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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 3460474" data-attributes="member: 4937">Oh dear.  It's already happening.I realize that the first edition rules encourage in thier kludginess and obscurity house ruling and tweaking to suit your particular style of play, but I really wish people would create house rules as a result of actual play experience and not try to eye ball things or worse yet try to make them fit some imagined idea of what is realistic.Please, for your own sake, reconsider drastic changes in the rules until after you've played the game.  The recommendations I'm making are based on more than 10 years with the rules.  But I'd rather you played the rules as written than guessing about what is going to happen when you make this change or that.I'm the only 1st edition DM I know that used or paid attention to the 'weapon vs. AC' modifiers.  The game will play just fine without them; I just think it plays better with them.  I have no idea what your modifications will do, but I strongly suggest not messing with the rules for fighting with two weapons as the system is very sensitive to increases in attacks per round.  I also think it unlikely that you need any additional increases to hit and damage at all.  Wait until you see how few hit points monsters have before throwing around enhancements to damage, and keep in mind the weapon vs. size category modifiers to damage as well.  As to managing the 'weapon vs. AC' table, the system I used was quite simple - it just required a few minutes of preperation.  On the legal tablet you'll be using to make notes, on the cover page list the common weapons wielded by each of your players.  There won't be more than 3-4 usually.  Then precalculate the number needed for each weapon to hit each AC, and make an easy to read table.  The player then need only report what they rolled, and you can in an instant tell if they hit.  This not only elimenates the need to look up modifiers, it speeds play and combat compared to those DMs that don't use 'weapon vs. AC' tables but also don't use precalculated tables because you've moved all that work that would occur during a game session outside of the game session and all the work is done ONCE rather than repeatedly.  One table will generally last several game sessions before it needs updating, and updating one is usually straightforward.  Similar work can be done for major NPC's as well, and its even easier, since you only have to work the number out for what they need to hit each PC's AC rather than a whole table.  As for the rest, a DM screen is almost a must for first edition.  In 3rd edition there are no tables to speak of, so you don't need one.  But, a good DM screen set up (I used two, with photocopied tables paper clipped over less useful information) in 1st edition is a must for fast play until you memorize the tables.</blockquote>

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