What was so magical about 1E/OD&D art?

[tx7321]

Replicant2: "My point was that the art in the PH and DMG is not this good, and I wish it was".

Don't we all. :\

 

[Hussar]

What do I think will happen? Depends upon the individuals. It depends, for example, on whether or not the players have read the book or skimmed it while making their characters because they someone helping them (or simply used the CD in the PHB to generate them). It isn't my contention that reading isn't a common step, but I would certainly say that not really reading is an equally common step. I know people who play 3e, but haven't actually read the core books because they found them "too dry".

(Obviously not best practice! )

*snip*
RC

I would point out that this was a very common practice in 1e as well. There were very, very few players who had actually read much of the rules IME, myself included now that I've been smacked around by those selfsame rules here for a while. Pretty much every poll on Enworld dealing with the issue shows that the vast majority of 1e players played a game that was 1e in name only.

I actually think that players now are far more likely to read the PHB at the very least and many of the optional books as well simply because the books are geared towards those players and not particularly the DM. Given the number of complaints I've seen about how players are more likely to rely on the rules rather than GM interpretation, I would say that your point is very flawed RC.

 

[Delta]

But eventually ol bigheaded tordek n' crew will be back, because thats how competative people are.

You know it's funny, this really jumps out at me.

As an old gamey grognard DM, my expectation was that most player characters will be destroyed. Sometime, somewhere, somehow, with all the encounters the run into, the probability won't fall their way, and one way or another can't be revived, and can't come back. Just because they put themselves into so many encounters, and it's a game, and you're playing fair with the dice.

The modern expectation that they'll always come back is something I'll never wrap my head around. Different time, different game, I guess.

 

[Nightfall]

Claudio Pozas forever!!

 

[Hussar]

You know it's funny, this really jumps out at me.

As an old gamey grognard DM, my expectation was that most player characters will be destroyed. Sometime, somewhere, somehow, with all the encounters the run into, the probability won't fall their way, and one way or another can't be revived, and can't come back. Just because they put themselves into so many encounters, and it's a game, and you're playing fair with the dice.

The modern expectation that they'll always come back is something I'll never wrap my head around. Different time, different game, I guess.

Just goes to show how different people's experiences were. Death was rarely more than an inconvenience in our 1e games. Rings of wishes, and other goodies were held for just such an eventuality. Maybe it's because I played almost exclusively through modules. I know that my longest running character, a paladin, died about three, maybe four times over the course of the campaign. We just went back to town and got him rezzed. No biggie.

 

[Nightfall]

Death was not a convienance but it certainly didn't stop me from trying out new characters!

 

[I'm A Banana]

As an old gamey grognard DM, my expectation was that most player characters will be destroyed. Sometime, somewhere, somehow, with all the encounters the run into, the probability won't fall their way, and one way or another can't be revived, and can't come back. Just because they put themselves into so many encounters, and it's a game, and you're playing fair with the dice.

I definately prefer a tendancy toward "characters don't come back only if you don't want them to."

I mean, if I'm having fun playing Character X, why would the game force me to stop unless I wanted to?

PC's work this stuff out pretty reliably. I haven't had very many resurrections IMC's because those who die are usually happy to try out something else. But if someone's really attatched to the character, they keep it.

 

[Nightfall]

Claudio!


Pozas!


Rocks!

 

[Numion]

However, that said, the contention is not that no one will read the books, or that no one upon reading the books will be unable to differentiate between the art and the substance of the rules, but rather that for some people the implications of the art -- and especially the dichotomous implications between the PHB and DMG -- are off-putting, and hence color how they view 3e art.

I know that this is true in my case, and that it took me quite a while to fairly judge the pictures in the new edition. I suspect that this may be true for others as well.

You know, I've wondered who the guys are that made it mandatory to have those disclaimers before Jackass, SmackDown or even that text in the rearview mirror. Now I begin to see the big picture, and thus I would suggest a disclaimer to be included in every PHB:

"The maneuvers and stunts you are about to see in the illustrations in this book were performed by professional adventurers of at least 10th level. Do not try this in your home game with a low level character."​

Kidding aside, I don't that the issue you came up with is a big deal (or a deal at all). 3E's been out for 6 years, and you're the first one to point out that the pictures in DMG look more dangerous. Nobody I know noticed it or cared about it. For the average gamer , the probability of this issue mattering is:

P(It matters) = P(noticing the difference)*P(not reading the rules)*P(no game experience)

I don't know exactly, but I can guess that P(It matters) is a really small number.

 

[Scribble]

You know it's funny, this really jumps out at me.

As an old gamey grognard DM, my expectation was that most player characters will be destroyed. Sometime, somewhere, somehow, with all the encounters the run into, the probability won't fall their way, and one way or another can't be revived, and can't come back. Just because they put themselves into so many encounters, and it's a game, and you're playing fair with the dice.

The modern expectation that they'll always come back is something I'll never wrap my head around. Different time, different game, I guess.

True, characters don't always come back, but the players do. And the players learn the ropes of adventuring just as much as the characters do.