Preparing a Classic D&D Module for OSE

Running D&D module B4 The Lost City in Old School Essentials was a success. Our group enjoyed a slightly revamped version of a classic adventure. And only a couple of player characters died! I can't say that Zargon and his cult were happy with the outcome, but they got what was coming to them. I credit the experience to a good group, my ability to improvise whenever players do the unexpected (which is all the time), and the efforts I made beforehand.

A gamemaster's homework is never done.

Step 1: Read the Darn Thing

It doesn't matter if it's the first time or the hundredth time. No notes. No highlighting. Just go through the whole thing and get familiar with the contents. What are all the pieces and how do they fit together? What stands out? What works and what won't land with this particular group of players? What doesn't fit with how I like to run things at our table? What is so iconic that any alterations would only lead to bitterness and despair? None of these questions can be answered without knowing what's in the adventure.


Step 2: What Changes?

Outside of the occasional one shot, adventure modules aren't played in isolation. They have to fit into existing campaigns. In this case, the Nostalgia Tour concept. The Lost City couldn't overstay its welcome or it would push out another classic module. I needed to wrap it up by the time the player characters reached third level and were ready for the next module.

I originally wrote a bunch of details on the changes I made, but that turned into a whole thing. The changes and the thinking behind them will be presented in that mythical time we call later.

(EDIT: Later turned out to be a week and half down the road. Here's a post about all the changes I made: Remodeling B4 The Lost City.)


Step 3: Attack the Module with a Highlighter

Classic adventure modules weren't exactly masterworks of organization. The need to present information to the GM by embracing the tools to technical writing - bolded text, bullet points, and otherwise separating out critical statements from a body of text - wasn't fully identified until more recently. Since there's no way to add these features to an existing module with rewriting it, I used a highlighter to make key information stand out.

I'd be squeamish about marking up a vintage module this way. Even a damaged copy is still a decades old document at this point. Fortunately, I was able to avoid the issue with a print on demand copy from DTRPG.

Here are examples of the kind of information I highlighted:

• How the traps are supposed to work. What does a player character do to trigger the trap? What happens when the trap is triggered?
• Reactions for monster encounters. What do they do when they encounter the party? Otherwise, I rolled on the reaction table.
• Motivations for NPC encounters. What does this NPC want from the party? How do they respond based on the reaction roll?
• Treasures and other loot. This information was sometimes buried in the room descriptions.
• Key historical facts. The Lost City has a backstory relevant to the adventure. I wanted to keep the critical details handy.

Step 4: List Making

Although a highlighter makes critical information easier to find, I wanted to have some things at my fingertips. Lists make it possible to reference certain things without having to flip back and forth through the module.

Examples of my lists:

• Static monster encounters. The rooms and the bags of XP dwelling within them organized by room number. It worked as a checklist of what the party ran into as they moved through the dungeon. I included each monster's page number in the OSE Referee's Tome for easy reference. This made it handy during combat and for calculating XP in between sessions. Easily the list I used the most.
• Wandering monster encounters. Includes the page numbers of each wandering monster table from the module. As with the static monster encounter list, I also included each monster's page number in the OSE Referee's Tome. Not as useful as I expected. The dice were not cooperating and I didn't roll as many wandering monsters as I expected.
• Trap encounters. Room numbers and a description of the traps within them. Having the information in one place wasn't as useful as I expected. The work I put in with the highlighter was enough for me to find the information when I needed it.
• NPC encounters. Statistics, descriptions, significant items, and spell lists for encounters that might result in talking, fighting, or some combination of both. The descriptions of some groups are spread throughout the module. Compiling them in one place saved some time during play. It also helped me keep the names straight.
• Cynidicean encounters. The inhabitants of the titular lost city have their own sub-table in this module's wandering monster tables. Since I needed to convert them to OSE anyway, I retyped the (converted) statistics and descriptions on a handy reference document.

Step 5: Old School Essentials Conversion

Although OSE is based on Basic D&D, certain things required adaptation. Most of the monsters have statistics in OSE, but the ones unique to B4 The Lost City needed work. The biggest issue involved our group's decision to go with ascending armor class as an option. All things considered, the conversion process was easy. Converting an AD&D module to OSE might involve more time and effort. I'll be burning that bridge later in the Nostalgia Tour campaign.

#RPGaDay 2024, Week One

The first week of RPGaDay 2024 was short. Only three days. In retrospect, combining the introductory post with this one would have been a really good idea.

All of these were previously posted on Mastodon and the RPG.net forums. Additional commentary exclusive to this blog are in italics.

Day 1: "First RPG bought this year?"

This is awkward. I haven't bought any new TTRPGs this year.

Lancer? Pre-ordered in October 2023.

The Mothership Boxed Set? A Kickstarter reward for a pledge I made in December 2021.

The issue is that 2024 is the year I'm putting the games I have on my shelves in front of our group instead of adding to them. Lancer and Mothership were grandfathered in. I'm not buying new TTRPGs for a reason.

Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy didn't make the cut. It was a Black Friday Sale purchase from 2023 and arrived before Christmas.

I've also bought a few things from DTRPG this year. However, those were all adventures and supplements for games I already own. This is also part of my get more stuff from my collection onto the tabletop plan I had for this year.


Day 2: "Most recently played?"

As a #ForeverGM, I'm going with "most recently run" here.

Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy. I slightly revamped D&D module B4 The Lost City and ran our group through it using OSE. We had a fun time with this classic adventure. We also faced challenges with the comparatively streamlined rules. Zargon went down swinging, but the party is now in need of an active volcano to finish him off.

I previously posted about the Nostalgia Tour campaign for OSE here on this blog. More posts on B4 The Lost City are on the way.


Day 3: "Most often played RPG?"

As a #ForeverGM, I'm combining "ran" and "played" here.

I've clocked in more hours with some flavor of D&D or another than anything else. Especially if I include other fantasy dungeon delving TTRPGs like 13th Age or OSE.

Honorable mention goes to Star Trek Adventures for dominating our table for years. We're taking a break this year for variety's sake, but it'll be back.

As a middle aged dude, it should come as no surprise that I started with D&D. All that time with all those editions piles up.

I am planning on bringing Star Trek Adventures back to the table at some point, but I'm not sure how the second edition will factor into that.

More next week!

#RPGaDay 2024, Introduction

I participated in #RPGaDay last year and - clearly not having learned my lesson - I'm doing it again this year. #RPGaDay poses a TTRPG related question for each day of August. It was launched by David F. Chapman on his AutoCratik blog. I'll be answering the questions daily on Mastodon and the RPG.net forums. Those responses will be compiled weekly on this blog and include additional commentary.

Each daily prompt can be answered as is. Alternately, the word in bold can be used as the prompt instead if the full question. It just depends on if the full question applies or if I just don't like it.

There's a new option available this year. Chapman admits that the prompts this year were rushed. As an additional alternative, he offered up a completely different set of prompts by Skala Wyzwania. I'll be resorting to this set if I don't care for either the full question or bolded word in Chapman's set of prompts.

Last year's weekly compilation posts are listed below:

#RPGaDay 2023, Week One
#RPGaDay 2023, Week Two
#RPGaDay 2023, Week Three
#RPGaDay 2023, Week Four
#RPGaDay 2023, Final Week

The Summer Trip - Don't Leave Gaming Behind!

Got back from visiting family. Took photos of rocket butts. Here's how I didn't leave gaming behind. At least, not entirely.

Dat @$$. Saturn V display at the Apollo center of Kennedy Space Center.

Reading

We all have stuff we've been meaning to read, but just haven't had the time.

Guess what?

Bring something to read. It doesn't matter if you're taking a plane, car, or train - you're going to end up spending hours sitting with reading or looking out the window as your options.

Game books are the obvious choice. I brought a couple and - while I didn't finish either book - I did make progress in them both. Be careful in your selection. Digest sized is easier to pack than a big hardcover. And don't take anything you'd miss or can't replace. No first runs of long out of print classics from defunct companies. Luggage gets lost. Things disappear.

The two game systems I brought were FATE Core System and the Mothership boxed set. Reading the FATE rules is a first step towards running a future campaign using Tachyon Squadron. Bringing the Mothership boxed set was a mistake. It's a little too big to comfortably fit in my messenger bag and it split my reading time between them. Bringing FATE Core System and leaving Mothership at home would have allowed me to concentrate on and finish the one book.

I did finish the couple of non-fiction books I brought along. I count both of these towards gaming because much of my non-fiction reading ends up being research for upcoming campaigns. Books with a smaller footprint are better and bring nothing you can't easily replace.

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande is a niche title about using checklists as an organizational tool. Checklists aren't the best choice in all scenarios, but they do serve to make sure that no steps are overlooked while executing a process. Recommended, but not for everybody.

The Middle Ages: A Graphic History by Eleanor Janega and Neil Max Emmanuel covers a period that too many folks assume they know everything about. It's an excellent overview for somebody new to the topic. In my case, it helped me see how everything fits together as well as giving me new insights into the period. Some folks might find parts of it too "woke" for their tastes, but those folks are wrong. Strongly recommended.

Something else to consider is a cheap paperback novel. A quick, light read might be welcome between more challenging material. I ended up not doing this, but it's an option I'm keeping in mind for next time.


What NOT To Pack

Accept that you'll be away from your gaming collection. Don't try to stuff your entire collection into your luggage. It's just a bad idea. Process that and move on. And plan accordingly.

My wife packed our copy of Bohnanza in case the family got restless, but we ended up not playing it. Carefully consider these kinds of options. Only bring a board or card game if you know you'll end up playing it. Otherwise, it will just be dead weight in your luggage.

I was tempted to bring a miniature, a small wet palette, a couple of brushes, and a few paints. It all didn't make the cut due to space limitations. It's just as well, there wasn't enough light in the place we were staying. My advice is to only consider this if you're really into miniature painting and know that you'll have the time and a suitable location to paint.

The forbidden boop. Nose of the orbiter Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center.

What To Do?

Visit a gaming related location in the area. This normally means a game store. However, a little research may yield a big surprise. I found out that the Warsenal shop is located a short distance from where we were staying. It was short visit, but buying some MDF terrain straight from the source was a novel experience.

Watch a movie. There were a couple of times when I found myself with time to kill and access to a TV. I used the time to for a couple of old favorites: I suspected that my testosterone levels were low and hoped to absorb some through osmosis by watching Predator (1987) again. I also sought inspiration for eventually running Mothership in Alien (1979).

The rest of the time? We had obligations, but enough free time to take the kids to see some of the sights. Otherwise, touch grass. Or sand. Or try to boop the nose of a space shuttle orbiter (it was out of reach). Or lick a rock from the Moon (also out of reach).

They call these things get aways for a reason. Relax for a bit.

A Brief Visit to Warsenal

I hadn't planned on going to the Warsenal shop while seeing family in Florida. The place appeared while I was searching for tabletop gaming locations in the general area, because my addiction to my hobbies couldn't be put off for long. I've placed many online orders from Warsenal over the years. The chance to visit the place where all that laser cut MDF came from was too good to pass up.

The signage does make the place easier to find.

Warsenal is located in an unassuming industrial park. Getting there involved waiting for a big rig truck to finish backing in to another business and unblocking the road. They are open from 10am - 4pm on weekdays only. I would advise calling or emailing ahead to make sure that they are ready to receive visitors. It's a step I neglected, but I got lucky.

The place is a working shop ringed with laser cutters and assembly stations rather than a store location. They are set up for onsite sales and even have a modest play area with already assembled terrain. I was allowed to wander freely and pick out what I wanted from the available inventory of already packed kits. The compact space is arranged for maximum efficiency. Meaning that getting around involves squeezing through a few narrow spots.

Once I finished exploring, I inquired about an item I wasn't able to find. I was offered the chance to return in a couple of days if it needed to be cut. However, it turned out to be available, just not on display. I made my purchases and concluded my brief visit. As stated, this is a working shop, so I didn't want to hold up production any long than necessary.

I enjoyed the visit and would recommend it to any Warsenal fans who find themselves in the area. It's a fun - if brief - experience that I would've regretting passing up. Plus, it's nice to make an order without paying shipping costs.

2024 Tabletop Gaming Plan - Midyear Update

We're halfway through the year. Which is as good a time as any for me to take stock of how I'm doing with my 2024 Tabletop Gaming Plan.

Kick things off with a blast of nostalgia by revisiting some classic D&D and AD&D modules using Old School Essentials.

Our group just finished B4 The Lost City after a late start. The delay was to give me time to read through both OSE books and the module. Running it was a taste of how things were back when we got started with role playing games - both good and bad. The next module will be X1 The Isle of Dread, but we'll be playing through something else first to avoid campaign fatigue. I'll go into more details in upcoming posts.


Getting more of my RPG collection off the shelves and onto the tabletop.

OSE technically counts, but I'm planning on breaking out the likes of FATE Core or Night's Black Agents later this year.


Do something with the games I've Kickstarted or preordered as they come in this year.

The first of these - the Mothership boxed set - arrived last month. I'm reading through it now. Which is a large improvement considering all the times I left Kickstarter rewards collect a layer of dust before getting to them.


Make a dent in my pile of unread books (and not just RPGs).

I've made a dent. It's a smaller dent than I was hoping for, but it's more than I read in all of 2023.


Make a dent in my pile of shame (terrain and miniatures).

Yeah, not everything can be a win. Or even a qualified win. I need to put some paint on something soon.

Overall, I'm making progress in almost all areas. The OSE campaign is off to a great start. I'll likely run Mothership before marooning our group on The Isle of Dread. I'm reading more than I have in years. I just need to break out the brushes and get back into the habit of painting again.

Mecha Western Setting Riff

A Game Idea I'm Not Using (Right Now)

So, this is about mixing the tropes of the Western genre with mecha. I make no claims to this particular mashup. The idea's been floating around for awhile.

Ever get an idea for something completely different from the project that's sitting right in front of you? I should be finishing my notes on B4 The Lost City for my Old School Essentials "Nostalgia Tour" campaign. On the other hand, this is one of those ideas that will bother me until I jot something down. Feel free to borrow what you like and let me know how it goes.

Mecha keeping an eye out for bug rustlers.

Related Concepts

The mecha western draws from Westerns, space operas, and space westerns plus the whole giant robot thing.

"Space opera" is derived from "soap opera" and "horse opera" - the latter being a term for Western films and television series. Replace the horse with a spaceship, revolvers with rayguns, and the Wild West with the Final Frontier. Star Trek's "wagon train to the stars" is a well known example.

The space western is a space opera that invokes the themes and trappings of the Western. In many ways, it simply draws the existing relationship between the two genres closer together. For example, the Mandalorian places greater emphasis on the Western elements that have always been a part of Star Wars.

The mecha western is a different kind of space western. Spaceships are still around, but their role is more akin to a train or stagecoach than a horse. They are ways of crossing the frontier that the protagonists don't own or control. The Western's horse is instead swapped out with piloted robotic vehicles. This idea isn't exactly unprecedented - anime like Outlaw Star are inspirations.


Drilling Deeper

Placing mecha in space opera isn't enough - that's a significant portion of anime and video games. Mixing mecha and Westerns involves recycling classic Western plots and tropes with a sci-fi spin that includes giant robots. There is plenty of commentary on the Western genre - TV Tropes has a whole page - and I'm not going to be doing a deep dive here. I want to discuss how everything reacts after being combined.

A frontier is mandatory. The action has to take place far enough from settled areas for things to get out of hand. The conflict between those who employ the violence necessary to destroy threats to order and those who wish to build and live in that order is alive here. There is also the fact that explosive weapons and anti-authoritarian attitudes don't mix with artificial environments maintained by fragile life support systems. The tension between hired mecha jocks and those that pay them could be a valuable source of role playing drama.

Space westerns - such as Firefly - often feature a mix of technologies. This could be the result of a recent interstellar war. The effects of the conflict still disrupt trade, but left plenty of salvage around. Or it could be the simple fact that high tech gets less common and more crude the further out a place is from the centers of industry. In any event, there is a mix of technological aesthetics - steampunk, dieselpunk, cyberpunk, cassette future, rocketpunk, and glossy high tech. What is available depends on the sources that can be accessed, the means at hand, and what can be jury-rigged to fit to a purpose.

What to Call These Yahoos?

Space Cowboys? Taken.
Mecha Jockeys? Mech Jocks? Kinda also taken.
Hired Guns? Buckaroos? Gunslingers? Straight outta Westerns, not enough mecha.
Mecha Busters? Mecha Wranglers? Hmmm...

I'll workshop it later.


Adventure Ideas

"High Noon Mecha Showdown"
Chronometers count down to local noon, when the regular interplanetary transport arrives with a band of mecha equipped enforcers assigned to kill those getting too close in their investigation of the corrupt corporate government. The player characters need to make sure that all their mecha systems are nominal when the time comes.

Inspirations: "High Noon" (1952) and "Outland" (1981).

"The Great Brain Robbery"
A valuable corporate shipment is on the move, but that's just the cover story. Something even more valuable is hidden in one of the regular cargo modules - an AI core that corporate wants to stay off the books. Catching up to the shipment, boarding, and defeating corporate security is just the start. Recovering the core and keeping it long enough to reach a buyer will be an even greater challenge.
Inspirations: "The Great Train Robbery" (1903) and "The Train Job" (Firefly 1x2).

"Cattle Drive"
Hired on to protect dinosaur-like megafauna and the specialized mecha that herd them to market from rustlers. They have to get the herd from their ranch to the markets near the planetary space port while under constant harassment from mecha buckaroos in the pay of competing ranches.

"Lost Treasure"
Three parties race each other for a treasure. A crashed luxury space liner that went down before the war. Salvagers picked it clean long ago, but there are rumors that something was missed. The race ends in a Mexican standoff after a long journey and many dangers. Who will make the first move and provoke a fight in the wreck of the space liner?
Inspiration: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (1966).


Conclusion

Now that I've got some notes down, I'm putting this idea away for later. Maybe I'll dust it off after my preorder of the Lancer book arrives.

Nostalgia Tour - Planning an OSE Campaign

The good news is that my idea of using Old School Essentials to revisit classic D&D and AD&D adventure modules is lurching forward. The bad news is I actually have to execute the idea. That all starts with a plan. I'm an experienced enough gamemaster to know that any plan I come up with is unlikely to survive contact with my players. Still, whatever bits of it I can salvage from the burning wreckage may provide a handy guideline.

Lost the originals in a move, but POD from DTRPG will do the job.

Narrowing Down the Options

Using classic modules greatly simplifies planning. I just have to pick out the ones I want to run. The criteria I'm using are: my group's interest in a particular module, compatibility with OSE, and the level of effort involved with running it.

My group includes veteran players who made it clear that they have no interest in another go at B2 The Keep on the Borderlands. I completely understand not wanting to return to it after playing or running it half a dozen times. The goal of the campaign is to indulge in nostalgia, not endure tedium. Tt is the only module vetoed outright by the group.

Old School Essentials is designed to be compatible with the Basic/Expert D&D rules. This makes B- and X-series modules ideal. AD&D modules require some conversion depending on content. The stats of certain monsters are similar, but not identical. Other monsters - like demons and devils - are not presented in OSE Advanced Fantasy at the time of this posting.

Running a module rarely means just giving it a skim and winging it from there. I've posted about this before - I found that studying a module and running it from my notes is best practice. It's even worse if I feel the need to rewrite aspects of a module to better fit my style or the tone of a campaign. This suggests that Jaquays-style dungeons and open world hexcrawls would work better than something relying on a baked in plot.


The List

B4 The Lost City
A classic Moldvay dungeon crawl that I never actually got to play or run back in the day. There's a strong swords and sorcery vibe that my group should appreciate. Also, it avoids an issue with early B-series modules - large areas being left blank. A key point of this campaign is me avoiding work.

X1 The Isle of Dread
Another Moldvay classic. This one is a hexcrawl inspired by the kind of "lost world" stories featuring dinosaurs and steamy jungles. It may or may not turn into fantasy 'Nam for our group due to those dinosaurs and jungles. The only issue that I have with it is the paradox of the black pearl that supposed to kick off the adventure.

G1-3 Against the Giants
D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth
D3 Vault of the Drow
Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits
This is the ironic series of adventures that starts with dungeon crawling through the centers of evil giant power, drops into what would later be called the Underdark, passes through the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is a Drow city, and ends up in the extraplanar lair of a demon goddess. Nevermind all the set up about the Elder Elemental God, the real bad guy is Lolth and the real treasures are the literal treasures that the party loots along the way.


Alternates

X2 Castle Amber
The Moldvay classic dungeon crawl that I'll be running if the Moldvay classic hexcrawl that is The Isle of Dread doesn't appeal for whatever reason. Otherwise, I'll save this personal favorite for a later OSE campaign I have in mind.

C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
The recommended levels between The Isle of Dread and Against the Giants leaves a gap. I have a few modules that I could slot in to cover it. This one is the front runner due to fond memories I have of running it in grade school. I am hopeful that my older and mature current group makes it through encounter #13 much better than my group back then.

The Messinian Salinity Crisis & The Zanclean Flood in TimeWatch

"Hey! I gotta idea for a time travel adventure!"
"What hellhole are you... I mean, what hellhole is TimeWatch sending us to?"
"How about a relaxing trip to the Mediterranean?"
"How about telling us what the catch is?"


The Messinian Salinity Crisis

The historical significance of the Mediterranean Sea and the area surrounding it is undeniable, but that particular body of water wasn't always there. The Mediterranean Sea dried up a little less than 6 million years back in an event called the Messinian salinity crisis. The Straits of Gibraltar closed off the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean. The hot and dry climate did the rest through evaporation, although lakes of brackish water remained.

Anybody traveling to the area during this period could encounter a deep dry basin. The dry climate and higher air pressures due to being up to 3-5km below sea level combined with summer heat to create desert like conditions. Much of the area would be covered in a layer of salt.

Why would anybody take a time machine to such a place? It makes for a good location for a temporary base. The inhospitable climate means that nobody and nothing is likely to just wander by and be a bother for a period of a few hundred thousand years. Evidence of the base's existence will be power washed away when the Mediterranean Basin becomes the Mediterranean Sea again (see below). Of course, it being such prime real estate for a time traveler in the market for a secure and isolated base location means that it might also be one of the first places for people to look.

A hydroelectric dam placed between the Mediterranean Basin and the Atlantic Ocean could be a vast source of electrical power. It could power a base or be the whole motive for going there. The idea of damming off the Mediterranean Sea came up in the 1920s as the Atlantropa proposal. Of course, methods of time or dimensional travel that use more power than such a dam would produce would make the whole venture unprofitable.


The Zanclean Flood

The Messinian salinity crisis ended about 5.33 million years ago with the Zanclean flood. The triggering event was the formation of the Straits of Gibraltar. It took anywhere between several months and two years for most of the Mediterranean Sea to refill. Signs of erosion from the massive flow of water from the Atlantic Ocean suggest that flow rates were impressive.

Given the historical significance of the Mediterranean, preventing the Zanclean flood is of interest to groups with an eye towards altering human history. However, an effort on that scale would be difficult to hide from anybody with the ability to monitor for historical changes. This might lead to such a project being used to conceal or distract from more subtle time travel shenanigans.

Going back to make sure the Zanclean flood happens on time could involve anything from being issued shovels as a punishment detail to the faster and more fun method of explosives. The Zanclean flood could be deliberately triggered to destroy a decommissioned base in the Mediterranean Basin. It could also be used to destroy an effort to make the Atlantropa proposal happen during this period.

Finally, the Zanclean flood might have been an accident. An example of collateral damage from an exchange of eldritch weapons during a time war. Or the result of teleporting a nuke into the past to stop it going off someplace worse.

Repaint or Move On?

I've heard it said that miniatures should never be stripped and repainted. "Keep them around as a reminder of your earlier work. You'll be able to see how much you've improved."

I'd like to think I've gotten better at painting. Or maybe I just got better at photographing miniatures.

On the other hand, some examples of my earlier work are subpar. I've repainted miniatures before. There are a couple of examples on this blog. For example, I painted this Reaper Chronoscope miniature way back in 2011 and repainted it in 2021 - ten years later! Why? I wanted the miniature to match the others I was using in my Five Parsecs From Home game. It seemed worth the effort in that case.

This is the before and after of the miniature in question.

I can see both sides of the issue. The miniature is already painted, likely to a "good enough for tabletop" standard. It's irritating to see the mistakes I made on a miniature, but is worthwhile in general to start over with it? The effort might be better spent on my extensive collection of unpainted miniatures.

The way to resolve the conflict between these views might be to repaint selectively. Rank and file miniatures used in groups? Tabletop standard is fine. Hero miniatures intended as centerpieces or display? It depends. Have I learned enough since then to make a difference? Is stripping off the old paint necessary? Does it just need a touch up? A little wash or highlighting?

There's a couple of particularly annoying offenders in my display cabinet. I see them every day. Revisiting them would be a chance to see how I've improved since calling them done.

Maybe after I've knocked down my pile of shame a little.