Can someone explain what "1st ed feel" is?

[Abyss]

I was checking out "Necromancer games" website today, and at the top of the page there is a paragraph which reads:

"The Third Edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game is here. Are you a veteran gamer? Do you remember the good old days of fantasy roleplaying? We at Necromancer Games do, and we are committed to producing high-quality products under the D20 System for use with Third Edition but with a "classic" First Edition feel."



Now I myself never played 1st ed. Can someone explain what a "first edition feel" is?


-Abyss

 

[MythandLore]

Now I myself never played 1st ed. Can someone explain what a "first edition feel" is?

The funny feeling in your tummy.

"OMG! That woman is so good looking that I feel like first edition."

 

[Grendel]

its like rappan athuk, take a look
it is old school dungeon crawl, it even has a couple of 'goofy' encounters thrown in for comedic effect.

basically its the type of dungeon you created and played 'back in the day'

 

[Melan]

Here is an excerpt from an interview the Necro guys gave:

Clark: First Edition is the cover of the old DMG with the City of Brass; it is Judges Guild; it is Type IV demons not Tanaari and Baatezu; it is the Vault of the Drow not Drizzt Do'urden; it is the Tomb of Horrors not the Ruins of Myth Drannor; it is orcs not ogrillons; it is mind flayers not Ilithids (or however they spell it); it is Tolkien, Moorcock, Howard and Lieber, not Eddings, Hickman, Jordan and Salavatore; it is definitely Orcus and the demon-princes and not the Blood War; it is Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound not Elminster's Evasion; and it is Artifacts and Relics from the old DMG (with all the cool descriptions).

I always say we want to be the VW Bug of roleplaying companies, meaning that we want to have a modern style and appeal but an obvious link to the past. One of the ways we do that is how we design the modules. For example, we use full color covers (not that funky mono-color of the old modules). But our modules have the same basic format of the old modules—inset art, module number in the upper left corner, diagonal band in the upper left corner, logo placement, etc. I guarantee you, when you look at one of our modules you will flash back to the old ones—just like when you see a new VW bug. And hopefully you will say "Man, that is just like an old module except cooler."

They are pretty faithful to their motto, their products are among the best I have seen on the d20 landscape (OK, I haven't seen that much, I admit), they offer very good product support and they have a nice forum, too. ... I can recommend them wholeheartedly.
Did I mention that they publish adventures by Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz?

 

[Starfox]

When I started playing 1ed, I was 13 years old. Now I'm 34. Perhaps what they mean is that they want to be 20 years younger?

More seriously, I think 1 ed feeling is a game centered more around having fun with whatever you are doing than about filling out your world with filler text. Who cares if the Tomb of Horror made little sense - as long as you have fun playng it. Who cares about the social interactions in drow society - as long as the drow are sexy and hard to kill? And you've got to love those Erol-Otis-style high boots.

It might also be a reaction to all the Ed Greenwoodesque things of the Forgotten Realms - Elminster above all.

Personally, I don't particularily liked 1ed; it was simply the only game available at the time. But 2ed was definitely worse - it got me off DnD for ten years. I only recently came back with 3E. IMHO, 3E is much closer to a revision of the first edition than second edition ever was. Second edition was a patch, an attempt to correct problems that introduced more problems than it cured. So my take on the 1ed feel is that it is really more of a break with the second endition than with the third.

 

[jasper]

I take my shield and bank it off the wall and strike 3 giants with it!
How come the elf look like mr spock.
There are 5 orcs in this 10 by 10 room the door number is 5 .
Yea orcs is easy the vampire behind door number 4 is trying to get the peanut butter off his fangs.

Basically is starts out with your in front of the dungeon door. Nothing on how your got there or who was your grandpappy!

 

[Wild Karrde]

It means if you are playnig a wizard (magic user back then) don't expect to survive beyond first level let alone second. Especially after you have used up all your darts.

 

[green slime]

Ever had a fingernail clipping stuck under your eyelid?

That's 1e feeling for ya!

 

[Darklone]

For me?

Easy. When I start to dream again. Reading a story or an adventure and the personae come alive. Having an image of the scene in my head. Feeling the hairs on my neck stand up. Enjoying the adrenaline rushing through my veins when I charge to the help of my friends with my rage slowly saying goodbye and my hitpoints closing to zero...

 

[Pielorinho]

Ever had a fingernail clipping stuck under your eyelid?

No, actually. And I'm kinda concerned for you if you have. How on earth...?

Ahem. necromancer's motto is definitely not a draw for me, although I know it is for other folks. I like story, and character, and above all culture: some of my favorite moments as a DM are writing myths for my campaigns, or figuring out what bizarre customs the coffeegrowing lowland elves practice. These were not priorities in first edition.

And for me, an illogical dungeon shoots my suspension of disbelief all to hell. We were playing through RttToEE recently (VERY MINOR SPOILER), and in going through one complex, I noted the corridors that travel only in cardinal directions but that wind all around. You go 20' north, then 50' east, then 10' north, then 20' west, then....

Digging underground is hard, even with magical help. Why on earth would anyone make their corridors wind all over creation, when they could just make the corridors be straight shots from one location to another? Even something that small can get under my skin.

I shudder to think what I'd be like playing through Rappan Athuk.

Daniel