Back in the Day: Playing The Never Used Rules

   As most everyone who finds this obscure blog knows I started playing OD&D in 1977 and switched to AD&D 1e in 1979 and have been playing 1e ever since. In August of 2022 my 1e campaign, still running, turns 43 years old.

  Online I see a lot of statements that are variations of, 'I am certain that no one ever used [AD&D rule X]', usually met with choruses of approval. So let me tell you the rules I used then and now!

Grappling, Pummeling, and Overbearing:  Always used them. As a matter of fact, overbearing was a critical element of the fight in Eagle Valley. The base numbers are super-simple to pre-calculate and if you understand the rules it is as fast as any other combat.

Encumbrance, Rations, Light Source Duration: Not only have I always used these rules, they are critical to the game!

Maximum Level of Spell Knowable, Maximum Spells Knowable per Level, Spell Components, Chance to Learn, etc.: These rules are very important to make magic-users work right and I have always used them.

Armor Type Adjustments, Weapon Speed, Area Needed by Weapon: Always used them as one of my players pointed out. If used it means more weapons than you think are great weapons.

Maintenance Costs, Training Costs, Training Time, and Modifying Training Time: I have always used them, although I did adjust maintenance and training costs for some classes, like monk.

Psionics: Always used them, although the tiny handful of PCs with psionics sometimes wish they didn't have them.

Reaction, Morale, and Loyalty Checks: Like Grappling, etc., the modifiers are easily pre-calculated and with practice the use of these rules is very fast and smooth.

Race and Sex based limits to Attributes, Classes, and Levels: Again, always used them, still use them with some modifications. For example, very recently a half-elven ranger in Seaward went to 7th level because the character had earned 5 times the normal amount of experience to go from 6th to 7th.

Initiative, Combat Sequence, and Segments: By 1982 I began experimenting with initiative rules and went through at least 5 major variations of initiative by 1988 until I settled on one that is very close to the rules in the book with a few exceptions. So I have played by the book, otherwise, and am now virtually by the book. I have always preferred segments and my players will tell you I 'count segments' as a way to manage and speed up combat.

I probably missed a few, so let me know what other rules you have questions about.

And I was never alone! I have many friends from then and now that used/use these rules!

My Clone Book, Old School by Rick: Crusaders & Catacombs

  As some may know this year my primary AD&D 1e campaign turns 40 years old. After years of cajoling by players and family about 4 months ago I started making my own OSR/Clone rules book to incorporate all the various rules and rules sets we have been using.

  I have a full-time contract position AND run my own small business with 3 employees AND have 5 kids, so it is moving along faster than anyone could expect! But people are asking questions and after the excellent idea of 'blog about it!' here I am.

What Do You Mean, 'What Is It For?'?!

  Ah, the internet, where you can argue over all sorts of things. The most recent internet argument I got into was with someone explaining that monsters with a no-save level drain are badwrong and there is no reason to have them other than,

  "...imbecilic blind worship of the past..."

  Uh-huh.
  Of course, I had already pointed out some reason for having such monsters in your game, to wit;

• Instilling terror in the players
• Driving quests for spells, etc. to get Restoration
• To 'throttle' level progression without nerfing XP/raising the bar or railroading players

  Now, I guess I might have just tossed in a link to a past article of mine, but there is that to say and more, so here we go.

What Do You Mean, 'What Is It For?'?!

  Ah, the internet, where you can argue over all sorts of things. The most recent internet argument I got into was with someone explaining that monsters with a no-save level drain are badwrong and there is no reason to have them other than,

  "...imbecilic blind worship of the past..."

  Uh-huh.
  Of course, I had already pointed out some reason for having such monsters in your game, to wit;

• Instilling terror in the players
• Driving quests for spells, etc. to get Restoration
• To 'throttle' level progression without nerfing XP/raising the bar or railroading players

  Now, I guess I might have just tossed in a link to a past article of mine, but there is that to say and more, so here we go.

Why the Heck is your 1st Level Wizard Just Standing Around?!

  Not too long ago someone I was discussing gaming with was very dismissive of 1e, 2e, OSRIC, S&W, etc. because low-level mages had so few spells and could not do damage in combat more than once. They felt that all the caster did was 'stand around' while important stuff (i.e., fighting) went on.

  I hesitate to write about how wrong this is for reasons related to length of post, breadth of topic, and losing my ever-lovin' mind to rage-induced psychosis. Mainly because there is a lot more to RPGs than combat. But also because there is a lot more to combat than damage density AND mages are better at melee than you think.

Misunderstood and Improperly Played: Reaction and Morale Rolls

  I was reading a solid post by Trollish Delver, a blog I am sorry I just found, and it inspired me (thanks, Scott!) to write a new post in the Misunderstood and Improperly Played series, although I fear a better titled might be Forgotten About and Never Used.

  Scott makes some good points in his post which I will not sum up - go read his stuff! The link is in the first sentence and it is a great, quick read and you'll like his blog!

  When I have new players being introduced to the game I often use weak undead for the second or third encounter: everyone knows they should be destroyed, so no moral qualms, and there is a reason they fight to the death. But immediately after that? As soon as they get the upper hand I have monsters try to surrender.

  I also use the reaction roll. You do, too, right? I mean, here is the quote from the DMG,

  "Any intelligent creature which can be conversed with will react in some way to the character that is speaking Reaction is determined by rolling percentile dice, adjusting the score for charisma...."

  The section on generating NPCs has a chart showing how their various personality traits affect their reaction rolls. And the section on random encounters also discusses reaction rolls (which I will cover later).
  In short, 1e assumes the DM rolls reaction checks with every encounter he did not explicitly set a reaction for. Walking through the briars and encounter a few men? Roll a reaction. In a dungeon and burst in on a group of dwarves? Roll a reaction. Bump into an ogre? Roll a reaction. Cast a Speak with Animals and talk to a cow? Roll a reaction. Gnome is asking the badger for direction? Cast Speak with Dead?
  You get the idea.

A Little Love for AD&D 2e

  Moved to write by a recent Best Reads post, I am going to take the time to talk about AD&D 2e and why it is a damn fine game.

  Like a lot of players I grabbed the 2e books as soon as they came out. The art was good, they layout improved  in a number of ways, and the books were well-made.
  As for the rules?
  - The concept of changing from attack charts to THAC0 so players 'get the math' was a good idea, IMO, and I always loved watching the light dawn as someone realized how it worked and all that this implied ('I hit with a 14 but not a 13? Boom! I know it's armor class!').
  - Cleaning up the classes and moving them around a bit was interesting and mostly good. I remember having a lot of talks about assassins in particular ['they are just hired killers. Anyone can be an assassin' vs 'it is a specific class']. While I love the monk I know why having monks in the game is An Issue. The addition of the Bard as a class was interesting and got rid of the meta-issues of the 1e bard. Removing the cavalier and barbarian of the UA was a a solid move.
  - Specialist mages was very popular at the time and allowed a lot of people to add a lot of color and depth to a lot of campaigns. The additions from the Complete book and especially the further specialties of the Spells & Magic book made AD&D magic much, much more varied and erased any idea that all spellcasters are somehow the same!
  - The addition of clerical spheres and then kits radically transformed how clerics were seen, especially by the sorts of people that needed to read this. Add in the options from Spells & Magic and clerics really became radically different and much more flexible.
  - The ability of thieves to customize the advancement of their thief abilities is a HUGE difference and a very welcome change! As a friend of mine previously complained,

  "Oh, you have a Halfling thief with a 16 dexterity and the backstory that he grew up in a rural community,learning stealth in the fields and meadows as he hunted rabbits with his sling? Cool! Another player has a Halfling thief with a 16 dexterity and the backstory that he grew up an orphan in the slums of a major city picking pockets to scrounge enough to eat? Cool! Guess what? They have the exact same chance to pick a pocket!"

  Second edition fixed that -  you could finally have thieves that focused on just stealth or just traps - it was great!
  - Non-Weapon Proficiencies (also known as Skills) were a great addition to AD&D. A lot of DMs I knew had added them from the Survival Guides or (most often) from Oriental Adventures but having them in the core books and better integrated into adventures and supplements was a great add-on to the game.
  It also alleviated some of the weirdness that many players went through of 'No! ONLY rangers can track. At all. Ever.' Or 'Do you know how to make a spellbook? Uh....... No?' Suddenly there were mechanics for what your characters could do not directly related to their class in the core rules.
  - Making the most common house rules/omissions 'legal': How many DMs that aren't me ever enforced material components? Making them optional was just accepting general play. So was upping demi-human level limits and increasing the possible multi-class options.

  Let's face it, while you can borrow back and forth, AD&D 2e is a different game than AD&D 1e; and that is OK. But far too often I think 2e gets lost in the shuffle or dismissed. The reality is this:

AD&D 2nd Edition is a fun, playable game that is a great part of the D&D family.

  Maybe it's best feature is you can have two characters that are the same race, same class, same level, even the exact same stats, and yet have them be very different in abilities and roles because of the use of non-weapon proficiencies and kits.
  That is a great feature, isn't it?

  That is one of the reasons that my second-longest running campaign (almost 8 years!) is AD&D 2e with all the Skills & Powers books.

Rules I am Testing

These are three rules I have used, off and on, for 30 years, give or take, without ever adding them to The List.
  Opinions? 

Great Blow: A fighter (including barbarians, noblemen, paladins, rangers, and men-at-arms) may strike a Great Blow. This is a mighty swing/thrust/etc. meant to inflict maximum damage. A Great Blow must be announced before rolling to hit and it adds +1 to effective initiative; if successful the attack does maximum weapon damage. The target may negate the attack (i.e., avoid it altogether) by simply stepping back 3'; this can be announced after the to hit roll.

Full Defense: In combat it is assumed that fighters are taking risks while attempting to land their own blow. A fighter (including barbarians, noblemen, paladins, rangers, and men-at-arms) may fight in a purely defensive manner. This must be announced before initiative is rolled. A fighter in Full Defense cannot attack (including grappling or overbearing, missile weapons, use of magic items, etc.) during that round but gain +1 to A.C. for every two levels of experience (rounded up). This bonus only affects melee attacks. Sir Roland realizes that the assassin has a poisoned dagger! Knowing that his retainers will arrive in just another minute and cause the cowardly thug to flee, he switches to Full Defense; as a 7th level nobleman his A.C. improves by +4. Desperate Defense: Non-fighters, lacking the great skill of fighters, take many fewer risks in combat. But they, too, can strive to avoid being struck by mounting a

Desperate Defense: This must be announced before initiative. A character in Desperate Defense cannot attack, cast a spell, use an items, search for traps, etc., they may only fend off melee attacks. Such characters receive a +1 to their A.C. for every 4 levels, round up. Willimar had no idea where the hobgoblin had come from, but he knew he was in trouble. Already hurt from the shaman's bolt of fire and separated from his friends he knew began to flail his staff around with no thought but fending off the creature's falchion. Willimar, a 7th level mage, receives a +2 bonus to A.C.