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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7136728" data-attributes="member: 996">It's how the game was laid out (still is, a bit, though Bards &amp; Druids stand in more readily for Clerics).&nbsp; You couldn't readily survive first level without a cleric to heal you (and turn undead - undead encounters in modules were clearly designed with turning assumed), a thief to be killed by the traps instead of anyone who mattered, and a fighter to do all the real work.&nbsp; You couldn't use the treasure types in the MM and tables in the DMG for long without handing out a lot of magic items.&nbsp; Sure, a lot of potions, scrolls and +1 longswords, but still...&nbsp;Discuss?&nbsp; Maybe. Actually run?&nbsp; Maybe not so much. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />&nbsp; ...&nbsp;I ran a 10-year campaign with very low magic-items like that, just one major one per PC and whatever lower-profile lesser ones they accumulated, but I used a lot of variants, too - and, it actually started out as a &quot;we'll all play Thieves and steal stuff and start a guild&quot; campaign, like you mention the complete books talking about (it started in '85, though).&nbsp; But, within 5 levels, via player turnover &amp; character death, the only thief left was the elf fighter/magic-user/thief, and by the end of the campaign (c14th level), there was a Cleric, Druid (both actually 2e CPH Priests), Fighter/Druid &amp; Wizard keeping him company.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Anyway, add to that Vancian casting and D&amp;D felt nothing like fantasy fiction.&nbsp; RuneQuest, OTOH, featured more nuanced characters who could develop their skills in any direction, and less overt, more intuitive magic - and much less-common magic items, especially of the magic sword variety - the bronze-age focus turned it away from the fantasy mainstream, though.&nbsp; And a few years later, Fantasy Hero let you do just about anything you cared to point-build...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 7136728, member: 996"] It's how the game was laid out (still is, a bit, though Bards & Druids stand in more readily for Clerics). You couldn't readily survive first level without a cleric to heal you (and turn undead - undead encounters in modules were clearly designed with turning assumed), a thief to be killed by the traps instead of anyone who mattered, and a fighter to do all the real work. You couldn't use the treasure types in the MM and tables in the DMG for long without handing out a lot of magic items. Sure, a lot of potions, scrolls and +1 longswords, but still... Discuss? Maybe. Actually run? Maybe not so much. ;) ... I ran a 10-year campaign with very low magic-items like that, just one major one per PC and whatever lower-profile lesser ones they accumulated, but I used a lot of variants, too - and, it actually started out as a "we'll all play Thieves and steal stuff and start a guild" campaign, like you mention the complete books talking about (it started in '85, though). But, within 5 levels, via player turnover & character death, the only thief left was the elf fighter/magic-user/thief, and by the end of the campaign (c14th level), there was a Cleric, Druid (both actually 2e CPH Priests), Fighter/Druid & Wizard keeping him company. ;) Anyway, add to that Vancian casting and D&D felt nothing like fantasy fiction. RuneQuest, OTOH, featured more nuanced characters who could develop their skills in any direction, and less overt, more intuitive magic - and much less-common magic items, especially of the magic sword variety - the bronze-age focus turned it away from the fantasy mainstream, though. And a few years later, Fantasy Hero let you do just about anything you cared to point-build... [/QUOTE]

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