Revisiting Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

So, here’s the deal. The last time I played AD&D in 1989. I’ve played, and enjoyed, every version of D&D and they have all had their pros and cons. I’ve played other games over the years as well, but AD&D will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the game that I played the most during my formative RPG years.

For nostalgia’s sake, I’d like to play it again and see how it holds up. There have been a lot of great innovations to the game over the years, and I know there are going to be things about AD&D that will seem clunky and antiquated, but I am prepared for that. There are going to be some rules that I don’t follow at all (turn segments, weapon speeds, etc.); but honestly, nobody I ever played with used that stuff anyway. We kept it fast and loose and threw out the stuff that was clunky. That’s the goal of this game.

This of course means that if you are looking for a “pure” 1e by-the-book experience, well, this game won’t be for you. It will basically be a simplified 1st edition game, with a few house rules added on that will serve one of three purposes:

1. Speed up PbP play.
2. Give players more options to customize their characters.
3. Make my life as the DM easier.

I don’t have long term plans for this as an epic campaign spanning many levels. Let’s just play through an adventure and see how it goes.

The campaign setting will be a real generic, hodge-podge setting of stuff shamelessly ripped from elsewhere. I am not looking to create anything original or ground-breaking here: just a pulpy (maybe even anachronistic) backdrop for adventure that requires very little background knowledge to start playing.

So here’s a thumbnail sketch to give you an idea. The campaign will be based out of a large port city that is sort of a nexus for many different cultures/peoples. It was once part of a great empire, but now somewhat outside the reach of the Emperor. Petty lords basically run the show in the city, maybe heavily influenced by the merchant and/or thieves’ guilds and powerful temples. The city will be a hive of villainy and intrigue as well as a gateway to explore the lost ruins of ancient civilizations.

So, let’s imagine a combination of Sanctuary in Thieves’ World, Mos Eisley in Star Wars, Greyhawk City in Greyhawk, Baldur's Gate in Forgotten Realms, or Sharn in Eberron. That’s sort of the iconic "City of Adventure" feel I am going for.

All humanoid races will be found in this city. We’ll use the core D&D 4e deities as they are a good mix of iconic and new deities. It's also a small, functional pantheon that should work well for the purposes of this game. The city is large enough to support many different cults, religions, faiths, etc. so there could be other deities as well. It’s pretty much anything goes.

That’s basically it. Nothing fancy. Just an old school flavored setting using the rules that many gamers got their start on.

Hopefully I can find a few others who are interested in giving this a try.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:22, Sat 23 June 2012.