D&D 1E Edition Experience: Did/Do you Play 1E AD&D? How Was/Is It?

[billd91]

We had a blast playing 1e. The PH was the first game book I ever bought - I got it with my own money at the Waldenbooks at the closest shopping mall to home, got the keys to the car from my mother, then dashed out to the car to dig in and start reading it. We had already been playing Holmes Basic and a bit of the Redbox Basic but were itching to move up to the more advanced game with more options.

So 1e was the main game of my high school and half of my college years (we also mixed in things ranging from Star Frontiers, Traveller, Villains and Vigilantes, Paranoia, Indiana Jones and more). It obviously got quite a workout. We were playing long sessions weekly (particularly once we started driving and could get places under our own power rather than relying on parents), reading Dragon Magazine religiously (I had the subscription in the group), and saving the world regularly.
It also had a lot of longevity - we used elements of 1e right through our play of 2e because they were so compatible. We used whichever bit we preferred if they differed.

One thing about 1e. When looking through the materials, particularly the PH, the art and design is so much more evocative of grittiness that glitzier later editions never inspire in me. It's kind of hard to pinpoint exactly what it is. I don't mind the dungeonpunk aesthetic of early 3e, but it's still kind of slick by comparison, not gritty and grimy. 1e is really unique in that sense for me.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Tried to play it out of the books when I was a teenager. Got lost somewhere in the DMG (we were starting with the books without the beginner box to lead us in) and we all got confused. Decided to play simpler systems like GURPS instead (not kidding on that one).

I can see what, with hindsight, it was trying to do, but remain utterly unimpressed by the execution and by Gygaxian prose and organisation.

 

[clearstream]

Well, the ruleset itself embodies and requires a DIY attitude.

I feel like that contributed greatly to its success. Almost everyone I knew had ideas about how to improve it that they wanted to try out. Had it been a better ruleset, it might have stifled a lot of creativity. Or at least, its flaws promoted creative responses.

 

[ccs]

1e is my favorite edition.

 

[CleverNickName]

I was looking through a list of AD&D products, and it jogged a memory that hadn't been brought out to light in decades.

It was probably 1989 or 1990. My friend Aaron and I were teenagers, and we were playing one of many all-night D&D sleepover games. We've always been huge fans of Japanese art, history, and culture, and that summer we had watched Utsonomiko for the first time--so we wanted to play a D&D game set in feudal Japan. I borrowed a copy of "OA2 Night of the Seven Swords" from a buddy at school, and he loaned me his Oriental Adventures book with it. I didn't have any of the AD&D books, so I did my best to run OA2 using the Basic "Red Box" and Expert "Blue Box" rules. It was a mess, but it was also a blast.

So I guess I still haven't played an AD&D 1E game, not really. But also I I kinda have.

 

[Flamestrike]

But players could be killed easily if they were careless. Lethatlity was a real thing.

Jeeze. Hardocore.

Nowadays its only the characters that can be killed.

 

[Yonner]

I started out DM'ing Basic with Keep on the Borderlands. One of the players in that game told me about AD&D, and I was excited that there was more to this game I had fallen on love with.
As soon as I picked up the three core books we switched to AD&D. Having started with Basic, we kept using some of those rules, like initiative, because no one understood how it was supposed to work in AD&D.
We only adopted some of UA, like spells and magic items.
We all loved the game.
We continued playing until 2nd edition was released, then switched to the newer edition.

 

[CleverNickName]

Recent posts in this thread (and in a couple of others) serve to illustrate that even now, decades later, some folks are still confusing the player with the character, and the DM with the enemy. Which might be how some of us end up taking this game too personally, and getting too defensive.

 

[Helldritch]

Jeeze. Hardocore.

Nowadays its only the characters that can be killed.

Ok... Players and characters are different things nowadays. I miss the good old days.

 

[Lanefan]

Recent posts in this thread (and in a couple of others) serve to illustrate that even now, decades later, some folks ares still confusing the player with the character

This is one of my real pet peeves, when people type 'player' when they mean 'character', and vice-versa.