapting the setting to the game.

[Finarvyn]

Great question. I'm not sure where to move it to, either. (Maybe Underworld & Wilderness Adventures since it's about campaign stuff, or maybe Other Editions since it also deals with AD&D. Hmmm.

I play a very minimalistic game of OD&D. For monsters I really want to know:
1. Hit dice (from which I can come up with hit points and to-hit bonus)
2. Armor Class of the critter.
3. Damage done by the critter
4. Does it have any special stuff (fly, turn things to stone, etc.)

I don't bother much with morale, movement, intelligence of the monster, or whatever most of the time. If I have a mastermind creature of some sort he'll play smart, otherwise my monsters tend to play dumb so that the PCs can outsmart them.

Since I use so few stats, there isn't much to convert. Hit dice can be done with d6's instead of using special dice for different types of monsters. The AC values from OD&D to AD&D are within 1 number of each other, so if you don't bother to convert probaly no one will notice. Damage can be mostly d6's as well. "Special" attacks don't usually need to be converted.

As such, when I run AD&D or 2E modules in my OD&D game I usually just take whatever is listed in the module and I'm close enough. This means that I can really run pretty much any setting and I don't have to stress over its origins. 2E is a little trickier than 1E becaue of kits and such. I tend to let my OD&D characters write some background and assume they have reasonable things they are good at, which is a lot like a kit. If you like, try using a mechanic similar to C&C's SIEGE rolls for skill checks and you get rid of a lot of the problem. (If it's listed in the kit use 12, otherwise use 18.)

3E is more problematic becasue there is more information to ignore. I suppose some of the feats might really define the monster or the setting, but I tend to just default back to OD&D and use the stat blocks more for flavor than for actual effect. Again, HP and AC and those key monster stats just pretty much stay as printed. This might mean that certain settings have tougher orcs than others, for example, but I don't let that bother me. To me, OD&D is a lot more freeform and so I stick to the general guidelines and if numbers aren't consistent from campaign to campaign that's okay. You have to have a few surprises for the players.

Anyhow, that's how I run my games!

[parmstrong]

I have been thinking about an OD&D Dark Sun game as well. I really think that the grittiness of OD&D would go well with Dark Sun but I just can't bring myself to run the psionics from the supplements.

[fitz]

I'm unfamiliar with Dark Sun except in pretty general terms; I've never read any of it, though the bits and pieces I've seen about it in old Dragon magazines did pique my interest a bit.

Would it be essential to use psionics? I'm not fond of them at all; in every game I've run or played in where they appeared they seemed rather unbalancing, and as a GM I've always found them a royal pain in the apricots.

[Finarvyn]

Psionics wouldn't be "essential" but the DS authors have woven a lot of psionics into the campaign setting. Taking them away would change the setting. Dark Sun would still be a neat place to play, but it would change it a lot.

There was a thread on DF at one point about the "best" psionics system for OD&D, and I think the suggestion was made to use Gamma World for psionics instead. I'll have to hunt for the thread....

[Finarvyn]

And here it is :-)

[stonetoflesh]

It's not a setting per se, but a buddy just loaned me the Mighty Fortress 2e historical supplement. I have a recurring interest in running a sword & sorcery campaign set during the Thirty Years War, so I'll be reading through this with an eye for using it with OD&D or S&W White Box...

[machfront]

Aug 17, 2009 22:53:50 GMT -6 stonetoflesh said:

It's not a setting per se, but a buddy just loaned me the Mighty Fortress 2e historical supplement. I have a recurring interest in running a sword & sorcery campaign set during the Thirty Years War, so I'll be reading through this with an eye for using it with OD&D or S&W White Box...

Funny. I just got A Mighty Fortress myself. Just today in fact, after ordering a copy off Amazon.
It's in great condition, but as I was flipping through it, that plastic cover came loose of the binding glue.
I've been considering an S&S or fantasy swashbuckling game muhself, which is what prompted me to buy it, thinking it may spark some ideas (mechanically, mainly). Cool little book, though.

[thegreyelf]

Another means of doing psionics. Choose a type of psychic power: pyrokinesis, telekinesis, clairvoyance, ESP, etc. The character then gains one appropriate spell-like ability of increasing power from the magic user or cleric spell lists as he goes up in level, this gained first level and every multiple of 3 thereafter. At level one, first level spells are available. At level 3, second. At level 6, third, at level 9, fourth, etc. Once selected, the power is permanent and can't be changed, and must be approved by the DM.

To use pyrokinesis as an example:

Level One: burning hands
Level Three: flaming sphere
Level Six: Fireball
Level Nine: Produce Fire
Level Twelve: Wall of Fire
Level Fifteen: Fire Storm.

The character gets one use of any psionic power per day equal to his level. Thus, the ninth level character above may use psionics 9 times per day in any combination. He can use burning hands 9 times, or produce flame 9 times, or burning hands once, produce flame twice, fireball 5 times and flaming sphere once, or however else he likes.

For mental combat, a psychic can attack another with a mental blast which deals 1d6 per level in mental damage. A successful save vs. Death negates this damage entirely.

[The Fiendish Dr. Samsara]

Aug 15, 2009 23:38:25 GMT -6 parmstrong said:

I have been thinking about an OD&D Dark Sun game as well. I really think that the grittiness of OD&D would go well with Dark Sun but I just can't bring myself to run the psionics from the supplements.

I've been thinking about this as well.

[parmstrong]

I actually think that a more important part of fitting OD&D to Dark Sun is defiling vs preserving magic. I think that thematically psionics can just be ignored. What I have been considering is:
1. Adapt the HP cost for casting spells from Microlite20 for magic-users and give them the option to instead of taking the HP cost themselves they can defile - each HP instead defiles X-feet of vegetation.
2. Psionics - dump them. Psionics actually weaken the themes and tension of Dark Sun, as they provide a safe alternative to magic-users, and they lack the whole "devotion to nature" aspect of the elemental clerics and the druids.

[parmstrong]

Or you could just use randomly determined mental mutations from Mutant Future as psionics.