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D&D Theory: Dungeons & Dragons Over The Years: Part I of III

Dungeons & Dragons is rapidly approaching its 50th anniversary as a franchise and what a glorious 50 years it has been. Over the decades D&D has enjoyed immense success in just about every medium, but of course, the pencil-and-paper RPG is what makes this wheel spin. At no time that I recall has D&D seen more success than in recent years, the hobby has absolutely exploded in popularity and it’s in part because of its appearance in various tv shows, but certainly primarily because of the incredibly successful 5th edition released in 2014. The game has enjoyed many versions and variations of the game, each one a variant of what came before and if you really count some of the sub-edition and in-between stuff there is actually, even more, to choose from than might be immediately apparent.

Now modern gamers are going to play modern games, it’s natural as you enter the hobby, you go for the latest and greatest which is not only expected but recommended. That said, as a guy who has played every edition of the game extensively and is a huge history buff, I’m always excited to talk about what has come before and why modern gamers might want to take a spell and consider some of these past additions for their table even today.

5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, the latest version of the game made great strides in an attempt to solidify past and present editions into a single system to satisfy the many growing issues that have crept up in modern designs which include 3rd and 4th editions of the game. It’s by far and wide the most popular modern edition of the game with past generations of gamers as well as obviously, modern games (can you say 50 million people playing D&D!?).

Contrary to popular belief, past editions of the game as compared to modern games are not some old relics to be discarded and forgotten. Any one of these old editions can create amazing table experiences and I would argue are worth exploring even today. In fact, most complaints about modern games stem from certain gaming elements that were already tested, identified and resolved in old systems that have crept back into the modern game design because when you don’t know your history you’re doomed to repeat it, yes I’m looking squinty-eyed at you Wizards of the Coast!

With that little enticement, in today’s article, we are going to travel back in time and talk about each edition that came before, what you might find in between the pages and why it might just very well be worth your time to explore it.

Enjoy the article, it’s a big one!

Dungeons & Dragons: Original Edition

The original game was reprinted in a deluxe box set in 2013 as part of D&D’s 40th year anniversary. This classic, despite its age, is still played today.

We can only speculate as to what was going through Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson’s minds when they created the original white box set, after all, they were paving the way into uncharted territory perhaps not even aware that they were about to create an entire genre of gaming and franchise that would last for decades. Interviews in hindseight make them appear almost like geniuses who percieved a whole new genre of gaming but the reality is they were just a couple of nerds that like to make games.

The original game is perhaps best described as a proof of concept. Many of the ideas that would evolve from this 1st version of D&D were very rough in this original edition and while I would like to tell you that every edition of the game is worth exploring, this one included, of all the editions that followed this one would probably be the most alien to modern gamers.

For one the game was in its infancy and much of the terminology and concepts that would define D&D as the game we know today were yet to really be coined. There were only three classes in the game, The Cleric, Fighting Man and Magic-User initially and the game was very much about free-form role-playing with the absolute minimum of rules beyond some basic combat execution mechanics. Notably by modern standards, I think most would view some of the mechanics as odd at absolute best, in fact even among OSR (Old School Revival) circles the original game is considered a bit of a quirky historical reference.

D&D inspired an entire golden era of early PC gaming including classics like Bard’s Tale. Just like D&D, retro gaming and revivals of classic games from the 70’s & 80’s is common in PC games as well. We got the whole Bard’s Tale trilogy remastered in 2018.

For example, the damage characters could deal in combat was based on their class, not their weapon, there were no skills, feats or special powers and while there were 3 classes in the game with a 4th coming along later (Thief), for the most part, the game was very close to a completely rule-less system depending very heavily on DM adjudication, yet the game was very procedural at times as well bringing it much closer to what we could call an adventure game rather than a role-playing game today. Something I don’t doubt purist would wholeheartedly disagree with, most who played it leaned on the adjudication over structure element of the game.

Today there is still a fan base for this original style of play which was very much narrative storytelling focused. There are retro-clones available today like Swords & Wizardry which is a compilation and organization of the game into a single volume done by the famed OSR designer/writer Matt Finch who is among a small group of people responsible for the creation of the OSR as a concept. As such you don’t have to go through the trouble of hunting down original copies; versions of this game that are effectively replications of the original rules are available in print today through sites like RPG Drive Thru.

Swords & Wizardry is just one of several retro-clones of the original game available today. This one is hailed for its amazing line art and organization making the game a lot easier to understand than the original printing.

Why Play It Today?

I would be hard-pressed to give an exact mechanical or even conceptual reason to play the original game. I suppose you could say that if you like free-form role-playing where rules are more often improvised than stated, this might be a reason to try this one but I think most gamers today would probably want more mechanics than this game offers, both DM’s and players alike. If free form is your thing, you could just as well ignore rules that exist in your game than play one where they are missing when you want or need them.

I think the only real reason to try this original classic is just to get an understanding of the history of D&D, where it started, where it came from, and how the design evolved. This game is still played today, but unlike many of the versions that followed, the OSR community existing today that plays this game is made up predominantly of people who played the original way back in the 70’s. That is not meant to discourage or disparage the game, it is a classic, an original to be preserved and held high for its achievement, but still. Original D&D is to RPG’s what cave paintings are to art, an interesting historical reference but not exactly something that is going to teach or introduce modern gamers to anything that hasn’t been done better in games that followed.

Nostalgia certainly plays a role in D&D communities, but even when we look back, it’s rarely original D&D that is being presented, more often it is 1st edition Basic/Expert or Advanced Dungeons and Dragons that serves as a way back machine. Original D&D is just too far back to be relevant nearly 50 years after its release. A fate I fear will befall B/X & AD&D some day as well.

For me personally, it’s one of the few editions of the game I find difficult to recommend, it was kind of a trial run and while I think it has a lot of historical relevance, in practice, it’s pretty rough as a game system and much of the games core premise while familiar is actually quite distant from how both RPG’s and specifically D&D evolved. It’s a curiosity, certainly worth a read, but I personally never felt drawn to run it.

It’s a game you play to get a look through the lens of the origins of the game.

1st Edition Basic / Expert

1st edition Basic/Expert rules had several subversions over the years but the most often referenced and perhaps the most well-known is the 1981 Moldvay box set. For many D&D generations, this box set defines classic D&D for them.

Contrary to popular belief D&D actually evolved from two separate core games that while reasonably compatible had a vastly different approach conceptually.

1st edition Basic & Expert rules were released alongside 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and while one was intended as a starting point for the other, the games evolved along different paths and in a sense became two simultaneous editions of the game.

There are a number of core differences between 1st edition B/X and 1st edition AD&D.

First and perhaps foremost, 1st edition B/X was structured as an adventure game first and RPG second. A core of the game was that there were defined rules that structured elements of the game like the exploration of dungeons, wilderness adventures and adventures on the high seas. This concept I think would be quite unique to modern gamers who see the “adventuring” part of the game as a free-form role-playing concept, rather than a structured element of play which is exactly the case in the B/X system.

The concept of D&D as an adventure game is differentiated by the structure of play outside of combat. In an adventure game there are rules that govern all aspects of the game creating emergent stories and while the principle between adventure games and RPG’s are so similar it’s almost impossible to tell them apart, they are in fact quite different in practice.

In B/X time is tracked in actions even during adventuring periods and this has a procedure that is different for each of the types of “zones” of adventure (Dungeon, Wilderness & Waterborne adventures). Just like in combat, each initiative players take an action, which results in a “round” taking place and just like combat, this can have different effects on the game from torches going out, spells expiring, wandering monsters and other effects like getting lost in the woods, running out of food and so on. Not all that different than any other D&D game, but the tracking of time and the governance of rules of how to manage is mechanically driven.

Another core feature of B/X is that there are no race & class combinations, instead, races are their own classes. This is also wildly different and is exclusive to just this and the original edition of the game not to be repeated in any future editions barring reprints. Race as class (Elf as a class for example) I think is something that would raise the eyebrows of modern gamers but the premise here is that, in B/X, D&D is a very specific type of fantasy. In fact, B/X as a system is directly linked to a setting called “The Known World”. The known world would later evolve into the “Mystara” setting which evolved further with the releases of the Companion, Master and Immortal rules, effectively advanced B/X rules as strange as that sounds which is in contrast to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. This setting is built around a very Tolkien-like fantasy setting and the classes in the game are structured to depict that fantasy exclusively.

No version is influenced more by Tolkein fantasy, which includes the original edition of D&D than 1st edition Basic/Expert rules. Tolkien fantasy is built right into the rules and many of the core abilities and structures are designed intentionally to replicate middle-earth sensibilities.

This is a bit confusing but you can think of it this way. Initially, B/X was created to be a basic starting point and AD&D was where players were expected to graduate. I don’t think TSR expected that the B/X rules would gain their own, separate following and this resulted in a demand from this new B/X community for expanded content. They wanted more advanced rules, but not in the form of AD&D, but rather expanded rules for the B/X game system as its base. I will talk more about the result, BECMI (Basic/expert/companion/master/immortal) rules a little later.

The third thing that really made B/X unique is that the game assumed a sort of meta-game infrastructure. The game was really designed as a challenge to players, rather than their characters and to support that concept several meta-game rules existed that worked together.

For starters, the players were assumed to be treasure hunters. This is why we had structured adventuring rules, but there are also rules for rewards that support this. For example, XP for monsters was very low, but you would earn 1 XP for every 1 gold piece (treasure) you found. The idea was that players were motivated to travel across the landscape (Wilderness & Waterborne Adventure Rules), go into dungeons (Dungeon Adventure Rules) and find treasure (1 gold = 1 xp). This is how you advanced in the game and was a measure of your success.

The depiction in Strange Things in which players huddle together, form plans, roll dice and seemingly are playing a game more than role-playing may seem strange to modern gamers, but if there is a version of the game that depicted this element it would be Basic/Expert rules where the feeling of winning in an RPG was kind of real and very player centric.

Additionally, character classes were very minimal, you gained very few powers and much of your strength was based on the equipment you carried. Magic equipment was of course the best way to empower your character but the only way to get magic items (which could never be purchased) was to go into Dungeons and find them.

B/X as such was a very structured adventure RPG quite different from Original D&D which was very free form and future editions of the game that were very narrative and character-centric. B/X was a very player-centric game with a very firm meta-game motivation built into it.

The final thing about B/X, oddly enough even though it was a game designed with new players in mind, though it had a simple ruleset was incredibly difficult to be successful in. The game while being structured, meant that rules governed a great deal of the outcomes of the game which means dice rolls. This combined with the incredible deadliness of the game made the actual gameplay for expert (veteran) D&D players.

Using player meta knowledge and past D&D experience, really playing D&D as a player skill set was both encouraged and expected under 1st edition B/X rules. “Good Players” were far more likely to succeed in the game than “New Players” who lacked past experience. It was an odd position the game took from a design perspective given it (B/X rules) was designed as an introduction to Dungeons & Dragons.

A character in B/X would instantly die when they hit 0 hit points and at 1st level characters rarely had more the 2-8 hit points. A single blow could end a character’s life, not to mention how deadly traps and other effects could be. By and large, despite being aimed at new players, 1st edition B/X was the deadliest game in D&D history and remains today as the core of the OSR community for that very reason. A game designed for newbies was ultimately adopted as the foremost example of master-level role-playing aficionados who love a challenge becoming the foundation system for the OSR.

While B/X box sets and rules are still available today through sites like RPG DriveThru, one nice thing about B/X rules popularity among OSR designers is that it has become the adopted love child on which many games are based. The result is that there are various re-edits and retro-clones of B/X, my personal favorite being Old School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome. This fantastic re-edit of B/X not only gives you the core rules in a really great edit but the game is expanded with several source books that take you beyond the basic B/X rules to include more classes and more advanced optional rules. As well they do some optional math reversal for you to get rid of the dreaded THAC0 and descending armor class so you don’t have to. Really great stuff!

Old School Essentials is just one of many retro-clones and remakes of 1st edition Basic/Expert rules, but it’s by and large the most popular, and this is likely because it stays honest to B/X rules as closely as humanly possible while correcting and expanding the game in ways that is very commonly done in house rules. It is in my opinion the best version of B/X rules out there today.

Why Play It Today?

There are actually quite a few intriguing reasons to play Basic/Expert edition Dungeons & Dragons, but I would still argue that modern players might see the game as quirky if not outright strange.

One of the main advantages of 1st edition Basic/Expert rules, setting aside the challenge level of the game (as a game) is that the rules are very simple to learn/teach. Far simpler than anything we have in modern systems. This simplicity is combined with existing familiarity anyone who plays D&D would have compared to modern games, meaning that if you know how to play any edition of the game including 5th edition D&D, you already know 90% of the system (B/X) because by far and large it is the basis for all other editions of the game.

This simply means that you can get the game to the table very easily with any sort of player group even complete novices. No one is going to struggle to understand how to play and everyone can get right to enjoying the game without the need for elaborate explanations often required to grasp modern games.

This simplicity is furthered combined with unmatched support for the game in particular in the form of adventure modules and unique variations on the system all of which are compatible with each other. In the nearly 50 years that D&D has been in development, this version of the game has continued to receive new content thanks to a thriving community and immense 3rd party publishing support. There are more adventure modules created for 1e B/X rules than all other editions of D&D combined. It is the most well-supported D&D system today, even more so than modern/current editions like 5th edition D&D.

A big part of why Basic/Expert rules are so flexible is the incredible compatibility it maintained long past its lifetime. 1st and 2nd edition adventures including all AD&D content are 100% compatible while 3rd and 5th edition modules are incredibly easy to adapt. The only rough spot is 4th edition which is generally incompatible with all D&D systems.

The next big sales pitch, which speaks to me personally has always been the structured and clear goals of the game for players. One very common issue with D&D is the absence of a common definition of what you are supposed to be doing in the game and understanding it as a game and as a concept. Modern games have this “it’s anything you want it to be” approach to playstyle, but this is particularly unhelpful and problematic when you sit down with five players and a DM to whom “anything you want it to be” is different for each person. Finding common ground, a gaming group where everyone is in sync and creating an experience that satisfies everyone at the table borders on an impossible achievement in modern gaming. It’s why despite the popularity of modern systems, the complaining from the player base is so excessive you would think they hate their hobby the way they speak about it.

1st edition B/X is a system that has clear goals, clear direction, one playstyle and no apologies, no excuses and no fancy philosophies. There is only one right way to play 1e B/X and the game tells you exactly what that is in no uncertain terms with no interpretations required. Certainly, it’s not a take-it-or-leave-it deal and you can and are actually encouraged to mess with the system, but at least you are on solid footing when you read the rules as written, there is a clear starting point, there is no confusion about what the deal is. Love it or hate it, it is what it is.

One additional element that has been lost in D&D is the ability to play the game as a pickup-and-go as well as a one-shot system. B/X combat is fast and snappy, its mechanics simple and it’s core gameplay clear. The result is a system that very happily supports the idea that you can pick up the books and say “let’s play D&D” and be up and running in 10 minutes or less. It’s ideal for 1 shot and pick-up games where you can simply play anytime you feel like it with anyone. This is because B/X is built on emergent story and gameplay concepts, meaning that you don’t need to do much prep work to get a very functional and entertaining game night, creating the story is built right into the system for you.

While AD&D (1st & 2nd edition), 3rd and 4th editions were all far too complex games to make either good introductions or be flexible enough for pick up and play games, with 5e thanks to introduction boxes like D&D Essentials Kit, picking up a game with little prep is again possible. This may be why 5e D&D is so popular as it goes back to its roots as a game in many ways and being easy to pick up is one of them, an idea founded in 1e B/X rules.

Finally and like anything this too is a matter of taste and preference is the fact that B/X 1st edition is effectively a D&D construction kit. If you ever wanted to create your own version of D&D, there is no system more modular and more adaptable than B/X 1st edition. This is a D&D lego set and while the core system has clearly marked boundaries, you cannot break the game, it’s so incredibly flexible you can take any other edition of the game, take any rule you want from that game, including any spell, feat, power or whatever, add it as written into B/X and it works without a hitch. Naturally, your power levels will fluctuate as a result, but there are not going to be any mechanical compatibility issues, it just works. It’s a creative DM’s dream come true as a system and it’s a lot of fun to do. A system that is firm in the layout of what it is, but infinitely modular to be anything else you want it to be while always remaining approachable to and by anyone.

1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

AD&D 1st edition was reprinted by Wizards of the Coast in 2016 without edits, a tribute to decades of fandom.

I think most D&D players, even modern gamers know a thing or two about Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, while it is not the first edition of the game it is considered to be the granddaddy of D&D written by the god-emperor himself, Gary Gygax.

AD&D 1st edition however is actually one of the most problematic games in the D&D line up, which is not to say it’s bad, it’s actually quite phenomenal, but it requires a very stern hand to wrangle this beast and an open mind to its core concept. There is no question that this is one of the most complex versions of the game to learn, to run, and ultimately to master, definitively earning its unique title as Advanced D&D. In fact, it’s a rare DM who can fully grasp the core of the rules and implement them efficiently fully as written. RAW 1st edition AD&D games were rare then (70’s-80’s) as they are now. It really takes a true master to run a good 1st edition AD&D game which might explain why so many players and DM’s have a love-it-or-hate-it relationship with the game. In the hands of an inexperienced DM it can be a disaster, in the hands of a master DM, it is nothing short of a work of art. It’s a game that embodies the soul of D&D in a way that no game before or after ever could, but one must be a soulweaver to bring that essence to the table.

1e AD&D under TSR’s banner gave birth to all of the classic settings that are staples in the community today. Dragonlance is just one among many that created fantasy fans all over the world. Playing in this setting under the original system is an experience I would recommend to every D&D fan without hesitation.

AD&D shares many similarities with B/X, the two games are designed to be fully compatible and they are, but AD&D features a number of unique departures as well as much deeper and more fleshed out concepts that you will not find in either B/X or any other version of D&D that had come before or would come after.

First and foremost the rules of the game are hidden from the players very intentionally, documented in a massive and secretive tome in painstaking detail and frank commanding language known as the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide. A book that I both personally consider the first and definitive final word on how to be a Dungeon Master and one of the most confusing reads you will ever experience, spectled with brilliance and nonsense in the same breath.

This book not only defines every conceivable element of the game but it does so with flavor and a deep meaningful understanding of fantasy, an edgy abstracted realism, and a firm hand. It’s a book that declares the Dungeon Master god of the game in no uncertain terms, the great creator tasked with entertaining and challenging players in the most devious and detailed oriented ways possible.

The result is a system that is explicit, yet flexible, mysterious, yet self-aware and most of all, it creates a gritty, believable fantasy world in stunning detail if and its a BIG if you can wrap your head around all of the wisdom it passes on and be open-minded enough to embrace it.

The 1st edition DMG to me is the bible for Dungeon & Dragons, running D&D having never read it means you are always going to be a lesser DM than you could be. It is priceless information you will never find in any other book written for the game.

Now that is a very colorful way to describe AD&D and I will admit, no matter how many times I open the pages of the AD&D DMG, I can’t help but be swallowed whole by the mystique of it. It’s inspiring. That said, its a read riddled with issues, in fact, in a lot of ways, its approach as a whole is an issue to some both conceputally and mechanically speaking. Its perhaps best described as a confounding experience, you will either find its soul or be confused by its intention.

Still, D&D is a game and AD&D is a version of it, so the question is, what does it do differently, what aspect of the game may be worth exploring if you’re a modern gamer. Why go back to it?

Like B/X this is a game that is going to have a familiar surface, looking at the character races and classes, stats and hit points, armor class and sub-systems while some of them will feel like quirky versions of what you are used to they are not going to be alien to you.

There are however three core things that really separate AD&D from any other version of the game for better or for worse, you decide!

The first is the focus on the mundane, administrative elements of medieval life. AD&D as a system really tries very hard, successfully in my opinion, to make players feel the hardship of a medieval fantasy world. Your resources are limited, your powers are limited and it all amounts to the game being a brutal struggle for survival.

There is a harshness to everything with no video game structured answers or hand-waving of the elements of the adventuring life. You are as likely to die in the woods of dysentery as you are at the end of an orc’s blade. AD&D wants you to worry about how sharp your blade is, how clean your water is, how many arrows you have in your quiver, how heavy your pack is, how many spell components you have remaining and all sorts of other resource issues that drive your actions and decisions. No matter where you look in this system there are uncomfortable limits and restrictions. There are no character “builds” that let you circumvent the harshness or avoid the discomforts. The result is that players form comraderies in much the way soldiers do in war because the only way to truly survive, maybe even excel is through teamwork, the only way players can accept their circumstances is by suffering them together.

This of course can be seen as a major drawback as well. Adventuring heroes suffering anti-climatic deaths does not exactly make for a tolkein fantasy or fond memories. Sometimes the game is just a bit too real to be fun, a not all together uncommon complaint about AD&D.

The 2nd main focus of the game is emergent narrative storytelling. AD&D has a lot of charts and DM’s are often asked to let the events of the game unfold through the use of tables, encouraged to embelish these events and allow the chips, or dice as it were, to fall where they may. That is not to say that everything should be randomized or that the game is pure random chance, but the game is setup in such a way as to ensure the players are working against a structure rather than pure DM fiat.

These rolls are often measured against character attributes and abilities, which ties into the 3rd unique element of AD&D I will talk about in a minute, but the principle concept is that you do not just roll when you “do stuff” to see if you succeed, but you often roll to see “what happens” in general, how the world around you responds.

You open a chest, what is in it? Is there a trap on this chest? Is there an Alchemist in town? How does the merchant you just met feel about you? Do the Orcs run or fight this round? Rolling the dice isn’t just to see if you can disarm a trap or if you can find it, its very existance may be left to chance. This emergent concept is a foundational element of AD&D.

Forbidden Lands reminded me a great deal of AD&D 1st edition and it shows that there is still a place in gaming for harsh and ruthless survival stories and emergent storytelling. It is a great example of an OSR throwback and might serve as a much easier alternative to teaching the many lessons of AD&D.

With AD&D there are rolls that determine the input or outcome of a narrative. Maybe killing the chieften scares the rest of the Orcs and they run away, maybe it makes them even more angry and they attack with barberic ferocity! The DM is encouraged to let a big part of the story be told by the dice, far larger chunks than one might be accustomed to in a modern game. This in turn creates emergent stories, unexpected events, things the DM could not himself plan or would have even considered adding into the game. This aspect of AD&D creates a sense of danger and the unknown, not just because you as a player don’t know what will happen, but you know the DM doesn’t either. In AD&D very often, the dice do the storytelling.

This too can be a problem, encountering deadly traps and finding nothing in treasure chests while stumbling across random encounters every time you open a dungeon door can be daunting, brutal, unfair even. AD&D run as designed, can be quite suffocating and demoralizing. Some will see it as a challenge, others as unescessary cruelty.

The 3rd and final unique element of AD&D is that the games classes are definitively archetypical and each class deals with a very specific element of the game, offering a group an advantage in the area filled by a character of that class. This is true in B/X as well, but in AD&D there is a far more granular game, hence the class abilities are equally more granular increasing the complexity and types of class roles. A group without a Ranger is likely to get lost in the woods more often, have food shortages when traveling, have longer travel times and so on. A group without a Cleric is going to have a hell of a time crawling through a crypt filled with undead and recovery of the groups health will be dauntinly slow. A group that has a thief will likely end up with a lot more treasure, a lot fewer casualties as a result of traps and will be able to access parts of dungeons inaccessible without their skulldugary skills.

Some cross over exists here and there, but each class plays a key role and in the end each adventuring party will always be missing some element that is relevant to the adventure, some unfilled gap that they will struggle against.

Making each role a pivitol part of an adventuring party means that each player is a critical to the success of the troupe, everyone’s lives are easied by their presence against the horrific struggles of the medievil world you face together.

This aspect of the game is so refined, so poiniant that its become a staple in the gaming world in particular in MMO’s, yet oddly enough as editions progressed forward the game of D&D has slowly evolved away from this principle element to a point where in modern editions of the game its practically non-existant. A party of adventurers in 5e for example will not have a gap in the groupes capabilities because a Ranger, Rogue or Cleric are not part of a party.

This element also adds an aspect of meta strategy. Players that gather to form adventuring troupes are going to be very aware of their shortcomings and their strengths, they will devise group strategies that favor those strengths and avoid exposing their weaknesess, creating a kind of a game within a game. The composition of your party will and does dramatically change how you approach the whole concept of adventure.

Again there are drawbacks to AD&D’s archetype enforcement. At times you might sit down at an AD&D table and be forced to play a Cleric because the party needs one even though you actually want to be a thief, but the group already has one. Their is inflexibility in this rigid structure, the modern game favors players running whatever character class they want and in this is a kind of joy. Sometimes in AD&D, the struggle begins even before you start playing as players bicker over what the party needs as oppossed to simply creating whatever character you want.

Why Play It Today?

For me AD&D does two things, both of which give this game justification as a game to try today, but I would simultanously caution modern gamers that this is a very brutal game, much like Basic & Expert 1st edition is but unlike B/X it’s also very complex and can be a chore to learn and run.

The first thing is that I think the concept of emergent gameplay is applicable to modern games, though modern games don’t encourage or teach it, even though they are perfectly capable of the execution. AD&D teaches you how and when to do this well, so the experience of running AD&D as as DM makes for an exceptional education you won’t find in any other game on a subject (emergent gameplay). In my opinion emergent gameplay is not optional, it is a required element of the game that must be included for the game to be meaningful. The players must know that the fate of their characters isn’t just a DM decision, that the world around them is a living breathing thing, random as it may sometimes be. This is one thing I feel is worthy of your time and effort to learn and learn well and no game will teach you emergent gameplay better than AD&D 1st edition.

Emergent gameplay is an amazing seasoning to narrative constructs because as much as DM’s often think themselves briliant story designers, the truth is that most of us are not. Emergent gameplay creates a natural way for amazing stories to evolve (emerge) and with the right set of tools which the 1st edition AD&D DMG most certainly is, the creations will always be wildly unique inspiring stories you would have never thought to create yourself, acting as a platform for your own inspiration.

The second thing AD&D does really well is that it teaches you why limitations are better than options, a lesson you will never learn from a modern RPG, quite to the contrary most modern games very mistakingly teach the oppossite. AD&D shows you how you can play a straight, tough game, one that might almost seem mean to the players and end up with an amazing gaming experience in which your players flourish despite the hardships. This is because the reality of games of any kind is that victories that are tough to achieve, inspire players to be smarter, better, proactive, involved and curious to test their metal, all elements that become rewards in their own right. The side effect is failure but if you know anything about drama you know that traggedy and struggle produce the best stories which ties in nicely with the concept of emergent gameplay.

I really enjoy Pathfinder 2nd edition as an alternative to D&D, but this is a game that really shows how unwieldy and generic a game can feel when it has too many options and it’s reach to broad. When everything is possible and everything is unique, nothing is unique, the fallout of option overkill.

For me personally AD&D 1e holds a very special place in the DM arsenal. It is chalk full of lessons that simply aren’t taught anymore and should be to both players and DM’s. It is a game written with the voice of a true master storyteller, someone who understood the principle foundations of narrative role-playing.

It does however require an open mind as some mechanics have not aged well (I’m looking at your THAC0!) but a bit of math is a small price to pay for a great gaming experience and the truth is that most of the mechanics that aged poorly, can be easily corrected with a few house rules.

Some of these house rules, corrections and clarifications can be found in OSRIC, a retro-clone for AD&D that makes the game a lot more approachable. I would personally argue OSRIC fails to contain the same mojo of the 1e AD&D DMG, but it does, in plain language sort of explain things that are sometimes heavily hidden in the flavor text of Gygax’s quirky writing and as a practical matter this is quite useful.

Like Old School Essentials which retro-clones B/X rules, OSRIC is a re-edit of the 1e AD&D rules making it far easier to consume and understand the core rules, in essence making AD&D 1st edition far easier to run. You lose that Gygaxian writing that makes 1e AD&D such a fun read, but as a rule reference is really great.

Conclusion

That concludes our first part of the walk down memory lane of D&D gaming history. Clearly, like any fan of D&D I have my opinions and it’s certain to trigger disagreement, but I feel quite confident having played these games extensively I have nailed at least my own experience and perceptions.

Part II is coming soon where I will dive into 1st edition BECMI (Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortal) rules, 2nd edition AD&D and then switch gears to the birth of the modern D&D era with 3rd edition!

Best of List, Role-Player Game Reviews

Top 10 Table Top Role-Playing Games

The one thing I always tell people who enter the hobby, people who typically enter the scene through Dungeons and Dragons is that while D&D is an amazing game, it is but a small piece of a much larger world. In today’s list, we explore some of the amazing RPG’s that have been made since Dave and Gary penned the grandaddy of role-playing games decades ago. I have focused this list with advice aimed at Gamemasters looking for great systems, but I think players should find this list entertaining as well. Note also I have only included games I have actually played or run and obviously, I have not played everything that has ever been written. I’ve also tried to focus on games that are actually still available today, obviously giving you a list of RPG’s you cannot buy and play today would probably not be terribly useful.

10. Star Trek Adventures

Star Trek is a franchise that has seen a lot of renditions over the years in the RPG genre and arguably, many of them made a respectable showing, but Star Trek Adventures is the game to beat.

I was a little bit hesitant about adding this game to the list because frankly, it misses the mark a bit with some of my criteria for this list, but I still think for Star Trek fans this is a great game.

The issue with Star Trek Adventures is that the books are poorly organized, written in a narrative style where rules and story are blended into the text making it difficult to use the books as a reference and the rules are, well, kind of complicated with a lot of high-level concepts that aren’t easy to teach. This makes the game difficult to get to the table and it’s a bit of a chore to run as a GM.

That said, if you can get past this difficulty curve, Star Trek Adventures does an amazing job of bringing Star Trek stories to a group ready to take on the intricacies of the final frontier and I think if you are a fan of Star Trek and want to experience it in RPG form, this is your game and it’s worth jumping through the hurdles.

The difficult thing with bringing Star Trek stories to an RPG, in general, is that it requires a lot of setting knowledge on the part of the players to really bring the stories to life. The terminology, Starfleets command structure and how ships and technology work, are all core knowledge that is required to get the most out of the game. The game does teach you all this, but typically players aren’t the ones reading the books and I think sitting down and explaining the Star Trek universe to players who aren’t already fans is going to take a very long time and probably won’t translate well. As such, this game should be approached with assumptions that players are already in the know and it then comes down to explaining how the rules bring all these setting concepts to life.

Being an Origins Award Nominee is indeed an honor, but I think they could have won if the game had better editing. The books writing style and organization is one of the failures of Star Trek Adventures.

Here Star Trek Adventures really shines as the connection between the intricate setting concepts and the rules of the game are in perfect sync and really bring to life the complexities of technology in the Star Trek universe. The intricate relationships of the command structure, the unique skills of the Star Trek universe, the way technology works and all of the history of Star Trek are all embedded into the mechanics in this rather perfect union.

It’s a lot of work to make Star Trek come together at the table, it requires knowledgeable Star Trek fans and a DM willing to study the intricate rules, but when the stars align, this game is a Star Trek fans dream.

For me personally, it was worth the stretch to get this one to the table as I’m a huge Star Trek fan but it comes with the above disclaimer and certainly wasn’t easy, it’s definitely for more advanced players.

9. GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System)

GURPS has been a household name in the RPG community for decades, it’s been around nearly as long as D&D and Steve Jackson is a wonderful designer that makes a lot of really great stuff.

Published in 1986 by Steve Jackson, GURPS is a role-playing system designed to cover every setting and genre imaginable as a universal RPG system for all occasions. It was the first of its kind when it was published in a market where games were always published for specific settings and/or genre and despite decades of role-playing game publishing, it is even today a leading member of a small group of games that take this approach to role-playing.

GURPS is in its 4th edition of the game but unlike so many role-playing games that have many editions/versions, GURPS core mechanic has been largely unchanged and the 4th edition books are backward compatible with all material that goes all the way back to its original 1st edition which is a big plus for fans.

What makes GURPS special and the reason it’s on this list for me personally is that it’s a system that handles settings and stories that most other systems are ill-equipped to do so, the unique stuff typically not covered by other games.

This is the game I pull out when I want to run something really unique or very specific. In the last few decades, I have used this system to run westerns, unique science-fiction time-traveling stories, superhero games and modern police dramas.

GURPS also has amazing source material support, you would be hard-pressed to pick a topic that GURPS doesn’t have a sourcebook to support it, giving you specialized rules coverage for just about anything you can think of which is great for GM’s, in particular those exploring more unusual subjects for role-playing.

GURPS, as it promises, is well equipped to handle a wide range of stories and while it certainly can do the standard stuff like Fantasy for example, I personally find it excels more at times when you want some really specific customization and need a flexible system that can handle it.

If you are a fan of GURPS, this is a system that has coverage of settings and genres that have their own systems, for example, you can play Werewolf the Apocalypse using the GUPRS system. This is a great feature if you just want to stick to one system but try out a lot of different setting material.

Over the years I find I use it less and less often but this is because today there are so many RPG’s that handle so many specific topics that GURPS’s universal approach becomes less and less necessary. For example, I used to use it to run games like Star Trek, Dune or Aliens because games covering such specific genres and settings generally didn’t exist or were handled poorly, but today this is no longer the case and usually, when a game system focuses on telling a specific type of story or describing a specific setting, it will do a much better job of it than a universal system like GURPS can.

It’s still a great tool in a GM’s toolbelt however and I find that on occasion I still find a reason to use it. Don’t let the rumors of its complexity fool you, while GURPS is a very robust system that has great rules coverage, it is a very easy game to run with a very standardized system that is easy to teach. Great game, it earns its place at the tail end of this list.

8. Alien RPG

There really are very few games I recommend as a party game, but if you’re looking for something you can run for non-gamers, this is the one.

Free League Publishing has produced some really amazing role-playing games since their arrival in the role-playing market and Alien the role-playing game certainly qualifies as one of the good ones.

What I really love about Alien the RPG is that the people who wrote the game really understood not only the setting material but the core concept behind the Alien story. In particular, their attention to the structure of a good movie-driven story which is all about horror in space. They really get that concept of drama that rises from the unknown tension of being in a movie about Aliens that will kill everyone, but not really knowing how that story will evolve, what the details of this next iteration of the movie will be. Players that enter this game know that they are likely going to die, the question is how and of course their is always hope that, like in the movies, they will be one of the survivors.

The cinematic mode in the game is a great example of that specific design approach that really lets a GM tap into the heart of an Alien story setup. You have to realize that Alien(s) is based on a series of movies, which if you include all of the Alien movies, the expanded alien flicks like Prometheus and all of the Predator vs. Alien movies, this franchise is all about short, violent stories about humans interacting with these horrific monsters in space.

This cinematic mode is the perfect setup but if you want that tension to be something that rises over the course of many sessions, the campaign mode is a great way to slowly build up that tension to the inevitable clash with these monsters where players have an opportunity to get attached to their characters so that when that final moment comes, the horror is that much closer to home.

It’s a very simple system to learn and teach, there are some really great story modules that bring amazing alien tales to your table if you aren’t into writing one yourself and Free League Publishing games are masters of book organization that makes the whole experience that much better.

My one and only complaint about the game is that they use black gloss pages with white text in the book and I know that this is a design choice, but it’s really hard on the eyes, I wish publishers would stop doing this.

If you love the Alien movies as I do, this game handles the material beautifully and I would argue that in terms of games on this list, Alien the RPG is the king of one-shots. This is a game that is tailor-made for bringing a group of players together for an all-day event and because it’s such a simple system and game, it’s perfect for introducing the concept of role-playing to non-gamers.

Absolutely love this one, fantastic work coming out of Free League Publishing.

7. Star Wars (West End Games Edition)

The West End Games version of Star Wars is a bit more like the books rather than the movie, which is to say it’s a bit more gritty and serious version of the Star Wars Universe.

There have been a lot of games that tried their hand at bringing the Star Wars Universe to an RPG, but there is only one that gave George Lucas the middle finger and showed us what Star Wars should be and that is the West End Games take on the Star Wars.

This edition of the game ignores some of the fuzzy and often hard to swallow concepts that the movies represent like inept Storm Troops who can’t hit the side of a barn with blasters and the ridiculously stupid way the villains of the world behave when heroes come along to try to stop their evil plans.

West End Games allows Star Wars to be a bit more serious, it’s a world where Storm Troopers are elite soldiers not to be trifled with and the Empire is a serious threat that isn’t going collapse because a farmer from Tatooine learned to swing a laser sword around.

This more genuine take on the Star Wars universe is what West End Games was going for and I love it. It turns Star Wars into a more serious science-fiction setting, where a blaster to the face will kill you, where being shot at is actually dangerous and space battles are represented with a sense of realism that satisfies fans of the genre who wish the movies were a little bit less space fantasy and a bit more space reality.

I know it’s not everyone’s bag, but for me, a version of Star Wars that is no PG rated is just what the doctor ordered, this is my favorite version of Star Wars in RPG form. The system is easy to learn and teach and it makes itself far easier to bring to the table than the many efforts that followed like Edge of Empire or the D20 Saga version.

Great game, great system, takes itself a bit more seriously yet manages to nail the Star Wars universe perfectly and despite its age it’s still in print today.

6. Dungeon Crawl Classics

It doesn’t take itself seriously, but DCC has some really innovative mechanics that are easily portable to Dungeons and Dragons, the basis for this one which I consider a classic as its name suggests.

There are many variants of Dungeons and Dragons and though I think most would count Dungeon Crawl Classics among them, I would argue that it’s got its own thing going and really doesn’t quite count as such a variant.

DCC is more than just D&D, it’s Gonzo D&D, a game with some serious wackiness to it designed almost like a spoof of D&D, meant for a fun and silly approach to the fantasy adventure.

Now you can approach this game with some seriousness if you wanted to and really the system itself lends itself to that style of play as well with a great magic system and some really cool concepts for martial classes, but for me personally, I lean into the skid here. The game is written in a style that suggests that you should see it as a kind of comedy show and given how the adventures are designed, the artwork and general wackiness of the premise, everything about DCC makes this the ideal game for a sort of Mighty Python version of Dungeons and Dragons.

This game generates laughs and my friends and I were in stitches when running this one. It’s everything you love about D&D with a comedy twist and it simply asks you to let go of your inhibitions and grognard mentality and accept it for what it is, a light-hearted version of Dungeons and Dragons.

I recognize it’s not for everyone but personally, I love it, it’s a great game in particular in short stints, the funnel concept is amazing for a one-shot and there is plenty of meat on the bones to keep the laughs coming if you want to make a campaign out of it.

A metric ton of fun, yet a really well-designed game, it’s fantastic.

5. Forbidden Lands

If you are the type of GM that thrives on open sandbox and on the fly emergent story and gameplay, Forbidden Lands is the perfect game for you. Everything about this game screams improv.

The second Free League Publishing game on the list, Forbidden Lands is simultaneously an awesome concept, a fantastic take on the classic game of Dungeons and Dragons, while at the same time being a great fantasy setting all in one game.

I can’t say enough positive things about Forbidden Lands. It’s a survival game in a fantasy universe with very deadly mechanics and a really gritty feel to it putting it squarely in the OSR wheelhouse, yet its mechanics are sleek and modern, with an absolutely fantastic dynamic world-building concept at the core of gameplay.

Players are survivors of a world that has gone terribly wrong and they are charged with trying to find a way to not only survive in this harsh environment but to thrive. The world around them is completely unexplored and the players must follow dynamically constructed clues about what is out there and because the game is an open sandbox, every group is going to take its own approach on how to proceed.

Players don’t just contend with the monsters that dwell beyond the borders of their village but they must deal with the harsh realities of weather, basic necessities like food and water and the absence of proper civilization. There are no blacksmith shops to buy everything you need or taverns where you can easily access the basic necessities and comforts of life. Everything in this game is a struggle and players are always on the brink of death no matter where they turn. The only thing they can rely on is each other and this creates amazing table dynamics.

I adore Forbidden Lands and if your fan of Dungeons and Dragons, while this system is certainly wildly different mechanically, everything about it is going to be familiar nonetheless. An amazing experience, in particular in the hands of creative GM’s.

There are a few quirks in the game that I would say require some minor correcting like the Peddler class that has a way of spoiling some of the survival gameplay elements but these are easily house ruled issues that can be solved and there is a great community around this game from which you can get lots of great advice some.

Highly recommend this one if you haven’t tried it.

4. Vampire The Masquerade (5th Edition)

It’s a really well-designed game with a very poorly written book, but playing a vampire in the world of darkness is a gaming experience that is so much fun, its worth overcoming the hurdle of this terrible book.

I love White Wolf games, specifically their world of darkness setting and certainly Vampire The Masquerade has to be my all-time favorite game set in that world. The games 5th edition did a lot of housekeeping in terms of rules to give the game greater balance but really the big strength of this latest edition is how the mechanics of the game and the story of the game are properly connected. The mechanics really bring out the horror of being a blood-sucking monster in this latest edition by implementing the hunger system and trimming the fat off the disciplines to bring them more in line with a game of vampire politics rather than a game about vampires abusing each other with disciplines as was the case in past editions.

I love the new take on the game, I’ve been running this game for a couple of years and it just works to bring that Vampire story to life in all its gory splendor.

This game would be much higher on the list if it was not for the fact that the actual core rulebook for the game is an absolute nightmare to work with. This has to be an example of the worst kind of RPG editing in the history of RPG’s. Simply put, no matter how many times I have read the book and how long I have played this game, I still can never find a single bloody thing in that book. Everything about its layout and editing is completely illogical, the editors of this book should be fired immediately.

That said, it’s a simple enough game that after a few sessions you will have most of the important stuff put to memory and so really, the game has a natural flow and simple system that you can largely get away with running the game just with the storyteller screen in front of you. Being a vampire is a lot of fun and this game really gives that to you in every spectrum and definition of the classic monster.

Love it, if you have never played Vampire The Masquerade, I would argue you are yet to really experience the RPG hobby to its fullest.

3. The Song of Ice and Fire RPG: The Game of Thrones Edition

I’m a huge fan of The Song of Ice and Fire story and world and as such, I have huge expectations and demands from an RPG that tackles this setting. This game not only met those demands bar far exceeded anything I could have hoped this RPG to be. This is one of the best interpretations of a setting into an RPG I have ever had the pleasure to experience.

In the last decade, I have had a really wide range of gaming experiences, but without question one of my absolute favorites is a short six-session campaign I ran in the seven kingdoms using the Song of Ice and Fire RPG (The Game of Thrones Edition) <- Yes that is a mouthful.

The Song of Ice and Fire RPG has got to be one of the best translations of a setting into an RPG I have ever experienced, Green Ronin Publishing knocks it out of the park with this game.

All of the intricate relationships between characters, the house building and politics mechanics, the absolutely fantastic social combat rules, the gritty and really brutal combat mechanic and of course just the setting writing all come together perfectly in a game that conjures up the TV show and makes you feel like your part of it.

There is so much great writing in these books, the organization and GM advice you get really helps tremendously in bringing The Game of Thrones to life at the table. I especially love the character creation building that has the players working together to not just form an adventuring group but a sort of dysfunctional family.

As a huge fan of the books and the TV show, I had an absolute blast with this one and I’m certain I’m going to run it again in the future. Our game only lasted six sessions but it was one of the most memorable six sessions of my gaming career. In our story three brothers struggled against each other for control of the house the players built together and in that short period of time they were engaged in a Knights tournament, they fought The Mountain in combat, they fought alongside The Starks in war, they betrayed each other in cunning political games and ultimately destroyed themselves. It had absolutely everything you could possibly ask from a Game of Thrones story and this system helped bring it all to the table.

I love this RPG, it really is a work of art.

2. Alternity

Bill S. and Richard B. create magic in what is the unquestionable king of Science-Fiction RPG’s, Alternity. This is not only one of the best sci-fi RPG’s, it may very well be one of the best RPG’s ever made.

While all the games on this list I consider personal favorites I would happily play or run at any time, at this point in the list we are getting into the games that really define me as a GM and as a role-player and Alternity is certainly such a game.

There are a lot of science-fiction games out there but in my humble opinion Alternity is worlds apart, this is the single best science-fiction RPG ever written, period. The work of the super team (Bill S. and Richard B.), it is a combination of brilliant design and inspired writing.

Alternity covers all forms of science-fiction genres from X-Files style conspiracy, Near Earth, Post-Apocalypse to hard science-fiction and science-fiction opera. It does all of that under a single, flawless system that makes use of 4 core classes, yet is distinctively skill-driven.

I adore this game and have used it countless times in everything from time-traveling games to space exploration games and everything in between. It’s a very simple system, yet so robust that even though there are only 4 classes you will never make the same character twice.

The game’s handling of technological eras, concepts like mutations and cybernetics, ship combat from hard science reality style to Star Wars space opera style, is all handled with perfection in this one game.

As if this wasn’t enough, Alternatiy has some of the best supplements for an RPG I have ever read including the absolutely astonishingly awesome StarDrive campaign which I say without reservation is the single best RPG setting ever written, period. The fact that it’s supported by this fantastic system is just icing on the cake of perfection.

I know that availability on this one might not quite hit the criteria for the list, but this is a game that was over-printed so finding books in the 3rd party market is actually quite easy, you can find it on Amazon or Ebay at very reasonable prices. There is a new edition of the game that was put out, I don’t know anything about that one so it should not be confused with the original TSR version.

I have not a single negative word to say about this game, it’s perfect. If you want science-fiction, it begins and ends with this game.

1. Dungeons and Dragons

The one and only Dungeons and Dragons makes the top of the list which should come to the surprise of no one!

While my desire with this list was to expose my readers to other RPG’s for their consideration, this list would be a bald-faced lie if I did not put Dungeons and Dragons in the number one spot.

D&D has had many editions over the years, but in each era in which it appeared whether it was 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 5th edition, Dungeons and Dragons was always my number one, favorite game to play. The only exception in the last 30+ years of my gaming life when that wasn’t true was during the brief period when 4th edition D&D was the current version of the game. I really didn’t like that version and it was the only time that I would not have put D&D as my number one choice of RPG.

I consider all of the editions as members of my D&D toolbox and as a DM, I’m more than happy to run any edition (except 4th) and I would typically do so for different reasons. I will very soon create a top 10 versions of D&D list which would include various retro-clones, spin-offs and re-imagining into this category and certainly if pressed I could put the editions of D&D in order from favorite to least favorite, but all and all I have enjoyed all of these games and I consider every one of them excellent RPG’s.

I’m certain however if I was pressed today to pick my favorite version of Dungeons and Dragons, the one I reach for when a fantasy story pops into my head that I want to explore there is no doubt that “my” preferred version of the game is 1st edition BECMI (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master and Immortal). Typically I would use a modern retro clone like Old School Essentials if we want to get strictly down to the specifics, but ultimately 1st edition Basic D&D for me personally is the simplest game to run, the one that sticks to the D&D concept the best and is the most fun for my players. It’s fast, challenging, easy to learn and teach and above all, fun as hell. It’s D&D in its purest form.

Some Honorable Mentions

There were quite a few games that were cut from this list and though I would argue for good reason, I do think they deserve a courtesy nod for being in contention.

Star Wars Edge of the Empire is a game that teases me with one of my favorite franchises of all time and it certainly was a contender, but in the end the narrative dice system, while clever is just too fussy and demands far too much from a gaming table. I like the ingenuity of it, but it misses the mark for me personally and certainly doesn’t compete with my favorite take on the Star Wars universe.

Warhammer Fantasy Role-play 3rd edition like Star Wars Edge of the Empire has a clever take on role-playing with its narrative dice, but I find it has the same issue as its Star Wars follow up. Too much fucking about with translating these dice to make something useful out of them at the table. I want to love the concept because conceptually it’s really good, but it’s just too impractical at a gaming table and its board game approach to RPG management distances itself too much from the hobbies traditions and assumptions. It was a good effort with a lot of really great writing and I use the game for inspiration, but it’s just not something I’m interested in running.

Pathfinder 2nd edition is another take on Dungeons and Dragons and the truth is that I actually like this one as a player quite a bit. Lots of great options for character building, a fantastic game world built into the system and a really fun combat mechanic that really gets to the heart of modern D&D gameplay. As a DM however I find the 600+ page rulebook is just severe overkill, it’s just too much, there is waaay to much to juggle as a DM and really the payout is kind of limited. Anything as a DM I could do with Pathfinder 2nd edition, I can do with D&D 1st edition, yet it will be a 10th of the complexity, for me it’s just a hard pass. I think a good, dedicated GM can make it work, but it’s too mechanized for my tastes, I could never run a game that is this codified. That said I think it’s actually an amazing design achievement, it’s a really clever game and those with the patience for this much crunch will find a lot to like.

Gaming Articles, Role-Player Game Reviews

TOp 10 D&D Publications & Works for DM’s

When it comes to RPG material, the quality of the various publications and writing can vary dramatically. Back in 2017 I did a Top 10 RPG Modules list of all time which was both one of the most popular articles on this blog, but also the one I doubt I will need to update anytime in the next decade.

In this list we broaden the scope a bit to talk about various RPG publications which go beyond adventure models. These are books and books series I think are not only a core part of D&D history, but very much applicable material that any good DM should own and read. This is material that will advise you, inspire you and make you a better DM.

I think it would be impossible for me to rank these so, I simply decided not to. Enjoy the list.

1st Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide

There have been many Dungeon Masters Guide for the game of D&D, not to mention countless supplemental and advice books for running games, but to me the original works of Gary Gygax are the equivalent to what I would consider the bible for Dungeons and Dragons.

The 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Guide was reprinted in a glorious leather-bound book a few years back along with the rest of the core books, selling out instantly, proving that these books are every bit as important today as the day they were printed.

The book is written in a style that speaks directly to the DM in a commanding voice offering you advice that though can sometimes be tough to swallow in the light of modernization of the game is as true, as factual and as indisputable today as the day it was written. It’s a bit like a self help book written by your dad who doesn’t try to spare your feelings and rather focuses on preparing you for real life.

While the book is chalk full of advice, don’t be so arrogant as to assume the rules are “out dated”. The book is a literal gold mind of supplemental rules that can be universally applied to any edition of the game, quick resolutions using rules that are well suited for the abstracted concepts on which Dungeons and Dragons is founded. More than that you will find a treasure trove of magical items and an endless array of tables for quick randomized information. There are rules that cover concepts like henchmen and hirelings, magic item creation, world building concepts and a wide variations of approaches to campaign styles that are all universally applicable.

I have never run a game of D&D without this books influence regardless of edition, it is a must read and a must have for any serious DM.

The Mystara Gazetteer’s

There are many settings created for the game of D&D, but you would be hard pressed to find a setting that does a more thorough of job creating a diverse, living, breathing world in which to set your game that are directly applicable to game sessions. The Gazatteer’s were written over 16 books that detail every culture and every region of the world, but the focus of the books is to give you material you can use and it is here where most settings kind of fail for me.

The Mystara Gazetteer series was a bright, colorful series of books that inspired you with its art and attention to detail, but the most valuable aspect of the books is their usability at the table.

The amount of inspired writing, unique story hooks and NPC characters in excessive detail makes this one of the most usable campaign settings ever written in my humble opinion.

More than that however is the fact that Mystara is a truly unique setting, not reliant on the endlessly repeating clichés found the many settings written for Dungeons and Dragons in the following years. It breaks the mold before there ever was one to base your setting off of. Since Mystara settings have been largely variations on the same concepts and it can be tough to distinguish the difference between the Forgotten Realms and point of light.

Thanks to RPG Drive Thru and print on demand, getting access to these books is relatively easy, a well worth investment for any aspiring DM looking for a place to create their adventures.

Pathfinder 2nd edition Core Rulebook

While as a DM I generally prefer simpler and more classically driven systems for my D&D like B/X or BECMI, when it comes to modern renditions of the modern game of D&D, Pathfinder 2nd edition is without question the gold standard.

It makes quick work out of complex rules while serving to provide highly involved and exciting game session. This is a game so fine tuned, so well thought out, streamlined and brilliantly diverse, that it works not just as a D&D clone but a universal fantasy system.

Paizo has shown that fantasy role-playing can be stretched in a variety of creative and interesting ways, with Pathfinder 2nd edition they have effectively created a new sub-genre of Dungeons and Dragons.

Pathfinder ensures that players have maximum creativity and options in their hand, while ensuring the DM can manage it all, keeping it straight for the table without having to do constant rules look ups. Pathfinder 2nd edition does everything right, including correcting the many things D&D has done wrong for 40+ years like its core action management systems.

If you are looking for a modern D&D system, before you consider 5e, consider Pathfinder 2nd edition. It is the definitive modern version of the game that is superior to everything that is out there today.

The Reavers of Harkenwold

I think the saddest part of the Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition as a game is that despite a really terrible mechanical focus, it had some of most inspired adventure and setting writing, with some of the best writers in the business providing the material. Guys like Richard Baker and Bill Slavicsek were at the helm of some of this material which included The Dark Sun Campaign book, Kyhber’s Harvest for the Eberron setting and one of my absolute favorite adventures, the two parter, Reavers of Harkenwood (The Iron Circle & The Die is Cast).

Reavers of Harkenwold was released as part of the Essentials Line for 4th edition as a two part introductory set, but the love that was put into this book shows just how fantastic of a content creator Richard Baker is.

What I love about Reavers of Harkenwold is that its one of those rare instances where an setting for the adventure is so well written you can run it as written and its absolutely brilliant. That is really rare in adventure writing, I can only think of a small handful of adventures that pull that off.

Reavers of Harkenwold however is more than just an adventure, in fact that is not why its on this list, what this is really is a very well thought out mini campaign and its written in a style that really makes it system agnostic which is also something that is really rare in adventure writing. Its a setting, its an open world, it has a great villains and above all else it tests the morality of an adventuring group. By the time your troupe is done playing through this adventure, they will know who their characters are, but they will also care about a place, become involved in the setting and establish themselves as part of it. That is really what makes Reavers of Harkenwold so great as a publication.

Reavers of Harkenwold didn’t make my top 10 modules of all time list but the truth is that I have never viewed this as an adventure module, to me its a mini campaign as what makes it great is less the story and more the setting it presents.

The Rules Cyclopedia

The Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia to me is the most definitive work ever done for Dungeons and Dragons. It combines all of the original 1st edition Dungeons and Dragons core rules under one roof before the game diverged into the “advanced rules” concept which arguably could be construed as a good or a bad thing.

This very thick book is the absolute definitive collection of rules for the 1st edition D&D system and its very accessible today via RPG drivethru using their print on demand service.

To me personally the Basic and Expert Dungeons and Dragons sets combined to form THE best version of Dungeons and Dragons as a game system. To me, once the advanced rules came along with concepts like the race and class split is where most of the problems in Dungeons and Dragons started. Balance issues, rules complexity issues and all of the minutia that comes with that complexity that have driven decades of arguments what about D&D should and shouldn’t be. The B/X set never suffered under the weight of rules complexity, it was a system that was designed to be played and to this day it is the most commonly used system as a base for D&D variant. Their are more fantasy games based on B/X rules then all other D&D systems in existence times a hundred.

The rules cyclopedia is a compilation of the Basic and Expert rules, but it also includes the companion, master and immortal supplements which bring in concepts like kingdom management, high level play and topping it off with the ascension of characters as gods. Using the rules Cyclopedia is the only way a group of D&D fans can play the same D&D game for decades and never run into the balance issues of high level play. It is the most complete, all in one rule set for running D&D and its the first and last book you will ever need to run D&D forever.

Its a masterpiece in my eyes and though I prefer to run only the B/X rules myself, its great to have all the added support in the event a campaign stretches into those higher levels.

1st edition Forgotten Realms Box Set

Not to suggest that 1st is always better, but the 1st edition Forgotten Realms Box set to me is the unquestionable definitive work for this setting and everything that followed played second fiddle to it. Not only as a description and definition of the setting, but in how it was written and what it focused on.

The Forgotten Realms is a iconic D&D setting, but never in its history was in as good a shape as it was in its original box set release, if you love the realms, these are the books you should be using.

This box set was designed to be used at the table, offering the GM key information about events in this place, events that would lead to modules linked to the original setting material. Strangely this approach was largely abandoned after this box set, transitioning to the way settings are written today where the material is “general information” about the world with an assumption that creating a story in the setting is up to the GM. I prefer the way it was done in this book as it ties key stories and events of the setting to the player characters with other fantastic material like The Pool of Radiance, The Curse of Azure Bonds and other classic stories like Expedition to Undermountain and City of the Spider Queen.

It was also before anyone started fiddling with the history of the setting to try to fit it into modern editions of the game that constantly expanded the races and classes of the game, breaking a lot of the nuances of the setting, those subtle elements that would take the setting from a believable real place to an obvious attempt to fit the latest players handbook into it.

The 1st edition Forgotten Realms setting was the only version of the setting that did not take the rules of the game into consideration, focusing on the lore and history of the world, directing its events based on the story, rather then the latest rules.

When it comes to the Forgotten Realms, this is the box set to own.

The Scarred Lands Campaign Setting

Born from the remnants of the White Wolf writers, The Scarred Lands Campaign Setting is styled after the story first concept so much of the amazing writing that was done for the world of darkness. The Scarred Lands is perhaps one of the most unique settings that exists for Dungeons and Dragons, originally published for 3rd edition D&D.

The Scarred Lands, like Mystara, had incredible detail among countless books released for the setting, each effectively its own mini campaign setting, but because it was written by former White Wolf writers, it has that dark and almost disturbing twist blended into its pages.

It’s a setting that defines in absolute perfect detail some of the most unique places ever inked for a Dungeon and Dragons world. Whether your talking about Calastia: The Throne of the Black Dragon that brings one of the most amazing political villains ever written into your world, The City of Hollowfaust, essentially a city run by necromancers and the undead or awesome books like The Wise and The Wicked that describe the many unique people of the world both villain and hero alike, The Scarred Lands is just chalk full of exquisite detail.

The Scarred Lands setting to me is one of the few out there written for D&D that completely breaks expectation, discards the cliques and gives the players a place to explore that will truly surprise them and again, it does this on a level so detailed that every single book written for the Scarred Lands becomes a campaign setting in of itself.

So good, it hurts.

Old School Essentials

One of the issues many modern gamers have with old school systems like 1st edition Basic D&D and Advanced D&D is that the rules are considered incoherent, hard to grasp, inconsistent and difficult to run. It has always been a problem for modern gamers to even try out old school systems to see the differences, to see what they are missing, to understand that piece of history and why their are so many fans of these old school systems. Its an unfortunate situation, one old school GM’s like me contend with all the time because frankly its all true. Old school systems are indeed written in a style that makes them really difficult to implement at the table.

I will never be able to say enough about how highly I think of The Old School Essentials books, this is the finest, most streamlined and impactful release for D&D in 40 years to me.

In comes Old School Essentials, essentially a true down to the last detail replication of Basic/Expert rules but with modern organization to make the game as comprehensible, as easy to understand and use as the original rules desired to be. It took 4 decades for someone to unravel the mess of the original works and create a book that makes the whole thing comprehensible and not only has Old School Essentials done this successfully, but it did it better then what we see even in modern rule books.

Old School Essentials brings all the fun, excitement and glory of the old days in a easy to understand and absorb way proving that not only are the original B/X rules amazing, but it is everything modern gamers want modern D&D to be, but simply never quite gets their.

One of the best books written this decade, oddly enough using rules made 4 decades early. A masterpiece resurrected for the modern day.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker & Ultimate Campaign Guide

The 1st edition of Pathfinder was really just a spruced up version of D&D 3rd edition, but because of the timing of its release, being after 3.5 which was an extremely long running edition of the game and during the 4th edition of D&D which was one of the least popular editions of the game in the D&D franchise, 1st edition Pathfinder was the edition I actually played the most next to Basic/Expert rules.

Pathfinder Kingmaker was updated for 2nd edition in a single book for the entire adventure path. To me this was an instant classic that deserves mention in any conversation about Dungeons and Dragons campaigns.

In the course of its run, I found most of the material released for the game to be quite suitable, but it was the adventure path Kingmaker and its related source book, The Ultimate Campaign Guide that really brought the game to a whole new level.

Pathfinder takes an old D&D concept, Empire/Kingdom building found in classic D&D modules like Test of the Warlords and campaign settings like Birthright and makes it comprehensible. While the rules for domains were covered reasonably well in the BECMI system, the word comprehensible would not be how I would have described it their either for all the love I have for the system.

Kingmaker made domain running for D&D a pure joy and because the module had a great story and setup for players to take throne, it ended up being one of the most popular adventure path in Paizo’s history, so much so that they made a video game out of it.

Ultimate Campaign uses the same core system for kingdom management as Kingmaker, but expands on it and other campaign running features that allow you to create your own kingdom building stories.

Of all the stuff that came out of Pathfinder, I count Kingmaker and Ultimate Campaign Guide as the absolute best of the best and what is really great with the Ultimate Campaign Guide is that it is mostly system agnostic so you can apply the rules of kingdom management to your favorite D&D system not to mention that Kingmaker itself as an adventure path has been converted to both Pathfinder 2nd edition rules and 5th edition D&D rules making it that much easier.

Fantastic content worth getting even if you don’t use the 1st edition Pathfinder system.

1st edition Oriental Adventures

The offensively named book is to me one of the best supplements ever written for 1st edition Advanced Dungeon and Dragons and that is saying a lot as their have been quite a few that competed for a space like this.

Oriental adventures was effectively an alternative version of 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, a self contained alternative for fans of Asian lore. No one has done as amazing of a job bringing this style of play to the table as this Gygax did with this book.

I’m a huge fan of Japanese and Chinese lore. What Oriental Adventures does is D&D’affy it, creating not only a fantastic sub-system for Dungeons and Dragons with all new races and classes with mechanical constructs way ahead of its time like Ancestry and Honor, new spells, new equipment, but a great setting. It effectively refreshed Dungeons and Dragons using the endless well of Asian lore, doing so not only respectfully but with a fantastic fun twist.

I adore Oriental Adventures and because it’s written by Gygax, it has that commanding voice legibility to it, making it not only a fun, applicable book for the table, but a great night stand read.

There was a 3rd edition of this book and of course their are entire systems dedicated to this setting like the amazing Legend of the Five Rings, but if you already love D&D and you want an Asian twist, this is the book to get.

That concludes our list, hope you enjoyed it!

Gaming Articles, Role-Player Game Reviews

D&D Theory: The Old School Complaint

I’ve spoken on a number of occasions about old school vs. new school D&D, the old school movement, the designs and theories behind classic and AD&D, but today I’m going to try to illustrate not so much why those movements exist, but what those movements complain about when it comes to modern versions of D&D. What their main beefs are with modern systems and why they continue to use the old systems despite considerable advancement in modern design of mechanics.

I think the conversation is appropriate because only a month ago we got yet another variation on modern version of D&D in Pathfinder 2.0. As I write this I’m only 1 day away from playing in my first session and I’m very excited to try out the new system. Unfortunately I also know what I’m walking into. Like most old school D&D players, while I can certainly enjoy modern versions of D&D (and I do very much so), I know that the experience will be lacking in certain areas and all of my complaints that I have about modern D&D will still be present in some capacity in this latest version of the game even from a courtesy reading.

What are the complaints of this old school gamer when it comes to modern versions of D&D? That’s what today’s article is all about.

Combat is dreadfully slow

Dungeons and Dragons has always been a game of heroic combat to a great degree. We make great fighters, powerful magic-users, stealthy back stabbing thieves and divine clerics and much more and all of these adventuring characters are built from the ground up to kick-ass and take monster names. D&D as a premise is about heroically taking our characters into danger, fighting monsters, finding treasure, exploring unique locations and living in the theatre of the mind through the eyes of our characters.

At its core it is a staple of D&D to fight, but it is not the point of the game as a whole. This rather odd discrepancy between “what the game is about” and “what you do often in the game” is a delicate formula that Dungeons and Dragons got right way back in AD&D and has been struggling with in every edition of the game ever since.

The simple fact is that a D&D combat should take about 10-20 minutes tops, maybe 30-45 if you are doing a big climatic boss battle. It should be fast, furious, dangerous, violent and over quickly. A 5 hour session of D&D could (not necessarily should) have 4-5 combats and the session should still be mostly role-playing. In other words, you do a lot of fighting and still the game is not focused on fighting.

This is a fundamental and important element of a game that is about exploration and that comes with 300+ page book of monsters.

My biggest complaint about modern D&D is that combat has been getting slower and more dissociated from the narrative (more on dissociation later) with each new edition up until about 5th edition (so between 2nd-4th edition including Pathfinder 1.0 it grew more and more sluggish).

4th edition Dungeons and Dragons was certainly the worst of the modern D&D games when it came to combat speed, an average fight being 2-4 hours, but Pathfinder, 5th edition D&D and certainly the new Pathfinder 2.0 are still fairly slow by comparison to classic versions of D&D like AD&D.

In our session 0 Pathfinder 2.0 game our GM ran a simulation combat. 5 players versus 6 goblins. It took the better part of of an hour and change, the average wait time for me between actions was 5-10 minutes. It suffices to say that comparatively this was certainly a huge improvement over say 3rd or 4th edition, or even Pathfinder 1.0, but still considerably slower then AD&D which would have wrapped up the entire fight in 10-15 minutes.

Now I will say this upfront. All of the modern D&D editions including 4th edition have very interesting, involved and well thought out mechanics. These aren’t bad games, or bad mechanics they are just slow and this lack of expediency is just one peg in the leg that holds the chair (game session) together.

It’s also important to note that as an old school gamer and I feel quite comfortable speaking on behalf of the OS movement that there is no opposition to making combat tactically interesting. In fact, most AD&D and Basic D&D players use either house rules or published material to enhance, improve and expand on the simplicity of the tactical elements of the core rules for their game. The balance between speed and interesting combat is a fragile one and will differ from group to group and DM to DM, but among old school gamers both simplicity and speed are typically more important to creating a deeper, more complex tactical game. Its a preference and a peg to the leg, but its certainly not the deal breaker.

The real issue most old school gamers have is that most of the rules weight added to make the tactical combat more interesting in modern games, comes in the form of dissociated mechanics and it’s here where modern and old school gamers really differ in what they want to see in the way of enhance tactical combat mechanics.

Dissociated Mechanics

To understand what Dissociated Mechanics are and really the RPG design theory behind it, you really have to do some research. This is a long, involved and complex subject which I won’t cover here beyond the sort of paraphrased version.

The short version is that in modern D&D (and many modern RPG’s), many mechanics (in some cases most mechanics) are there not as part of a role-playing mechanism, but as a game mechanic. In other words, the mechanic is not associated with the abstracted reality, from the perspective of the character. These mechanics are not associated with the decisions the character makes. They are dissociated, meaning, disconnected from the characters reality, in the hands of the player making decisions in a tactical mini game added for the purpose of creating tactical and character building options.

Disassociation of mechanics in RPG’s began about the same time PC versions of RPG’s and in particular MMORPG’s were born. The concept of balance, the concept of character progression and builds all triggered the shift in pencil and paper RPG’s. In a sense, modern RPG’s were designed for modern gamers which came to the table with PC and video game experiences. Their expectations were to have the same levers available in their pencil and paper RPG’s as they had in their PC and Video game equivalents. It may seem odd, since PC and Video game RPG’s were born from Pencil and Paper versions, but the digital versions of RPG’s evolved differently and then began to influence their ancestry, pushing their pencil and paper equivalents to adapt to them.

An example of a Dissociated Mechanic is the Combat Maneuvers mechanic for a 5th edition fighter. With this mechanic, the fighter gets “combat maneuver points” that can be spent on special combat actions. These points represent an abstraction of fatigue, concentration, knowledge and Will I suppose. You can do things like trip your enemy (causing them to go prone), rally an ally (giving them extra HP), or command another player (giving them an extra attack).

This mechanic is really not associated with the characters reality, aka, a dissociated mechanic. When the character rallies another character and gives them extra HP, it’s really such a heavy abstraction in on its own as it is, but on top of that, he can only do it 3 times before taking rest, or he can rally someone twice, but then only trip an enemy one time So to the character because he rallied someone, he can’t trip someone later.

If you start to see the picture here, you should realize that the combat maneuver points, the way they are applied, the abstracted mechanics they trigger are all disassociated from reality. It makes it more disassociated and really paints the picture when you start asking questions.

Why can’t a thief learn a combat maneuver? Is tripping someone that complicated? Is it not possible for a Paladin to rally his troops, or command fellow character to get an extra attack? Why does me rallying my team and commanding them, exhaust me and prevent me from tripping someone or getting a bonus attack. How are these things related to each other.

Now there is a term for this called suspension of disbelief that is often applied, I would argue incorrectly. Suspension of disbelief is to accept something as fact that is clearly invented fantasy. For example characters in a fantasy world know that orcs and dragons exist, that magic is real and gods actually come down from the heavens and influence mortal beings. These are facts for the fantasy world and require the players to have a suspension of disbelief to accept. It is not suspension of disbelief when we ask a player to accept that he is fatigued from commanding people, so he can’t make a riposte or a trip attack as a result. We are not asking their character to believe in magic or dragons, we are asking them to accept a mechanical construct applied to a game for the purposes of balance as real.

Modern D&D is full of dissociated mechanics and this is so because these mechanics were not created to represent character choices and decisions within the realm of a abstracted fantasy reality, they were added for classes to have interesting activatable abilities, for the purposes of balance and entertainment as part of a miniatures combat game. They are not only dissociated from the make believe reality of a fantasy world, but from the very premise of a role-playing game (aka, taking on a role of a character).

These disassociated mechanics are very disruptive to role-playing though modern players are not entirely aware of it because again, they are so accustomed to these mechanics existing in other games (namely PC and Video games) that it feels natural and normal to have them. Modern pencil and paper RPG players are more likely to discuss class builds, class balance and “what options are good picks or not”. To the modern gamer, this is part of the role-playing experience and though these mechanics are disassociated, modern gamers are not bothered by the disruption, though disrupt them it does.

To a modern player, choosing your race and class, your feats and skills and your spells are mechanical choices they expect to make. They expect progression, they expect balance, they expect lots and lots of options. In fact, the size of core rulebooks have grown substantially for many of these games. Pathfinder 2.0 for example weighs in at over 600+ pages, easily the largest RPG rulebook that has ever existed. This book is overflowing with character building options. One must ask the question why? Why do we need this many options for a game that is about playing a role in a game of collaborative storytelling?

Dissociated mechanics are partially the cause, or at least they compounded the issues that lead to increased length of combat. As more and more of a session is taken up by making tactical choices, with a plethora of activatable abilities, the slower the game is in combat and the more often the players are pulled out of their role in the role-playing game and pushed towards player centric top down decisions about which abilities to use, which resources to spend, what tactical choices they should make. None of which has anything to do with role-playing their character, thinking through their character or seeing the world through their character. These are, for all intents and purposes, mechanics designed for a game.

4th edition D&D for example was often accused in reviews of being too much like a board game or an MMORPG. This assessment while facetious, is not really that far from the truth as in many ways, because the game is built on so many dissociated mechanics (just like board games and PC games are), that its perfectly reasonable to get that sense from the game. In 4th edition D&D you spent most of your session using mechanics that would have no in game, in character logic to them.

Is it all bad?

The answer is no. While certainly things have changed a great deal since the AD&D days when associated mechanics were king, the RPG revolution has begun to revert from its PC game evolved roots back to the golden age thinking. This is happening very subtly, but slowly with each new iteration of D&D. We have seen the PC and Video game world have less and less influence and the old school world of RPG’s have more and more. Modern players have begun to evolve the pencil and paper RPG’s away from the digital rpg’s. and into their own thing. Now its not exactly an old school movement, but many ideas from old school games have found their way back into modern designs.

A good example in Pathfinder 2.0 is the skill system. Any AD&D player should find this system very familiar, it is almost an exact replica of Non-Weapon proficiencies.

Why has Pathfinder 2.0 brought back Non-Weapon Proficiencies? The answer is quite simple. The purpose of a skill system is to describe what your character can do, not necessary to define how the rules work. Its sort of like saying, here is a gauge, rather then, here is an applicable rule. Its to ensure that while a player runs his character, he understands what his abilities are from the perspective of his character.

For example if you are trained at swimming, you know you can swim. That is an in character understanding (an associated mechanic). Certainly there can be rules for swimming (Difficulties set for different conditions for example) but the important thing for the player and his character is to understand, hey I know how to do that and here is how good at it I am. Trained, expert etc..

The movement to more associated mechanics however isn’t just about reverting to old school mechanics, there are very modern versions of associated mechanics we have never seen in old school games, but still fit neatly into the ideology. This supports the idea that associated mechanics aren’t just an old school thing, modern gamers and designers are becoming very aware of it as well even if they don’t fully verbalize it.

For example the 2D20 Momentum and Threat mechanic is a great example. Here we have a very associated mechanic that is inspired by concepts of inspiration and stress, a gauge of a very relatable concept we have in our real lives. When a person is inspired, he becomes motivated and is more likely to succeed and ever exceed in tasks he is performing. Who hasn’t had that day at work when everything is falling into place, motivating you to push it further, that moment when we are on a roll.

Vice versus with threat, its a little like stress. We can feel our stress levels and they impact us negatively. The more stressed we are the less productive we are, the more mistakes we make, we lose sleep, we are less attentive when we drive. There is all sorts of impact on our lives from stress (aka threat).

This sort of mechanic is brilliant in representing something very relatable, yet it is very modern, an invention of an associated mechanic for the new age of role-playing games.

The move away from dissociated mechanics might not ever reach the same levels as AD&D which on a design level had a real aversion to it going so far as suggesting that even the use of dissociated house rules in your game is heresy. Still modern gamers are becoming more evolved role-players. More and more, players are becoming concerned with their stories, with their backgrounds, with the invention of character and the designers of these systems are responding by giving them the mechanical structure on which to base those inventions, which come in the form of associated mechanics.

In Pathfinder 2.0, I found it refreshing and far more natural to build a character, a really great sign that the system is moving in the right direction. The dissociations of choosing hyper abstract mechanical options have been minimized, replaced with mechanics designed to help match functionality to written backgrounds and give players narrative fuel. We already saw this greatly improved in 5th edition D&D and Pathfinder 2.0 has taken yet another step in that right direction. An almost full 180 from systems like 4th edition D&D which lived in the world of dissociated mechanics almost exclusively.

Conclusion

The conclusion is that while we still call the old school movement and game systems like AD&D old school, modern games are becoming more and more familiar to us old gonards. The distinction between new school and old school is becoming blurred, there are more and more commonalities between the two concepts and rules. I find some of us Gonards have a hard time making peace with that, as old school has other more mythical connotations, but I consider this sort of thing very judgy for the sake of being judgy. It’s just some hipster shit, that out of date “it was better in the olden days” mantra. The reality is that the bridge is being built and the question is if old school players can get their head out of their asses long enough to make the crossing. I have my doubts about that.

Role-playing has changed a great deal in the last 30 years, but in a way, its less a progression forward and more an evolution and refinement on the original material. Sure, there was a brief moment in time (about 10 years worth) when the influence of digital games on the pencil and paper games was disturbing, I will be the first to admit that I thought it was shit in, shit out at the time, but even from those periods of design some good came out of it. Perhaps it was a lesson on what not to do, but I like to think of it more along the lines of designers coming to grips about what was great about role-playing games at the table and how it differs from the digital experiences. It was an affirmation that us old Gonards were right all along, we fucking told you, you wouldn’t listen and so you spent 10 years getting your asses kicked. While I feel high and mighty, I welcome you back.

Mind you I love MMORPG’s and CRPG’s, Baldur’s Gate was one of my favorite games of all time and it was a very close approximation of the rules of AD&D. It just doesn’t work to run pencil and paper RPG’s in this manner and we shouldn’t try to make mechanics that allow you to so, its pointless and It just doesn’t work well.

Pencil and Paper RPG’s are also more than just one thing and the old school gonards like me have to really come to grips with that as well. There are a wider range of perfectly acceptable ways to play D&D and those players aren’t doing it wrong, they are doing it their way and doing it your own way IS always the right way. Designers are going to continue as they always have to cater to all walks of RPG life, which will include these ever widening styles of play.

I do however agree with the old school movement that D&D is its own thing, it is not to be fucked with. If you want to make a Forbidden Lands that has some unique spin on the RPG genre, go for it, but if you are going to put the D&D label on something, you will follow the rules, or we will make someone who does the king of RPG’s (like Paizo). There are sacred cows like associated mechanics that simply cannot be trifled with, else you will end up with commercial failures like 4th edition D&D. Note I said commercial failure, not design failure. 4e had its merits, it just wasn’t D&D because it failed to heed important lessons about what D&D should be, which includes a game about fast combat, associated mechanics and countless key tropes that are ingrained into the fan bases psyche If you want to include D&D players from all generations of the game, there are simply some design constructs that must be followed. Call them sacred cows if you will, but those are the terms, abide by them or suffer the consequences.

In my opinion the future looks bright for the old school movement and the modern gamers as well. Systems like Pathfinder 2.0 are clearly designed for a more seasoned group of players, but there is no mistaking its intention to include old school veteran’s of D&D and the old school movement within its walls. I look forward to this next edition of the game.

Exciting times ahead!