Mao's Spotlight on here #33: TPD and Dave, a review #1

[mao]

The Perilous Dreamer Has a bunch of threads that review the LBB. I m going to celebrate Dave Arnson with a review of TPDs review but I am also using this opportunity to enhance the LBB as he goes through line by line.But first I am going to do a little internal look at my journey away from modern games and my return to OD&D

I was looking for an online home for years. I was a square peg and really still am. Irish Warrior Invited me here after reading some of my stuff on Dragon'sfoot that was not getting hits or comments. In an act of blind fate I came here , got my own subforum and began to move all the "aramax" threads as i evolved iinto "mao."
I was looking for a fresh start in a place where I hopefully would have some success. As I participated in various threads, the dawn of my discovering Arnson was completed. I thirst for OD&D and have no desire to return to modern complexity.It really is Arnson who was the true genius as he invented things like level advancement and other rpg concepts. I think to discover how bad Unearthed Arcana with its ridiculous barbarian and cavalier classes that you realize Gary is just not that creative , enhancing my view of Dave. So I dedicate this thread to the 2 dave's, Arnson and TPD.

[mao]

Day 1/55


originaldungeons-and-dragons.blogspot.com/2020/02/2020-year-of-blackmoor-50th-anniversary_24.html

This post was about The Perilous Dreamer's plans for this. I was aware that he was working n a new rule set but I did't realize that it was so founded in OD&D as I thought it was going to be more 2nd ed. I was pleasantly surprised to see this. He has embarked on a very ambitious project that I can get behind. I just have 1 question for him:The Perilous Dreamer, How much 2nd ed will be included in the final product? 

[The Perilous Dreamer]

May 4, 2020 7:07:16 GMT -5 mao said:

Day 1/55


originaldungeons-and-dragons.blogspot.com/2020/02/2020-year-of-blackmoor-50th-anniversary_24.html

This post was about The Perilous Dreamer 's plans for this. I was aware that he was working n a new rule set but I did't realize that it was so founded in OD&D as I thought it was going to be more 2nd ed. I was pleasantly surprised to see this. He has embarked on a very ambitious project that I can get behind. I just have 1 question for him:The Perilous Dreamer , How much 2nd ed will be included in the final product? 

Some concepts implemented in a  bare bones OD&D way if it works out well. So not a lot in terms of crunch. I realized I needed go back and really look at OD&D like I did back in year one for me. After I finish that, I am going to take the same look at a lot of the other stuff. Those I had bitd and those I did not see or know about until after somewhere between 2000-2009. You know I thought about building my own forum as early as 2004 and I can see now that I really made a mistake by waiting. What we have here is good, I think, but I should have started it years sooner. As they say hindsight is 2020. No pun intended.

[mao]

The real day One


originaldungeons-and-dragons.blogspot.com/2020/02/2020-year-of-blackmoor-50th-anniversary_25.html

There is a lot of going over the rules and it's reflecton on modern D&D. The Perilous Dreamer is certainly prejudiced toward this 2013 rework, but he has a lot to be right about. He is supportive of the changes in general but I see a hint of wishing for the good old days.For example he talks about the modern audience being too fixated on the slick streamline of the more modern rules and many seeing these as incomplete. As he says nothing can be further from the truth,there was never any nashing of teeth and wailing at the old timey table as the DM "struggled" w running games. The games were rich and varied, although poor DMs struggled because they really didn't understand the way it should more properly ran. A perfect example of a poor DM came to me in the form of"Players do double damage on a 19-20, monsters did double damage on a 18-20", and of course the rest of the game was forgettable. In those days a truely poor dm was an anomaly thou9 I am far less kind to the modern version).

Overall it is a really good look at the forward, introduction and the index. The meat of the rules is in my future!(and I am really looking forward to this, This is my first reading

[ampleframework]

That point about the 3lbbs being complete and usable in and of themselves is also Greyharp's thesis. He put together a single volume compilation of the 3lbb back in 2011 or so and that still floats around the internet. It's technically not legal the way OGL-abiding Clones or the official WOTC pdfs are, but he's also giving it away for free and not making a dime off it, so while I won't post the link publicly, I will gladly tell of it and share it via IMs if anyone were every interested. It's my go-to version of OD&D.