AD&D 1E The indispensible 1e

[CM]

• Succubi
  
  
  
  
  Oh... excuse me.
  Also: Specialist Wizards having spells unique to their specialty (Illusionist)

 

[Stormonu]

Like HardcoreDandDGirl, I have much fonder memories of 2E than 1E. From those two systems, what would I want to see in 5E?

Kits, or something similar - themes and/or backgrounds might fit the bill.

Nuts & Bolts of the game math and system design moved back to the DMG, out of player sight and argubility. As well as magic items taken out of the PHB.

Plentiful use of the word "optional"

Random tables, not only for magic item/treasure acquisition, but dungeon & feature generation, random encounter tables and the like. On random encounter tables, I'd be fine with the old d8+d12, very rare to common range framework - if monsters are given back a "rarity".

Return of weapons speeds and the roll-every-round-for-initiative cycle.

Negative drawbacks for casting spells - from the teleport mishap table, to polymorph's system shock (perhaps lightened up a bit, as I think a single roll that takes a PC out is not good for my game) to haste's aging (but as a % of natural lifespan, so elves and dwarves don't laugh at the humans as they only lose a year off their lives).

Hit point total reduction and the overall low damage output of attacks.

I'm waffling on 1E/2E's non-weapon proficiencies vs. the 3E/4E skill system. The NWP system doesn't suffer from number bloat, but the skill system of 3E is so freakin' customizable.

1e's/2e's multiclassing, though it would be nice to pull a 3E and pick up an additional class later in the game (but 3 classes ought to be the limit) - I guess a form of dual-classing for ALL races, even if you're already multiclassing.

 

[kevtar]

I like the streamlined play of 1st edition, but then I realized it was streamlined because we ignored (or modified) many of the more detailed aspects of the rules (e.g. Morale, initiative, etc...). For example, we do initiative pretty much as written until we have more than 2 opposing groups. Morale, we just play that by ear and I run the monsters how I think they should be run and the players run their henchmen the way they think they should be run.

So... what I'm saying is, a rules-system that can we can modify that still works. OH, and if they could get the new books to smell like the old books - that would get me hook, line and sinker, lol. EVERY 1st edition book I've come across, from the basement of my best friend in 1983 to the shelves of half-priced books and my copies here in Tonga - they all smell the same.

Like... adventure, lol.

 

[ArmoredSaint]

I liked weapon speed factors, weapon vs. armour type modifiers, and the fact that Field/Full Plate offered 1-2 DR per die of damage. Bring all of these features back, please!

 

[Libramarian]

XP for treasure, rumor tables, random encounters, ten minute turns, henchmen and hirelings, morale, loyalty, encounter reactions, random NPC personalities, alignment mapping, level titles, strongholds, sages, ships and naval combat, weapon speed factors, weapon vs. armor adjustments, spell casting times, bardiches, broadswords, spetums, voulges, resurrection survival chance, system shock, bend bars/lift gates, percentile strength, chance to know spell, inexplicably flammable lamp oil, item saving throws, diseases and parasites, rot grubs, banks and moneychangers, wills and inheritance, racial preferences, classes that balance mechanical uberness with alignment restrictions, AD&D-style multiclassing and dualclassing, barbarians that don't rage (berserkers go berserk, not barbarians!)

But on a more general playstyle level, I would say the essential aspects are:
Sword & sorcery
Sandbox
Players just say what they do and the DM decides how to handle it

 

[Blackwarder]

Many have already said any of the things I loved about 2e (I only played BD&D before 2e) so with the risk of repeating many of the things already said here is my list.

* Initiative per round (group or individual) with weapon speeds and casting time.
* losing spells due to damage, made the spell casters more reliant on the non casters and, at least in my group, the spell casters learned more spells for exploration and interaction and didn't filled their head only with combat spells.
* chance to learn spells.
* random spell tables.
* multi classing for non humans from the get go and splitting the xp between the two classes.
* tables, tables and more tables!!!!
* the fact that we didn't had to do tons of math around the table.
* magic items being in the DMG.
* spells with draw backs.
* rounds being one minute.
* turns as exploration time unit.
* resource management.

And much more.

Warder

 

[The Shadow]

I'm not a huge 1e fan, but I can think of a few things.

* Flavorful specialist wizards. I'd like to see the Illusionist back, with a Necromancer and several others in the same vein! And no, the base wizard does NOT get their best spells for himself!

* Less reliable spellcasting. Casting time and spell interruption make things much more interesting.

* Spells that are quirky and sometimes inconvenient. I could do without haste aging the caster, but I did like the way Fireball worked.

* A healthy sense of fear. And the wide-openness that comes of relying a lot on GM calls. (Sounds like 5e will deliver on this one, at least.)

 

[Lanefan]

When I did my earlier list I forgot casting times and easy-interrupt spells; thanks to those who caught these.

Oh, and:

Negative drawbacks for casting spells - ... - haste's aging (but as a % of natural lifespan, so elves and dwarves don't laugh at the humans as they only lose a year off their lives).

I did this some time ago, put all aging (and anti-aging) effects over to what I call Human-Year Equivalent (HYE) as based on one's normal natural lifespan; thus if a Human goes from 1-100 and an Elf goes from 1-800 a Haste hits an Elf for 8 years instead of 1. This also makes it more fair to the Part-Orcs, who otherwise got really hosed on this stuff with their shorter natural lifespans.

Lan-"now when they meet a Ghost they don't just leave it to the Elves"-efan

 

[ArmoredSaint]

* Less reliable spellcasting. Casting time and spell interruption make things much more interesting.

I want to add that I liked this, too.

First edition AD&D has such an exciting and evocative atmosphere for me; sometimes I wonder if we really needed a second edition...

 

[Gold Roger]

Speed of play.
The possibility of mixed-level parties.
The possibility of any level party fighting a wide range of monster levels.
Random prostitute tables.
Erol Otus (read: Sense of Wonder).
Quick character generation.
A lack of massive numbers inflation.

Remove Erol Otus from the list (I don't mind, but nor will I lobby), instead add danger to game changer spells and you have my list.