Charmed and Counter-Charmed!

The party suffered what could have been a TPK last night after half the group failed their saving throws against the alluring song of some siren-like creatures. Luckily for them, the sirens were content to retreat and drag off an NPC with them. I ended up sort of cobbling together wrestling/grappling rules since the old AD&D1 system for wrestling is an unplayable mess. The party was dismayed to discover that, in the old editions, charm person lasts...and lasts... and lasts... we're talking saving throws made every week or so, depending on the character. However, our player new to the game (who is seventeen, I was corrected last night) came up with the idea to use his own charm person or mammmal spell to bring the errant party members back to their senses. (After bending them to his will, he simply released the charm.) Well done, Adam!

I forgot how potent and nasty charming is in the older editions. Like sleep, it's got a lot of bang for your buck, being a first level spell and all.

...oh, and I must say, conducting my game using OSRIC is so much easier on my brain. I actually found no use for the older books last night. I suppose you could say that I have been charmed by OSRIC.

...on second thought, don't say that; it's kind of weird.