There And Back Again
So our group has started a new campaign and gone back to playing AD&D; somewhere about 1.75e (as Richard calls it). We’re using the 2e rules, but allow for character classes from the 1e Player’s Handbook, Unearthed Arcana and Dragon Magazines. So, why go back to AD&D?
Last summer we started playing a 4e campaign, beginning with H1: Keep on the Shadowfell. Having a pre-made module is essential to our campaign, as I don’t have the time to create my own adventures. We made our way through the module, and it was rather enjoyable. However, by the time we were finishing, we were by and large disillusioned with 4th Edition:
- Combat seems to be the sole focus of 4e. Game mechanics such as non-weapon proficiencies (2e) or crafting skills (3e) are basically non-existent in 4e Core Rules. These aspects of D&D have always been a large part of my games. Additionally, the module had very little in the way of traps, puzzles or uses for the party’s skills.
- Combat was extremely slow. This has been a major point of discussion in the #dnd Twitter world, and is a generally accepted fact. A single encounter would take an hour or two, with much of the time spent picking which power to use (for both players and DM).
- Combat is an exercise in micro-management. There are simply too many conditions to keep track of – Marked, Bloodied, Eye-bitten, etc. (more…)
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