Iconic D&D

[Bryan1108]

My group often games with unusual, sometimes just plain weird, settings and twists to the settings. I was thinking of a game that is "very D&D".

What I have in mind is, rather than a large complex campaign world with everything medieval culture represented, having one basic kingdom that has a lot of problems. The players would work directly for the king as his champions and would work to bring the monsters under control and restore the kingdom to it's former glory.

The adventures that they would face would be based on classic modules like "Against the Giants", "Ravenloft", "Temple of Elemental Evil", "Tomb of Horrors" and so forth.

What I would like is people's idea of "classic" imagery for D&D, the sort of thing that this project just wouldn't be complete without. For me, there is the flying castle that you see in a lot of fantasy art, a princess that needs rescuing and a dragon's lair being a cave filled with mounds of gold and baubles.

[evil-frosty]

You can look at tolkien for many things that are very 'DnD'. Like the cliche of the horde of orcs coming to attack and destroy the town/fortress. Macguffins are also very "DnD', one of the most classic adventures revolves around this idea, The Rod of Seven Parts.

[Bryan1108]

Yeah, good point.By classic D&D, I could just as easily have said "classic fantasy" which often means Tolkien along with Moorcock, Howard and Frazetta.

Also I had forgotten all about the Rod of Seven Parts.

Thanks.

[Icarusthefallen]

Man, I sure wish you were in my neck of the woods, I have been wanting/trying to get a game like that going for a LONG time now. :smallyuk:

[Ignominia]

I'm a HUGE fan of REH's Conan, and I've floated the idea of a low magic world with caster types restricted to NPC's to my regular party several times and nobody wants to try it out :smallfrown: I've always felt like Hyboria is TRUE D&D (or at least my 8year old self's vision of what D&D was at the time) Frank Frazettas paintings of Conan are some of my all time favorite works of art.

[John Longarrow]

For classic D&D, you need a lot of "Screw with the party" type encounters though.

Party walks into a room filled with a grey billowing cloud. Everyone make fort save VS DC 30 or gets sex change.

Party walks into a room. They are in a 20x20 room that is the bottom of an inverted ziggurat. Manticors start opening up on them from above, while a wyvrn dives in to attack. No place in the room seems to have food/water, and there is no real reason the monsters won't attack each other, but they don't.

Party kicks in the door. Juggernaught rolls down 10' wide corridor towards party (also in 10' wide corridor, 200' long) and proceeds to stomp on them.

IIRC these are all from classic dungeons.

[ArcturusV]

Heh. When I think "Classic" Modules I tend to think of Keep on the Borderlands... or... what was it called The Isle of Dread?

Most of them were open ended. Locations with stuff to do rather than a fixed "plot" to follow necessarily. It depended on the player's inquisitiveness and desire to adventure more than some mucky muck telling them to go there and smite evil.

Iconic DnD thing I seldom see done anymore? Go to the tavern, get random rumors. Turn rumors you find interesting into quest hooks. Used to be the first time my players got to a city (Or hadn't been back in a while) that's almost immediately what they'd do. Hearing rumors about some magic sword, or a haunted building, or that someone's been acting strange, etc, etc.

It's nice to do, and it reminds me of what adventures used to be like. You throw a lot of stuff at the wall and see what sticks. "Sandboxing" before I had heard the term.

Also the other thing is a sense of exploration. Large open areas, dungeons with multiple routes through it (I haaaaaaate linear dungeons on more modern adventures), and just not knowing what's over the next hill, through the next door, etc.

Oh, and cursed loot. A LOT more cursed loot than modern games have. And rarely is the curse as simple as "-X to attack" and usually more like "When you first look at this seemingly normal spell scroll it actually turns you into a smaller version of that monster you just killed"...

[Black Jester]

For me, the highly idealized quintessence of D&D is a game where the players explore the world, find hidden dark places and search them for treasures to find and monsters to avoid (or kill, but preferably avoid, because they will kill you back). The gamemaster is not necessarily interested in defeating them, but the game is definitely supposed to be challenging, rewarding good plans and ideas and punishing bad ones or the lack of any plan at all. Wandering monsters, and random encounters are another necessary ingredient, and at least a one part during the game, there should be a dragon. There are other monsters there as well, sometimes without much of an explanation or the need for one; see the point about random encounters. Treasures can be found and it is a great reward, especially magical items, which are rare, valuable and more often than not awarded randomly.

Towns and cities primarily exist for having a different type of adventures, more focused on intrigue and manipulation, but they are there as locations for adventure in the first place and not some kind of placid hinterlands where nothing happens. Bonus points for every settlement that is a hive of corruption and villainy. On these loud and crowded bazars, you can sometimes even find magic items - if you have a similarly powerful item to trade it, because no one in his right mind would ever soll something as awesome as a magic item for mere money.

You also have Elves who mean well but can be slightly condescending (especially annoying because they actually *are* better than you most of the time), grumpy dwarves who like to drink beer, kill stuff and have gold and are annoyingly stereotypic, and gnomes and halflings, who are both relatively exchangeable and annoying on principle, and a knife ready to stab the first player who suggests to allowing kenders as PC.

Edit: i forgot: You have mages, who love their fighter buddies because they protect them in combat and thus keep them alive when one of the mosnters cannot be avoided. You have fighters, who love their mage buddies, because they can weaken the same foes and have all kinds of tricks up their sleeves. You have rogues who are beloved by all, because they can remove obstacles really well and are awesome at getting all kinds of information, and rogues who really like their team mates, because there are monsters which can't be avoided (in which case, you need a fighter or die) and there are curses and traps and riddles you cannot just solve with ingenuity and a set of lockpicks. And there are clerics who are even more beloved by everyone than anyone else, as the only alternative to die a painful and miserable death in some poorly lit cave is to keep the cleric alive, and the cleric loves everyone because, well they are the charitable and noble types and they understand that they cannot make the world a better place alone. Noone of these adventures can do any larger adventure alone, and trying to do so is an elaborate study in suicide. So, every character is equally needed and requires the support of his fellows, because the game is not some sort of competition about who can break the rules the worst or hog the most screentime by overshadowing anyone else but a cooperative effort to face great threats and overcome them through smartness and teamwork.

[Psyren]

For classic D&D, you need a lot of "Screw with the party" type encounters though.

Party walks into a room filled with a grey billowing cloud. Everyone make fort save VS DC 30 or gets sex change.

Party walks into a room. They are in a 20x20 room that is the bottom of an inverted ziggurat. Manticors start opening up on them from above, while a wyvrn dives in to attack. No place in the room seems to have food/water, and there is no real reason the monsters won't attack each other, but they don't.

Party kicks in the door. Juggernaught rolls down 10' wide corridor towards party (also in 10' wide corridor, 200' long) and proceeds to stomp on them.

IIRC these are all from classic dungeons.

Don't forget the floor trying to eat you, the ceiling trying to eat you, the walls trying to eat you, and the treasure chest trying to eat you. All in the same room. (http://www.headinjurytheater.com/article73.htm)