Ahhh, such great memories! AD&D was the version I grew up playing and just seeing the cover art of the 4 main AD&D books makes me happy. I think that edition had the best artwork of any D&D edition before or after, thanks!
Used to play with a group of friends in high school in the late 80s. I was less experienced and knowledgable than they were but learned a lot. Read the dragonlance and shannara books at this time as well. Now my kids got me getting back into d&d! Was excited to find your channel. Keep up the great work 👍
That's great! I stopped playing for years till my son got me back into it as well. It's a lot of fun to see so many stories like ours, and generations keeping this game and the connection to each other alive!
@DLSaga they definitely are for sure great starting points, in my opinion, as well. I think people get hung up on the "lack of rules" or the various charts when looking any my older systems and just forget that it's about the story and fun not about the rules and who "wins and loses" at the table. As a wise man, once said, it's about the journey, not the destination.
I only played some of the AD&D computer titles from SSI as a kid, such as Champions, Death Knights and Dark Queen Of Krynn as well as Forgotten Realms like Pools Of Radiance. That was indeed my introduction to these worlds and the reason I picked up the Dragonlance Chronicles book series from a book store as a young teenager.
I'm looking forward to this series exploring AD&D further. Because my friends and brother played fast and loose with the rules in the 80s, I'm curious to know how the death of characters were supposed to be handled in the AD&D rules. Was there a negative HP level where you just couldn't come back from? How often could you be resurrected if the party has access to a high level cleric? Any lingering effects thereafter? If you're able to include some info on that in a future video, that would be awesome. Otherwise I'll just find out when my next Kender character, in a future AD&D game with you, decides to find out what's inside a dragon's mouth! 😂
Ooooo.... looking forward to your coverage, sir! 😎🤓👊 I've played AD&D since 1979 and ran it, followed by BECMI and B/X, then RC, then 2nd edition up until 2003! Picked it all back up in 2019 and am still playing with my family! Also, I'd love to hear your advice along the way as to how you might implement and encourage modern 5e players to play like AD&D players like we did. Thnx!
I played all the time growing up, and I will be playing again on Tuesdays thanks to The Dungeon Delver. It's the version of D&D I taught my kids too. I really appreciate this video, and I hope more new players will try AD&D.
I played Basic way back in 2005 when my friend got a hold of a Red Box set from a friend of his. I enjoyed the hell out of it and had a great time with it and always wanted to play it again. Fast forward to now, I have 1st and second edition as well Old School Essentials Basic/Advanced books. I've been running 5th edition for going on ten years now and delving into ADnD 1e, I find it very flexible, Old School Essentials helps it be flexible as well where you can possibly add things from previous editions and see if they fit or not. 2e I find is a little more stiffer and can be home-ruled into what you want it to do, but doesn't have the flexibility of 1e
Original AD&D. With a really stressful childhood, AD&D saved my sanity. Vault of the Drow, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, Against the Giants and so on. ❤
I've been an AD&D enthusiast since 1988 when I started playing. I'm currently in the process of inventorying ALL of my books and accessories. It's clear I'm going to need a dedicated space with LOTS of shelving to house my lifelong love affair 😁
I am runnin an OD&D campaign on Greyhawk atm, and it has been a while when I DMed AD&D. I think this game is great and inspires inspiration, even though my players (4 of whom are only 1/2 as old as I am...) like the modern editions better. I'd like to run a DL campaign again, my last campaign on this setting was over 25 years ago...
While I played a lot of AD&D, I preferred AD&D 2nd Edition. The rules were cleaner and clearer, not confused by a lot high-Gygaxian verbage that led to numerous rules arguments. 2nd Edition had a lot of optional rules (non-weapon proficiencies being one of them). The game ran perfectly well without any of these options, but players and DMs liked them. I am still running my 2nd Edition campaign. Great times!
I played AD&D and later D&D basic. Both good systems in the day. It is certainly clear that the game was good but it was also a bit clunky. And it was harder than current systems. However what it lacked in simplicity and consistency it more then made up for with completeness and functionality. The fact that it was put together in bits meant you could add non-weapon proficiencies when it was needed as an option and those that did not want to use it could easily ignore it while losing nothing.
I think the last time I really played a proper 1st Edition AD&D game was about 10-ish years ago, and while it was enjoyable because of the friends I played the game with, it still reminded me a lot of why I preferred games like 3.5/Pathfinder, and eventually after that, 5th edition.
AD&D wasn’t difficult to play at all. The only thing that was confusing to me was Psionic, which i rarely used anyway unless Mindflayers were involved.
As someone who has played only 5e at the moment (without skill tho, I 100% agree that they are not necessary), but gave a look at both 1e and 2e, I will say I find it "complicated", thought something tells me it's not the right word for how it feels. I think I understand how you feel about it, because that's what happens to me with warhammer fantasy battle. I don't find it more complex than his brothers, but I keep hearing that it was "too complex". It may be dependent to the age to which someone approaches it too, when you're younger you tend to learn things quickly, no matter how complex they are, if you like it. Looking forward to this series, even if only to have a better comprehension of ad&d Also I don't know if you already knew about it, but there's a podcast called "when we were wizards" about the story of d&d, gygax and tsr, with lots of interview.
@DLSaga Of course. We can start with Svirfneblin able to summon Earth Elementals, the Drow as a playable race (with all their incredible abilities), Druegar, maxing out levels for drmi-human characters. The expansion of classes were overpowered and not necessary. The binding of the first first and second run were missing the quality of the previous books (leading to many pages falling out). Did I buy it? Of course, it was AD&D, I couldn't get enough of it. You may hear of the cool interior art, but most of it came from the modules (mostly the S series). A few original pieces, but the feel of the book was different to the others (those little funny cartoons or inspirational art pieces, weren't there). Just to name a few things.
@DLSaga I only recently found your channel. I do play the modern game, but I prefer AD&D 1st edition. I have my own TH-cam channel (a little self-promotion).
@@TheEldarGuy I just subbed. You have some great old school content on there. I made a how to play WeG Star Wars rpg on my SW channel. It’s a fun game. I even have actual plays of it.
You seem to have missed the 4th and probably most important reason to create AD&D: to cut Dave Arneson out of royalties. You touch on the lawsuits and the division between the co-creators, but don't seem to list money as a motivating factor. Frankly, I think it's hard to argue that it WASN'T a factor.
@DLSaga Love this. I have hundreds of D&D pdfs from O,B,A,A2,3/3.5 if anyone would like them they are welcome to reach out to me and I'll email what I can.
do a vid about steel coins...steel coins grind my gears. my head-canon is that its a palanthus trading token, stainless, of a specific process and hard to make, and its value is based on palanthus requiring all trade in the city to utilize these coins. as it would seem palanthus is the largest or best sea-trade hub or economic market, and presumably most anything is available there, the steel coin tokens would be valuable to most anyone anywhere as they are ultimately redeemable in those rich and well stocked markets...or something.
Good stuff. I think the reason people find AD&D tricky to learn is that they get psyched out by the big manuals with their small text and unusual vocabulary. They think the order of operations is: 1. Read, understand, and memorize all this stuff. 2. Start playing and have fun. But really what we all did back in the day was excitedly skim just enough to stumble through our earliest adventures getting most things "wrong" and still having the time of our lives regardless. It isn't rocket science, nor is there going to be a test, so don't sweat the small stuff. System mastery comes much later and is largely overrated, as the experience is none the worse for that delay.
"It is inherently limiting, by showcasing what you can do, and highlighting what you can't." The more times I hear this statement, or variations on it, the more I've realized it's utter bullshit. 🙄
They are limiting. When you define the capabilities of the character, it can be seen that the character fits within certain boundaries. The point is: A 1st level Magic-user is useless outside the academic world. Someone cloistered in study, may be able to light a torch, use a lamp, and such. When it comes to camping or surviving outdoors, no way. Their field is magic. The hapless Magic-user works in a party, which includes Ranger. By 3rd level or so, even the Magic-user will be able to set up a basic camp and may even understand how to put some shelter together. In a similar vein, a character was a sailor on a fishing boat, another is an ex-farmer, and so on. These all come with skills and experiences that are not defined by specific rules, but by character building. A character that has grown up inside a city, and is a member of the Thieves Guild, only ever worked in a city... can that character swim? Tread water? Or neither? When you start to write down lists of skills, you begin to limit the character unnecessarily. It's not only skills, spells are also only ever thought of in one way, because they were written with one point of view. In one of my games, the Cleric used Chant to improve the chances for finding a secret door. Bless, Chant, and Prayer are all spells that have more applications than their descriptions.
The only thing that irks me about 1st edition AD&D is that I'll hear the OSR bros thru their nostalgia filter tell us; 'Jim Ward took the satanism out of D&D when he allowed Tracy and his Mormon values come into the hobby..(i am paraphrasing so to NOT hurt your brain with this tripe we've all heard a hundred times outta this crowd- AD&D or D&D was NEVER about Satanism, if you can call the mostly homebrew art copied from comic books (even by 2nd edition TSR stold a still from Red Sonja and put it in the PHB; go look)- even remotely enticing so much as looking like someone's high school notebook, seriously i knew guys in grade school that drew better. If anyone was to blame for the Satanic panic -( i often thought the Blume Brothers may have put it in that direction) consumer-wise DragonLance was TSR's attempt to 'clean up AD&D', they spent A LOT of money. The best thing to come out of 1980's TSR was DragonLance.
I have to agree with much of your take! A lot of companies reacted to the Satanic Panic when they really shouldn't have. It only made it all more intriguing.
i waked away after 3rd. editions and will never play new versions from hasbro or wizard of the woke coast the right i gate keep my game i still have most of my 1ft. and 2nd edition stuff
Thank you for watching today's How to Play AD&D episode. What do you think of AD&D? Leave a comment below!
Ahhh, such great memories! AD&D was the version I grew up playing and just seeing the cover art of the 4 main AD&D books makes me happy. I think that edition had the best artwork of any D&D edition before or after, thanks!
Definitely!
Used to play with a group of friends in high school in the late 80s. I was less experienced and knowledgable than they were but learned a lot. Read the dragonlance and shannara books at this time as well. Now my kids got me getting back into d&d! Was excited to find your channel. Keep up the great work 👍
That's great! I stopped playing for years till my son got me back into it as well. It's a lot of fun to see so many stories like ours, and generations keeping this game and the connection to each other alive!
AD&D 1e is my favorite edition, it was also my first rpg in 2014 while in high school. such a great fun time for me.
Wow, that's great! I think it and OD&D are great entry points into TTPRG's.
@DLSaga they definitely are for sure great starting points, in my opinion, as well. I think people get hung up on the "lack of rules" or the various charts when looking any my older systems and just forget that it's about the story and fun not about the rules and who "wins and loses" at the table.
As a wise man, once said, it's about the journey, not the destination.
I only played some of the AD&D computer titles from SSI as a kid, such as Champions, Death Knights and Dark Queen Of Krynn as well as Forgotten Realms like Pools Of Radiance. That was indeed my introduction to these worlds and the reason I picked up the Dragonlance Chronicles book series from a book store as a young teenager.
That's great, I have very fond memories of playing those games!
I'm looking forward to this series exploring AD&D further. Because my friends and brother played fast and loose with the rules in the 80s, I'm curious to know how the death of characters were supposed to be handled in the AD&D rules. Was there a negative HP level where you just couldn't come back from? How often could you be resurrected if the party has access to a high level cleric? Any lingering effects thereafter? If you're able to include some info on that in a future video, that would be awesome. Otherwise I'll just find out when my next Kender character, in a future AD&D game with you, decides to find out what's inside a dragon's mouth! 😂
Hehe I will definitely be covering that.
Ooooo.... looking forward to your coverage, sir! 😎🤓👊 I've played AD&D since 1979 and ran it, followed by BECMI and B/X, then RC, then 2nd edition up until 2003! Picked it all back up in 2019 and am still playing with my family!
Also, I'd love to hear your advice along the way as to how you might implement and encourage modern 5e players to play like AD&D players like we did. Thnx!
I hope to showcase how simple it actually is, but as robust as you may want a TTRPG.
I played all the time growing up, and I will be playing again on Tuesdays thanks to The Dungeon Delver. It's the version of D&D I taught my kids too. I really appreciate this video, and I hope more new players will try AD&D.
Thank you for sharing your experience!
TSR for life!!
Well, if they managed their projects better….
I played Basic way back in 2005 when my friend got a hold of a Red Box set from a friend of his. I enjoyed the hell out of it and had a great time with it and always wanted to play it again. Fast forward to now, I have 1st and second edition as well Old School Essentials Basic/Advanced books. I've been running 5th edition for going on ten years now and delving into ADnD 1e, I find it very flexible, Old School Essentials helps it be flexible as well where you can possibly add things from previous editions and see if they fit or not. 2e I find is a little more stiffer and can be home-ruled into what you want it to do, but doesn't have the flexibility of 1e
Thank you for sharing your experience!
Original AD&D. With a really stressful childhood, AD&D saved my sanity.
Vault of the Drow, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, Against the Giants and so on. ❤
That’s great! I loved focusing on the game instead of the world at times.
I've been an AD&D enthusiast since 1988 when I started playing. I'm currently in the process of inventorying ALL of my books and accessories. It's clear I'm going to need a dedicated space with LOTS of shelving to house my lifelong love affair 😁
That’s great!
I am runnin an OD&D campaign on Greyhawk atm, and it has been a while when I DMed AD&D. I think this game is great and inspires inspiration, even though my players (4 of whom are only 1/2 as old as I am...) like the modern editions better. I'd like to run a DL campaign again, my last campaign on this setting was over 25 years ago...
Whoa, I’d say you’re due :)
Looking forward to this series :)
Thank you for watching
While I played a lot of AD&D, I preferred AD&D 2nd Edition. The rules were cleaner and clearer, not confused by a lot high-Gygaxian verbage that led to numerous rules arguments. 2nd Edition had a lot of optional rules (non-weapon proficiencies being one of them). The game ran perfectly well without any of these options, but players and DMs liked them. I am still running my 2nd Edition campaign. Great times!
That’s awesome! I played a lot of 2e for years.
I played AD&D and later D&D basic. Both good systems in the day. It is certainly clear that the game was good but it was also a bit clunky. And it was harder than current systems. However what it lacked in simplicity and consistency it more then made up for with completeness and functionality. The fact that it was put together in bits meant you could add non-weapon proficiencies when it was needed as an option and those that did not want to use it could easily ignore it while losing nothing.
It did feel like every table played it slightly differently lol
Did you play Hybrid D&D/AD&D too? I started using the OD&D monsters because I was unable to find the AD&D monster manual!
Absolutely! I used the red box, and AD&D dmg all while playing 2e for reference lol
meny. meny years, but thinking of running a Dark Sun campagin, soon online with my mates/group weve been playing since i was in my 20's, im now 53!
Awesome! Ive never played a dark sun game. I was always kinda intimidated by the setting to run one too.
I think the last time I really played a proper 1st Edition AD&D game was about 10-ish years ago, and while it was enjoyable because of the friends I played the game with, it still reminded me a lot of why I preferred games like 3.5/Pathfinder, and eventually after that, 5th edition.
Hehe no shame there.
If you're gonna promote AD&D, I have to subscribe. Game on!
Welcome!
AD&D wasn’t difficult to play at all. The only thing that was confusing to me was Psionic, which i rarely used anyway unless Mindflayers were involved.
As a fan of Psionics, I am going to make a video explaining it all. It's crazy cool that it was added in the Players Handbook.
As someone who has played only 5e at the moment (without skill tho, I 100% agree that they are not necessary), but gave a look at both 1e and 2e, I will say I find it "complicated", thought something tells me it's not the right word for how it feels.
I think I understand how you feel about it, because that's what happens to me with warhammer fantasy battle. I don't find it more complex than his brothers, but I keep hearing that it was "too complex". It may be dependent to the age to which someone approaches it too, when you're younger you tend to learn things quickly, no matter how complex they are, if you like it.
Looking forward to this series, even if only to have a better comprehension of ad&d
Also I don't know if you already knew about it, but there's a podcast called "when we were wizards" about the story of d&d, gygax and tsr, with lots of interview.
As the goal of the series is to teach how to play AD&D, I hoe you are able to get something out of it and give the edition a shot.
I started playing AD&D when I was 9 years old. That's how complicated it is.
I only use reference materials pre-1985. I don't use The Book That Shall Not Be Named.
Wow I had no idea it was controversial, may I ask why?
@DLSaga Of course. We can start with Svirfneblin able to summon Earth Elementals, the Drow as a playable race (with all their incredible abilities), Druegar, maxing out levels for drmi-human characters.
The expansion of classes were overpowered and not necessary.
The binding of the first first and second run were missing the quality of the previous books (leading to many pages falling out).
Did I buy it? Of course, it was AD&D, I couldn't get enough of it. You may hear of the cool interior art, but most of it came from the modules (mostly the S series). A few original pieces, but the feel of the book was different to the others (those little funny cartoons or inspirational art pieces, weren't there).
Just to name a few things.
@@TheEldarGuy Thank you for the clarification! I definitely see your point. I didn't know that about the art too... strange.
@DLSaga I only recently found your channel. I do play the modern game, but I prefer AD&D 1st edition.
I have my own TH-cam channel (a little self-promotion).
@@TheEldarGuy I just subbed. You have some great old school content on there. I made a how to play WeG Star Wars rpg on my SW channel. It’s a fun game. I even have actual plays of it.
You seem to have missed the 4th and probably most important reason to create AD&D: to cut Dave Arneson out of royalties. You touch on the lawsuits and the division between the co-creators, but don't seem to list money as a motivating factor. Frankly, I think it's hard to argue that it WASN'T a factor.
I can’t disagree. I was trying to focus on the edition over the pair’s complex relationship.
@DLSaga Love this. I have hundreds of D&D pdfs from O,B,A,A2,3/3.5 if anyone would like them they are welcome to reach out to me and I'll email what I can.
That’s very generous of you!
do a vid about steel coins...steel coins grind my gears. my head-canon is that its a palanthus trading token, stainless, of a specific process and hard to make, and its value is based on palanthus requiring all trade in the city to utilize these coins. as it would seem palanthus is the largest or best sea-trade hub or economic market, and presumably most anything is available there, the steel coin tokens would be valuable to most anyone anywhere as they are ultimately redeemable in those rich and well stocked markets...or something.
That’s a good idea!
Good stuff. I think the reason people find AD&D tricky to learn is that they get psyched out by the big manuals with their small text and unusual vocabulary. They think the order of operations is: 1. Read, understand, and memorize all this stuff. 2. Start playing and have fun. But really what we all did back in the day was excitedly skim just enough to stumble through our earliest adventures getting most things "wrong" and still having the time of our lives regardless. It isn't rocket science, nor is there going to be a test, so don't sweat the small stuff. System mastery comes much later and is largely overrated, as the experience is none the worse for that delay.
Very well put! This was my experience too.
"It is inherently limiting, by showcasing what you can do, and highlighting what you can't."
The more times I hear this statement, or variations on it, the more I've realized it's utter bullshit. 🙄
There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with other perspectives.
They are limiting. When you define the capabilities of the character, it can be seen that the character fits within certain boundaries.
The point is: A 1st level Magic-user is useless outside the academic world. Someone cloistered in study, may be able to light a torch, use a lamp, and such. When it comes to camping or surviving outdoors, no way. Their field is magic.
The hapless Magic-user works in a party, which includes Ranger.
By 3rd level or so, even the Magic-user will be able to set up a basic camp and may even understand how to put some shelter together.
In a similar vein, a character was a sailor on a fishing boat, another is an ex-farmer, and so on. These all come with skills and experiences that are not defined by specific rules, but by character building.
A character that has grown up inside a city, and is a member of the Thieves Guild, only ever worked in a city... can that character swim? Tread water? Or neither?
When you start to write down lists of skills, you begin to limit the character unnecessarily.
It's not only skills, spells are also only ever thought of in one way, because they were written with one point of view.
In one of my games, the Cleric used Chant to improve the chances for finding a secret door. Bless, Chant, and Prayer are all spells that have more applications than their descriptions.
Skills ruined the Ranger class. Change my mind.
Lol I can see that argument…
The only thing that irks me about 1st edition AD&D is that I'll hear the OSR bros thru their nostalgia filter tell us; 'Jim Ward took the satanism out of D&D when he allowed Tracy and his Mormon values come into the hobby..(i am paraphrasing so to NOT hurt your brain with this tripe we've all heard a hundred times outta this crowd- AD&D or D&D was NEVER about Satanism, if you can call the mostly homebrew art copied from comic books (even by 2nd edition TSR stold a still from Red Sonja and put it in the PHB; go look)- even remotely enticing so much as looking like someone's high school notebook, seriously i knew guys in grade school that drew better. If anyone was to blame for the Satanic panic -( i often thought the Blume Brothers may have put it in that direction) consumer-wise DragonLance was TSR's attempt to 'clean up AD&D', they spent A LOT of money. The best thing to come out of 1980's TSR was DragonLance.
I have to agree with much of your take! A lot of companies reacted to the Satanic Panic when they really shouldn't have. It only made it all more intriguing.
i waked away after 3rd. editions and will never play new versions from hasbro or wizard of the woke coast the right i gate keep my game i still have most of my 1ft. and 2nd edition stuff
You and me both. I’m with ya all the way.
There is nothing wrong with that!