Greetings, fellow adventurers!

I am new to the RPOL community, though I do have experience with PbP from many years ago, and I am currently playing on a few other PbP sites. My experience with AD&D goes back to 1981 when I first got started with role playing games, although it has been a long time since I've played this edition. The 1st Edition AD&D books on my shelf have been calling to me recently, and I'm really looking forward to some old school style adventuring with all of you!

So I was thinking about my character for this adventure, and I'm imagining something like "Dirk the Dungeon Delver", a legendary explorer (in his own mind) who has come to Arden Vul to explore it's depths and to chronicle his expedition for all of the world to read. Imagine Dirk the Daring from the Dragon's Lair arcade game, but with a little less of a goofy tone. He's overly confident and lucky, and believes himself to be the "Greatest Adventurer of All Time". It won't be uncommon for Dirk to stop and pose while adventuring, giving his scribe a moment to make a quick sketch of Dirk displaying his bravery. I imagine Dirk as a fighter, or maybe even a paladin if the dice gods will allow it.

If this idea is a bit more silly than what you all had in mind, I will certainly tone it down. I will not be attempting to take over or lead the group's decisions, steal the limelight, or make reckless decisions that will put the group at risk, but Dirk will often be the one to boldly (or stupidly) volunteer to take that first step into the next chamber or room.

As for the group's purpose for this adventure, perhaps we keep things simple and say that we each contacted the adventurer's guild in Newmarket (if such a guild does exist) looking to join a party to explore the Halls of Arden Vul to exploit it's riches/knowledge/whatever motivates your character the most? For Dirk, of course it would be fame. :)

What do you think?

Cheers!
Umm, Player #4. (Are we allowed to reveal our RPOL usernames once we're in a game?)

Sorry, newbie question about the dice roller - is there an efficient way to roll six sets of 4d6 and drop the lowest die, or do I just make six individual rolls?

Put "1" next to the "Drop Lowest" option, and in the "Manual" field (top right), put "4d6,4d6,4d6,4d6,4d6,4d6".

Hi all, I'm player 3.  I'm old school though apparently not as long in the tooth as player 4.  I started my ADND journey back in 82-83 for a couple of years but then university, beer and girls became more interesting, and not in that order.  I had about a 20 year hiatus before I stumbled upon Rpol and have been here playing 1st ed ADND for the last 12 years.

I've never seriously looked at any of the other editions, or other games, so this is basically all I know.

I was also looking to play a Magic User, or a fighter, or a fighter/magic-user though I am pretty flexible with any class.  If we end up needing a cleric, I'll play a magic-user/cleric, who'll probably end up being a pompous know it all.  Yeah sorry that just seems to happen.  I haven't made any ability roles yet so that'll probably be the determinant.

I'll probably play a little more serious than player 4, but I dare say the actual game itself will tell us how silly the game will be.

Where player 2 wants the coin, and player 4 the kudos, I'm always going to be about the magic items though I do like to see them shared around.

Generally I'm not so lawful more neutral towards chaotic.

Look forward to adventuring with you all IC.

Player 4 eyes Player 3 suspiciously.

Any thoughts on how and why the party comes together?

15:44, Today: Player 4 rolled 10,7,17,18,12,17

Well, it looks like I will be able to quality for a Paladin with these scores, unless there are any objections. Eyes Player 3 suspiciously, again.

Wow, nice rolls! I'm not sure I've seen a set like that on RPOL for a long, long while...

I rolled pretty decently as well, planning to play my rolls in order, as the Gods of Fate intended...

Ability Scores: 16,12,14,16,9,14

Fighter/Magic-User perhaps?

Looking forward to playing with all of you. I'm from the same era of beginning, early 80's, long-time RPOL'er.

Player 3 is the one doing the suspicious eying.  The probability of getting 2 17's and an 18 on this dice roller is unbelievably low.  Who did you pay?  How come the individual dice rolls aren't showing aye? Aye?  Just kidding buddy.   To be fair I saw an 18:00 rolled once for strength, but never rolls that good.

I'll let you try and play a paladin with a 17 charisma whilst keeping to the strict laws of being a paladin and not rubbing everybody the wrong way.  I think they are incredibly difficult to play.  Isn't all his posing going to seem a little conceited?  That doesn't sound very paladin like.  Ha ha, it'll be fun.

Assuming the 18 is going to strength, what's his percentile strength roll going to be?

See if the DM will let you use age adjustments to enhance those rolls on page 12-13 DMG.  I know it's not OSRIC but every little edge we can get at the start will help.  I usually prefer the edge to go to my character, but we're part of the same team for now until I tick you off too much perhaps.

I don't actually have any 1E books, just OSRIC, so you're out of luck there.

"Never tell me the odds!" :)

Well lets see, I could use them in OSRIC order:
STR 10, DEX 7, CON 17, INT 18, WIS 12, CHA 17

or in AD&D order:
STR 10, INT 7, WIS 17, DEX 18, CON 12, CHA 17

But neither order would meet all the requirements for a Paladin in OSRIC. It's interesting that AD&D did not have a minimum Dexterity requirement for a Paladin, but OSRIC does.

Anyway, so I could either play a pompous self-righteous Fighter (so basically, a Paladin without the special abilities) using the ability scores in the order they were rolled, or I could reassign the ability scores to specifically fit a Paladin:
STR 17, DEX 7, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 17, CHA 18

I think I like the last option the best, as it fits the concept I have in my mind. He stops to admire the reflection of his smile in his sword frequently, which would explain the low Dex score. :D


Well, they're not really that strict. No non-lawful good acts, no more than 10 magic items, donate 10% of money received plus anything remaining after expenses, do not associate with any non-good characters (at the DM's discretion). Nothing about being vain or conceited. ;)

Being a vain asshole is a requirement for paladinhood in some games.

Greetings all, Player 1 here!

I started playing D&D in 1979. I played a lot of 1E and 1E/2E mash-up. Then a break before playing some 3E. In the lat couple of years I have been playing some 5E, and enjoying it.

I have been playing online with RPOL since last May; playing in some 5E games, as well as 1E and OSRIC.

I thought Player 6's roll were good; but Player 4 your scores undermine the unholy RPOL dice roller god's raison d'etre!

As such, he has taken his revenge on me:

18:43, Today: Player 1 rolled 6,13,13,10,16,12 using 4d6,4d6,4d6,4d6,4d6,4d6, dropping the lowest dice only ((1,3,2,1,3,5,1,5,6,1,5,2,3,2,2,5,1,6,6,4,4,4,2,4)).

Absolutely brutal! At best one 16 and one 14.

My plan was to play a fighter/thief or a fighter/MU - I might still go that way. I will have to play around with these numbers and see what I can manage.

Regardless of race, I will play Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic GOOD. Which will fit in reasonably well with the paladin.

More to come. Looking forward to this game!

Chaotic Good here, didn't know there were any other choices for alignment!

Hey, looks like everyone here is experienced with the system. Good sirs, I will be under your care!

A Pompous Paladin could be quite funny, or quite dangerous. Let's see what tone this campaign develops. I would prefer a darker tone, to offset the cartoon show game I run in real life.

Under House Rules, the GM says he may allow rearrangement of scores, so you can fit the character you want. Still, I wonder what luck there is for me. Off to the dice I go.

13:30, Today: Player 2 rolled 10,10,12,13,12,15

... Quite average. Is this an adventurer? Once again, I will be under your care.

Yeah it's an adventurer, you'll make it your own.   We all want them but I've found high stats aren't the be all and end all in Rpol games.  That doesn't mean I don't try to find every angle I can to get better stats at the beginning of the game, I feel it's an obligation I have to the character I'm about to breath life into especially since I always plan to be around for years.

I always try to get my constitution to 16 at least for the +2 HP it will give you each time you level.  Most other ability scores can be enhanced with magic items in the game, but not so much so with constitution.  It doesn't really matter how good or bad a player you are, there are two things that are going to help keep you alive, having high hit points and a low AC.

I tried to encourage our DM to include the ageing rules on page 12-13 of the 1st edition ADND DMG and he knocked me back saying he didn't have that book.  Fair enough, that can't be argued with and they aren't the rules we are using anyway.

However here's a little gem I found on page 3 of OSRIC OLD SCHOOL REFERENCE AND INDEX COMPILATION.

"A note on starting ages and aging: It is a matter for the GM’s discretion whether to adjust a character’s ability scores based on the character’s age. Some GMs add to constitution, and sometimes strength, and subtract from wisdom for younger characters, and make the converse change for older ones."

That pretty much covers what happens on page 12-13 of the DMG in 1st ed ADND, but it is determined by dice throw there.  In OSRIC it is left to the DM's discretion.  Granted we've already been given full hp for our 1st level dice roll, but will there be any discretionary adjustment/enhancement to constitution or strength Maleketh for us all being so young and vigorous?

Honestly I'm not always this painful.  What?  Why are you muttering under your breath and looking at me like that?

Hello all.  I'm another long time gamer, and absolutely thrilled not to be the oldest.  Hurray for people who remember the 1980s!


It seems to be a pretty open-minded group as far as what people want to play.  I'm not too picky either.  A few of you had different ideas, so not sure what people are leaning towards.  I was brainstorming, and am leaning towards a gnome.  Kind of have three different versions in mind.  A cleric who feels it is his duty to find out what is there; or a thief or thief/illusionist who is just curious and excited to see what is there.

It seems like good characters work best, since we should be easier to motivate.


As far as stats, I have：
15,10,8,12,11,7

So.... my dream of these past few minutes of being an illusionist has died.  Cleric or thief.  Hmmmm

Interesting.

In that case, it is my decision not to adjust your starting ability scores.

:p

For the reference of anyone who needs it, here's a list of what everyone is looking at, class-wise.

Player 1: Fighter/Thief or Fighter/Magic User
Player 2: Nothing yet
Player 3: Fighter or Magic User or Fighter/Magic User or Magic User/Cleric
Player 4: Fighter or Paladin
Player 5: Cleric or Thief
Player 6: Fighter/Magic User(?)

Lots of fighters, magic users, and fighter/magic users.  Not much in the way of healers.

True indeed. I hope the best for my little guy. Hopefully he shows a good face when we begin!

Constitution, huh? I would like to get a more functional ability to 16. I'm not familiar with how often magic items are handed out, so I don't know...

Dexterity seems to get the biggest boost going from 15 to 16, which would put me back into Thief.

Also, is it common to have more than one class? The others have choices like that, but I thought that was unusual.

I was wondering if I should just pick a human and avoid that decision, but with odd value stats maybe I could try some other race out.


Are they essential in this game or can they be substituted with potions? Clerics can only heal a small number of times, anyway.
If not, I would be happy to play as the team Cleric.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:44, Wed 01 Apr 2020.

Clerics are pretty important by middle levels.  By high levels they're vital.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:51, Wed 01 Apr 2020.

Oh, I see. In that case I could go Cleric.

Also, I just looked up the rules for multi-classing. It seems a lot more understandable why there are so many of those here. Now that increases the options to consider, or does it?

It sounds like you are a 5E player?

In old-school D&D magic items are generally handed out much more than in 5E.

A high DEX helps your AC regardless of armour worn or class. It is universally useful, and not necessarily a pre-cursor to being a thief.

Playing multi-class characters in old-school is common to try to make thieves and MUs survive low levels. They have few hit points and bad AC, so when single-class, they die often!

Odd or even numbers don't matter. Your stats will generally NOT change. It will only because of a powerful magic item, now that our DM has ruled out age-related changes.

I have a similar view as Player 3, you try to max out your options at character gen, and then you don't worry about it again and just play what the dice gave you.

I will post later about how I put together my character.

Yes, I stated this openly in my first post. These waters are unfamiliar to me, and I shall be looking at all of you to learn the general strokes.


Oh, I was just saying that generally for creation purposes, since stat related boosts tend to come at even values.

Ah, I understand some things after reading your post. Thanks!

If I do go Cleric, I don't suppose I need to multi-class? The healer leveling up faster should be a big help to the party.

I wasn't planning to rearrange my rolled abilities, but if I did, I might consider a Ranger, I've never played an OSRIC Ranger... I almost always play Clerics or Thieves.

All good.  Well team that was my best crack, we work with what we have.

I've come out with STR 11, INT 12, WIS 14, DEX 10, CON 15, CHA 9.  It could be worse but for me those stats are best suited to play a human cleric.

My highest stat goes to constitution to give the character some sort of chance of survival.   For me the primary ability score of the character class is less important than having a high CON or a high DEX with the CON being the most important.  As none of the other stats will provide any bonus to DEX it gets the 10.

Be aware in these rules that the CON adjustments stops when you get to name level, so getting as many hp as you can whilst the CON benefit applies is going to be a wise way to go to my way of thinking.

With a 14 WIS the character (Axel Beckett) will still get 2 1st level bonus spells so we'll still have 3 x CLW from the get go until we see how hard the going is.  His lack of wisdom will not be felt until we start the early middle levels but by then hopefully we will have found some magic assistance.

To enhance our chance of survival I think we should all play clerics behind the paladin and continually move around in a wedge formation. :o)