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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8253780" data-attributes="member: 6696971">I don't know if Baker has ever talked about Moldvay.The reason people cite Moldvay as being &quot;tight&quot; is because...well, its abundantly true.&nbsp; And because they GMed it exclusively from 1984 to 1987 despite having stuff like Arduin's Grimoire and AD&amp;D available.The game fundamentally works if you just run it as is.&nbsp; Its tight because all of its pieces create an integrated experience...that works.&nbsp; If you remove any part of them (Wandering Monsters, Morale, Encumbrance, Required Rest, gold for xp, etc) or change the noncombat action resolution mechanics from a d6 (where you can basically just dice pool a group effort if more than one person is listening or whatever)...things don't work.That is the definition of tightly designed.&nbsp; Its not modular.&nbsp; Don't fiddle with rules.&nbsp; Don't take stuff out.&nbsp; Don't add stuff in.&nbsp; Play it as is.&nbsp; Follow the rules/procedures.&nbsp; It works.&nbsp; Don't do that?&nbsp; It ceases to do what it did (in this case, work as intended).AD&amp;D1e is a modular (rather than integrated/holistic) designed game which requires all kinds of fiddling and excising and adding because (a) it doesn't &quot;just work&quot;, (b) its comparatively rules heavy (vs Moldvay), and (c) the instruction is comparatively opaque, voluminous, and scattershot (simultaneously).&nbsp; It REQUIRES GM intervention.It is not tightly designed.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8253780, member: 6696971"] I don't know if Baker has ever talked about Moldvay. The reason people cite Moldvay as being "tight" is because...well, its abundantly true. And because they GMed it exclusively from 1984 to 1987 despite having stuff like Arduin's Grimoire and AD&D available. The game fundamentally works if you just run it as is. Its tight because all of its pieces create an integrated experience...that works. If you remove any part of them (Wandering Monsters, Morale, Encumbrance, Required Rest, gold for xp, etc) or change the noncombat action resolution mechanics from a d6 (where you can basically just dice pool a group effort if more than one person is listening or whatever)...things don't work. That is the definition of tightly designed. Its not modular. Don't fiddle with rules. Don't take stuff out. Don't add stuff in. Play it as is. Follow the rules/procedures. It works. Don't do that? It ceases to do what it did (in this case, work as intended). AD&D1e is a modular (rather than integrated/holistic) designed game which requires all kinds of fiddling and excising and adding because (a) it doesn't "just work", (b) its comparatively rules heavy (vs Moldvay), and (c) the instruction is comparatively opaque, voluminous, and scattershot (simultaneously). It REQUIRES GM intervention. It is not tightly designed. [/QUOTE]

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