Things I have said over the years

[Crimhthan The Great]

The only thing you need to know is this: The Old School Way is to take any (and I do mean any) rule of the game that just doesn't work for you and then delete it or replace it or house rule it or whatever it takes to make it work for you and your campaign, you don't need to sort through lots of references and look at what this or that ref does, just do whatever it takes to make your campaign run the way you want it to. Be an Old School Ref and take the rules (the guidelines) and make them your own. It does not matter whether any of us approve of what you do, it only matters if 1. you like what you come up with and 2. your players enjoy playing it that way.


Disclaimer:

I can be pretty blunt and hardline sometimes, please don't take it personally. I am gruff, but not really hard to get along with.

[Crimhthan The Great]

Always remember, as a first principle of all D&D: playing BtB is not now, never was and never will be old school.


The full quote is:

Always remember, as a first principle of all D&D: playing BtB is not now, never was and never will be old school. Old school D&D involves house rules and at least some flying by the seat of the pants, making it up as you go.


Rules lawyers have missed the heart and soul of old school D&D.

Munchkins are not there to have fun, munchkins are there to make sure no one else does.

Nothing is more dishonorable, than being a min-maxer munchkin rules lawyer.

[Crimhthan The Great]

TETSNBN The Edition That Shall Not Be Named
TATSNBN The Abomination That Shall Not Be Named (aka YAETSNBN)



TETSNBN refers to 3rd (&3.5) Edition D&D and was devised by someone at DF.(There is a history here on DF that I will not go into but the term was created after they were not allowed to mention 3E in their posts)

I coined TATSNBN to refer to 4th Edition D&D. YAETSNBN was coined by someone else at DF in an attempt to displace TATSNBN.



Disclaimer: while I would never admit it to anyone at DF, I really have no animosity towards the WotC editions.

[Crimhthan The Great]

Other very important quotes:

The rules are guidelines to follow in designing your own campaign. -- Gary Gygax, D&D, 1973
...the 'rules' were never meant to be more than guidelines; not even true 'rules.' -- Tim Kask, D&D Supp IV, 1976
The D&D game has no rules, only rule suggestions. -- Tom Moldvay, D&D, 1981
The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules. -- Gary Gygax

[Crimhthan The Great]

Besides OD&D and the supplements, other old school rpg stuff worth having and rpg stuff that is not necessarily old school but very usable with old school:

Chainmail
Swords & Spells
D&D Rules Cyclopedia
Arduin Trilogy (vols 1-3)
Arduin Grimoires (vols 4-9)
All the Worlds Monsters
Judges Guild, Ready Ref Sheets
The AD&D DMG to use for random encounters
The Monster Manual I & II for more monsters than are in M&T
Midkemia Press' Cities
AH Runequest Cities
Gamelords' The Free City of Haven & Shadows over the Labyrinth
Thieves World (Chaosium box set
TSR's Lankhmar City of Adventure
Beastmaker Mountain (Role Aids)
The Erol Otus FAE publications (Booty & the Beasts, Necromican, Treasure Cards, Geomorphs)
dungeon geomorphs from most sources
Starstone by Paul Vernon - mini-campaign settings/regional campaign settings

[Crimhthan The Great]

Although published in 1982, the Judges Guild Item titled "Field Guide to Encounters Vol 1 & 2" is easily convertible to OD&D. It is quite useful in creating NPCs.

Vol 1 is 110 pages and contains:
Creating a Character
Poison Resistance
Occupations
Character Monster Supplement Introduction
Introduction to Intelligent Monster Supplement
Racial Distributions Chart
Intelligent Monsters
Rites of godhood
Creating a god
Appendix A Mutations
Mutation Descriptions
Appendix B Cross-Breeding Probabilities

Vol 2 is 94 pages and contains:
Assigning E.P.
Monsters
Psionics

[Crimhthan The Great]

You can get a copy of Midkemia Press' Cities and The City of Carse.

Midkemia Press Products