Let's talk about the AD&D 1e Dungeon Master's Guide

[Akrasia]

...
Akrasia, you mentioned the Rules Cyclopedia. Is that your preferred version of run these days? Like you, I'm thinking of retiring from 3/3.5. It's too much like work, and not enough like a game. :\

I would be happy to run an RC campaign (with the rules for "customized classes" in OD&Dities #7) after wrapping up the current story-arc of my 3.5 campaign. But I doubt my group would go for it.

Instead, when I DM for this group again, I will be using the "Castles and Crusades" system. It has enough in common with 3.5 D&D -- namely, it uses the d20 mechanic of "high-is-good" for everything -- to appease the two players in my group who are 3.5 advocates.

(My group is divided into two camps regarding 3.5.)

Here is my review of the box set of C&C (the full rules have not been published yet):
http://www.enworld.org/reviews/index.php?sub=yes&where=active&reviewer=Akrasia&product=CCDSBS

The review can also be found at RPG.net.

 

[DMScott]

SO, what do you think? Is the 1e DMG brilliant? Awkward? Overrated? Underappreciated? Inspired? All of the above? None of the above? Is there any good quality it has that our present 3.5 DMG lacks?

Mostly overrated. There's some nice bits of fluff scattered throughout, but for the most part it's badly written and horribly organized, neither of which is a particularly desirable quality in a rulebook. Gygax' adventures have always been better than his rulebooks and sourcebooks, the DMG is no exception.

 

[hong]

I owned it back in 1980 when I was 10 years old

That young?


Hong "Sea Wasp died for your sins, you know" Ooi

 

[Melan]

I admire the 1st edition DMG for its writing first and foremost. Sure enough, I like the tables, I like most of the art and I like the many ideas and options it presents - but the archaic, outmoded prose is what does it for me. Imagine! A book written for and often played by teenagers using a vocabulary not even adults use - that's something that will never, ever happen in D&DLand again. That book was quirky, lovable, slightly insane and full of love for gaming, and I am grateful to Gary for having written it.

One more thing: the recommended reading list in the back of the book (Appendix N?) has lead me to good fantasy authors when I was getting fed up with the crap out there. Abram Merritt, Vance, Leiber... If you love D&D, you should do yourself a favour and get these.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Diaglo, two posts in this of all threads, and your signature line remains absent? Well, beat ya to it.

Original D&D (1974) is the only true game. All the other editions are just poor imitations of the real thing.

 

[dead]

My second-hand copy of the 1E DMG smells like wet horse or old dog.

Is this normal?

 

[rounser]

My second-hand copy of the 1E DMG smells like wet horse or old dog.

Is this normal?

Yes. Apparently there was such a strong demand that TSR released an "Animal Scratch-n-Sniff" Special Edition of the DMG. You know how big scratch-n-sniff was in the eighties.

 

[Darrin Drader]

My second-hand copy of the 1E DMG smells like wet horse or old dog.

Hmm... its actually supposed to smell more like semi-dry druck. Yours must be defective.

 

[diaglo]

Diaglo, two posts in this of all threads, and your signature line remains absent? Well, beat ya to it.

Original D&D (1974) is the only true game. All the other editions are just poor imitations of the real thing.

it's my memory. somebody once said your knees are the first things to go.

and i think i agree. what was the question, again?

 

[D+1]

I don't understand the big deal about "one xp table" for all classes. While it is necessary for 3.x D&D, given the way that multiclassing works, it is hardly a huge boon in its own right. It is not as though looking at different exp charts was especially taxing or difficult.

Not difficult to look up, and not ESPECIALLY taxing, but definitely taxing. It was part of a useless system that purported to "balance" classes. Since it failed in this utterly it had no reason to exist adding complexity to the game and making PC levels MORE irrelevant when attempting to compare them to each other and monitor the pacing of advancement between characters.