My D&D - A Game Design Thought Experiment

 Jeez.  Over half a year since my last post.  Thanks, pandemic depression.  I was bad before the plague, but not this bad.  But hey, I'm here, I'm writing, so here we go.

My D&D

  So, I've been playing for 36 years this year.  I've played every published edition of D&D, plus more retroclones than I can shake a stick at.  So many talented folks are publishing their favorite versions of D&D, or not-D&D clones that reflect their own loves and preferences.  Jeff Talanian and Hyperborea pop to mind, along with all the great stuff from Bloat Games, all the wicked Swords & Wizardry stuff, and a universe of other stuff.  I am fond of my good friend James Spahn's work, and there's so much coming out that's based on the old school D&D engine but covering other genres- like the Night Owl Workshop games, Mark Hunt's BX stuff including Gangbusters BX, there's too much to mention one game at a time.

  At one point in my life, I'd have immediately said the 1983 BECMI game was my go-to D&D.  Hand me a Rules Cyclopedia and I'm good to go.  But over the years I've realized I don't want or need 36 levels.  It's just excessive.  I know it was a directive from on high that Frank Mentzer had to deal with, but I feel that the assumed 14th Level cap of B/X is just about perfect given that the Demihuman level limits are 8, 10, and 12.  What's my current ideal D&D then?  Let's talk about it.

Standards and Assumptions

  My D&D would have the solid base of Necrotic Gnome's Old School Essentials Advanced Edition.  OSE is an incredibly well-done restatement of the 1981 Moldvay-Cook-Marsh edition of D&D, often known as BX, for Basic and Expert.  This version of D&D is almost identical to the BECMI edition that followed it with a few minor differences, the most notable of which is an expansion from 14th Level to 36th Level, and the addition of Immortal rules.  OSE Advanced Edition leaves the core rules more or less at the BX level, but adds the option of race/class split, and additional classes like Ranger, Paladin, etc.

  OK, so we're starting with OSE Advanced.  What do I want to tinker with?

• Adapt the rules and table from The Black Hack to avoid instant death at zero HP. Yes, in the Old Days, we ran through characters like my son runs through sports drinks.  It was a major accomplishment to live to see levels above 1.  3d6 straight down, baby.  But- it's 2022, and we've learned that story and character means a lot to the modern player.  Even a player like myself, who cut their teeth on the Old Ways of Our People.  I don't want characters to be as hard to kill as 5e, but harder to kill than BX would be advantageous.
• Add Equipment from BECMI. Add scale mail, banded mail, bastard swords, etc.
• Take a hard look at the Magic-User.  I like Cantrips in 5e, but so many things that were 1st Level Spells became Cantrips to port them over whole cloth would require a lot of rewrites.  Rather, I  want to see about giving Magic-Users some class abilities to mimic things like the Prestidigitation or Thaumaturgy Cantrips, or maybe a small damage roll-to-hit at-will magic attack.
• Take a look at the Fighter.  I'm interested in giving the bog standard Fighter some flavor abilities.  Several old school rules sets from TSR and clones give Fighters additional attacks versus 1HD creatures.  Carrion Crawler issue 1 has a list of possible Fighter abilities.  I think I'll do something similar, if not identical.
• Use the Mystara Setting.  This includes the Immortals, and the bonuses to Cleric abilities listed in Wrath of the Immortals.  Use some cool stuff from the GAZ series.  This includes the skills/proficiencies/etc. that are available to add some depth to the PCs.  Also, the rolls for social level and background, if applicable.
• Adapt Immortal Rules- Adapt the paths to Immortality to the 14-level paradigm.

What else will I do?  Not sure.  But here's where I'm going to start.  Let's see where it goes.