What details do you miss from older editions?

[Belegbeth]

not if you want to Hook The Kids (TM).

...

Imo, it broke the perception that dnd was a classic medieval game only. Yes, the new art is derivative^2, but see above (re: Hook The Kids).

Why should I give a crap about "hooking the kids"? This is a thread about what we miss from older editions, and I fail to see how the need to "hook the kids" can affect my views about this.

In any case, it is sad indeed if today's kids cannot appreciate a variety of different artistic styles. When I was a kid, I LIKED Trampier's distinctive style versus Otus's distinctive style, etc. If all early TSR artists tried to emulate the same style, I would have found THAT boring.

Kids these days... :\

 

[Swiftbrook]

I know about the ranger followers thing, but you say the 3.0 ranger had no animal companion, and the bard did? I'm afraid you're misremembering this. In 3.0 animal friendship was a spell that gave you a permanent animal companion. Rangers got it when they got their spells (4th or 5th, IIRC), and bards didn't get it.

I meant Druid, stupid fingers.

-Swiftbrook

 

[Goblyn]

This mostly 2e stuff, but...

-NOT having errata(if some rule was funky, we had to change it our damn selves)
-those wacky punching and wrestling tables
-feeling proud of understanding thac0
-knowing that the most powerful dragon, the hugest titan, the greatest of gods, has no attribute score above 25
-comeliness

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[the Jester]

I miss the 1e pummelling/grappling/overbearing rules. But let's face it, who doesn't?

*raises hand*

Now, the 1e UA versions, on the other hand...

 

[Pants]

That was somewhat the point I was trying to make. Medieval arms and armor looked the way it did, not because the smiths were uncreative, but because the stuff worked.

And not all of the armor pictured ins 1st edition was actually very realistic looking. Some of it was, but there was a lot of unrealistic, comic booky armor in there too.

 

[Stormrunner]

I have to agree on the art variety. I really miss Trampier's "Wormy" comic - now there was some cool artwork. "Zogonia" tries to be the new "Fineous Fingers", and "Downer" tries to be the new "Wormy", but both fall way short (well, Zogonia is getting better, at least it's occasionally funny now, but IMO Downer is a waste of ink).

I don't mind the tattoos, wacky hair, and body piercings, all of which were actually fairly common in many cultures EXCEPT the Western European one most games are locked into...
...however, I do agree that the recent edition art has too much sameness. And the armor - does EVERY suit of armor have to be asymmetrical? IRL, only jousting armor had right and left sides that different. And spikes - RL, you want your armor to be as smooth and rounded as possible, spikes and ridges catch the opponent's blade and cause it to dig in instead of ricocheting off. IMC, I give spiked armor a -1 to AC.

I do miss monster frequency and the ecology info. I DON'T miss THAC0, weapon speed, level titles, non-human level limits, 1e grappling, and IMO TSR has NEVER gotten psionics right.