Now is the time!

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Now Is The Time

I want to take some bandwidth to reach out to my fellow 1e gamers out there. I fully realize that the majority of my posts - while biased - tend to more or less address (Advanced) Dungeons & Dragons in a very general sense. My editorial on Alignment, or rather the arguments that surround it, for example.

So if you're an Original, Basic, 2nd Edition or 3rd Edition fan, bear with me for a bit.

I'm a new-but-ardent fan of the incomparable Dragonsfoot website, and I must admit a certain chartreuse hue thanks in no small part to the forums Dragonsfoot hosts. Recently, a rather lengthy discussion thread came up wherein the idea of an "Open 1st Edition" idea was kicked around. More specifically, the adding of the 1st Edition rules and mechanics to the d20 Open Gaming License.

This could be a great boon for we happy few 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fans. Imagine bringing our game "back to life" with modules (and indeed, supplements of other types) published and for sale?

Now some of you might say, "But HackMaster is 1st Edition." To that, I say: No, it isn't. HackMaster may have a ruleset that mirrors 1st Edition, but it is decidedly not 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. I'll save that for a different rant. (ed. note: HackMaster is essentially a dead system now, so this is a non-issue.)

I want to be fairly careful here, as I fully admit to not knowing everything about what the OGL entails, nor all of the legal procedures involved with it. My perusal of the OGL here, though shows me that it's actually fairly flexible. Don't use our trademarks, include the d20 logo, etc. The list is actually very short, and thankfully doesn't require the proverbial big-city attorney to figure out. Of course, when in doubt, ask...

Again, if this isn't right, I firmly expect a smack with Bigby's Clue-in Hand from some of you all!

With that said, the OGL could be the path to 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons revitalization. How, you ask?

The folks at Wizards have, as noted, created an extremely flexible manner by which "stuff" for 3rd Edition can be created, modified, and published either for-profit or for free. The bulk of Adventure Modules for first edition (and indeed Basic/Expert/2nd Edition) did not introduce or impose much at all in the way of rules - hence their designation as adventure modules. Certainly there was the odd situation where the Dungeon Master was given a section where an action might have to be arbitrated by more than a simple "judgment call" or Saving Throw - but those were rare.

With this in mind, if Wizards of the Coast were to allow the publication of 1st Edition products under the OGL (with some alteration to the System Resource Document found here , perhaps), it would create an environment that would allow a new generation of 1st edition products to be created.

Okay, you say, but how do we pull this one off?

Simple:

Make ourselves heard. Folks, as much as any other 1st Edition fan, I want to see our game of choice flourish. The only way that can happen is if Wizards of the Coast see that there's a demand for what we want. The best way to do that is to let Wizards of the Coast know. Call them. Write them. Email them. Talk to them at gaming conventions. But let them know we must.

This brings up a second point: we have to be polite. We have to let Wizards of the Coast know that we, as a gaming subgroup, aren’t a bunch of lowbrow cretins and that we’re willing to work with them, not against them. E-mails or letters to the effect that “3e sux bring back 1e fag0ts!” isn’t going to help our cause not one single bit.

We can get in contact with them through their web-site here.

People, we can make a difference. I’m willing to stand up with you and help bring First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons off of the used bookstore shelves and out of eBay and in to the 21st Century. It might not work. Hell they might shut us down with a single word: “No.”

But we’ll never know unless we try – and it’s worth trying.