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I love all the GUMSHOE horror games (Trail of Cthulhu, Fall of Delta Green, Fear Itself, Night's Black Agents/Dracula Dossier), but Cthulhu Dark takes things to another level (for "purist" Cthulhu horror.) I like classic CoC, but never went beyond 2nd edition (as the editions churn, it became...

Yes perhaps the only useful pages in that book. Coming from Mentzer the concepts weren't totally alien to us.

I started my D&D journey with Mentzer, and moved to 2e in 1989 (it's the edition which saw more continuous time at the table than any other), but we rarely used ability checks in either games. Didn't particularly like General Skills when they appeared first in GAZ1, but the 2e NWPs saw a bit...

Excellent post! And a nitpick: the rule wasn't removed in Mentzer's. It's in the Basic DM Rulebook, p.20, column one "New rules and items". Not only that, but Mentzer expands the rule with alternative resolution mechanics involving dice different than d20, e.g. roll under with 3d6, 4d6 etc.

It goes without saying I can have any opinion I want ;) and generally I couldn't care less about others' opinions (including Gygax's). That said, and just for context, I started with BECMI, then moved to AD&D2e in 1989, played till 2003, then learned 1e; 2e is the edition that I played...

I was referring to the core rules, not any of the later splats (from what I recall from POCT, high masters increased the attack speed, but that wasn't a guarantee of going first). By the 2e DMG (earliest print, p.57, first column), there's an example of initiative and multiple attacks, and...

And the 1e fighter was even better due to how initiative worked; they automatically won initiative against enemies who didn't have multiple attacks, and they opened with two attacks rather than one attack like the 2e fighter. Magic-users and clerics were toast against a 1e fighter in close combat.

Indeed. AD&D 1e's XP system must be the one I prefer most amongst all the various D&D XP systems, both old and new (with 4e's scoring a close second.) While it's true that "scoring" doesn't directly involve roleplaying as it's based just on acquisition of loot (~80% treasure and magic items) and...

Give him time! He is still recovering from the ordeal :D

In keeping with the S&S themes of AD&D, you should contemplate this on the Tree of Woe ;)

Let us know how it goes! I am running it for the first time for my kids this Saturday (we are converting a B/X campaign).

Never used the Core Rules, only the dead-tree version of the rules. It was annoying, also considering the sheer amount of stuff in the PHB. It was way easier in BECMI and (to some extent 1e) to equip a character.

Truth! I am dying to play some Torchbearer or Mouseguard...

Started with BECMI, then moved to 2e, and ran with it for the longest continuous period of my gaming life (1989 to 2003 or so); there will always be a spot for 2e in my gamer heart. However, I also love original 3.0 (core only), and to some extent, 4e. Strongly dislike 5e. These days though...

There were no such packages in the core books (PHB, DMG, MM). It has always been an issue at my table before I started designing them. Something that 3.0 and 5e did definitely better.

Yes it doesn't always work thematically (see e.g. Dragonlance) but it gives players a simple, self-sustaining objective.

Primeval Thule (the Pathfinder version, written by Rich Baker) has an optional rule to use gold and treasure for XP, at the same ratio as 1e. I have imported it in my 3.0 games, and it works very well in a "standard" campaign.

I don't know if it's a generational thing (I am 52 now, started with the Red Box), or the way the presentation of the game itself fostered this attitude, but I always found it paradoxically difficult to "sell" the toybox nature of 3.0 to 3e players themselves. When I set the ground for the use...

This. The setting books are extremely interesting in terms of themes and ideas, but the rules themselves feel, most of the time, like fitting a square peg in a round hole; cyphers in particular strain verisimilitude.

Table on p.19, lists armor and weapons for all classes. Thieves are very limited in AD&D (note in particular no bows nor crossbows). In B/X and OD&D they could use all weapons.