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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Edition Experience: Did/Do you Play 1E AD&D? How Was/Is It?
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<blockquote data-quote="Helldritch" data-source="post: 7943865" data-attributes="member: 6855114"><p>It was the first. It was the best. It is the parangon RPG by which every other RPG are compared to. Even today. Like it or not, 1ed had a lot going for it.</p><p>I was a player from 1980 to 1983, then I became a DM in AD&D from 1983 up to 1998 with so many different people that they easily number over a hundred.</p><p>Of course a lot of rules of ease were missing. No skills like herbalism (unless you had Dungeoneer and the Wilderness Surival guides or access to Dragon Magazines.) but what it lacked in rules, it had in flexibility. The players were simply describing what they were doing and made a check against the relevant stat (that is what the DM decided) to see if they succeeded. Simple, elegant and faster. If the action described was cool, it had a good chance of working just because. No mechanics needed but the judgment of the DM.</p><p></p><p>Balance???? Who needs balance? Martial classes were stronger in early to mid game. Clerics and druids were average for all their career and magic users were weak from early to mid game but at high levels they were the top damage dealers. Was it balanced? Hell no! But it was fun. As even in high level, the brave fighter could slay a wizard as the wizards' hp were so low...</p><p></p><p>Humans were considered the best because they could advance in any class up to the top. Other races were limited but they could mix multiple classes to be much more versatile than any humans could ever be.</p><p></p><p>Yes there was some Lawful Stupid paladins out there. The lack of understanding about the code of chivalry and the easy access to such a heroic class made it so. Paladins were supposed to be rare. Yet, in many groups, there was one. Simply because many people wanted to play one (because everyone knew that paladins were the strongest martial class...) so many DM were simply raising the missing stat to the minimum required to play a paladin. Yet, when the paladin was rare, they were not Lawful Stupid they had enough limitations as is. No need to force them to act stupidly. A quick death to an enemy is about as much mercy as a said enemy would get from a paladin. The 8th level paladin's title was Justicar. An administer of justice. He was a judge, a jury and an executioner if needed.</p><p></p><p>Wizard were all powerful at high level but they had one weakness, Hit Points... They needed protection, and the martial classes were there for that.</p><p></p><p>Gods really mattered. If you wanted to have access to spells higher than fifth level, you needed to pray a lesser deity for spells of 6th level and a greater deity for spells of 7th level. Choosing your god was really important but converting people to your religion was even more so. As the more worshippers a deity had, the more powerful it became. Having a lesser deity become a greater god because of the actions of one player was something to behold. Now? Well, any spells can be acquired. Even without gods...</p><p></p><p>This edition was full of "over the board" powers. But players could be killed easily if they were careless. Lethatlity was a real thing. Now dying is due generally to a succession of mistakes. In 1ed, just one mistake was more than enough to put a party to the grave. Combat was played as a war, and not as a sport a youtuber said. And he was right. Now combat is more like a sport where the opponents are on equal footing. It was not so in 1ed. It was hard to achieve high level in 1ed. But to every character that actualy reached high level (that is higher than level 12) it is an achievement that these players will always remember.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Helldritch, post: 7943865, member: 6855114"] It was the first. It was the best. It is the parangon RPG by which every other RPG are compared to. Even today. Like it or not, 1ed had a lot going for it. I was a player from 1980 to 1983, then I became a DM in AD&D from 1983 up to 1998 with so many different people that they easily number over a hundred. Of course a lot of rules of ease were missing. No skills like herbalism (unless you had Dungeoneer and the Wilderness Surival guides or access to Dragon Magazines.) but what it lacked in rules, it had in flexibility. The players were simply describing what they were doing and made a check against the relevant stat (that is what the DM decided) to see if they succeeded. Simple, elegant and faster. If the action described was cool, it had a good chance of working just because. No mechanics needed but the judgment of the DM. Balance???? Who needs balance? Martial classes were stronger in early to mid game. Clerics and druids were average for all their career and magic users were weak from early to mid game but at high levels they were the top damage dealers. Was it balanced? Hell no! But it was fun. As even in high level, the brave fighter could slay a wizard as the wizards' hp were so low... Humans were considered the best because they could advance in any class up to the top. Other races were limited but they could mix multiple classes to be much more versatile than any humans could ever be. Yes there was some Lawful Stupid paladins out there. The lack of understanding about the code of chivalry and the easy access to such a heroic class made it so. Paladins were supposed to be rare. Yet, in many groups, there was one. Simply because many people wanted to play one (because everyone knew that paladins were the strongest martial class...) so many DM were simply raising the missing stat to the minimum required to play a paladin. Yet, when the paladin was rare, they were not Lawful Stupid they had enough limitations as is. No need to force them to act stupidly. A quick death to an enemy is about as much mercy as a said enemy would get from a paladin. The 8th level paladin's title was Justicar. An administer of justice. He was a judge, a jury and an executioner if needed. Wizard were all powerful at high level but they had one weakness, Hit Points... They needed protection, and the martial classes were there for that. Gods really mattered. If you wanted to have access to spells higher than fifth level, you needed to pray a lesser deity for spells of 6th level and a greater deity for spells of 7th level. Choosing your god was really important but converting people to your religion was even more so. As the more worshippers a deity had, the more powerful it became. Having a lesser deity become a greater god because of the actions of one player was something to behold. Now? Well, any spells can be acquired. Even without gods... This edition was full of "over the board" powers. But players could be killed easily if they were careless. Lethatlity was a real thing. Now dying is due generally to a succession of mistakes. In 1ed, just one mistake was more than enough to put a party to the grave. Combat was played as a war, and not as a sport a youtuber said. And he was right. Now combat is more like a sport where the opponents are on equal footing. It was not so in 1ed. It was hard to achieve high level in 1ed. But to every character that actualy reached high level (that is higher than level 12) it is an achievement that these players will always remember. [/QUOTE]
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