What DO you like about 1E AD&D

[Perun]

I never played "pure" 1e, but when I got into the game we used a mix-and-match of 1e and 2e core rulebooks (1e DMG and UA, 2e PHB and Tome of Magic, 1e and 2e MM, 1e MM2 and FF).

I miss the feel of the game, but feel is somewhat difficult to put into words, and most of the points I want to bring up were already covered by other folks.

I like how there isn't an expected wealth by level table.

I like the big-nosed gnomes.

I like reversible spells.

I (really) like how there aren't all that many buffing spells, and there's a large number of out-of-combat, utility spells.

I like the simple monster stat blocks.

I like how magic items were all but simple to create, and how you had to reach certain level before even thinking about making a simple potion or a scroll.

There's probably more, of course.

That said, I'd never go back to 1e/2e. At least not as a DM. The dreaded THAC0 still gives me nightmares.

 

[Aris Dragonborn]

It's hard to come up with something when others have said it so well, but I'll give it a try.

It's been said before in other places, but I really enjoyed the way Gygax wrote the books. It felt personal, like he was passing on some sort of grand tradition to the next generation of gamers.

The other thing I enjoy about 1ED are the memories that were created with my friends in our games. There were sessions of epic intensity, where we hardly dared to breathe, and there were light-hearted sessions where we played and laughed until we couldn't breathe and bs'd the night away.

They've since moved on to bigger and better things (and moved away as well), so I don't get to talk to them as often as I would like. But I can sit back and think of those days, of the fun we had playing D&D (and other rpg's), and they're with me again. D&D gave a shy kid a great way to make friends, and that friendship grew to include other interests (books, music, sports, and movies to name a few). And all thanks to a little game called 1st ED D&D.

Wide-open settings, and devils from hell,
Stat blocks on napkins, prose written so well,
Monsters so evil but loaded with bling,
These are a few of my favorite things!

FTW!

 

[Herobizkit]

Just a few things off the top of my head:

* Assassins
* Psionics
* The Unearthed Arcana (lots of *LOL* with that book)
* The Fiend Folio (Almiraj and Flail Snails and those cool half-human/half-succubus things)
* Dual-Classing, or Trio-Classing (?) for the Bard.
* The DMG. Seriously, where's the "building your own world" section in the 3.x DMG that actually offers useful advice, or random charts for when you just can't decide?
* Artifacts with good AND bad effects. Power with a price!

AD&D had a really "gritty" feel; all anyone needed was a place to go, things to kill, and loot to collect. If you could wedge a story in between the mass murder scenes, you were Doing It Right.

 

[wedgeski]

Yeah, reversible spells. That was cool. Weird-ass magical items as well... hopefully 4e will return to this ethic. I loved the way the game expanded in level, power, and scope with the sequential boxed sets as well, something I wish modern D&D would do except that WotC would be decried as simply trying to fleece the consumer. I have great memories of the early systems... but then I have great memories of all of the editions, including and almost especially 3rd Edition.

 

[Melan]

Among many other things:
1) XP for GP
2) dungeon-focused play
3) illusionists as a separate class
4) assassins
5) demons (that is, demons more as pulp monsters than metaphysical threats)
6) a healthy amount of randomness
7) the Gygaxian rulebooks in general
8) the idea of smaller, disposable modules
9) spells with side effects or unforeseen consequences
10) the wilderness/city encounters tables in the DMG; that's an entire implied setting on a few pages!

 

[diaglo]

What do you like about First Edition AD&D?

What makes it a great game, in your opinion?

the reliance on miniatures.
the resource management.
the quirky magic items
infravision
the miscability tables
the random harlots, strumpets, courtesans, etc...

 

[green slime]

Henry pretty much summed it up for me.

Still in essence a great game.

 

[JamesM]

It's been said before in other places, but I really enjoyed the way Gygax wrote the books. It felt personal, like he was passing on some sort of grand tradition to the next generation of gamers.

Very much agreed. In part, I think 1E feels this way, because Gygax was passing on a grand tradition, that of the pulp fantasies he read as a younger person, the knowledge of which was already passing from memory when 1E was new. When I began playing 1E, I felt as if I were being initiated into a secret club, where I was being taught about stories and heroes I'd never heard of before and whose exploits I could now emulate and expand upon. In short, 1E challenged my imagination by introducing me to writers and ideas I'd not encountered in the fantasy stories then current. It's why, even now, after decades of reading the authors from whom Gygax drew inspiration, 1E has a magical quality that no edition since has ever matched.

 

[Tewligan]

* Psionics

?!?

 

[Theron]

Oh, and Theron: Lucerne is a city in (Switzerland?), so your spellcheck would probably allow it. If it is pinging "armour" you must have it set to American spellings; set it to Canadian or British and you'd be fine.

Noted. I was aware of Lucerne's geographical significance. I'm just amused by the things Firefox decides will and won't float. For instance, "spellcheck" gets underlined. By the spellchecker. (Also underlined.)

But enough of that, back to the 1e love.