Delve Detox Ep 80 - Dead Means Dead! | OSR Post-Session Discussion!

SPOILERS ABOUND! Watch or listen to the full session first!
Join the boyz as we wind down for a few minutes immediately after the session ended!
In relation to the events of the session, we chat about equipment defining character, handling PC death like adults, and placing treasure in dungeons!
Listen to the audio podcast version of the Delve Detox! anchor.fm/3d6dtl
The Halls of Arden Vul is by Richard Barton, Andreas Claren, and Joseph Browning, published by Expeditious Retreat Press.
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[@benmorgan4790]

As an old school player. The only thing bigger than the pile of dead characters is my pile of next characters 😂 Thanks guys yall are so amazing

[@douglashorton1368]

I’m so glad you guys talked about how treasure and magic items come with their own burdens. It’s something I’ve neglected in my own games and I find it such an exciting aspect of play. Also…”Blackleaf nooo!!!!” 😂😂😂

[@notoriousquinnb]

“Everyone and their mother will want it” Especially the Beastmens’!

[@Dirus-Nex]

Mike don’t forget that Gary had a crew in Minneapolis. I love all the comments about characters and death of them. This is what I feel is the true essence of TTRPGs; the story of the character and the end of it.

[@michaelmorrison8679]

would never forget Arneson and the Minneapolis group

[@Dirus-Nex]

@@michaelmorrison8679good man! 😊 I have to make sure MN is represented around here lol

[@BaltoBruiser]

Loved the discussion about how we played as kids and how we play now. While I had a 30 year break between when I played as kid pre college and an adult, it is so true. Since I always DM’ed when I was a kid I never had the investment in the character like you all were discussing but I was a dm who wanted his players to succeed to point where I probably didn’t challenge them enough or gave them too many outs. Now I see being fair as being more fun maybe because the people I am playing with are more mature. Thanks again for sharing fellas! Great discussion all the way around!

[@exhaulted_dead]

I happened to get Arden Vul on sale after watching the first delve, now running it for an after-work group. it's so easy to run after initial prep. The initial read through is a slog, but once you read through the first 5 levels and the appendix, you're good to go. My group went through the basement as an intro to OSE for the newbies and they've made it into the Halls. Last sesh the meet up with Ros Kelly and also determined the halflings must die.

[@rrcabr]

As you guys discussed, the hard part with characters in OSR systems is achieving the balance of caring just enough about them that your self-preservation tendency kicks in but still being okay with the possibility of them dying. And there's really no recipe for teaching that I think. It works for a lot of us, but I must assume that for players who are more into the heroic-super-hero ideal of what a RPG character should be, they might never get into games with an OSR feel. And that's okay, I suppose...

[@joshualee6559]

getting an artifact at level 1 is a death sentence, imo. bury that shit.

[@kylegraywolf]

Enjoyed the various discussions! In regards to magic items being the defining character power, in AV, how do y'all feel about systems like Into the Odd/Cairn/Knave? I know I've seen Jon rep his Cairn shirt several times? (I lean towards these for many reasons, but my players shy away because they miss distinct character advancement/skills). Separately, I haven't been a player in many years, but the last game I was in my DM handed out magic items like candy (along with other overly-helpful tools). Initially you felt like "awesome, I have this bow that shoots two arrows at once, and has a chance to freeze on a critical...and I'm a druid". Quickly they became fairly bland, as they would solve 90% of scenarios, you wouldn't engage with your class otherwise, and you had these from level 1 or 2. On top of this, there was no drawback to running around with these, so they kind of felt pedestrian. I love what the gang is experiencing in AV with known and unknown drawbacks of their use. Lastly, Jon talking about itemization, what would an orc have, and if they have a magic weapon, why is that? I love this kind of storytelling and world building so much; don't spell out everything, but let the players make inferences on what they find interesting (and you the ref have not fully fleshed out). Good stuff!

[@VisableVetetable]

No one cared who Mort was, until he put on the mask.

[@mattavaricios4679]

I cared. 💚

[@rodrigosardi08]

Also, no one ever asked how Mort was

[@warduke42]

@@rodrigosardi08 Mort is fine. Everything is fine.

[@MartinBentley]

@Ted: another thing that can work if you are nervous of making things too powerful is limited use items. If you find a thing that casts fireballs, but you need to sacrifice a part of it (like a string of beads that gets used up) that is also easier to 'balance'. So sure, they will get 10 uses of a level 3 spell at level 1, but how helpful is that really?

[@michaelmorrison8679]

very very VERY helpful. we've had to work at overcoming reticence to using one shot items. but david used that really powerful scroll against Neferet without which we would have been dead

[@warduke42]

I like this a lot, actually. It also gives me ideas about how to work limited use items into the magic flavor setting for my home brew... Thanks!

[@MartinBentley]

@@michaelmorrison8679 yeah, I probably meant 'unbalancing' more than 'helpful' there. It is not a permanent power boost, but just a few cases of being able to punch above your weight, and then a plan needs to be made once you run out if you want to keep at that level.

[@bluebeard4454]

Darius- the assassin that got assassinated

[@DG-pm6ou]

So is the Barbarian still playable? I would be interested in a discussion on that!

[@3D6DTL]

No, I’ve removed it from the list of playable classes.

[@DG-pm6ou]

@@3D6DTL would you consider adjusting it to make it playable. Presumably it just needs the 'won't go near magic' restriction removing or watering down and a corresponding buff nerfing?

[@3D6DTL]

Yeah, that would probably do the trick, but I didn’t feel like diving into it. The class’s flavor doesn’t really fit with a dungeon crawl campaign, so I decided to ditch it.

[@DG-pm6ou]

@@3D6DTL Fair enough!