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[Simon Atavax]

NOTE: I typed a long, detailed, beautifully written (IMHO ) post which I promptly deleted accidentally. I felt sick about it. So this post is a truncated version, which may actually be better in the end, since it will be shorter and more to the point. Brevity is the soul of wit, and all that.

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I have decided to spend the next several months (perhaps as long as 10 months or so) reading, studying, and re-learning AD&D 1e. I first played the game as a kid way back in 1980/81 at the tender age of 10. Naturally, we ignored most of the rules and went crazy doing all manner of things that weren't by the RAW. But AD&D 1e (along with GAMMA WORLD 1e and Moldvay/Cook B/X D&D) has always held a strong, powerful, place in my heart.

Lately I've been reading the 1e AD&D DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (no apostrophe in 'masters' ) by the great E. Gary Gygax. As a 37-year-old veteran gamer I am truly reading this old book as if it were the first time; my adult eyes are seeing things my 10-year-old brain would never have noticed, and I am appreciating this magnificent book in ways that would have been beyond me as a kid.

So here's the plan: spend 6-10 months just taking my time, no rush, learning the rules and doing fun stuff like creating character record sheets, etc. Run a few sample combats with miniatures to get the "feel" of the system. Then get out there and try to recruit players.

Eeeeeek! I'm pumped.

Now, your folks' feedback is important to me (which is why I'm posting this rather than writing it in a diary ) so let me close with three questions:

1. The "one spell a day" thing about 1st and 2nd level magic-users has always bugged me about AD&D 1e (and for that matter, 2e). I just don't like the idea that the magic user has his one, lonely little spell which, once casted, renders him a weak, fleshy target until the following day. I remember that, as kids, we beefed up magic-users through a very nifty in-game process: the young 1st level apprentice was given a healthy heaping of scrolls and wands from his mentor as a "parting gift". "Use them wisely, and you may survive," he was told. Does anyone have any thoughts on this issue?

2. In combat, why would PCs ever declare their action to be "set weapons to receive a charge"? Because as I read the RAW, it seems that actions in combat are declared BEFORE knowing what the monsters are going to do (thus giving a more simultaneous feel to things). But wouldn't setting weapons to receive a charge be the kind of thing the PCs would only do in RESPONSE to seeing the monsters charge?

3. I can't envision how an assassin can work as a PC class. I remember reading an article David 'Zeb' Cook wrote in DRAGON to the same effect, that assassins, by their very nature, were counter-productive to the concept of a heroic, unified party. Does anyone have experience in making the evil assassin class workable within a party?

Anyway, that's it for now. Watch this thread for more developments as I read AD&D 1e again . . . for the first time.