The Dungeon Turn

We want the classic Dungeon Turn in our old-school 5E game and to follow this structure during play. This will go a long way towards making our 5E game feel like a BX game, and while I know a turn structure can't get us there on its own, it will help with everything else we try to do. What is the Dungeon Turn?

1. The DM rolls for Wandering Monsters (1-in-6) every second turn.
2. The party moves, listens, and searches for 10 minutes of time.
3. If monsters are not encountered, the turn ends; otherwise, roll reaction. Combat may occur.
4. The party tracks resources, including:
1. Marching order changes
2. Encumbrance and changes in possessions
3. Mark off a turn on all light sources
4. Check spell duration
5. The party decides its course of action for the next turn.

That is it! Do not overcomplicate this, and you do not need a 200-page book from Amazon to tell you how to play an old-school game. It is essentially a wandering monster check, an action phase, then wandering monsters arrive, a resource phase, and a planning phase for the next turn.

Note the sequencing! Just because you enter a room on phase 2 and encounter the room's keyed contents does not exempt you from the results of a wandering monster check! You could get into a fight with the orcs, and the wandering monsters (carrion crawlers) could enter the fight, attracted by the noise, and attack both sides!

Also note, both the orcs in room 2 and the carrion crawlers will roll separate reaction rolls! They could both react positively, with the orcs wanting to negotiate, and the carrion crawlers wandering by and looking for food. The orcs could be friendly and the carrion crawlers hostile, and you could fight them together.

Also, note that we are not changing one rule in whatever version of 5E you play to get our game a long way towards feeling old-school and cool. We are making a simple change to adopt an old-school style of play and turn structure, while keeping our 5E game exactly as it is. All our character builds are intact. All our favorite moves and combos are still there. Resting has not been touched. We have not changed the death rules or even touched pop-up healing.

Everything in our 5E game remains the same, and our game has improved by 100% in tone and feel.

Resources are being tracked. Time is important. Movement speed and encumbrance should matter. Light is critical. Being punctual will keep you all alive.

Also note how this automatically balances the short rest. Taking an hour for a breather forces three wandering monster checks, a 1-in-6 chance every second turn (20 minutes). This is three 1-in-6 rolls, which comes out to a 42% chance of encountering a wandering monster during that hour, and if this turns into a fight, the short rest is ruined.

So short rests fail and mean an extra combat almost 50% of the time?

Those are now balanced, given they also burn up a torch.

While this does not give us the full BX or Shadowdark experience, this takes a "loosey gooesy" 5E narrative game and turns it into a tense, structured, old-school experience quite nicely.

And we did not need to change game systems.

Nor did we need to change the rules of the game.