MrWilli: No. Also thankfully gnolls are afraid of fire and my half-orc isn't some honor bound baffoon. Oh we are going to see how fast an half-orc fire mage throw fireball and run like hell screamign for his life.

HomerSimpson: Man, I remember the table top playing days (cue nostalgic music). What a blast. There were six or seven of us who would get together every week like clockwork playing the 2nd Ed AD&D rules.

I'm sure this will lose something in translation, but the most humorous episode I can recall was when our party was stuck deep in a dungeon cavern. A horde of rats, literally over two hundred, were barreling down on our party. My cleric begged for a blessing and the DM was kind enough to let me make a roll, giving me a 2% chance on the percentile dice. I rolled a 02! Howls of joy went up. The DM allowed me to cast enhanced invisibility to animals on the entire party so that for all intents and purposes the rats wouldn't know we were there....unless we attacked them.

Sure enough, the player of our gnomish thief (who was a bit off to begin with) declared he was attacking the nearest rat. The rest of us protested vehemently, mistakenly thinking the cover for all of us would be blown. The DM in his wisdom, calmly explained that only the thief would be detected by the rats. So, we watched as the thief attempted to fight off two hundred rats. It was amazing! He was killing rats left and right while they were pecking away at him. Finally, he knocked them down to nine or ten rats. What a bloodbath! It looked like he was going to pull through.

Then came the rat who rolled a 20 for double damage and tore his throat out.

It never occurred to any of us to jump into the fray once he had knocked so many rats out. We were just beguiled by what had transpired.

"Why didn't you guys help?", the player cried.

Most of us shrugged sheepishly. Except the player of our elvish archer. Turning to the DM , he said..

"I wait for the rats to gorge themselves on Ducious (the name of the gnome). They earned that meal. When they're done, I loot the body and then bury it in rat carcasses."

I still laugh to the point of tears when I think of the face of the gnome's player when he heard that.

MrWilli: You didn't lose in translation. I wish I could I see that. That seemed freaking epic and hilarious at the same time.

orcishgamer: Funny story!

But now that the gamer in me is up, under 2nd Ed. rules your fighter should have been able to take out about 10 per swing twice a turn (giving your fighter level 10 or so). They're considered less than 1HD creatures which gave melee a massive advantage against them. Also, level 5 mage? Fireball? Since they were packed together I'm sure one would have toasted 75% or more of them.

Never underestimate level 1 illusions, though they don't have a smell component (does invis to animals hide scent as well?), a clever one can turn the tide of any situation (and illusory magic missles does as much damage or more than normal, provided the person on the receiving end believes they are real, well doesn't help vs. brainless foes, but still).

orcishgamer: Funny story!

But now that the gamer in me is up, under 2nd Ed. rules your fighter should have been able to take out about 10 per swing twice a turn (giving your fighter level 10 or so). They're considered less than 1HD creatures which gave melee a massive advantage against them. Also, level 5 mage? Fireball? Since they were packed together I'm sure one would have toasted 75% or more of them.

Never underestimate level 1 illusions, though they don't have a smell component (does invis to animals hide scent as well?), a clever one can turn the tide of any situation (and illusory magic missles does as much damage or more than normal, provided the person on the receiving end believes they are real, well doesn't help vs. brainless foes, but still).

Magnitus: My current campaign is on a world-sized asteroid floating in the middle of some lower plane with a field of other such asteroids. For millenias, a powerful arch-angel, conducting a misguided experiment has put a powerful protection on the asteroid for it to be invisible to the outside (avoiding all collisions as well) and similarly, the outside is invisible to it (there is the illusion of a "sky" to those who inhabit the asteroid). He populated it with people as well.

Can't wait until the players slay him and the illusion collapses. It's gonna be great. Between the deamon armies and the incoming collisions, nevermind saving the world, they'll have to get out of there alive and bring their loved ones along if they can.

MrWilli: @HomerSimpson: How hard is it learn AD&D? Because I've been curious about the system for a while.

HomerSimpson: Well, the answer to that question depends on a few things, MrWilli. Have you played any tabletop role-playing games before?

MrWilli: D&D 3.5, and Call of Cthulhu using the Basic Role Playing System.

EDIT: Typo.

HomerSimpson: Well, if you've p[layed D & D 3.5 you've already been exposed to a form of AD&D. The term AD&D originated back in the 80s when TSR transformed the game from the original boxed basic sets to the hardcover manuals. To distinguish the systems, they named the new one Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D). This system is what has evovled through the 2nd edition up to 3.5, I believe.

I don't really know 3.5 too well. But I would think that the original AD&D system is somewhat simpler if only beause there weren't as many options for characters and game mechanics like feats. But someone who knows both systems well may be able to provide more insight

MrWilli: okay thanks. I'll try searching the internet.