I may have started with and speak very fondly of the Moldvay Basic set of the D&D rules but my absolute favorite edition is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - mainly for the difficulty that our group of 8 and 9 years olds had understanding sections of the rules or putting it all together. Dungeons & Dragons was pretty straightforward in the B/X incarnation of the rules. If you lost your way on something, a little bit of page flipping or consulting the index would usually put you on the right track. When you picked up an original cover AD&D tome at 8 years of age, you knew it was serious business.
The AD&D hardbacks provided many more options and rules than the D&D boxed sets. While D&D offered a short list of classes available for players to choose from, AD&D greatly expanded the list with Paladin, Illusionist, Monk, Assassin, the crazy Bard class, and others. AD&D also split race from class and offered even more variety in character creation. The Monster Manual offered up a nice variety of monsters from classic monsters of myth or brand new specimens. The illustrations accompanying many of the monster descriptions were very successful in establishing a serious feel for our games. It was great fun flipping through the Monster Manual trying to decide which monsters to use in our next adventure. Finally, can enough good things be said about the Dungeon Masters Guide? From the cover to the entries inside this massive tome it felt like a holding place of insider information for the DM straight from the creators of the game. There was so much information crammed in there - use of the word level, alternate ability generation, magic circles, the prostitute table, etc. - that it felt like we were looking at something we might not be ready to understand. Similar to an apprentice wizard trying his hand at the master's spell book. It was intimidating but that was part of the draw.
The AD&D hardbacks provided many more options and rules than the D&D boxed sets. While D&D offered a short list of classes available for players to choose from, AD&D greatly expanded the list with Paladin, Illusionist, Monk, Assassin, the crazy Bard class, and others. AD&D also split race from class and offered even more variety in character creation. The Monster Manual offered up a nice variety of monsters from classic monsters of myth or brand new specimens. The illustrations accompanying many of the monster descriptions were very successful in establishing a serious feel for our games. It was great fun flipping through the Monster Manual trying to decide which monsters to use in our next adventure. Finally, can enough good things be said about the Dungeon Masters Guide? From the cover to the entries inside this massive tome it felt like a holding place of insider information for the DM straight from the creators of the game. There was so much information crammed in there - use of the word level, alternate ability generation, magic circles, the prostitute table, etc. - that it felt like we were looking at something we might not be ready to understand. Similar to an apprentice wizard trying his hand at the master's spell book. It was intimidating but that was part of the draw.
Ha! I'm so amazed that people 8-9 years old could have played AD&D. Even at 12 my friends and I found much of the rules incomprehensible. Rather than being an apprentice wizard trying to read the writings of their master's, it was like being a fledgeling magic-user having acquired books of high-level illusionist spells! For $12 each even.
ReplyDeleteWell, in all fairness we were probably "playing" AD&D instead of playing AD&D. In other words, our experience was similar to yours - most of the stuff was pretty much incomprehensible and I have no doubt that what we played much more resembled Moldvay with some AD&D thrown into the mix. I am sure that we didn't make the switch for quite some time. Yeah, I sure do wish prices were the same today!
DeleteThe Bard class is classic Gygax. I still don't understand why the Bard came about that way as an optional class. Besides the high ability scores need, you had to be human and half-elf. Begin as a fighter, then dual-class to thief. Then you dual-class to druid. At that point you become a bard. So, you are basically a F/T/Druid with some extra benefits. I think there are easier multi-class options! Sure, it is something cool that a human can do, but all things considered they are nearly as powerful as other options.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The Bard was a hot mess but I sure did like trying to qualify for one. It definitely could have been handled in a smoother and more eloquent manner.
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