Why Your First D&D Was the Best D&D

[NineStarPhantom]

My First D&D was 3.5, when I first saw the books, I remember being entranced, It was a new world, an entire category of people I'd never known existed that (To young Nine, anyway) existed only to ensure that everyone had a way to pretend to be someone else, somewhere else. the idea was fascinating, and I read every one of those books till covers started falling off. I used to play against myself, because I didn't know any better and lived in boonyville, population 25. good times.

 

Reasons it was best:

1) The depth and breadth of options, sure I only had three books, PHB, DMG, and a Monsters book, but I knew them all and knew I could make these people do anything.

2) Discovery that I wasn't the only one who wanted to explore new worlds and play with magic and do all the other things we get up to in this game was an unparalleled point of excitement.

3) The Crunch. I know people don't always like it because of the complication added, but for me, throwing around all those little +1s and +2s was (and remains) an extremely fulfilling process. trying to find a way to have as many in as many places as possible is fun for me, and if that means diving through reams of paper and miles of internet text to find that one thing I need, well so much the better because I'm going to see what everyone else did too, and it's awesome. For me, the much-maligned Crunch is actually one of the best parts of the game, because of how much fun it can be to watch people's adventures in into the jungle. Not to mention that Big Number to-hit and damage makes my brain happy.

[Excior]

22 hours ago, Excior said:

the thing I liked the most about 3ed was the feats no two fighters could would be the same.

the one bad point to me about 3rd ed and beyond is the monster stat blocks, they were very long lol. the older editions a combat encounter seemd to last about 5 mins in RL but a combat in 3rd and beyond seemed to take way longer. Do you guys feel that way?

[Actana]

My first edition of D&D was some version of AD&D that came with pregen characters in full color character sheets, and a levels 1-3 adventure. It was best because

[cailano]

1 hour ago, Excior said:

the one bad point to me about 3rd ed and beyond is the monster stat blocks, they were very long lol. the older editions a combat encounter seemd to last about 5 mins in RL but a combat in 3rd and beyond seemed to take way longer. Do you guys feel that way?

OD&D, the various Basic versions, and both editions of AD&D played fast at all levels. It was great!

Wow, look at that poll! TSR created the Basic editions to bring new players into the hobby and it looks like they were very successful.

But 3.5 was no slouch, either. A lot of gamers seem to have gotten their start there.

5E looks empty so far, but we all know how popular that edition has been. I imagine it would be in the lead or close to it, but maybe those who came into RPGs via 5E haven't made their way to Myth-Weavers just yet.

[Essence]

I started out with 3.5e, which when I was just around 10 or 11 years old, I just figured that it was just D&D but it had a bit of an update to the rules to make things more streamlined or to clarify on some rule changes officially, and that it was always kinda like this. I've never played any of the earlier editions of the game, save for, I suppose, 2nd Edition AD&D - but only through Baldur's Gate I & II. One of the big appeals for me regarding 3.5e and starting out when I was DM'ing was:

• Versatility of Campaign Customization and Character Options: From my understanding, 3rd edition broke the mold on just the sheer amount of options that both DM's and players had to work with. I know from my experience that 3/3.5e allowed for a high degree of character customization with the introduction of the feats system, non-weapon proficiencies turning into skills, and prestige classes (which eventually mutated into 4e's subclasses) that made concepts more versatile and unique, and games more interesting - allowing for a wider breadth of creativity. Especially with specialized builds that made you feel uber-powerful.
• 3/3.5e Was Very Modular: WotC released the Open Game License around this time, making it very conducive to homebrew content, or to pluck and set different encounters or adventures as you see fit from officially released material. Granted, people could do this, I imagine, in earlier editions of the game, but the official support was there. This led to a plethora of supplementary material, expanding the game's content and providing additional options for players and DM's to put in their games. I remember reading the SRD extensively, and almost everyone homebrewed their games.
• Complexity: For some people, especially the casual crowd that attracted 5e according to some people, number crunching wasn't necessarily that fun. I was a bit of the opposite-ish. I enjoyed the math, the crunching of numbers, finding ways to optimize my character or to get the best out of an encounter or adventure. The intricate rules and detailed mechanics provided a rich framework for in-depth storytelling and strategic gameplay, and fit in rather well overall in a game. While I never exactly enjoyed how hard-coded tactical combat had to be, enjoying more of a narrative bent in my fights, I loved optimizing everything about my characters or fine-tuning the enemies / encounters that my players were going up against; it felt like I was designing / solving a puzzle.

 

After 4e released, albeit I'll admit I've only played in one 4e game that I barely remember, I moved on to Pathfinder - essentially being D&D 3.75, as I've heard it called.

Edited November 17, 2023 by Essence (see edit history)

[leons1701]

Put me down as another who likes the crunch. If Joe is supposed to be better than Bob at something, I'd like the rules to actually reflect that. Not really all that much into minmaxing, a bit of tweaking is one thing, always making your Wizards STR 6 just feels dirty.

[Excior]

12 minutes ago, leons1701 said:

Put me down as another who likes the crunch. If Joe is supposed to be better than Bob at something, I'd like the rules to actually reflect that. Not really all that much into minmaxing, a bit of tweaking is one thing, always making your Wizards STR 6 just feels dirty.

I like to give my wizards physical handicaps I my favorite is a half elf that is an albino with hemophilia if he is cut he continues to bleed 1 HP/round for x amount of rounds until the blood finally clots

[Cirlot]

10 hours ago, cailano said:

5E looks empty so far, but we all know how popular that edition has been. I imagine it would be in the lead or close to it, but maybe those who came into RPGs via 5E haven't made their way to Myth-Weavers just yet.

 

I suspect the Weave is a little self-selecting in this regard; web forums were an early oughts to early twenty-teens phenomena so I think the people drawn to them started playing - or came to the internet at least - in that period. I'd wager if you had this poll on the discord or other social media you'd have very different results just due to the demographics of the medium. I know in my own friend circle there are . . . maybe 10 people whose first RPG was 5e?

[cailano]

1 hour ago, Cirlot said:

 

I suspect the Weave is a little self-selecting in this regard; web forums were an early oughts to early twenty-teens phenomena so I think the people drawn to them started playing - or came to the internet at least - in that period. I'd wager if you had this poll on the discord or other social media you'd have very different results just due to the demographics of the medium. I know in my own friend circle there are . . . maybe 10 people whose first RPG was 5e?

I suspect you are right. I hope some of the Discord crowd makes their way over here eventually. New blood is good to have and PbP is awesome for gamers who like to write.

[Sardis75]

My first experience with DnD was back in 1986 as an 11 year old. My parents had gotten the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set (The Keep on the Borderlands + Caves of Chaos). They and my older brother sat down to play it. My identical twin brother and I weren't 'old enough' to understand the rules...so we weren't allowed to play. It didn't take very long before they decided they didn't really care for the game and my twin and I 'inherited' the books (likely for the pictures...lol). At that time, my twin and I had started avidly reading both the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms series of novels.

It wasn't long before my twin (as Caramon Majere with 'stick sword' and 'cardboard shield') and I (as Raistlin Majere with 'old wooden stick for a staff' and a 'cloth bag with a string to sinch up the top and containing the players guide, opened to the spell section') were tromping around the more than 300 acres of Canadian Crown land that surrounded our 9 acre homestead in northern Alberta pretending to be heroes thwarting all sorts of evil. It wasn't much longer after that that we learned the rules and have been playing DnD (in all of its later iterations) as well as many other RPGs ever since. Hard to believe that in less than a handful of years, we'll be hitting the 40 years of playing this game.

[cailano]

4 hours ago, Sardis75 said:

My first experience with DnD was back in 1986 as an 11 year old. My parents had gotten the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set (The Keep on the Borderlands + Caves of Chaos). They and my older brother sat down to play it. My identical twin brother and I weren't 'old enough' to understand the rules...so we weren't allowed to play. It didn't take very long before they decided they didn't really care for the game and my twin and I 'inherited' the books (likely for the pictures...lol). At that time, my twin and I had started avidly reading both the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms series of novels.

It wasn't long before my twin (as Caramon Majere with 'stick sword' and 'cardboard shield') and I (as Raistlin Majere with 'old wooden stick for a staff' and a 'cloth bag with a string to sinch up the top and containing the players guide, opened to the spell section') were tromping around the more than 300 acres of Canadian Crown land that surrounded our 9 acre homestead in northern Alberta pretending to be heroes thwarting all sorts of evil. It wasn't much longer after that that we learned the rules and have been playing DnD (in all of its later iterations) as well as many other RPGs ever since. Hard to believe that in less than a handful of years, we'll be hitting the 40 years of playing this game.

Ah, the childhood I wanted. I discovered the game at ten years old and struggled to find friends who were into similar things until I was in high school. Great story! Thanks for sharing.

[Melkar]

First of all, kudos to this thread, awesome idea 😘. The correct answer to the question is of course AD&D 2nd Edition and the proliferation of awesome amazing settings that sprang up in those days which we’ll probably never see the likes off again. Weep for Birthright, Masque of the Red Death and of course the dearly lamented Dark Sun settings.

But that’s not the point of the thread, the point of the thread was to jump in and detail why the ruleset that got you into D&D was the best, and for that we need to go back to the heady 80’s heyday of the BECMI set. So what can I say in support of that wonderful ruleset, well here we go.

1. Dwarves, Elves and Halflings were classes, not races. It removes the controversy of referring to them as races vs. lineages does it not? I think there’s something inherently funny as well in referring to a dwarf or elf as a profession. “Whats your job?” “I’m an elf.”

2. I liked the way the different boxed sets introduced a new way of campaigning. The Basic Set had a focus on dungeon exploring, whereas the Expert Set was all about wilderness adventures, and but the time Companion rolled around you were ruling your own dominions. Each set was flavourful and unique and different from the one before.

3. The simplicity of the ruleset and particularly combat. Is it just me that feels that as later editions of D&D have become more focussed on combat grids and combat tactics that a lot of the imagination and wonder was lost from the earlier editions. It just didn’t and doesn’t feel the same anymore, and I think that’s a shame.

[cailano]

So many great responses to this thread. I like the more rules light editions but I do think it is clear from those who started with 3.5 that the crunch did not ruin the magic and wonder of the game. 3.5 came out in what... 2000? Something like that? That means those who started with that edition are probably 15 years younger than I am but their experiences reading those core books sounds a lot like my own pouring over the BECMI Red Box and wondering how anything could be so awesome. Albeit with a LOT more reading on their part.

[cailano]

Race as class is a strange idea from a simulation standpoint but it's strong from a game stand point where everyone in a group wants a unique character archetype to play. The editions that had it were the basic editions, which were meant to be easy to learn. Deep character customization wasn't the point, getting into the game quickly was.

Those basic editions are easy to hack though. Want more archetypes? Just add them. Rangers, Wood Elves, and Dwarf Clerics are some of my favorite adds, along with making Druids a level one class.

But in those systems if you're trying to create a really unique character in the sense of "no one in the hobby has a character like my half-fey draconian necromancer/druid/monk then you're driving in the wrong gear. That's not what those editions are about, for better or worse.

Kind of off topic, though! I love all these memories about everyone's first D&D. It's clear we've all got way more in common than not, regardless of preferred edition.

[Melkar]

7 minutes ago, cailano said:

So many great responses to this thread. I like the more rules light editions but I do think it is clear from those who started with 3.5 that the crunch did not ruin the magic and wonder of the game. 3.5 came out in what... 2000? Something like that? That means those who started with that edition are probably 15 years younger than I am but their experiences reading those core books sounds a lot like my own pouring over the BECMI Red Box and wondering how anything could be so awesome. Albeit with a LOT more reading on their part.

I get that, I totally do, but those of us who grew up with the earlier editions…..we know they’re wrong ;)