Flowchart of the Editions

[diaglo]

Correct, but they weren't called called AoOs back then, they were called "free attacks" (DMG p70.) I'm trying to say that they came into something resembling their present form, nomenclature included, in the PO series. (More or less what you're saying too .)

and Chainmail also allowed ranged attacks if your opponent moved in your range while you were ready.

 

[Mark]

AD&D branched from the original D&D game plus its supplements (Greyhawk, etc.), not from the Holmes basic D&D set.

Yup. That's my experience, as well. The gamers I knew, myself included, went from OD&D to AD&D without any move to that Basic Box. We always thought it was a version of AD&D lite to get new players to try D&D and then move them over to AD&D when they wanted the more complex rules.

 

[Mark]

it was in Chainmail and OD&D(1974)

We played Chainmail before OD&D came out, too, and it was needed for OD&D.

 

[diaglo]

We played Chainmail before OD&D came out, too, and it was needed for OD&D.

it even says so in Men & Magic.
i still use Chainmail for my OD&D campaign in the year 2008

 

[Urbannen]

When I played 2E, we always played that retreating from battle provoked an immediate attack from your enemy. We didn't call it an AoO, but that's what it was.

Another similarity between Classic D&D and 3E was monster classes. The Creature Crucible expansions gave rules for playing monsters as classes and was echoed very strongly in Savage Species. (Of course these weren't core rules...)

I also thought that 3E prestige classes looked a lot like the Classic D&D druid and paladin/avenger/knight options.

 

[Fifth Element]

it was in Chainmail and OD&D(1974) too.

you got a free attack when your opponent fled from battle

Yes, but that's not at all the same thing as the 3.x rules. In fact, in 3.x you can completely avoid AoO's when retreating if you use the withdraw action.

 

[Orius]

Prestige classes were almost definitely inspired by the way Druids and Paladins (for example) are handled in the Rules Cyclopedia. There you must be either a Neutral Cleric or a Lawful Fighter of a certain level, and then you can change classes to Druid or Paladin.

I wouldn't entirely agree. As other have mentioned, the 1e Bard also worked in a manner not dissimilar to a 3e Prestige class.

Some monsters (the Nightshade is an example, I think) were D&D monsters ported into 3rd edition.

I'd disagree there too. Stuff like the athach, nightshade, and choker were featured in the 2e Mystara MC appendix, and those entries may have influenced the 3e versions. The aranea had at least 3 2e write ups that I remember (Mystara MC, Savage Coast MC, and MC Annual 3). The brain collector/neh-thallgu was in the Mystara MC and MS Annual 4, before arriving in 3e (I forget where it was though, I think it was in the ELH).

Also, the fact that 3e and 4e have things like seperate races and classes and dual axis alignments found in AD&D but not BECMI/RC would further lead me to classify them as soley descended from AD&D. And BECMI was never truely seperate from 1e anyway, wasn't there a lot of ideas crossing back and forth back in the day?

 

[Orius]

What kind of magic item would a Flowchart of the Editions be?

Which edition are we talking about? They're not all classified the same in different editions, you know.

 

[diaglo]

What kind of magic item would a Flowchart of the Editions be?

clearly it is an instruction manual on how to build the Doomsday device.
thankfully as more and more owners of the device hire different designers to try an improve upon it, they get further and further away from its intent.
we will never see the completion of such a device in our or any lifetime.

 

[Simon Atavax]

Yes, but that's not at all the same thing as the 3.x rules. In fact, in 3.x you can completely avoid AoO's when retreating if you use the withdraw action.

I'm pretty sure there's a provision for a 'withdraw' in Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert D&D too . . . again, I don't know if they used that term or not. (Damn, shouldn't have sold off all my pre-3.x stuff!)