You said it better than I could have myself. Great article! I never knew I loved running sandbox wilderness hex-crawls until I started running OD&D. Thank you OD&D Primer. My goal is to get to a high enough level that my players can establish strongholds and run baronies. I would love to run and see some mass scale combat play out. barony against barony. Having players carve out their own Kingdom would be so cool, and that is exactly what my players goals are. Should be fun. I would love to hear more of your journey into OD&D. Possibly an interview for our community dungeon newsletters if you would be down?
Yesss! I want the same things. I day dream about higher level strategic kingdom level combat. So many boardgames my various friend groups play are like that but something this steeped in a cutom world would be next level. And I would 100% be on board for a community interview!
Awesome. I want to round things out with OD&D Veterans and those also new to OD&D. I will put together some questions. The interview would be for issue #2 of our Community Dungeon Newsletter.
Alex I so get what you said about DND 5th ed. I too thought it was the best out there to understand and to teach. It’s what I cut my teeth on so it will always be special to me. But like just like you, Hasbro/WOTC missteps over the past few years have ticked me off. I started looking closer at Solo playing. When I discovered the multiple options out there as well as OD&D, I was like hmmmm, I no longer feel tied to 5th ed. As it was, I probably only stuck to about 75% of the rules for 5th ed. It was too hard for my family to grasp and too hard to teach them. Plus, we wanted to just play!!! Great insights!
I’m glad you’ve found something you like! I’ve never been able to get into OD&D, but I love Shadowdark and it gives me all those tools. There is hex crawling support coming out for it. I’m doing some solo play now though, so I might delve into some OD&D at some point.
My first edition of D&D was AD&D 2e, and by then I had already played several others RPGs. I played a little 5th Edition and thought it was okay. I never understood what made so many people like it though. Sometimes I think it’s the brand name plus Critical Role.
Shadowdark is my home right now. I am finding so much that can expand upon the game for me and what I'm doing with it at my table from OD&D. It's just been a wild ride finding so many interesting answers that were already there that have just been carved away for one reason or another.
This is a truly fantastic article! You really nailed it on the head and echoed many of my own conclusions following a very similar path, but you worded and phrased it far better than I ever could. My own leanings are now more towards an open table, heavy on hex-based exploration. West Marches styles campaigns have also been very cool as well, allowing for people to drop in and out whenever they would like. I used to get so frustrated planning epic 5e or Pathfinder 2e game nights- the minis -the dungeon tiles- the ship etc only to have people have to bail last minute do to work or other obligations and our epic game night get put on hold for a one-shot.
Well no longer my friend, lol that is the gift I have received from running OD&D/Delving Deeper games. You could say I found my calling, haha.
Thanks for spreading the good word. I am having a great time delving into these foundational parts of the hobby. I hope to create things that find a place to stick amongst the halls of this shared story.
I love finding ways to improve the games I run and I love the idea of others finding value using what i'm creating.
You said it better than I could have myself. Great article! I never knew I loved running sandbox wilderness hex-crawls until I started running OD&D. Thank you OD&D Primer. My goal is to get to a high enough level that my players can establish strongholds and run baronies. I would love to run and see some mass scale combat play out. barony against barony. Having players carve out their own Kingdom would be so cool, and that is exactly what my players goals are. Should be fun. I would love to hear more of your journey into OD&D. Possibly an interview for our community dungeon newsletters if you would be down?
Yesss! I want the same things. I day dream about higher level strategic kingdom level combat. So many boardgames my various friend groups play are like that but something this steeped in a cutom world would be next level. And I would 100% be on board for a community interview!
Awesome. I want to round things out with OD&D Veterans and those also new to OD&D. I will put together some questions. The interview would be for issue #2 of our Community Dungeon Newsletter.
Alex I so get what you said about DND 5th ed. I too thought it was the best out there to understand and to teach. It’s what I cut my teeth on so it will always be special to me. But like just like you, Hasbro/WOTC missteps over the past few years have ticked me off. I started looking closer at Solo playing. When I discovered the multiple options out there as well as OD&D, I was like hmmmm, I no longer feel tied to 5th ed. As it was, I probably only stuck to about 75% of the rules for 5th ed. It was too hard for my family to grasp and too hard to teach them. Plus, we wanted to just play!!! Great insights!
I’m glad you’ve found something you like! I’ve never been able to get into OD&D, but I love Shadowdark and it gives me all those tools. There is hex crawling support coming out for it. I’m doing some solo play now though, so I might delve into some OD&D at some point.
My first edition of D&D was AD&D 2e, and by then I had already played several others RPGs. I played a little 5th Edition and thought it was okay. I never understood what made so many people like it though. Sometimes I think it’s the brand name plus Critical Role.
Shadowdark is my home right now. I am finding so much that can expand upon the game for me and what I'm doing with it at my table from OD&D. It's just been a wild ride finding so many interesting answers that were already there that have just been carved away for one reason or another.
Absolutely. Since I’m doing solo, I made all the rolls for Shadowdark player-facing. It was easy to do.
This is a truly fantastic article! You really nailed it on the head and echoed many of my own conclusions following a very similar path, but you worded and phrased it far better than I ever could. My own leanings are now more towards an open table, heavy on hex-based exploration. West Marches styles campaigns have also been very cool as well, allowing for people to drop in and out whenever they would like. I used to get so frustrated planning epic 5e or Pathfinder 2e game nights- the minis -the dungeon tiles- the ship etc only to have people have to bail last minute do to work or other obligations and our epic game night get put on hold for a one-shot.
Well no longer my friend, lol that is the gift I have received from running OD&D/Delving Deeper games. You could say I found my calling, haha.
Thanks for spreading the good word. I am having a great time delving into these foundational parts of the hobby. I hope to create things that find a place to stick amongst the halls of this shared story.
I love finding ways to improve the games I run and I love the idea of others finding value using what i'm creating.