D&D 1E My clever theory: why 1e AD&D is being reprinted

[Zak S]

Well the AD&D DMG may be worth getting just for reading material. Didn't WIRED magazine list it as essential geek reading?

If nothing else, the long and large magic item section is far more evocative than anything else that came after in D&D.

It's much less dry and much more opinionated than other DMGs and is full of ideas that should--at the very least--make any DM think.

Very worth it.

In fact I've just talked myself into rereading mine right now.

 

[Siuis]

I have actually looked for them from time to time. Locally I can't find anything and via amazon while I can find them I can't seem to ever be looking when there are good quality copies going for reasonable prices.

Same goes for planescape stuff. thankfully my girlfriend managed to snag a copy of the campaign setting box set for $30! and it's in nearly perfect shape! best birthday present yet.

It's a crapshoot. I recently found pretty much all of them - PHB, DMG, MM I & II, Fiend Folio, Legends & Lore, Dungeoneer's Guide, Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures - sitting on a used book store shelf while looking for some white wolf stuff on a lark. I bought everything but OA, L&L and the PHB, as thy were prohibitively priced and I want to buy the reprints specifically.

Any other time I've come to this same shop? Nothing. Bunch of useless 2e stuff that everyone read, took notes out of and discarded (fighter's handbook, arms & equipment, etc.). I suspect that some folks, in light of the new reprints, are clearing their shelves. Now is the time to look for the originals.

Just as a personal note, I consider 2e to be my edition as of all of the ones I played (starting with Holmes) its the one i got the most fun out of. Despite that and 1e being far from a favorite of mine, I still want these books, if only to reward smarts.

I only wish they were the nigh indestructible hardcover of the originals.

I've found that until 4e, each new edition supplied new tools for players to get exactly what they've been clamoring for, without changing the fundamental feel of the game. I started with 1e, and moving to 2e didn't change so much as clarify things for me. Could I be a necromancer? What if my priest worshipped a war god? What if I tried this clever tactic? Each edition took these thoughts into account, it seemed, so that the Dungeon Master would have room to say "yes, but here is how it will work" to smooth things over. From subclasses, to kits, to prestige classes, even.

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Myself, I hope this is indicative of a trend. Even if little more than a bone tossed out to keep cash flowing between projects, I wouldn't mind seeing more in this vein. Modules in a bundle would be nice. Stuff like Unearthed Arcana and the Dungeoneer's Guide as the next print run. Etc.

Sure it's a long shot. But one could easily expect WotC employees to be combing threads like this one to see what the general feel of the masses is.

 

[Endur]

Reprinting the 1e books is fantastic. It helps build connections for 5e to 1e.

And if 5e does not end up being close to 1e, the 1e fans have current prints of the books they can use to run a table. They don't need to rely on 30 year old books.

If I ran a 1e table without the reprints, I'd have to lend out my books (which I really don't want to do since they are getting fragile).

 

[ren1999]

Opinions? Thoughts? Hilarious debunking?

Perhaps 1E is being reprinted because developers are listening to the complaints and 1E addresses most of them.

1E would be a return to the core spells and the lower monster hit points that made dungeon crawling so quick and enjoyable.

I'm sure a return to the original edition is the right direction for 5E as well. I see a lot of good things from 4E and Pathfinder that I want to include in 5E but all within a basic core rule book like the original blue box edition TSR2000, I believe.

For example, here are some cleric prayers I'm working on that kind of reflect the fun of 1E.

I also don't think fortitude, reflex and will are required. Why not a saving throw roll like this?

1d20+1/2 the cleric's level+charisma modifier -/+ situation modifiers versus base 10 or 1d20+1/2 the foe's level+intelligence modifier

Turn Foe--hypnotic prayer/1st level cleric/standard/encounter/target all foes not of caster's alignment/charisma versus intelligence/foes flee 1d4 squares and defend at -1 until the beginning of the caster's next turn/foes defend at -2 at 11th and -3 21st level

Cause Sleep--hypnotic prayer/2nd level cleric/standard/encounter/ranged 10 to 20 squares all foes in 1 square burst/+1 square at 11th and 21st/charisma versus intelligence/foes are immobile/foes wake after being attacked

Hold Foe--hypnotic prayer/3rd level cleric/standard/encounter/ranged 10 to 20 squares 1 foe/+1 foe at 11th and 21st/charisma versus intelligence/foes are immobile/save charisma versus intellgence every round

Charm Foe--hypnotic prayer/4th level cleric/standard/encounter/line-of-sight all foes of equal or lower level than the caster/charisma versus intelligence/control foe for 1 round/save charisma versus intellgence every round

Summon Being--hypnotic prayer/5th level cleric/standard/daily/encounter duration/summon monsters of equal or lower level than the caster/charisma versus intelligence/after summoning no save

 

[Danzauker]

My concern: that the 1e re-release is an early bone thrown to the OSR crowd, a distant early warning that 5e will not resemble 1e (or any other e before 3) in the least.

Another, less cynical theory: that the 1e re-release is a trial balloon, if it does well 5e might incorporate more 1e elements than if it fails.

Lanefan

This.

I may be cynical but I think it's all bait-and-switch. After all, one of the few points where all agre is that WotC did a HORRIBLE work of PR with 4E.

I think they are just trying to reverse this.

 

[mudbunny]

This.

I may be cynical but I think it's all bait-and-switch. After all, one of the few points where all agre is that WotC did a HORRIBLE work of PR with 4E.

I think they are just trying to reverse this.

Bait and switch? How could them saying "here are some re-prints of the 1E books" be considered bait and switch?

 

[Danzauker]

Bait and switch? How could them saying "here are some re-prints of the 1E books" be considered bait and switch?

Well, for starters, it seems it made quite a lot of people think that 5E will be directly based on 1E or 2E, thing I think most surely won't happen.

 

[Kynn]

I also don't think fortitude, reflex and will are required. Why not a saving throw roll like this?

1d20+1/2 the cleric's level+charisma modifier -/+ situation modifiers versus base 10 or 1d20+1/2 the foe's level+intelligence modifier

etc
etc

Why fort/reflex/will? Because nobody wants to calculate all that stuff on the fly each time.