I love AD&D

[TheGM]

Ulrick! Are you my lost brother? I have listed these reasons (while saying AC going up was the bomb) to my wayward son when he tries to dis 1E.

Don.

 

[Obryn]

I would disagree that Non-Weapon Proficiencies were optional under 2e in the way I normally understand "optional" rule systems. Yep, they're labeled as such, and if all you're using are the core books and writing your own adventures they're absolutely unnecessary... but pretty much every supplement and setting assumed that, yes, you were using the Non-Weapon Proficiency system. Kits - which were just outside of core rules - were particularly dependent on them.

-O

 

[thedungeondelver]

Some people found weapon proficiencies, as outlined in UNEARTHED ARCANA to be particularly onerous. I have found a use for them: solo or two person campaigns. When you've got a player, or two players, who don't want to run multiple characters, weapon proficiencies can be a good method for helping them to not have to roll up a new character every five minutes!

They're a good force multiplier.

 

[ExploderWizard]

In fact, AD&D almost geared itself for newbies to play. Each character class at first level had a small amount of skills to keep track of (yeah, the wizard only got one spell...). This made the game fairly simple to learn. The players didn't have to spend time mulling over their character sheets during play deciding what powers to use. Their attention was on the DM and what was going on in the game.

The whole post was great but this part deserves special attention. I think Ulrick just nailed the most important thing that makes AD&D awesome. Having the leveling process be a mere moment of bookeeping which allowed attention to return to the actual game is golden. No time wasted on wondering what you will choose from column A or B, or what items you would like to get for slot X when a level is gained.

When playtime is limited it sure is nice to devote more of that time to the actual game.

 

[thedungeondelver]

The whole post was great but this part deserves special attention. I think Ulrick just nailed the most important thing that makes AD&D awesome. Having the leveling process be a mere moment of bookeeping which allowed attention to return to the actual game is golden. No time wasted on wondering what you will choose from column A or B, or what items you would like to get for slot X when a level is gained.

When playtime is limited it sure is nice to devote more of that time to the actual game.

I'd just like to point out that Ulrick is incorrect - a wizard has anywhere from twenty-one to fifty-eight spells, ranging from 1st to 9th level. However a 1st level magic-user has the one spell per day they can cast.

This message brought to you by the Society for 1e AD&D Pedantry.



And yes, back on the serious side, the "mere moment of book-keeping" is one more point of AD&D Awesome. There's a tad bit more when you consider how to get the money to train to level. When the party is spending upwards of a month or more doing the training, the DM must of course have suitable surprises waiting for them in the wings should they return to the Caves, the Steading, the Temple, the Caverns, etc.

All also part of the awesome.

 

[Ulrick]

Ulrick! Are you my lost brother? I have listed these reasons (while saying AC going up was the bomb) to my wayward son when he tries to dis 1E.

Don.

Ha!

Na, just a guy who's observed a thing or two about his favorite hobby. But thanks!

I'd just like to point out that Ulrick is incorrect - a wizard has anywhere from twenty-one to fifty-eight spells, ranging from 1st to 9th level. However a 1st level magic-user has the one spell per day they can cast.

This message brought to you by the Society for 1e AD&D Pedantry.

LOL! That's what I get for playing 3e/3.5e for about nine years!
In AD&D they're called magic-users. A wizard is a name level. It is all coming back to me now!

Man, this thread makes me want to run an AD&D campaign--probably a mixture of 1st and 2nd Editions.

About a year ago I managed to get a short-lived AD&D 1st Edition campaign going. I had a blast! My players enjoyed themselves but they didn't like having "limited options." Two players ran rangers and complained about being "pidgeon holed" into basically playing "Aragorn." I found this interesting: the ranger is arguably one of most powerful classes in AD&D (2d8 HD at 1st level!), but they weren't happy.

They also, of course, complained about Thac0! So I had them roll the dice and I consulted the tables in the DMG. Then they complained about the tables. I was going to flip the ACs so they'd be like in 3e (AC 5 = AC 15) but the campaign ended.

Maybe I'll give it another shot here soon.

 

[thedungeondelver]

Ha!

Na, just a guy who's observed a thing or two about his favorite hobby. But thanks!




LOL! That's what I get for playing 3e/3.5e for about nine years!
In AD&D they're called magic-users. A wizard is a name level. It is all coming back to me now!

Man, this thread makes me want to run an AD&D campaign--probably a mixture of 1st and 2nd Editions.

About a year ago I managed to get a short-lived AD&D 1st Edition campaign going. I had a blast! My players enjoyed themselves but they didn't like having "limited options." Two players ran rangers and complained about being "pidgeon holed" into basically playing "Aragorn." I found this interesting: the ranger is arguably one of most powerful classes in AD&D (2d8 HD at 1st level!), but they weren't happy.

They also, of course, complained about Thac0! So I had them roll the dice and I consulted the tables in the DMG. Then they complained about the tables. I was going to flip the ACs so they'd be like in 3e (AC 5 = AC 15) but the campaign ended.

Maybe I'll give it another shot here soon.

Remember, the charts are there for you, not for them - tell 'em not to sweat it!

As to being shoehorned into a role by the rules, I say fie! Fie on 't!

Playing AD&D (and this is part of its awesomeness) is about putting into the role what you want out of it. So you wanted to play a thief rather than a fighter, but for whatever reason the stats weren't there - whose to say you can't reflect that in your character's concept and your vision of his or her background? Hey, yeah, you wanted to be a cutpurse but those jerks at the thieves' guild and their stupid "move quietly across the room for the instructor" tests...! So now you're out there in the big wide open world, making your living by a sword. You still think of yourself as a thief - except your lockpick is three feet of sharpened steel!

...and et cetera.

If players like lots of fiddly options, some suggestions (not just to you, but to folks in general) are:

Make sure to use "secondary skills", and let the players exploit these (but not lean on them!) Case in point, I had a shipwreck scenario happen that started with the sinking of the ship - one player had "net fisherman" as his secondary skill so I ascertained that he could cast a rope pretty well, and as the ship was going down he was able to lasso a nearby timber and use it and other jetsam as a makeshift raft until the party was able to get to a convenient (not so) deserted isle. Needless to say his abilities became priceless when the matter of food came up...!

Multiclassed demi-humans often help newcomers (or latecomers if they played before) get into AD&D. Show them what a fighter/magic-user or fighter/thief can do and watch their feelings of "limited options" disappear!

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I'd just like to point out that Ulrick is incorrect - a wizard has anywhere from twenty-one to fifty-eight spells, ranging from 1st to 9th level. However a 1st level magic-user has the one spell per day they can cast.

This message brought to you by the Society for 1e AD&D Pedantry.

And I'd like to point out that a 1st level magic user can actually cast up to FOUR spells per day - as long as they are cantrips.

 

[Nikosandros]

Some people found weapon proficiencies, as outlined in UNEARTHED ARCANA to be particularly onerous. I have found a use for them: solo or two person campaigns. When you've got a player, or two players, who don't want to run multiple characters, weapon proficiencies can be a good method for helping them to not have to roll up a new character every five minutes!

They're a good force multiplier.

How so? WP are already present in the PHB and I'm unaware of any advantage they confer to a character.

 

[ExploderWizard]

About a year ago I managed to get a short-lived AD&D 1st Edition campaign going. I had a blast! My players enjoyed themselves but they didn't like having "limited options." Two players ran rangers and complained about being "pidgeon holed" into basically playing "Aragorn." I found this interesting: the ranger is arguably one of most powerful classes in AD&D (2d8 HD at 1st level!), but they weren't happy.

That's a laugh. The AD&D 1E ranger is the least pigeon-holed version of the class ever. As a 1E ranger you can wear heavy, medium, or light armor depending on the mobility you desire. A 1E ranger isn't forced into using a bow or two weapons all the time-talk about a lack of options.