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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Akrasia" data-source="post: 1786161" data-attributes="member: 23012">For me, part of the appeal of 1st edition is aesthetic -- I loved the "old school" art (Otus, Dee, Trampier).  The illustrations in the 1st edition books (e.g. Emirikol the Chaotic; the illustration of the dwarves and halfling talking to the magic mouth in the PHB; the famous "paladin in hell" picture; etc.) conveyed the soul (sorry Merric) of fantasy adventure far more than most contemporary illustrations.  I also liked the faster pace of earlier editions -- you could get through so much more adventuring with 1st edition rules in a single session than you can with the 3.x rules.  Combat in particular was much faster (though, of course, my group always ignored 1st edition's byzantine initiative, weapon speed, etc., systems).  And prepping for sessions as a DM was much less of a chore than it is with 3.x.Ironically, I also liked the slower pace of level progression in 1st edition.  Making it to 10th level was a major accomplishment.  With 3.x I find it absolutely necessary to cut experience rewards in half -- otherwise you seem to end up with 10th level PCs very quickly (absurdly quickly, to be honest).Still, while I would be happy to play in a well-run 1st edition campaign again, I would never run one.  1st edition was not rules lite, and included many arbitrary or unnecessary rules. A few years ago, when I wanted to get back into "old school" D&D again, I found the Basic/Expert and Rules Cylcopedia versions of the game far more appealing.  The Otus covers for the Basic and Expert sets are classic, and the B/X/RC rules are relatively rules lite -- far more streamlined than any version of D&D.  The optional rules in the RC (especially the unlimited level progression charts for demi-humans) resolved my main criticism of the original B/X system.  Despite my preference for the B/X/RC version of D&D, I certainly understand the appeal of the 1st edition game.  To a great extent it is nostalgia, but everytime I see a half-page 3.x stat bloc, I long for simpler days.And as Henry pointed out, there is the new Castles and Crusades game.  The box set is quite good, and I am looking forward to checking out the complete game when it is released.  It does a pretty good job in capturing the "feel" or "soul" of old school D&D, but while using the single d20 mechanism for all relevant tasks.Time to stop rambling ...  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /></blockquote>

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