Psion
Adventurer
Inherent who-wha?
1E Resurgence?
Inherent who-wha?
Grimstaff
Explorer
PeelSeel2
Explorer
From my own experience. I have two players who have only known 3.5x prior to joining our group. Through my rule changes (the running joke the players jibe me with is what rules have changed this week? What rule set are we using?) and system 'try outs', they have been exposed to older systems through BFRPG and C&C. Recently I printed out probably the finest article on 'Old School' gaming their is, "A quick primer for old school gaming'" By Matthew J. Finch, Untitled. They saw the rule set and the primer and wanted to borrow it. I let them. Now one of them wants to run it. The other is starting to run his own 4e campaign, but he is leaning towards running a OD&D campaign instead. I thought this was an awesome change of events.
I currently run a 4e campaign for the group and am loathe to change the rule sets or add rules just to get back to a stable gaming for a long while. 4e is probably the first edition I have not felt like tweaking too much.
I currently run a 4e campaign for the group and am loathe to change the rule sets or add rules just to get back to a stable gaming for a long while. 4e is probably the first edition I have not felt like tweaking too much.
Grimstaff
Explorer
I had actually considered whether a disdain of 4E may have brought some players to 1E, but then figured those folks would have already been playing either an old edition or 3.5, and not been looking for a change. Just goes to show ya, there's no truly valid generalization when it comes to gamers~
Regardless of the disparate paths to follow back to 1E, its reassuring that there is still so much material available on the secondary market, .pdfs, and even free stuff like OSRIC. It'd suck if the core 1E rules were as hard to get as, say, a fresh copy of Hawk the Slayer...
I'm not here on enough of a regular basis to gauge what's happening specifically on ENW, but since OSRIC there's been a slowly increasing tide of new blogs, new sites, and more modules appearing in the OOP websites like Dragonsfoot and Knights & Knaves. I don't think it's been linked to 4e - I don't recall a large blip - maybe a small one - around the time 4e came out.
My guess is that the tip of that iceberg is appearing at ENW more often, just because the iceberg's getting bigger.
However, I have seen several people come to the OOP message boards specifically because they saw OSRIC or Swords & Wizardry mentioned here as a way to learn 1e or 0e, respectively. I don't know how much that has fed back to here, though.
My guess is that the tip of that iceberg is appearing at ENW more often, just because the iceberg's getting bigger.
However, I have seen several people come to the OOP message boards specifically because they saw OSRIC or Swords & Wizardry mentioned here as a way to learn 1e or 0e, respectively. I don't know how much that has fed back to here, though.
Psion
Adventurer
Well, to state seriously what I was stating jokingly, I don't think 4e has much "old school" feel at all. If anything is repsonsible for a supposed spike in old school interest related to 4e, I would suspect it is that people dissatisfied with the degree to which 4e divorces itself from legacy D&D elements that 4e scuttles decide to consider games they already have to recapture that feel.
Is it my imagination, or has there been an increase of interest (ie posts) in 1E the last few weeks?
I wonder if the inherent old-school feel of 4E hasn't led more than a few gamers to explore the style's roots a bit more? Or if "edition wars" fatigue is fostering a fondness for the less-complicated gaming environment of yore?
Whatever it is, glad to see 1E AD&D is not going to fade away any time soon...
Are you seriously trying to say that 1E and 4E are similar enough that 4E has revived 1E? Considering the vast differences the two systems have, I would say that it's more like people are fed up with the new edition, tons of splatbooks, lather, rinse, and repeat roller coaster than any similarities between the two editions. They aren't even the same game. I'm no expert on 1e, but I'm sure it didn't have healing surges, videogamey powers for all characters, tieflings, dragonborn, action points, defenses instead of saves, etc. etc. All they really have in common is the names of some classes, races, and a few spells, AC, hit ponts, and medieval weapondry and armor. Maybe you're refering to the emphasis on rudimentary dungeon crawls for both editions. Other than that, I don't see where you are coming from.
Obryn
Hero
Well, I'll be a contradicting data point, I'm afraid.
I'm not interested in 1e again because 4e isn't scratching my gaming itch, or because it's somehow breaking the legacy. I'm still running a 4e game and am still enthusiastic about it.
I laid out my reasons up above.
One of them is that running 4e reminds me of running older editions. I know a lot of people don't believe this, but there you have it.-O
Similar experience but different: I looked at C&C and thought it was neat but too backwards. However, it led me to find Castle Zagyg, which in turn has gotten me on a Greyhawk kick. I also nabbed some old modules (Temple of Elemental Evil, Tegel Manor, etc.) and plan to do it all up for 4E because I like the ruleset and I'm more than happy to just wing the conversion to a degree.
Currently starting with 4e Rappan Athuk, but I'll definitely have opportunity to start using the Greyhawk stuff soon.
Henry
Autoexreginated
If he didn't, I'll say it.
I posted a while back a list of all the elements of 4E that do seem to hearken back to prior editions, from the "short rest between combats" to the staying power of monsters, to the XP awards, etc. etc. There are a lot of elements that seem to imply "this worked better than what we have now" sort of changes. This really isn't the thread for in-depth discussion of it, though, as it's more about 1E. What 1E resurgence has done however, even if a small resurgence, is make people mindful of the elements that make a game popular to average Joes and Janes, people who don't want to think about the mechanics very much, but who just want to either kill things and take stuff, or roleplay a character, or socialize with friends, or some combo of the three.
Games like Labyrinth Lord or Castles and Crusades do remind me that there was a reason (besides a Satanism scare) that people turned out in tens and twenties at game tables throughout the Seventies and early Eighties, and looking back to the old while thinking about the new is a good way to remind us just what was popular about those games to those people who weren't smitten with die-hard gaming, but just those who wanted a fun experience at the table.
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