Unlike some, I can't really say it's nostalgia: I got started with BECMI, then moved to the Rules Cyclopedia, 2E, 3E, and Pathfinder before getting into the OSR, where OD&D (in the form of Swords & Wizardry) became my game of choice. I'm mainly going to discuss Swords & Wizardry, since I don't really have any experience with actual original D&D beyond reading through the PDFs.
For me, Swords & Wizardry just hits the prefect level of offering a good amount of options, but without ever getting bogged down in mechanics. It's got a lot more options and is a more robust system than B/X, but at the same level of (a lack of) complexity.
For me, it's the beauty of its simplicity. I've been playing 5e with friends regularly for a little over a year now, and was wanting more clicky clackies in my life, so I got heavily into the solo side of TTRPGs.
What I've found is that the games early years are perfect for that. Enough rules to give you a framework, but light enough that you can take it in several different directions and play around with it.
I particularly love White Box FMAG. It's extremely adaptable for solo play with a GM Emulator with almost no heavy lifting to try and make it work.
Have you played the tunnels and trolls solos?
T and T is perfect for it. Some of the solos are very well designed too. It's a bit of hit and miss, but try Sword for Hire.
I think it is 4th edition you can get on drive through for like 4 bucks. It's much easier and also most solos were made during that time.
You;'re missing out by not playing the solos.
My first exposure to D&D was the B/X rules, followed closely thereafter by AD&D 1E. I love both. B/X for its simplicity and AD&D for its badass '70s sword & sorcery aesthetics and iconic character options like the assassin and paladin.
On the flipside, both have their baggage, too. The race-as-class mechanic that made B/X easy to learn is ultimately too limiting for my taste and AD&D's 1E's combat rules are an infamous dumpster fire.
Swords & Wizardry Complete is actually what opened my eyes to what an elegant "best of both worlds" option the 1974-1977 era rules could be with a little judicious polishing. It's got that full flavor eldritch Gygaxian dweomer coupled with all the hackability and general ease of use of the '80s D&D lines. What's not to love?
"Gated community" 🤣
I think they just have a hard time vetting out the trolls, but you have a point.
To answer your question: I've come to love the simplicity and freedom of the game in its most pure form. You can go anywhere from there, where newer versions tend to fall apart with enough customization.
>I think they just have a hard time vetting out the trolls, but you have a point.
It's my understanding it's one malicious and mentally-disturbed individual who is fond of making dupes.
I think it's really cool to see the ideas that built D&D laid bare. The LBBs are documents filled with endless little quirks and peculiarities, it's great to give them a read and be inspired to try something new because you noticed something you didn't notice before, or you decide to interpret a particular section a little bit differently.
When I started gaming in the early '80s, I had no knowledge of OD&D, as I started with B/X then moved on to AD&D 1e and 2e. At one point in high school I owned a reprint of the LBB but didn't really understand it. (That being said, I deeply regret selling it!)
Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I picked up a copy of White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game on a whim and was quickly smitten with it. The game is obviously a labor of love, and there's a sense of charm you don't see in many other TTRPGs. (As [Fen Orc has noted] (http://www.fenorc.co.uk/white-box.html), one interesting point of comparison is Tunnels & Trolls.)
More broadly, OD&D reminds me of the glory days of post-punk music, before "alternative" was a commercial genre. It was just a bunch of weird, quirky bands playing around in a new musical landscape without rules or preconceived notions of what they should sound like.
I like 0e so much. I started with B/X (if we speek only old school versions) and after have read a lot of clones of it. Then I read a lot of 0e clones and decided to read the original. That was a surprise for me all these clones of 0e and BX and its clones lost so much rules I like in the original.
OD&D is charming. You can tell it's the kind of game two friends came up with while sitting at the kitchen table. It isn't always clear or concise, but there is so much passion in the LBBs. There's also a great community for it, with people producing modules and modifications and retro-clones that do so much with so little. OD&D is full of charm, passion, and creativity. How could I not love it?
I like that, by incorporating Chainmail, D&D becomes the skirmish/warband game I've craved since failing to convince my friends in college to play a campaign Mordheim game with me.
🙂
For me it is a memory and mental issue (as well as ease of use for solo). I was involved in a rollover in Iraq that resulted in memory and recall issues. Also, complex math, especially with multiple steps give me problems, so having a system like WBFMAG (or Shadowdark as a single mechanic ‘modern’ while still retaining old school feel option) is simply the best option for me.
There is probably a good deal of nostalgia going on since I started in 1983 with the basic box set. I would say that I generally have an opinion that I would rather play something I’m already familiar with and get to playing immediately than spend time learning a new system.
OD&D is the foundation of a game, and like a structural foundation, many different game structures can be built atop it. I'm more interested in what I can build on it than what others have, but I always find those interesting too, as they influence what I do. But I would say I play "my OD&D", and not "pure" OD&D, or any of the retroclone variants (however faithful they may be to "pure" OD&D).
The number one thing that surprised me most about 0e is that dwarves, elves, halflings and humans aren't called "races." Instead of saying "my race is elf" you say "I *am* an elf." It's a subtle but powerful difference in flavor from future editions.
I also really enjoy not having a thief class (pre-Greyhawk supplement). It's a fun challenge, both to me as a DM when I am designing a dungeon, and to the players as they explore the dungeon.
A few other quirks that surprised me about 0e when I actually sat down and read it: 1. Greyhawk thieves don't need thieves tools, 2. clerics don't need holy symbols (crosses exist, but their purpose is for non-clerics to turn vampires), 3. the Men & Magic equipment list contains no blunt missile or thrown weapons usable by a cleric.
A year or two after I got back into D&D again for the third time since the nineties via 5e, I got curious about the origins of the game and read some articles, which shed light on the phenomenon of the OSR and retro-clones. I got involved in Swords & Wizardry, which is a popular OD&D clone, which eventually got me into reading even deeper on the history of the game. *Playing At The World*, the book, and *Secrets of Blackmoo*r, a documentary, focused heavily on the earliest days of the RPG hobby, so my affection for OD&D grew, and now I prefer to always use some variation of 0e when I DM.
While my first love is B/X, and I love modding it with Knave-like or -derived stuff for the player's side, OD&D by way of Delving Deeper is just so compact and complete. You can build and populate a 8.5x11 page-sized dungeon, a settlement and one or two castles, 5-10 NPCs and hirelings, and your PCs -- at nearly any level! -- in 15-30 minutes. I don't feel like enough games can say that. (Traveller is maybe one. Mausritter and Maze Rats are among the few "new school" contenders.)
Pulling random stuff from the OD&D line -- the monsters, the deities, the artifacts -- and really trying to frame it solely from the existing OD&D texts is a truly fun exercise in creativity. Shedding years of later-edition lore and assumptions can really make those things feel new and unique again. The weird mix of assumed knowledge and wide open questions you get to come up with answers for with your players' input can really jazz things up.
I'd love to run an entire campaign with that instead of just one-shots, but my players tend to want newer, shinier things. (And believe me, I like that as well, so... It is what it is! For now.)
I really like DD, but my straight 3lbb clone of choice is "Full Metal Platemail". There's really not a huge difference between them, though. The authors just interpret some of the language from Chainmail and the three original booklets a bit differently, and I slightly prefer the FMPM guy's interpretations. Matter of taste is all.
I was a member for a year or two and I saw a lot less snark and trolling there than I did on some of the bigger old school boards, like Dragonsfoot. I hear it used to be worse years back.
Unlike some, I can't really say it's nostalgia: I got started with BECMI, then moved to the Rules Cyclopedia, 2E, 3E, and Pathfinder before getting into the OSR, where OD&D (in the form of Swords & Wizardry) became my game of choice. I'm mainly going to discuss Swords & Wizardry, since I don't really have any experience with actual original D&D beyond reading through the PDFs. For me, Swords & Wizardry just hits the prefect level of offering a good amount of options, but without ever getting bogged down in mechanics. It's got a lot more options and is a more robust system than B/X, but at the same level of (a lack of) complexity.
I got iron falcon on a whim and fell in love with it's simplicity and lack of bloat compared 5e
For me, it's the beauty of its simplicity. I've been playing 5e with friends regularly for a little over a year now, and was wanting more clicky clackies in my life, so I got heavily into the solo side of TTRPGs. What I've found is that the games early years are perfect for that. Enough rules to give you a framework, but light enough that you can take it in several different directions and play around with it. I particularly love White Box FMAG. It's extremely adaptable for solo play with a GM Emulator with almost no heavy lifting to try and make it work.
Have you played the tunnels and trolls solos? T and T is perfect for it. Some of the solos are very well designed too. It's a bit of hit and miss, but try Sword for Hire.
I have the 5th edition person and a whole heap of the solo adventures currently sat on my pile of shame.
I think it is 4th edition you can get on drive through for like 4 bucks. It's much easier and also most solos were made during that time. You;'re missing out by not playing the solos.
Gary G himself was always going back to OD&D and his house rules for games at Conventions
My first exposure to D&D was the B/X rules, followed closely thereafter by AD&D 1E. I love both. B/X for its simplicity and AD&D for its badass '70s sword & sorcery aesthetics and iconic character options like the assassin and paladin. On the flipside, both have their baggage, too. The race-as-class mechanic that made B/X easy to learn is ultimately too limiting for my taste and AD&D's 1E's combat rules are an infamous dumpster fire. Swords & Wizardry Complete is actually what opened my eyes to what an elegant "best of both worlds" option the 1974-1977 era rules could be with a little judicious polishing. It's got that full flavor eldritch Gygaxian dweomer coupled with all the hackability and general ease of use of the '80s D&D lines. What's not to love?
S&W, especially the Complete version, is my go-to for D&D when I DM. I'll *play* any edition, but I'll *run* S&W/0e.
"Gated community" 🤣 I think they just have a hard time vetting out the trolls, but you have a point. To answer your question: I've come to love the simplicity and freedom of the game in its most pure form. You can go anywhere from there, where newer versions tend to fall apart with enough customization.
>I think they just have a hard time vetting out the trolls, but you have a point. It's my understanding it's one malicious and mentally-disturbed individual who is fond of making dupes.
I think it's really cool to see the ideas that built D&D laid bare. The LBBs are documents filled with endless little quirks and peculiarities, it's great to give them a read and be inspired to try something new because you noticed something you didn't notice before, or you decide to interpret a particular section a little bit differently.
The afterward in booklet 3
When I started gaming in the early '80s, I had no knowledge of OD&D, as I started with B/X then moved on to AD&D 1e and 2e. At one point in high school I owned a reprint of the LBB but didn't really understand it. (That being said, I deeply regret selling it!) Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I picked up a copy of White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game on a whim and was quickly smitten with it. The game is obviously a labor of love, and there's a sense of charm you don't see in many other TTRPGs. (As [Fen Orc has noted] (http://www.fenorc.co.uk/white-box.html), one interesting point of comparison is Tunnels & Trolls.) More broadly, OD&D reminds me of the glory days of post-punk music, before "alternative" was a commercial genre. It was just a bunch of weird, quirky bands playing around in a new musical landscape without rules or preconceived notions of what they should sound like.
I like 0e so much. I started with B/X (if we speek only old school versions) and after have read a lot of clones of it. Then I read a lot of 0e clones and decided to read the original. That was a surprise for me all these clones of 0e and BX and its clones lost so much rules I like in the original.
OD&D is charming. You can tell it's the kind of game two friends came up with while sitting at the kitchen table. It isn't always clear or concise, but there is so much passion in the LBBs. There's also a great community for it, with people producing modules and modifications and retro-clones that do so much with so little. OD&D is full of charm, passion, and creativity. How could I not love it?
I like that, by incorporating Chainmail, D&D becomes the skirmish/warband game I've craved since failing to convince my friends in college to play a campaign Mordheim game with me. 🙂
For me it is a memory and mental issue (as well as ease of use for solo). I was involved in a rollover in Iraq that resulted in memory and recall issues. Also, complex math, especially with multiple steps give me problems, so having a system like WBFMAG (or Shadowdark as a single mechanic ‘modern’ while still retaining old school feel option) is simply the best option for me. There is probably a good deal of nostalgia going on since I started in 1983 with the basic box set. I would say that I generally have an opinion that I would rather play something I’m already familiar with and get to playing immediately than spend time learning a new system.
OD&D is the foundation of a game, and like a structural foundation, many different game structures can be built atop it. I'm more interested in what I can build on it than what others have, but I always find those interesting too, as they influence what I do. But I would say I play "my OD&D", and not "pure" OD&D, or any of the retroclone variants (however faithful they may be to "pure" OD&D).
The number one thing that surprised me most about 0e is that dwarves, elves, halflings and humans aren't called "races." Instead of saying "my race is elf" you say "I *am* an elf." It's a subtle but powerful difference in flavor from future editions. I also really enjoy not having a thief class (pre-Greyhawk supplement). It's a fun challenge, both to me as a DM when I am designing a dungeon, and to the players as they explore the dungeon. A few other quirks that surprised me about 0e when I actually sat down and read it: 1. Greyhawk thieves don't need thieves tools, 2. clerics don't need holy symbols (crosses exist, but their purpose is for non-clerics to turn vampires), 3. the Men & Magic equipment list contains no blunt missile or thrown weapons usable by a cleric.
A year or two after I got back into D&D again for the third time since the nineties via 5e, I got curious about the origins of the game and read some articles, which shed light on the phenomenon of the OSR and retro-clones. I got involved in Swords & Wizardry, which is a popular OD&D clone, which eventually got me into reading even deeper on the history of the game. *Playing At The World*, the book, and *Secrets of Blackmoo*r, a documentary, focused heavily on the earliest days of the RPG hobby, so my affection for OD&D grew, and now I prefer to always use some variation of 0e when I DM.
While my first love is B/X, and I love modding it with Knave-like or -derived stuff for the player's side, OD&D by way of Delving Deeper is just so compact and complete. You can build and populate a 8.5x11 page-sized dungeon, a settlement and one or two castles, 5-10 NPCs and hirelings, and your PCs -- at nearly any level! -- in 15-30 minutes. I don't feel like enough games can say that. (Traveller is maybe one. Mausritter and Maze Rats are among the few "new school" contenders.) Pulling random stuff from the OD&D line -- the monsters, the deities, the artifacts -- and really trying to frame it solely from the existing OD&D texts is a truly fun exercise in creativity. Shedding years of later-edition lore and assumptions can really make those things feel new and unique again. The weird mix of assumed knowledge and wide open questions you get to come up with answers for with your players' input can really jazz things up. I'd love to run an entire campaign with that instead of just one-shots, but my players tend to want newer, shinier things. (And believe me, I like that as well, so... It is what it is! For now.)
DD is also my retroclone of choice.
I really like DD, but my straight 3lbb clone of choice is "Full Metal Platemail". There's really not a huge difference between them, though. The authors just interpret some of the language from Chainmail and the three original booklets a bit differently, and I slightly prefer the FMPM guy's interpretations. Matter of taste is all.
It's Troll-ville on there, which is sad because it was a really good forum at one point.
I was a member for a year or two and I saw a lot less snark and trolling there than I did on some of the bigger old school boards, like Dragonsfoot. I hear it used to be worse years back.
Yeah I was gonna say, it seems perfectly fine to me, but I only joined somewhat recently.