I'm running 5E!

[RobJN]

I am a huge fan of BECMI. One of that editions many strengths was how smoothly it ran at the higher levels. The DA modules (BECMI) were all written for the Companion Level range, so Blackmoor should lend itself very well to high level play.

-Havard

... which sort of fits with what little I know of the original way Dave ran Blackmoor, with the players settling down to build keeps, rule over cities and/or regions. Not sure if that was intentional, if it grew out of the dungeon-crawling ("Hey, we've got all this gold, what are we going to do with it??"), or if it was a holdover from the somewhat larger scope of player-as-general (or king) of the war gaming roots..?

It made for a nice progression in the Classic/BECMI game's structure, and is something I've seen as rather lacking -- or at least, not being as tightly integrated or emphasized -- in the AD&D branch of the game.

[Havard]

I GMed my third session last night. We are gradually getting into the system and how it departs from other editions. We have decided to go with the variant rule that Short Rests take 8 hours and Long Rests take 1 week when it comes to HP recovery. I am aiming for a more gritty atmosphere and the campaign is not going to be very combat heavy.

The style is similar to the Vales Campaign, with lots of wilderness exploration and the threat of war looming in the background.

-Havard

[Mythlym]

How's the game going?
You still playing 5e?

[Havard]

Hiya Mythlym!

Sorry it took me a while to get back to you on this one. Its been a while since we last played, but we finally managed to get a session in today and the group managed to clear out The Abandoned Elven Fort. This was a pretty classic dungeon crawl with Kobolds, Undeads, Bugbears and deadly traps of all sorts.

We are still using the 5E system and having alot of fun with it!

More detail on the campaign(s) here: viewtopic.php?f=76&t=8194&p=31869#p31869

-Havard

[finarvyn]

I will say that once characters reach 7th or 8th level I'm getting tired of GM'ing them. Seems like the fear of death has totally vanished and I'm finding that it's hard to really challenge them.

However, a few points to mention:

(1) I'm running an official adventure through the game store with official Adventurer's League rules, so I'm limited in how much I can house rule or tweak the adventure.

(2) The party size is typically 6-7, whereas I think the "sweet spot" of party size is more like 3-4. That means a lot of attack, a lot of hit points, and a lot of resources.

Still liking 5E, but I think I like it best at low-level ranges. Of course, pretty much every RPG I run I like best at low-level ranges, so why would 5E be any different? :lol:

[Havard]

I am being really stingy with XP for this campaign, so the PCs are actually still at 2nd level. The main reason for doing this is that we are still learning the details of the system.

As I have mentioned before, I dont have a problem with high level games. However, high level games in my experience are much less about the excitement of whether your character survives the session. By this point, both I as a DM and the players themselves should have gotten to know the characters and the setting pretty well. Usually there are past events in the game that we can pick up on, like enemies being made, alliances forged and even the chance of romance with some NPC babes.

The characters should also have formulated goals of their own beyond simply gaining treasure and glory, whether it is about revenge for past grievances, ambitions of political power (building a castle etc) or something more personal.

I am curious to see how the rules will work at higher levels though. One thing I like about 5E so far is that I don't get too bogged down by details and rules to memorize and that prep time really is about as quick as it was in the early editions. I am hoping that this trend continues as the PCs go up in levels as well.


-Havard

[finarvyn]

One thing I like about 5E so far is that I don't get too bogged down by details and rules to memorize and that prep time really is about as quick as it was in the early editions. I am hoping that this trend continues as the PCs go up in levels as well.

Oh, I think that the trend continues at higher levels as long as the players know what their characters can do. I have one player who seems to wait until it's his turn, then he opens the Player's Handbook and tries to sort through his Bard's options. Argh.

[Greg]

Any updates from anyone about running Blackmoor games with 5E? I'm curious to find out more about your experiences over the past few years, especially as more character options, monsters and other content have been released for 5E.

[Mythlym]

I would just say have fun. I ran a 5E Blackmoor game for a long while but have since gone back to Classic D&D.

5E Just was too easy for me. The balance between the players and monsters was too one sided in the players favor. I found myself more and more house ruling the game to make it more deadly until at the end I had a small book of house rules. Finally we just went back to the OSR and left 5E alone.

5E is a good game. It just ended up not being our game.

[finarvyn]

I wish that someone official could put out a "5E Blackmoor" supplement, with monsters and such all converted to the new rules. I mean, I can always "wing it" (and often do) but it would be nice to have someone more careful with this stuff put together a well thought-out and organized conversion.