Robert Fisher

Just thinking out loud

Classic D&D

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Herein, I shall rave about classic D&D.

In its broadest sense, "classic D&D" refers to the (non-Advanced) D&D game published roughly from 1974 until 1994. My preference is the 1981 edition comprised of a Basic Set & an Expert Set. This edition is sometimes refered to by the names of its "editors": Tom Moldvay for the Basic Set & Dave "Zeb" Cook with Steve Marsh for the Expert.

This edition was my first role playing game, although I fairly quickly moved on to classic Traveller & AD&D. In recent years, I have discovered a new appreciation for this venerable game.

Nostalgia? Oh sure, that's part of it, but not all.

Campaign log:

Classic D&D articles:

Although I may spend a lot of time thinking & writing about gaming, I'm not a great gamer or anything. e.g. I'm horrible at imaginative descriptions, & I happily embrace cliché.

Of interest: THE PERRIN CONVENTIONS

To do (for this site):

helmets
Maybe I should turn this enworld post of mine into a page
Create an RPG page to move the general RPG stuff to
How to play a light RPG
Update XP for gp with observations from Lost City campaign
...it's important to me to try to understand how the designer intended the game to be played
Read & (possibly) rebut “AD&D is the Tool of Satan!”
I should probably have something on what 0hp means depends on what the intent was, a failed roll sometimes means partial success, using "to hit" roll for other things...

Several threads of thought should possibly converge:

Metagaming (is good)
Challenging the player
Rules-light (thinking beyond the rules)/(don't need rules for things that challenge the player?)
How to play rules-light

To do (for the game):

Recreate my Instant PC pamphlet.
Finish entering the proof-reading changes into the spell compendium.
Say you're stuck for a monster, or don't like looking them up.
Make something like rycanada's monster table (see below).
Reference charts.

Rycanada's monster table:

You know its CR. You know your monster is a big wad of hitpoints with high AC and it has a special ability that the PCs can save against. Look at the table, in the column for the CR of your monster. You instantly have the hitpoints, attack modifier, likely damage on the main attack, save DC for the special ability, Armor Class, and Saves.

D&D3e initiative cards

General role playing articles:

cuius regio eius religio: Latin for “The GM gets to pick the system.”

The 1981 D&D is graced with artwork from such classic artists as Erol Otus, Bill Willingham, & Jeff Dee.

Some people at Wizards of the Coast played a classic D&D campaign.