OSR and rolling the dice

My friend Dan and I have played a good bit one on one, out near TenKeep. (To find the place, use your YouTube. Go to 1:58 on "Bob Dylan - Peco's Blues, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid Outtakes.")

Dan's got a magic user, almost second level - Largo Underhill. As it happened, a man near death told Largo about platinum. He said, "Here's my map, half is yours if you'd bring some back here to help." Following the map, Largo and two henchmen hiked back into the desert, till they found the designated spot - dried out steps leading down into a hillside.

It was dark down there and all seemed fine til something in the stonework "clicked." Largo stopped. A pressure trap. Not good. Worse yet, he'd scared a pit viper just a few steps further down. In an old school game, a pit viper's bite's not good. A save vs. death situation - no more platinum, no more hot sun, no more tortillas. 

I love that whole situation - how the rule book comes out. "Really? Save vs. death?" "What's the THACO for a viper?" - you had these minutes when Largo's very life was on the line. We had to be sure, everything had to be just right before someone rolled the dice.

I ought to hold-out on you. But I won't. The viper struck. It missed. A henchman, nicknamed 'Spider' slipped past, got off a big hit, and everybody that day was going to be fine. 




 



 

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