"First Edition Feel"

[The Grumpy Celt]

Waldorf could take him.

Do you mean the fancy-smancy hotel or the muppet movie/theatre critic?

 

[francisca]

Do you mean the fancy-smancy hotel or the puppel movie/theatre critic?

I think he meant the salad, actually....

 

[delericho]

Why not just play AD&D1?

I never played AD&D1. I played a little BD&D (Red Box), but my understanding of the game at that point was so muddled that I could never run a published module in any sensible manner (every attempt resulted in the PCs abandonning the quest from boredom, or being wiped out in a TPK).

I have no great interest in trying AD&D1. I like 3.5e just fine. (That should not be taken as a slam against AD&D1 - as I said, I never played it.)

However, some of the modules written in the AD&D1 days are fantastic. Not all, certainly, but several of them. The attraction of new modules written in the style of the old ones, then, should be obvious: you try to recapture the elements that made the old modules so good, but marry them with the mechanics of the latest edition.

It should be noted that '1st edition feel' is probably a bit more than an excuse for endless hackfests. Certainly, modules like "I6 Ravenloft" are far more than that description implies, yet it is one of the very best 1st Edition modules. By contrast, G1-3 present adventure locales with a minimum of fuss, so they can be used as hackfeats. Or, a DM can take them, add any plot he chooses, and do whatever he wants with the module.

 

[diaglo]

Not that I'm aware of. I'm trying pretty hard to get together a regular group for a Freeport-in-F.R. game. Someone putting together a regular ENWorld Gameday would have their work cut out for them.

sure they do. it is called DragonCon. and it's in Hotlanta.

 

[atom crash]

sure they do. it is called DragonCon. and it's in Hotlanta

If I wanted to travel out of state to get together with other Alabama ENWorlders, I'd just go for the gusto and organize a meet-up at Graceland for all the Deep South ENWorlders.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

...a meet-up at Graceland...

Ah Thaahnk yah, thaahnk yah yahry much.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

"First Edition Feel" has nothing to do with specific rule-sets, IMHO, and everything to do with evoking a more primal, more immediate D&D. It's D&D before we had to 'spice it up' and it's what WotC was alluding to with the 'back to the dungeon' concept. It's why we have conversions of classic modules...because it's a style that some people enjoyed.

After reading three pages, I think WizarDru nailed it. It's not about the rulesset, but how you apply it to your game. You can get "1st edition feel" with any rules set.

We started our current 3.5 campaign with "Keep on the Borderlands", and I think it retained much of its original feel -- though I'll admit to the addition of a metaplot to provide explanation and linkage to the later campaign. I'd like to think -- though my players would have to confirm -- that we've done a reasonable job of achieving 1st edition feel with our campaign. Though I'll admit, as the characters are now in the early teen levels, that rules mechanics have become a bit more obvious over time -- a function of both the level of complexity at higher levels, and my own inability to prepare for every contingency and still get all the flavor details down that I'd like.

YMMV. Play whatever you'd like, Isay, and have fun doing so. But don't blame "feel" on the rules/edition -- take a look in the mirror, first.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

You mean that guy who was a 365th level magic-user and who blew up Grayhawk and has an asteroid floating in the void with a bunch of the Gods chained up working in the iron mine in the basement?

Not to forget that he had invented nuclear weapons.

Then there was 1st level assassin who wrote in to say he successfully made his assassination role against Waldorf.

 

[Grazzt]

Or, a DM can take them, add any plot he chooses, and do whatever he wants with the module.

And this right here is and was a big thing about 1E and "First Edition Feel"...the ability to take a published module and drop it into any campaign world/storyline without having to basically rewrite the damn thing (see 2E for that).

 

[Grazzt]

And since we're talking "First Edition Feel"...here's part of an interview that Clark Peterson (Necromancer Games) did back in early 2001:


Clark Peterson and Bill Webb, the writers behind Necromancer Games, were recently interviewed by Role-Play News, a prominent on line roleplaying magazine. Here is an excerpt:

Role-Play News: How do expect to accomplish that "1st Edition Feel" with your adventures?

Clark: First Edition is the cover of the old DMG with the City of Brass; it is Judges Guild; it is Type IV demons not Tanaari and Baatezu; it is the Vault of the Drow not Drizzt Do'urden; it is the Tomb of Horrors not the Ruins of Myth Drannor; it is orcs not ogrillons; it is mind flayers not Ilithids (or however they spell it); it is Tolkien, Moorcock, Howard and Lieber, not Eddings, Hickman, Jordan and Salavatore; it is definitely Orcus and the demon-princes and not the Blood War; it is Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound not Elminster's Evasion; and it is Artifacts and Relics from the old DMG (with all the cool descriptions).

I always say we want to be the VW Bug of roleplaying companies, meaning that we want to have a modern style and appeal but an obvious link to the past. One of the ways we do that is how we design the modules. For example, we use full color covers (not that funky mono-color of the old modules). But our modules have the same basic format of the old modules—inset art, module number in the upper left corner, diagonal band in the upper left corner, logo placement, etc. I guarantee you, when you look at one of our modules you will flash back to the old ones—just like when you see a new VW bug. And hopefully you will say "Man, that is just like an old module except cooler."