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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4834977" data-attributes="member: 80487">If you add NWP, then you're beyond baseline AD&D -- embarked already on the course to the excesses of 2E/ 3E/ 4E/ Rolemaster/ etc. (although there's no reason you can't stop short). NWP are absolutely, explicitly OPTIONAL even in 2E.All of a character's WP have exactly the same effect (no need for paragraphs of "non-rules" defining DCs and results); it takes a 40th level fighter to get 17; they're much simpler than BECM Weapon Mastery; and they are not so integral as skills (or the feats that correspond more directly) in 4E.There's no reason to need to refer to books at the table more in AD&D than in 4E. There's nothing system-specific about printing things in non-book form -- and the medium does not magically polymorph rules into non-rules. It would be foolhardy, in my experience, to leave the 4E PHB at home, and wise to have the DMG and MM on hand as well.As to where "most of the rules for the game" actually are, note that the 4E PHB alone has nearly as many pages as the 1E PHB and DMG combined (317 numbered pages versus 366 in later printings of the latter, including reference sheets and advertising). By the time one reaches the first of the character classes in 4E, one would have read all a non-spellcaster needs to know about how to play 1E AD&D. Even 126 pages into the 4E PHB (the full length of the 1E volume!), one is only nearing the end of the chapter on rogues -- which by itself is about as many pages as devoted to all classes (apart from bard) in 1E.On one hand, 4E's (better, in my opinion) layout "pads" the page count a bit. On the other hand, the 1E books offer a lot more "stuff" (more classes, spells, and magic items for a start). Even adding the 4E DMG (by itself about as many pages as the 1E volume) does not come close to matching the scope of the old game.</blockquote>

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