The thing I miss most from AD&D is...

[Xyanthon]

The thing I miss most is the Aesthetic of the game. Gary's prose, the artwork, the play style, etc. Of course I still have all of the books as well as the retroclones so it's still all there for me (and my kids!)

 

[Hussar]

Thought of another thing I miss.

Morale rules.

I love having a mechanic that I can use to determine if and when the baddies run away.

 

[TheNovaLord]

being so simple to roll up characters seemed to have character

nowadays its difficult not to get heavily influenced by the mechanic and, as no one dies in 4th edition, planning out your characters systemic development up to level 10 and beyond is hard to shake off.

go to any con and people can explain to you what there character will look like when its 8th level;, even though they are still 1st!!

Just seemed to be much more fear of death/drain et al in older editions. Adventuring has definitely got safer and easier and more profitable, IMO

Plus we have all lost some thrill of the early years of playing i imagine.

 

[Bullgrit]

The thing I miss most from AD&D is experience points for treasure gained.

I understand where the XP systems of 3e and 4e are coming from and, mostly, I think they achieve their goal. However, I feel that there is a unifying feature for XP=GP that is sometime sorely missed. When the primary motivation in an adventure is Treasure(!), then you know what everyone wants and the glee of finding a dragon's hoard is more than merely "what can I buy with this stuff?" (Which, a lot of the time in AD&D, was "a follower" or "a castle" - not some bit of magical power).

Sure, not giving XP for treasure opens up a wide set of other motivations. Not all PCs need to be mercenaries. It makes the monk fit in a bit more. However, occasionally the nostalgia overtakes me and I mourn the loss of finding 1000 gold... and gaining 1000 XP!

I've come to appreciate this concept now -- 20 years after I removed it from my campaigns. Now I'd love to reinsert it.

But I think it would have been better to have lower xp needs so the gp awards could be smaller. I mean, finding 1,000 gp and xp sounds like a big haul, but really, compared to the xp needed for level gain, even at low level, it was miniscule, especially split 4-8 ways.

And when you get to mid to higher levels, you had to loot tens to hundreds of thousands of gp to be impressed. This was the flaw in the system for a great concept.

Bullgrit

 

[ggroy]

Thought of another thing I miss.

Morale rules.

I love having a mechanic that I can use to determine if and when the baddies run away.

For my 4E and 3E/3.5E games, I still use a houseruled version of morale for the badguys. (Undead creatures have no morale check).

 

[scruffygrognard]

The adventures. For various reasons AD&D had my favorite modules.

 

[Orius]

While reading my new (and so far, excellent) Manual of the Planes last night something popped into my head that I juts knew I had to post when I got up this morning.

GATE

I miss the term "Gate". 3E started with the lame-o "portal" stuff, and I never have liked it. "Portal" does not sound nearly as menacing or otherworldly as "gate" does

No. Portal goes back to at least Planescape during the 2e days.

Thought of another thing I miss.

Morale rules.

I love having a mechanic that I can use to determine if and when the baddies run away.

I've never missed the morale rules. I don't feel that randomly rolling to determine if the baddies run away make much logical sense. Some creatures will run at the first sign of trouble, others when they know the fight has turned against them, and others just have to be put down like rabid dogs. Morale might make more mechanical sense in a wargame, but an RPG doesn't really need it; it's something that can be adequately handled by a DM's judgement.

 

[mmadsen]

I don't feel that randomly rolling to determine if the baddies run away make much logical sense.

Real-life morale doesn't make much logical sense. There's definitely an unpredictable, random element.

Some creatures will run at the first sign of trouble, others when they know the fight has turned against them, and others just have to be put down like rabid dogs.

Sure, different creatures in different situations should have different morale scores.

 

[mmadsen]

For various reasons AD&D had my favorite modules.

I think Basic/Expert may take the prize for best modules. Who doesn't love Keep on the Borderlands?

 

[qstor]

Yeah the setting "fluff" like Ed Greenwood's Volo guides or the Greyhawk Slavers book by Chris Parmas are what I miss most. That and the other settings too like Spelljammer or Red Steel.

Mike