The Game's Afoot!

Now that my wife isn't virulently opposed to Dungeons & Dragons, we got a game going tonight with the local RPG club. I'm running a 1st edition AD&D conversion of the 3rd edition Shackled City campaign, set in the gaming world of Mystara. We got off to a good start, with six players. I won't go into a lot of details just yet, but everyone had a good time, and we ended on a cliffhanger as one of the PCs got jumped after finding a secret door in a locksmith's shop. They'll have to wait until next Saturday to find out what happens next.

I prefer old school games, and I really don't like the proliferation of weird and ever-more-powerful races that later editions have come up with. Maybe I'm too much of a traditionalist, but give me a mostly-human party any day of the week. sure, the occasional gnome or elf works, but as spice, not the main course. And forget dragonborn, goliaths, warforged, and all the other really strange stuff that started back in 3rd edition and still goes on to this day. I just don't find them inspiring. Maybe I'm just old.

Anyway, the game started with an introductory encounter at the Lucky Monkey Roadside Inn, where they got to do some actual role-playing and get a feel for their characters. It was fun, particularly when the half-elf bard-to-be (1st edition, remember?) jokingly tried to hit on the good-looking woman that showed up. She responded by touching the table in front of him, which formed a hand and slapped him across the face. Don't mess with druids. He kept insisting that he was joking and talking out of character, but I couldn't resist the opportunity. I hoped it would help cut down on the silly non-game bantering, but I was disappointed in that hope.

The game moved into Cauldron, where they soon found out about the rash of kidnappings, and rescued a local priest from being mugged and threatened by some thugs, warning him to stay away from investigating the kidnappings. The PCs took them down in a hurry, and got involved in the investigation at the behest of the local cleric of Diulanna. They investigated the orphanage where the latest kidnapping had occurred, and then moved on to the locksmith who had made the orphanage's locks.

When they got there, they found a nervous and uncooperative gnome who tried to send subtle warnings in gnomish to one of the PCs (a fellow gnome, obviously). They ended up investigating the back of his shop, and had just found a secret door when suddenly the half-elf got jumped...and we ended the night's play.

As I said, everyone enjoyed the game, including the newest player (one of the other players' mother and the host of the gaming club). We'll be reconvening in nine days' time to see what happens next. It's going to be fun.