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Message: <blockquote data-quote="goatunit" data-source="post: 6542047" data-attributes="member: 21379">I think "First Edition Feel" differs from merely "First Edition" specifically in that it avoids a lot of your complaints. That is to say that if someone is playing a game that "feels" like first edition, they are de facto also specifically not playing first edition. Presumably because they like certain esoteric qualities of first edition play but do not like the mechanics.For me, the most important element of early D&D is the sandbox. Today, when someone says "sandbox," they mean freedom to go wherever and do whatever they want, but there is an unspoken restraint that has seeped into D&D in particular and modern games in general in the form of balance and the assumption that everyone in the party will A) attend every session, and B) mostly maintain the same character throughout a campaign. It is really difficult to get newer players to grok the idea that the world can be the story and the characters can be merely participants in it who come and go. The thief dies. The wizard retires to a demi-plane of his own creation. The fighter's henchman becomes a great hero in his own right. A completely different party made up of completely different players visit some dungeon six years on in the campaign and find a ghoul who was a PC belonging to a player who has since moved away, but who fell on that spot lo these many years ago. It's about saving the town from a swarm of giant ants, only to learn that the problem was caused by another party of PCs beating module A1 but failing to destroy that damn giant ant nest.You can do these things in any game, but AD&D in particular lends itself to this kind of living world play. And, of course, this is only what I think of when I hear "first edition feel." I'm sure that it means something else for other people.</blockquote>

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