Where did you first see THAC0?
- Thread starter Emiricol
- Start date
sithramir
First Post
I would just like to say THANK GOD they got rid of THACO. Man, trying to explain that to new people was the hardest part.
You see... Theres this armor class that defines how hard someone is to hit and lthe lower it is the better and you have THACO that means TO HIT ARMOR CLASS ZERO.
Huh?
Um see if I have -2 AC and he has well um nevermind. You'll figure it out after about 10 sessions.
You see... Theres this armor class that defines how hard someone is to hit and lthe lower it is the better and you have THACO that means TO HIT ARMOR CLASS ZERO.
Huh?
Um see if I have -2 AC and he has well um nevermind. You'll figure it out after about 10 sessions.
Rugger
Explorer
Hmmm...I think the first time I saw it was in the UK series of mods (Sentinel, etc)...I think they even had a special note explaininghow it worked...gotta check dates on those mods, but I think that was one of the first "official" uses of it...
Ah...the good ole days...
-Rugger
"I Reminisce!"
Ah...the good ole days...
-Rugger
"I Reminisce!"
MarauderX
Explorer
OD&D baby, yeah!
I had the original Red Box set of OD&D, and it didn't mention THAC0 in it at all, and it only went up to 3rd level for the classes. So I bought a module and there it was - THAC0 everywhere, slapping me in the head with it's "simplicity". I can't really date it, but it might have been B4 or B5... but it's still a bit hazy since I was much shorter then.
I had the original Red Box set of OD&D, and it didn't mention THAC0 in it at all, and it only went up to 3rd level for the classes. So I bought a module and there it was - THAC0 everywhere, slapping me in the head with it's "simplicity". I can't really date it, but it might have been B4 or B5... but it's still a bit hazy since I was much shorter then.
PowerWordDumb
First Post
Oddly enough, on the 1e AD&D NPC sheets - the orange ones that were printed two-to-a-sheet, splitting an 8.5x11 page lengthwise.
What's strange is I'd never played AD&D at that point - I'd only played Red-box Basic and Expert D&D. The reams and reams of stats, precise equipment locations, and overwhelming sense of detail (including my wondering what THAC0 was all about) were what drew me to pick up the AD&D line - starting with the World of Greyhawk boxed set, followed a week later by the PHB and DMG - a whole lot of money for me at the time as I was just entering highschool. At the time, "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" really did seem *advanced*, though it's rather a simple system by today's standards.
Man, I loved those 1e books... For years afterwards I could still quote page numbers for just about anything in the DMG from memory, and I learned a ton reading about different govermental types and other nifty stuff that EGG included that would never make it into a core book today.
What's strange is I'd never played AD&D at that point - I'd only played Red-box Basic and Expert D&D. The reams and reams of stats, precise equipment locations, and overwhelming sense of detail (including my wondering what THAC0 was all about) were what drew me to pick up the AD&D line - starting with the World of Greyhawk boxed set, followed a week later by the PHB and DMG - a whole lot of money for me at the time as I was just entering highschool. At the time, "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" really did seem *advanced*, though it's rather a simple system by today's standards.
Man, I loved those 1e books... For years afterwards I could still quote page numbers for just about anything in the DMG from memory, and I learned a ton reading about different govermental types and other nifty stuff that EGG included that would never make it into a core book today.
Emiricol
Registered User
If I may hijack my own thread
PWD, you got me thinking about my own transition to AD&D I was 11, and my funky little group of friends had gone to Level 3 from the old boxed basic D&D - the one that included Keep on the Borderlands and cutout chits instead of dice.
Anyway, I remember being confused by why Basic would be in a box, but Advanced was in books. But, I had outgrown the 3 levels of Basic, so time to go to Advanced, right?
lol. In other words, I got into AD&D on accident, because I was just a dumb kid
I never regretted it though, AD&D was such an improvement IMHO over boxed set.
Though getting used to Elves being a race, not a class, was rough...
"We now return you to your regularly scheduled THAC0 programming."
PWD, you got me thinking about my own transition to AD&D
I was 11, and my funky little group of friends had gone to Level 3 from the old boxed basic D&D - the one that included Keep on the Borderlands and cutout chits instead of dice.Anyway, I remember being confused by why Basic would be in a box, but Advanced was in books. But, I had outgrown the 3 levels of Basic, so time to go to Advanced, right?
lol. In other words, I got into AD&D on accident, because I was just a dumb kid
I never regretted it though, AD&D was such an improvement IMHO over boxed set.Though getting used to Elves being a race, not a class, was rough...
"We now return you to your regularly scheduled THAC0 programming."
PowerWordDumb
First Post
Emiricol said:
LOL! I remember the confusion well. A dwarven.... cleric?!? An elven thief??? HUH??
Looking back the Basic system was so restrictive as to be laughable, but it was all we knew. I remember my sense of confusion in buying the World of Greyhawk boxed set, cause I had no idea how they'd map out an entire world on 10' scale graph paper, with room keys and everything. Of course, this was at the same era when I had no idea how one would ever run an outdoor adventure, since you couldn't say "you walk ten feet and find another tree", like I was used to describing dungeon movement and actions. I remember being less horrified by castles as their open yards were an easy mental leap from large rooms, but forests scared the bejeebers out of me.
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