What do you miss from the good ol' days?

[Wik]

So, EN World is in the midst of another edition war, so I figured I'd add a bit of ammo.

I'm a card-carrying 3e nut. I love the game. I really do. It's 98% better than all other versions of D&D.

But there are some things I miss from older editions:

1) The human-centric attitude in original D&D (it just made more sense to be one!), although I love OD&D Halflings and dwarves. (in a 3e homage to OD&D once, I made a rule that all halflings, dwarves, and elves had to take half their levels in their paragon class, to reflect the OD&D feel of things).

2) Druidic Progression past 14th level. Having to challenge druids, and then becoming a Hierophant druid was AWESOME. I suppose it can still be done nowadays, but it's lost a bit of it's appeal.

3) The Lower Magic feel. I don't know why, but I've always felt like 1e/2e had less "fantasy" in it than 3.5. But that's kind of weird.

4) The house rules. I mean, to make 2e work, you *HAD* to have house rules. And, while it sounds stupid, I sort of miss that.

5) Morale entries for monsters. Another stupid thing that I liked - used it quite a bit, actually.

***

So, what things do you miss from the older editions?

 

[Treebore]

Well, I used to miss simplicity and stronger story telling. That was when 3E was still my rules system. Now I have found my "happy medium", and am having the most fun gaming since before 2001.

 

[Glyfair]

The "Frequency" entry on the monster tables. I know that different campaign worlds have different rarities of monsters and can vary. It's still nice to have a baseline from which to vary.

 

[TwinBahamut]

Well... nothing, really.

Of course, I only played a late-in basic D&D adventure game, before buying the core books from the first printing of 3E as my initial exposure to D&D, so I am probably not the best source when looking for nostalgia, since it is from before my time.

Actually... I kinda liked the piercers in that module, and having a basic starting point in a town and some early adventures. Of course, the latter is more of a basic D&D vs. core book D&D argument, but still...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Being able to eat a whole pizza at one sitting by myself. Can't do that any more.

 

[Aus_Snow]

The wackiness. Well, I don't miss it enough to tolerate it as a DM these days, but yeah, I occasionally look back over some of that stuff (e.g., B/X or 1e), and marvel, in a sense.

It had a kind of charm, perhaps. There are also other RPG systems that, in my opinion, share that quality.

As I said though, with the options available to me nowadays, I can't see myself going back.

 

[Particle_Man]

Illusionists having their own spell lists, with spells that no one else could do.

C&C fills this gap for me, though.

 

[fuindordm]

The feeling that magic can't do everything, and that some spells and items are costly and/or dangerous to use.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

First edition had charm and in a way an easier time to create the kinds of characters you wanted. For instance, you could make a magic user who was an expert in demons, religion, or engineering or all the above. With 3rd edition (and 2nd edition) you either had to have the skill points (or proficiencies) to back that up. It left more in your heads and less on the battlemat and character sheet.

I also miss the zany aspect of some of the early moduals.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

$5 modules.