OD&D 4E and its effect on 1E/OD&D

[Maggan]

In fact, I think diaglo pretty much made most of his entire GenCon about running OD&D (1974) sessions for folks.

That's great!

I think that this might be the only way to spark a "back to the old school" movement. The release of 4e won't do it, but people running their favourite games at cons and stores and stuff like that, would probably have more influence on people's gaming habits.

Get your favourite games in front of people! The internet chatter and advertising dollars favour the current D&D edition, but if you get people to sit down at the table, you'll make a far more persuasive argument than posting on EN World, or Dragonsfoot.

Of course, this applies to any game, old school or not. I managed to make Cyberpunk 2020 a staple of Swedish conventions during the 90's, simply by running events at every damn convention, and this got gamers to check out the game, and thus it became more popular than most other games for a while. At conventions, at any rate.

/M

 

[thedungeondelver]

That's great!

I think that this might be the only way to spark a "back to the old school" movement. The release of 4e won't do it, but people running their favourite games at cons and stores and stuff like that, would probably have more influence on people's gaming habits.

Get your favourite games in front of people! The internet chatter and advertising dollars favour the current D&D edition, but if you get people to sit down at the table, you'll make a far more persuasive argument than posting on EN World, or Dragonsfoot.

Of course, this applies to any game, old school or not. I managed to make Cyberpunk 2020 a staple of Swedish conventions during the 90's, simply by running events at every damn convention, and this got gamers to check out the game, and thus it became more popular than most other games for a while. At conventions, at any rate.

/M

Man, I never thought I'd say this but...sigh..."What Maggan said" (I'm kidding, Mag!)

Srsly? I run either D&D or AD&D at every con I run a game at. I've got a biweekly AD&D game that has grown to nine, and a weekly game of five where we swap GM's and when it's my turn, again, I run AD&D.

 

[Nikosandros]

I'm a big fan of AD&D and I just recently ran an adventure that was very well received by players that either had never played it or hadn't played it in a very long time...

That said, I really don't see how the announcement of 4e might make AD&D more popular...

 

[Valiant]

Hobo, I suppose I should have just PMed you to keep this thread clear of this kind of bickering or just blow it off (I don't think I'd bug the mods over something like this) sorry if my skin is not as thick as yours (I don't post often and am not used to this site) . BTW I agree with your basic premise (that 4E won't convert many 3Eers to 1E or C&C). I think alot will depend on how good 4E is. If it sucks (and thats possible) some players interested in a fresh D&D (who have exhauted 3.5 and grown tired of it) might turn to1E, C&C or OSRIC (assuming they haven't ever played these games, and from what I've seen at conventions and hobby stores its a youngish crowd). If 4E rocks (or is at least tolerable) I think eyes won't be looking back really.

I agree the best way to get people interested in 1E is to show it off, esp. with the new interest 4E will generate.

 

[Crothian]

I imagine those not liking 4e would stay with 3e. Talking to gamers around here there is no interest I've seen of going back to 1e. I've talked about doing some OSRIC one shots and there has been zero interest so far.

Personally, if I don't like 4e (and I have no idea if I will as I've purposely been ignoring everything on it) I'll jump to another game. I want to play Star Wars, I'd love to get back into Buffy, maybe get a few indie campaigns going. There are just so many other choices then going back to what I was doing 20 years ago.

 

[grodog]

Man, I never thought I'd say this but...sigh..."What Maggan said" (I'm kidding, Mag!)

Srsly? I run either D&D or AD&D at every con I run a game at. I've got a biweekly AD&D game that has grown to nine, and a weekly game of five where we swap GM's and when it's my turn, again, I run AD&D.

There's some general movement over on Canonfire! to plot and plan some sort of Greyhawk multi-round tourney for GenCon next year (since Greyhawk will have, in theory, officially died at Origins, with the death of Living Greyhawk).

If we do in fact get this together, friends here in Wichita who plan to go (and myself) will likely run an AD&D version of this tourney, too (presuming that the tourney will be in 4.0 or 3.5, which I don't know offhand, but again do assume). So, we may well be looking for DMs if this becomes serious, and if so, I'll post here as well as at the usual sites (K&K, DF, PPP, CF!, Finarvyn's OD&D, etc.) about it.

More details after we game on Monday, when we'll be discussing this!

 

[Valiant]

I imagine those not liking 4e would stay with 3e. Talking to gamers around here there is no interest I've seen of going back to 1e. I've talked about doing some OSRIC one shots and there has been zero interest so far.

Personally, if I don't like 4e (and I have no idea if I will as I've purposely been ignoring everything on it) I'll jump to another game. I want to play Star Wars, I'd love to get back into Buffy, maybe get a few indie campaigns going. There are just so many other choices then going back to what I was doing 20 years ago.

Yeah, I don't think anyone around these parts (given this places history) would ever consider going back to 1E. It would need to be guys who've never seen or heard much of 1E, that missed the edition wars. Perhaps a steady stream of OSRIC and C&C modules and the OSRIC book in gaming stores (assuming it gets completed) will generate some interest.

 

[Minicol]

With 4E coming out, I wonder if we'll see more 3.5 players start looking at 1E and OSRIC/C&C (and other new 1E support material). To some extent I think 4E is a response to public awareness of these 2 systems (a return to simplicity). Certainly, they're promo tries to play off of the evolution of 1E (grounding it in the games roots). Why not get people to actually take a look at the original game.

We had this discussion yesterday with my gaming group. Most of them have played earlier versions of D&D, and they said that thanks to the D20 system, 3.X was the first version that made any sense to them. they could see some logic, that was impossible (for them)with earlier editions.

3.X (and a lor of effort on my part) brought them back to D&D. I was a DM in earlier versions too. I had a lot of difficulty learning the ropes of 3.X at first, but then I would never consider going back. I just don't like the old system anymore. And it is not nearly as difficult to convert 1.X or 2.X stuff I like as they would let you believe, so there is no point for me to ever go back.

 

[Minicol]

Man, I never thought I'd say this but...sigh..."What Maggan said" (I'm kidding, Mag!)

Srsly? I run either D&D or AD&D at every con I run a game at. I've got a biweekly AD&D game that has grown to nine, and a weekly game of five where we swap GM's and when it's my turn, again, I run AD&D.

That's nice to know, but probably ... that's beacause you are a good DM, not necessarily because of the system

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Yeah, I don't think anyone around these parts (given this places history) would ever consider going back to 1E. It would need to be guys who've never seen or heard much of 1E, that missed the edition wars. Perhaps a steady stream of OSRIC and C&C modules and the OSRIC book in gaming stores (assuming it gets completed) will generate some interest.

3.5 drove me screaming back to 1e, I don't see why 4e can't do the same for others.