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When where these versions published they look brand new i am impressed!

So you allow a fighter mage to use armor with spells?

Are you in a warehouse?

Hey David - discovered your stuff via going back to the start of the Grogtalk podcast recently - look forward to listening to this series too! Are your books available as PDFs anywhere? Saw them on that Tablo site but could not figure out whether they were downloadable! Thanks for all your work! James

This is a cool game.

Great video. The background music is a little distracting.

On the 1986 Character Record Sheet, it lists Movement for Hidden/Hazard as (x1/2). I don’t know where they got that calculation from, but it does present something more than a blank space for essentially “hidden” movement.

I've only ever played in one waterborne campaign. We had to create characters that were also crew. So during character generation for "secondary skill" we got a bit creative as to skills for sailors. Now as for movement, our DM would have the captain roll to see if the crew could increase speed or turning for that turn. I'm thinking that he made a chart for that. Figuring out movement was critical when you were near reefs and sandbars and only the DM knew exactly where those were. If you had a spotter in the crows nest, they could warn the captain.

Yet another old favourite. Thanks for this. All the games we played back in the early 80s were theatre of the mind - without maps and tokens.

Only had one occasion to get followers and build an empire(small e) and that was in CM1 Test of the Warlords. Any other time we were either taking over a cavern, a building/complex in a town or something similar. Still had to hire guards and purchase equipment for them and that gets expensive. I started making the other players characters put money into a group fund to finance these things. Of course my characters, usually being thieves, took a smal amount for pay since I was doing the books and all the hiring and purchasing of equipment.

Just stumbled upon your videos, and they are great. this one was quite cool, and it absolutely shows people today how easy it is to make a character in AD&D 1st ed. It doesn't need to take a full night to do! Method III was interesting. We always used Method I, but that method leads to all the cookie-cutter characters. Method II was similar, with worse stats, and III and IV seemed to take too long. Since seeing your video, I found I was quite mistaken. I have since used Method III exclusively, but I only roll three times for each stat, rather than 6. I found it still guards against the hopeless characters, while also making so many really good stats that much more rare. Thanks for showing me the way!

I've never did make it to something this far along in a character's life or campaign to do this. I dreamt of it, but it never happened. Today, I'm afraid there are too few of us playing 1st edition AD&D to even dream of it anymore. I unfortunately hear too many D&D players these days talking more about how they only want to play one shots and continue to dummy down things as opposed to putting up the effort for campaigns that lead to developing your own keep and fiefdom anymore. Sad. It's also sad that now I sound like the old man raging about the kids like we complained about our parents doing. Ha! GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!

CM1 Test of the Warlords was the only large scale "Domain" I ever ran. And depending on the player, you could get as detailed as to your domain and forces as you liked. Other than that I had no characters that got high enough level to get their followers but we did establish several "strongholds" in various campaigns. Players tend to ignore the fact that you can't carry all your stuff with you everywhere you go. So you eventually need a place to stash your stuff and you definitely want somebody guarding it! And all that costs money. Gygax knew this and it was a way that he could drain the purses of his players characters. Which also made them want to keep playing those characters. And every time we had to hire guards for our strongholds it was also a way to utilize those low power magic items by giving them to those guards, like sergeants and lieutenants, to keep them loyal to you.

I've been liking this series so far; I've owned this set for a while now but with a potential dnd game coming up I'm brushing off the dust and this system is simple for the sake of being representative of the action in broad strokes. No specifics. Definitely leaves more to the imagination and allows role-playing better I feel than the more modern 1:1 game style.

This is still good info as I look into running an AD&D game. However, page 28 of the DMG indicates that monsters do not get a weapon type vs armor adjustment unless the monster is wearing actual armor.

We used psionics for a time long ago. It showed me that the only way it made sense was to use psionics instead of magic. This would mean some classes do not exist or may exist without powers. It would give a low fantasy/sci-fi feel to the game which is still appealing to me.

Always thought the 18/01 to 18/00 thing made no sense. Would've been simpler just to go to 19+ or just have 18 be the upper limit.

D&D basic has a ton of information about dominion rule, and it fits perfectly into 1st edition ad&d

I am a little late to this party but I am loving the insights. I am thinking of running an proper AD&D campaign. As to hit points, don't for get your henchmen! They are meant to be in the fray earning their pay! Once you realize that a player runs a character and that character is actually running a small unit things change.

Why so much noise in the background? Makes the video harder to understand.

Thanks, I have ADD and this helped me

I remember in the 80s, people tried to convince the world that D&D was equal to Satanism

Machiolations! I been completely mispronouncing that! Of course all these things have real names... we just always called it the flappy-doory thing. Ha! 😆

This is a very helpful video. Thank you for making it. Cheers from California.

Man, this would’ve been really nice to have when I was 12 and trying to DM for my brothers basically whenever I wasn’t at school. Of course that was 30 years ago, so I guess I have to forgive you for that one😂

Great vid... but the music, while good, is extremely distracting.

Great video! One of the fighters in our campaign is approaching 9th level and is already working on this aspect of play. We’ve slowly been trying to explore outward from the main civilized areas that we are based out of because a domain must have a set range away from other domains. Generally speaking, we have to clear out a region of all the monsters located within before starting work on the domain too. The trouble the player may have is getting the party to go along with spending multiple sessions of play where all we do is assist with the fighter’s domain project.

Looks like a fun game... definitely better with miniatures. Ha!

You explained it more clearly than the book did. 😁

Another excellent video. As I recall, Morale originally was 2d6, but in the AD&D DMG it's percentile dice. (pg 67)

I also found some great 1st edition, AD&D Underwater Encounters content in Dragon Magazine #68 (p. 36-40). This will really flesh out the encounters similar to the random dungeon and outdoor tables do in the DMG. Very cool to rediscover this.

Alignment has been debated since it was created and probably will be forever, but I think you’ve done a nice job explaining it while leaving a bit of wiggle room for personal interpretation.

David Thomson? That guy's cool. I watch his YT vids whenever they drop.

Lighting can add drama to exploring particularly at low levels when PCs are relying on those torches and keeping track of how long before it burns out. I think a lot of people hand-wave that, but it can be exciting!

Great stuff! Thanks for the detail. I've never been in a game that used travel by water, at least not that I can remember. Of course the group of friends I grew up with / played with never used a LOT of the rules in 1st edition AD&D. That's one of the biggest reasons I wanted to get back to it, play as close to rules as written as possible, and try new things. There are a lot of major rivers and a bit of coastline on the Judges Guild campaign map I'm using for my solo game. I think I'll try using this for some waterborne adventuring and escorting trade. I think it would make a lot of sense and add a lot of flavor to my game. This also gives a whole new vision for using spells and weather in a game. Imagine a druid on deck that can control weather, or how seaborne summons might have an impact. Water elementals, Water Weirds, etc. Complex but could really inject some exciting play for the imaginative players. I can imagine a poor party of adventurers, paying for passage and just being caught up in encounters they never expected. Almost as if they had become the NPC's stuck among the players doing what they do on ship or even barges, ferries, or just standing at the slip. Thanks again for the great content and rules information!!! Cheers.

Just in case folks need it: For the soft copy of the Flipping and Turning magazine: smolderingdung.itch.io/ To purchase a print on demand copy and have one posted out: www.smolderingdunggames.com/

Brilliant, feels like a bootleg mail-order casset tape from the 80s!

I thought the goblins really needed their captain?

I couldn''t agree more that this is a great introductory scenario. I bought a 2x2 foot piece of foam board and added foam around the outside edges to make my own board. I used two sets of the Moria terrain so that I could have 4 columns on each side. There have been various versions of it over the years, but they are all pretty similar, and a lot of fun. I usually run a game with two new players, and then have them switch sides, as I've found it's tough for the Goblins to win, especially if the Fellowship player uses Gandalf to neutralize the Troll.

lots of ideas here; apart from Ganalf both Elrond and Tom Bombadil filled the sage role in lord of the rings, as mentioned the sage may try and find the players and become their patron at low level... while the sage that comes along on the adventure may just be like the company guy that features in Aliens (when the evil needs unlocking)... never mind about the plots and schemes of rival sages.....

No matter what the rules say, to me Armor Class determines if you were actually hit, and Hit Points represent your ability to sustain damage. Characters at higher level are gain more stamina through experience, and are better at "rolling with the punch" and so forth.

I can see we have similar taste in music, between the Pink Floyd and Steely Dan. Maybe some Frank Zappa next time? Regarding the Sage... I was thinking of using the sage in my solo campaign as a method of offering context to the party with less overt metagaming. Paying and using rolls to determine things at various times seems a way to address some of the lack of rumor and other context that isn't already in the appendix of the DMG's official random tables. Thanks for all you're doing and I look forward to the next.

One of my characters is currently attempting to consult with a sage about some ancient historical pendants we found. 100 GP is the cost. Some of the details on finding a sage is handwaved I think.

As our group renews our DnD roots, i need to look at these rules again. We didnt use them before. Now, i greatly wish to use them. When we stopped playing (1987) things were still fun, but i was running out of ideas. Ive been trying to steer them at collecting monster parts for big money and access to magic, but they haven't figured that out yet. "Railroad" was not something i knew of back then. But now, i indeed know and am happy i never did that "railroad" to them. They've missed some prime opportunities, but the path they chose was theirs. 😂👍

Do relics! 😊 love this channel!

I remember getting almost every book from this era of DND from a deceased family friend. They were all stolen, and man was it devastating to know I never even got to run a game with them before they were lost.

I've used the random dungeon generator when the group deviated from the prepared encounters. They never knew anything was amiss. I loved it.

Just seeing the cover of that book brings me back what? 40 years...wow

I’m curious what method other player groups use for distributing out Magic Items. I’ve played in some games where it’s a “first person who claims it gets it” kinda method, which I hate. I’ve also played in games where nobody cared for magic items so only one character would get everything. In my current game, we usually end up rolling off, high roller gets the prize, method. But I can see this leading to issues down the road when someone rolls super lucky all the time and gets most everything and someone else never rolls well.

Loving your content. Not preachy and very informative. I always get something out of it that I've never thought about! I also appreciate your comment about "Monty Hall" games. I never liked it, but most of the DM's I've had run games are much too free wheeling with treasure and booty for my taste. I especially felt that way after having a chance to play in some Con tournaments. That was my gold standard for the REAL D&D gaming experience, but sadly never found a local group that actually played that way. A question for you also... regarding the Identify spell, rules as written. The "... must be examined by the magic-user within 1 hour per level of experience of the examiner after it has been discovered, or all readable impressions will have been blended into those of the characters who have possessed it since." What does it mean to blend impressions into the possessor of said magic item when not examined in time? If the parties cleric carried the item out, the cleric has some "impressions" passed on to him/her? I've never had a game that did more with this spell than pay 100 gold pieces, and even that was a stretch for the DM's I grew up with. These mysteries are what make this game so damn cool!