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Going Back in Time...AD&D

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I'm hoping to run my first AD&D adventure in a while this weekend: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. If it goes ahead, I'll let you know what happens.

Glad to hear it, Merric: do please post a summary, since Tamoachan is an oft-overlooked gem of a module!
 

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Glad to hear it, Merric: do please post a summary, since Tamoachan is an oft-overlooked gem of a module!

Odd situation: my regular (greyhawk) group of players number 4; one can't make it to a pivotal session and there are also time constraints from another player who wants to leave early...

...and then my eyes settled on Tamoachan: tournament play is 3 players and under 2 hours. Perfect!

Unfortunately, another player is indicating he might not be able to make it. I'm trying to find a replacement beforehand.

Cheers!
 


And yes, it did run faster than 3e and 4e with combat and yes, if you were the player, it did run simpler (though not necessarily for the DM whose job it was to manage the nitpicky rules like facing and so on).

Faster, certainly. Once nice thing about AD&D was that the various values hadn't wandered into the high double-digits and beyond yet. All the values - AC, HP, etc. - were still in fairly tight ranges.
 

AdnD

We definitely used the rule about a week of bed rest after going negative. We did not use that weapon speed factor table or whatever it was called, nor did we use the grappling and pummeling roles.

Ken
 

It's obscure insofar as I'm pretty sure most groups ignored it: either the DM made a conscious decision to ignore the rule, or the DM learnt the rules from another group and never bothered checking the dying rules in the DMG because dead at -10 is easy to remember. Then, when we look back on those days when we played AD&D regularly, we don't remember that the rule existed. :)

The same basic rule was ported over into 2e, though listed as an optional rule (meaning a hard-assed DM might decide to play the game as 0 hp = dead). The way I understand, the 1e rule wasn't optional. And yeah, I never paid much attention to the whole rest and recovery stuff myself, though honestly I DMed a lot more 3e than 2e.
 

Yup, if someone posts their opinion that they enjoyed 1e because they felt that it is simpler than 3e or 4e, you can count on a whole bunch of people to show up, point out some really obscure 1e rules, tell them they played 1e wrong, and that if they played 1e correctly, they would have realized how much it sucks. This is referred to as "mythbusting".

Interesting.

Someone makes claims that are false. They then use those false claims to make comparisons to something else. But, we're never, ever supposed to comment on it. We're just supposed to let it go and accept that their "facts" are gospel and their interpretations are rock solid.

I'll have to remember that one.
 

Ah, 1e/2e. So many fond memories. I never really got into 1e (slightly before my time) but I played a lot of 2e using 1e adventures and whatnot. And I have to admit - I think my happiest times in my gaming career were using the 2e rules.

That being said, I would never go back to them for any serious length of time. They just don't fit with who I am as a GM nowadays. And yes, everyone house rules those old rules - often without realizing it.

Going from memory (and it's been at least eleven years since I've played 2nd ed), here were some of our house rules:

* Nonhumans could level beyond their racial limit, at twice the normal XP (not that anyone EVER hit their racial level limit....)
* PCs when rolling starting HP could not roll less than half their HP die value.
* NO resurrection magic
* Wizards had some weird "Drop their memorized spell, but take damage" variant that I only vaguely recall
* The racial "Stealth" abilities were changed into equivalent thief abilities.
* No alignment languages
* Critical Hits & Critical Fumbles
* No saving throws - we used ability checks instead
* You die at -10 HP.
* And probably a bazillion more.

The reason I bring this up is because I know a few of these rules were sort of "standard" among every group I ever played with. Particularly the HP rule and the alignment language rule - every group had them. But, with those house rules floating around, I cannot really make the claim "Hey, we played RAW back in 2e, and the game works so much better at X than >>insert game here<<".

For what it's worth, I think the reason I Had the most fun in 2e was because we were all poor, which kept splats to a minimum. And really, I think I'd probably be the most happiest gaming if I were somehow able to keep splattage to a minimum - without facing a mutiny from the players. ;)
 


Yup, if someone posts their opinion that they enjoyed 1e because they felt that it is simpler than 3e or 4e, you can count on a whole bunch of people to show up, point out some really obscure 1e rules, tell them they played 1e wrong, and that if they played 1e correctly, they would have realized how much it sucks. This is referred to as "mythbusting".
1) A lot of rules, obscure and otherwise, DO often get handwaved away. 1e is not a particularly simple system as written.
2) I didn't see this "bunch of people" saying how much the game sucks.
 

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