The bugbear with a pumpkin head was a result of an artist taking Gygax's flowery language literally. He described them as "pumpkin-headed," meaning large and round. That art was also the inspiration for Burly in the Wild Beyond the Witchlight module.
"Gnomes were considered a kind of dwarf." J.R.R. Tolkien really, really wanted to use the label "gnome" to refer to the high elves (Galadriel, et al) in his stories, but he realized that the popular conception of gnomes as jolly little gremlins was too widespread. He did, however, change the popular conception of elves, beginning with "Smith of Wooten Major". I know all this because I read it in a book, somewhere.
To add to this post, the reason he wanted the Noldor, or high elves to be called gnomes was because of the greek word Gnosis, meaning Knowledge. He wanted the high elves to be keepers of hidden knowledge unlike any other race in Middle Earth. Sadly his editor wanted nothing to do with it.
Regarding elves: Outside of north America they were always more synonymous with mysterious spirits and fairies so for anyone reading his works in Europe there would have been none of the "Oh, wait, does he mean the red and green dudes that help Santa?" dissonance. Gnomes though... Yeah, I can see why that was just a bridge too far.
Well, it isn't a cave. Most dungeons were historically created as a jail, and heavy wooden doors everywhere were a first line of defense if an inmate escaped.
@@DeltaVengeance probably youtube monetization and a weird expectation that comes when a channel becomes more popular. but i guess your question was probably rhetorical; so sorry in advance
I need to somehow download these videos. I don't know what happens to youtube in 20 years, but I think this DOCUMENTARIES should be preserved. Even for the next generation maybe. Also make no mistake, those are quality documentaries, not mere throw away videos
Nice retrospective! Brings back fond memories . . . A nitpick if I may, as it happens that I am currently reading through the entire Howard oeuvre: Conan is only a thief in one part of his life, comprising just over a dozen tales in all; he is also a pirate, a king, a sellsword, a straight assassin, a nomadic tribal leader, etc. He engages his foes face to face, wears chainmail or plate and a helmet (the loincloth cliche shows up often enough but the image popularized by Schwartzenegger really applies to Howard's other creation: King KULL) and brawls bare-handed, or with improvised weapons such as broken furniture or huge swords. Huge! . . . Game terms: he has 2 levels of rogue and 10 levels of fighter! :)
I sincerely appreciate these history of D&D videos, I jumped into RPGs a few years ago with 5e, my uncle played AD&D decades before, and it's been a huge pleasure getting to "connect the dots" in the development of the gaming tradition. If nothing else, it helps me run my OSR games with more authenticity!
@@Entropy67 Ogres were probably the most superficially comparable Western monster to the oni. Humanoid, much bigger than a human but not as big as a giant. By the AD&D Monster Manual they already acknowledge "ogre magi" are completely different from ogres.
I literally LOLed at Matt's reaction to rolling a 3 for Duncan's hit points. I'm just discovering these series of videos. They are fascinating so far. I look forward to watching the rest.
On the question of paladin, you skipped over the hugely crucial paragraph that DMs used to keep paladin players in check: if you ever strayed from your lawful (or AD&D lawful good) alignment in deed, you lost paladin status and had *no chance* to regain it. The paladin was definitely a "game breaker" in the sense that everyone wanted the power fantasy it enabled because it was so clearly more powerful than a basic fighter. It was D&D's first "special snowflake" option. So Gary gives it tons of in-game (crunchy) rules, but makes the revocation of the Paladin "status" a non-crunchy ruling by the DM based on a player's actions. Early D&D always felt like this to me -- a blend of hard rules and DM rulings -- that led to a lot of middle-school and high-school squabbles. :-)
Great video! And to answer your challenge. Anyone can put their ear to a door and hear muffled noises slipping through from the other side, but only a thief who is practiced at the art of eavesdropping can tell you what those noises actually are or what is being said.
It wasn't just the use of "Hobbit" as a race that got them in trouble. They also had Balrogs and Ents, not to mention their unlicensed "Battle of the Five Armies" game that specifically said it came from "The Hobbit" and used the places and characters directly from the book. There was no hiding where they got it all from.
The original thief system survives in the Complete Warlock. It's similar to a wizard but the thief gets to choose skills instead of spells. The way it was written makes the thief a bit less of an ability hog. For example , a thief's move silently ability says "he escapes detection by listeners 1/6 of the time more often than a normal man under similar conditions.". So he isn't the only one trying to move silently, he's just getting a bonus to his roll. Climbing Sheer Surfaces require the use of specialized equipment that regular players wouldn't have experience with. It appears that Gary Gygax was trying to simplify the thief instead of creating the generic rules for sneaking and climbing required in order to give the thief bonuses in that system.
Yeah but it kind of leaves the rest of the characters including monsters/non-thief NPC's in a weird grey space. Like what would a fighter have to roll under to move silently? Would his armour affect this number? Would everyone who isn't a thief have the same likelihood of escaping detection regardless of their stats?
Half-elves existed prior to Elrond, in sources that Gygax likely would have read. The Lord of Erl, in the King of Elfland's Daughter, is a human who has a son with his elf bride (the titular daughter). Lord Dunsany was in Appendix N, so I think this story is also a likely influence.
And they existed in actual Norse mythology as well. I'm also pretty sure Matt is wrong that elves and humans needed permission to have children in Tolkien's work. Beren and Luthein were the first to have a half-elf child and I don't remember anything about asking for permission. I believe elves and men were fully capable of having offspring, it was just rare. And it wasn't until after the War of Wrath that the Half-Elves were given a choice to be mortal or immortal (I believe they were all mortal before that). Elrond's brother choosing to be mortal led to Aragorn's line (yes, Arwen and Aragorn are distantly related), and his line were long lived but all mortal without a choice, only Elrond's line were given the choice.
In my limited experience as a GM, players will choose whatever character options are contrary to the nature of the world as narratively described. In a swashbuckling campaign in a low-magic world that prizes honor and nobleness above all else, you will usually get a party of amoral crooks. So the idea of generating a setting through the game mechanics makes sense in a certain way.
The thief thing is real. I remember back when I was a newbie playing AD&D almost everyone was playing thieves. I also remember wanting to play a ranger and one of the guys telling me not to, that I could still wear leather armor, use swords and bows, and do everything a thief could if I was a thief. They also leveled faster than any class!
I think the paladin's limit on magic items is a balance kludge, -and- an example of simulationism. It can be both. The paladin is humble and doesn't accumulate wealth....completely, this prevents him from totally outshining other fighters.
This is a great series! I especially enjoy these early episodes because I started playing with AD&D 1e and started DMing with AD&D 2e, so it's cool to learn more about the earlier editions. I found your discussion of the thief really illuminating. It makes me want to consider what the game would be like if I took 5e, removed the rogue, and gave those basic abilities to everyone as you describe. Might be more work than it's worth, but I think the game would actually be a lot more fun if all characters were doing the sneaking, trap searching and even getting the backstab bonus. Assassin could easily be reskinned as a fighter archetype.
I would argue that there is a difference between someone who is trained and experienced in listening through a door/wall etc. and someone who isn't. Consider the sonar operator on naval vessels. Anyone can put the headphones on and hear the ping. A trained sonar operator can tell you all sorts of things about the object that made that ping. The way I handled theives was that they could potentially learn some details about what they hear (creature type, number, positioning, etc.) and find it easier to block out environmental noise and focus intently on what they want to hear (filter out the sea shell effect of putting your ear to the door, dripping water nearby, obnoxiously noisey party members in chainmail, their own heartbeat, breathing, etc. and focus on footsteps, voices, etc.)
By the way, Matt, you have a GREAT voice, and your videos are extremely entertaining, extremely informative, and I personally don't mind if they are long. Does anyone out there mind if these videos are longer than half an hour? Or not understand that you can pause them, and then come back to them at a later time? So, there's a pause button up there, and no commercial breaks, and (I'm assuming) nobody's waiting to use the camera while you finish up your video, so please don't worry about how long it takes these videos to run. They run as long as they run, and that's fine! That's a good thing! That's a very good thing! Infact, it's a fantastic, awesome thing, and the longer they run, the better, because you are an amazing speaker, you know your stuff, and you do a fantastic job.
Watching these over Christmas. Possibly a new tradition? This one really made me laugh, why must a paladin wait 10 years for a replacement horse??! I’d love to do what your friend did and run the 1970’s game for my friends one day.
I'm loving this playlist. Thanks for doing this. It's really a great way to see how much was just patch jobs as the game grew. I started on AD&D, so this predates my experience (and my birth!).
Hey, i just played DnD over the weekend for the first time, i played 5E, and upon asking what that meant it was explained to me that it was the 5th or so iteration of DnD my friend sent me over here to watch these and check out how different it was, and oh boy and i sad, i really want to fight a cloud giant riding a T-rex! either way this video and the one before were awesome and i cant wait to see what is next!
The Silmarillian was first published in Sept of 1977. I believe the first game to have Roleplaying in its title was Runequest, called a Rolplaying Adventure Game, in 1978.
I love hearing your insights and your love for nostalgia of this game!!!! Thank you for making this video, and for everything you are doing for the hobby!
I'm kind of interested in the Alternative Combat System weapon type modifiers. In theory I like the idea of daggers being good for stabbing somebody who has no protection, since I guess the table expects the attack would put you really close to the target where you're stabbing wildly for that +2 bonus and it's hard to defend against someone who gets so close up and personal with a short weapon like that. Especially find it fascinating wearing plate armour makes daggers really crummy against it. Sounds like a neat change on paper.
The first set of rules that I ever saw was the Basic Boxed Set (the one with the Red Dragon and the Fighter on the front). However, my mother last year gave me almost the entire set you're talking about (I'm missing the original Vol II: Monsters and Treasure pamphlet). I didn't realize she was handing me a goldmine of interesting D&D history. Thanks for digging in to this! So illustrative of how the EGG and Arneson developed the game.
The basic premise of "listening for noise" was as an ability to know whether there was a monster in a room behind a door you had yet to open. Without a thief you just opened a door to see what was on the other side and hoped to avoid being surprised. A spell caster high enough would have to use a clairaudience/clairvoyance spell,or augury, which you didn't want to waste on such a common task. If you look at the "Dungeon Geomorphs" and the "Monster/Treasure" assortments (published in 1978 I think), I think they reflect the basic assumption that dungeons were a series of "room/monster/treasure". (TSR created the "Dungeon" boardgame to distill the dungeon crawl into that exact basic form.) So a thief's listening skill gives it a role that serves a specific purpose during a dungeon crawl.
I remember when I went from playing D&D to Runequest it was eye opening that I could swing a sword, wear armor, and cast spells. And for all I heard about Gygax being influenced by so-called Vancian magic, it was clear that influence only went so far.
Magic missle wasn't there because The Raven hadn't come out yet. Also -the Split for large vs. man sized creatures is a holdover from vs. infantry and vs. cavalry.
Amazing how many DMs either don't read that or don't run games that way and feel completely beholden to the letter and the line of the rulebook. I admit that I struggled with the concept as a new DM.
Similarly, a while ago I realized all the 3.X era rogue 'replacement' classes failed utterly in practical terms as most of them did not have 'Trapfinding' as a class feature.
I've never played D&D but I love your videos, and watching all the differences between 5e and D&D original rule book its just amazing, weird, but still amazing. Btw, this "patch" was super necessary
Haha! I know exactly what you mean by being a teen playing D&D. While I started in 3.5, I got curious about AD&D and ordered those rulebooks online in my senior year of high school. One week we pretty much had no school at all because of snow. We literally got together and played AD&D daily!
Working my way through your channel after someone posted your latest vid on the D&D 5e reddit. Just wanted to say that I find all of these excellent and super interesting, thanks a lot!
If you are wondering why your analytics show this one guy who is currently continuously rewatching those videos its me. Your latest video reminded me of how much i liked your long form content. Im watching this while doing dnd prep, commuting or going to sleep. Somewhere midway through im losing track of this video only to be going back hours later.
52:19 Wait, did Bugbears used to have a pumpkin for a head? That sounds too weird, but maybe I can steal that idea for a special tribe of Pumpkinbears.
The description says something along the lines of "they have a round head, like a pumpkin" and the artist was too literal; however, RuneQuest (the main game spawned by the percentile dice thing Matt mentions) honored it by having the Jack o Bear, which is a bear with a pumpkin for a head.
Hey, really enjoyed this video :) To the question why a sword does more damage to large creatures, a DM I know once gave a pretty nifty explanation in my opinion: You can kill a person with a few hits of a sword (d8 dmg, 1 hit dice) and you can easily kill for example a horse with a few sword strikes. A horse will have more than one hit dice and therefore statistically take at least double the hits a human would take. This holds true for quite a few large creatures, which would be "easy" to strike down, but game mechanics prevent that. Therefore swords get buffed against those monsters, but for example a poison/a burst of flames/whatever else comes to mind will not have as much effect on the larger body mass.
I just started watching this series of videos. It is pretty neat watching the progression of change. So far, to me anyways, GG was trying to walk a tightrope between the different classes abilities wise. Trying to give each something special and enticing to play, but overly guarding against the omnipotent. I also get the sense he was not at all prepared for the popularity his game garnered.
Since AFAIK Tolkien was also the one that coined the term "halfling" in his books, I think the "Hobbit" C&D was probably over trademark issues. If the first book hadn't been specifically titled "The Hobbit" then it probably would've been less of a problem.
Going back and watching these after watching all the Running the Game vids. Can't wait to see the editions beyond 2nd :p Around 51 minutes in, when talking about damage on weapons, you mentioned how they varied damage between sized opponents. Wanted to point out that Battle Axes, Flails, and Arrows/Quarrels do the same damage to both regular sized and large sized opponents. Also what's with video #4 on the playlist being Private?
Wow, the note about the thief came to my mind naturally. I was creating a one-shot for new players, so I was pre-generating the PCs. I decided, since stealth was likely to be employed, that I would just give every PC stealth proficiency (5e). I didn't want to hold new players back from a potentially big part of options, to close their mind off. So, I agree with this. I think everyone should be a thief!
In The Dungeon Masters Guide on page 98 is page two of The Campaign (The First Dungeon Adventure), they have a magic-user listening at a door. I remembered reading that along time ago while watching haha. Great videos by the way.
Matt being entertained at the idea of Mars, the god of war, showing up as a random encounter is funny enough, but I only just realized that Mars is being given a piggyback by a giant bronze man
There were rules for thieves not using shields etc and can't wear specific armour types because they assumed that using such meant the thief could not accomplish their primary tasks such as moving stealthily, climb walls etc. It was the same for magic users, untrained to use weapons and armour as their primary training was in magic.
I'm 45, played RPG"s since I was 14. I and alll though obviously you consider the traits of classes, I've never really explored the history of how the exclusiveness of classes actually developed. Very interesting, ta!
I've been playing since 74 and at the time it was great, it was the only game like it. Though it was equally frustrating when you wanted a fighter and your best stat was Int. I never really paid attention to Gary's disdain for other races, but do understand it as I don't enjoy players wanting to pay goblins and other monster races.
I made a prestige class for 5e named after the Dungeon Delver feat while working on a variant rule set, including some roleplay character creation. He is not a fancy pants sneak thief however, but a scrapper and dungeoneer, at home in dark cold places among monsters, equipped with pole, stakes, and torch, much in the spirit of the Fighting Man or the Dragon's Lair character. Maybe he has a magic ass to carry his stuff. / On simple art and imagination and the Evocative--oh, how smashing these critic words elevated societies have gifted the lessers; I should be compelled to wonder if, mayhaps, these know of its magical means and that the works of chisel and brush have, in fact, ensnared with esoteric proficiency, or enchantment; I digress--Yes, what you relate is it, exactly it. For games, I love the art of Icewind Dale and Symbaroum (mostly Justin Sweet, and Martin Grip, respectively). Much of John Howe's work is this way as well. A few skilled levels above symbol and sketch, their work takes you to a foreign, vivid scene and then leaves it to your brain magics to finish. The over polished CPU art in much of fantasy today does all of the work, sacrificing whole world of imagined wonders in their decisive lines. Very good artists and nice images, but it does not capture the essence of a role playing game, which I just described. Similar to the failings of video game D&D, with over-defined toonish art, it as if the DM is playing the game and the players are just observing, never even rolling characters or asking questions (sort of what GG was doing when being an ass).
I probably came in about the same time as you, +Matthew Colville, so I'm looking forward to the next few vids. I really like your channel and your intent to teach DMing. I've been playtesting for over a year after a long absence (maybe bought a few third edition books but never played), but have only actually played in one underwhelming game at the gameshop. I always leaned towards the DM side of the spectrum and am going to form a group this year, I hope. World-building is underway, but I'm hoping to get some of the details from the players as we go. Thanks for all the vids!
Your AD&D vid reveals you started in '86, so I got you beat there even though we are about the same age. My older brother and I started playing Basic in maybe '81, and moved quickly to AD&D. I remember the Fiend Folio being brand new, and a big deal, and that was released August 1981, according to Wikipedia. Anyway, thanks for the memories... it's allll coming back to me... lol
The fighter can hide behind the desk, but only a thief can hide in SHADOWS. Empty room, with a torch. I allow the thief to try to hide from the guard looing inside. ( think Julius Caesar's spy from Asterix and Cleopatra )
I really want to play my Human Battle master fighter again. Non combat maneuvers to enhance skills sound so F'ing sweet, and even getting more maneuvers and dice via fighting style and first level feat? Sign me up.
I don't know if it was a simulationtionist, world-building or balance issue to limit the number of magical items the Paladin can have but I like to believe it's world-building. Because all of your magic items actually belong to the noble order of paladins, but you can borrow any as the Grandmaster thinks you are worthy of using right now Fracking voice to text
I really enjoy these videos! You really know your stuff and you're very entertaining to listen to. I hope you make more soon! I can't wait until you reach AD&D and then later third edition :) Trying to spread the word to all my D&D buddies, these should get a lot more views!
The Weight allowed column goes by coin weight. In OD&D and AD&D it goes by a coin weight of 10 coins = 1 pound, so that 1,200 that you refer to is not 1,200 pounds its 120 pounds.
My grognard friend liked to tell me about the old days when there was a polyhedral dice shortage (because they weren't really in demand before D&D) in the late 70s so they had to draw chits from bowls. I.e. you'd have a bowl with chits labelled 1 through 6, and another 1 through 8, etc.
I bought AD&D 2nd Edition Player's Handbook and DM's Guide last year and I started to read them. When I read the Paladin Class and read about the horse I was like, this is why Paladins in WoW get a free mount! (getting your first mount in Vanilla or Classic WoW is really hard, you need 100 gold and 100 gold is a lot at lvl 40 when you can finally learn how to mount).
41:58: I think the "Hit Dice Bonuses" are plus and minus hit points to each die roll when determining hit points. The "***" note says "minimum score of 1/hit die" seems to only make sense in this case, because it clarifies that if your character's CON score is 3-6 and you roll a "1" you still get 1 additional hit point (i.e. ignore the assigned -1 modifier).
maybe thief was a response to Rob Kuntz's playstyle with Robilar the fighter? Like, a way to limit the fighter (and hence all classes) from employing the stealth, patience and so forth to overcome all the challenges in the dungeon?
A "symbiotic" Dragon that spits out oozes... that is fantastic. Truly awesome. And honestly, that's a vague enough idea that how difficult it is to fight can be very easily adjusted. I never would have seen this kind of stuff. Though, if I hadn't been _shielded_ from D&D as a kid, I've have started with AD&D instead of 3E as a (technically) adult. So who knows what sort of stuff I'd have been throwing out into games, since even with D&D I had come up with some very weird things -- my friends and I made up our own imaginary mario/zelda games and I would make maps for them, going so far as to crinkle them up and tear and singe the edges, and then we'd just play make believe out in the backyard or in the trees beyond the yard in what could easily be seen as a sort of proto-D&D adventure that was a mix of "larping" and simply telling the story to one another. I tried getting into AD&D after getting very well acquainted with 3 and 3.5. And after a few hours of reading the AD&D book I just set it down and thought, "naw, there's a reason they made a new version". I currently love what 5E is as a game, easily the best version of D&D. But I have to say there's something magical about the barebones structure that is Greyhawk and the '74 original pamphlet.
Manticora: # of attacks 24 spikes at 1-6hp ?! Plus two claws and a bite. Gotta love the old school stuff. "Hold on a sec, guys, I've got some rolling and adding to do."
I think the reason they saw the rules as an engine to produce the setting is because they were running so many people thru it that they would have seen the setting change by having a ton of paladins or whatever. They considered a campaign to be 50 players, instead of five.
Actually the whole Hobbit thing was very effective. Today most people do have a strong association with the word hobbit and the tLotR, while halfling does not have that connection. Tolkien was a professor of languages so he knew what he was doing. Also on the Half-Elf issue, there are stories in the Edda and such were elves mate with humans and produce offsprings. Tolkien was heavily inspired by the Edda, I mean Thorins company including Gandalf are all named after characters in the Edda, so in human tradition elves and humans can mate, though its often associated with some kind of curse for the human parent.
One thing you may have overlooked is that weight in OD&D was measured in 'coins' and there were 10 coins to a pound. That means a fighter with an 18 strength can carry an extra 50 lbs, while a fighter with 18/00 could carry 120 lbs. Still pretty huge, but not quite supernatural.
Regarding the difference in damage between man-sized opponents and larger opponents, I believe it was due to the way the weapon was commonly used and how size would affect the weapon's ability to damage vital organs. Consider that a normal man without special training might have 3 or 4 hit points while a storm giant with a similar lack of special training would have around 67 or 68 hit points. Those extra hit points were meant to represent how much harder the creature was to kill because of its size. Default weapons - those that were neither particularly well suited nor poorly suited for fighting a giant - kept the same damage and just had to slog through more hit points to represent the creatures's ability to shrug off injuries that to it would feel more like paper cuts and minor nicks. Weapons that inflicted surface wounds, like battle axes, tended to have the same damage regardless of size, as did weapons that were small but had great ability to penetrate such as arrows. However, some weapons were more (or less) suited for fighting a large creature. A dagger is primarily designed for stabbing yet lacks the length to reach deep into the body of a storm giant; thus it is a particularly ill-suited weapon for the task and this is represented by it rolling even less damage then normal - it's even less effective then it normally is due to the inability to reach a vital organ. Conversely, weapons that are longer and which can reach the vital organs of a larger creature, for example a spear, would have a similar increase in damage because they can reach a vital organ more effectively than a typical weapon (and remember, the reason why there are more hit points is because of the size so if this size is less helpful this can be represented by increasing the damage of the more situational effective weapon). At least, that's how we understood it when we played it back in the day. It made sense at the time.
I played a decent amount of WoW years ago as a Paladin and for whatever reason it never struck me as strange that they got a spell that summoned a horse. Now I know where it comes from lol.
Check out Oriental Adventures from AD&D 2e. The Ogre Magi was codified in the original Monster Manual but would ultimately be described as an Oni by 3.5.
The units for a fighter's carrying capacity ("weight allowed") might not have been pounds. The unit of weight, if I recall correctly, was "gold pieces" (pardon me if this has been previously mentioned...and I might have it wrong).
The fighter strength percentile made sense in the context of fantasy literature. Conan had an 18/00 strength and needed to be set apart from some rando strong thief or cleric.
Thief seems like the first time they introduce rules, and suddenly characters can't do stuff they might have been able to do before, because now it becomes thief stuff. You see a lot of it with Feats in later editions that are introduced that give permission to do things, that you thought you already had permission to do, until the Feat appeared in a splatbook.
I tell you what: for a specialist, the thief was pretty bad at his job. I have a hard time remembering why anyone played them. I don't have Greyhawk handy, but in AD&D 1st, the beginning thief was 15% to move silently and 25% to pick a lock. "So, try again. We'll wait." "Uh, sorry, can't." "What do you mean, 'can't?'" "I have to gain a level before I have another go at this lock. Otherwise, it is forever beyond my powers." Meanwhile, Knock just...always works. Detection magic...always works. Boy, could they ever climb walls though!
The bugbear with a pumpkin head was a result of an artist taking Gygax's flowery language literally. He described them as "pumpkin-headed," meaning large and round.
That art was also the inspiration for Burly in the Wild Beyond the Witchlight module.
"Gnomes were considered a kind of dwarf."
J.R.R. Tolkien really, really wanted to use the label "gnome" to refer to the high elves (Galadriel, et al) in his stories, but he realized that the popular conception of gnomes as jolly little gremlins was too widespread.
He did, however, change the popular conception of elves, beginning with "Smith of Wooten Major".
I know all this because I read it in a book, somewhere.
cavalier973
Hmmm, cool bit of trivia
To add to this post, the reason he wanted the Noldor, or high elves to be called gnomes was because of the greek word Gnosis, meaning Knowledge. He wanted the high elves to be keepers of hidden knowledge unlike any other race in Middle Earth. Sadly his editor wanted nothing to do with it.
For sure: e.g. Tolkien's the guy who made elves master archers, because he liked Western stories about Native Americans.
Regarding elves: Outside of north America they were always more synonymous with mysterious spirits and fairies so for anyone reading his works in Europe there would have been none of the "Oh, wait, does he mean the red and green dudes that help Santa?" dissonance.
Gnomes though... Yeah, I can see why that was just a bridge too far.
@@havcola6983 cookies. Elves make cookies.
"We've got a lot of doors in this fuckin' dungeon" is absolutely how I feel about some dungeons I've played.
Well, it isn't a cave. Most dungeons were historically created as a jail, and heavy wooden doors everywhere were a first line of defense if an inmate escaped.
It’s so strange to hear Matt cursing this freely, I love it.
It's also crazy that you can hear in Matt's voice the beginnings of Strongholds and Followers, and Kingdoms and Warfare.
Why doesnt he swear more frequently?
@@DeltaVengeance probably youtube monetization and a weird expectation that comes when a channel becomes more popular.
but i guess your question was probably rhetorical; so sorry in advance
*rolls d8* “Motherfucker!”
I genuinely laughed out loud.
I was howling
Let's just appreciate that a nonzero portion of viewers have now been kinkshamed by Matt Colville
Let's just appreciate that he's still hearting comments over six years after the video came out. What a fuckin' lad!
Lol
Tis indeed
@@ComXDude Agreed. I am going for 7 years.
Who're you calling nonzero??
I need to somehow download these videos. I don't know what happens to youtube in 20 years, but I think this DOCUMENTARIES should be preserved. Even for the next generation maybe. Also make no mistake, those are quality documentaries, not mere throw away videos
Nice retrospective! Brings back fond memories . . .
A nitpick if I may, as it happens that I am currently reading through the entire Howard oeuvre: Conan is only a thief in one part of his life, comprising just over a dozen tales in all; he is also a pirate, a king, a sellsword, a straight assassin, a nomadic tribal leader, etc.
He engages his foes face to face, wears chainmail or plate and a helmet (the loincloth cliche shows up often enough but the image popularized by Schwartzenegger really applies to Howard's other creation: King KULL) and brawls bare-handed, or with improvised weapons such as broken furniture or huge swords. Huge! . . .
Game terms: he has 2 levels of rogue and 10 levels of fighter! :)
I sincerely appreciate these history of D&D videos, I jumped into RPGs a few years ago with 5e, my uncle played AD&D decades before, and it's been a huge pleasure getting to "connect the dots" in the development of the gaming tradition. If nothing else, it helps me run my OSR games with more authenticity!
They probably said Japanese Ogre instead of Oni because few people would know what an Oni is at that time...
An Oni is not really similar to a Ogre at all really... I think that there closer to demons?
@@Entropy67 Ogres were probably the most superficially comparable Western monster to the oni. Humanoid, much bigger than a human but not as big as a giant. By the AD&D Monster Manual they already acknowledge "ogre magi" are completely different from ogres.
Let the historic binge continue.
I’ve been at home recovering from surgery. Finding this series has been a god send.
i am laughing my mind out when Duncan goes from two HP to three
"Ah, mother fucker!" 45:00
I’m dying. Hahaha
@@wendellpowell5838 So is Duncan :(
I literally LOLed at Matt's reaction to rolling a 3 for Duncan's hit points.
I'm just discovering these series of videos. They are fascinating so far. I look forward to watching the rest.
On the question of paladin, you skipped over the hugely crucial paragraph that DMs used to keep paladin players in check: if you ever strayed from your lawful (or AD&D lawful good) alignment in deed, you lost paladin status and had *no chance* to regain it. The paladin was definitely a "game breaker" in the sense that everyone wanted the power fantasy it enabled because it was so clearly more powerful than a basic fighter. It was D&D's first "special snowflake" option. So Gary gives it tons of in-game (crunchy) rules, but makes the revocation of the Paladin "status" a non-crunchy ruling by the DM based on a player's actions. Early D&D always felt like this to me -- a blend of hard rules and DM rulings -- that led to a lot of middle-school and high-school squabbles. :-)
Well said. That is exactly how I remember it.
these days the oathbreaker paladin is a whole subclass to itself, which is pretty neat
Great video!
And to answer your challenge. Anyone can put their ear to a door and hear muffled noises slipping through from the other side, but only a thief who is practiced at the art of eavesdropping can tell you what those noises actually are or what is being said.
It's a matter of training and practice--senses balanced on a knife's edge of concentration, straining for every micron of detail...
It wasn't just the use of "Hobbit" as a race that got them in trouble. They also had Balrogs and Ents, not to mention their unlicensed "Battle of the Five Armies" game that specifically said it came from "The Hobbit" and used the places and characters directly from the book. There was no hiding where they got it all from.
The original thief system survives in the Complete Warlock. It's similar to a wizard but the thief gets to choose skills instead of spells. The way it was written makes the thief a bit less of an ability hog. For example , a thief's move silently ability says "he escapes detection by listeners 1/6 of the time more often than a normal man under similar conditions.". So he isn't the only one trying to move silently, he's just getting a bonus to his roll. Climbing Sheer Surfaces require the use of specialized equipment that regular players wouldn't have experience with.
It appears that Gary Gygax was trying to simplify the thief instead of creating the generic rules for sneaking and climbing required in order to give the thief bonuses in that system.
Yeah but it kind of leaves the rest of the characters including monsters/non-thief NPC's in a weird grey space.
Like what would a fighter have to roll under to move silently? Would his armour affect this number? Would everyone who isn't a thief have the same likelihood of escaping detection regardless of their stats?
Half-elves existed prior to Elrond, in sources that Gygax likely would have read. The Lord of Erl, in the King of Elfland's Daughter, is a human who has a son with his elf bride (the titular daughter). Lord Dunsany was in Appendix N, so I think this story is also a likely influence.
And they existed in actual Norse mythology as well. I'm also pretty sure Matt is wrong that elves and humans needed permission to have children in Tolkien's work. Beren and Luthein were the first to have a half-elf child and I don't remember anything about asking for permission. I believe elves and men were fully capable of having offspring, it was just rare.
And it wasn't until after the War of Wrath that the Half-Elves were given a choice to be mortal or immortal (I believe they were all mortal before that). Elrond's brother choosing to be mortal led to Aragorn's line (yes, Arwen and Aragorn are distantly related), and his line were long lived but all mortal without a choice, only Elrond's line were given the choice.
The reason Elves and Men needed permission to procreate was due to the immense issue of what their offspring's fate would be.
There's also no "petitioning of the gods" that I remember
3:42 “How did the game change in two years? Oh, my brothers… it changed a lot.” ❤️ ⚔️ 🐉
In my limited experience as a GM, players will choose whatever character options are contrary to the nature of the world as narratively described. In a swashbuckling campaign in a low-magic world that prizes honor and nobleness above all else, you will usually get a party of amoral crooks. So the idea of generating a setting through the game mechanics makes sense in a certain way.
The thief thing is real. I remember back when I was a newbie playing AD&D almost everyone was playing thieves. I also remember wanting to play a ranger and one of the guys telling me not to, that I could still wear leather armor, use swords and bows, and do everything a thief could if I was a thief. They also leveled faster than any class!
Thanks so much for the kind comments about Aero Hobbies & Games.
I think the paladin's limit on magic items is a balance kludge, -and- an example of simulationism. It can be both. The paladin is humble and doesn't accumulate wealth....completely, this prevents him from totally outshining other fighters.
Well with high CHA - you hand off unwanted Items to your followers
This is a great series! I especially enjoy these early episodes because I started playing with AD&D 1e and started DMing with AD&D 2e, so it's cool to learn more about the earlier editions.
I found your discussion of the thief really illuminating. It makes me want to consider what the game would be like if I took 5e, removed the rogue, and gave those basic abilities to everyone as you describe. Might be more work than it's worth, but I think the game would actually be a lot more fun if all characters were doing the sneaking, trap searching and even getting the backstab bonus. Assassin could easily be reskinned as a fighter archetype.
I would argue that there is a difference between someone who is trained and experienced in listening through a door/wall etc. and someone who isn't. Consider the sonar operator on naval vessels. Anyone can put the headphones on and hear the ping. A trained sonar operator can tell you all sorts of things about the object that made that ping. The way I handled theives was that they could potentially learn some details about what they hear (creature type, number, positioning, etc.) and find it easier to block out environmental noise and focus intently on what they want to hear (filter out the sea shell effect of putting your ear to the door, dripping water nearby, obnoxiously noisey party members in chainmail, their own heartbeat, breathing, etc. and focus on footsteps, voices, etc.)
By the way, Matt, you have a GREAT voice, and your videos are extremely entertaining, extremely informative, and I personally don't mind if they are long.
Does anyone out there mind if these videos are longer than half an hour? Or not understand that you can pause them, and then come back to them at a later time?
So, there's a pause button up there, and no commercial breaks, and (I'm assuming) nobody's waiting to use the camera while you finish up your video, so please don't worry about how long it takes these videos to run. They run as long as they run, and that's fine!
That's a good thing! That's a very good thing! Infact, it's a fantastic, awesome thing, and the longer they run, the better, because you are an amazing speaker, you know your stuff, and you do a fantastic job.
A cloud giant riding a t-Rex? I set my spear for charge
You could play one in Pathfinder with a Goliath Druid.
Watching these over Christmas. Possibly a new tradition?
This one really made me laugh, why must a paladin wait 10 years for a replacement horse??!
I’d love to do what your friend did and run the 1970’s game for my friends one day.
OMG I just realized I've been doing that myself for a few years now!
As a teen my group would play 2-4x a week with marathon sessions of 12hrs+. It was glorious.
I'm loving this playlist. Thanks for doing this. It's really a great way to see how much was just patch jobs as the game grew. I started on AD&D, so this predates my experience (and my birth!).
Hey, i just played DnD over the weekend for the first time, i played 5E, and upon asking what that meant it was explained to me that it was the 5th or so iteration of DnD my friend sent me over here to watch these and check out how different it was, and oh boy and i sad, i really want to fight a cloud giant riding a T-rex! either way this video and the one before were awesome and i cant wait to see what is next!
The Silmarillian was first published in Sept of 1977.
I believe the first game to have Roleplaying in its title was Runequest, called a Rolplaying Adventure Game, in 1978.
I love hearing your insights and your love for nostalgia of this game!!!! Thank you for making this video, and for everything you are doing for the hobby!
I'm kind of interested in the Alternative Combat System weapon type modifiers. In theory I like the idea of daggers being good for stabbing somebody who has no protection, since I guess the table expects the attack would put you really close to the target where you're stabbing wildly for that +2 bonus and it's hard to defend against someone who gets so close up and personal with a short weapon like that. Especially find it fascinating wearing plate armour makes daggers really crummy against it. Sounds like a neat change on paper.
The first set of rules that I ever saw was the Basic Boxed Set (the one with the Red Dragon and the Fighter on the front). However, my mother last year gave me almost the entire set you're talking about (I'm missing the original Vol II: Monsters and Treasure pamphlet). I didn't realize she was handing me a goldmine of interesting D&D history.
Thanks for digging in to this! So illustrative of how the EGG and Arneson developed the game.
I'm late to the party, but could you organize these videos into a playlist?
+Peter Tierney Good idea! Done!
Yay! BTW, great videos.
@@mcolville And then do all of the other editions and other popular systems. Never stop rolling fighters. Thanks.
OMG seeing the crazy shit ideas in that manual just inspires me to go more fantastical with my encounters. Happy to see this gem of a video
The basic premise of "listening for noise" was as an ability to know whether there was a monster in a room behind a door you had yet to open. Without a thief you just opened a door to see what was on the other side and hoped to avoid being surprised. A spell caster high enough would have to use a clairaudience/clairvoyance spell,or augury, which you didn't want to waste on such a common task.
If you look at the "Dungeon Geomorphs" and the "Monster/Treasure" assortments (published in 1978 I think), I think they reflect the basic assumption that dungeons were a series of "room/monster/treasure". (TSR created the "Dungeon" boardgame to distill the dungeon crawl into that exact basic form.) So a thief's listening skill gives it a role that serves a specific purpose during a dungeon crawl.
I remember when I went from playing D&D to Runequest it was eye opening that I could swing a sword, wear armor, and cast spells. And for all I heard about Gygax being influenced by so-called Vancian magic, it was clear that influence only went so far.
Magic missle wasn't there because The Raven hadn't come out yet.
Also -the Split for large vs. man sized creatures is a holdover from vs. infantry and vs. cavalry.
The first paragraph of the dungeon master's guide says these rules are only a guideline and you can tweak them to suit your own personal world.....
Amazing how many DMs either don't read that or don't run games that way and feel completely beholden to the letter and the line of the rulebook. I admit that I struggled with the concept as a new DM.
I do like that in 5e Thieves' tools are not a rogue only thing.
Similarly, a while ago I realized all the 3.X era rogue 'replacement' classes failed utterly in practical terms as most of them did not have 'Trapfinding' as a class feature.
Please finish these! This was the best overview of the edition changes I've run into you. Your insights are great!
You can have the chicken. Great reference! Love that movie.
I laughed so loud at this line, my wife in the other end of the house was worried about me.
I've never played D&D but I love your videos, and watching all the differences between 5e and D&D original rule book its just amazing, weird, but still amazing. Btw, this "patch" was super necessary
Great video! I'd like to see this series come back one day
Haha! I know exactly what you mean by being a teen playing D&D. While I started in 3.5, I got curious about AD&D and ordered those rulebooks online in my senior year of high school. One week we pretty much had no school at all because of snow. We literally got together and played AD&D daily!
Sir, you nerd so hard it's an art form. And your voice is terrific. Keeping my fingers crossed for Priest and Thief audiobooks some day.
A Balrog riding a Red Dragon, for when "Rocks fall, everyone dies," is too merciful an end to your campaign.
Working my way through your channel after someone posted your latest vid on the D&D 5e reddit. Just wanted to say that I find all of these excellent and super interesting, thanks a lot!
I knew about morningstars and flails before D&D because I used to play a now ancient MMORPG called Ragnarok Online, and it had those weapons
If you are wondering why your analytics show this one guy who is currently continuously rewatching those videos its me.
Your latest video reminded me of how much i liked your long form content. Im watching this while doing dnd prep, commuting or going to sleep. Somewhere midway through im losing track of this video only to be going back hours later.
Love these videos that go into the real history of game design. You're the best, Matt!
52:19 Wait, did Bugbears used to have a pumpkin for a head? That sounds too weird, but maybe I can steal that idea for a special tribe of Pumpkinbears.
The description says something along the lines of "they have a round head, like a pumpkin" and the artist was too literal; however, RuneQuest (the main game spawned by the percentile dice thing Matt mentions) honored it by having the Jack o Bear, which is a bear with a pumpkin for a head.
Hey, really enjoyed this video :)
To the question why a sword does more damage to large creatures, a DM I know once gave a pretty nifty explanation in my opinion:
You can kill a person with a few hits of a sword (d8 dmg, 1 hit dice) and you can easily kill for example a horse with a few sword strikes. A horse will have more than one hit dice and therefore statistically take at least double the hits a human would take. This holds true for quite a few large creatures, which would be "easy" to strike down, but game mechanics prevent that. Therefore swords get buffed against those monsters, but for example a poison/a burst of flames/whatever else comes to mind will not have as much effect on the larger body mass.
I just started watching this series of videos. It is pretty neat watching the progression of change. So far, to me anyways, GG was trying to walk a tightrope between the different classes abilities wise. Trying to give each something special and enticing to play, but overly guarding against the omnipotent. I also get the sense he was not at all prepared for the popularity his game garnered.
Since AFAIK Tolkien was also the one that coined the term "halfling" in his books, I think the "Hobbit" C&D was probably over trademark issues. If the first book hadn't been specifically titled "The Hobbit" then it probably would've been less of a problem.
"These videos were really popular"
Oh, baby Matt. You haven't seen anything yet.
Going back and watching these after watching all the Running the Game vids. Can't wait to see the editions beyond 2nd :p
Around 51 minutes in, when talking about damage on weapons, you mentioned how they varied damage between sized opponents. Wanted to point out that Battle Axes, Flails, and Arrows/Quarrels do the same damage to both regular sized and large sized opponents.
Also what's with video #4 on the playlist being Private?
I started with the red books my older sibling ran me through. I must have run that intro DMG adventure 20 times.
Wow, the note about the thief came to my mind naturally. I was creating a one-shot for new players, so I was pre-generating the PCs. I decided, since stealth was likely to be employed, that I would just give every PC stealth proficiency (5e). I didn't want to hold new players back from a potentially big part of options, to close their mind off.
So, I agree with this. I think everyone should be a thief!
In The Dungeon Masters Guide on page 98 is page two of The Campaign (The First Dungeon Adventure), they have a magic-user listening at a door. I remembered reading that along time ago while watching haha. Great videos by the way.
Matt being entertained at the idea of Mars, the god of war, showing up as a random encounter is funny enough, but I only just realized that Mars is being given a piggyback by a giant bronze man
There were rules for thieves not using shields etc and can't wear specific armour types because they assumed that using such meant the thief could not accomplish their primary tasks such as moving stealthily, climb walls etc. It was the same for magic users, untrained to use weapons and armour as their primary training was in magic.
I'm 45, played RPG"s since I was 14. I and alll though obviously you consider the traits of classes, I've never really explored the history of how the exclusiveness of classes actually developed. Very interesting, ta!
Silmarillion was published in September 15, 1977, so this year is the 40th anniversary., neat.
I've been playing since 74 and at the time it was great, it was the only game like it. Though it was equally frustrating when you wanted a fighter and your best stat was Int.
I never really paid attention to Gary's disdain for other races, but do understand it as I don't enjoy players wanting to pay goblins and other monster races.
I made a prestige class for 5e named after the Dungeon Delver feat while working on a variant rule set, including some roleplay character creation. He is not a fancy pants sneak thief however, but a scrapper and dungeoneer, at home in dark cold places among monsters, equipped with pole, stakes, and torch, much in the spirit of the Fighting Man or the Dragon's Lair character. Maybe he has a magic ass to carry his stuff. / On simple art and imagination and the Evocative--oh, how smashing these critic words elevated societies have gifted the lessers; I should be compelled to wonder if, mayhaps, these know of its magical means and that the works of chisel and brush have, in fact, ensnared with esoteric proficiency, or enchantment; I digress--Yes, what you relate is it, exactly it. For games, I love the art of Icewind Dale and Symbaroum (mostly Justin Sweet, and Martin Grip, respectively). Much of John Howe's work is this way as well. A few skilled levels above symbol and sketch, their work takes you to a foreign, vivid scene and then leaves it to your brain magics to finish. The over polished CPU art in much of fantasy today does all of the work, sacrificing whole world of imagined wonders in their decisive lines. Very good artists and nice images, but it does not capture the essence of a role playing game, which I just described. Similar to the failings of video game D&D, with over-defined toonish art, it as if the DM is playing the game and the players are just observing, never even rolling characters or asking questions (sort of what GG was doing when being an ass).
I probably came in about the same time as you, +Matthew Colville, so I'm looking forward to the next few vids. I really like your channel and your intent to teach DMing. I've been playtesting for over a year after a long absence (maybe bought a few third edition books but never played), but have only actually played in one underwhelming game at the gameshop. I always leaned towards the DM side of the spectrum and am going to form a group this year, I hope. World-building is underway, but I'm hoping to get some of the details from the players as we go.
Thanks for all the vids!
Your AD&D vid reveals you started in '86, so I got you beat there even though we are about the same age. My older brother and I started playing Basic in maybe '81, and moved quickly to AD&D. I remember the Fiend Folio being brand new, and a big deal, and that was released August 1981, according to Wikipedia. Anyway, thanks for the memories... it's allll coming back to me... lol
Great video. Really enjoying all of your RPG videos.
The fighter can hide behind the desk, but only a thief can hide in SHADOWS.
Empty room, with a torch. I allow the thief to try to hide from the guard looing inside. ( think Julius Caesar's spy from Asterix and Cleopatra )
So, after 5E you'll be making a fighter with xanathar's and Tasha's right?
I really want to play my Human Battle master fighter again. Non combat maneuvers to enhance skills sound so F'ing sweet, and even getting more maneuvers and dice via fighting style and first level feat? Sign me up.
I don't know if it was a simulationtionist, world-building or balance issue to limit the number of magical items the Paladin can have but I like to believe it's world-building. Because all of your magic items actually belong to the noble order of paladins, but you can borrow any as the Grandmaster thinks you are worthy of using right now
Fracking voice to text
I really enjoy these videos! You really know your stuff and you're very entertaining to listen to. I hope you make more soon! I can't wait until you reach AD&D and then later third edition :) Trying to spread the word to all my D&D buddies, these should get a lot more views!
The Weight allowed column goes by coin weight. In OD&D and AD&D it goes by a coin weight of 10 coins = 1 pound, so that 1,200 that you refer to is not 1,200 pounds its 120 pounds.
Matthew Colville is the Dan Carlin of Dungeons and Dragons
My grognard friend liked to tell me about the old days when there was a polyhedral dice shortage (because they weren't really in demand before D&D) in the late 70s so they had to draw chits from bowls. I.e. you'd have a bowl with chits labelled 1 through 6, and another 1 through 8, etc.
When I played AD&D, something like 90% of all characters were thieves.
I bought AD&D 2nd Edition Player's Handbook and DM's Guide last year and I started to read them. When I read the Paladin Class and read about the horse I was like, this is why Paladins in WoW get a free mount! (getting your first mount in Vanilla or Classic WoW is really hard, you need 100 gold and 100 gold is a lot at lvl 40 when you can finally learn how to mount).
41:58: I think the "Hit Dice Bonuses" are plus and minus hit points to each die roll when determining hit points. The "***" note says "minimum score of 1/hit die" seems to only make sense in this case, because it clarifies that if your character's CON score is 3-6 and you roll a "1" you still get 1 additional hit point (i.e. ignore the assigned -1 modifier).
maybe thief was a response to Rob Kuntz's playstyle with Robilar the fighter? Like, a way to limit the fighter (and hence all classes) from employing the stealth, patience and so forth to overcome all the challenges in the dungeon?
A "symbiotic" Dragon that spits out oozes... that is fantastic. Truly awesome. And honestly, that's a vague enough idea that how difficult it is to fight can be very easily adjusted.
I never would have seen this kind of stuff. Though, if I hadn't been _shielded_ from D&D as a kid, I've have started with AD&D instead of 3E as a (technically) adult. So who knows what sort of stuff I'd have been throwing out into games, since even with D&D I had come up with some very weird things -- my friends and I made up our own imaginary mario/zelda games and I would make maps for them, going so far as to crinkle them up and tear and singe the edges, and then we'd just play make believe out in the backyard or in the trees beyond the yard in what could easily be seen as a sort of proto-D&D adventure that was a mix of "larping" and simply telling the story to one another.
I tried getting into AD&D after getting very well acquainted with 3 and 3.5. And after a few hours of reading the AD&D book I just set it down and thought, "naw, there's a reason they made a new version".
I currently love what 5E is as a game, easily the best version of D&D. But I have to say there's something magical about the barebones structure that is Greyhawk and the '74 original pamphlet.
Oh god, i laughed so hard at this video
10/10
Manticora: # of attacks 24 spikes at 1-6hp ?! Plus two claws and a bite. Gotta love the old school stuff. "Hold on a sec, guys, I've got some rolling and adding to do."
I think the reason they saw the rules as an engine to produce the setting is because they were running so many people thru it that they would have seen the setting change by having a ton of paladins or whatever. They considered a campaign to be 50 players, instead of five.
Actually the whole Hobbit thing was very effective. Today most people do have a strong association with the word hobbit and the tLotR, while halfling does not have that connection. Tolkien was a professor of languages so he knew what he was doing.
Also on the Half-Elf issue, there are stories in the Edda and such were elves mate with humans and produce offsprings. Tolkien was heavily inspired by the Edda, I mean Thorins company including Gandalf are all named after characters in the Edda, so in human tradition elves and humans can mate, though its often associated with some kind of curse for the human parent.
One thing you may have overlooked is that weight in OD&D was measured in 'coins' and there were 10 coins to a pound. That means a fighter with an 18 strength can carry an extra 50 lbs, while a fighter with 18/00 could carry 120 lbs. Still pretty huge, but not quite supernatural.
These vids are the best. Don't screw up your methodology for nobody!
Regarding the difference in damage between man-sized opponents and larger opponents, I believe it was due to the way the weapon was commonly used and how size would affect the weapon's ability to damage vital organs.
Consider that a normal man without special training might have 3 or 4 hit points while a storm giant with a similar lack of special training would have around 67 or 68 hit points. Those extra hit points were meant to represent how much harder the creature was to kill because of its size. Default weapons - those that were neither particularly well suited nor poorly suited for fighting a giant - kept the same damage and just had to slog through more hit points to represent the creatures's ability to shrug off injuries that to it would feel more like paper cuts and minor nicks. Weapons that inflicted surface wounds, like battle axes, tended to have the same damage regardless of size, as did weapons that were small but had great ability to penetrate such as arrows.
However, some weapons were more (or less) suited for fighting a large creature. A dagger is primarily designed for stabbing yet lacks the length to reach deep into the body of a storm giant; thus it is a particularly ill-suited weapon for the task and this is represented by it rolling even less damage then normal - it's even less effective then it normally is due to the inability to reach a vital organ. Conversely, weapons that are longer and which can reach the vital organs of a larger creature, for example a spear, would have a similar increase in damage because they can reach a vital organ more effectively than a typical weapon (and remember, the reason why there are more hit points is because of the size so if this size is less helpful this can be represented by increasing the damage of the more situational effective weapon).
At least, that's how we understood it when we played it back in the day. It made sense at the time.
I played a decent amount of WoW years ago as a Paladin and for whatever reason it never struck me as strange that they got a spell that summoned a horse. Now I know where it comes from lol.
I love the fact that d&d was created by history buffs. What's sad is the people that own it now are far from that. The game has devolved since then.
I like that there's a "japanese ogre" in this fantasy setting. does that imply there's also a fantasy japan in every dnd game?
Check out Oriental Adventures from AD&D 2e. The Ogre Magi was codified in the original Monster Manual but would ultimately be described as an Oni by 3.5.
"A symbiotic dragon who spits black puddings"
Oh man my players are in for some pain now.
The units for a fighter's carrying capacity ("weight allowed") might not have been pounds. The unit of weight, if I recall correctly, was "gold pieces" (pardon me if this has been previously mentioned...and I might have it wrong).
The fighter strength percentile made sense in the context of fantasy literature. Conan had an 18/00 strength and needed to be set apart from some rando strong thief or cleric.
Thief seems like the first time they introduce rules, and suddenly characters can't do stuff they might have been able to do before, because now it becomes thief stuff. You see a lot of it with Feats in later editions that are introduced that give permission to do things, that you thought you already had permission to do, until the Feat appeared in a splatbook.
It's funny how the "Lawful good" paladin is still something people think they have to do even in 5e.
The captions got better! Still pretty funny at times though XD
I tell you what: for a specialist, the thief was pretty bad at his job. I have a hard time remembering why anyone played them. I don't have Greyhawk handy, but in AD&D 1st, the beginning thief was 15% to move silently and 25% to pick a lock.
"So, try again. We'll wait."
"Uh, sorry, can't."
"What do you mean, 'can't?'"
"I have to gain a level before I have another go at this lock. Otherwise, it is forever beyond my powers."
Meanwhile, Knock just...always works. Detection magic...always works.
Boy, could they ever climb walls though!
"If the Paladin gets a hat of disguise he's gonna become king of the universe" I laughed so hard!