The D&D thread
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Rime
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Having played every edition of D&D, I would have to agree that 1st edition was very rough and you needed to house rule a significant amount of things to make it playable. To today's gamer, it would be a mess that would never fly. The first AD&D edition was better, the 2nd AD&D edition was more palatable and the first 'step' to a wider audience - it is also the edition that almost everyone I know remembers 'fondly'.
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Grabbit Allworth
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Agreed.
I've also played every edition and 2nd was a head and shoulders above 1st. I have very good memories of it. It didn't hurt that guys like Elmore and Parkinson did a lot of the art.
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Grabbit Allworth
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I definitely play, my guy.
I have enough material to fill this bookshelf twice over but I only keep the most commonly used/campaign relevant stuff on the shelf.
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Genjiro
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Not really on topic but....
This guys channel is pretty killer and has some awesome background music, sound etc for gaming. I don't even play D&D anymore, but I'm building my own tabletop game atm and if I ever just need some certain kind of push into a frame of mind this can kind of give me a creative nudge. Doing Demonic themed ideas/brainstorming and putting on the soundscapes of the different planes of Hell tracks he has for instance has really helped get that into my head to get some ideas flowing.
Even as a visual artist, sound probably helps me more than anything to feel immersion. I tend to match musical/sound ambiance even when reading to the scene in the book as well --it isnt necessary but it really creates a more memorable experience. Anyways, sure most of you have stuff like this but enjoy if not!
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Qhue
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WSJ News Exclusive | Dungeons & Dragons Gets a Bigger Role at Hasbro
Toy maker Hasbro is reorganizing to capitalize on a pandemic-fueled boom in old-school tabletop games, creating a separate division around the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.
www.wsj.com
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OU Ariakas
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Wrong, I play strictly RAW/BTB. And i'll take the game as the original masters made it than putting stock in your "it sucks" hot take.
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Fyff
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Don't forget your fedora on the way out....
Look, the game just isn't a good game. Game mechanics have come a long way in the last 40 years. Races only being able to be certain classes and only able to advance to certain levels is the kind of anti-roleplay that I would think a sophisticated role player like yourself would be totally against.
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D&D is basically a game built on Tolkien's foundations and legends. In Tolkien's world humans (Atani) are given a separate gift from all the other races. This quote is Eru (god) speaking about his children (elves, men, etc):
The other races content themselves and are bound by fate and are happy with it. Humans though, are not bound by fate and always restless , never content in this world. This is the lore reason why humans can keep advancing in levels past most other races.
Game play ways, its to give the player characters more ways to differentiate themselves one from the other.
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Not to get in the middle of whatever this is but are you sure about that? Do you have any sources that state that’s what GG designed the game as? I’ve watched videos from people who have worked at TSR/WoC that state otherwise. Granted the main person I’m referring to never worked with GG, but just did a bunch of research for a series of videos on the history of D&D.
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Chanur
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He was much more inspired by the sword and sorcery stuff. Conan and The Grey Mouszer etc. You can tell that by how the first editions play out. The adventure and riches are the reasons they expect you to do any of it. The feel is very gritty sword and sorcery and less Middle Earth in my opinion. The later editions are nothing like the original editions in feel.
The game was a combo of that and the tabletop miniature war games.
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Arbitrary
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I'm showing up super late and I don't like Fyff but he's right. First edition is really, really bad. I know people that only play 1st edition and you can have a good time playing it but it's still bad.
Sign me up for some of that "look at how I differentiated my character" level 5 hard caps. And don't go posting that Unearthed Arcana revised table bullshit. I know purists that don't even allow that tome at all because it's "power gaming." This same book has the nerve to fully flesh out the Monk class up to level goddamn 17 requiring 3.250 MILLION exps (the gnome warrior you rolled capped out at 18001) including needing to duel another monk for every level above seven. Good fucking luck on that. Fucking no one gets to those levels legitimately. Bards are broken, dual-classing is broken, Psionics are bizarre to include in a first book (and they've been broken in basically every iteration of the game) and general class balance is nonexistent. Roll exceptionally well at character creation? Something that is 100% random? You get bonus experience points for every single game session you ever play on top of your character just being objectively better at their core functions. Save or die (also save or get fucked) is garbage. Monsters like rot grubs or carrion crawlers are Fuck You made flesh.
You want to sit down with some friends, roll up some toons and hunt down the local town's goblin infestation? The game is serviceable. You want to have the traditional gaming experience where you advance from low level up to high level? High level is around level nine and the entire thing goes off the rails soon after. The original modules hate your guts personally and death rides tall in the saddle.
Sign me up for some of that "look at how I differentiated my character" level 5 hard caps. And don't go posting that Unearthed Arcana revised table bullshit. I know purists that don't even allow that tome at all because it's "power gaming." This same book has the nerve to fully flesh out the Monk class up to level goddamn 17 requiring 3.250 MILLION exps (the gnome warrior you rolled capped out at 18001) including needing to duel another monk for every level above seven. Good fucking luck on that. Fucking no one gets to those levels legitimately. Bards are broken, dual-classing is broken, Psionics are bizarre to include in a first book (and they've been broken in basically every iteration of the game) and general class balance is nonexistent. Roll exceptionally well at character creation? Something that is 100% random? You get bonus experience points for every single game session you ever play on top of your character just being objectively better at their core functions. Save or die (also save or get fucked) is garbage. Monsters like rot grubs or carrion crawlers are Fuck You made flesh.
You want to sit down with some friends, roll up some toons and hunt down the local town's goblin infestation? The game is serviceable. You want to have the traditional gaming experience where you advance from low level up to high level? High level is around level nine and the entire thing goes off the rails soon after. The original modules hate your guts personally and death rides tall in the saddle.
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Chanur
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I agree with all your points and still enjoy the early editions for what they are. 2nd being my favorite of them. That all being said most games never get above 10. Even Wizards of the Coast Surveys and Data prove that. Which is why the books and stuff early on got wonky high up. They never played that high of a level. Its just not practical at those levels even in todays "balanced" games.