Some time ago, I asked for advice here and here about which B series modules would be better for a BECMI D&D campaign. I got a lot of excellent advice (special thanks to Akrasia), but different RL stuff and other games prevented the project from starting.

I have previously tested S&W, but I wanted to give White Box a try. Now my gaming schedule has cleared up a bit, and I want to run this project, but instead of BECMI D&D I will be using White Box.

I will be running a sandbox campaign using B1 and B2 modules combined, in some vague homebrewn setting. I will allow Clerics, Wizards, Warriors, Elfs and Dwarves, no fucking Hobbits. Maybe I will allow Thieves later, I don't know.

Said this, do you think is there something I have to bear in mind regarding the differences between BECMI and OD&D tha may affect significantly the way I run the modules? Any piece of advice so my players will enjoy these classics to the max? None of them ha any experience with OD&D whatsoever, the oldest have played AD&D 2e.

Quote from: Imperator;373209Said this, do you think is there something I have to bear in mind regarding the differences between BECMI and OD&D tha may affect significantly the way I run the modules? Any piece of advice so my players will enjoy these classics to the max? None of them ha any experience with OD&D whatsoever, the oldest have played AD&D 2e.

White Box has a different power curve than BECMI slightly lower. So it stays deadlier at lower levels. On the other hand monsters and actions are easy to adjudicate with the ultimate result resulting being d6 damage. Plus you may want to check out Philotomy site who has some nice house rules for OD&D.

One rule I like is that Two handed weapons do 2d6 with the player taking the highest roll.

Quote from: Imperator;373209Said this, do you think is there something I have to bear in mind regarding the differences between BECMI and OD&D tha may affect significantly the way I run the modules? Any piece of advice so my players will enjoy these classics to the max? None of them ha any experience with OD&D whatsoever, the oldest have played AD&D 2e.

Don't sweat it.

Remember it's more about the players telling you how they disarm the trap rather than rolling a die to disarm the trap. If you just need someone to roll for something not covered, just ask someone to roll a six-sider, or whatever makes sense given the situation.

Relax. Have fun.

Quote from: Imperator;373209Maybe I will allow Thieves later, I don't know.

Some people need the thief to feel the game's "complete". Others can't stand it. There are many variants of the concept posted on the web out there, each with a different flair, so you might find something to your liking, if you need one. There's a conundrum that goes with the inclusion of a thief though: without a thief, everyone potentially can disarm traps, climb stuff etc. Everyone is a bit of a thief and a tomb robber. Plus, as I said, it's player's skill more than the luck of the dice. When you introduce an AD&D-style thief in the game, disarming traps might become more of a matter of rolling dice rather than actual descriptions of what you'd do to the trap. Stuff that just was part of the game for everybody becomes the province of the thief instead. There are pros and cons to the game. It's a personal choice, really.

B2 should be the anchor for all your future campaigns.  Here's a few hooks (not implying you can't think of your own, clearly, but here's just a few ideas)...

The bandits hiding out in the woods near the keep?  Their "chaplain" is the evil cleric working to subvert the party.  Or they're a strike force for the evil temple in the Caves of Chaos.  Or both.  Or, neither - maybe they're not "evil" at all, merely non-aligned mercenaries, rebuffed by the denizens of the Keep, looking to supplement their meager treasure by picking off a few unwary travelers now and again.

Wanna have a homecoming for higher-level adventurers who "cleared out" the Caves?  Other stuff has moved back in - now tribes of bugbears inhabit the former orc and kobold caves, the "Shunned Cavern" and the Owlbear's lair are the lairs of the new bosses, a hill giant and family, or perhaps a troll or three.

Giant spiders should be ambushing out of those trees, if you're going to revisit and ramp up the danger level, too.

Heed Gary's word!  Monsters will replace their losses: bounties on adventurers will be placed, and if the party is so foolish as to leave the temple of evil chaos unexplored, the masters of that place will rebuild the humanoid ranks (as well as have plenty of fresh "recruits" in the form of monster zombies).

Maybe the party did deal with the evil curate and his acolytes...and 'pon hearing about an unoccupied cave lair, a youngish red dragon shows up, compels kobold thralls to dig out the temple a bit - or maybe the "cave of the unknown" becomes its lair...

B2 is the Scarface module: THE WORLD IS YOURS.  So go forth, and B2!

B1 and B2 can both be run seamlessly with OD&D (and thus, presumably, with S&W White Box). There are a few monsters in both modules that weren't included in the original boxed set (don't know if they are in S&W:WB or not) so you might not have descriptions of them, but if you've played any later version of D&D before you'll already know what all of them are (owl bear, stirges, troglodytes, etc.) so it's no big deal either way. Someone (don't remember who or where) even did an analysis once which suggested that the monsters in B2 all have d6 rather than d8 hit dice (i.e. none of the 1HD monsters have more than 6 hp, none of the 2 HD monsters more than 12 hp, etc.) so even that isn't an issue.

One thing I'd suggest is to power-down the NPCs at The Keep in B2 a bit -- drop most of them by a level or two, remove or power-down some of their magic items (so instead of the Castellan being a 6th level fighter with +1 armor & shield, +1 ring of protection, +3 sword, +2 dagger, elven cloak & boots, and potions of haste and flying he becomes a 4th level fighter with +1 armor & shield, +2 sword, +1 dagger, and the 2 potions) but that's a personal preference thing, not an edition-conversion thing.

Whoa, thank you so much for all the great and helpful answers Really appreciated.

Quote from: estar;373225White Box has a different power curve than BECMI slightly lower. So it stays deadlier at lower levels. On the other hand monsters and actions are easy to adjudicate with the ultimate result resulting being d6 damage. Plus you may want to check out Philotomy site who has some nice house rules for OD&D.

One rule I like is that Two handed weapons do 2d6 with the player taking the highest roll.

Absolutely adopted. I will also watch, though I found an article somewhere (Delta's D&D Hotspot, maybe?) showing that the monsters in B2 used D6 as HD, and were designed for OD&D rather than BECMI.

Quote from: Benoist;373255Don't sweat it.

Remember it's more about the players telling you how they disarm the trap rather than rolling a die to disarm the trap. If you just need someone to roll for something not covered, just ask someone to roll a six-sider, or whatever makes sense given the situation.

Relax. Have fun.

Oh, don't worry about that, I've plenty of experience running Classic D&D (OD&D is the only edition new to me). That is what interested me, actually, after some time playing more detailed skill systems.

QuoteThere's a conundrum that goes with the inclusion of a thief though: without a thief, everyone potentially can disarm traps, climb stuff etc. Everyone is a bit of a thief and a tomb robber.

For me is a really powerful argument, and that's why, at least at the beginning, there won't be thieves. We always have time to include them.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;373294B2 should be the anchor for all your future campaigns.  Here's a few hooks (not implying you can't think of your own, clearly, but here's just a few ideas)...

Ideas are always welcome

QuoteThe bandits hiding out in the woods near the keep?  Their "chaplain" is the evil cleric working to subvert the party.  Or they're a strike force for the evil temple in the Caves of Chaos.  Or both.  Or, neither - maybe they're not "evil" at all, merely non-aligned mercenaries, rebuffed by the denizens of the Keep, looking to supplement their meager treasure by picking off a few unwary travelers now and again.

I would like to make Chaos an active force in subverting the Realm of Man. I think that the Chaos worshippers could be trying to corrupt the Keep from within, so they would gain an entryway to the Realm, and also prevent adventurers from reaching the temple.

The bandits will have something to do with Chaos, even if they only have started to be corrupted.

QuoteWanna have a homecoming for higher-level adventurers who "cleared out" the Caves?  Other stuff has moved back in - now tribes of bugbears inhabit the former orc and kobold caves, the "Shunned Cavern" and the Owlbear's lair are the lairs of the new bosses, a hill giant and family, or perhaps a troll or three.

Giant spiders should be ambushing out of those trees, if you're going to revisit and ramp up the danger level, too.

I will note this for future reference.

QuoteHeed Gary's word!  Monsters will replace their losses: bounties on adventurers will be placed, and if the party is so foolish as to leave the temple of evil chaos unexplored, the masters of that place will rebuild the humanoid ranks (as well as have plenty of fresh "recruits" in the form of monster zombies).

Well, Gary was quite clear in one thing: baddies won't replace losses. But he described the alert measures and bounties for the PCs.

Also, if the PCs mess too much with the caves, the priest at the Keep will do something about it.

QuoteMaybe the party did deal with the evil curate and his acolytes...and 'pon hearing about an unoccupied cave lair, a youngish red dragon shows up, compels kobold thralls to dig out the temple a bit - or maybe the "cave of the unknown" becomes its lair...

Consider the dragon idea stolen.

For the caves of the unknown, I will set B1 on them. Maybe the PCs come around here looking for Quasqueton.

Hey, maybe the owners of Quasqueton (the warrior and the M-U) went really far away into barbarian lands, so far that they met (and were defeated by) the equivalent of a Gengis Khan. And they pissed him off really bad, so badly that he'd spent years amassing the most huge army ever known, to lay siege to the kingdom of the motherfuckers that made him piss his pants before defeating them.

Quote from: T. Foster;373296One thing I'd suggest is to power-down the NPCs at The Keep in B2 a bit -- drop most of them by a level or two, remove or power-down some of their magic items (so instead of the Castellan being a 6th level fighter with +1 armor & shield, +1 ring of protection, +3 sword, +2 dagger, elven cloak & boots, and potions of haste and flying he becomes a 4th level fighter with +1 armor & shield, +2 sword, +1 dagger, and the 2 potions) but that's a personal preference thing, not an edition-conversion thing.

That goes totally in line with my own perception: actually, after reading this excellent post I'm really wary of using NPCs beyond that level, and that only for the most epic NPCs in the game world, the Achilles of my setting. And that role should be covered by PCs, anyway.

Quote from: Imperator;373319Well, Gary was quite clear in one thing: baddies won't replace losses. But he described the alert measures and bounties for the PCs.

Ack, my knowledge of the DMG and AD&D overwrote my B2 sectors!

Noted, -2 points for me.

Quote from: Imperator;373319For me is a really powerful argument, and that's why, at least at the beginning, there won't be thieves. We always have time to include them.

There alway my solution which I outlined in the Majestic Wilderlands. Any character can do any ability (pick locks, climb, etc) however some classes get a bonus. Which is the basis for the various Rogue classes in the book. Still get quibbles over it but it seems be well-received otherwise.