At 20:24 2/13/98 EST, you wrote:
>What do you think of giving PCs an extra Hit die or two when they create
their
>characters?

I always give the first hit die max for beginning characters. Granting
them a level or amount of experience to use up is often cool. I like
getting that as it gives me the chance to try some neat things, like a
dual-class character. For a beginning campaign, you might want to start at
first level, just so the group can earn their first levels quickly. Give
some experience for the role-playing and good ideas and you will see more
of it later on.

>The group has only three PCs, two theives and a mage.

For this group, in BR there are religions for mage and thiefly types and if
the group were to do a mission of two for the cleric, that cleric might be
moved to go along or send along an acolyte. NPCs are useful and add to the
flavor of the world; make sure they have some kind of personality, though!

Is there
>another way to keep them alive durring their first adventure and still get
>enough XP to be considered worthwile? That is, apart for putting an insane
>amount of potions of healing in.

Do NOT put in excessive magic items, not even potions! BR is low magic and
should be played that way. Let someone be forced to rest for a week as his
wounds heal; Healing proficiency is a wonderful thing! They will
appreciate the single heal potion they get later or what a priest can do
for them. Also, allow them to hire a mercenary or get a thug from the
local bar to go along for a reasonable fee if they need to get beefed up.
In that case, do not let them hire anyone else if they keep getting these
hirelings killed while they return alive; that attracts the attention of
the law and irate family members.

For first adventures, give them opportunities to run away, or seek a better
position for combat. Granted, not all players think like that. Give them
opponents that might run away if they are not strong enough to beat the
party right off. One modurately sized creature could be tough for a group
of new folks, but still go down fairly easily since everyone in the party
would be focusing their attacks on it, while it has to try and fend off all
of them.

I also try to be precise and descriptive when setting the scene of what the
characters see, hear etc. I figure it is best to give them exactly enough
information that their characters could sense and then let them decide what
to do. One DM scared my character because she described this big reptile
chained to a wall in a corridor of some swampy bandit lair. I made sure to
climb the wall to get past it without disturbing the thing. Turns out it
was an alligator! As a player, I would not have been as impressed by the
thing if she had just said that; but, I was careful with that big ol' thing
she described and better off for it, an angry gator could be noisy.

> I am DMing for three others (mabye four soon) and this is our first time
>playing Birthright together. I have very little AD&D experience, seven
>months, and the whole time I have been playing regular AD&D with a DM who is
>also very inexperinced between 10 months and one and 1/2 years, I don't know.
>He dosn't know how to DM very well, as far as the rules go.

Have him sit down and read the DMG and BR rulebook, you do the same, then
ask each other whatever questions you might have. If both DMs in town
agree on something, very likely that is how it should be and will get played.

One of the other
>people I play with is slightly weird

Well, in the groups *I've* been in, this was often a prerequisite! I know
I fit that bill well enough!

but there are less than 12 people in my
>town who play AD&D.

Yeah, in your situation you need to be supportive of each other, within
reason. Don't play with someone just because you think you need a certain
number of players or even if they are the only ones around. If someone
ends up being disruptive, making it 'not fun anymore', tell them not to
come over and play again. You can find new players even if you have to
teach the game from the ground up.

Oh, by the way I'm in seventh grade, 13, and I play with
>another seventh grade, an eigth grader (very immature for his age), a fourth
>grader ( very mature for his age). I like elves and despize dwarves.

Fine, look at that attitude as the basis for scenario design. There is
Mur-Kilad, a dwarven realm that is under the control of the Gorgon, so it
would not be unexpected that these dwarves could be up to something your
players would want to oppose. Having them fight low-level but tough and
intelligent foes would give them experience and lead them on to greater
things in future. It might also end up showing you how cool dwarves can be
since you'll need to explore all their possibilities to make them worthy
opponents.

Enjoy the game, you'll be entertained for years, I know, I've been at it
since '79!



John Ewan, Sysop | Look for me online at MPG-Net
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