Something about the Tower of Gygax at GENCON 2009 thrilled me. I hadn't had a feeling of "just play and ignore the rules" in a long time. You know, that feeling where every second of an experience is enjoyable. Well, with the exception of having to wait to play...Maybe it was the high-quality DMing (which in the Night Shift was beyond excellent), but I think there was something else at play. Another contributing factor that led me to enjoying that game was that it was based on the 1st Edition rules, which to me is (pretty much, at least to me) the original DND.
No, DNFND.
That game that makes you really think anything is possible, and even probable. Before Spelljammer. Before Dark Sun. Before feats, prestige classes, and even skills as we know them. Before weapon specialization and weapon speeds. Before minor actions. When casting haste actually aged your character.
Okay, so there is THAC0, which seems at first to be a hair-brained idea of a character's combat effectiveness. Actually, it makes the to-hit calculations simple. No adding a bonus if someone has used a daily power to buff those within 5 squares. No squares (necessarily).
Things we just simpler in those rules. Only thieves (not rogues) and monks could hide in shadows. Saving throws weren't tied to abilities. And bards were strange conglomerations of fighters, magic-users (not wizards or sorcerers), and thieves. Everyone needed different amounts of XP based on their classes; magic-users required more XP to advance in level, so they stayed frail and difficult to level for a long time. Everyone needed a party; there were no min-max characters because no class could do everything, and multi-classing was painful. So there was no need to define strikers and leaders.
These are a few things I find interesting about the game, but I forget the rest. Inspired by my GENCON experience, I have recently unearthed my old copies of a few of the 1st Edition sourcebooks, and bought a very nice copy of the Player's Handbook (replacing an aged copy) for $6 at my local used bookstore so I can research the old game and report on it.
I hope to take a moment every now and again and note elements I like (and those I don't like so much) about good ole 1st Edition (Advanced) Dungeons and Dragons.
Yep, DNFND.
