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[Kadzar]

In other news, I found a copy of D&D Basic Rules Cyclopedia and I'm laughing at how weird this gets.

That's cool. I don't have direct experience with older D&D versions, but I have read a lot about them online.

Why is wizardry a spell? Why can clerics only cast it? Why doesn't it show up in the spell list!?

This I spell I haven't heard much about. I don't have a copy of Rules Cyclopedia, but, if Dark Dungeons, which is based off of it, is any indication, it seems to exist so that clerics can use wizard equipment, so there wouldn't be much point in wizards being able to cast it. As for why it doesn't show up in the cleric spell list, my guess is poor editing.

Why is ELF a class and can only level up to 10 when other classes level to 36?

As Basic D&D was intended to be a simpler version, it did away with the idea of characters having both race and class, and made it so that non-human races were their own class. And it was intended that demihumans were supposed to be more powerful than humans but with less potential, so they start off strong but eventually reach their limit before humans do (many people argued on forums that this wasn't much of a limit, and in most games people ignored racial level limits one way or another).
 

Why are clerics only able to heal at second level?

I don't remember if I found a good answer for this. Many people said it was to do with old-school D&D being harder, though it's curious that this rule is present only in Basic D&D, and not Advanced D&D, which was supposed to be the more hardcore version.
 

Why are there only 3 alignments!?

This has to do with the original inspiration of D&D alignments, in which they were not moral proclivities, but, rather, Law and Chaos were basically two factions (though it might be just as proper to describe them as forces of nature) that waged war across the universe. In some D&D versions there were even alignment languages that everyone of a particular alignment knew, because they were all on the same team.

It's random stuff like this that makes me laugh hysterically.

The goal is to study up on it and run a one off adventure wth my two groups of friends working together to try and get through the bullshit that is first edition.

Awesome! Though, fyi, Basic D&D isn't technically first edition. It was published at the same time as 1st Edition AD&D as an introductory version. Also, there were actually several versions of Basic D&D, though the Rules Cyclopedia is basically a compiled version of all of them except the Immortals rules, which many people didn't like anyway.

[Arcvasti]

My favourite part of AD&D is that Monks aren't allowed to use oil. There's no explanation of what this entails and no other class is limited in this fashion. There's a table with an Oil column that says "Yes" for all the other classes and "No" for Monk.

[MrRoboto75]

Honestly I liked how Hackmaster spoke about racial level limits.

"Yeah, demihumans can only get to such and such level, but don't worry about it, your character will probably die before it even becomes an issue."

[Neonivek]

Honestly I liked how Hackmaster spoke about racial level limits.

"Yeah, demihumans can only get to such and such level, but don't worry about it, your character will probably die before it even becomes an issue."

You know unless you started at an advanced level.

[highmax28]

Honestly I liked how Hackmaster spoke about racial level limits.

"Yeah, demihumans can only get to such and such level, but don't worry about it, your character will probably die before it even becomes an issue."

That's what I'm guessing on. Especially since what I'm planning is gonna be a one off.

Not to mention most of the demihuman classes have like double or triple the regular amount of XP needed to level

[Harry Baldman]

My favourite part of AD&D is that Monks aren't allowed to use oil. There's no explanation of what this entails and no other class is limited in this fashion. There's a table with an Oil column that says "Yes" for all the other classes and "No" for Monk.

Well, monks commonly only have one weapon they could apply oil to and you don't want them doing that sort of thing, it dilutes their monk powers.

[highmax28]

They don't want the monks to be oiled up when they start wrestling with the enemy

[Harry Baldman]

Gives the abbot conniptions, it does.

[Sirus]

So, monks weren't allowed to use oil lanterns then?

[Egan_BW]

Does... does this mean that monks can't fry food?! D:

[Draignean]

So, I'm switching states at the end of June, and that means saying an incredibly slurred form of 'God be with you' to my IRL D&D group. Considering that most of the members are also moving away, I've been kicking around the idea of doing an online game to keep us all together as we pursue our respective careers.

Of course, I'll probably open it up to the lovely B12 crew as well, since I always need more bodies to desecrate.

I'm most familiar with 3.5, and that's the version the crew is used to, but I know there's some jank in the rules that gets smoothed out in 5. I like reading character sheets, it's always fun to see what people build, but it would be kinda nice to not have to go: "I know savage species is an official rule book, and I know they think it's a LA+0, but I'm not letting you be a Baleen Whaleman*. No.",  as I did last time I wanted people to go a little more crazy with their character designs. So I suppose I'm open to other editions, but I'm reluctant to leave my edition comfort zone. I know most of the jank, and I'm fairly used to the tricks needed to say 'Okay, you can do that, but here's the catch' instead of just plain 'No'.

I'm a bit torn for settings. I've got two that I've been wanting to run for a while now- one set in a world where the original heroes of prophecy done fucked up severely and most of the world is run by a dracolich and his private vampire court, and the other set on an island filled with mysterious ruins that a completely natural and not malevolent earthquake recently opened up to shipping travel. The former has more hooks that I can push for party cohesion, the latter allows a bit more freeform exploration and murder-bonering.

That all in mind, what kind of game do people recommend (and what advice do people have) for my first major dip into online-only DMing?


*For reference, the Baleen Whaleman starts Large, with +8 Str, +4 Dex, +4 Con, +4 Wis, and +9 Natural Armor.  There are no penalties, unless you count being large as a penalty.  I'm pretty sure someone was high when they penned in LA+0. Aside from a constant need to stuff one's face with krill, they don't really have much of a drop side, or a decent reason why they haven't conquered the world with their bulging whale pecs.

[Harry Baldman]

On one hand 5E is easier to run and probably a better system overall once you learn to play fast and loose with it (easier to do theater of the mind with it as well).

On the other hand oh my god I can't bear the itch to play in a good 3.5 game, I've got so many concepts that aren't possible in Pathfinder!

Or take something weirder, like Dungeon World or something. You can theoretically do anything in a Powered By The Apocalypse game and they're pretty good for off-the-cuff bullshit.

Oh, and while you can occasionally get good randos, you definitely want people you know as a significant part of your group. Reliable folk are hard to find sometimes, but when you have them, try to use them when possible.

[Sirus]

I wouldn't mind playing 3.5 again one day. Still haven't gotten around to playing 5E though.

[heydude6]

I'm assuming this will be some kind of roll20 game rather than pbp. Still haven't actually played a game of 5E but I've read the entire book (minus the spells) several times and made a few character sheets.

[highmax28]

I would say 5e personally would be best. Nothing to ridiculously stupid to throw you off your game and its a good starting point. Plus, roll20 has specific stuff put for 5e already, so thats nice.

If you do go with bay12, I suggest NOT doing roll20, as I've noticed people on bay12 can tend to drop off and never talk to you again (no idea why, but it happens).

Just be aware that running an online D&D game gets ridiculous in some cases. I've actually had a lot of problems in the online game I played because the DM brought in online friends he never met and it turned from a motley group of 4 mercenaries running a small guild, to a group of 5 bandits and rogues plus one do-gooder who are stuck saving the world because a world ending power got mad at them. And thats just from players coming and going. If you get a good group together, you're good.

I only suggest PBP if you can contantly monitor and update it without people dropping off. It really sucks waiting for people, but at the same time, you don't have to worry about putting aside 8 hours a week to do a session; it just goes when you let it