Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Edition Experience: Did/Do You Play OD&D? How Was/Is It?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="atanakar" data-source="post: 7938763" data-attributes="member: 65762"><p>Last year I read OD&D and Holmes editions. We played the Moldvay Basic game in 1981. The thing about these old editions is that you soon discover that they are extremely lethal. There are a lot of <strong>random</strong> deaths and TPKs.</p><p></p><p>First, theses games are built for larger groups of PCs. 6-10. That is very different from 4-5 today. It was a common practice then to con «hirelings» (hired fighters) into following the party down in the dungeon in exchange of a share of the gold. They were in effect meat shields (red shirts). They rarely survived.</p><p></p><p>The Side A-Side B combat system makes it possible for the monsters to attack the PCs twice if they are Side B then Side A in two consecutive rounds. Many TPKs ensued. Then there are the save vs death, save vs poison or death, save vs petrification (death). Death by XP drain thanks to undeads. Deadly traps. Death, death, death... game over. Make a new character.</p><p></p><p>So, we got fed up after 3-4 games. We had a big discussion. Half the group left to play Call of Cthulhu. The other half that stayed decided to give max HPs at first level and at least half HP for each following level. Players chose their class instead of being told by the ability rolls what class you could play. We started the new module at level 3. I gave the wizard a wand of magic missiles with charges so he could do something. Bought the Expert box set and the PCs managed to survive till the end of the module ! Since then I never started a campaign at level 1.</p><p></p><p>And there you have it. As much as I respect (and love) Gygax and Arneson for inventing RPGs and D&D, the game is not <strong>fun to play</strong> if you play it 100% RAW. You have to house rule it to make it work. Which was fine since Gygax wrote to change the rules if we didn't like them.</p><p></p><p>Reading this thread and various other threads over the last decade very few people played D&D 100% back in the day. And those who play these editions today don't play them 100% RAW either. They all have their own version with house rules. They are playing «My D&D», not D&D.</p><p></p><p>I did try to play old school again last year out of nostalgia but in the end I couldn't go back to a non-unified d20 system. Instead I prefer 5e. My current campaign has no feats, no multi-classing, only the 4 basic classes, classic races and uses Slow Natural Healing from the DMG. It's as close to a gritty game my players and I want to go.</p><p></p><p>If you want to try old school D&D (not a retro-clone) I suggest the Blue Holmes Journeyman rules. I read it and its very respectful of the original Holmes edition. It adds what you need to play up to level 20. The illustrations are in the old school style. Very evocative.</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/208800/BLUEHOLMETM-Journeymanne-Rules[/URL]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="atanakar, post: 7938763, member: 65762"] Last year I read OD&D and Holmes editions. We played the Moldvay Basic game in 1981. The thing about these old editions is that you soon discover that they are extremely lethal. There are a lot of [B]random[/B] deaths and TPKs. First, theses games are built for larger groups of PCs. 6-10. That is very different from 4-5 today. It was a common practice then to con «hirelings» (hired fighters) into following the party down in the dungeon in exchange of a share of the gold. They were in effect meat shields (red shirts). They rarely survived. The Side A-Side B combat system makes it possible for the monsters to attack the PCs twice if they are Side B then Side A in two consecutive rounds. Many TPKs ensued. Then there are the save vs death, save vs poison or death, save vs petrification (death). Death by XP drain thanks to undeads. Deadly traps. Death, death, death... game over. Make a new character. So, we got fed up after 3-4 games. We had a big discussion. Half the group left to play Call of Cthulhu. The other half that stayed decided to give max HPs at first level and at least half HP for each following level. Players chose their class instead of being told by the ability rolls what class you could play. We started the new module at level 3. I gave the wizard a wand of magic missiles with charges so he could do something. Bought the Expert box set and the PCs managed to survive till the end of the module ! Since then I never started a campaign at level 1. And there you have it. As much as I respect (and love) Gygax and Arneson for inventing RPGs and D&D, the game is not [B]fun to play[/B] if you play it 100% RAW. You have to house rule it to make it work. Which was fine since Gygax wrote to change the rules if we didn't like them. Reading this thread and various other threads over the last decade very few people played D&D 100% back in the day. And those who play these editions today don't play them 100% RAW either. They all have their own version with house rules. They are playing «My D&D», not D&D. I did try to play old school again last year out of nostalgia but in the end I couldn't go back to a non-unified d20 system. Instead I prefer 5e. My current campaign has no feats, no multi-classing, only the 4 basic classes, classic races and uses Slow Natural Healing from the DMG. It's as close to a gritty game my players and I want to go. If you want to try old school D&D (not a retro-clone) I suggest the Blue Holmes Journeyman rules. I read it and its very respectful of the original Holmes edition. It adds what you need to play up to level 20. The illustrations are in the old school style. Very evocative. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/208800/BLUEHOLMETM-Journeymanne-Rules[/URL] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Edition Experience: Did/Do You Play OD&D? How Was/Is It?
Top