Hey Veeky Forums

hey Veeky Forums,

i've started playing a game of 2nd edition D&D. the DM wants it to be a hyper realistic and gritty game of extreme difficulty and is actively trying to kill the players.
assuming its low magic, i wanted to ask what kind of non-magical things i could do to help me survive the dungeon crawl. i would like to talk about some general things first then maybe throw some of the rooms in this crawl at Veeky Forums to see what they come up with.
creatures in the crawl range from goblins to vampires and so much more.
the party consists of a 15th level paladin/cleric, a 6th level thief/paladin, a 15th level wizard (dont count on him for anything), a 5th level beastmaster ranger, a 5th level fighter, a 6th level monk, a 5th level bard, and a 5th level thief (myself)

i've already worked out some symbols to chalk on the walls, creatures who rely on infavision shouldn't be able to see them.

also, assume i'll probably never see a magic item that isnt my +1 short sword and +1 leathers.

so, any suggestions?

Walls of meatshields/hirelings in front of you is always a good start.

And lamp oil molotov cocktails are a staple.
Decent way to attack, but dropping them in a doorway is great for covering your escape.

Probably would have been better to ask OSR general?

i think this is too specific to clog their thread.

on the note of oil, while its not a bad idea, he runs lighting things as like, it takes 1d4 segments to light anything, so throwing a molotov could take 4 segments before i even do anything.

also i've seen him punish people who have a lot of oil. like, literally look at someone's inventory and say, "thats a lot of oil, we have to do something about that"

>i think this is too specific to clog their thread.
We've been bitching about axing the thief and cleric class for hours how.
It's gotten to the point where we've started bitching about bitching about it.
By all means, inject another discussion into it.

>also i've seen him punish people who have a lot of oil.
So just carry a few. Or keep the oil tightly sealed, plus some empty bottles, then make cocktails between fights.

>Hobo Signs for dungeons.

GENIUS. Why hasn't this been thought of?

i literally got it from someone else doing it on Veeky Forums
they posted watcher sighs and SCP field codes

>2 15th levels
>several 5/6 levels

What the actual fuck?

ITT: everyone misses the LOtR joke.

2e was after "roll to detect traps" had muscled out taking verbal cues (or explaining what you'll do to look for traps), right? You should still try doing it the traditional way.
Chalk dust is pretty handy when looking for tripwires. Or airflow (secret doors). Also for leaving yourself those signs, I guess.

If your referee is (properly) running thief abilities as supernatural, you could probably keep a Canary read: poison gas detection without spoiling your sneaking.

That level gap isn't weird by OSR standards, but having level 15s at all certainly is. Looks like they're starting players at level 5?
>What the actual fuck?
I'd be more confused by the thief/paladin, myself.

he's letting his brother play with the two characters they had when they where teens and the game was like raining magical items, now its gritty realistic play.

the player started as a thief and the 15th level level paladin more or less forced him to take a level of paladin.

the canary is clever, i like that, somehow i feel like he would make it CONSTANTLY sound because he is actively trying to kill us.