D&D 1E What makes a D&D game have a 1E feel?

[Enrico Poli1]

I actually began playing with BECMI and then AD&D2e, so I never directly experienced 1e "feel". So I have to guess from hints, such as playing the Gygax modules.

1e: characters feel almost as tokens in a Wargame or boardgame (when your character in Hero Quest dies, you are disappointed but you just make another)
(The Hickman Revolution changed everything)
2e: characters now feel as the protagonists of a fantasy novel.
3e: characters are minmaxed to be efficient. In the long run, they feel as a bunch of maxed stats.
4e: characters feel as World of Warcraft heroes; the game has a strong "chessy" feel and team tactics are mandatory.
5e: roleplay over rollplay, rulings over rules: there is a return to the 2e feeling, but keeping a (streamlined) coherent rules framework from 3e. The characters feel as the protagonists of a fantasy movie.

I personally prefer 5e.

 

[TarionzCousin]

IMO: Focus on getting treasure rather than killing monsters. (gold for Xp.)

Also, something to do with all the treasure that’s collected

OD&D had that. 1E awarded xp only for killing monsters, if I recall correctly.

 

[Lanefan]

OD&D had that. 1E awarded xp only for killing monsters, if I recall correctly.

Nope - 1e as written has xp-for-gp baked in. It's easy enough to strip out, but doing so is technically a houserule.

2e was where xp pretty much only came from what you killed

 

[Wasteland Knight]

A simpler focus on just adventuring over save-the-world heroics.

 

[Don Durito]

Lot's of people saying what a 1e feel means to them, but what does is mean to the Frog Gods?

From reading their adventures, they don't seem all that concerned with a lot of what people are talking about here. It seems to me, not surprisingly, a philosophy of adventure design. Now I haven't read all that many of them, but from those I have these seem to be a common theme:

• A sandboxy, go and explore hexes or explore the dungeon approach.
• The need for careful scouting and no guarantee of balanced encounters (The Lost City of Barakus has a black dragon on the 1st level of the dungeon)
• Reward for skilled play and creative thinking.
• A very trad generic background world.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Nope - 1e as written has xp-for-gp baked in. It's easy enough to strip out, but doing so is technically a houserule.

2e was where xp pretty much only came from what you killed

Thanks. I played nonstop 1E in junior high school, but used 2E in a multi-year campaign. So 2E is somehow more familiar to me.

One thing that feels like 1E to me is character death. On a typical weekend, ten kids came to my house to play a 7th level module. Six kids had level 7 characters. Three kids had characters of level 4 to 6. One kid had a brand new 1st level character. That was typical.

All were fighters or thieves, mostly human. We played abilities strict 3d6 in order, so most characters didn't qualify to be anything else.

 

[David Howery]

Nope - 1e as written has xp-for-gp baked in. It's easy enough to strip out, but doing so is technically a houserule.

one thing about 1E/2E... it was hella easy to houserule. You could cut out huge chunks of the game if you didn't like them. Don't like racial level limits? Toss them. Racial/gender limits on stats? Toss them. Change the XP advancement levels? Easy. Don't like the alignment system? Toss it. Make up your own character classes? Easy. Ban other classes? Also easy. Want to change spells gained per level? Easy. About the only things you couldn't change easily were things like the annoying 'it runs backwards' AC system....

 

[Lanefan]

one thing about 1E/2E... it was hella easy to houserule.

You're preaching to the choir!

You could cut out huge chunks of the game if you didn't like them.

Not just cut out, but also replace, augment, or design and add new.

In my case, hitting only the major bits:

Replaced and-or redesigned from scratch: roll-up mechanics, initiative system, Monks, Bards, Druids, Paladins, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, magic item pricing, level-advance table, combat matrix, spellcasting mechanics, some spells, etc.
Removed: xp-for-gp, weapon vs armour type, weapon speed, demihuman level limits, Human two-classing, PC psionics, some spells, gender-based stats for Humans,
Augmented: Clerics v undead, multiclassing*, languages, secondary skills, level-driven stat advancement, a few spells
Toned down or restricted: shapeshift and polymorph, multiclassing*, a few spells
Added new: classes (War Cleric, Necromancer), genetic taints, 'attributes and quirks', fumbles, criticals, wild magic, some spells, death's-door mechanics, high-level feats, etc.

After 40 years of our banging on it there's very little - if anything - left untouched of the original game.

* - multiclassing is augmented in that anyone can do it and it's more flexible, but toned down in that most classes don't get quite the same benefits if multi-ed as opposed to single.

Next on my radar: an examination and (probably) complete re-do of the saving throw matrix; at the very least I want to split out paralyzation, poison and death into their own categories rather than having them combined as now.

Don't like racial level limits? Toss them. Racial/gender limits on stats? Toss them. Change the XP advancement levels? Easy. Don't like the alignment system? Toss it. Make up your own character classes? Easy. Ban other classes? Also easy. Want to change spells gained per level? Easy. About the only things you couldn't change easily were things like the annoying 'it runs backwards' AC system....

 

[Don Durito]

Thanks. I played nonstop 1E in junior high school, but used 2E in a multi-year campaign. So 2E is somehow more familiar to me.

One thing that feels like 1E to me is character death. On a typical weekend, ten kids came to my house to play a 7th level module. Six kids had level 7 characters. Three kids had characters of level 4 to 6. One kid had a brand new 1st level character. That was typical.

All were fighters or thieves, mostly human. We played abilities strict 3d6 in order, so most characters didn't qualify to be anything else.

Amusingly 3d6 in order is definitely NOT 1E!

 

[fearsomepirate]

I think the main thing is that the adventure has the tone of, "Here is some naughty word, now deal with it." You might accidentally find yourself in the land of Cloud Giants at 5th level, and that is just some naughty word, isn't it? Now deal with it.