AD&D Primer

Last night I started picking through the rulebooks of AD&D to try and form a "Basic"version to use as a teaching aid. So often, players get bogged down in specifics and miss the whole point of what the game is about. The game is about getting together with other people and assuming a role while having a fun adventure. The "fun" in AD&D is survival and winning through nearly impossible odds. The rewards are a sense of accomplishment, treasure for the player character, and increased power with continued character growth.

That said, AD&D, in its most basic form, is nearly identical to any other form of the game ever made. There are six abilities, several races and classes to choose from, spells for the divine and arcane spell casters, and equipment lists. Monsters are defeated, treasures are won, and experience points are awarded to increase in level and face tougher monsters to get better treasures, and so on. However, there are some nuances to the game that many are unfamiliar with. For example, clerics in AD&D could not be of True Neutral alignment. Thieves had to be Neutral or Evil (NG being the only allowed "good" alignment and very rarely). Using the base classes (Cleric, Fighter, Magic-user, and Thief) and the base races of the original game (dwarf, elf, halfling, and human), one can explain the game thoroughly and yet still eliminate some choices. Players can be overwhelmed by the pages of rules that need to be known. Reducing all that to a pamphlet assists in learning the key concepts. The snafu of level limits, sub-classes, and exotic race choices aside, AD&D holds up well to a limited scope.

I started last night with stripping all vestiges of the gnome, half-elf, and half-orc from the player section. I then stripped out all the sub-classes (druid, ranger, paladin, illusionist, assassin) as well as the Monk and the Bard. This leaves 4 races and 4 classes - the elegant system of Moldvay Basic. However, I kept the races and classes as separate choices, whereas Basic D&D combined the classes into the demi-human races (so all elves were fighter/magic-users....probable but not desirable). Keeping the nine alignments and making sure that all the details of the AD&D rulebooks remained intact in the descriptions was easy to do and still have the game function. The greatest strength of AD&D was its modularity! Speaking of Strength, I removed percentile strength for this primer version of the game since it is a concept that seems overly complicated. I placed a note stating that in the actual version of the game percentile strength exists and that its use should be avoided until after the players have enough experience with the rules.

I discovered something that I rarely regarded with respect to level limits. All the limits in the book assume an 18 in the prime requisite ability. One must reduce these by 1 for a 17, and by 2 for a 16 or less. Even so, the lowest level limit (4th level for halfling fighters) is still not within the range for a 1st through 3rd level primer. I discussed level limits only to allow players to know that once they start playing the game for real, their choice of character race in the beginning of the game would have an impact on their advancement beyond 3rd level. I decided to keep multi-classing for demi-humans as a concept in the primer since that must be determined at 1st level and is hard to reintegrate once the game progresses.

I also decided to keep the number of cleric spells the same, while pruning the 1st level magic-user spells down to 20 (from 30) and the 2nd level magic-user spells down to 20 (from 24). The ones removed have little impact on the game and are more of the confusing spells or ones without immediate benefit to the magic-user (i.e. affect normal fires, forget, jump, push, etc.). Although they are eliminated for the primer, they are within use for experienced players when they begin using the AD&D hardcovers. The rule here is easier integration into the system slowly. I would have eliminated more of the magic-user spells (down to 12 per level) but then I would be forced to eliminate iconic spells from the start. I prefer to demonstrate the diversity of spell selection, especially since the characters need to follow the rules for intelligence!

Equipment is going to be a challenge. I'm tempted to leave it all as is, but perhaps giving some explanation for some items that require it. For instance, when teaching some of my friends' kids they snickered about buying a 10' pole. Their first time in B2 they triggered a pit trap which I told them could have been detected  by the use of a 10' pole. If no one knows that secret doors are in the game, then no one looks for them. If the kids knew that pit traps could be detected with a pole, they would have carried one without thinking twice. Stuff like that will need to be explained to the neophyte players - stuff that was assumed to be known by veteran gamers in the late 1970s.

I don't know how much of the other stuff needs to be put into the primer. For instance, I don't think I need to include stats for all the 1st and 2nd level monsters in the game, just the ones likely to be encountered. Perhaps using or writing my own 1st level adventure is the way to do this justice. By placing in a little of everything into a short adventure I'm sure that it would serve to illustrate the basics of the game. I should also include some treasure, both mundane and magical. I don't think that any armor, shield, or weapon found in the primer should be above +1 value. Scrolls, potions, and minor wands would be the most common items, with a few iconic miscellaneous items. A few of the least magical rings would also be acceptable, but no staves or rods. Encounter charts for dungeons might be useful as well. The one section that I should stress is the combat chapter and the section on how to dungeon master - essentially copying the text from Dungeon Module B2 should suffice!

Despite the name of the game, dragons are too powerful for a neophyte party to face. Perhaps no more than a small black dragon or white dragon should be included to at least demonstrate what that type of monster is capable of. Again, limiting the choices in the primer is good, but in this case it may limit the DM's ability to create an adventure given the limits of environs for these dragon types. We shall see. I don't see myself including any creature beyond 4 hit dice into the monster section for the primer. This way the player characters can be surprised when the DM opens the Monster Manual for the first time! I'll have to set things up in the Dungeon Master's section in a way that allows the players to read the details without giving away too much. The Dungeon Master's Guide will be held secret from the players after all! A simplified "to hit" chart for all the classes and a neat little saving throw chart for the classes should suffice for levels 1-3. A simple to hit chart for monsters of ½ HD to 4+1 HD should be included. I think ogres will be the apex humanoid on the monster list for the primer.

The sample adventure should be short enough to hold everyone's attention, yet diverse enough to contain all the elements essential to understanding AD&D. Perhaps the 1st level of a dungeon with room for expansion by the DM if desired. The gatehouse idea from Basic was perfect, but too limited in scope. I intend to test play this adventure so that I can get an accurate "sample of play". Perhaps using my own Dungeon Trial of the Riddlemaster as the basis for the adventure would be the way to go here, although heavily modified. If that seems too long then perhaps one of the sample dungeons from later editions of the game or one featured in DUNGEON or Dragon Magazine would work. I have a soft spot for the older scenarios written in Dragon Magazine, but I would perhaps alter things slightly. Using  the Basic starting dungeon from the Mentzer boxed set might also work. I need to incorporate animals, undead, humanoids, mindless vermin, strange monsters and some traps, tricks, and secret areas. One needs to learn about marching order, light sources, character interaction, signs to look for traps and secret doors, mapping techniques, how to conduct battles fairly and quickly, etc. So much to teach and only a few pages to do it in.