I love AD&D

[thedungeondelver]

I love 1st edition AD&D. I do. I think it's a fantastic game system. It is the best D&D I've ever played, and I've played them all. Gary's writing is awesome. The default assumption of GREYHAWK throughout the mainstay of the system's publication is awesome, too.

Once you get the flow of the rules organization, finding things in the rulebooks (on the occasions they're needed) is a snap.

The modules are great, and I really like the artwork.

1st edition AD&D is my favorite RPG. It isn't the only one I play, nor is it the only one I like, but it's the one I like the most, and the D&D I'll play given the chance.

1st edition AD&D rocks.

 

[MichaelSomething]

thedungondelver loves AD&D? GASP! I would never suspect that AD&D would be the game that you enjoy the most! This is a complete suprise that no one could ever predict!

Seriously though, it's good when you have a game that's the perfect match for you. I'm sure that you have tons of fun with it at your gaming table. Get you game on!

 

[Mythmere1]

Even though I actually play 0e/Swords & Wizardry, I agree that AD&D is awesome. Love the art, love the wonky rules, love the Gygaxian language!

And man, I really hope this doesn't turn into an edition war with people coming to say what they don't like about it. Let a thread stay positive about a game people like.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Playing 3.5E and burning out on it reminded me how much I loved and missed AD&D. If I was to take a break from 4E, AD&D would be what I would turn to.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I can still feel the AD&D love too. I would still play or run it if I could find a local group. I offered to run OD&D/BD&D/AD&D or any retro-clone on our gameshop messageboard, and no luck. I have enough BD&D/AD&D gamebooks to supply a table of 5 players too.

 

[Obryn]

I have a good time with it, too. Apart from maybe 1 year where all I had were the Basic and Expert sets, it's more or less the game I grew up on. Kind of. As much as any grade-schooler did, liberally mixing B/X and AD&D together.

I still can't crack open the PHB or DMG without wanting to sit down and run a game. Which is why I started doing just that a few months back!

My 1e Temple of Elemental Evil game is going wonderfully, even if 6 out of 8 characters died last session in a classic Gygaxian death trap. We're playing again, finally, this week with just about a brand new party.

Anyway, I don't know that it's really meaningful for me to say what my favorite kind of D&D is. I don't compare Battleship, Risk, and Monopoly directly either. I love running 1e, I love running 4e, and I love running Call of Cthulhu d20 (which I'm also doing this week).

So hey, I agree. AD&D rocks.

-O

 

[Aus_Snow]

Although I started with B/X (Basic / Expert), my fondest D&D memories are of when I got my own AD&D books, so I could run something. I didn't look back. Of all the things I ran using AD&D, the bestest of all would have to be Lankhmar. Ah, good times.

Evocative art, appealing writing, some nice innovations - and solid advice, what's more - just plenty of good stuff, really. Including some neat tables and tools I still turn to, even when not running AD&D, or anything particularly compatible.

I'd drop everything and run all the way to someone's place (erm, within limits, anyway), to play some AD&D again. It's been a while, but I'm sure it would all come back quickly enough.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

The 1E DMG was certainly the most fun DMG of all the editions. I've kept my copy and still occasionally crack it open to use one or more of its many system-neutral charts or just to read for inspirational ideas.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

To add to the previous, I love how well AD&D does a fast paced action/combat game. Both as a player and a DM, the gold box CRPGs Curse of the Azure Bonds and Champions of Krynn were a big inspiration to my 2E days, and that sort of play on the combat end was what we always strove for.

 

[Dyson Logos]

I really REALLY enjoyed AD&D1e.

But the most recent campaign that I played in was everything that some people claim is so bad about 3e - micromanaged rules, character "builds" instead of role-playing advancement, emphasis on tactical grid-based combat, and the feeling that if you didn't have a special ability to do something, you couldn't do it at all.

It really goes to show that it's not the rules set, it's the players and DM that set the tone of the game. It pains me to have people do that to such an awesome game.

Really turned me off. I figure I'll stick to 3.x and B/X for a while before I head back to 1e again any time soon.

That said, I've been re-reading the 1e DMG cover-to-cover again for the first time since I was a teenager, and do I ever love that book.