Quote from: bleezy;1145520One downside of running "old school" 5e is that there no way to do xp. You have completely throw all the encounter design and monster xp rules out the window, and there is no way to convert treasure to xp because the values are so drastically different. So I've left to simply level the players whenever I think they should level, and replacement characters start a few levels lower than the rest of the party and catch up rapidly over a few sessions.

I'd rather use xp, I think it provides a much better experience for the players and DM because the leveling is clearly tied to the PC's actions, and doesn't seem arbitrary or milestone based.

Quote from: bleezy;1145520One downside of running "old school" 5e is that there no way to do xp. You have completely throw all the encounter design and monster xp rules out the window, and there is no way to convert treasure to xp because the values are so drastically different.

Quote from: bleezy;1145520One downside of running "old school" 5e is that there no way to do xp. You have completely throw all the encounter design and monster xp rules out the window, and there is no way to convert treasure to xp because the values are so drastically different. So I've left to simply level the players whenever I think they should level, and replacement characters start a few levels lower than the rest of the party and catch up rapidly over a few sessions.

I'd rather use xp, I think it provides a much better experience for the players and DM because the leveling is clearly tied to the PC's actions, and doesn't seem arbitrary or milestone based.

Quote from: Anthony Pacheco;1145447Been there, done that. I decided that I was either going to do 5E in my next campaign or AD&D. Not 2E. Just AD&D.

I picked 5E with gritty rules and given the two new attractive tools in the DM toolbox, bound accuracy, and advantage/disadvantage, I made things work like they used to: difficult.

What doesn't work:

One: Remember that sinking feeling you got when you had to Save vs. Death. Not some hit points. Or being stunned. But bitting it, right there at the roll of the dice? Everything in 5E goes against that mechanic. Still working on that one in such a way as the players would agree "yup, harsh but works."

Two: Monsters. The entire concept of a CR system for "balanced encounters" was never a thing in AD&D. Sure, you had Hit Dice this, and Hit Dice that, but not more often than not, encounter balance was a matter of not doing something stupid like fighting to the bitter end, negotiating tactics, hit and run, treachery and other fun things because some wanker low hit dice monster had some ability to just wreck your trash. It took me a while to learn to old-school 5E CR system. I've recently started blogging about it starting here: The Misunderstood World of 5E Game Balance, Part 1.

Quote from: Anthony Pacheco;1145596Yanno, I wonder if Old School 5E is less about the rules and more about all the "stuff" between 2E and 5E that needs undoing. Stuff being attitudes, expectations, player skill, media manipulation, etc., etc.