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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 8669940" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I DMed 1st AD&D for like 15 years back in the day. It was my primary system and I had a lot of fun. There are still parts of me that really love and miss some of the style of the 1st AD&D game, and that style definitely informs my modern gaming.</p><p></p><p>I think I can present solid evidence of my love of 1e AD&D in some of the threads I've started over the years, such as the one where I try to reimagine dragons using 1e AD&D rules and conventions but throwing out some sacred cows in order to have a richer and more interactive experience in a typical combat between a party of 1e AD&D PC's and a dragon. (<a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/revised-and-rebalanced-dragons-for-1e-ad-d.580811/" target="_blank">Thread here.</a>)</p><p></p><p>But I have on several occasions tried to run 1e AD&D in the years since then, and it's just too painful of an experience for me as a DM to try to run an exceptions based system where nothing is codified and everything depends on rulings. The cognitive burden of running a OSR style game is for me much too high compared to running more modern systems. The mental stress I'm under to try to be fair and consistent and keep the game pacing going while running 1e AD&D or an old school inspired game is just more than I enjoy these days. I'm pretty sure back in the day I had the same problems, because I can remember being unhappy with various aspects of the system, it's just I didn't have good alternatives then. </p><p></p><p>What I think you'll find is that the game works OK when it sticks to the kick the doors down cycle, but as soon as you start experimenting with more imaginative games that require more interaction it gets to be a bog. Some modern OSR's clean up some of the rules for you to make common tasks like surprise and initiative easier to handle, but I've yet to see an OSR that addresses the really deep problems in the rules. So while certain styles of DMs will probably be OK running and OSR and may even favor it, if you find you are the sort of GM that really values your referee hat and doesn't like to just decide everything by fiat in accordance to what you think is 'good for the game' and if you really value protagonizing the players without recourse to heavy illusionism, then I suspect you are going to run into lots of problems with OSR rules sets.</p><p></p><p>The hold out the idea that they are actually simpler to run than modern games, but in practice I find them much more complex. Rulings are rules. They are just rules you have to make up and remember. If designing a game as you go is something you find easier than running one, then chances are your motives aren't what you think they are.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 8669940, member: 4937"] I DMed 1st AD&D for like 15 years back in the day. It was my primary system and I had a lot of fun. There are still parts of me that really love and miss some of the style of the 1st AD&D game, and that style definitely informs my modern gaming. I think I can present solid evidence of my love of 1e AD&D in some of the threads I've started over the years, such as the one where I try to reimagine dragons using 1e AD&D rules and conventions but throwing out some sacred cows in order to have a richer and more interactive experience in a typical combat between a party of 1e AD&D PC's and a dragon. ([URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/revised-and-rebalanced-dragons-for-1e-ad-d.580811/']Thread here.[/URL]) But I have on several occasions tried to run 1e AD&D in the years since then, and it's just too painful of an experience for me as a DM to try to run an exceptions based system where nothing is codified and everything depends on rulings. The cognitive burden of running a OSR style game is for me much too high compared to running more modern systems. The mental stress I'm under to try to be fair and consistent and keep the game pacing going while running 1e AD&D or an old school inspired game is just more than I enjoy these days. I'm pretty sure back in the day I had the same problems, because I can remember being unhappy with various aspects of the system, it's just I didn't have good alternatives then. What I think you'll find is that the game works OK when it sticks to the kick the doors down cycle, but as soon as you start experimenting with more imaginative games that require more interaction it gets to be a bog. Some modern OSR's clean up some of the rules for you to make common tasks like surprise and initiative easier to handle, but I've yet to see an OSR that addresses the really deep problems in the rules. So while certain styles of DMs will probably be OK running and OSR and may even favor it, if you find you are the sort of GM that really values your referee hat and doesn't like to just decide everything by fiat in accordance to what you think is 'good for the game' and if you really value protagonizing the players without recourse to heavy illusionism, then I suspect you are going to run into lots of problems with OSR rules sets. The hold out the idea that they are actually simpler to run than modern games, but in practice I find them much more complex. Rulings are rules. They are just rules you have to make up and remember. If designing a game as you go is something you find easier than running one, then chances are your motives aren't what you think they are. [/QUOTE]
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