foxroe wrote:

Nice.

How did the new players like the "old style" rules as compared to the heft that is 5e?

Actual game play went pretty smoothly. It took a bit to get the combat sequence down, but I had printed cheat sheets for that and it helped immensely. Many of the 5th Edition players are also regular DCC players, and since the general flow of game play is very similar between DCC and AS&SH (i.e. old school; rulings over rules), they actually adapted pretty easily. Funnily, the part that seemed to cause the most consternation was the character creation portion of the evening. I got the feeling that some of the players felt it was unnecessarily involved. Granted, there's probably more steps and/or items to note down with AS&SH/AD&D than D&D 5th, but it never occured to me that it could be so "painful" for some folks. 
 

Also FWIW, probably a little too late now, but I did put up a character creation cheat sheet a little while back:

http://hyperborea.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=738

Warning! Potential Spoilers ahead (in regards to the 'Rats in the Walls' adventure)

We finally had session #2 of our campaign a week ago, and were able to finish up RitW, and to continue adventuring beyond that. Our group of intrepid adventurers was intact from the 1st session, 2 of the players were absent, but their characters were played ably by 2 other players in attendance (2 characters each).

- Sørenklausøn - 1st Lvl. Viking Bard (Skald) 
- Eutropia - 1st Lvl. Amazonian Ranger
- Atheas - 1st Lvl. Kimmerian Barbarian
- Curnān - 1st Lvl. Kelt Berzerker
- Lycus - 1st Lvl. Amazonian Ranger 
- Rhaskuscu - 1st Lvl. Kimmerian Witch
- Alda - 1st Lvl. Ixian Monk

Dispensing with the Rats
…The party started the evening by entering the dungeon area, two-abreast, walking down the filth ridden stairway. Atheas and Eutropia lead the way by carelessly trotting down the slick ancient steps. Tests of Dexterity checks were made, Atheas succeeded ... Eutropia did not ... causing an unceremonious fall down the stairs on her backside (1 pt of damage to boot). After regaining her composure and imploring the others in the party to proceed with caution, the rest of the party descended and joined her at the bottom. Soon after reaching the dungeon proper, the Bloated Daemon Rat made her presence known, and melee ensued in short order. After taunting the party, the Daemon Rat began to ponderously approach them, with 3 giant rat minions racing ahead to attack. Into the fray! The rats took the initiative for the 1st round of combat. Alda, Rhaskuscu, Soren & Eutropia chose to stay back and hold. Lycus had prepared his bow and stayed back ready to loose on the foul Daemonic beast quickly approaching, whilst Atheas & Curnan charged the Daemonic rodent (after deftly jumping over and avoiding the 3 giant rats approaching them). The 3 giant rats charged and attacked those in the party that had stayed to the rear and held. Two of the foul creatures successfully bit, causing minor damage to Alda. The Daemon Rat was not close enough to attack anyone in the1st phase. For the parties 1st phase of combat Lycus attacked first, scoring two arrow strikes on the Daemon Rat, causing the beast to shriek and curse the interlopers. Atheas & Curnan were able to successfully attack the Daemon with swords as well and inflict considerable damage, but the Daemon was STILL standing afterwards. During the monsters 2nd phase of combat, the giant rats were unable to attack the party to the rear (only 1 attack, used in Phase 1), but the Daemon was now in range to attack Atheas & Curnan. Fortunately, the Daemon’s attacks were unsuccessful, much to Atheas & Curnan’s rejoicing. For the party members 2nd phase, they were able to dispatch 2 of the 3 giant rats, whist Atheas & Curnan’s blows did the same to the Daemon … resulting in an explosion of gore and an otherworldly shriek that shook the dungeon itself (also  causing the demise of the final giant rat engaging the rest of the party).
An offer
After taking stock of the events that had just unfolded, the party returned to the Silvery Eel proper to talk with Xill about what had occurred whilst below ground, and to collect their earnings from him. While the party was involved in a bit of revelry, a visitor entered the Slippery Eel looking for the party. The personage looking for our adventurers was one Vul Kovtu! Vul had arrived, as pre-determined (this was the back story devised to have gotten all of the party to Khromarium from their seperate parts of Hyperborea), to retrieve the party for an expedition by sea to Diamond Desert to look for rare “items of antiquity”. Introductions were made and Vul offered the party a “side job” prior to their departure from Khromarium. Vul has heard rumors told of the same “items of antiquity” he is seeking in Diamond Desert being seen in or around Swampgate to the north of Khromarium. He offered the party an additional sum, to be added to their recompense for the Diamond Desert excursion, if they were willing to go to Swampgate and look into the rumor for him. Also, if at all possible, retrieve any of the items for him which he is seeking. The party agreed to Vul’s terms and began making plans to leave from Khromarium in the morning and to return in no more than 5 days’ time to begin their journey by sea.
An unexpected encounter  
At this time, the party split up, going their separate ways to make final preparations for the morrows journey. Alda, Rhaskuscu, & Eutropia set off to acquire additional equipage for their coming journey, and to determine the identity of the liquid substances they acquired in the dungeon below the Silvery Eel. Lycus set off to find a fletcher to purchase fine quality arrows and to get a solid nights rest before the long journey to come. Meanwhile, Atheas, Soren, & Curnan set off for a night of carousing and merry making.

Alda, Rhaskuscu, & Eutropia wandered the night time markets and sellers to make their purchases and to seek out an Alchemist for help with identifying their mystery potions. While searching for an Alchemist they stumbled upon a back alley altercation between an unknown assassin and a local person of nobility and his entourage. As the assassin absconded from the scene (after successfully scoring poison dart hits on two of the nobles guard detail), our adventurers were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and were detained by the nobles guards. The guards surrounded the party, implying they were responsible for the deaths of their compatriots, and that they intended to see justice for this attack. Roll for initiative! The ensuing combat saw our party able to dispatch with 2 of the 5 guards (one being a slightly higher level Captain), and to get to and hold the Nobleman hostage to sue for their safe retreat (while also incurring some hits and minor damage themselves). The remaining guards, upon seeing their Nobleman taken hostage and their Captain slain, were forced to make a morale check, and failed … fleeing the area. While the party were preparing to leave the scene, with their captive in hand, the assassin returned to dispatch with his quarry (the Nobleman), and to be rid of the party members (dead men tell no tales). Surprising the party, but failing his attack roll, the assassin manages to escape before the party members can engage him, but not before getting a poison dart off and into the neck of the Nobleman … Our party, fearing they may have used up any luck they had left, make a quick exit …

One final loose end was left to tie up before ending our nights adventure … we decided to use Colin Chapmans wonderful ‘Drunken Debauchery’ Revelry Rules to determine what kind of trouble Atheas, Soren, & Curnan had gotten into whilst out celebrating. We determined they lost ~40% of their share of the riches they had recently acquired, as well as rolling the ‘Dangerous Liaison’ result on the tables, with the bedded being a local Noble persons son/daughter. I was going to roll randomly to determine which of the three did the bedding, when the players decided there should be a chance that all three were involved … so, on a d8 .. 1-2 Atheas, 3-4 Soren, 5-6 Curnan, or 7-8 all three … I rolled an 8

…to be continued.

Last edited by measuredrums (5/16/2018 11:38 am)