I'm almost 60, and have been playing D&D since my teens. Of all the editions, AD&D 1e still speaks to me the most.

55 years old been playing 1st edition since 1982 and still going and introducing new players to it. it started me on the road to bodybuilding, fencing, martial arts and archery too. D&D changed my life for the better

People tend to forget that one goal piece was equal to one experience point, so treasure value was included when tallying up experience points

I'm 42. Classic D&D (B/X & BECMI) and Advanced D&D are still my favoutire.

I turn 49 today and began with Red/Blue Box (Mentzer). By '84 I was playing nothing but Advanced. D&D has shaped my entire life; hobbies, games, movies etc. Love the fantasy genre in all things!

AD&D can be complex, but it's not as complicated as people think. There is a lot of reading, and the glossy structure of modern gaming does make it easier to read and digest. 1st edition is raw; there's a feeling of purity to it though, made by gamers for gamers, and nary a marketing focus group in sight. I still play 1e today, I started about 1979. I DM a couple of games via discord . There's still a healthy community of players out there. Thank you, I appreciate the video.

I'm 51. I started playing D&D in 1982 sitting around back patio tables during the summer alternating between playing D&D and swimming in the pools. In college we played AD&D 2nd edition. Years later I tried 3rd edition/D20, skipped 4th ed., and played a little bit of 5th edition before coming to the same conclusion you did. In the middle of a long and successful 3rd edition game around 2001 we made the decision to dump that crap and play what we truly missed, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st edition. Like I said I tried some 5th edition and didn't care for it, and we're back playing AD&D exclusively now for a few years. My entire group, ages 31-52, all love it. It delivers the feel we love. For a few of us it also delivers that strong nostalgic vibe, and we all like how its unforgiving ;) ... loved your review!

I think what people don't understand is, AD&D was written by, and thus approached as a system for, adults who were already wargame enthusiasts. As such, when he wrote the DM guide, he was talking to someone who understood probability, general game mechanics, and hopefully if you are the DM, some creativity and ability to storyboard on the fly. That's why it seems so light on rules. If you take a wargame set in WWII, you already know the bad guys, the good guys, their weapons, their tactics, terrain, etc. In a fantasy setting, you don't want to stifle the players' or DM's creativity. At the same time, including creatures your characters are probably never going to run into is fine, because gives an idea, a bigger picture as to where you can go. Remember, the idea of this game is to look at that old map, see the pencil drawing of a sea monster on the edge and the words "here be monsters", and say, "Well, I definitely know where I want to go now." You don't necessarily have to run into Asmodeus, but with a little tweaking to the stats to bring it down a few notches, you can have a devil that comes to Georgia and loses a fiddle contest to a hillbilly.

Fifth edition is about saving the world, being a superhero. AD&D was about finding coin and getting it out of the dungeon and back to town. And it gave you stuff to do with the money. Buying equipment, hirelings, building a castle if you wanted one. Fifth edition doesn't care about money it's all about your hero getting more abilities and doing cool shit. Old style gaming you could find monsters that aged you or took levels away if you weren't careful. And aging might make you a little smarter but it also made you a lot weaker cause it tried to mirror reality more. It's more about the money and less about the story and still cool as hell. Good video. Loved it.

I think the open ended rule approach by Gygax really fostered invention and creativity. We played the game after school, around the campfire it was the glue that bonded us together. And it didn't matter what family we came from we were a team and equals in the game.

AD&D 1e is certainly my preferred edition. Two of the four games I run are AD&D. I agree, though, that its major flaw is the poor presentation. It definintely took me a while to sort things out and make my own notes about how to smooth out play. Combat especially requires some parsing before it runs smoothly, but once you smooth out the wrinkles and integrate the majority of the concepts, 1e combat is a thing of beauty to behold. Love this game!

I've played every version from Basic through 5th edition, but I've recently decided to abandon 5th edition and start a new campaign with AD&D first edition. I have been yearning for the game that I grew up with and fell in love with. Every version since first edition was just a step backwards in my opinion. I used to think 2nd edition was an improvement, but in retrospect, I do not like the changes made there. I'm tired of "upgrading" to the latest, greatest and I am forever going to stick with first edition. Thanks for the video.

This is why for me AD&D is the best -- “It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules which is important. Never hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule books upon you, if it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters given in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons volumes, you are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a whole first, you campaign next and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as it was meant to be.” Dungeon Master’s Guide (page 230), Gary Gygax Started with a box set of the Basic D&D rules with a blue cover, the module "Keep on the Borderlands", and plastic-coated cardboard sheet you had to cut into "chits" and use instead of actual polyhedral dice. It was limited but I knew it was the Basic D&D set and there was an expanded and more complex set of Advanced D&D books waiting for me when I was ready. Had to wait until I could afford to make that larger investment as I knew there were multiple expensive hardback books to buy. I started with the Players Handbook and then later got both the DM guide and Monster Manual at the same time. And only being twelve or thirteen I had to convince my parents to drive me the sixty-plus mile drive to Wargames West in Albuquerque to buy them. You could find the odd game system or stray rule book or module at bookstores here and there, but Wargames West was the only place in New Mexico back then that was devoted to both a variety of tabletop wargame systems and miniatures and the widest range and selection of RPG systems and accessories in one store. Had a great little video game arcade in the back too. Good times. And I'd still use my modded First Edition AD&D system if I was going to ever run another D&D campaign.

Just a note: the main reason Gygax started the DMG with a discussion of dice and probability is because it was accepted that all DMs made their own rulings during a game -- it was the job of the DM to be not just the rules referee but a rules 'creator' (since not every circumstance could be covered by a book-defined rule). So when a DM wanted to decide what "chance" a player's character might have to do something, it would be helpful for a DM to understand the difference between linear probability and bell curves, and how to use dice to create the right probability for a given "chance". When I first read the DMG when I was 13, I didn't understand this. I don't think I truly appreciated it until I was in my late 20's.

Everyone in 5e is the same. I loved how it took longer to level up as a Wizard in 1e. It makes sense that it would take longer to level up in certain classes.

Great vid for a magical game... Advanced D&D was a massive part of my youth, and although the last time I played it was in my mid to late teens (I'm a bloody 47 year old git now), I still love it. One thing that makes me laugh a bit is when I hear kids going on about the immersive computer role playing games of today. Seen and played a few of these myself, and a lot are very impressive and very good, but what makes me giggle is that none come close to the immersion we got back in the eighties from D&D... The fact is, pixels and sound effects will bring you so far, but nothing will ever beat your very own imagination.

I have a feeling that Garry actually set the game up so that you had to play with friends who knew how to play. We played AD&D1e at after school care and there was over 30 high school kids so it was a thing. The biggest part of it was design and creativity. We would get huge cardboard posters and just make towns and villages and areas. My best friend would trace Conan art from his comic books and it was a thing. We read a lot or Conan novels as well.

You are climbing a seemingly endless stairway. You can feel a fluffy carpet under your feet. You find yourselves outside a gloomy chamber. There is a switch on the wall. > BOLLOCKS! Thanks for posting, I agree.

I’m 55 and have been using 1e since 1981 when my best friend introduced me to the game when I was 12.

I'm happy that 5E and their ilk are doing well, but YES our old PCs were indeed regular joes trying to get by in a hard world! I'm excited that my young son is curious, as FRPGs will do him good (as it did me). Thanks for a thoughtful review!

When I was five years old (in 1989), my uncle invited us to play D&D with him. 2nd edition had already started being sold, but we played 1st edition. My first character was a bog standard human cleric. I really like how resources were thin at low levels. My healing was very important when reaching 0 hit points meant death. Strength was much more important for most classes because of encumbrance and no finesse weapons outside of non-composite bows. My uncle had the DM screen with the combat charts included, so we didn't have to worry too much about that aspect. I loved the game but actually enjoyed 2nd edition more because of the additional character options (dwarf clerics and elf rangers weren't a thing in 1st edition), but the two editions were very cross compatible.

"A game not weighed down by the problems of today's world" Speaks volumes that does. Gygax would have despised how the game has been managed recently.

I first played 1st edition and got thrown in the deep end with D2 Shrine of the Kuo-Toa! Still have nightmares about losing my mates fav elven thief! (He went to face Blibdoolpoolp in her throne room)! I now us a hybrid 1st/2nd edition + some homebrew like Internet Book of Spells (Mage/Cleric edited down) etc.

I think the best edition for me would steal from just about every edition. The thing I love from AD&D is the flavor of the classes and monsters. Illusionists and Assassins have never quite been the same since this edition and monks of course have been a side note since as well. And the Fiend Folio will forever be my favorite monster book.

I played AD&D in late 70s. We played at school too. My math and science teacher was our DM and we played twice a week at lunch. I have all my original books. I still love this version. I never liked the d20 system as much.

My favorite memories of old-school D&D was how me and my fellow 10 year-old, knuckleheaded friends would take turns designing dungeons with the expressed intent of annihilating each others characters. I don't think any of us ever got up past 2nd level, ha!

The people I play with would not care since they are more just in for the time together on the weekend. I think, if you had your world and plan laid out AD&D holds up strong and gives you a lot of freedom.

Great vid, thanks @BoardGameBollocks. Ironically, I am here because my teenage daughter just told me she wants to play AD&D. I played it shed loads in the 80's, and fortunately still have about 10 first edition books in the garage. Need to dust them off and remember the rules. That said, like you mentioned, I was it bit more "in the spirit of the rules", rather than "to the letter of the law". Being a teenager at the time, the books weren't the easier to navigate - but still the best time of my life getting lost 😉

1E is my favorite edition despite what flaws it has. The reason the DMG starts with all that tosh about dice and statistics is something you already explained - the Dungeon Master was expected to be something of their own game designer. You can't do that in a system as complex as AD&D without understanding a bit about dice and statistics. Even though the game was mostly directed towards adults at that point, even adults didn't necessarily have an immediate grasp of it. You're definitely right about organization being a serious issue. The reason WHY it's so disorganized can be explained (it was still being written AS it was being published over 3 years), but that doesn't help with fixing the problem. It probably would have been cleaned up and re-issued at some point, except Gygax was forced out of his own company before he could get around to anything like that. 2nd Edition AD&D carried over a LOT of the faults of 1st Edition, but it did at least clean up surprise and combat rules (for better or worse, and IMO it was a bit of both) and organize things _somewhat_ better. Yet 2E ultimately still lost a lot of the captivating charm that derived from 1E's actual raw and rough composition - and I think SO much of that was because Gygax had no hand in it and it began to be particularly aimed at younger players rather than adults. 1E doesn't make it easy on you if you decide to play. It was rough and disorganized because everything about it was still breaking new ground with _every_ new rule book, adventure, and campaign setting. But there are actually aspects of 1E that are BETTER than 5E's slick marketing, merchandising, and design-by-committee can give. When 5E is trying to lure in 1E players by claiming to be MORE like 1E than editions previous to 5E, you know that there's things STILL IN 1E that should NOT have been left behind - they just don't want to admit it. :) 5E has been here 11 years. 1E AD&D has been around for 46. AD&D has been continuously analyzed and developed by people who STILL play it for three and a half decades longer than 5E. It's still worth trying. Just accept that it won't meet you halfway - you'll have to work for it at every step... :)

Loads of material to support the 1e game at the time too, even pre-Internet. GW White Dwarf, TSR Dragon Magazine as the official ones, but then also the amateur fanzines like The Beholder, Trollcrusher, etc. The curated blogs of the day! Filled those niches where additional monsters or homebrew rules and items were wanted.

The Book 'What is Dungeons and Dragons*?' by John Butterfield, Philip Parker and David Honigmann was a helpful way to learn the game if you didn't have anyone to show you. It also had a small adventure, 'The Shrine of Kollchap' and gave you examples of how to run it, which helped

I found a first edition DMG for twenty bucks yesterday at a pawn shop! Happy about that but I see your points you made at the beginning of the vid. It's a bit much wrapping my head around again after all these years. I think perhaps getting a copy of PHB (last time I had was over 30 years ago) is a better way to restart. Great video!

“...bit like sittin in this *** room innit...” That got me lol. Great Vid!

Page 79 DM's Guide saving throw matrices. Still remember.

It took me a long time to realize what it was about 5th edition that was so different from 1st edition ad&d. It's only recently that I realized it is because the focus is in two different places. In 1st edition ad&d, the focus was on the character's actions and the actions you took to affect the world around you and the result of those actions--level, class, race, etc... were anciliary to the character's thoughts, feelings, personality, et al because those were the elements of your character that played center stage--the fact that you were a half-orc barbarian with a two-handed sword just wasn't as relavant. Contrast that with 5th edition today. The entire focus is on your class, your abilities, your gear, and HOW your character affects the world. The 5e player is invested in their character, the 1e ad&d player is invested in the story! That's the major difference.

1st edition is the best edition! Pub brawl coming in as a close 2nd. Thanks for the share!!

Seconded. AD&D really is the pinnacle of TTRPGs

Old Skool D&D FTW!

Best version still. Easily adaptable for dms with imagination and willingness to go further.

Just stumbled upon this vid. I think your content and presentation is brilliant! I will be looking at more of your vids. Cheers!

I think this is your most eloquent and passionate review yet. Some wonderful points about the human aspects of D and D, and how it speaks to you, that I've never thought about, but are totally true.

Just found this and love your take on it! Though AD&D is a bit of a mess, there's no arguing that it makes roleplaying fun. The OSR has updated and reorganized the rules so that it makes more sense, but keeps the sense of regular people facing death. Lots of room for heroism.

Played D&D a lot when I was a kid in the 80s. Many trips to the only games workshop at the time in Hammersmith & bought hundreds of figures, well and stole some too 😬 Went to Chislehurst caves in Kent and acted out our fantasies. It seemed everything we did was around the game. Even Julian Gollops Choas on the zx spectrum ruled our lives because it was published by games workshop and was basically a 8 player game of D&D on a early computer. Still have all my figures and modules, such fond memories. Unfortunately no one to play with today but would love to revisit. New to your channel and absolutely love your reviews.

A thoughtful and well-structured video presenting an overview of the version of D&D on which I cut my teeth. Good on you, mate! Keep up the fine work.

When I was in jail, I taught lots of blokes how to play D@D, It was a mixture of basic D@D and 1st edition. No one bothered us because we were a bunch of literal murders, terrorists, and undesirables. When people did bother us, there was a lot of actual bloodshed, they never bothered us after that. Even the guards looked the other way when we made our own scenery, characters and monsters out or paper mache.

Thoroughly enjoyed this retrospective; thanks very much!

my dad recently taught me to play first edition he’s been playing since he was 10 he’s 50 now and we have a blast

Finally someone who sounds like me in the TTRPG world!!!

If you're interested in a version of this game that fixes all the issues you mentioned, check out OSRIC. It's a free single-volume rules compilation with superb organization and intelligent streamlining of the messier sections (combat makes actual sense and fits into four pages). On top of that, it has even more monsters than the Monster Manual and more magic items than the Dungeon Master's Guide. I treasure my old AD&D hardbounds and re-read them constantly for inspiration and nostalgia, but they don't come to the table with me anymore, OSRIC does.

New to the channel, have a few mates who play it but 5th edition. I like the sound of adnd more, seems like there's more to the imagination, more for you the player to fill in the gaps. Good video mate 💪

It was a guide line of rules . paper, dies and pencil game.

AD&D 1st Edition is epic, modern D&D is soft and for cry babies, though there are many modern Indie rpgs like "Mork Borg" that capture the brutality and epicness of AD&D 1st ed fairly well. AD&D 1st ed and Gamma World 1st ed are the two greatest tabletop rpgs ever made in my personal opinion, mostly due to the open endedness of the system and the brutal lethality, practically found in Gamma World 1st ed. Anyway! cheers for the review and nostalgia hit.

Hey, that reminded me. I had those two books. I wonder what happened to them… they were cool fun. I’m going to take a look at Mothership and Morkborg when they’re done.

I have recently purchased reprints of my main 5 Core books for 1st Edition AD&D. (Unearthed Arcana, PHB, DM Guide, Monster Manual, and so on) and have jumped back down that rabbit hole. I am have played D&D or AD&D in some form since 1st Edition (1988). There is something to be said about how the spells (generally) had brief descriptions that were easy to grasp (although Abjure (4th Level, Unearthed Arcana) took me a few minutes to piece apart. The complex part of AD&D was deciphering the Matrices for THAC:0, there was a much cleaner table for figuring it out in the 2nd Edition Player's Handbook.

Answer yes it is :-P but if people dont want to use the book you can use a more modern day OSR system (all are based off older systems) and run pretty much from basic up to AD&D 2th Ed with little changes nevermind the countless other adventures made by people to this day and over the decades. :-) I am using Shadowdark to run an ORSIC (AD&D) made megadungeon with a mix of my own homerules and stuff from OSRIC I like alot! its turning into a Modded AD&D ruleset and I am loving it. Older editions are so much better imo its why I like OSR type stuff (also games like DCC are also amazing as a game can run 3rd Edition stuff through it just use the DCC magic as its insane ha)

15:31 had me on the floor laughing so hard, I needed air badly. OMG the memories of feeling the exact same way are coming back to me like a flash flood.

Right on. I still play AD&D. I have integrated the 3.5 combat rules and AC system. The rest is all AD&D. It is our game. Have fun with it.

Very nice review.

In first edition you had to play your class ,later editions it was about cheesing your way around class restrictions

I’ve read about, and watched videos about, much more than I’ve played D&D. I played a couple of times last year with a group of knobheads and it soured me on it. Wish I’d gotten into it years ago, feels like I missed out a bit. Love that artwork in the older manuals - crude, less polished and grotesque at times, but dripping with atmosphere - good video mate!

Look into Castles & Crusades! It's the D&D 3rd that never was - take or leave any rules as you want, but the simplicity of 1st/2nd edition, but without a THAC0 in sight.....

I do agree. There is a magic in first edition that is missing in 5th. One of my mates and I recently had a conversation about how our group of friends bonded and developed our creativity over the course of our years of RPGing. I started RPGs with AD&D 1.5 (aka after the release of unearthed arcana) playing a cavalier. Can’t believe you got through the whole video without saying THAC0 even once. Plus I recall, as a middle schooler, having a special attachment to the Succubus entry in the Monster Manual. Thank you for bringing up some nostalgia. May have to did around in the basement and see if I still have my bin of D&D books and journals.

I had every book, and over 30 modules, years of Dragon Magazine (wow I miss those). Several women later they're all gone. I'm 50 now and find myself wanting to spend a fortune to re purchase old stuff I used to own over the web.

I didn't start playing the game until the beginning of Third edition but I was hooked in by flipping through the 1st edition books. I absolutely love 1st edition, though getting people to play it is complicated. My favorite system is Dungeon Crawl Classics, which can seem a little looney depending on how you approach the game. You do start off as peasants but the power curve is a bit steeper as you level. But I can use AD&D books and modules with this system with minor tweaks so it keeps my 1st edition books relevant.

It was a different time and newer type of game , a bit gritty and rrough around the edges. I quite enjoyed it.It made you think and invole the whole party and that was just to stay alive . No safe spaces here, it was fun .

I struggled with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition system. I don't think I ever figured it out. I do like the older monster manuals. I do like the modern OSR systems that cleaned up basic D&D. Fun watch and no sponsors in the middle, thank god. lol

I played the original Dungeons and Dragons and migrated to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Played 1st edition since high school back in 1980. Now my kids play it.

Great video!

Great video. I just DMed my 5th session of 5e, so I am new. I am really drawn by 1e's art and feel so I just ordered the original 3 core books. I am hoping to learn it well enough to be a DM for it. I am just trying to see how I would run a session online with a vtt. With 5e it is easy as it is baked into a lot of vtts, but hopefully I can find a way and people who want to play! So since the books don't really explain how to play, how do you recommend I learn? I don't know anyone else who plays

Love the breakdown of First Edition. My gaming buddies and I all started on 2nd edition and that's the game I remember from my youth. I think we might have appreciated some of freedom you mentioned in First Edition a bit more as 2nd, even with more concrete rules, seemed to always get house ruled by my group to do away with the minutiae of the battle system.

This was the best review of anything I have ever heard. I agreed with everything you said, especially the flaws. Thanks for teaching the kids about it. Thanks for making me understand why I always felt it was the best. I played from the late 70s to the mid nineties with the same group and the best game master of all time. Mind you, we played other amazing games that we loved and cherished, like Battletech (FASA version) - including Spacebattles space travel and combat and Mechwarrior, Star Frontiers, (which used Car Wars driving rules) - including Knight Hawks space travel and combat, Top Secret (also 1st edition), Twilight: 2000, Champions, Gamma World, GURPS, Paranoia and many many others. Axis and Allies, Gammarauders and Shogun (later known as Samurai Swords) and were our main board games.

I first played AD&D 2nd back in 1996 and played it regularly until 3rd came out (I didn't particularly care for it, but the DM loved it) and played that regularly until 4th came out, my group stayed on 3.5 and played sporadically for the next few years until I moved away 10 years ago and wasn't able to play until I started a new group about a month ago, I kinda like 5th so far.

very informative. Im looking to join a group that use 1e and 2e and would appreciate advice towards what books I want to put on a list to invest in. my goal is to not be oblivious on a budget. My goal is to annoy the DM as much as possible with cheeky tricks.

AD&D was complex, but so is life. THAC0 was a pain at first, but an easier when you get it. I have been a fan of D&D/AD&D since 1979 til 4 ed. 5th is a sickening example of consumerism. Sure, if you want to start D&D, and never experienced it before, go with 5th. I have an almost complete set of Orange Spined books in great condition only missing The Manual of the Planes. They are the most precious thing I own. AD&D again can be as complicated or easy as can be, brutal or gentle. Honestly, any game can do that. What is important is the world you can create for your players.

Hey great video I love A&D 1e started in the late 70s while in Marines still have all the books even the paper back ones DMing a game was great fun really enjoyed running a game but sad can't find any one wanting to play any more

I suppose I'm definitely part of the minority when I say I love the original edition of Dungeons and dragons. Mostly because dying is part of the fun at least to me! The fact that you can flail in swing crazy wild and carefree and right before you die you give the biggest strongest monsters out there the worst time of my life!!!!!! The surviving members of my team would usually appreciate that because things become a lot easier after I'm dead......... I get it I'm part of the minority But then again, I'm used to being the minority 😁🇲🇽👩‍🎤💯

anyone hesitating on should i try this game or revisit this game: do not hesitate! I previously played in the early 80's, until late 2018,... the other players were the same to,... 18 x d6 later ....everyone is creeping along a narrow low passage illuminated by flickering torch light, the sound of water dripping all around, in the distance you see an archway....

Awesome channel. You remind me of Jason Statham

If a character from a Guy Ritchie movie reviewed games. Im sold

Those book covers are newer than my book covers...

I couldn’t work out D&D so instead I learned to play Sleeping Gods and it’s really similar but a LOT more digestible to new players :)

I remember going to YOM a youth center next to my middle school in 1984ish to play

Cover art vastly superior to today's offerings and while the interior art was basic it had a ton of character often seen lacking today as well.

I just started a 1e campaign with the fellas at work and we are loving it. Someone summed it up (don't remember who) when they said "1e you play the game and not the character sheet" and I love that remark. Love it so much.

This makes me want to find and start a new Baldur's Gate campaign... I wonder if it is on Steam?

I still play 1e for dungeon crawl one shots

Great video 😊 Basic/Expert was my game back in the day, but Dungeon Crawl Classics really tries to capture the AD&D first edition magic.

AD&D 1E, ground breaking, I think AD&D 2E put that together, organized and you could learn the game from that. 1E adventures, nothing really tops them!

1st edition will always be my favorite. But that's as much from nostalgia as anything. I do like a lot of what's been published since. But then again, a lot of the newer stuff is overly wrought and cumbersome.

Thank You! I started with it, I loved it then and I love it now. I could type screens worth of why this system rocked but I think the biggest part was that even though everyone now complains about the charts and math we didn't allow that to get in the way of the story. We used maybe 30%-40% of the rule set and got on fine. And unlike later versions it didn't suffer from splat book overkill. Yes, there were modules but we rarely bought them (only for parts most of the time) more often than not using stuff from Dragon magazine, White Dwarf and whatever else we could scrounge. I have tried to get into 5E...I have almost all the 1st party stuff...but it's so damned bland...all the characters are basically the same now and there is no sense of relying on each other as a team. Back in the day you protected that Magic-User because soon they would be able to throw fireballs. It was truly about helping each other and when you succeeded you did so as a group. And yes, the MM is a troubled bit of work but we all liked Fiend Folio the best (we used a LOT of White Dwarf material in our sessions...Necromancer anyone?) so that wasn't an issue. We added from everywhere. In my sessions I might be running stuff from Mayfair, Judges Guild, other versions of D&D (the X series being very popular), MERPS, RoleMaster in general, we fit together our own worlds and the three main DMs all had completely different worlds and styles. Good times...

The differences between 1st and 5th edition are palpable and measurable. In 5th, it is almost impossible to die. In 1st, death was ever present, and you had to play cautious and clever to survive. In 5th, everyone is the same. Their attack roll bonus is going to be exactly the same as everyone else in their groiup unless they purposefully nerf themselves. In 1st edition, some people were better at certain things then others, much like in real life. Moving forward into nonweapon proficiencies, every stat point counted toward success in skill checks. As far as the amorphous side of the games, 5th edition is too polished and to clean and everyone is a super hero. In 1st edition, it was gritty and dark, and you might be a hero...if you survive. That in and of itself in the difference. In 1st edition, by surviving you earned your place. In 5th, everyone live, so nothing is earned.

Already have ADD, should really play AD&D.

How or why they ever started marketing this for children between the ages of 10-13 just seemed strange to me, especially without a clearer and simpler rewrite of the rules. Even the original BECMI and B/X had a few rules that were difficult to interpret for younger people. It is also important to remember that the first people that would have been playing this game in the '70's were High School and College-aged kids whose hobbies were Tabletop Strategy war games. Charts and strange tables and matrices may be easier for High school and collegiate students to understand, but they would have required some interpretation. This was not often help that we had available to us at 11-13 years old, especially if our parents were "overly" Christian and scared of D&D or were told something was inherently immoral about the game.

We learned in what was basically an after school program.

Did you read the Dragonlance Books or play the modules?

Is it possible to purchase the first edition remake still does anyone know?

Whatever came after TSR is certainly not worth the overpriced cost,

Where would I buy AD&D?

Sausage mate ! 👌

There's an expectation that you can't/shouldn't die today. Screw that. Brutal mortality in AD&D 1st, CoC, Paranoia, Warhammer FRPG 1st, etc. was way more hilarious and entertaining.