Default Rules: AD&D or OSRIC

[PapersAndPaychecks]

No worries, Ben, it's just that discussion of post-Gygaxian stuff doesn't end well on K&KA and I've found it best to nip it in the bud.

[rredmond]

Back to the OP: why not just print out the pieces of OSRIC you want your players to have, and then handwrite in the ammendments/house rules/1E clarifications that you want. They don't need all 400 pages, and players don't need all the rules. Heck, at 1st level, they only need the 1st level spells... and that's only the clerics, the MUs only need the 3 or 4 spells they got.

Might help alleviate some things for you, and then you can mesh the 1E and OSRIC pieces you like w/o worry. Hope that helps, be well.

[thedungeondelver]

AD&D purist, but then you all saw that coming.

[Philotomy Jurament]

For me, the AD&D rules are the standard.

[Sizzaxe]

sorry, something weird happened and my post disintegrated So it took me awhile to get back to it ...

At any rate, yes, I needed a comma there.

Yeah, I own that decision as my own. Some get along fine with just OSRIC, and to be truthful we did too. But you're right it was _me_ that had the issues. and I agree. You've gotta be comfortable in your own sandbox. So I think I'm gonna either spring for some copies of the PHB for the group--they are getting a little more pricey lately, and it has to come outta my own pocket--or I'll buy them and sell them at my cost to players who would like a copy. That will solve the problem of students claiming they don't have a way to purchase them online.

I'm just happy to know that there are others out there who, like me, prefer to stick with what has always worked for them. I just wonder how long it can last. You know, I mean eventually these books will wear out and we will fade away too. So it's a good thing resources like OSRIC are around. Sometimes I just wonder if I shouldnt wake up and smell the coffee or something--maybe I'm missing something.

[AxeMental]

The intention of OSRIC was to replicate 1E (pre-UA). Whats missing is some stuff left out for legal reasons easily put back in. If it were me I'd tell the kids we are playing 1E AD&D, but the OSRIC books restate those rules in a way that make them easier to understand so you should read them along with the PH (and those that want to learn to DM show them the DMG). I'm not sure legally if you can make copies of the DMG and PH and hand them out. I remember back in college this was a problem for professors wanting to distribute out of print books to the class....of course in your case who'd know.

[Sizzaxe]

Back to the OP: why not just print out the pieces of OSRIC you want your players to have, and then handwrite in the ammendments/house rules/1E clarifications that you want. They don't need all 400 pages, and players don't need all the rules. Heck, at 1st level, they only need the 1st level spells... and that's only the clerics, the MUs only need the 3 or 4 spells they got.

Might help alleviate some things for you, and then you can mesh the 1E and OSRIC pieces you like w/o worry. Hope that helps, be well.

Actually, funny you should mention that. I started a project sometime back doing something very similar. I started writing a "campaign" rule book for my gaming table. It really wasn't a "campaign" book as much as it was a rule book for use at my gaming table. It was an attempt to solve exactly this problem. Thing is I found myself copying much of the original rule-books. I worry about copyright issues, but it would be for use at my table only, not for general distribution or anything. Fact is it really doesn't matter: it has become such a *huge* project that I don't think I'll ever get it done. So I started thinking a pared down version might work--only the essential mechanics; but I had trouble deciding what to include and what not to include. Then I thought ... hey, if I'm gonna do this I might as well use OSRIC; Mr. Marshall et al have already done the work for me, and arguably much better than I ever could have. And I was sort of back where I started.

[Dwayanu]

Usually I defer to myself

Great minds think alike!

(or whoever is the game master)

Oh.

Seriously, "the DM is the rules" is the rule to which I and my gang are accustomed.

I remember an influx into the hobby of "rules lawyers" with folks who joined in the AD&D "Gary as Moses" phase, but they generally refused to play anything except AD&D (by their interpretations and with their omissions) -- and the rest of us generally refused to play anything with them except for Chess. I last saw them wrapped up in RoleMaster, arguing over the carrying capacity of a mule...

It is only a convenience for Teleport Mort consistently to side with Arneson, or Gygax, or Holmes, or Hargrave, or Moldvay, or the M.I.T. club, or Mary Hartman's cousin with the mimeograph machine. All that is necessary is for the ref to be consistent with her or his own set of rules.

If you expect players to be able to look up the rules, then you had better make sure they are published. If that means compiling a record of significant "house rules" precedents and clarifications, then so be it.

If players are not to bury their noses in books, then it may suffice to report that a given matter is "per book X" or "magazine article Y"...

... or even, "Your Dungeon Master will have a sure method of dealing with the variables of the situation," or, "Your DM will adjudicate such matters with common sense."

DMing IME works pretty much the same: the more comfortable you feel with the tools you are using, the more enthusiastic you will be about the game, the more the players will feel it, and have a chance to be enthusiastic about it themselves.

I agree!

[ChicagoWiz]

I'm in the same boat - I run a game where some people are extremely familiar with AD&D, some have never touched AD&D before.

As the DM, I have laid out that OSRIC will trump AD&D in any conflicts - but we've never had any come up to any degree that I had to make a decision. Where there are additions/omissions by OSRIC, I'll allow the addition from the PHB - the monk/bard are perfect examples of that. The only thing I don't allow in my game is anything out of core 1e or OSRIC - UA is out of bounds for my game. To be honest, I run my games pretty much as AD&D-lite, so nobody has had any real issues with hard core nits to pick. It's been some of the old AD&D idiosyncrasies that probably have caused us to stumble the most and I've gotten very comfortable with making an on-the-spot ruling with a discussion/possible revision later on.