What's one thing that didn't actually exist in Old School D&D, that came up sometime after 1988 or so, that you do add or could see yourself adding to your old school play?

And just because I think otherwise it'd be the most common answer, "ascending AC" doesn't count.

RPGPundit

Drama points, usuable for a bonus to a roll or limited player driven dramatic editing. They were around before 1988, but I like the idea that drama itself can have power in an RPG.

Dragonborn.

Honestly?  I can't think of a single damn thing.

Quote from: RPGPundit;580590What's one thing that didn't actually exist in Old School D&D, that came up sometime after 1988 or so, that you do add or could see yourself adding to your old school play?

And just because I think otherwise it'd be the most common answer, "ascending AC" doesn't count.

RPGPundit

2nd edition's rules for unarmed hand-to-hand fighting weren't elaborate, but I liked them alot. That little chart that determined whether a character landed a haymaker, uppercut, etc. added a surprising amount of flavour. I don't know exactly how that compared to 1E rules, or if that was something unique to 2E, but I'd definitely use that.

I liked th optional "weapons groups" specialization rules from the (IIRC) Fighter's Handbook as well.

I've yet to come across any edition of D&D that's done Bards to my satisfaction, but 2e's were better than most.

Oh, and THAC0. I couldn't imagine playing D&D without THAC0.

As for later editions, well, I'd probably use the Saving Rolls from 3rd edition. I can't think of anything else.

All races can be all classes.  Adjust humanity so that they have a bonus of some kind similar to any other race (so they don't become a defunct option on a world of bonus-enabled demihumans).  I think a +1 to two non-Prime scores is a good bonus personally while not being strictly overpowering.

Also, the 'athletic' description of halflings instead of the 'fat hobbit' description.  But I've already done that.

I really like the HP/Vitality point mechanic featured in both Star Wars and Spycraft, and believe it could be very useful to enhance playing a cinematic style of old school games.

Plastic prepainted miniatures, though I wouldn't use them solely, and do not, as a matter of fact.

I like the 4e cosmology. Just substitute the stupid names for proper mythic stuff (e.g. Feywild for Arcadia, Shadowfell for Sheol, etc.) and, for a little science fantasy flavor, maybe even reskin them as different planets rather than different layers of reality (Arcadia the once-idyllic homeland of the elf-folk, from which they were expelled by the fomorians; Sheol just a cold, dark planet ruled by the cruel Empire of Shadar Kai, who are to humans as drow are to elves and duergar to dwarves).

I also wish I could sit down and make up TSR-era D&D versions of the swordmage (not just a fighter/mage a la the old Elf racial class), warlock (maybe using the sha'ir class from Al-Qadim, only using demons instead of genies) and warlord (the Castles & Crusades Knight is sort of halfway there).

The basic d20 rules framework. Already done.

I added Panache points to my Flashing Blades campaign - you earn them for doing swashbucklery stuff and spend them to improve your chance at skill checks, including combat rolls.

That's about as new school as I get.

The concept of passive perception. Active isn't an issue. If a players says he is paying attention to something then he can generally see/hear it. A fair determination of what a character picks up on in a peripheral sense is a nice addition to the game.

I'm thinking of adding perception to my OD&D game. It will be INT+WIS/2.

My plan is to keep the scores hidden behind the screen. The DM will make all the perception checks and the players won't even know that they HAVE a perception score. This will avoid the whole party going into hyper-vigilant mode whenever a perception check is called for.

From 2e:
Schools of Magic for mages and clerics (especially as revised in PO: Spells & Magic).
Thieves getting to choose their thief skill allocations.
The Class Design rules in the DMG.
Cantrips/Orisons.


From 3e:
Ascending AC.
The Fortitude/Reflex/Will saves.

From 4e:
Mages having magic missile "lite" as a free spell, so they don't have to run around with crossbows.

"Unnnamed Characters" (or "minions" as they call them in DnD4) for big-ass battles.

Pre-painted miniatures. I supose I was always using them, in that I would often use toys, rubber giant bugs, dollar-store dinoasaurs, etc.

I already toss out poker chips as a kind of "Hero points" (Blue chip lets you roll a d24, Red chip lets you roll a d30).

Quote from: Melan;580621The basic d20 rules framework. Already done.

I second this. Particularly for Ascending AC, handling customized class features (Feats), and multi-class. But like Melan said greatly simplified.