My Turn Behind the Screen Again

There was no post last week because the game fell through.  Folks were attacked by real life adversaries (new job duties, illness, home projects, etc.), so we opted to have a night off.  I ended up watching old M*A*S*H* episodes, reading gaming blogs, and trying to get a grip on Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerors of Hyperborea.  The game has some cool dynamics I'd like to try but I'm having trouble coming up with a good intro adventure for it.  It'll hit me soon enough.

So, last Friday's game was with the Sky Pirates group.  However, half of the group also had life attack them: family time, travel for job, overwork, etc.  Since we're on hiatus with the Sky Pirates until the DM can figure out what to throw at us next, I volunteered to run a Basic D&D game.  Now, in my mind, I was thinking of the word "basic" as in just the original book from the original set.  However, as the group gathered, I had to rethink this because the general attitude toward the rules set was lukewarm....at best.  I brought out Labyrinth Lord and my red box book and put aside the Holmes books...and pushed them to roll up 2 characters each (because we ended up with only 3 out of 7 players present and I didn't want to cancel a game twice like this).  Once the adventuring group was assembled, I presented them with the dungeon from B1.  They wandered through the lower quadrant, fighting orcs and discovering that the original inhabitants were not nice guys.  The game wrapped up early after they reached the pool room.  I would try to recount the adventures, but there really wasn't anything that stood out.  There were complaints about the old school approach to mapping...and how clerics don't get spells at 1st level....and how "sucky" a 1st level thief is in this old set.....

Well, I guess I won't be running that set with these guys again.  Not sure what we'll run in two weeks.  I suppose I'll be behind the screen again.  I may either push the AS&SH rules or I might go with my favorite, Swords & Wizardry (3rd printing).

Sorry for the short post.  I'm really feeling hammered right now by allergies.  It's tough to concentrate or work up the effort to type.  I'll try to post more later.