What DO you like about 1E AD&D

[Grazzt]

...and that druids had to duel with their superiors to advance to 12th level and beyond.

Assassins too. Rather, you had to assassinate the level 14 assassin to achieve 14th level. And then assassin the level 15 assassin (Grandfather of Assassins) to achieve level 15, IIRC.

 

[Matthew_]

Only when charging.

Actually, only when one or the other of the participants is charging, but yeah, I know it doesn't apply after having closed to melee.

 

[Storm Raven]

Assassins too. Rather, you had to assassinate the level 14 assassin to achieve 14th level. And then assassin the level 15 assassin (Grandfather of Assassins) to achieve level 15, IIRC.

Monks had to do the challenge up the ladder thing too.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

… and that druids had to duel with their superiors to advance to 12th level and beyond.

Assassins too. Rather, you had to assassinate the level 14 assassin to achieve 14th level. And then assassin the level 15 assassin (Grandfather of Assassins) to achieve level 15, IIRC.

Monks had to do the challenge up the ladder thing too.

And just to complete the circle… in 1978 or 1979, Draucca the Druid hired an asssassin to kill one of those high level monks so that fellow party member Fochar the Monk wouldn't have to risk his own life (his opponent was LE). I rolled the % assasination and sure enough the assassin succeeded and Fochar didnt' have to fight. However from then onwards, Draucca became known as “Draucca the Evil Druid.”

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I've been ruminating on this topic for several days now. It was easy to list dislikes right off the top of my head, but listing why I still LIKE it (to the extent that I have, at times, been more interested in a 1E AD&D game than another 3E game) has been much more difficult to nail down. So that very thing goes to the top of the list.

There is something UNDEFINEABLE that I like about. Maybe it's got a lot to do with nostalgia. A significant part, but that IS only part of it at best. I miss that idea, only fleetingly suggested in places, that this was ultimately loose tenets for organized fun, and not cold, calculated rules for a GAME. "Game" in this context having connotations of competition, perhaps not necessarily between player and DM but between player and player. I see that in the notion of finding fun not in the PLAYING of characters, but equally or moreso in the mere planning and creation of characters through the complex coordination and application of ever-larger and less manageable pools of components. Win by character creation.

Were some of the old rules complicated? Sure. Yet I find myself MISSING some of those needless complications and for a couple of years now having NO interest in the expanding complexity of 3rd Edition sourcebooks. I'd almost rather go back to a flawed, glorious mess of fun that is 1E and try to fix what's wrong with it than start with a crisp, cleanly designed system that is 3.5 and try to find for it the soul it seems to have eliminated.

What I like about 1E AD&D is that it is not a game of rules, but just rules for a game. Truly, my penchant for 1E boils down to that, and not some list of rules crunch or flavor text. It is the largely unwritten philosophy that lies behind the current game that makes the complete absence of philosophy behind the old game likeable.

 

[mmadsen]

When I look back to discern what 1E did best, I realize that most of AD&D's strengths were really Basic D&D's strengths. The "advanced" elements made us feel like we'd mastered a complex system, but they weren't particularly fun or helpful. What was fun was exploring strange underground kingdoms, tricking monsters and getting tricked, dying repeatedly, then triumphing -- and only resorting to actual rules on occasion.

 

[Lanefan]

Assassins too. Rather, you had to assassinate the level 14 assassin to achieve 14th level. And then assassin the level 15 assassin (Grandfather of Assassins) to achieve level 15, IIRC.

The only thing about that rule that's always bugged me is, what if the next guy up the ladder is already dead or retired? (it's a simple enough, but necessary, change to add the clause "...or prove a vacancy exists" into the rule)

Lane-"who's gonna kill you when you're already dead?"-fan

 

[Daztur]

The rules are just plain fun to read, hellishly organized, but fun.

 

[JDJblatherings]

The original DMG, a true work of art. I could read it for entertainment value alone.

 

[Gwaihir]

I asked my group last weekend if the next campaign could be 1e.

they replied "no, youd be the only one who knew the rules"

sigh...