Effective use of Lethality in Old-School RPGs

A few days ago I wrote about lethality in older-school RPGs. Many responses were enthusiastic; other correctly criticized my post regarding arbitrary as opposed to non-arbitrary death; after all, "gotcha" death usually sucks in RPGs, and if the Referee just wants to kill the PCs, he could always bury them in a landslide or under a collapsing ceiling. This, of course, will be no fun. So I am obliged to further elaborate regarding the use of lethality and Save-or-Die elements in older-schools role-playing games.

Lethality should always be the result of a choice. An informed choice, at least to a certain degree. As I've noted above, and as obvious to any good player or Referee, "gotcha" lethality is not very enjoyable. A Save-or-Die situation should arise as a result of a player choice. Taking risks sometimes warrants an immediate risk of death. For example, if you choose to go toe to toe with a venomous snake, you take the risk of getting bitten, which may be fatal. Typically, a good Referee will describe a snake or, at least, hint at its existence. If you choose to ignore the warning and take the risk, you can definitely face death. After all, venomous snakes are scary for a reason - many of them can kill you. A dead king's tomb still containing treasure after centuries of potential grave-robbers is bound to be trapped to the hilt, and its exploration warrants great care and many precautions. If you take the risk and rush your exploration of such a dungeon, a trap may kill you. There should always be a chance to avoid the trap by player skill and attention to details. But deadly traps in such tombs are part of the adventure genre. If you choose to drink a mysterious potion found in an underground temple of Chaos, you risk being poisoned or worse. If you enter the dungeon corridor strewn with many human bones and skulls of possible victims of a horrible monster - you might actually encounter the monster itself, and you risk turning into yet another pile of bones in the corridor. If you enter the curious garden of strange statues, you might face the Medusa - capable of turning you to stone with a single gaze.

The thing common to all of these cases is that there is a warning before the decision to take the risk or avoid it. Either an explicit warning, such as the town's elders speaking in hushes whispers about the horrors of a haunted tomb, an environmental cue such as bones of former victims or the petrified victims of the Medusa, or a risk known to common sense such as the notion that strange liquids in deep chapels of Chaos might have negative effects on you or the basic fact that venomous snakes might kill you with a bite. Taking the risk is a player's choice, and typically holds a potential reward. A pile of gold under the slithering snakes, rumors of great treasures guarded by the Medusa, stories of potions holding wondrous effects on their imbibers. If you wish to reduce risk, you also reduce the reward in many cases. You wish a big reward - you'll have to take risks.

The same goes in Traveller. In character generation, if you choose to be a Marine, you should be tough as nails - as a Marine should be, or you face a high risk of death in the line of duty. Even if you're tough, Marines are people who get kicked out of a starship in orbit and told: "conquer that planet!". This is badass, but very, very risky, especially in times of war. The reward is first the badass title of a Star Marine, and also all manners of combat skills, easy retention and relatively easy promotion. Scouts are more extreme - you die easily in the line of duty just like Marines, because you go into the Unknown and the Unknown has teeth, claws, and tentacles, but you may receive the ultimate reward - a free starship of your own! A clever character entering the Merchant Marine risks a far lower risk of death, but if you do gain a starship, it has a heavy mortgage attached. You can try and save hard-earned Credits by travelling in Low Passage, but you risk Low Berth failure and death. You can try and save on expensive refined fuel by doing frontier refuelling, but unrefined fuel can do bad things to the delicate and finicky civilian systems of your Free Trader.

Risk and reward, accompanied by at least some hint regarding the risk and reward at hand, are key to enjoyable death threats in older-school RPGs. This could add much tension, excitement and thrill to your game of handled right. This is why Save-or-Die effects are so useful in such games.

In praise of lethality in old-school RPGs

A common complaint about older-school role-playing games (RPGs) is that they are highly lethal and, as the complaint goes "unduly and arbitrarily punish characters and players". And indeed, many newer-school players view such lethality in disdain and prefer their games to include more moderate dangers, less "arbitrary" threats and much stronger player characters. Dungeons and Dragons(TM) 5th Edition is a prime example of this. Around levels 3-5, player characters are already very powerful and are rarely killed by ordinary monsters; I found my 5th level party mowing through undead supposed to be scary, and only moderately challenged by a mummy, energy-draining wraiths and shadow-demons capable of moving through walls. Risks were mitigated; healing was made much easier; and many frightening abilities from earlier editions, such as level drain, poison and disease, were made far more forgiving. Don't get me wrong - we are enjoying the hell out of our D&D 5E campaign set in the Barbarian, Conqueror, King setting with some ACKS rule additions. But the ruleset feels to me more and more forgiving - and sometimes "flat". Risks and threats seem a bit minor compared to what the horrors of a haunted dungeon, a cemetery in midnight or a giant-toad-infested swamp should be.

Older-school games were certainly lethal. Highly lethal. A venomous snake could kill you. Green slime could kill you. Triggering a trap could kill you outright. A fight with several zombies at low level could certainly kill you. Medusae could turn you into stone with a single failed saving throw. At low levels, one or two sword swings had a potential to kill you. In Classic Traveller, you could die during character generation as well, using unrefined fuel could kill you, a single well-placed and lucky laser shot could blow your ship out of the sky, travelling in low passage could kill you, the "first blood" rule could get you severely injured from a single shotgun blast.

Why the lethality? There are plenty of reasons why this actually enhances your game. First and foremost, you typically play adventurers. Why be typical "Normal Man" level 0 villagers eke out a living at 1gp a month from the sweat of their brows, toiling on the harsh soil under the constant threat of starvation - when there are dungeons laden with marvellous amounts of gold and wonderful magical items a day's travel from the typical hamlet? Becuase dungeons are dangerous, and most who venture there do not come back. Adventurers are those brave - or some might say insane - souls who dare delve into these deadly places reeking with the stench of death. The YouTube video linked above - a promotional video for the excellent old-school dungeon called "Barrowmaze" - strikes the nail right on its head. Horrors await those who dare stray away from civilization into the wilds and the ruins of the eldritch past. Villagers huddle in the relative safety of their hovels and even soldiers - typically "Normal Men" as well except for the most grizzled veterans - find safety in their numbers and rarely dare fight anything but other Men, or at most Beast-Men hordes. Only a few foolhardy adventurers dare descend into dungeons in hope of finding gold and glory. Most find their untimely death. But a few survive and carry back sacks full of gold back to civilization, eventually becoming lords and magisters.

But adventuring carries risks. Horrid risks. This is part of the challenge of the game. This is a major source of excitement for the players. A mistake can kill you. Monsters can rip you limb by limb. A venomous snake, like a real venomous snake, is dangerous and frightening - a bite is very likely to kill you. Rush into combat like a fool - and you will typically get butchered. Tread carelessly, and you risk death. Player skill is important. This is a similar challenge to the "Roguelike" genre of digital games which is now enjoying another golden age after existing from the very dawn of digital gaming, from the sci-fi FTL: Faster Than Light, through the post-apocalyptic N.E.O. Scavenger to the fantasy Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup. In these games, unlike more typical digital games of our day and age, you die easily. And death is permanent - you can't just reload a saved game when you die. When you die - you die. Yet players - myself included - come back and play these games again and again. Why? Because the challenge is exciting, because facing the challenge is enjoyable. Survival is its own reward, is a thing of pride. Player skill is important. Learning how to survive in the N.E.O. Scavenger world, for example, is something you - the player - have to learn; no character skill will save you from contaminated water, hypothermia and infection setting into your wounds; you have to learn how to cope with them. This is challenging. This requires thought and learning. This is also enjoyable for many gamers. An old-school RPG is the tabletop equivalent of "Roguelike" digital games; player skill is important and survival is a challenge - and its own reward.

Finally, having survived the horrors of the low levels, when death hangs over your head each and every moment in the dungeon or in the wilds - is the best background your character can have. Not even ten pages of backstory can mean as much for your character as actual experience you and your fellow player went through with your characters. You start, more or less, as a nobody, and you build your character, your personality and history - by actual adventuring. Classic Traveller adds to this a "lifepath" character generation system where you actually - though briefly - go through risky careers and face a threat of actual death for your character, making your choices and risk management crucial for your character's survival even during that early phase of the game. But even in Classic Traveller, the background your past career - rolled on a few tables in 5-10 minutes or so - is only a paragraph of text in most cases, and then you strike out to the stars to make a real name for yourself. But facing risks and threats builds your character. When a significant portion of the encounters in the game might end in a Total Party Kill (TPK), reaching Name Level - typically the 9th level in D&D-type games - is an achievement to be proud of and not just a given stage in the game.

In short, lethality in an RPG - when done right and framed correctly - can be a source of challenge, excitement and enjoyment. This is what makes older-school so appealing to many people, and this is something every tabletop gamer should try; some might not like it, but others will be thrilled.

A Review of Crypts and Things by D101 Games

I've pre-ordered Crypts & Things by D101 Games and this week I got the brand-new soft-cover print edition by mail. After reading it cover to cover, I must say that I'm impressed with it and that I do not regret the money I've spent on its pre-order. So here I will review this book in detail.

What is Crypts & Things?
Crypts and Things (C&T) is an adaptation of the Sword & Wizardry: Core (S&W) RPG rules to the Sword & Sorcery genre. In other words, it takes many of the mechanics and most of the concepts of old-school D&D and changes them to fit the basic assumptions of Conan, Elric, Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser. This means you get one sleek, rules-light pack of rules to play Sword & Sorcery role-playing games with, all built to the right flavour.

It also means that, at its very core, it's still old-school D&D, close in its lineage to the original 1974 edition (plus the 1975 Supplement I). But Crypts & Things takes that D&D DNA and evolves it to fit the genre and some modern sensibilities.

The physical book is very satisfying to look at. The cover is full-colour and looks great, while the interior illustrations are all black-and-white but very atmospheric. Writing style is good and genre-appropriate and the amounts of errata is, as far as I can tell, small and very tolerable. There is also an index at the back of the book, which is something that each and every RPG publication should have.

Things I like in C&T
Crypts and Things uses the base S&W combat mechanics and single saving throws, but adds a new dimension of skills without adding too much complication. Generally speaking, if the Referee has decided that you need to roll the dice to do something which is neither combat nor spoellcasting, you just make a saving throw (with some bonuses based on class, circumstances and so on) to see if you succeed. Sleek and simple. This handles anything from barbarian tracking to thief skills.

Yes, I said Barbarians and Thieves; C&T has both classes (in addition to Fighters and Magicians), and both are well-designed: the Thief is more martial and thus useful even in generic combat; everyone may backstab or sneak; and the Barbarian, who is a nature/wilderness-oriented warrior, fights a bit less effectively than the Fighter, but has several interesting abilities and may wear armour. All in all, I like these implementations better than most old-school and d20 interpretations of these class concepts.

The M-U and the Cleric have been merged into the Magician class. Magicians cast spells like M-Us, and have three "colours" of spells - White (healing/divination/protection; easy to cast), Grey (illusion/transmutation; fatiguing to cast) and Black (damaging spells, summoning, charms; casting it can cause madness). This fits the genre - as most S&S "priests" are actually sorcerers - and also the OD&D Catholic-style cleric doesn't fir the genre too well. Oh, and Magicians may wear leather armour and use any weapon, though they face a -1 penalty to damage with most weapons.

Fighters have also been improved, adding Fighting Styles which make Fighter A different from Fighter B without using too many mechanics (as D20 does).

I mentioned above Madness; indeed, C&T has a sanity system, which is quite simple and straightforward, using saving throws to resist madness (cased by casting Black Magic or by witnessing sanity-wrecking stuff in the game-world) and using a temporary (and regenerating) Sanity score equal to your Wisdom; particularly bad things can damage your Wisdom permanently, and when you reach Wisdom 0 you become a mad NPC.

Hit Points have been tweaked. For most monsters and non-important NPCs, hit points work as in S&W as a measure of physical health. For heroes and villains (i.e. PCs and major NPCs), however, hit points represent fatigue and thus can fully heal overnight. However, once you run out of hit points, you start losing your REAL life-force - represented by your Constitution, and then you can easily pass out or even die. Some effects (like preparing Black Magic spells without a sacrifice) may also directly damages your Constitution score. Constitution heals slowly, and all healing spells only affect Constitution and not hit points.

The C&T Encumbrance system is very simple: you carry weight in pounds, but most sundry equipment (i.e. most stuff other than your weapon and armour) in abstracted into 10 pounds, so you really only have to track your arms and armour. I prefer the LotFP encumbrance system better, though.

The monsters have been chosen with care to fit the genre, and demons - called "Others" in this book - dominate the list. Which is a good thing, as the Summon Monster spells actually summon demons in-game rather than a random Orc. The monster illustrations, while scarce, are EXCELLENT and highly atmospheric and so is the monster flavour text.

Things I dislike in C&T
Strangely enough, while C&T is based on Swords & Sorcery literature, the Law vs. Chaos conflict common in a lot of these stories (and especially in the Elric ones) is only implied; there are no alignments and no Protection from Chaos; instead the term "Evil" is used, though there is no such universal alignment. I'd prefer to fight (and summon!) Chaos beasts like Elric does!

While the idea of the Life Even Table is wonderful, having each character roll 3 out of merely 20 options is very limited and puts a sharp limit on variety. Something more varied would be desirable.

Also, the spell descriptions themselves (unlike the spell lists) do not list which "colour" is each spell, forcing you to go back to the spell lists to reference.

Personally speaking, I don't like the implied Zarth setting very much, though I don't have it as well; I just prefer to set up my own setting.

I also dislike the fact that most monsters lack illustrations.

Oh, and the typical OD&D problem: each coin weights 0.1 pounds, which is A LOT. Realistically speaking, it should probably be closer to 0.01 pounds.

The Verdict
All in all, this seems like a VERY enjoyable game to play, especially since I'm now in a Sword & Sorcery mood after reading a lot of Elric stuff as of late. Any D&D fan who is also a fan of the Sword & Sorcery genre should give it a try.

I rate it at 4.5/5 points!