A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming

[Luna]

I ran Tomb of Horrors, many years ago.

Once.

Lost pretty much the whole party in the first main hallway.

I ran it recently.  The party waltzed through, using the divination spell, and searching like a proper party ought to do.  

The last time I had run it, the two fleeing survivors could see daylight when they got mashed.

The idiots HAD to tinker with the big, black ball in the demon mouth at the end of the hallway...

I'll have to see if I still have my copy.  Might be interesting to run again with a group of characters whose players have a healthy sense of paranoia.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

If you say "I search for traps", you make a regular die roll. If you describe your search, or roleplay it somehow, I usually award a +2 to +4 depending on your description. I am considering whether or not no description should actually confer a -2, but maybe that's overly harsh.

I give a +2 bonus if they're specific, and a -2 penalty if they just say "I check the room for traps".  I don't bother telling them about it, but I'm sure they've noticed they do better when they get descriptive.  Also, keep in mind the area a single search check will cover.

[Luna]

Luckily, at this point the fighter said, "Dude, this is a ROLE PLAYING GAME. If you just want to roll dice, we should be playing Sorry."

could have hugged him right there

Should've given him a 250 xp reward on the spot.  

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I ran Tomb of Horrors, many years ago.

Once.

Lost pretty much the whole party in the first main hallway.

I ran it recently.  The party waltzed through, using the divination spell, and searching like a proper party ought to do.  

The last time I had run it, the two fleeing survivors could see daylight when they got mashed.

The idiots HAD to tinker with the big, black ball in the demon mouth at the end of the hallway...

I'll have to see if I still have my copy.  Might be interesting to run again with a group of characters whose players have a healthy sense of paranoia.

I have the 3.5e copy.  It's the same thing, updated to the new rules.

[Cramulus]

Sometimes they ask me things like, "What do I have to roll to know whether or not this guy is lying?" and the characters trained in Insight get frustrated when I say, "No die roll, just think about it."

That's kind of harsh.  The players are not the characters, and don't have the skills the characters have.  Nerf-batting their skills says that there's no reason whatsoever to put any thought into skill allocation.

"Insight" (Sense motive for us) is a skill that should be rolled when the player feels suspicious.  If they make the roll, they should get the result.  If they check EVERY TIME an NPC talks to them, they should get a reputation for being a paranoid asshole, and suffer on charisma checks accordingly (no need to tell them why, they'll figure it out or they won't).

I hear you, and 95% of the time I do let them make a roll. But one of the big themes of this campaign is Intrigue... it's about investigation and discovering secrets. Certain things will take more than a flat no-description perception or insight check. I let them know this up front.

Certain things lose their intrigue-ness if the players know FOR CERTAIN what the truth is (because they know they rolled an 18 on their social skill check). I'll let them roll, and even give them a bonus, if they tell me why they're suspicious. But if they just make skill checks with no RP support, then I'm the only one at the table RPing.

This also happens now and then when they're trying to talk up an NPC. Somebody will say "I make a diplomacy check," and then blink at me when I say, "which represents you doing... what exactly?"

[Don Coyote]

This also happens now and then when they're trying to talk up an NPC. Somebody will say "I make a diplomacy check," and then blink at me when I say, "which represents you doing... what exactly?"

That is freaking awesome.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

This also happens now and then when they're trying to talk up an NPC. Somebody will say "I make a diplomacy check," and then blink at me when I say, "which represents you doing... what exactly?"

This is just like the disable device check.  First they have to roleplay it, then they have to make the check (with unknown modifiers assigned by you, based on their roleplaying), to see if their bullshit flew.

Almost all the charisma and wisdom based skills should work like this.

[President Television]

Based on this, I think I should give 0e a try sometime. That stuff about investigating rooms, that's exactly what I got into DnD for in the first place. Critical thought.
I might be interested in your Chainmail materials, Roger.

[Don Coyote]

I used to play DnD from that pale blue book that had the chits in it. Me and brother took it from our mom. Crazy times.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I used to play DnD from that pale blue book that had the chits in it. Me and brother took it from our mom. Crazy times.

I still have a copy.   

[Don Coyote]

I used to play DnD from that pale blue book that had the chits in it. Me and brother took it from our mom. Crazy times.

I still have a copy.   

Me too.

[PopeTom]

This also happens now and then when they're trying to talk up an NPC. Somebody will say "I make a diplomacy check," and then blink at me when I say, "which represents you doing... what exactly?"

This is just like the disable device check.  First they have to roleplay it, then they have to make the check (with unknown modifiers assigned by you, based on their roleplaying), to see if their bullshit flew.

Almost all the charisma and wisdom based skills should work like this.

The other side of this is they make the skill check and then role-play out the result.  They are after all playing a character that may have better/worse cha/wis/int skills than they do.

[Icey]

Speaking of these things, I'm debating switching from 3.5 (grew up on it) to Pathfinder. If it's worth the money, that is.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Speaking of these things, I'm debating switching from 3.5 (grew up on it) to Pathfinder. If it's worth the money, that is.

It is, and all your old stuff will work with it.

[Icey]

Should I just get the new core rulebook? Or is there a PHB, DMG, Monster Manual combo to get?