Is the AD&D 1E Revival here to stay?

[tx7321]

Thats what I thought. But, its possible the defendent module publisher may have never heard of D&D, he just has a copy of OSRIC. What then, OSRIC is legal (until found in violation and ruled against). So, how is that individual breaking the law.

If company A and company B both claim copywrite of x, (and lets assume Company A thinks company B copied x from them but has never done anything about it over a period of many years) and then Company B gives Company C rights to use x, can Company A go after Company C (even though Company A never legally contested Company B's claim of ownership of x).

Wouldn't most judges say "hey buddy, Company C didn't do anything wrong, Company A has just as much ownership rights of "x" as you do. You need to go after Company B first and prove they don't have the right to give Company C x. At least, that seems like the only logical path.


Your reproduction of a painting analogy also seems off. As a module isn't a game system.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

In general, people find adding easier than subtracting.

People also find smaller numbers more intuitive than larger ones, but all this is beside the point. Objecting to THAC0 just shows ignorance of the system.

Those who understand 1e are much too busy objecting to surprise, initiative, weapon speed factors, spell casting times, material spell components and psionics to care about THAC0.

 

[Psion]

People also find smaller numbers more intuitive than larger ones, but all this is beside the point. Objecting to THAC0 just shows ignorance of the system.

Feh. I understand the system quite well, thank you very much. THAC0 was one of the things I was glad to see go, despite that I think it's far from the most important peice of cruft that was cut out.

 

[MerricB]

Those who understand 1e are much too busy objecting to surprise, initiative, weapon speed factors, spell casting times, material spell components and psionics to care about THAC0.

There is no Thac0 in 1e. I know that technically that it appears in the DMG and a couple of sources, but it isn't the core mechanic of combat, like it is in 2e. 1e is chart-based combat.

 

[Henry]

I never had objection to THACO, regardless, other than the casual players were a major pain in my helping them EVERY SINGLE ROUND figure out what the number to hit was. (And before anyone cries, "cut the mentally deficient bums out!" Those mentally deficient bums were my friends and good players to boot, when they weren't trying to swing a weapon. ) Weapon speed and surprise were probably the biggest devils in the details for me and mine, because we never could house-rule them to our satisfaction, and we definitely didn't like the way they were presented, in 1E or 2E.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Weapon speed and surprise were probably the biggest devils in the details for me and mine, because we never could house-rule them to our satisfaction, and we definitely didn't like the way they were presented, in 1E or 2E.

I figure you did like most of us and ignored psionics, then.

We dropped weapon speed from OSRIC completely, but we kept surprise.

 

[Henry]

I figure you did like most of us and ignored psionics, then.

We dropped weapon speed from OSRIC completely, but we kept surprise.

Strangely, Psionics was FANTASTIC! And the rules never gave me or mine any trouble. However, you're right in that we largely ignored them, mostly because no one was ever lucky enough to make the proper roll.

 

[tx7321]

The use of tables is critical IMO for capturing the 1E experiance. Not knowing exactly what it takes to hit a monster, or precisely how much your chances improve as you gain experiance in training really helps with the the imersion thing (no distracting calculations) and makes for playing "lets pretend" that much easier. It also puts the power in the hands of the DM, where it should be. I've always felt the switch away from tables was the biggest mistake the 1E developers ever made. We reversed the direction and went to a tableless system just before UA came out, just to see what it was like. And even way back then thought it sucked. I also think its a good idea for players not to know their exact saves for paralysis, magic etc. hell, change what table you use just to keep them guessing. Let them wonder, just like they have to do in "real life" how hard it'll be to jump across that wide pit etc.

BTW I realize some people prefer the number crunching and increase in control you get in 3E and other D20 systems. I also realize some people find the imersion element of FRPGs secondary to "building" and what have you.

 

[Storm Raven]

Thats what I thought. But, its possible the defendent module publisher may have never heard of D&D, he just has a copy of OSRIC. What then, OSRIC is legal (until found in violation and ruled against). So, how is that individual breaking the law.

If company A and company B both claim copywrite of x, (and lets assume Company A thinks company B copied x from them but has never done anything about it over a period of many years) and then Company B gives Company C rights to use x, can Company A go after Company C (even though Company A never legally contested Company B's claim of ownership of x).

Wouldn't most judges say "hey buddy, Company C didn't do anything wrong, Company A has just as much ownership rights of "x" as you do. You need to go after Company B first and prove they don't have the right to give Company C x. At least, that seems like the only logical path.

The short answer is no. Even if company C is unknowingly distributing infringing material, the copyright holder can still choose to go after them first, or even exclusively.

 

[Psion]

BTW I realize some people prefer the number crunching and increase in control you get in 3E and other D20 systems. I also realize some people find the imersion element of FRPGs secondary to "building" and what have you.

I find that my immersion needs are much better met by 3e, than that provided by some of the arbitrary rules set forth in 1e and 2e. Racial level limits, inexplicable total lack of ability to use certain weapons or armor, or restriction of some races to not be some classes, or worse, only as NPCs (e.g., elven clerics) are a few example that come immediately to mind that break the fourth wall and thereby blow immersion out of the water.