tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post5751119316833793087..comments2024-03-29T07:58:31.156-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Second Comes Right After FirstJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-11663212255983481692020-09-17T14:44:41.293-04:002020-09-17T14:44:41.293-04:00Even as 12-year-olds playing D&D deep in the w...Even as 12-year-olds playing D&D deep in the woods of Northern Virginia (to avoid older brothers who would fiendishly beat you), we largely avoided initiative(s) diceplay in favor of good old fashioned common-sense first-strike or dreadful-calamity rhythms. Later we called it The Left Hand Dwarf: always good to have a left-handed warrior on the left side of the party for those skulking tunnel crawls. <br /><br />Common sense kept it all moving. Plus, rolling dice in the woods tends to lead to losing your dice in the woods. HuckSawyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13381444935904172318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-39465424359931132832020-09-17T12:59:39.484-04:002020-09-17T12:59:39.484-04:00If AD&D is the system that constrains you, pre...If AD&D is the system that constrains you, presumably to avoid mistakes, D&D appears to be a system for more skilled DMs who can handle a less-restrictive game.Leon Atkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18293454495728399887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-39697330174051176502020-09-15T19:57:15.818-04:002020-09-15T19:57:15.818-04:00Jake also wrote "The Search for the Forbidden...Jake also wrote "The Search for the Forbidden Chamber" (published in The Dragon #1 and #2) which I've always felt might be one of the best "fly-on-the-wall" versions of an actual-play D&D game from the mid-1970s.paleologoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02640356065053822793noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-70417855272178259112020-09-15T09:57:25.482-04:002020-09-15T09:57:25.482-04:00I just re-read my Moldvay rules on initiative: eac...I just re-read my Moldvay rules on initiative: each side rolls a d6, high roll wins. One side acts, then the other. This naturally comes across as very war-gamey given D&D’s roots. Interestingly, the text states that in the event of a tie, <i>both</i> sides could be killed in simultaneous combat. The optional rule is how most of have always played – individual initiative with a Dex bonus.<br /><br />Under the ordinary initiative as written, a party could First Strike a monster or group of monsters wiping them out!<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-22754440984378285222020-09-15T09:40:59.762-04:002020-09-15T09:40:59.762-04:00There is another early, ubiquitous source of simpl...There is another early, ubiquitous source of simple combat rules in the back of the Players Handbook, pp. 104-5. I think that whole back section of the PHB, pp. 100-9, is worth revisiting. I sometimes call it (only half-ironically) MY favorite “Basic D&D!”Falconerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00474925985191663745noreply@blogger.com