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[Let's Read] Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules, by Tom Moldvay
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<blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 8750358" data-attributes="member: 6680772"><p>I originally thought to include this along with the last section, but it is so information rich I thought I'd break it out into its own post. The <strong>Sample Dungeon Expedition</strong>!</p><p></p><p>So first an overview. This is the fourth example of play in the D&D/AD&D line to date, following OD&D Vol. III - The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, the Holmes Basic Rules, and the 1e DMG. At one page and 1/4 of a column, it is the second longest, following the one in the DMG. Unlike the other three, the Moldvay example is the only one that names the characters. In all the others, the characters are only referred to by their class, e.g. "The magic-user will cast a spell," or "The dwarf checks for traps." Here, we know the characters of the party: 2nd level fighter Morgan Ironwolf, 2nd level elf Silverleaf, 1st level dwarf Fredrik, 2nd level cleric Sister Rebecca, and 2nd level thief Black Dougal.</p><p></p><p>Another difference is that the other examples of play, particularly the OD&D one, appear to be largely a dialogue between the DM and Caller. Holmes has one other player commenting about possible traps, but the game is presented as essentially played between the Caller and the DM, with the Caller ordering the other players to do things, and the DM even speaking for the dwarf when he finds something. The DMG example is a little better about involving the other characters when they are doing something on their own (the magic-user is attacked by a spider, the gnome investigates a secret door), but the Caller is still pretty bossy, and there is no indication that he is conferring with the group before telling the DM what they will do.</p><p></p><p>Not in the Moldvay example! In the paragraph preceding the example Moldvay explains, "As caller, Morgan relays the party's actions to the DM after the characters decide what they want to do." The first time they come to a choice of paths, Morgan says, "Anyone want to go down the east stairs? . . . . OK, we're going down the <em>west</em> stairs." Another time, her words are preceded by a parenthetical "After discussion with the others." With this context established, for the remainder of the example Morgan talks in declaratives about what the characters are doing, but she never directly orders them to do anything. And every character in the party is involved. Rebecca, mapping, asks the DM for a clarification. All the characters ask the DM questions, clarify what they are doing, or even just talk amongst themselves. It does a fine job demonstrating the Caller's role as the representative of the party without making it seem if the game is just the DM and the Caller.</p><p></p><p>To quickly sum up the action: having killed the hobgoblins in Room 4 of the Haunted Keep, the party go down the stairs of the trap door. They have a choice of stairs to the east or stairs to the west, but a "rank, musty odor" coming from the stairs to the east induce them to go west. The come to a door and Silverleaf, Dougal, and Morgan all listen at it. Hearing nothing, they pass it by and go down a side passage. They come to two doors, east and west, and Silverleaf, Dougal, and Fredrik listen to the west one. They hear muttering voices, and decide to force the door. Inside are six goblins. They kill the goblins (not described; it simply says, "Combat is now resolved, morale checks taken, etc.") and then search the room. They find a box, and notice that one of the blocks in a wall is discolored. They find that the block is the trigger for a secret door, but Dougal misses his check for traps roll when examining the box, and is hit with poison when he opens it. He misses his Save vs. Poison and dies. The party empty his backpack to put the treasure from the box in there. A wandering monster check comes up positive for bandits, but Morgan acting as a lookout hears their approach before they arrive. The party grabs Dougal's body and goes through the secret door, shutting it behind them. The come out of the secret passage into an empty room. While they are searching it, a wandering monster check indicates that two hobgoblins enter the room from another secret door. This leads to the encounter described in the <strong>EXAMPLE OF COMBAT</strong>.</p><p></p><p>What I like:</p><p>The example makes very clear how a DM should present a dungeon, how to describe the dimensions of the passages and the rooms, and using cardinal directions for clarity. Examples: "After 30' there is a side passage to the south, 10' wide. The main corridor continues west." "The room is six-sided, 30' on a side and 20' high. The door you came in is the only one you see. There is nothing unusual about the floor or ceiling. Besides the bodies of the goblins, there is a wooden box along the northeast wall and a pile of old rags in the north corner."</p><p></p><p>Because the example shows how all the characters can be involved in the exploration part, as mentioned above, the example is also very good for players to understand what they can and should be doing during the game: mapping, searching for treasure, looking for traps, posting look-outs. There's also a nice subtle moment showing how to DM on the fly. </p><p>Morgan: "Silverleaf, Fred, and Black Dougal will listen at the west door."</p><p>DM (rolling): "Black Dougal hears muttering voices."</p><p>Dougal: "Do I understand them? I speak Common, Orc, Goblin, and Elvish."</p><p>DM (after deciding on a chance for Dougal to recognize goblin language through the heavy door, and then rolling): "No, the voices weren't loud enough."</p><p></p><p>We can surmise that the DM hadn't considered if the characters would ask if they understand the language of the muttering. It would have been perfectly okay for the DM to just say, "No, they're not loud enough." But he instead decides on a chance to understand the language, and rolls. This is one of the tenets of Moldvay's rules. If you're not sure, decide on a probability, and roll a die, typically a d6.</p><p></p><p>What I don't like:</p><p>Given how useful this example would be to players, I feel it's misplaced. Rather than be in <strong>PART 8: DUNGEON MASTER INFORMATION</strong>, it should close out <strong>PART 4: THE ADVENTURE</strong>, which deals with all the rules for exploring.</p><p></p><p>Of course Black Dougal dies (and Fredrik joins him in the example of combat), which is not bad in itself. It's good to telegraph that character death is a possibility in this game. But if I had one particular criticism for Moldvay's rules, it's that it provides no player or DM advice about what to do in that eventuality. There's not even a throwaway comment about Dougal or Fredrik's players starting to roll up new characters. They appear to be just shut out of the game. </p><p></p><p>Finally, play in the sample expedition is just a little too hack-n-slash. The party bypasses a door from which they hear nothing, but force open a door they hear voices from. And then, rather than roll reactions, as per the encounter rules, the party immediately attacks. Given everything we seen from the game to-date: combat is swingy and lethal, most of the rules deal with exploration, and that empty rooms can often have rich hauls, I can see it as setting up imperfect assumptions of how the game should be played.</p><p></p><p>What I'm on the fence about:</p><p>There's one moment in the example that I go back and forth on. After Black Dougal dies, Fredrik dumps out his backpack to put the loot from the box in. A wandering monster check indicates bandits approaching...</p><p>Morgan: "We'll beat a hasty retreat through the secret door. Fred will go first, then me, Silverleaf is next, and Sister Rebecca will bring up the rear. She'll spike the door shut behind us."</p><p>Fredrik: "Before we do, I grab Dougal's body. We can't leave him behind."</p><p>DM: "OK. As you reach the end of the secret passage, you hear a cry of discovery and babble of voices from the room behind you. Black Dougal's tools and rations have been discovered.</p><p>Morgan: "What?! Didn't anyone bring his things along?"</p><p>All: "No!"</p><p>Morgan: "Nuts! We're going to be more careful from here on, gang."</p><p></p><p>Viewed uncharitably, this seems like just another example of pixel-bitching/mother-may-I kind of play. No one specifically says they're grabbing his things, so the DM assumes they're just left behind. On the other hand, I can see it as a relatively fair way to introduce a complication based on the characters' actions. The reason the tools and rations are found are because Fredrik specifically dumped them out to make room for loot. Ultimately, the DM doesn't really punish the PCs for this, so that's good, but it is another thing that could poorly interpreted by novice DMs.</p><p></p><p>Next time: we wrap up this Let's Read with <strong>Dungeon Mastering as a Fine Art</strong>!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iosue, post: 8750358, member: 6680772"] I originally thought to include this along with the last section, but it is so information rich I thought I'd break it out into its own post. The [B]Sample Dungeon Expedition[/B]! So first an overview. This is the fourth example of play in the D&D/AD&D line to date, following OD&D Vol. III - The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, the Holmes Basic Rules, and the 1e DMG. At one page and 1/4 of a column, it is the second longest, following the one in the DMG. Unlike the other three, the Moldvay example is the only one that names the characters. In all the others, the characters are only referred to by their class, e.g. "The magic-user will cast a spell," or "The dwarf checks for traps." Here, we know the characters of the party: 2nd level fighter Morgan Ironwolf, 2nd level elf Silverleaf, 1st level dwarf Fredrik, 2nd level cleric Sister Rebecca, and 2nd level thief Black Dougal. Another difference is that the other examples of play, particularly the OD&D one, appear to be largely a dialogue between the DM and Caller. Holmes has one other player commenting about possible traps, but the game is presented as essentially played between the Caller and the DM, with the Caller ordering the other players to do things, and the DM even speaking for the dwarf when he finds something. The DMG example is a little better about involving the other characters when they are doing something on their own (the magic-user is attacked by a spider, the gnome investigates a secret door), but the Caller is still pretty bossy, and there is no indication that he is conferring with the group before telling the DM what they will do. Not in the Moldvay example! In the paragraph preceding the example Moldvay explains, "As caller, Morgan relays the party's actions to the DM after the characters decide what they want to do." The first time they come to a choice of paths, Morgan says, "Anyone want to go down the east stairs? . . . . OK, we're going down the [I]west[/I] stairs." Another time, her words are preceded by a parenthetical "After discussion with the others." With this context established, for the remainder of the example Morgan talks in declaratives about what the characters are doing, but she never directly orders them to do anything. And every character in the party is involved. Rebecca, mapping, asks the DM for a clarification. All the characters ask the DM questions, clarify what they are doing, or even just talk amongst themselves. It does a fine job demonstrating the Caller's role as the representative of the party without making it seem if the game is just the DM and the Caller. To quickly sum up the action: having killed the hobgoblins in Room 4 of the Haunted Keep, the party go down the stairs of the trap door. They have a choice of stairs to the east or stairs to the west, but a "rank, musty odor" coming from the stairs to the east induce them to go west. The come to a door and Silverleaf, Dougal, and Morgan all listen at it. Hearing nothing, they pass it by and go down a side passage. They come to two doors, east and west, and Silverleaf, Dougal, and Fredrik listen to the west one. They hear muttering voices, and decide to force the door. Inside are six goblins. They kill the goblins (not described; it simply says, "Combat is now resolved, morale checks taken, etc.") and then search the room. They find a box, and notice that one of the blocks in a wall is discolored. They find that the block is the trigger for a secret door, but Dougal misses his check for traps roll when examining the box, and is hit with poison when he opens it. He misses his Save vs. Poison and dies. The party empty his backpack to put the treasure from the box in there. A wandering monster check comes up positive for bandits, but Morgan acting as a lookout hears their approach before they arrive. The party grabs Dougal's body and goes through the secret door, shutting it behind them. The come out of the secret passage into an empty room. While they are searching it, a wandering monster check indicates that two hobgoblins enter the room from another secret door. This leads to the encounter described in the [B]EXAMPLE OF COMBAT[/B]. What I like: The example makes very clear how a DM should present a dungeon, how to describe the dimensions of the passages and the rooms, and using cardinal directions for clarity. Examples: "After 30' there is a side passage to the south, 10' wide. The main corridor continues west." "The room is six-sided, 30' on a side and 20' high. The door you came in is the only one you see. There is nothing unusual about the floor or ceiling. Besides the bodies of the goblins, there is a wooden box along the northeast wall and a pile of old rags in the north corner." Because the example shows how all the characters can be involved in the exploration part, as mentioned above, the example is also very good for players to understand what they can and should be doing during the game: mapping, searching for treasure, looking for traps, posting look-outs. There's also a nice subtle moment showing how to DM on the fly. Morgan: "Silverleaf, Fred, and Black Dougal will listen at the west door." DM (rolling): "Black Dougal hears muttering voices." Dougal: "Do I understand them? I speak Common, Orc, Goblin, and Elvish." DM (after deciding on a chance for Dougal to recognize goblin language through the heavy door, and then rolling): "No, the voices weren't loud enough." We can surmise that the DM hadn't considered if the characters would ask if they understand the language of the muttering. It would have been perfectly okay for the DM to just say, "No, they're not loud enough." But he instead decides on a chance to understand the language, and rolls. This is one of the tenets of Moldvay's rules. If you're not sure, decide on a probability, and roll a die, typically a d6. What I don't like: Given how useful this example would be to players, I feel it's misplaced. Rather than be in [B]PART 8: DUNGEON MASTER INFORMATION[/B], it should close out [B]PART 4: THE ADVENTURE[/B], which deals with all the rules for exploring. Of course Black Dougal dies (and Fredrik joins him in the example of combat), which is not bad in itself. It's good to telegraph that character death is a possibility in this game. But if I had one particular criticism for Moldvay's rules, it's that it provides no player or DM advice about what to do in that eventuality. There's not even a throwaway comment about Dougal or Fredrik's players starting to roll up new characters. They appear to be just shut out of the game. Finally, play in the sample expedition is just a little too hack-n-slash. The party bypasses a door from which they hear nothing, but force open a door they hear voices from. And then, rather than roll reactions, as per the encounter rules, the party immediately attacks. Given everything we seen from the game to-date: combat is swingy and lethal, most of the rules deal with exploration, and that empty rooms can often have rich hauls, I can see it as setting up imperfect assumptions of how the game should be played. What I'm on the fence about: There's one moment in the example that I go back and forth on. After Black Dougal dies, Fredrik dumps out his backpack to put the loot from the box in. A wandering monster check indicates bandits approaching... Morgan: "We'll beat a hasty retreat through the secret door. Fred will go first, then me, Silverleaf is next, and Sister Rebecca will bring up the rear. She'll spike the door shut behind us." Fredrik: "Before we do, I grab Dougal's body. We can't leave him behind." DM: "OK. As you reach the end of the secret passage, you hear a cry of discovery and babble of voices from the room behind you. Black Dougal's tools and rations have been discovered. Morgan: "What?! Didn't anyone bring his things along?" All: "No!" Morgan: "Nuts! We're going to be more careful from here on, gang." Viewed uncharitably, this seems like just another example of pixel-bitching/mother-may-I kind of play. No one specifically says they're grabbing his things, so the DM assumes they're just left behind. On the other hand, I can see it as a relatively fair way to introduce a complication based on the characters' actions. The reason the tools and rations are found are because Fredrik specifically dumped them out to make room for loot. Ultimately, the DM doesn't really punish the PCs for this, so that's good, but it is another thing that could poorly interpreted by novice DMs. Next time: we wrap up this Let's Read with [B]Dungeon Mastering as a Fine Art[/B]! [/QUOTE]
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