Last night we had a full session playing with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition (2e). It was a bundle of fun and a good time was had.
That said, it taught me a few things that mean I’ll be picking up Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition (5e) again when I continue to plan my Whitegrave campaign.
Last time I wrote about my excitement in playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition (1e). That spilled over into re-reading D&D2e, which in turn (combined with a low-attendance session) encouraged me to try GMing 2e.
Don’t get me wrong: it was a successful game and lots of fun, helping me overcome my long-time refusal to play D&D2e. But…
First, The Ups…
On the upside, there are a bundle of things that I really like about Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1e & 2e) that need mentioning:
- Level limits on demi-human races, which provide a reason why humans dominate the other races.
- The huge legacy of game materials which are broadly interchangeable from OD&D through to AD&D2e, such as monsters and magic items.
- The high-level rules for player characters gaining territories to rule over.
- The extensive use of random tables to help generate details, monsters, and treasure for games.
- Infravision instead of Darkvision.
- Much more focus on resource management, such as torches and lantern oil.
- The general coherency of the ruleset, as developed over time (excluding the 2e “splat books”).
There is also a definite nostalgia for me in connection with AD&D which is hard to ignore. I would take back some of the things that I said about AD&D2e at the time of the release of D&D3e, and admit that I can now well understand the resistance of players who didn’t “upgrade” to the new edition back in 2000. But then, I’d not really played AD&D2e much anyway.
Next, The Downs…
Playing last night was a hoot. I keep saying that, don’t I?
That said, there were some things that I found irritating or which confused my D&D5e literate players:
- THAC0 (“to hit armour class zero”): OMG!
- Attack rolls, roll d20 high… Ability checks, roll d20 low… really!?
- Percentage rolls for Thief skills, d6 rolls for breaking open doors, d20 roll low for non-weapon proficiencies.
Honestly, the d20 system did us all a favour by eliminating the THAC0 rule and also killing the little chart on every character sheet showing what you needed to hit each given Armour Class. And, honestly, AC running from 10 to -10 is not as easy to “get” as numbers running from 10 upwards.
The unified system of rolling d20 high on checks and attack rolls is also much easier. While I disliked the swinginess of this is D&D3e, the Advantage/Disadvantage rules in D&D5e make it much better.
And yes, the modern skill system is a nice compromise between 100% ability checks and a hundred non-weapon proficiencies.
5 Things I Learned…
All that aside, and returning to my D&D5e campaign planning, I realised five key things that I want to take from AD&D:
- There is a need to reinforce the Human race as a choice in the game.
- Products like “Fifth Edition Foes” and “The Book of Lost Spells” are invaluable for drawing Old School stuff back to the table.
- Someone needs to update Encyclopedia Magica for 5e.
- We should track time and key resources more closely.
- Make sure you’re clear about how Darkvision will work in your game.
1. Humans
In all my games of D&D over the last year since release, Humans are a minority in each party. +1 to all Abilities is not enough of an incentive to play a Human… and, as Gygax mused in the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide, if that’s the case then you have to ask how Humans got to be dominant.
I am loath to introduce level limits to demi-human races in my D&D games. That said, I think there are two things we can draw into modern games.
Firstly, we can make more use of the optional Human rules:
“Ability Score Increase. Two different ability scores of your choice increase by 1.
Skills. You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice.
Feat. You gain one feat of your choice.” – D&D Basic Rules, page 19
Secondly, we can make sure that high-level Human characters have an easier job of gaining political power in the setting:
- From Level 9, Human Fighters might be offered the chance to claim a territory, leading to a campaign arc about subduing that area of land.
- Other classes might also get to gain similar political power bases: Human Thieves find it easier to challenge the Guild leadership.
- Emphasis on the prejudices held by many Humans towards demi-humans.
Whilst I deplore real world racism, in the campaign this becomes a key theme in high-level play and helps to justify why it is that (in most D&D settings) Humans are dominant.
It’s not enough that Humans have a higher fertility rate, or some such – heck, subjugated humanity in real life often outnumbered the slave owners. This theme leads to some interesting roleplaying opportunities.
2. & 3. Mining The Old School
I’d already got the two books I mentioned earlier that introduce Old School creatures and spells to modern D&D. We desperately need someone to do the same with magic items, probably from Encyclopedia Magica.
But why emphasise this?
For me, it’s about widening the choices and drawing on the many cool ideas from the past. Reading the AD&D manuals on magic items, for instance, is a joy and sparks many ideas. While it’s easy enough to convert things over, which I’ll certainly begin doing from today, it’s even easier if someone publishes such a resource.
I’d buy that for several dollars.
4. Resource Tracking
It was actually not much effort to tick off the 10-minute turns during the game last night. It added loads to the players focus on getting in and out of the dungeon quickly.
Pacing is a cornerstone of Old School gaming. Matt Finch, guru of the OSR, writes:
“Spells get used up, hit points are lost, torches get used up, and food gets used up. This is another part of the game that’s been minimized in later editions (particularly in 4th edition). The theory is that no one wants to spend time keeping track of mundane things like torches and food. And it’s a good point – a poor referee can bollix this up if he spends too much time on it. However, one thing you have to realize about 0e: it is indeed a game where managing resources is at the game’s very heart.” – Finch, “A Quick Primer For Old School Gaming“, page 11.
In short, stealing the Goblin’s lantern and looting the lantern oil proved to be as entertaining as anything else in the session. And it was a LOT of fun, giving real purpose to ambushing those Goblins.
The players also avoided unnecessary combat in favour of achieving their primary goal quickly… and then came back to “clear out” the missed areas only when they had done so and because they felt they had the resources to succeed.
Tick sheets are all you need.
5. Darkvision
D&D Basic rules define this trait as follows:
“Darkvision. Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.” – D&D Basic Rules, page 13 (Dwarf entry).
This is very different from the Infravision you’ll find in AD&D (how it was in all versions prior to 2e), which was the ability to see heat signatures in the dark. Thus, operating much like a modern infrared camera, Infravision would let you see heat signatures but not much detail – useful for exploring only up to a point.
While I’m not sure I want to re-define Darkvision, I do want to more precisely use the result of the definition above:
“In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.” – D&D Basic Rules, page 65.
I feel that the same would apply to Intelligence (Investigation) checks when searching in the dark.
Coming Back To 5e
Overall, I enjoyed my foray into AD&D… but… I keep coming back to 5e.
D&D is a cleaner and easier-to-grasp game with much more streamlined rules. It covers the spirit of the game well, while opening up opportunities to import from the Old School.
What I’ve learned from this foray, however, is that I really do want to mine the Old School editions for cool ideas and stuff.
It really is worth the effort to play in the Old School style.
Game on!
