Darksun Ad&d 2nd...

Ok, so because of some people over on the discord server (I'm looking at you Naatkinson...), a hunger inside of me has woken up...
While discussing what was everybodies favorite d&d edition and why, I realised I really missed ad&d. I know it's not balanced like 5th, but that is part of it's charm. So here I am, wanting to satisfy that hunger.

I will be starting a ad&d 2nd game using the darksun setting. I will try to make it a very deadly game, so yes, characters will die. I'm looking for players already familiar with ad&d rules (THAC0, you should what it is) for my first game that are not afraid of loosing characters. Of course since it's Darksun, we will be starting at lv.3 and we will use the character tree option (more on that in the game). For those who don't know ad&d, don't worry, I'll probably run a game later for those who want to try it.

This will be your interview, tell me a good memory about ad&d you have and what you like to see in my game (you can also include something you don't want to see if you want). After that, I'll choose 3 to 5 people that should fit well in my game.

Please be advised that this game will be 18+ in it's content. Even if we are here to have fun, there will be violence, drugs, and a lot of disturbing behaviors. Darksun is a harsh world and I'll try my best to push that feeling of a hopeless world in my game...

Thank you all for taking the time to read all this. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them all as soon as I can.

2nd Ed psionics.....hmmmmm. Interesting....I'm intrigued as I have always been crazy about psionics in 2e and 3e. However I haven't looked at 2nd ed rules for a very long time, but just need a refresher. I can't say I am focused on one particular memory of 2e, there were so many, but I always remember the thrill of hanging on for dear life in Planescape - struggling to find that next portal to get away from whatever extra-planar bollocks is snapping at your heels - Fiends, Slaadi, Elementals, Undead, Astral Krakens, Githyanki......but most of all I really loved speaking in Planewalker cant. Berks!

I played in one 2e Dark Sun game where the PCs were actually Prestine humans, but we played the whole campaign with a Venger chasing us. As I recall it's a kind of undead that is pretty much unkillable and never goes away until it kills the person it has beef with - which was us. I was playing a prestine human with water elemental abilites, one of which was every time I was to take non-magical damage, I get a save vs. PPD or the weapon would simply pass through me as my body shifted to water....pretty neat.

Oh man... just one good memory?

I guess sitting around a table with my two best friends, not necessarily even playing a game, just rolling characters, drawing maps, reading the books (PHB, DMG, all of them, honestly) and modules over and over. I remember when THAC0 was first a thing, thinking how brilliant it was, so that I didn’t have to write down a whole table of to hit values on my sheet. It did require that I write up a new character sheet, but that was okay because I loved coming up with new ways of organizing my character sheet.

Now that I’ve given an insight into my very geeky childhood... I’d just like to be able to go back to those rules and give it a go again. That’s all I’d want from a game.

I haven't thought about THAC0 in a long time, but I'd love to dig it out and play 2nd ed again.

The story I would tell is about my first two experiences playing it. The first time, it was a 1-on-1 session. The DM was new, I was new and we only had two hours to play. I built a fighter because magic was still too complicated. My mission was to rescue a princess from a mad wizard. I had some lucky rolls and got to the top of the tower without being spotted. Saved the girl and fought my way out of the tower without taking a single point of damage. My horse was not so lucky. The towers archers got him as we fled and the creature went down hard. I hadn't even thought to name him, but he got us far enough into the woods (and our time was up) so the princess and I got away. A real Big Damn Hero session for me. Great for my first time out.

Next weekend, I go with my cousin to a game store where a guy he knows is running a session we can join. This time, since i have backup, I decide I'm going to try a wizard. The party is all gnomes...it was a theme they wanted to try...so my illusionist Bidel was born. Then he died. A group of gnome merchants was being shaken down by a dwarven mob. We were sent to "negotiate" and since I had the highest Cha, I was the face. I ended up getting upset with the boss and magic missiled him in the face. Not a smart thing to do with only 3 hp while surrounded by dwarven thugs. So the rest of the party escapes with some damage taken, and they meet Gimbel, Bidel's younger brother who I had just rolled up. We enter the manor where the dwarves' hideout is. This time, I do not take the front, I stay in the back...which means I am the first one to get shot when the guard with the crossbow sneaks up BEHIND the party (we all failed our perception checks...the DM killed me a second time fair and square.) The gnomes make it to the basement where they find Flinsel, cousin to the dearly departed brothers Bidel & Gimbel. Flinsel is smart. He learns from his cousin's mistakes. Next marching order, he plants himself smack in the middle of the 5 man band, not the front not the back. It was a good plan...until we passed by the secret room and another dwarf popped up and ran Flinsel through with a critical hit before he even got a turn.

So I went from the soaring heights of heroism, to the absolute gutter of retched patheticness in two games. The GM showed me his maps that he had drawn before the session, that secret room was there the whole time, we just didn't notice it. Despite (or because of) the utter failure that was the life and times of Bidel, Gimbel & Flinsel, D&D had been a passion of mine for a long time.

Some second eddition catches my interest right now. Like to give it a shot again.

You want a good AD&D memory? Get a load of this! This photo was taken in 1987. That's 13-year-old me on the far right. Damn, those were great times!

I just want to say that is so precious Jabes!!! Great collection too!

Wish I could remember my younger days.

I wasn't even alive in 1987! That's an awesome collection, though.

Was only five in 1987.... Another five years before I had my first d&d taste....

Raises hand.

I was in college (and my last year of playing D&D until coming back to it three years ago with 5th Edition) in 1987. And I still have all of those books in Jabes's photo.

Yeah, those are the books I learned to play with as well. My martial arts instructor is 60, so he was playing when AD&D came out and he invited myself and some friends to play with him. Been playing with him ever since (about 15 years)

That's awesome! There's something about those books. I look through them and the feeling I get is still one of revelation. Awe. It's beyond nostalgia. It like this world that has opened up to me and the possibilities are endless. It's this feeling that, you know what? There IS a place for me. There are other people who GET IT. They've created a thing FOR ME. This is MY thing. It belongs to ME.

And I don't mean that in a selfish, you-can't-have-it sort of way. I mean it in the way of an outsider discovering something they can join. "I might still be a freak to others because I simply can't understand the fervor exhibited at the high school football game, but here's something I'm equally passionate about, even if I don't dare breathe a word of it to the wrong people, let alone shout it in a crowd." I despise it, but I get why so many from the old school shit all over later editions. It's like chasing that dragon, always trying to find that high you got from the first time.

Thing is, I'm aware enough to realize that, 35 years from now, some "old school" gamer is going to get that exact same feeling looking through their tattered copies of 5th Edition, remembering the first time they discovered this thing that belongs to THEM! They might end up being a curmudgeonly, middle-aged asshole who rails against these dumb kids and their 10th Edition (like the old men in the AD&D Facebook group I had to quit), or they might end up being an overly verbose, nostalgic, middle-aged man who loves playing 10e, but still lovingly (but not creepily, he keeps telling himself) caressing his copies of 5e. (I'm not looking in a mirror or anything, promise.)

Then there's the feeling, prevalent among the types who frequent the aforementioned Facebook page I had to quit, who think today's nerds haven't earned it. How many people watched Avengers: Endgame the opening weekend? In the '80s, I rarely brought up the fact that I collected comic books. Now, I can brag that I know which comics are being borrowed from for each superhero movie. In the '80s, my mother fretted that my soul was in jeopardy because I was playing a satanic game. Now, the hobby is embraced by untold millions and there's hardly a person in the country who doesn't at least know what "D&D" stands for (and not in a *gasp* you're-going-to-hell way).

Yeah, there are plenty of vocal old-timers who feel like they aren't being given the deference they think they deserve and they think teen nerds of today have it too easy and take their hobby for granted. Personally, I look at that 17-year-old in my Wednesday group and think, "I am totally envious of the fact that you can so easily find people, young and old, to share your passion with."

Wait, what was the topic of this thread? Have I gone off it?

Where are my pills?

Here's your pill... See, the one with the word "DarkSun" written on it...

All of the things McDunno said! ♡♡♡

And dammit, I'm sorely tempted to take those pills deadpool's offering!

Here's a less good memory. It was time to move house. It was impossible to bring all my ad&d stuff (couldn't transport, no space in the new apartment, bringing more was gonna create a big fight) Kept the Greyhawk, Planescape, Al-Qadim, some Ravenloft, gave up on the FR, Spelljammer, Birthright and, unfortunately, Dark Sun. Never had a chance to return to it ever again. Never got round to playing psionics in the setting, which arguably is THE setting to play it in.

THAC0? Darn, but my teenage self already memorised all the 1e attack matrices by class and level! :D

(I know there are pdfs now, but it isn't quite the same if you've had a hardcopy before)

Although I have the PHB and DMG, 2e is after my time; I was in college and had stopped playing a year or so before it came out. I bought the books in 2014/15 when some friends and I were kicking around the idea of starting a campaign and were debating which edition to play. Prior to that, I didn't even realize there was a second edition, let alone a third or fourth! It kind of cracks me up whenever I see some "old school" player try to debate the merits of THAC0. The first time I heard the term was just a few years ago when I was listening to Brian Posehn's Nerd Poker podcast. I had to look it up because all I could remember was a character sheet with a row of "to hit" numbers on it.

Anyway, my familiarity with Dark Sun begins and ends with the wretched "Prism" pentalogy published in 1991-93 that I picked up a year or so ago. My familiarity with 2e begins and ends with its similarities to AD&D. Despite that, I'd like to give this a go. If I'm going to swallow this pill, I'd probably play a fighter or something else that doesn't stray too far from the rules and setting of AD&D, rather than trying to catch up on things like psionics or how magic works in this setting. If you'll have me, that is.

Haven't forgotten any of you ! Still going thru some refreshing myself with the old rules and making sure the forum his ready, should send the invites before the end of next week-end (may 26-27).

Just making sure I haven't forgotten anybody, this his the list of everybody who posted here (tell me if I forgot you or if I added your name and you're not interrested...)
- Valkeelis
- 78RPMLife
- foolsmask
- GeneCortess
- Jabes.plays.RPG
- lenpelletier
- Naatkinson
- McDunno
- BedzoneII

interested yes, but unable to join at this time :) have a blast!