Ask Dungeon Masters 9: Jorphdan and Kelsey Dionne (The Arcane Library)
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
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Super pleased with Jorphdan’s answer about using small modules in a homebrew world. That’s my favorite style logistically, but to have that shared knowledge in the community is huge for our hobby. Also Arcane Library’s RPG origin story is amazing 🤩
Awesome chat, everyone.
To give my own answer to your question to the panel, homebrew vs .... I'd pick homebrew, all the way. There's so many sources to draw inspiration from to create something new, and it can avoid the "oh, I know this part" kind of issue from players familar with the pre-packaged setting.
I like how Jordan just casually conceptualizes a better D&D movie than anything that will ever be made with that license ever.
hire me! 😂
Loved the discussion around 37:00 about cooperative worldbuilding. My friends and I love this style, but thankfully I’ve never had one say “that’s my brother!” Lol
Bryce from tenfootpole is the Gordon Ramsey of adventure reviews. If he doesn't hate your adventure, you're already top tier.
9:53 "What is a non WoTC setting ot lore source you really enjoy?"
13:24 "What advice would you give on how to structure the world or DM the games that sessions feel more self contained or coherent?"
17:48 "How do you go about making your homebred setting unique and interesting?"
21:19 "What kind of design ideas do you wish you saw more of in OSR materials, and what if anything have you done to include these in your games?"
29:32 "Do you think like it's worth bringing what you learnt from the OSR into 5e or are the two incompatible?"
34:13 "Where do you turn for inspiration when you are not feeling excited for an RPG session?"
38:11 "How do you find the plot or story creation differs from OSR compared to 5e? OSR reads "Deadly and Peculiar" compared to the typical 5e adventures."
44:48 "What are some ideas or concepts for a setting that you think are underused?"
50:50 "If you had to choose between playing only in homebrew of your own design or only in a published setting of your choice for the rest of your days what would you choose and why?
57:36 Ben: "What do you think they are going to do in the D&D movie and what do you want them to do?"
Thank you!
My favorite D&D movie is still "The Gamers: Dorkness Rising."
Best DnD movie ever
Really liked this conversation. I can confirm that Kelsey’s adventure “The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse” is great fun. :)
I had played that and loved it and hadn't actually twigged that it was she who wrote it!
Jack Vance is amazing. He has so many wonderful ideas and cool concepts in every novel. many are simply throw away bits and yet he puts so much flavor in them He was such a rare talent.
Kelsey D. writes some very playable adventures. Very cool stuff. Just saw that she has her OSR game, Shadowdark, available as a free download at The Arcane Library. Can't wait to check that out.
It's funny you mentioned the 'just use bears' article. If a remember correctly a 'bear' was often used in Magic the Gathering design as a short hand for any 2/2 monster. So a 2/2 with Flight was called a 'flying bear'.
I want Matt Colville and Justin Alexander. No risk of either stealing the thunder from the other.
I'd love to have Justin on at some point! I don't think Matt does colabs with other channels (and I don't blame him, he's a busy guy!)
@@QuestingBeast I know he did interviews for other channels couple of years ago, and last year he hosted a bunch of DMs and writers to pitch other systems. I think it could be worth a shot to ask!
@@elsesome2707 yes he was on with satine for at least 1 ep
Is Colville at all familiar with the OSR? He's pretty rooted in 5e, isn't he?
@@d1morto He has stated he does not have an interest in OSR as a "thing" but owns a couple of OSR products.
Kelsey's "My Minimalist Dungeon Master Kit" is a valuable watch
ruclips.net/video/xWLUJYlYymQ/видео.html
Hey this was great! Highly recommend the Arcane Library; when I first started DMing a few years ago, her modules were great bouts of practice, as well as to drop in as one shots or slot into a campaign, most recently Watchers in the Dark into my Saltmarsh, which I'm tying into the cosmic horror/mind flayer second half of the campaign.
Kelsey needs to release more videos, especially if they're videos that announce new product releases.
I’m on it! 😃
We dropped skills in our 5E game. DM determines if proficiency applies based on character background. Works great.
That is awesome! I've heard about people doing that, but I'm not usually the DM when we play 5e, so I haven't gotten to implement it :)
Proficiency dice?
@@rriosl Have you tried proficiency dice? Sounds fun and should be about as fast as a fixed value.
@@rscottr yeah it is and add some incredible randomness, best hidden in plain sight rule from the DMG
I just read the alternative proficiency section of the DMG and it's funny in that I was literally just talking about dropping skills from 5e and had literally described two of the alternative options...
I've run for 42 years and still can't reliably tell if a particular adventure is going to wrap on time. If the players get obsessed with something, all bets are off.
Kelsey casually just dropping some serious OSR street-cred.
I've always found Mountainous Regions to be somewhat lacking in settings? Longwinter and Revolution Comes to the Kingdom are two which try to use the desolate, lonely, keening wind, gorgeous valleys with insular towns and difficult climb/treks aspect I expect in Mountain Settings.
Coming from 70’s/80’s I have always made my own world incorporating modules to fit because I was not aware that they actually published worlds until the late 80’s. I have to say that this was a great conversation and worth repeating. Each game or iteration of them have great qualities and certainly opportunities for tweaking. As soon as my current 5e campaign closes this current chapter we will have a second zero session for reflection and adjustment. I would like to see if my players can see the benefits of the OSR and move into that direction. *Ben, Professor DM reviewed Knave today and I am pleased for it. Good job on your work!
Also, about Greyhawk... a bit of trivia... I believe that the god Zagyg is owned by the Gygax estate, because Zygag is sort of Gygax backwards (well it was originally Xagyg, I believe), and I believe Gary explicitly retained the rights to that when he left TSR. So, that's one piece of Greyhawk WotC doesn't own.
A lot of fun to watch, could have watched another hour of this! Also I very much enjoyed Kelsey's revelation as a secret OSR OG!
I think Sea King's Malice by FGG has an undersea section, and if Forgotten Realms has become tired, their Lost Lands setting is HUGE
If you have never seen "The Gamers: Dorkness Rising", go watch it however you can. It's a treat. The original "The Gamers" is also good, The Dead Gentlemen did it first.
I honestly prefer Gamers 1, but they're both charming movies
@@thorinpeterson6282 they have very different tones. Gamers 3 is really good despite not being rpg related but more card game oriented.
@@Grimmlocked Gamers 2 appealed to me as a D&D nerd, but Gamers 3 spoke to me as a former competitive L5R player. Both are fantastic movies (and games!)
🐻🌪️🐻🌪️🐻🌪️🐻🌪️🐻🌪️🐻🌪️🐻🌪️
BEARNADO!!!!
@@Jorphdan Ohhh, 'bearnado'... I was thinking you were going to start a Bear Nato, and unite nations with the might of their bears! 🤪
@@Merlinstergandaldore I mean, a bear of a certain kind *did* succeed in uniting NATO
Judges Guild’s product Wilderlands of High Fantasy is the first campaign setting, which includes the City State of the Invincible Overlord, and deserves a review. It’s been my campaign setting for 40+ years.
I have never clicked a video so fast. Love both their channels.
About dice rolling, I remember the AngryGM telling us to roll the die when:"There's a chance of success, a chance of failure, and a consequence for that failure." But, when *does* an OSRGM roll the die? Do you know? What is the method or the reasoning behind a check in OSR play?
We can also roll the dice to inject some unpredictability into our games such as random encounters, and reaction rolls, so not even the GM is privy to exactly what is going to happen.
@@Caulkhead I'm not talking about the results, I'm talking about the *why* you roll the die. :3
That's about the same reasoning I use for rolling in OSR games. And I tend to favor the player, so that if they describe something that's well within their class's wheelhouse, they usually just do it automatically. Like a cleric just knows most lore related to the gods.
@@QuestingBeast of course, that makes sense! If there's no reasonable risk for failure or the player can roll over and over without consequences, why roll at all? Thank you for your answer!
The first rule is that players never decide when to roll dice. And follow AngryDM's advice: a player describes an action and an intended consequence, then if there is a chance of failure, the GM calls for a roll.
I hate when I see a game and (often out-of-turn) a player says, "I'm going to roll ____ to do ____." and rolls dice before the GM has even processed what was said. No. Do not do this. Wait for the GM to ask, "what do you want to do?" and only roll dice when the GM calls for it.
There’s an interesting conversation to be had here about the relationship between rules and “style” of game and whether or not rulesets actually dictate game style or if it’s just popular convention within each ruleset’s community. You talked about running an OSR “style” game with 5e rules, but I personally like the idea of doing the opposite. I’m not a huge fan of resource management and I like the more story-driven adventures that are popular with 5e, but I prefer the simplicity in other areas of B/X rules like not needing a huge “menu” of things your character can do
There are definitely concepts and philsophies from OSR that can truly enhance 5e. Moving away from 'builds' and embracing character 'generation' where you are more at the mercy of dice would change a lot by itself. Better rules for social encounters - reaction charts, morale and loyalty can truly enhance 5e as well. Conversely I do think there are some elements of 5e that can be ported backward... I like the advantage/disadvantage mechanics which can easily be ported backwards, for instance.
The one thing I pull from 5e is advantage/disadvantage. No matter your stance on 5e, WOTC, or whatever, that's a simple and really fun replacement for medium +/- modifiers that makes you think: why haven't we always been doing this?
Gawd Kelsey is so adorable! Just checked out the Shadowdark rpg! looks rad!
Aw shucks, thank you! :)
Skill checks not being a part of OSR is a matter of frame of reference and bias as to what the OSR is when you consider skill based games are as old as D&D.
Thank you for making me discover Kelsey Dionne ! Your guests are always perfect.
Kelsey's adventures are great!
Great discussion, Ben, Jorphdan, and Kelsey! At 23:28 , it was interesting to hear Jorphdan talk about a more magic friendly, magic every where setting, versus OSR rare and dangerous magic. I would love to see a combination of both, e.g., dangerous magic every where! Haha could be very exciting! Does every NPC become a glass cannon, say with a death curse on their moribund lips? How would this change society? This is why I love these videos, so much brain fodder and love of the game (^_^)
I did not know about Kelsey and her channel. I found her point of view on many issues were very close to mine so I have subscribed to her channel and am watching many of her videos. Thank You Ben for the introduction. 🙂
For the oceanic campaign, I have three suggestions: Subnautica, Bioshock, and Dark Sun, but underwater.
Also, the term you are looking for is "weight belt."
Thank you for reading my question! Love you all.
Something the OSR could bring in from 5e:
The proficiency die optional rule is massively useful for adding more texture into a single roll. It can be used for degrees of success, it can be used as damage mitigation(or amplification). It automatically makes you able to roll on so many different tables alongside your skill roll, whether you're just reading the proficiency die for a simple d4, d6, d8, d10, or d12 table, or in much the same way as a d66 table where you use the proficiency die to select the table and the d20 result to select the effect (or vice versa).
Replacing skills with background prof is in DMG as variant rule.
Really good takes!
Hey guys, great Ask DMs session, and thanks for answering my question! I definitely agree that OSR isn't missing anything, and I'd love to see more OSR ideas find their way into the new editions. I personally think this family of games lacks for very little, and even as a long-time OSR fan I still get surprised sometimes by just how much power can be packed into the scant pages of an OSR product. I was just curious if, as a couple of content creators newly come (or returned) to the old-school scene, you saw any aspects of old-school design that were potential road blocks for you. I'm not really surprised that the answer was essentially, "Nope." :D
Appreciate ya Jorphdan! Great conversation!
Ooo Jorphdan is one of my favorites, now get AJ picket.
If I were to have under water (ocean or lake) area. I would make the big empty open waters the most dangerous place to travel. Hunting grounds for the kraken, or local dragon.
I would also have a couple reef cities, each over producing one or two resources, and lacking another important resource.
Ph is silent? Horrible parents? Or just horrible marketing decision? Or just ego?
Ben please get Justin Alexander and the Angry Gm.
Absolutely cool! How would another RUclips channel get in touch with her, Ben? Jorphdan, great stuff as well... and I'll second that you should totally bring that D&D movie, man!! Your channel hooked me on DCC! 🤓👊
In regards to pulling newer stuff into the OSR, in my opinion that IS the OSR. It's taking stuff you like from older games and the newer games and mashing them together. In a recent DCC game, I was pulling in stuff from both AD&D and Ryuutama. So, whatever you see a rules hole in your game which needs rules for your game to run better, then grab a rule you like.
P.I.C.K your battles: Plagiarize, Improvise, Compromise, Keep the game moving.
I appreciate the group calling out that some players just do not enjoy the Powered by the Apocalypse (Dungeon World) style collaborative worldbuilding thing in a way that isn't like...judgmental of the players that don't enjoy it. Having moved through those spaces, I have had people that are way into that style of play try to tell me that it's objectively better and more engaging and when I tell them I've run games where it just falls flat on its face for some players, they then try to tell me that it is that player's fault! Seriously have had people say to me point-blank, "It's because they're not sophisticated enough of a roleplayer." And I'm just like, "Okay dude, I really don't think that's it, but whatever helps you sleep at night..."
@10:09 That Field Guide in 'The Dark of Hot Springs Island' is so cool. I haven't had a chance to play/use the actual adventure (yet), but just owning it fills me with pride.
Hilarious how I literally got into TTRPGs because my uncle dropped of a bag of ADND stuff 😄
Just wait, WOTC is just gonna do a fantasy story where the only thing related to D&D is utilizing a bad adaptation of the Realms setting.
20:25 “If everything’s weird, then nothing is weird”
That is a perfect central tenet to designing a world. My favorite example is coffee; most fantasy worlds have something that is a hot caffeinated drink but they call it “soycaf” or “kav” or whatever. Just call it “coffee” and be done with it- not everything has to be changed or unusual for your world to be unique- its exhausting to try to remember especially basic things like that.
About Skills, I'm not a huge fan of the 5e system, but what I do like is the BECMI system where each character has a skills portfolio, 4 standard plus one for each intelligence bonus, but these skills could be anything. For example, one of the Gazetteers literally has Yogurt Making, s a potential skill. Success in these skills is calculated using a Roll Under Mechanism, having to roll a D20 under the appropriate Attribute stat, modified by the DM for difficulty.
5e makes skills too samesy for all characters. For example, how prevelant would Arcane knowledge be really? Whereas in BECMI, a Magic user would probably have 'Knowledge: Arcane Magic'. Using things like skills one can really customise their characters. No ranger class in BECMI, no problem, have a dex based fighter with tracking and survival skills. Want a pirate, Take a thief or dex fighter, and give them some sailing skills plus 'Singing sea Shanties' :D
In terms of Sea Campaigns, TSR did a good supplement, The Sea People that covered underwater campaigns.
About old worlds you could play OSR in... you don't have to buy Greyhawk stuff from Wizards. You can get the old, classic, 1980's Greyhawk boxset on eBay. I got it and it's great! Complete with two gigantic maps. Also, there's the traditional world for B/X and BECMI D&D, which is Mystara. They came out with the Gazetteers for that, starting with the Grand Dutchy of Karameikos. You could play that straight up with OSE or another retro clone like Dark Dungeons, which is based off of BECMI. Mystara is great because each Gazetteer is a unique country with its own unique rules. They often have new classes or races. Also, the "Known World" covered by the Gazetteers is about one square inch on the world map. Much of that world is left to you as the DM to design. Even more better... they had the Hollow World box set. The Mystara world is hollow and there's an entire other world inside of it.
#Shadowdark Kelsey also wrote Shadowdark- This is a couple years later (post 2023) but she is an amazing designer!
I knew a guy back in the days of IRC that had and entire underwater world. In the days before the WotC Open License the internet was full of fan sites with all manner of homebrew content.
Modules are *very* good. I have seen so much more community and story swapping from shared adventures/dungeons like the caves of chaos and villains like Strahd than I ever have for a truly shared setting like the Realms.
If you whant to see a movie that happens entirely in a dungeon there is an anime adaptation of the first Wizardry game. Its like 50 minutes, quite fun.
The first D&D movie smelled, it stunk, but the 2nd D&D movie was perfect (Wrath of the Dragon God)....
Questing Beast, please revisit Arcane Library (Kelsey Done) so you can review their Shadowdark RPG. It is super cool and very much deserves the attention ;-)
For me it's the difference of gritty, dark, swords and sorcery and High fantasy superheros.
I personally prefer the more human centric dark fantasy of OSR. If I wanted to play superheroes I would play a superhero RPG, not Dungeons & Dragons.
Ben, this is a wonderful collaboration, interview, discussion! I, like many of my peers here, am very grateful that you do these. The inspiration that comes from listening to these diverse perspectives is greater than the sum of its parts, if that makes sense to anyone else, LOL. Thank you, Good Sir, for sharing these with us!
As someone working on an underwater adventure for Into the Odd/Electric Bastionland...I can attest that it is super freaking hard haha...my solution was a pointcrawl that follows migratory patterns of wildlife and certain underwater civilization points of interest with geodomes like those in Sealab 2020.
At the moment, I am still working through open sea combat and it is feeling like I should just create a submarine arcana and have them use ship-to-ship/sea monster combat mechanics. Then having individual excursions out into the water with no vessel evokes a sense of helplessness and vulnerability...which is what I feel when I go scuba diving and something goes wrong (something small always goes wrong!). Reef and Sea Trench exploration are the coolest and hardest part of writing this adventure so far...alongside with deciding if I want to use custom failed careers to flavor stuff or just do aquatic starter packages...
Underwater has been done, D&D TSR The Sea People. It has 3d combat system, water effects (for spells etc.) heaps of undersea races and a massive campaign area to play in. The best undersea stuff I've seen, really underappreciated work.
Good discussion. One thing I can’t really get on board with about the OSR though, is the “no skills, roll as little as possible” philosophy. When Ben said he had players new to the OSR style who would rush to pick up dice and he’d say “no no, tell me what you’re doing”, my thought was “but I do that when I run 5E”. Ie I still want them to engage with the fiction and actually describe their actions, so that I have something to work with.
I think what skills offer is more about character differentiation and playing to a certain “competence fantasy”, rather than necessarily shutting down creative engagement with the fiction. I admit it takes more to maintain that engagement the more of a “menu of options” you have, but I don’t think you need to completely throw out the pleasure of “This is my character, this is what they’re good at”.
I very much have a love/hate relationship with OSR. I realise Ben Milton’s RUclips comments section might not be the best place to air my grievances with it 😅
One thing that I don't see mentioned much except for one Peoffesor Dungeon Master video is the effect that streaming has had on the "normal" way of playing 5e. The DMG has alternative rules that get rid of skills in exactly the same way that Kelsi is talking about as well as side based initiative and plot points like what Jordan is talking about with the players adding to the story. They're right there in an official WotC book, but because so many people (including myself) learned by watching actual plays, those alternative rules aren't well known.
I find that the easiest thing to do rather than have the players look to you for "what to do next" is present multiple things at once. Giant spiders in the woods to the north, bandits to the East, dungeon to the west, and lizard men to the south for example.
Whichever one they go to, the rest are not static. If they go to the dungeon, the bandits raid the town or a caravan or burn a farm. near the giant spiders, local hunters go missing, or lizardmen come and attack travelers.
Let the players push and pull over what to do.
It also gives the world a living, dynamic feel.
I have everyone give me 3 background contacts (family and friends) and I just throw complications from them as filler. At different sessions, everyone's backstory comes into play and spotlights a character.
Keep your players broke. Use the downtime cost of living, leveling cost time and money, new spells don't just appear out of thin air, a magic-user may level but that new capacity for knowledge comes at a price, and they need to get it from someone.
Inflate prices outside of big cities. Farming towns don't have sword and armor shops. Metal armor is hard to make and takes time, resources, and money. Farmers don't make the best gear either. The prices in the book are baselines. Customized armor and weapons are far more expensive. Cloths cost money, the fancier the more they cost. Are the characters walking around in rags looking like vagabonds? Dressing for style and status is immensely expensive.
Get creative, it's easy. Just use real life as an example lol. Everyone wants your money in real life, why is it different for the characters?
Don't forget to add in the cost of carousing, drinking, and the one thing that can wipe out the wealth of a party of characters....gambling. They will fall for it every time because it's not "real" money.
Theft, where do they keep all that extra loot and money? Nothing like coming back from a hard day in the dungeon only to find your stash was stolen.
Just like real life, "it's always something"
The D&D Movie is gonna have to beat the Dorkness Rising 2 - which is exactly the game Jorphdan described... They effect - i mean, i hope they're better - but will the story be?
Talk about the Water Temple without talking about the Water Temple.
I am currently running a sunken city dungeon and I really like the 3D aspect because you have the constraint of water pressure to keep the party from going straight up (unless they use magic, mage armor is my go-to for this) and this is the only dungeon I've run where the party gets a bird's eye view of the whole dungeon and can choose which district to start in. So far it's really fun and interesting and I encourage y'all to try it!
Seed idea for underwater adventure.... my mind goes to submarine adventure movies, like The Abyss.
That was cool!
The perfect D&D movie is Farador. It's in french but I am sure that you can get a dubbed or subtitled version.
But, Kelsey, the WOTC President Cynthia Williams says all us freaks in a basement wouldnt let ladies play. Surely she didnt just make that up.
Very entertaining conversation for old nerds like me. Thank you.
First time viewer of your channel! What a great episode!! I took so many notes
Great video! It is impossible not to love Kelsey. She is young, fresh and creative yet somehow an old soul and wise. I can't wait to see what else the future holds. I think she it going to be huge in the RPG space.
Seaweed and shoals of fish make for good obstacles underwater.
Nobody does Underwater adventures because we experienced it in Zelda, and we all agreed it sucked big time.
Kelsey was so on point with the micro settings (and more). I also love the look of that dust cover setting from Knock 2, haven’t run it yet but I’m currently running the dust cover adventure from Knock 3. 😄
Thanks for another great discussion, Ben.
Glad you liked it!
Thinking back to high school D&D in the late 70s, D&D was one of several games we played. Steve Jackson games in particular put you into the mindset of weaving highly specialized games together. So improving rules for a trade game, or a court intrigue game seemed more natural. Especially if you look at Chainmail and wondered ‘how did Gygax and Arneson end up with d&d’? The answer was obvious- they homebrewed a magic system because that was what they wanted.
Actually it was pretty much all Dave. He created TTRPGs from a desire to play as individual people instead of armies on a battlefield. The player Pete Gaylord wanted to play a wizard (in 1972) instead of a soldier, thus magic. Gary certainly helped flesh things out, but Blackmoor existed before Gygax ever encountered the game. GG gets way too much credit as “co-creator” when he was more a co-developer.
I like swords and sorcery settings like Conan and Lankmahr
Just fyi, the sound for this episode is very very low, I had to put my sound to the max to hear it at almost the normal sound i usually listen to stuff
The idea that d&d needs to be weird is exhausting. Gonzo and fun house dungeons likewise.
Great interview! I want to have a game with these people! Thanks, Ben!
Time to write that Drexciya RPG setting.
What a great group!
Broooo she is soooo beautiful and has written a very fun game!
Great discussion, thank you for sharing!
Inspiration comes from weird places for me. I had an entire Elven cultural subplot of the Elven nations loosing great thinkers and artisans because a call had gone out to re-claim/re-build Myth Drannor. That cultural pressure came from an NPR article about outsourcing and brain drains 2 decades ago. In the same Forgotten Realms world, a separate campaign was totally inspired by the Gregory Peck western The Big Country. The idea of battle over water rights and big open spaces influenced me to file the serial numbers off a bunch of western tropes. Silver mine of Dwarves was a stand in for water rights. The country was underpopulated due to disease and war generations ago (ala Americas after European diseases had ravaged the two continents).
The Time Bandit's Map of the Universe!
One of the most brilliant TV episodes I've ever seen was Bojack Horseman underwater episode if you haven't watched it. Not a die hard fan of the show, but that episode was brilliant and should be watched if you're considering any underwater events.
I HAVE A BULGE IN MY PANTS SOMEONE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!1
commenting just to say, I hate milestone leveling
My issues with class design and game balance is usually "so why doesn't everyone become [overpowered class here] and use the [overpowered item here]." It is not to make the game fair, but to understand how the world works. For me, this makes lower level play (as is typical in OSR) more interesting, since dealing with carts, swords and daggers is more intuitive than dealing with high level spells and optimizations of class/feat/item interactions. High level play, espeically in 5e, gives me 'Marvel Comics Fatigue'. (MCF is when you try to pretend to be interested in character plot while you see billions dying as a story element. When D&D came out, 'jumping the shark' meant going to far. Today, Marvel movies need to threaten the fabric of the galaxy.)
A lot of your campaign setting concepts are examples of adventures I've run.
Underwater: In my 4e campaign, I gave the party a temporary spell that allowed them to swim quickly so they could travel to the bottom of a huge inland sea and scavenge some ancient ruins at the bottom. They fought a couple battles down there - your typical aquatic creatures, and a ghostly elder Fae type thing. It was trickier than normal, but we used miniatures and 4e movement rules made it easy to adjudicate. Overall, lots of fun, and something I had always wanted to do. I wouldn't want to do an entire underwater campaign though. Just seems... boring?
Flying/Air Pirates: this happened a LOT in my 4e campaign, which was very FFVI/steampunk influenced. The first time, they were on a big freight vessel and got attacked by harpies and then a Behir at a later point. There were also literal Air Pirates who they took on with a small, nimble skiff, and a lightning rail heist mission I totally ripped off from Firefly. Honestly, this was mostly just flavor concerning what was going on around the players. Almost zero mechanical difference in gameplay, since I liked to lean really heavily into 4e's skills challenges. This turned action scenes into a series of skill checks narrated by the players when they succeeded, and narrated by me when they had a failure. The only downside to airborne battles is how to make falling interesting. When our fighter got knocked off the skiff, he fell about 100 feet, got scraped up, but otherwise completely tanked the damage. He was just out of the battle for a while.
3D: in my 3.5E campaign, I mapped out a fully 3D dungeon where the biome and the direction of gravity was different in every room. This honestly didn't end up playing much different than a normal dungeon at the table, since it was basically just a series of rooms, each with a different biome. The really fun part came in where the players would test the gravity at the entrance of each room and try to figure out how to get inside it without hurting themselves. I took a lot of inspiration from Metroid, Portal, and the 3D-shooter Descent designing this one. Still my favorite dungeon ever.
Dreams: I never got around to running this, but my 4e campaign was going to involve the party descending into the Plane of Dreams. I was inspired by things like Nightmare of Elm Street and Inception and how you can't tell you're in a dream sometimes while you're dreaming, so the party prepared for this adventure by setting up a magical tether anchoring them to a teleportation circle on the Material Plane. I was going to make extensive use of random tables to drive the narrative and changes in the environment to emphasize the feeling of being in a shifting, chaotic and surreal world, and allow the players to use the "Fate Chip" currency we'd been building up for a few sessions to rewrite or veto certain changes, like a willpower based sphere of influence around them that could run out if they weren't careful.
You can just talk to the players and change the mindset to... describe first, roll second. You don't need to get rid of skills in 5e.
You can play 5e with an OSR mindset... just by adjusting you DM style.
damn this gir's cred is hardcore! she is an ubber nerd!