Wait, is THAT how that works?!

fjw70 · Jun 23, 2018

Nagol said:
Actually, 1e Fireball was the only spell where the area changed outdoors. Fireballs are very big.

Glad to know we got fireballs right at least.

Fleetwood C. DeVille · Jun 25, 2018

Nagol said:
Actually, 1e Fireball was the only spell where the area changed outdoors. Fireballs are very big.

First rule of magic-users in 1st ed: Thou Shalt Not Cast Fireball in a 10ft wide, 10ft Tall Corridor...even at maximum range.

The Grassy Gnoll · Jun 27, 2018

Red Box Basic - first characters. Our DM told us to roll d20 for stats and just make 1-2 a 3 and 19/20 an 18. Cue one Fighter with 18 Strength, 18 Constitution and nothing less than a 14! Happy days.

Edit: he realised his mistake but let us keep our rolls anyway. Game eventually fizzled out when we went our separate ways to secondary school, he was stuck at 4th level in the end ‘cause nobody else believed his stats and I wasn’t allowed to play him again :-(

JediSoth · Jun 28, 2018

The way AD&D XP was noted in the Monster Manual really confused us. 200XP +2/HP (or something like that). We thought it meant you got the 200 XP AND you received those hit points to add to your total. Our characters skyrocketed into HUNDREDS of hit points within a few levels.

We didn't even try to understand encumbrance.

We were 8, had pages of equipment, and a lot of fun.

UngeheuerLich · Jun 28, 2018

We awarded xp for finding magic items in 2nd edition although the xp had something to with creating those as we later recognized.

Our DM did not know what a "Gobelin" (some kind of tapestry) is. Admittedly they were quite unfit for an orc cave. Not so so the "goblins" hanging on the wall of many orc caves. We really thought orcs are not very nice to their underlings.

Bacon Bits · Jun 29, 2018

Fleetwood C. DeVille said:
First rule of magic-users in 1st ed: Thou Shalt Not Cast Fireball in a 10ft wide, 10ft Tall Corridor...even at maximum range.

33 cubes each 10' x 10' x 10'.

Elf_flambe · Jun 30, 2018

A friend got a copy of Basic blue box in '77. He allowed us to make photocopies of the monster and treasure lists so we could start stocking our own dungeons. So when we rolled a "stirge", we had no idea what that was. Since the list was filled with fighters w/ weird names ("Champion", "Myrmidon", "Gallant", etc), we figured it was just another name for a fighter that we hadn't heard of before. And since it did 1-6 points of damage, same as a short sword, that must be what it was armed with. So, a stirge was a fighter w/ a short sword!

Boy, were we surprised when we soon after got a copy of the AD&D 1E Monster Manual...

Les Moore · Jul 4, 2018

Down here in Florida, we call Stirges "Mosquitoes"...

Bacon Bits · Jul 4, 2018

For a long time, we only had the PHB, the MM, and a few modules, so we had no idea how common or rare magic should be.

I distinctly remember having a +10 dagger at one point. It seemed fair because 1d4 or 1d3 was such low damage. I think we changed it to +10 to damage pretty quickly.

Les Moore · Jul 4, 2018

Obviously depends upon the dagger, and who is wielding it. A mundane dagger, carried by your average NPC is going to do far less damage than
an Adamantine dirk, used by your hi-DEX rogue.