What do you miss about AD&D 1e?

[Ourph]

Everything is too crisp, to clean... maybe it's that 1e and BD&D called for the DM to put more into it, since there weren't rules for every kind of action the players wanted to do... so the DM made adhoc rules and made stuff up more, making the game more personal.

This is a big part of my fondness for Basic D&D. But it's more than just that the game became personalized. For me, at least, less definition meant more creativity. The more defined the rules become, the less creative I am with the game. This may not be true for everyone, but for me, it's a closed system. With 3e I always found myself making decisions based on what was advantageous/allowed/encouraged by the rules rather than on what my character would be thinking or doing in reaction to his environment. I understand, quite well, why people accuse 3e of being a "rules-playing" game, because that's exactly what it was for me. I don't feel the need to do that with a less defined system.

BTW Henry - I don't believe the C&C rules come with low-impact dice. IIRC the box comes with the old-fashioned sharp-edged Gamescience dice with unmarked numbers, but they are not made of the old low-impact plastic. Just FYI.

 

[Sunderstone]

sigh

some thoughts

1) I miss the weekends spent playing T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil
2) I miss playing through S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
3) I miss losing 2 parties getting into the Tomb of Horrors
4) I miss the Strahd Lightning Bolt then teleporting out thing, I also miss our own Halfling Thief ( controlled by Strahd) stabbing me to death in the neck as I carry him on my Ranger's shoulders while sloshing through waterfilled corridors.
5) I miss assaulting the Slavers stockade, Markessa was a hottie. I also miss escaping from the Slavers later on.

You just cant make this stuff happen again.

 

[replicant2]

For me it's the writing and the artwork.

I dislike most of the artwork in the 3E players' handbook, particularly the iconic characters. I've heard the arguments of the 3E proponents ad infinitum, but to me the art is dungeon-punk, overly stylized and cartoonish. The 1E artwork and that found in the basic and expert books is much closer to my own personal tastes.

I also like the way the old rules were written. Not as rules, per se, but the colorful flavor text, the better examples. Look at the great examples of combat in the 1E DM's guide (who can forget Gutboy Barrelhouse?) and Basic D&D (Morgan Ironwolf and co. vs. the hobgoblins), vs. the antiseptic grids and empty prose of 3E.

It's all highly subjective, of course. And I find 3E to be a better and more playable game. Whenever 4E comes out, though, I'd like to see a little more flavor in the rules. And different artwork.

 

[Akrasia]

... BTW Henry - I don't believe the C&C rules come with low-impact dice. IIRC the box comes with the old-fashioned sharp-edged Gamescience dice with unmarked numbers, but they are not made of the old low-impact plastic. Just FYI.

Yeah, the dice are very sharp-edged. Useful as caltrops when fleeing a thoul.

 

[Mark]

But before I take the plunge, let me ask a simple question: What do you folks (those of you who were around back in the day) miss about AD&D 1e?

I miss how old I was when I played...

 

[porkrind]

Pants

I miss those bad ass bell bottom Toughskins I used to wear while loitering at Game Towne trying to decide which supplements to buy with my meager lawn mowing allowance.

Man, those pants kicked ass!

porkrind

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Nostalgia aside ....

- I miss when you could get an entire creature or NPC stat block in a single line
- I miss loads of adventure modules, most of which gave a lot of options and didn't force a specific "story" on you
- I miss the artwork
- I miss Dragonmirth ... and cartoons in the DMG

I don't particularly miss the rules. They were filled with inconsistencies, contradictions, and concepts 180 out form each other (roll high for this, low for that ...) -- or at least more so than today.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I miss being a newbie and explicitly being told never to look in the DMG because I was a player. I didn't find that wrong at all, it seemed natural that the DM had to have their secrets and I guess that attitude is missing from 3ed (e.g. PrCs were added to the DMG but players seem to be the ones running that show).

This is not really edition specific but simply that was the case at the time. I would run around with some horribly unoptimized character with my DM having to give me boosters all the time because I didn't realize my Thac0 was dreadful or my pitiful hps. Something like 14hps at level4 and with 16con.

It was quite fun not knowing the rules & relying solely on the Dm. My Dm back then made some woeful mistakes but by and large I think he was the best funwise.

Oh yeah, I remember discovering the paladin class (again being told no I couldn't play it, yet) & the mysterious bard. And being level 5 in perpetuity until at the end of a year hitting level 6. High level characters seemed to me back then that you, the player, would have to be a mighty roleplayer with grey hairs on your chest to have a high level character (levels 9+).

Much of the above is not edition specific, simply a state of mind.

 

[TGryph]

I miss the one-page character sheet...instead of worrying so much about this Feat and that Prestige Class skill, you spent your time thinking about your character's personality, and what he was like by roleplaying (sigh)

TGryph

 

[Ranger REG]

But before I take the plunge, let me ask a simple question: What do you folks (those of you who were around back in the day) miss about AD&D 1e? Am I just seeing things through nostalgia-fogged goggles, or was there really something special in AD&D 1e, something that we've perhaps lost?

Ranger's damage bonus vs. "giant class" opponents.
Ranger's weapon specialization with bows (Unearthed Arcana 1e).

That's all that matters to me. The rest sucks.