D&D 1E Common House Rules for AD&D?

PHATsakk43

Last Authlim of the True Lord of Tyranny
Gary shockingly would say both things, nearly simultaneously.

Famously he has his “you either play AD&D by the book or you’re playing something else just as one either plays poker according to Hoyle or doesn’t play poker” to his post-script in the DMG where he says, “YTMND”.

My only question regarding this is if this thread is regarding optional rules or actual house rules.

House rules are just that in my mind, not found in the book whatsoever. It seems most of the discussion has been about options or just ignoring “official” rules.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Voadam

Legend
Thanks for reminding me! I'm slapping my forehead on this one. I used "opt" as my search term in the texts.

It's definitely not labeled optional in the PH, contrary to Gary's preface (editorial errors in AD&D? I'm shocked!).
Nothing is standardized in 1e and often not where you would think to check.

I knew this reference was in the DMG, but in my PDF looking under the DMG combat section got me nothing, I thought it might be near the to hit charts, but no luck. I found it again by searching for "versus". It is over 30 pages before the combat section in a non combat armor and weapons section.
 

overgeeked

B/X Known World
Famously he has his “you either play AD&D by the book or you’re playing something else just as one either plays poker according to Hoyle or doesn’t play poker” to his post-script in the DMG where he says, “YTMND”.
Gary's afterword to the DMG is:

"It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. Never hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, if it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters given in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons volumes, you are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a whole first, your campaign next, and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as it was meant to be. May you find as much pleasure in so doing as the rest of us do!"
 
Last edited:

Emerikol

Legend
Gary's afterword to the DMG is:

"It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. Never hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, if it goes against the obvious intent of the game. as you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters given in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons volumes, you are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a whole first, your campaign next, and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as it was meant to be. May you find as much pleasure in so doing as the rest of us do!"
Still the single most influential paragraph and roleplaying history. I think for the good but not everyone I'm sure.
 

overgeeked

B/X Known World
Still the single most influential paragraph and roleplaying history. I think for the good but not everyone I'm sure.
With how few people actually read the DMG, I'd say there is another more influential paragraph out there.

“The D&D game has neither losers nor winners, it has only gamers who relish exercising their imagination. The players and the DM share in creating adventures in fantastic lands where heroes abound and magic really works. In a sense, the D&D game has no rules, only rule suggestions. No rule is inviolate, particularly if a new or altered rule will encourage creativity and imagination. The important thing is to enjoy the adventure.”

Tom Moldvay
3 December 1980
 

Mannahnin

Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
Gary shockingly would say both things, nearly simultaneously.

Famously he has his “you either play AD&D by the book or you’re playing something else just as one either plays poker according to Hoyle or doesn’t play poker” to his post-script in the DMG where he says, “YTMND”.

My only question regarding this is if this thread is regarding optional rules or actual house rules.

House rules are just that in my mind, not found in the book whatsoever. It seems most of the discussion has been about options or just ignoring “official” rules.
Optional vs official is a tangent, as far as I can tell, originating in Emirikol resurrecting the thread a month after the previous post.

We were talking before that about to what extent the by the book initiative rules are playable as written. I think most of us who've read the 1E rules closely would agree that they're not really playable strictly by the book, so they're the most commonly house ruled and altered part of the system.

Basically everyone ignores chunks of them (I've never seen anyone use potion onset times, for a low-hanging example), and the main question is HOW radically a given table/group/DM simplifies them.
 
Last edited:


Emerikol

Legend
With how few people actually read the DMG, I'd say there is another more influential paragraph out there.

“The D&D game has neither losers nor winners, it has only gamers who relish exercising their imagination. The players and the DM share in creating adventures in fantastic lands where heroes abound and magic really works. In a sense, the D&D game has no rules, only rule suggestions. No rule is inviolate, particularly if a new or altered rule will encourage creativity and imagination. The important thing is to enjoy the adventure.”

Tom Moldvay
3 December 1980
A good paragraph but I either read it for the first time today or I had forgotten it. I haven't ever forgotten the other one.
 

Voadam

Legend
From Gary's preface to the PH:

"Everything in the ADVANCED DUNGEONS 8 DRAGONS system has purpose; most of what is found herein is essential to the campaign, and those sections which are not - such as subclasses of characters, psionics, and similar material - are clearly labeled as optional for inclusion."

1e Subclasses were optional?

Huh.
 

Mannahnin

Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
"Everything in the ADVANCED DUNGEONS 8 DRAGONS system has purpose; most of what is found herein is essential to the campaign, and those sections which are not - such as subclasses of characters, psionics, and similar material - are clearly labeled as optional for inclusion."

1e Subclasses were optional?

Huh.
I think he's referring to Bards here, though the plural is confusing. Maybe he wrote that before the PH was complete, or he was considering including one or two more optional ones in the DMG.
 

Remove ads

Top