Favorite Edition
If you've been reading, then you will know my favorite edition is 1st Edition AD&D. This is where I tell you why it's my favorite.
Go read the preface and introduction from the 1st Ed. Dungeon Masters Guide. The game belonged to the Dungeon Masters back then. There wasn't a rule to cover every situation, not like there is now. Players didn't argue rules with the DM back then. There wasn't an emphasis on treating the game like an improve exercise. We weren't actors, we didn't try to create interesting scenes. We told stories. We performed heroic deeds. We created communal legends, we created fantastic memories. We weren't pushed in the direction of catering to the players. If you wrote an adventure or campaign, and the players didn't like it then someone else in the group wrote something up and the group tried that. We didn't try and give everyone the "spotlight". We played as a group and we succeeded or failed as a group.
When the game was sold to WotC, someone there decided that they had enough of not being able to control every miniscule decision and started introducing rules to cover every eventuality. They introduced character skills so that the players didn't have to actually think, they could just roll some dice. I am in a minority in my opinions about the game as it today. I don't really care. As I'm dangerously close to devolving into a rant, I'll be changing course.
By playing and refereeing in 1st edition, we exercised our imaginations more than players and GM's do now. The culture of the gaming community has expanded and consequently evolved. While not a bad thing, it's not an entirely good thing either. The kids today are way too invested in instant gratification. They don't think things through anymore. They want to be able to walk into a game store, sit down, roll some dice and proclaim themselves heroes. They want it all to happen in one afternoon. They don't believe in the long build up. Review some of the old adventure modules. They were meant to be strung together to create a campaign. They were meant to advance the characters and players in skill and confidence over time. Not all at once.
Now for a word on magic. Gone are the days of magic fountains that could grant you permanent ability increases or reduce your character to a blithering idiot. Gone are the days when a character would find a magic sword and they would hold onto it because magic was a rare and wonderful thing. The creation of magic items was something you didn't undertake until you were of very high level. The games we ran didn't have magic shops. You asked the shop keepers if they had any special merchandise. Not all them did. The flavor of the game was different back then. Not better, just different.
Yes, you may consider my outlook on the game as antiquated or dinosaur-esque. But that is what I consider fun. We as the Dungeon Masters were encouraged to create our own content. We were driven to create worlds of adventure and heroic deeds. Legends and fantastic stories. D&D was more like a game Calvinball back then. There wasn't the sense of entitlement among the players back then. We didn't play with the expectation of our characters living through it and becoming heroes, we worked for it. Our victories were earned by our skill as players. I won't devolve into a rant at this time. I'll save that for the poor schmuck that corners me in a game store. I will also try and refrain from screaming "GET OFF MY LAWN! at the kids in the game store. Though this may be overreaching on my part. I'm an old grognard. I came to D&D from wargaming. This has influenced me for the entire span of my gaming career. I don't expect anyone to truly understand my views, but it's not required either. Go play the game however you want. As long as you're having fun, how can that be a bad thing?
Go have a blast.
Happy Gaming!
Well written
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