Old-School D&D style game

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by soulnafein

Hello there,

A local Old School RPG group found itself without a d&d GM. They generally play D&D and/or traveller.
I've suggested that I'm happy to run a few old-school dungeons using GURPS.

As I recently found out, Dungeon Fantasy does "old school" Dungeons and Dragons better than Dungeons and Dragons. I think you'll think the same after a few sessions.

Originally Posted by soulnafein

1) 250 points characters are complex for beginners

Not really. While you can't put a DnD level to GURPS points, the templates as listed are probably between 5th and 7th level. When I GMed D&D I rarely started characters below 4 levels and I only remember two GMs who started at level one in nearly 25 years of gaming. That said the "leveling up" dynamic for GURPS is so radically different from D&D that players might actually become frustrated if you start them off at "low level" and use the guidelines for normal advancement (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level, p. 42).

Originally Posted by soulnafein

2) Old school 1st level characters aren't that complex

No, but they really aren't that much fun either. It's incredibly annoying to play a 1d4 HP mage and die requring you to create a new character. That said, check out GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 15: Henchmen for lower value characters.

Originally Posted by soulnafein

1) Progression (what's a good progression rate for such a game?

To keep it similiar to D&D I'd offer up at least twice what is listed in DF3 so you can "level up" every session.

Originally Posted by soulnafein

2) Adventure: can you suggest an old published D&D adventure that doesn't involve too many different type of creatures (lots of conversion work) and that they would enjoy?

I always liked Expedition to the Barrier Peaks myself, but Against the Cult of the Reptile God might work better if you use lower-point value characters.

Originally Posted by soulnafein

3) Anything else I should think about and I'm not?

I have a ton of worked up critters on my blog which might prove helpful.