Whatever happened to the 1st Edition Basic DND Mentality?

[dreaded_beast]

While going through some of my old RPG books, I came accross my old Basic DND rulebooks, the red "Basic" set, the blue "Companion" set, etc. These are the ones that came out around the mid-80s and early-90s.

This brought back memories of my first DND games and campaign. It wasn't "story" driven and didn't have "character development", but these were some of the best times I had playing DND. I believe what I miss, was the whole feeling of being able to play a game where you could virtually do almost "anything" you wanted.

I won't go into the details, but I'm sure many of you may have played that type of campaign early on in your RPG careers. For an extreme example, and perhaps a DMs worst nightmare, an example would be the Knights of the Dinner Table comic. The players in this comic continuously go off-track from the story, ignoring the princess that needs to be saved, stealing from the magic merchants, killing the king, etc. While this is going on, the DM in the comic complains and what not, but he actually "allows" this to happen, regardless of what story he has planned.

This is somewhat similar to how one of my very first DND groups played our games, although I don't think we gave our DM that hard of a time. It wasn't that the story was unimportant, it was more about being able to do "virtually anything", only limited by our imaginations and creativity. This may have resulted in 2-dimensional characters or derailing a planned adventure, but the DM allowed us to do nearly anything and everything, only giving slight hints that it may be a bad idea: "Are you SURE you want to do that?" Which could have been wanting to attack the cityguard just to see how good a fighter he is or eloping with the princess after meeting her when the king was giving us our first quest. The DM didn't try too hard to persuade us or prevent us from taking a particular course of action, instead he would interpret the outcome and let it flow from there. In my opinion, it wasn't about what you "couldn't" do, but more of what you "could" do and the consequences that came along with it.

This was a long time ago, so my gaming style has changed: Now I can enjoy and appreciate campaigns that have "story" and "character development", but I still miss that feeling of "virtual freedom".

In my opinion, I believe that game has changed and evloved over the years, where story and character-development has taken a forefront in many campaigns. This is a good thing, but in my opinion, a double-edged sword, where that sense of "virtual freedom" may be lost in favor of staying "true" to the story or the vision of your character.

I realize this is heavily dependent on game style and perhaps even personality, but do you ever miss or want to play in a campaign where you are not limited by following a "set" story or by how you "envision" your character; a campaign where it is more about doing the things that you could not or would not want to do in real-life?

This is just my opinion, but I believe that is one of the core reasons to play, to play in a world where anything is possible with no limits other than your imagination and creativity.

Of course, your imagination and creativity can only get you so far when you find out the cityguard your 1st level fighter wanted to pick a fight with happens to be a sergeant who is 10th level or that the king has now posted a bounty on your head for eloping with the princess and that you are now a wanted criminal through out the kingdom.

 

[Treebore]

I think it is more that we have changed, not the game. We are the ones who limit ourselves, because we know the possible consequences, so we don't risk it.


You really want to re-live those old memories? Try DMing a bunch of newbies, especially young ones.

 

[the Jester]

The pcs in my campaign have that sort of virtual freedom, but they understand that there will be consequences for their actions. For the most part, the mass of enemies my groups accumulate is the result of their own choices.

 

[dreaded_beast]

I think it is more that we have changed, not the game. We are the ones who limit ourselves, because we know the possible consequences, so we don't risk it.


You really want to re-live those old memories? Try DMing a bunch of newbies, especially young ones.

Hehe, good point.

 

[Belen]

Where is Diaglo!? He still lives the dream!

**sniff** Crusty ol' guy **sniff**

 

[Henry]

The older we get, the more goal-oriented we become. Now that we (my group) have families, jobs, etc. We are subconsciously more mindful than we used to be about "getting stuff done." If there's a wizard that needs trouncing, a kingdom that needs saving, there is peer pressure to "get on with it" instead of screwing around playing with the 14th level in the puzzle maze, or robbing the merchant.

Not to say we never have those moments, however. In my FR games, when there's not a strong deadline or plot to deal with, the players will sometimes mess around with something, and I humor them, to the point of following up the outmatched combat / prison term / what have you. But mostly, it's the players themselves who are more like, "quit ing around, let's do this." And that peer pressure is what refocuses them.

In the old days, we had 12 hours to kill, and a whole afternoon to do it in, and we were probably playing the very next day, too, so there was more room to mess around and see what we could get away with.

 

[francisca]

but do you ever miss or want to play in a campaign where you are not limited by following a "set" story or by how you "envision" your character; a campaign where it is more about doing the things that you could not or would not want to do in real-life?

No, not at all. That's because I haven't given it up. I still play 1E in such a fashion. I also run a 3E game where there is a plot and a story, even though it is very mutable and thin on specifics. Given the choice of dropping one or the other, I'll take the simple, non-story game every time.

My suggestion: Take a break from your regular campaign now and again and play a one-shot with the old rules. I think you'll find a greater appreciation for both styles afterwards.

 

[francisca]

The older we get, the more goal-oriented we become. Now that we (my group) have families, jobs, etc. We are subconsciously more mindful than we used to be about "getting stuff done."

Which to me is an even greater incentive to play a very unstructured game now and again.

Granted, story, goals, and time constraints are wonderful tools for a DM to keep a campaign on track. However, I personally need a bit of free-form every once in a while. That's what makes one-shots with the old Basic/Expert or 1st Edition Gamma World rules some much fun.

You can, if you can find the players, have your cake and eat it too.

 

[MarauderX]

I agree that a lot of the imaginative qualities have disappeared as the rules have become more defined.
I have run into this alot:
PC1: I want to jump over the railing of the balcony and land on the horse below
DM: Make a jump check to clear the railing, DC=15. Make a charge attack on the horse with a -4 penalty. Then make a modified grapple attack on the horse, you have to beat a 35 or else it bucks you off. Now make a Ride check, DC=65.

Or:
PC1: I want to pick the guy up and throw him into the flaming sphere next to me.
PC2: You need the Power Throw feat to do that. Or Great Throw, but you won't have the prereqs for it, being only at 2nd level. You will sustain an AoO at the minimum to even grab him. Nope, no way. You gotta plan ahead for those things and show that you have the prequalifying feats and skills before you do 'craaaazy' things like tha-
PC1: Oh. Well, I just attack then.

Or similar. It sucks, but with so many rules built to encompass every move ability and skill there is in a game world, it's hard to make your own moves. That's why OD&D was the best. If there was any question, you made an ability check; if you didn't like it and were 1st level, you died. Simple. No feats. No skills with goofy interpretations.

 

[Arnwyn]

This is somewhat similar to how one of my very first DND groups played our games, although I don't think we gave our DM that hard of a time. It wasn't that the story was unimportant, it was more about being able to do "virtually anything", only limited by our imaginations and creativity.

This has changed? How come my group and I didn't get the memo!?