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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ferratus" data-source="post: 5050814" data-attributes="member: 55966">I like 4e well enough for what it does, and I plan to keep playing it, but I've been getting a hankering for some nostalgic gaming from 1990.  However, I've been looking over as many old-school style retro D&D-esque games as I can get my hands on and there just seems to be a disconnect between what I want and the rest of the retro community wants.   I'm using 2e as my example because that's what I played when I was 12.Likes from 2e D&D:1. A single page character sheet2. 5 minute leveling up and 10 minute character creation3. Meeting your character through random generation rather than crafting a character.4. Playing without minis.5. Faster combat6. Capped attack bonus and AC7. Rolling for exceptional strength (I wish I rolled for all other 5 abilities)8. Magical items that do not exist to fill an equipment slot, but instead change the way you play your character.9. Classes for newbies and classes for more experienced players (though the "Points of Light" blog did make a convincing case for why advanced classes suck.)10. Different weapon speeds and different attack bonuses for certain weapons against certain armour.11. Racial ability requirements12. Secondary Skills and NWP13. Henchmen14. Strongholds and FollowersDislikes from 2e D&D1. Descending AC2. Class and level restrictions for certain races.3. Most of the racial abilities4. Less and more powerful classes depending on level5. Thieves suck and bards suck harder.6. Multi-classing and Dual-classing7. The Schools of Magic8. Level and Ability score draining9. Resurrection Survival Rolls10. Vancian spell systemThings I'd want to keep from 4e.1. Racial abilities (though not the extra-planar and monstrous races)2. Static Defenses to Ref/Fort/Will rather than saving throws3. Conditions (unconscious, slowed, dominated, weakened etc)4. Dungeoneering focused skill list (combined with NWP)5. The Cosmology (Feywild, Shadowfell, Astral Sea, Elemental Chaos etc)6. Healing Surges7. Standard, move and minor actions8. Philosophy of choosing unifying mechanics over subsystems9. Players can survive two hits from an orc at 1st level.10. Level progression rate.Things I want to grab from prior editions:1. Named Levels2. XP based on succeeding at objectives and gaining treasureSo as you can see, the bulk of the retro community is (perhaps unsurprisingly) much more nostalgic than I am, or have an appreciation for the quirks of the rules of older editions than I do.So given these preferences, I've started to think about what I would do for a retro game of my own design.   I decided building up from 2e would be the easiest, since I will not be using the object-oriented approach that 4e uses with feats and powers.   Player choices will largely be restricted to class (subclass), race, and level in order to make rolling up a character before the game, and leveling up an existing character, much faster and easier. The game itself will have 3 subsystems - magic, skills & talents, and weapon combat, but will be as internally consistent within each subsystem and between subsystems as possible.  In my 2e clone, they will not go to the extent of 4e where weapon attacks and spells both use the powers system.  However, attack spells will roll to hit just like weapon attacks do, and have their own casting times that are the same as weapon speeds.So, given this brief overview of what I want from a blending of old and new school D&D, I'm turning to the community for advice.  Should I indeed use 2e instead of 4e as the base to build on?  What problems do you forsee with the design philosophies of my system?  Does it pique your interest?How would you combine old and new school elements if you like both?</blockquote>

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