My new, old-school experience.

[Water Bob]

Glad to be here But now I've got the urge to buy more books so I can run something old myself! :O

I've got good news for you, then. AD&D didn't have the explosion of supplemental books that really started with AD&D 2E then went super nova with 3E. For AD&D, you've basically got the DMG, the PHB, and the Monster Manual.

All of our heads popped off when Unearthed Arcana came out. And, if I'm not missing anything, there were only six or seven other books in the entire AD&D line-up: Monster Manual II, Fiend Folio, Deities & Demigods, Dungeoneer's Survival Guide and the Wilderness Survival Guide. Oh, there are the world books: Greyhawk Adventures, Dragonlance Adventures, and Oriental Adventures. I think that was it. Maybe I'm missing a book or two.

So, what do you need out of that? The DMG, PHB, and probably all of the monster books: MM, MMII, FF. The other stuff you cherry pick for your game.




Here's the other good news: If you shop around a bit, you can find all of the books for cheap, cheap, cheap, dirt cheap.

Now, if you just do a Google, then you're playing something like $66 bucks for the Player's Manual.

Don't do that.

Hit your local used books stores and look for deals on the net. As I wrote this, I found the MMII for $8 bucks and the DMG for $13 bucks on the net in about 30 seconds. Last year, I ran a short AD&D game that lasted about six sessions, so I hit the local Half Price book shops. I found both the PHB and the DMG for under $9 each. In real good condition, too.

So, you have few books to buy, and if you're a smart shopper, you'll get them at rock bottom prices.

Figure about $30 bucks for the PHB, DMG, and MM, and you're off to the races.

 

[nedjer]

I've got good news for you, then. AD&D didn't have the explosion of supplemental books that really started with AD&D 2E then went super nova with 3E. For AD&D, you've basically got the DMG, the PHB, and the Monster Manual.

All of our heads popped off when Unearthed Arcana came out. And, if I'm not missing anything, there were only six or seven other books in the entire AD&D line-up: Monster Manual II, Fiend Folio, Deities & Demigods, Dungeoneer's Survival Guide and the Wilderness Survival Guide. Oh, there are the world books: Greyhawk Adventures, Dragonlance Adventures, and Oriental Adventures. I think that was it. Maybe I'm missing a book or two.

So, what do you need out of that? The DMG, PHB, and probably all of the monster books: MM, MMII, FF. The other stuff you cherry pick for your game.




Here's the other good news: If you shop around a bit, you can find all of the books for cheap, cheap, cheap, dirt cheap.

Now, if you just do a Google, then you're playing something like $66 bucks for the Player's Manual.

Don't do that.

Hit your local used books stores and look for deals on the net. As I wrote this, I found the MMII for $8 bucks and the DMG for $13 bucks on the net in about 30 seconds. Last year, I ran a short AD&D game that lasted about six sessions, so I hit the local Half Price book shops. I found both the PHB and the DMG for under $9 each. In real good condition, too.

So, you have few books to buy, and if you're a smart shopper, you'll get them at rock bottom prices.

Figure about $30 bucks for the PHB, DMG, and MM, and you're off to the races.

New-fangled, modern old school Swords and Wizardry Complete, Corruption, Labyrinth Lord now that's Old School

 

[Is_907]

New-fangled, modern old school Swords and Wizardry Complete, Corruption, Labyrinth Lord now that's Old School

Love S&W... but don't forget OSRIC for AD&D, too.

 

[nedjer]

Love S&W... but don't forget OSRIC for AD&D, too.

OSRIC seems in an interesting position. The three mentioned take their mechanics about as far as the book with the lady spread across the altar. The jump on into OSRIC territory adds a lot of sub-systems and appears firmly inside WotC's stated plans. At a guess OSRIC will be looking to a 5e OGL to port their scenarios and stuff straight to the new system.

Pathfinder's options look more intriguing, as they could go back to focusing on scenarios that work with WotC - but they've built such a strong base they could as easily go their own way.

 

[SnowleopardVK]

...Figure about $30 bucks for the PHB, DMG, and MM, and you're off to the races.

Seriously?! That's less than the cost of one core PF book around here!

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Also, remember that AD&D isn't exactly "unsupported" these days, because of all the retro-clone products. I don't know of a truly comprehensive list, but this one is pretty good: List of Retro-Clone system equivalences and products

(And, for OSRIC/1e in particular, this forum thread announces many new products.)

 

[Water Bob]

New-fangled, modern old school Swords and Wizardry Complete, Corruption, Labyrinth Lord now that's Old School

True. He was talking AD&D, though, not OD&D.

Love S&W... but don't forget OSRIC for AD&D, too.

Yeah, I didn't mention the clones. Good point.

Seriously?! That's less than the cost of one core PF book around here!

Yes sir. That's exactly right. It won't cost you much at all to get what you need for AD&D if you just shop around a bit.

Also, remember that AD&D isn't exactly "unsupported" these days, because of all the retro-clone products. I don't know of a truly comprehensive list, but this one is pretty good: List of Retro-Clone system equivalences and products

(And, for OSRIC/1e in particular, this forum thread announces many new products.)

You might want to check out the dragonsfoot forums, too. Those guys are all about old school, OD&D, AD&D, and AD&D 2E.

 

[Tortoise]

Yup. I wasn't aware of it last year (my first year there) until after it had already passed, which was sad, so I'm thrilled I actually got to help out this year.



Death 1: Rot grubs burrowing into skull
Death 2: The same rot grubs (this one was our cleric)
Death 3: Knocked unconscious by the rot grubs, but they were removed before they killed her. Later had a roof fall on her head (we didn't have time to carry her out when the dungeon collapsed)
Death 4: Failed a save against a large cloud of dust and passed out from suffocation. The roof later collapsed on his head.
Player 5 (Not-dead): Had a boulder fall on him and crush his legs while the dungeon was collapsing. Animal Friendship led to rats chewing them off to help him escape.
Death 6: Smacked his head on a rock and drowned as we tried to flee down the underground river that had brought us to the dungeon in the first place.

So we were left with a legless druid, and my thief. The druid decided he wanted nothing more to do with this 'adventure' business and built a home in the woods. His badger eventually learned to carry him around. And meanwhile I went back to town and claimed all seven of our shares of the payment. Because technically we'd killed the bandits we'd been sent to eliminate. We just did it by accidentally collapsing the entire dungeon on their heads in the process of our escape.

Nice to see this party was all about using their heads!