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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Garnfellow" data-source="post: 2081701" data-attributes="member: 1223">Well, keep in mind that parallel to 1e and 2e there was a strong, fully-featured, and yet also simpler engine for playing D&D: the Basic/Expert/Companion/Masters/Immortals systems developed by guys like J. Eric Holmes, Tom Moldvay, Zeb Cook, and Frank Mentzer. In many respects, this engine was actually much better than the clunky, creaky AD&D engine and had its own, separate fan base. I think when a lot of folks talk about going back to the good old days, they’re really hankering after plain old Basic D&D, rather than 1e AD&D.3e is a great system; the unified d20 resolution system is a tremendous advance over past incarnations. But 3e is very complex. Character generation, to say nothing of monster and NPC generation, takes a long time. A simplified ruleset has a lot of benefits. It’s nice to be able to just slap together a character in five minutes, or teach a new player the game in a half hour, or completely improvise an adventure with just a couple lines of notes. A simplified ruleset also pushes a lot of control back into the DM’s hands, which many find very liberating. If the DM is a good at improvisation, enthusiastic, and has a innate sense for fair play, than this can make for some lively, rollicking fun. 3e is highly codified; almost every action in combat has a rule that clearly governs it. A simplified ruleset can allow DMs to be more creative, spontaneous, and descriptive when running their combats. You can fudge things on the fly to make them fit the spirit of the game.On the other hand, if your DM is not good at improvisation, or has a God complex or something, then a simplified system can make for a much worse experience.I think some of this is just pure and simple nostalgia, which is a powerful and perfectly legitimate motivation in and of itself. And if you're on a nostalgia kick, those wonky mechanics are all an important part of the experience; the wonkier the better. Sometimes I get a craving for a good old fluffernutter sandwich, as awful as that might sound right now.Some of what goes on with those real, hard-core Dragonsfoot zealots is just . . . a willful stubbornness or something else that I just cannot fathom, and maybe it’s my loss. The whole Hackmaster experience, for example, leaves me personally stone cold. But Hackmaster has plenty of fans, including lots of folks here at EnWorld whose opinions I value highly.</blockquote>

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