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These are adventures I have run where the structure, content, and approach of the published material contributed significantly to it being a freaking great time for me and my group - without me needing to hack or change large parts of it. Those with a star were particularly excellent. B3 Palace...

The weird unpredictability of TSR-era games is a huge draw for me. As DM, being surprised by something that happens in play is probably my favourite part of the game :)

We recently had the party attacked by a blue dragon/basilisk cross (Old Death from Slumbering Tsar) while aboard a flying carpet. It blasted the party with lightning breath and item saves kicked in. It shredded the carpet and while most of the party could fly (or were grabbed by those who...

It was originally in a fanzine. The Playing at the World blog covers it well: https://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2012/08/gygaxs-thief-addition-1974.html

I've had the same experience - ran a BX campaign and the group was full immediately with added players coming along all the time. As for the thief, we use the 2d6 version by @Dyson Logos - it's excellent: https://dysonlogos.blog/2009/08/01/d6-and-2d6-thiefin-for-basic-dungeons-dragons/

Same - I've seen plenty of my own blow up in my face. But I think that's part of a learning process that helps you refine your approach. Like, I'll always tell my players "hey, I want to try this thing but I don't have a playtesting department so just let's give it a go and if we don't like it...

Not just secret sauce but to me this is the basic recipe. Like, this is how it's supposed to work. Obviously not everyone feels that way and I respect that but my feeling has always been "but isn't hacking your own rules what D&D is?"

I was really struck by Peter Adkinson's take on house rules, which he mentions a couple of times across the episodes - namely that he loves them because they tell you what the DM wants their game to be like and set their game apart creatively. I love this. The idea that houserules are a mode of...

Tastes change all the time. I started with BX but my main game runs on 2e. Apart from the ability score mods and attack progression, which are still BX. And some of the class and action economy elements, which are 5e. And some other class elements, which are 1e. And the domain system, which is...

Yep - exactly! And it's that time limit that comes into play when you're a few weeks away from the nearest temple and only resurrection will do - which is what led to the current situation in our game. I mean, we do actually have three priests as player characters but in my game only certain...

The caster ages, so has to make a system shock roll. The recipient has to make a resurrection survival roll. In the case of the second high priest, she failed her system shock roll and died... and then failed her resurrection survival roll when a colleague tried to raise her. The adventurers are...

My current players are super wary of haste because of the aging effect - one group had a huge argument about it because the wizard cast it on the party without warning anyway. Thankfully no one died. And there's one temple in my game that now refuses to cast raise dead or resurrection for the...

Rappan Athuk for sure. The Citadel of Orcus in Slumbering Tsar (this is the capstone to an entire campaign that is utterly badass in its entirety - but the citadel itself is a worthy challenge). Gary Gygax's Necropolis. Goth Gulgamel, the capstone section of Ptolus.

If you aren't wearing a helmet, there's a 1 in 6 chance that any attack will hit you in the head, which is treated as AC 10.

For BX, I would go with Lost City over KotB. It's a great dungeon with a cool premise and has more weird atmosphere than the Caves of Chaos. Alternatively, send them to the Isle of Dread and have them be brain-fried by kopru in a volcano. For AD&D, absolutely Saltmarsh over Hommlet. U1 is one...

There is also a section on divine ascension in AD&D's Deities and Demigods (aka Legends and Lore) that presents a slightly less arduous approach, which may be worth a look:

I've never seen this before. This is awesome :D :D :D

Yep, something like that. You started as a fighter, then between level 5 and 8 changed class to a thief. Then between level 5 and 9, take up tuition under a druid, at which point you start advancing as a bard. You gained some druid spells, and a bunch of bard abilities - charm, legend lore...

That's from the BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, Immortals) edition of the game and is one of the routes to immortality (the Polymath). There are three others that don't require this - but all require you to reach the highest level in your class (which can be up to 36th). Rules for this...

Yeah, dwarves are great in those situations. Was there much difference in combat ability between the characters? I'm thinking of how all weapons would have been d6, with minimal ability score bonuses. You mentioned that they struggled to hit things - did this apply to the fighting men as well?