What the heck is "First Edition Feel"?

[alsih2o]

I started gaming in the late 70's and I have no idea what this means.

Can someone fill me in.?

 

[DaveMage]

It differs for each person. For me, it's the sense of mystery and wonder that I experienced when I first went through all of those first edition modules.

 

[hong]

Rulebooks smelling of pee. Damn urea-filled binding.

 

[Navar]

"Save DC 42 or porpoise” Says the DemiLich

 

[Akrasia]

Matte covers.

Vastly better texture than the current glossy crap.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

"Save DC 42 or porpoise” Says the DemiLich

I asumed "1e feel" is kick in the door, kill things, and take loot.

Don't get killed doing the above.

Isn't that 1e?

 

[The Shaman]

No fiendish half-troll half-fire elemental illithid rogues/Ninjas of the Crescent Moon, particularly as player characters.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I started gaming in the late 70's and I have no idea what this means.

It means the covers are made of this kind of carboard instead of the glossy hardbacks we have now. Pull out your old books and you'll find they feel much differently than the new ones.

Any other questions?



But seriously....

3.x is all about balance and being exact and the rules are written like a computer programmer put some time into them. I could go into this whole "object oriented programming" seminar, but that really isn't necessary. Just say the words "object oriented" when you're at your next cocktail party and the other gaming moguls will be suitably impressed.

Here's the gaming version: Take a look at elementals. They are immune to sleep. We know this because they are elmentals, but the fact that they are immune to sleep is not in each monster description. Its the type. Older editions would put everything into one description. The advantage 3e has is that the DM doesn't have to check each and every monster type in case a game designer forgot to make water elemetals vulnerable to sleep. The advantage 1e has is that as long as the prose was cool, they never really cared if they botched a monster or spell.

Then there's the issue of balance. 1e had no concerns about balance. Look at the wacky magic user advancement tables. From 5th to 12th level magic users advance reasonbly fast. Why? And why do rogues advance at twice the rate of magic users? This is to say nothing of dungeons. A 1e designer would never think twice about tossing an ogre at a 1st level party, do that in 3e and people complain.

My buddy skipped 2e and never really got the hang of 3e. He got the idea that monsters have levels and it pretty much stopped there. So he tossed 20 kobolds with a kobold leader who was a 3rd level fighter at our 4th level party. After we picked our jaws up off the floor (both metaphorically in real life and literally in game) we explained to him what CRs were. But that's a 1st edition DM for you. "What's cool" is #1 and if it results in a TPK or dungeons with a magical no-teleporting field that doesn't exist anywhere else in the game world, then so be it!

That's my impression.

 

[hong]

No fiendish half-troll half-fire elemental illithid rogues/Ninjas of the Crescent Moon, particularly as player characters.

Sigh.

 

[Akrasia]

... My buddy skipped 2e and never really got the hang of 3e. He got the idea that monsters have levels and it pretty much stopped there. So he tossed 20 kobolds with a kobold leader who was a 3rd level fighter at our 4th level party. After we picked our jaws up off the floor (both metaphorically in real life and literally in game) we explained to him what CRs were. But that's a 1st edition DM for you. "What's cool" is #1 and if it results in a TPK or dungeons with a magical no-teleporting field that doesn't exist anywhere else in the game world, then so be it! ....

I think I like your buddy's approach.