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That's how elves work in OD&D. Perhaps you're remembering that version?

Canadian English. Dire == bad. Dire situation Dire consequences Dire Wolf

Now more commonly known as Holmes D&D, and published in 1977. That wiki entry is really wrong. The 1974 D&D is normally called the 'White Box' D&D or Original D&D.

The rust monster, as originally designed, was probably the worst for players. I'm not sure about 'classic dungeon hack strategy' though. Gary was more about trick and traps than 'hacking'. When you did go up against his monsters they were smart and coordinated - his modules had monsters working...

Man, all they needed was to use their 10' pole...

People scoff, but the 10' pole is one of the handiest tool of dungeon crawling. ;)

The rulebook is a blue version of the box cover. You're probably remembering that. It did indeed stop at 3rd and players were encourage to switch to AD&D after that. The weird thing is that the monsters included some that were way above the ability of 3rd level characters.

The only people who would be playing OD&D now are folks that really want to build a game that is their own. As D&D added magic/monsters/treasure, the amount you had to invent yourself went down. Some people like to experience that type of game again where so much of it is their own creation. But...

This was my first edition, and to this day I still run people through the ruins under the wizards tower. The map had unusually large rooms but great encounters. I wouldn't play it again as B/X was a better rulebook.

I would only use 3d6 in order if everyone was on board with that. Using arrays sounds like a good way of providing some randomness and better than point buys or standard array. A DM I played with would usually have us generate 4d6 drop lowest in order and then can swap 2. HP was roll twice and...

I'll also mention that we found the XP level doubling worked as advertised. If you died and your 1st level character had to hang out with a 3rd level party, you'd have a lot of protection and would get to 3rd by the time they got to 4th. So you didn't stay vulnerable for long. And just like...

It's funny how we really play for different reasons. Having a pre-set idea in mind for my character and their story is not how I want to play. I roll, I see what that gives me and I come up with an idea. Taking a nobody and having them rise to greatness despite the odds is the game I want to...

I don't remember any advice of the type 'how to make fun for your players' and player motivations in Holmes, B/X or 1e. The 1e PHB did have a long section on how to play the game as a player - who can forget that awesome magic mouth drawing. B1 did have tips for players. Various editions did...

This is why I still am not sold on using dice rolls to determine players success/failure. I only use checks when failure has consequences or I'm uncertain of the outcome. And coming from OSR games, why not just assign a probability on a d6 instead of forcing the paladin of the party to do all...

Quite right. I'm the complete opposite. I want the randomness of the dice to determine who I am and forge a character and personality from that.

Yes, 3.5e DMG 2 was definitely preparing for 4e DMG.

I think the 5e DMG is full of great advice and useful tips. As is usual with DMG's, you don't really need it most of the time other than for the treasure section. But it is a good idea to peruse through it as you may be surprised at what they've included. 4e did have a great DMG for learning...

I'm one of those players. I usually DM, but I have a great memory of a game of Swords & Wizardry where I had 4 characters die at first level before finally having one make it. The thing is, I didn't just abandon those characters, I wove their experiences into that of my current character, so...

Different tables, different experiences unfortunately. I ran LL for 3 years monthly with 3 players and we had one death due to a specter level drain. The only rule change was I awarded XP at 100 per monster HD as it was in OD&D - this levels faster a low levels, but then becomes slower. After 30...

This statement seems strange to me. Why couldn't you reason with him? Why couldn't you run away if you felt it was too dangerous?