I had a similar experience when we recently played Steading of the Hill Giants with the old AD&D rules. There wasn't much roleplay, but we were extremely careful in our strategy and tactics for scouting the steading and getting in, etc. We still managed 10-12 encounters in 5.5 hours, but there was a lot of thinking, planning etc.
That's entirely supported by old-school play. Gygax always said that in a challenging adventure, good players use all their resources, mental and in-game, to overcome the challenges. (We didn't all play like that when we were 12, for obvious reasons). But now that we are older and wiser, we can game this stuff like it was meant to be, which I found very rewarding.
I am playing and enjoying some 4E DnD right now, and it has some enjoyable qualities too, but it's still amazing how much faster the old games run.
--- On Thu, 3/19/09, Ben Kolls <benkolls@...> wrote:
From: Ben Kolls <benkolls@...> Subject: [CandC_Society] Speed of play in retro gaming To: CandC_Society@yahoogroups.com Date: Thursday, March 19, 2009, 7:23 AM
Hi to anyone who is still active in this group.
I've been running a lot of sessions of C&C lately, and I've come across an interesting observation. I'm wondering how you all feel about it.
My initial decade of gaming were heavily based in Moldvay Basic and Rules Cyclopedia D&D, where my friends and I would wail through 20 or 30 adventure encounters in an afternoon session. It was good fun, and although immature, we still wove together some pretty good stories.
I picked up C&C, as I felt it would have the same speed and ease of play (as opposed to the crunch of 3.X). Generally speaking, it does. Combat is quick and straightforward, and so are the 'skill' rules. After a couple of tryout sessions, I decided to run an old-school adventure to give my players the full retro feel. I dusted off my copy of the 1E AD&D Ghost Tower of Inverness, modified it enough to camouflage the original story, and began to run it. This adventure was originally created to be run at tournaments, which I guess were 4 to 8 hour sessions at gaming conventions.
After ~12 hours of play, my group had barely covered 20% of the printed material. Granted, I didn't tell them there was any kind of time limit, but I still found this extremely slow.
This is obviously not a fault in the C&C system, but a statement on the way that we now play. In the case of this group (which is a different group from those D&D players years ago), they are risk-averse, suspicious, and metagame heavily, spending a lot of time trying to 'figure out' the dungeon ecology or what must obviously be some plot. Taking the adventure on directly seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur, even for rookie players with very little game experience.
Is this an evolution of the RP gamer in the last 20 years, or is this just my group?
Hi to anyone who is still active in this group. I've been running a lot of sessions of C&C lately, and I've come across an interesting observation. I'm...
I believe there is one part of the retro feel we can't reproduce any more: we did not care much for deep roleplaying back then, we were young, we wanted...
I think it is the evolution of the group. Not just your group but most groups and players who have been playing for a long time. In My current group, which has...
I'd agree heartily here! I think we'd have a lot more encounters and combats if there wasn't so much of our time spent gabbing about Watchmen or boardgames...
I agree, and well said ken Gygax is to Gaming What Kirby was to comics Alas poor Elric I was a thousand times more evil then you WWBYD What would Brigham Young...
Good discussion. I'd like to add some fuel just to keep it rolling. I certainly agree with what you're saying, I can certainly see the change in play style in...
The rules were simpler we are more comfortable in changing things in them then in the new monster sized systems that are published and in the end, they still...
The rules were simpler we are more comfortable in changing things in them then in the new monster sized systems that are published and in the end, they still...
I think the meta-game also extends in a large part to the type of adventure being written today. I recently downloaded a lot of submission guidelines from...
My two cents:  I had a similar experience when we recently played Steading of the Hill Giants with the old AD&D rules. There wasn't much roleplay, but we...
I too enjoy the old school feel. It has a magic too it. BUT I am alas getting much older and wiser. Â Can't get my people to try the old stuff or C&C as we...
Retro rules are like retro comfort food, it isn't' exactly the same, but it still brings back the good memories we have associated with it. Ken Gygax is to...
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