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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.

2e's optional level limit rules worked quite well, and I used them consistently; after all, the demihumans did get a lot of extra abilities, and they must be worth "something". Paying 2x XP up to the maximum racial level (possibly extended via high attributes), and 3x after the maximum is an...

Note that Ariakas was a human, so RAW he cannot multiclass, but he can become a "character with two classes" (start as a Fighter, then switch to Magic-user.) In the DL series of modules, he is a dual-class fighter/cleric; as a fighter/magic-user he would not be allowed to cast spells in armor...

PHB followed by DMG (in parallel with the MM). The DMG is your friend. Repeat: the DMG is your friend. For no other reason that the way the game is structured, there's very little, rules-wise, that's player-facing; the PHB won't tell you the rules for combat, for example.

Yeah Dark Sun is not for the faint-hearted (DM and/or players!) Back in the day I ran it pretty much by-the-book (the original set), using the Complete Psionics Handbook, Will and the Way, and Dragon Kings. I did use level limits, but with the optional rule in the DMG to double XP requirements...

The "problem" with ADDICT is that it's just a possible way to play, not THE way to play. The author extrapolates or gives a personal interpretation in many places, where someone else might give a different interpretation to the same text (e.g. he refers to a fan article in Dragon magazine to...

Hard to argue! The MotP is a really subpar product. D&DG does a much better job in its Appendix 1 at providing simple, gameable information for planar travel and adventuring. The book even provides an outline of the quest for immortality, which is remarkably similar to the overall Master...