D&D 1E The reasons to keep the rules 1e

[frankthedm]

The 1E ruleset was not made easier to sell more books

Magic had teeth.

Fly did not have a "kid glove" safety net.

Chugging potion after potion was going to ruin your day.

The rulebook told DMs to put rules lawyers in thier place.

 

[Li Shenron]

I imagine that if one has started with 1ed and has very fond memories, plus if their group has never suffered any problems with the ruleset, there are not many reason to actually switch to a newer version.

The car analogy works well: if you still had a perfectly functioning VW Beetle, you have no reason to change it for a shining new Smart if that doesn't say anything to you.
I don't like the Windows analogy instead, which assumes that all previous versions had more serious bugs...

Some reasons not to change:

- you know the 1e ruleset very well and don't want to bother learning a new system
- you have lots of nice 1e books and still want to use them
- you have an ongoing campaign which you don't want to convert
- you have a custom setting (or smaller materiali) built around the 1e ruleset
- you don't like the idea of spending a few more 100$ banknotes

Or more simply: if it's always been working for you, why MUST you change?

 

[amethal]

It depends on whether you use all of 1st edition AD&D or just the bits you like.

Cheers,
Cam

We never used all of 1st edition, and I never met anybody who did (but I wasn't very well travelled in those days).

I'd be interested to hear if any of you used all of 1st edition.

The bits we never bothered with were :-

[DISCLAIMER I haven't played first edition AD&D for a very long time, so apologies for any errors in the following list]

weapon vs armour adjustments
weapon speeds
bards
psionics
encumbrance

I think the reason for playing 1st edition is it promotes a sense of wonder. You never know what is coming next. Anything could be behind the next door, and one false step could be your last.

The lack of consistency is actually what I like best about 1st edition, and my 3rd edition games have been a lot more fun since I decided to spend more time thinking about cool effects and less time worrying about exactly how the BBEG was able to do the cool thing in the first place. ["3rd edition rules, first edition feel" - that would make a good slogan ]

Half the time in 3rd edition I feel my players are second-guessing me. Sometimes that's handy (i.e. when I've made a mistake!) but at other times its irritating.

Player "What about my attack of opportunity"
DM "No it has improved grab"

Player "Fireballs can't do 14d6 damage"
DM "Its a delayed blast fireball"

Player "I've got too many hit dice to be affected by that sleep spell"
DM "It wasn't a sleep spell"

Player "So he has still spell and silent spell and eschew materials then?"
DM "It wasn't a spell. It was a supernatural ability which mimics the effects of a certain spell. Now if you've finished questioning my running of this NPC can we please get on with the DAMN fight!"

 

[diaglo]

Right (I think?), comparable to putting a new fuel injector into a studebacker...it just don't fit. If you want a new fuel injector, you need a car that it'll work in.

funny you should pick that example. i owned a 1948 studebaker champion businessman's coupe. i bought it in 1985.

the previous owner installed a pump fuel injector instead of the prior gravity feed system.

the pump would flood the carburetor if i sat idling at a stoplight. so i had to gun my engine to keep from stalling.

i retrofitted back to the gravity feed and had no problems thereafter.

 

[Quasqueton]

I kept playing AD&D1 through the AD&D2 years because AD&D1 met my needs just fine. I felt the upgrade changed some things that didn't need changing, and didn't change things that I felt needed changing. So I continued playing AD&D1.

But I didn't begrudge anyone who did upgrade their game. I didn't badmouth TSR for upgrading the game. And I didn't go to AD&D2 gamers/communities and complain about or insult their edition.

Quasqueton

 

[Gnome]

Chugging potion after potion was going to ruin your day.

Oh yeah, I loved the potion miscibility table from the 1E DMG!

Oh, and this isn't a reason not to convert, but I also loved the old cartoons that got scattered throughout the books.

 

[Guero Caballero]

Oh, and this isn't a reason not to convert, but I also loved the old cartoons that got scattered throughout the books.

"Dave, get the barbarian in the corner a drink, quick!"

 

[howandwhy99]

I like the DMG1e. All the rules presented in the least accessible way possible. There was cool stuff all over, but you had to dig for it. That was First Edition all over.

Plus it had a warning on the cover that any player should not be allowed within 10 yards of the book. I'm a firm believer that not all rules are for the players to know.

 

[jgbrowning]

Simplicity

joe b.

 

[rogueattorney]

It's what I know. It works fine. I still have a blast playing it. 20+ years later, I still feel like I've only scratched the surface of everything that's in the rules. In some ways, re-reading everything at 30 (and this time actually understanding what's written, unlike when I was 12) is like completely re-discovering the game.

If 3e was similar enough to 1e, it might be worthwhile to switch for the sake of the new materials. It isn't. It's a different style of game. There are about a half-dozen other new role playing games that I'd rather play and can get new materials for. For straight up swords and sorcery rpg'ing, 1e is still the way to go for me.

R.A.