Feel free to chat and ask questions here, but try to keep it out of character. Since you players won't be interacting with each other as much as in other games, there could be a temptation to brag or compare notes about the dungeon. Just remember, the other players are the competition! If they snag a treasure hoard before you do, it's gone. You're not running separate "instances" of the dungeon like in an MMO!

What if we want to use fewer than 8 points when making our party? Say, for instance, that we wanted a Standard Adventuring Party the way they tended to be in old-school CRPGs. Would there be any benefit in having unused points?

I could see something like more favorable stat rolls -- maybe 2 points would add a die to each stat roll (so it would be 5d6 in order, or 4d6 flexible). Someone crazy enough to try a solo character would have 6 points to spend this way, giving them 7d6/6d6 on stat rolls (but still taking the best 3 dice).

The Shields of Silvermoon are here and ready for action!

@Typical - I think the benefit of not using all of your character points to make a party of eight is that your party can advance faster. XP and treasure is split between fewer characters, and if not many of those characters are multiclassed, then the party gets more powerful faster...if it survives.

Besides, this is old school D&D, where your ability scores aren't really all that important. I'm in a fairly by-the-book AD&D game here, and my primary PC there is a Halfling Fighter 4/Thief 5 and he has no bonus to Str or Con, and only a slight bonus from Dex to AC and thief skills. He's managed to prosper in that game, being part of parties that have taken on ogres, evil wizards, hordes of humanoids, and even took down a green dragon (back when he was only F 2/T3 IIRC).

Okay, I think The Flames of the Sun adventuring party is about ready...

I haven't found the rules about encumbrance yet... is encumbrance going to be strict?

Can our clerics and cavaliers have our own gods, or are there gods of this setting that must be used?

Anything else I should know about anything?

I'm ready as well. I brought up the encumbrance question too, but other than that I'm 100%.

In reply to The Typical Party (msg # 6):

...Maybe this is why monsters have hordes of coins and treasure-- it's too heavy to carry and move it, so they just keep it all in one defensible location and guard it.

Maybe this is why all characters got castles/keeps at 9th level in the old/early D&D-- because they're just another type of monster and by 9th level they need someplace to store their heavy treasures

I added a section on encumbrance/carrying capacity in the RTJ thread. It may be confusingly worded. It was a quick first draft while my son was napping. If anyone has questions, post them here.

As for deities, my town has a pantheon of celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, the Zodiac signs). In the dungeon are references to classical, Norse and Celtic deities, Lovecraftian Great Old Ones, etc. Pick whatever you like for your holy rollers.