I wouldn't change a thing.

I've found over time that focusing on what might have been to be self destructive and prevents us from enjoying what we have.  Plus I also believe that life is so complex that just changing one thing wouldn't result in what you wanted.

We have the lifetime we have...let's be happy with that.

Quote from: YourSwordisMine;747631That I've never gotten to play

Dude, I was running and you were invited.

Could use some more details on magic item creation.

However I agree with Old Geezer and Benoist. I would have Don Kaye back.

Quote from: Exploderwizard;747713Dude, I was running and you were invited.

I know! But stuff kept happening...

Quote from: estar;747721Could use some more details on magic item creation.

If every magic item had been described as the Artifacts & Wondrous items were, in the 1eDMG, and the monsters were all described in 'unique' format then I dream that we would still be in the middle of that fabulous 70's weirdness.

First off, I'm confused by the OP. I just re-read OD&D yesterday and there are definitely morale rules in the first book!


Anyway, I think the biggest thing I would change if I had a time machine and the psychic ability to control the minds of game designers would be the way the 'alternate combat system' works. If you ever play OD&D using Chainmail combat, you will find that fighting men become very powerful as an offensive force in combat within a few levels. By level 4 or 5 they are mowing down common foes and can stand up to powerful beasts. Keep exactly the same character with exactly the same stats, HP and equipment but switch to the 'alternate combat system' (d20 vs. AC, etc.), and your fighter is not significantly better at delivering attacks than he or she would be as a magic user or cleric, and has barely advanced from the start of play. It is kind of shocking when you crunch a few numbers in your head (or better yet play Chainmail!). If I had to guess I would say it wasn't totally intentional - they just wanted something that ran faster and didn't require a copy of Chainmail and this is what they came up with. You could argue that a huge driver of the re-engineering of the game in 3E and 4E was an attempt to finally restore the original dynamic that a moderate-level warrior in Chainmail is actually really tough.

It's 1967, and instead of Siege of Bodenburg, somebody puts a copy of Breitenfeld in Gary Gygax's hands, and rather than writing a medieval wargame, Mr Gygax would develop a set of English Civil War or Thirty Years War rules that Dave Arneson would tap to create the first roleplaying game, Swashbucklers & Sorcerers.

Quote from: Black Vulmea;747763It's 1967, and instead of Siege of Bodenburg, somebody puts a copy of Breitenfeld in Gary Gygax's hands, and rather than writing a medieval wargame, Mr Gygax would develop a set of English Civil War or Thirty Years War rules that Dave Arneson would tap to create the first roleplaying game, Swashbucklers & Sorcerers.

Less Three Hearts and Three Lions and more A Midsummer's Tempest as the primary influence for D&D, then?

That Arneson and Gygax had a falling out.

No D&D/AD&D schism, and maybe more whacky, Blackmoor/First Fantasy Campaign influence in the game.

I can't complain about OD&D. It's like complaining about Flash Gordon movies in the 1930s or complaining about Ultima I. OD&D was carving new ground and gets a pass on the woulda-coulda-shoulda.

However, morale is something that should be in all editions. I built it into 4e and the combat works so much better for it.

Quote from: Old Geezer;747616I regret Don Kaye dying in 1975.

He was the only person who could tell Gary to pack it up his ass and make Gary listen.  The history of TSR would have turned out vastly different.

Is this discussed in your book?

If not, time for another chapter! I've heard only rumors of Don Kaye so it would be interesting to hear real details and thoughts.

Quote from: Spinachcat;747935I can't complain about OD&D. It's like complaining about Flash Gordon movies in the 1930s or complaining about Ultima I. OD&D was carving new ground and gets a pass on the woulda-coulda-shoulda.

However, morale is something that should be in all editions. I built it into 4e and the combat works so much better for it.

Well, it's mentioned in OD&D; for instance, it says that Goblins get -1 on morale in bright sunlight.  However, it doesn't explain what that MEANS.  If you know CHAINMAIL backwards and forwards, it's obvious.

I find it... ironic, perhaps, or something... that so much pouring over has been done over D&D, and so much micro-examination of some things, but an amazing number of people never even wondered what "morale" meant.

I like to believe that if Gary knew that so many non-wargamers would play D&D, he would have incorporated the rules into OD&D and removed references to chainmail, making OD&D a complete standalone game

Quote from: thedungeondelver;747848Less Three Hearts and Three Lions and more A Midsummer's Tempest as the primary influence for D&D, then?

:hatsoff:

Quote from: Sacrosanct;747964I like to believe that if Gary knew that so many non-wargamers would play D&D, he would have incorporated the rules into OD&D and removed references to chainmail, making OD&D a complete standalone game

I think that's "on the nosey," as Eyegor said.

Gary and Don printed 1000 copies of OD&D in the first printing.  We thought they were insanely optimistic to print that many.

Do you think he would have just dropped Chainmail all together and moved on, or tried to integrate it as the foundation of the core rules?