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<blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 5298449" data-attributes="member: 32740">Basic is... basic.&nbsp; Easy to learn and play but VERY rules-light.&nbsp; DM needs to be ready to play a lot of stuff off-the-cuff.&nbsp;1E is fantastic but you have to take it with a grain of salt.&nbsp; Not even Gygax used (or even liked it seems) all the rules for 1E.&nbsp; Some parts are just needlessly complicated (surprise and initiative), yet some of it is better than any &quot;improvements&quot; that were made in later editions.&nbsp; Run it with gusto but be willing to alter and omit whatever doesn't work for you.&nbsp; It's sometimes described as requiring the DM to monkey with the rules just to get it started, but it is also the system where the author openly exhorted DM's to do just that and make the system what YOU want it to be.&nbsp;2E toned down a lot of the crankier rules bits of 1E so it runs smoother &quot;out of the box&quot;.&nbsp; It also suffers from a tone of writing aimed at quite young readers rather than adults, and earns well-deserved demerits for Political Correctness moves.&nbsp; Of the three precursors to 3rd Edition I'd say 2E is most likely to cause you the FEWEST problems in adjusting to it, but I'd STRONGLY encourage keeping 1E right there with it.&nbsp;For any game of D&amp;D you don't need more than PH, DMG and MM (though the various flavors of basic sort of wrap them all up together.)&nbsp; Pick up a couple of the classic 1E and 2E adventures to run, but as DM you need to be fully expecting to putting a lot more sponaneous creativity into them.&nbsp; Even those classic adventures need tons of YOUR input and imagination to really bring them to life - and THAT is where the FUN is.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Man in the Funny Hat, post: 5298449, member: 32740"] Basic is... basic. Easy to learn and play but VERY rules-light. DM needs to be ready to play a lot of stuff off-the-cuff. 1E is fantastic but you have to take it with a grain of salt. Not even Gygax used (or even liked it seems) all the rules for 1E. Some parts are just needlessly complicated (surprise and initiative), yet some of it is better than any "improvements" that were made in later editions. Run it with gusto but be willing to alter and omit whatever doesn't work for you. It's sometimes described as requiring the DM to monkey with the rules just to get it started, but it is also the system where the author openly exhorted DM's to do just that and make the system what YOU want it to be. 2E toned down a lot of the crankier rules bits of 1E so it runs smoother "out of the box". It also suffers from a tone of writing aimed at quite young readers rather than adults, and earns well-deserved demerits for Political Correctness moves. Of the three precursors to 3rd Edition I'd say 2E is most likely to cause you the FEWEST problems in adjusting to it, but I'd STRONGLY encourage keeping 1E right there with it. For any game of D&D you don't need more than PH, DMG and MM (though the various flavors of basic sort of wrap them all up together.) Pick up a couple of the classic 1E and 2E adventures to run, but as DM you need to be fully expecting to putting a lot more sponaneous creativity into them. Even those classic adventures need tons of YOUR input and imagination to really bring them to life - and THAT is where the FUN is. [/QUOTE]

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