I've already told my players that if they don't have ready access to the AD&D 1e books, they can go with OSRIC. Me, I've started the reread of AD&D 1e's Player's Handbook to get my mind in the right gear, but I'm starting to wonder if I still have the reader's ear for Gygaxian prose.
I'm actually afraid I may have lost my taste for Gygax's words. Not his thoughts, rules, games and so one, but the actual presentation.
This pains me not a little. I would read and reread the holy trilogy of AD&D night after night in bed when I was younger. Amazingly, even with that, I was able to pointedly ignore things like weapon speed, as it made no sense to my teenage mind as presented - even then I couldn't wrap my head around Gary's presentation of it, but I grocked the rest and had it pretty well memorized.
Now? It's still in my gaming genes. It feels like riding a bike, but the Gygaxian prose is making the bike path all bumpy and windy and, to tell the truth, not user friendly. Ah, to be a teen again.
So, my intention was to reread the original, EGG rules, but I think instead I'm going for the unofficial rewrite - OSRIC 2.2. I'm sure I'll flip through the original trilogy, especially the DMG, as there is some awesome Gygaxian advice that I'd be a fool not to reread after all these years. Otherwise, I'm going to be reading OSRIC.
It saddens me to realize my limitations.
ReplyDeleteEverything is there in OSRIC and I went through every word of it, but the pure magic is stronger in the original books. If you pick them up and put your ear to them you can hear the bells ringing.
If the prose no longer works for you, than it's good that OSRIC is there as an alternative; that said, I still prefer the original books, by far. I'm all for whatever helps people play 1E, and publish for 1E.
ReplyDeleteWhile the text can be confusing, he did provide examples of combat in both the DMG and PHB.
ReplyDeleteDo you actually understand and use round segments?
ReplyDelete@Andrew - I used to use them back in the day until we dropped it shortly before moving on to 2e.
ReplyDeleteI'm on the fence about using them and spell casting times.
I may just simplify things by deceasing spell casting time across the board by 2 segments, making most lower level spells close to instantaneous in casting. Low level casters have enough issues ;)
I didn't get the sense that there was enough clarity around round segments to use them evenly and fairly. Even the examples tended to leave me with the feeling that a lot of it was sort of made up as you go along. Do you know of a good succinct explanation for how segments are supposed to work?
ReplyDeleteI was leafing through the PHB the other day; I always see things I have not focused on before. Like druid components; if the druid did not personally harvest the mistletoe on one night in the year, then the efficacy of casting drops to 75%. If using oak leaves, down to 50%. Is that the sort of thing that druid players actually had to put up with? The irreplaceable nature of a single kind of personally harvested component on one night a year?
I think that in the rare case someone plays a druid that gets handwaved, but I'm curious if that restriction has added fun to anyone's game.