Tenkar's Tavern: Pick a Card, Any card - Looking at the AD&D 2E Deck of Encounters

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Pick a Card, Any card - Looking at the AD&D 2E Deck of Encounters

Probably the most useful thing ever to come out of AD&D 2E was NOT the endless collection of Complete Player Handbooks (hard to believe, I know). Nope, the most useful accessory I found in my nearly complete collection of 2e books and assorted crap is my Deck of Encounters Sets One and Two Boxed sets.

These little treasure chests offer nearly limitless opportunities to challenge your players and work very well in a sandbox style campaign.

Generally, I'd grab a dozen or so cards before the party would head out to their adventuring destination (if they had one) and randomly pick a card when circumstances dictated. Most were level appropriate, one or two would be weaker, one or two would be on the more dangerous end.

It was a great tool to lower prep time and still keep things exciting and different for the players. They have been a great rediscovery as I've been doing renovations. I'm sure to have more to say about them as I spend time perusing them again ;)

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RyanSeptember 18, 2011 at 11:58 AM
I still have my DoE Set 2. (Never actually owned set one) There are encounters from that thing that I still use to this day, even if I have to convert them to 1E or Pathfinder or whatever. The box rotted away long ago, but I've got them in a stack with a rubber band around them.
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Pick a Card, Any card - Looking at the AD&D 2E Deck of Encounters

1 comment:

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