D&D 5E I played a game of Classic D&D.

Eltab

Lord of the Hidden Layer
I'm mildly surprised that nobody has taken my comment on Page 1 (about using equipment) and observed
that I was almost 40 years younger back in 1980, and therefore a lot less wise / agile-of-the-mind / experienced back then compared to now.
 

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Eltab

Lord of the Hidden Layer
Of course it did. In fact, it supported it better than any current edition does. You just have to figure out what to do with it, and have a DM that's not a dick.
And that was the rub: I hadn't had a lot of practice in using my imagination yet.
 

Coroc

Hero
Last year I planned a Tour de D&D. The idea was to play 1st level as Basic, 2nd level as 2e (minus our groups myriad house rules), 3rd level as 3e, 4th as 4e, and finally 5th as 5e, and just convert the characters as best we can. Actually we didn't make it past basic, because I was waiting for the characters to get enough xp to organically make second level before advancing them to the next stage. My mistake (oops). Still, it was educational, and I loved how straightforward and uncomplicated it was.

ROFLMAO, I would have clicked laugh with this post but its on timer still :p
 

Coroc

Hero
Yep. ball bearings, torches, etc. All sorts of things a PC could use back then. In fact, IME, when the PCs didn't have a list of abilities or powers, the players tended to be a bit more creative in how they did things. That's all anecdotal of course.

And a MU with a charm person spell was the shizznit in TSR days. Extremely powerful spell. Everyone thought you had to go with magic missile or even sleep. Nope. CP was the most useful and powerful 1st level spell.

Do not forget the 10 foot pole! best made from a ladder half! :)
 

Sacrosanct

Legend
I'm mildly surprised that nobody has taken my comment on Page 1 (about using equipment) and observed
that I was almost 40 years younger back in 1980, and therefore a lot less wise / agile-of-the-mind / experienced back then compared to now.

Probably because that doesn't matter. The most creative and imaginative players I've ever DM'd were new to the game, especially if they were kids. They generally aren't predispositioned with assumptions the rest of us old timers have acquired over the years.
 


Inchoroi

Adventurer
I love 5E but joined another group and playing Classic D&D.

It was so different it wasn't even close to 5E. It was horrible in every possible way.

People Died left and right, like sometimes for almost no reason. I felt like I was in the middle of a warzone.

The 1st level cleric had no spells. He just looked at me and said"Got to prove my faith before my god gives me $%$%$."

I died. Made another character in 3 minutes and then died again.

It was horrible.

There wasn't some huge earth shattering adventure either it was like Monday out on the edge of the wild,near a small town.

For some reason I loved it far more than all my 5E games combined. Crap! Maybe I'm a old schooler at heart! or maybe it's just a thing that will blow over when i never reach 2nd level.

Still, the only thing I didn't like was race as class and the DM had house rules that got rid of that. Though you did need a lot more exp to level as a Elf. Elves must be rare as all get out!

I love me some B/X, or, really, any OSR fantasy game--personal favorite is Swords & Wizardry. So many drunken one-shots playing B/X. I never had a character reach level 3, and only one, an elf named Belarophon, made it to level 2. My dwarf got sucked through a magical telescope to another dimension...as a liquid.
 

KarinsDad

Adventurer
I suspect - and other can correct me if I'm wrong - that where in 1e individual characters died but the party survived, in 5e they all sink or swim together because of all the available healing. In other words, in 5e the tendency is much more toward if you kill one you're probably most of the way to killing them all.

Probably. In 5E, my first PC died by via a Lightning Bolt. Failed the first death saving throw, was too far back for the healers to get to him (or for anyone to give a healing potion), double failed the second death saving throw (rolled a 1). Nobody else died. But, I think that this is an exception.

I think that in general, it is just flat out harder to die in 5E (death saves instead of too low of damage, ranged healing, potions, damage mitigation, etc.) which in turn results in the sink or swim together. In 1E, a PC was just flat out dead against hot dice rolls, regardless of whether it was a tough encounter or not and regardless of whether allied PCs tried to save him.
 

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