« Music Lover », 1985

by Robin Wood (american artist, 1953-2021)
Cover illustration for "Dragon Magazine" #97, may 1985

#vintagefantasyart #fantasyart #fantasyillustration #robinwood #dragonmagazine #advanceddungeonsanddragons #ad&d

« Astral Encounter », aka « Ethereal Dreadnought », 1987

by Jeff Easley (american, born 1954)
Cover illustration of AD&D Manual of the Planes, TSR Inc., 1987

AD&D combat, as written, can seem weirdly complex, with "segments", "weapon speed" and other strange bits. When I dug into it, I found that it was more about presentation than actual system! Not terribly complex at all!

Here's the cheat sheet from my 2019 podcast on AD&D combat - maybe it will help you?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1buc4Iubou-bH7V1Ud-h_4SkHm9wfm64a/view?pli=1

We're about to get #DungeonsAndDragons 5.5 and people are freaking out.

D&D #5thEdition has survived longer than most full editions, and we're getting a half edition from these new rulebooks.

It's a testament to D&D's design, or at least its popularity. However, I find it amusing that a bunch of people are nervous about this.

Every edition since #AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons(arguably, but definitely since 2nd edition) has had half and full editions. They have, 100% of the time, made the game better.

So, relax.

I return from the first #cauldron2023, the european OSR con, and a weekend full of AD&D, some Chainmail, and lots of awesome people. Jim from #lotfp was there and I bought some books I didn't have yet. #rpgde #pnpde #advanceddungeonsanddragons #osr

I've been running an AD&D play-by-post game for fourteen years. First on Google Wave, then Rizzoma (an RU Google Wave fork), now on Discord.

I've seen (irl) players families form, kids grow up, players' careers advance and change.

Today was a hard day, as I had to ask an obvious question after the game hit a climax of a many year arc - do you want to continue?

I'm honestly nervous/anxious of either answer.