TSR Why would anyone want to play 1e?

[Bill Zebub]

What it really comes down to are the philosophical & ideological differences. 2e was the beginning of the end when it came to DM control. The focus began to shift to empowering the poor, disenfranchised players, or "player agency" as it was eventually called. The second was the absence of all of those DM resources (tables, generation charts, detailed clarifications, etc.) that you say that no one even used. TBF, I come from that magical time period when all that my mentor DM had were the LBBs (+supplements), the MM(1) (finally!), the CSotIO setting, and a WHOLE lot of homebrew charts and milieu data (mostly based on Tolkien's works). We were so excited when we managed to acquire a copy of the new PH and, eventually, the DMG. We were in absolute heaven! The DM was Lord of the Manor back then, and we loved every second of every session....even when we suffered horrible fates, by the capricious fate of the dice, the stupidity and/or arrogance of character action/inaction, or () having the actual temerity (as a player) to disrespect the DM. This is how it should be. This is what we lost.

Boy, the way Glen Miller played....

(EDIT: I mean, I'm nostalgic for those early days of RPGing, too, which is why I play Shadowdark. But I manage to do so without a litany of grievances.)

 

[howandwhy99]

1E is still the unparalleled best game design in RPGs. I think there are a number of flaws in it and it can certainly be improved upon, but the entire endeavor was quit with 2e. This made very obvious with the edition change rancor, more than any other change in RPG history. Story gaming didn't really even start until the 90s and the divided community. It was a sorry time in gaming. I think most everything people think is RPGs today is the anti-rpg hobby started at the turn of the millennium. If you want to have the actual strategic simulation game played in your imagination that D&D is, one's best option will always remain AD&D.

 

[Voadam]

Even doing so, there were some rules we missed because we never even thought to look for and others we thought were there but weren't that were all revealed in a later read through of the DMG.

The DMG was notorious for having secret rules. Most thief skills have lots of rule aspects only stated in the DMG and there is a whole section of extra aspects of spells.

It also did not help that even reading the DMG rules could be scattered in there in multiple parts, some obvious and some not.

Having them in PDF now with bookmarks and search options can help when trying to figure out what the applicable RAW rules are.

Of course some are still ambiguously written so there is DM interpretation at work as well.

 

[DammitVictor]

1E is still the unparalleled best game design in RPGs.

It's not even the best game design by TSR.

Subjective opinion is subjective, but I couldn't pass up the Beatles joke. 1E has its merits compared to 2E and especially OD&D, but I'll save the arguments about why it's the runt of the litter for a thread that isn't specifically about why 1E is great.