Learning to love the basics

You know, when I first started playing D&D, it was with AD&D back when I was around 10 or 11 (82-83). I remember the first D&D product I ever owned was the Official AD&D Coloring Album. I recieved that when I was about 8 or so. It actually predated my forray into gaming by a few years but it was what sparked my interest. At any rate, AD&D was my game of choice. I think that the appeal had to do with the arcane and inscruitable nature of the game. Looking through the DMG was something akin to reading the Dead Sea Scrolls to my young mind. It was crazy, it had cool pictures, it had all kinds of mysterious charts, etc. Plus it was, um, well... Advanced. I did pick up copies of the Basic game over the years (the Moldvay set and the Mentzer set). I remember selling copies of Grit and holliday cards door to door for various companies in order to score enough points to get the Basic sets. They were cool to be sure, but they didn't hold the same arcane appeal for me as the AD&D books did. Something was lacking in the whole aesthetic (plus it wasn't ADVANCED).



So, over the years, I've been pretty much a dyed in the wool AD&D man. I have all of the books (actually over the years, I've amassed a collection of D&D so that I own everything from the 1974 LBBs to 4th edition). Of them all, AD&D still has the cherished space in my heart... until just recently. I know there is a growing segment of the OSR that is infatuated with the 1974 LBB version of the game (or the retro-clones such as Swords and Wizardry) or the Later Basic set takes (Holmes/Moldvay/Mentzer) through games like Labyrinth Lord. I picked these games up to read through, but I'm an AD&D guy (or OSRIC). Then last week, James over at Grognardia put out an open call for folks to contribute to a project he is working about petty gods. I couldn't resist. James uses Labyrinth Lord, so I pulled my copy off the shelf so I could stat out a few gods and get read up on the rule sets. And you know what? I liked the elegance of the rules. AD&D still has the arcane mystique, but I really find myself digging the fluidity of the Basic rule set. It appeals to my over harried brain and satisfies my fantasy itch.



So, any other AD&D die hards find themselves converted to the Basic rules? From what little I can glean from reading through blogs and message boards, it would seem that I'm not alone.

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