What do you miss from the good ol' days?

[Scribble]

Oh, I guess I also miss characters rarely dying. I accept that adventuring should be difficult, dying is too easy in 3E sometimes compared to 1E (or compared to value of photocopied sheets).

Oh thats another thing I miss!

When I was a kid my parents were teachers... I could hand them a character sheet and say could you guys make me a bunch of copies of this?

And they'd come home with like 100 character sheets... (paid for by all your tax dollars.. thanks for funding my games!!!)

now I have to use my own printer. Lame.

 

[tinktinktinktink]

I don't miss anything about previous editions of the game. If I don't have it, I find it, or find someone else who's done it and copy their work.

 

[Zendragon]

First edition
Lack of Rules Lawyers!
Cavaliers
Unearthed Arcana (original)
Percentage based skills
Different progressions for classes (made you think of ways to keep the wizard alive)
Different spell lists for classes
Different abilites for classes.
Drow were always evil and the best villians in the game.
Variable artifacts. Sure every one knew of the Ring of Gaxx and Baba Yaga's Hut, but you would never know what powers they actually possessed.
Simple monster xp.
Energy drain meant something back then

 

[Shortman McLeod]

Everything I missed about earlier editions I simply houseruled in; everything I like about 3.0 and 3.5 I kept. For example, I kept cover and concealment and weapon size from 3.0 (weapon size modified ala AE). I made classes more iconic, and added class restrictions based on race (including human subtype). I added a simplified weapon speed system, and spell research rules modified from 2e. I used Priest-Thrall prestige classes instead of specialty priests, and gave the potential of racial classes to everyone.

In essence, I refuse to simply "miss" things about previous editions. I made substantive changes to the rules, replacing the core rules with my houserule book (over 600 pages) that includes all of the SRD which is used in the campaign world. Players need carry no other book to the game.


RC

Ah . . . so you make your players carry and read your 600 page houserule book?

 

[Shortman McLeod]

Now we get knights, warlocks, ninjas and favored souls.

Hell, I *wish* we had characters that were even *that* normal.

Lately all I'm seeing is 15th level Half Fiend/Half Gelatinous Cube Paladin/Assassin/Mystic Theurge/Witchhunter/Dragon Shamans with the Lycanthrope template.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The one thing I miss about earlier editions is the rules on armored arcane spellcasters.

Yes, there are ways to make armored spellcasters in 3.X...but its a lot tougher than the old days of "1) be a multiclassed elf or half-elf. 2) Run character."

Yes, I could houserule stuff- but that's not what we're talking about here.

I'd settle for an official Armored Spellcaster feat for the base arcane spellcasters, or making certain races able to be armored spellcasters, if only with certain armors.

After all, elves are described as having a natural connection to magic, even though they don't have a bonus in any of the core spellcasting stats. IMC, I altered elves to make their favored class Sorcerer to reflect this innate relationship with magic- it resonates with the class description of Sorcerer- but this could just as easily and logically be modeled by allowing elves to cast arcane spells in light armor.

Zendragon
...
Lack of Rules Lawyers!...

WHAT?

I've encountered rules lawyers in every edition of D&D. Heck, I've encountered rules lawyers in almost every RPG or wargame I've played.

 

[Thurbane]

4) The house rules. I mean, to make 2e work, you *HAD* to have house rules. And, while it sounds stupid, I sort of miss that.

I really don't want to get into this again, but that statement is misleading, to say the least. I played 2E for a good ten years, and I use just as many houserules in 3.5 as I ever did in 2E (or 1E, for that matter).

It just raises my hackles when people tell me that 1E or 2E didn't work. Almost 20 years of personal experience would indicate otherwise. A better statement would be "1E and 2E rules didn't work for me".

...end transmission.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Oh, I guess I also miss characters rarely dying. I accept that adventuring should be difficult, dying is too easy in 3E sometimes compared to 1E (or compared to value of photocopied sheets).

You know, my very first character has died 6 times. Went from a 15 Con to a 9.

I'm not so certain that's an edition thing. Maybe characters are a little more likely to die in 3e since there's a greater power level, but then again, some of that depended on the GM.

 

[messy]

stat blocks that were short and sweet.

set xp values for monsters (already mentioned by vongarr).

the crazy side-effects of artifacts.

the artwork of erol otus and dave trampier.

on the other hand, there are many things i don't miss.

messy

 

[kaomera]

• 1e Initiative mechanics.
• House-ruling most magic items as being singular within my campaign world.
• Running a character (or party when DMing) to 6th or 7th level and then retiring them until we wanted / needed them again
• 1e Initiative mechanics.
• Having a "campaign" be a "campaign", a "party" be a "party", and level titles (that meant something).
• Playing in 3 games and running 2 more each week.
• 1e Initiative mechanics.
• Not knowing any better.

I could do these things in 3e except... I can't. Even if I managed to get players for 1e I'm not sure if I could do all of the above... :\