NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 8288545" data-attributes="member: 6777737">I'd also be curious about your POV.My experience was that 1e was really simple in actual play, but that's because everyone played it like how B/X did it (side initiative with missile/magic/melee phases) or the gold box games (individual initiative), and with none of the additional, expanded rules listed in the 1e DMG used at all. When 2e came out, the only difference I remember is everyone moving to individual initiative, but I'm sure we did that before we got 2e. It's hard for me to remember now, though. I was mostly B/X with a bit of 1e, then 2e, then more 1e in my play history.My experience was that virtually everyone actually played using only the B/X rules (~5 pages of very straightforward rules) with individual initiative that they learned from the computer games (Pool of Radiance or Hillsfar, or the Dark Sun games, or with Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale). Or you learned from people who learned that way, or you switched to those video game rules because they made combat run better. Less like a simulation and more like a game. It was the "actual play live stream" of the late 80s. I, for one, distinctly remember the gold box games teaching me about the fighter "sweep" rule that's buried below the "attacks per melee round" table in the 1e PHB. I don't know how many tables I had to teach about that, but I think it was at least three!I'd say that 2e only becomes more complicated when you add on 2e setting-specific rules or, as you say, all the kit books. 1e only appears simple when you drop all the extra rules or you already have the rules from other editions memorized so you aren't forced to read the actual book to learn the game. 1e is the only edition that feels like it gets more complicated when you open the DMG. I don't think 1e or 2e were particularly easy to learn without a lot of help, but I do think 2e is a much, much better presentation. 2e at least makes optional rules clearly optional, and the sections don't overlap or run together like 1e does.</blockquote>

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