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On another forum someone was comparing and contrasting their experiences playing with friends as opposed to organized play in Friendly Local Games Shops, and they jokingly called the latter “Stranger Danger D&D” because you never know quite who you are going to meet... 😬 One reason I wanted to...

Yes, we lived in a very small town and went to a fairly small school, so our groups were schoolmates and friends. D&D was our main hobby and often the main basis for the friendships. We did not always get along and we sometimes played with people we liked less than others, but both players and...

It is always interesting to read stories about how different tables played the same game back in the day. In my main AD&D 1E group most people seemed to settle into playing the same type of character over and over, usually human warriors or elf wizard types, whereas the whole reason why I...

My old AD&D groups never really settled on a consistent method. I think we sometimes used Method I (4d6, drop lowest, arrange as needed) or even a variant using 5d6, but I don’t think we even knew about the other three official PHB methods or the overpowered UA Method V. In retrospect we did...

I have seen suggestions that the UA barbarian and cavalier might have worked for one-on-one play, in which the DM does not have to worry about whether things are fair for the other players because there aren’t any. In the spirit of 80’s sword and sorcery movies, the solo PC barbarian could pick...

I was the only person in my 1E group who ever played an illusionist. My gnome illusionist / thief became one of my favorite characters. I had originally envisioned him as a sort of harlequin jester who would mix sleight of hand (thieving skills) with sensory wonders (illusion spells) to pull...

I actually think you are correct, but both classes seemed to be underrated and overlooked back then. They both had slightly quirky abilities that could be limited or even neutralized if the DM interpreted the rules in a particularly strict way, or if the adventure did not offer good...

I am experiencing some Mandela Effect here regarding missile weapons. I could have sworn that clerics, druids, mages, and illusionists could all use slings, and that thieves could use slings, short bows, and light crossbows. Was this a change from PHB to UA, or just a house rule I thought was...

I like putting the magic back into magic items by giving more of them names, histories, notable former owners, and extra powers that are themed in some way. Maybe the powers need to be unlocked gradually, as the new PC proves that they are worthy to wield this ancient weapon or eldritch staff...

Well that makes more sense. Interesting that the GDQ series was probably what made me think of it in the first place. I don’t think the drow city would have a Paladin’s Guild where you could practice jousting.

In retrospect it is kind of amazing how EGG’s writing could be so verbose while also being so thoroughly opaque, leaving important game design goals in near obscurity. Ironic that Gygax’s favorite class, the fighter, may have suffered the most from having so many of its class features (e.g...

Strict application of the training rules would also act as a disincentive to exploration. It would be hard to go hex-crawling over the hills and far away, or sailing off into the wild blue yonder, if you know that you cannot level up until returning to a home base of some sort. Explorers would...

I have never come across an explanation for why crossbows were so weak in AD&D, when IRL they were super effective. When I first got the 2E PHB I loved most of the new rules, but was baffled that they actually buffed long bows with the addition of sheaf arrows (1d8 damage) while leaving...

There was one UA polearm (fauchard-fork maybe?) that had a special ability to pull opponents off balance with its hook. The derro from MM2 used it as a standard weapon. As a DM I used them in a derro encounter I made, and as a player rolled up a polearm fighter who used a fauchard-fork, but it...

When I started playing 1E c. 1986-87, UA was “the new shiny” and everyone was excited to own and read the book, simply because it was new official D&D content. In retrospect, we only consistently used weapon specialization, the spells and magic items, and the expanded class choices and...

A few more thoughts about Wizardry, and how it both followed old D&D conventions and also anticipated some later trends in character building and party composition. For my friends and I, this game felt like playing D&D solo since the minimal dungeon graphics were basically the same as theater...

I am imagining the “open market” for magic items in a Gygaxian 1E world like Greyhawk: (a sketchy half-orc dweomer-monger, clad in a long black leather overcoat, lurks in a dark alley next to the odoriferous privy behind the Drunken Druid Tavern, accosting passersby) “Pssst... hey buddy...

I wonder how closely “New Jobs for Demi-Humans” matched the expanded rules for demi-humans in Unearthed Arcana, released this year (1985). That book became notorious for errors and misprints, and when we reach November 1985 there will be a Dragon article of UA errata and rules clarifications...

Wizardry also had ASIs and proto-prestige classes. Your abilities had a random chance to increase every time you levelled up, and occasionally that would allow a character of the four basic classes (Fighter, Mage, Priest, Thief) to switch to elite classes usually unavailable at level 1...

My memories on this point may be faulty, but my impression was that “magic shops” were one of those things that EGG absolutely forbade, somewhere in the advice section of the DMG. But I also seem to remember rules for selling unneeded magic items and counting them as monetary XP rather than...