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Re-trying 1st Ed.

DungeonMaester

First Post
1st Ed. was the edtion that made me fall in love with D&DLooking back though, 3.5 gives so many more options and choices that it makes it hard to crack open the oldies and run a campaign the way I remember them. So, I have been playng D&D for 17 years now, although I forget what year it is alot of the time and will often times say 15 and in hindsight I would much rather play 3.5 with all the good and bad then 1st ed. Its not because all the rules changes but the spiffy things players can do.

Having played only 3.5 for the last 6 years or so years now, I want to run 1st again, but finding players proves to be difficult for the same reasons I had, the lack of diversity. It has been something I struggled with since the first time in recent years that I ran a 1st ed campiagn. While some players would go for it with little thought, over the game sessions fewer and fewer players would show up to game, but would re-apear for 3.5 games.

Well, it was something I wanted to do my self anyway. So, EN World, How do I have 3.5 ish flavor with 1st Edition mechanics?


---Rusty
 

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answer you don't.

you don't cook pies.

you bake them. and you don't limit yourself at the start by saying i'm going to bake an apple pie if it kills me.
 

in terms of game mechanics and flavor don't limit yourself.

don't say i can only do this in edition X. and i can't do that in the other one.

don't set yourself up to failure or mislead your players by saying they have to do it a certain way or the highway.

give them a chance. let them use their imagination.

and in the end play OD&D(1974) :D

diaglo "it had to be said" Ooi
 

DungeonMaester said:
Well, it was something I wanted to do my self anyway. So, EN World, How do I have 3.5 ish flavor with 1st Edition mechanics?

Why bother? If there is some style inherent to 3.5, then 3.5 probably supports it better. If you want to play 1E, play 1E with whatever style it does best.

Over all, I don't think system really matters. We had a 1E game start up a while back.
DM just said "oh, btw, it's 1E" and nobody really even blinked. I've played RIFTS games and lord knows I don't like the game in setting or mechanics, but was there for the GM and players. Sure, somepeople prefer one system over another, they may even hate a system, but for somebody who runs it well, with a group they like, and a character and plot they care for, it's really not a deal breaker.
 

Its a game. Play it like its supposed to be. Fun. I'll play any edition of D&D as long as I believe the DM can run a fun game.

Plus, don't be afraid to do some house ruling. We weren't afraid to house rule back in the day, were we?

So house rule in the positive AC values. House rules the saves system of 3E if you like it better. Use the 3E movement and action rules if you like it.

Its your game. Make it fit your vision.
 

All I know is that I want a piece of pie now. Oh, and my 1e group finally embarks on our first adventure in a couple of weeks. Glee!
 


If you do 1st ed with 3e mechanics, go with OSRIC and the 1e Feats book mentioned below. Also, don't forget the Role-Aids and Judges Guild books!

Now, if you decide to do it the other way around (which you've already done or thought about doing)

You can choose to use only the monsters that appeared in first edition books (Monster Manual, Dragon Magazine, Fiend Folio). When running a 1e-flavor 3.5e game, you really only need the core three 3.5e books and maybe the DMG 2.

You can house-rule certain classes to be off-limits to demi-humans.

There used to be several 1e to 3e conversions of modules on enworld. I don't know if those files are still around, but if they are, you can convert them to 3.5.

Several of the Dungeon Crawl Classic modules are very close in theme and style to 1e modules. Also, there are a few updates to 1e materials, such as Wilderlands of High Fantasy and Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil (3e).

The WotC website two 1e adventures converted to 3.5e: White Plume Mountain and Tomb of Horrors.
 
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