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<blockquote data-quote="Bendris Noulg" data-source="post: 1393021" data-attributes="member: 6398">&gt;blink blink&lt;&nbsp;Old skool?&nbsp;Wow...&nbsp; No disrespect taken, although this to some degree illustrates the shift in the game's paradigm.&nbsp; When I was first attracted to D&amp;D, I was immediately fascinated with the countless possibilities the game presented.&nbsp; True that 1E was what it was, but I recognized its worth as a foundation to endless variations.&nbsp; Unfortunately, it took over a decade to find a group that saw the game as something more than, well, &quot;breaking into homes and taking the stuff&quot;, as the anology goes.&nbsp; That this trend is once again the &quot;base line&quot; and that my view of the game would be considered &quot;old skool&quot; is kinda scary considering that it used to be called &quot;revolutionary&quot;, &quot;pioneering&quot;, and &quot;hard core&quot; and today's &quot;break in/take loot&quot; mentality was old skool.&nbsp;(That make's you folks &quot;retro&quot;, don't it? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue&nbsp; &nbsp; :p"&nbsp; data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> )&nbsp;I must say also, though, taking Plane Sailing's comment into focus, while I don't ever recall mentioning hand-me-down magic items on these or any boards, I do recall the 1E character sheets having a &quot;will&quot; on them, which was often used by many players to ensure that their possessions were passed on to as-yet-unwritten characters (and worse, I've seen it used by said players to convince dim-witted GMs that said will should allow their 1st Level PCs to be walking around with Excalibur, Stormbringer, and what ever other dream-item was in the latest suppliment).&nbsp;With all honesty, this &quot;will&quot; might have been on the 2E character sheets; we made our own character sheets by then and so I've never seen one.&nbsp;Ah, but this leaves out a key factor: In the pursuit of what is called an &quot;effective&quot; character, these items and their exact powers are anticipated and integrated into the character design.&nbsp; The players know that at Level X you will have Y amount of gold and thus pre-plan their purchases/creations.&nbsp; In this regard, the items aren't strengthening the character concept so much as they are part of it, which is the nature of this particular view point.&nbsp;And, as you pointed out, those items are part of the balance: Remove items, spellcasters are over powered; remove spellcasters, Monks and Rogues are overpowered, etc. etc. etc.&nbsp;About a year ago, I met some younger gamers at a gaming shop, and we ended up talking in the mall's food court (haven't done that in years...).&nbsp; During the discussion, I ended up describing the 1E module In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords.&nbsp; Half of them couldn't believe that such a module could have possibly been written (mid-level PCs without any equipment?!), while the other half were immediately debating over whether the Sorcerer, Monk, or Psion would be the best choice for the adventure.&nbsp;Honestly, I'm not sure which half scared me most.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bendris Noulg, post: 1393021, member: 6398"] >blink blink< Old skool? Wow... No disrespect taken, although this to some degree illustrates the shift in the game's paradigm. When I was first attracted to D&D, I was immediately fascinated with the countless [i]possibilities[/i] the game presented. True that 1E was what it was, but I recognized its worth as a foundation to endless variations. Unfortunately, it took over a decade to find a group that saw the game as something more than, well, "breaking into homes and taking the stuff", as the anology goes. That this trend is once again the "base line" and that my view of the game would be considered "old skool" is kinda scary considering that it used to be called "revolutionary", "pioneering", and "hard core" and today's "break in/take loot" mentality [i]was[/i] old skool. (That make's you folks "retro", don't it? :p ) I must say also, though, taking Plane Sailing's comment into focus, while I don't ever recall mentioning hand-me-down magic items on these or any boards, I do recall the 1E character sheets having a "will" on them, which was often used by many players to ensure that their possessions were passed on to as-yet-unwritten characters (and worse, I've seen it used by said players to convince dim-witted GMs that said will should allow their 1st Level PCs to be walking around with Excalibur, Stormbringer, and what ever other dream-item was in the latest suppliment). With all honesty, this "will" [i]might[/i] have been on the 2E character sheets; we made our own character sheets by then and so I've never seen one. Ah, but this leaves out a key factor: In the pursuit of what is called an "effective" character, these items and their [i]exact[/i] powers are anticipated and integrated into the character design. The players [i]know[/i] that at Level X you will have Y amount of gold and thus pre-plan their purchases/creations. In this regard, the items aren't [i]strengthening[/i] the character concept so much as they are [i]part[/i] of it, which is the nature of this particular view point. And, as you pointed out, those items [i]are[/i] part of the balance: Remove items, spellcasters are over powered; remove spellcasters, Monks and Rogues are overpowered, etc. etc. etc. About a year ago, I met some younger gamers at a gaming shop, and we ended up talking in the mall's food court (haven't done that in years...). During the discussion, I ended up describing the 1E module In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. Half of them couldn't believe that such a module could have possibly been written (mid-level PCs without [i]any[/i] equipment?!), while the other half were immediately debating over whether the Sorcerer, Monk, or Psion would be the best choice for the adventure. Honestly, I'm not sure which half scared me most. [/QUOTE]

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