2e was my favorite. But that was the first edition that I really got heavily into, so I'm sure that biases my opinion.  I liked all the settings. If you were into lore, campaign settings, and novels etc,  2e was simply the best.  I might be one of the few people who didn't hate THAC0.  (what I DID hate was having to constantly remember all the bonuses or penalties you had to apply to attack rolls etc. That got pretty full on at times)

I started playing 5e on Fantasy Grounds after buying the Solasta pc game early access, which uses the 5e (SRD) rules.   So far (only level 2 party) I mostly like the 5e rules.  It's definitely catered to the special snowflake crowd though.  Just about every PC is basically an olympic athlete at level 1, compared to a common NPC.  In older games, a level 1 PC wasn't too much different from a common peasant.  I think we've all seen the 1 hp wizard with 1 spell before.  Character attributes are higher all around in 5e.  I don't think I've seen a character yet that didn't have at least a 17 in their primary attribute at level 1, thanks to dice rolling methods and adding points from backgrounds, classes etc.  If you want to play a game where the PCs are the "specialist" of the special, 5e is your game. If you want to play a game where your PCs are average people who get thrust into a hero's journey, then play 1e, 2e, or OSR.

Although it is nice for a level 1 spellcaster to have more than 1 spell now.  And I like the cantrips too, even if spamming some of them every round is basically the same as shooting a crossbow.

I hate how WOTC have perverted all the classic archetypes, particularly in the artworks used in the books. You won't find a Sir Lancelot stand-in anymore, instead you'll get some African woman cosplaying in plate or chainmail.  Half-orcs can now be Paladins. (WTF?)  Remember in the 80's when moms were scared that DnD was Satanic, because players could fight devils? Well now they'd actually have more reason to think that, since you're now playing as the devils.  (Tieflings)  Again, WTF? 

Then of course there's the barrage of SJW crap they have to throw in everywhere...  I was reading through Rime of the Frostmaiden the other day, and every few pages, they'd smash me in the face with either some SJW crap or stuff that didn't feel like DnD.    There's a passage in there virtue signaling about how there were people from Chult (black Africans)  who were some of the first settlers of Ten-Towns in the Icewind Dale area.  None of them were ever mentioned in past editions of DnD, and I don't recall them ever mentioned in RA Salvatore's Crystal Shard trilogy.

We also find in one town, a female leader, that they make a big point about her being the first woman to hold that job...   Remember back in the 2e days, where powerful women were everywhere in the novels, lorebooks, campaign settings etc?  Everywhere you'd look there'd be a strong woman, and yet, they didn't hit you over the head with feminism and social justice like they do now.

Last thing about Rimemaiden, it really jarred me to see portraits of NPCs in the book, of creatures that looked like Satan, or anthropomorphic dragons, just living in the town of mostly humans like it was perfectly normal. (I'm not religious by the way, I just don't like the idea of tieflings and the dragonfolk or whatever they are)

Anyway, rant over. I guess my perfect DnD would be a hybrid of 2e and 5e.  Some of the rules that make life a little easier or more fun from 5e, mixed with the settings, lore, and lack of social justice from 2e.

When we played AD&D, we wound up playing a very gonzo campaign. Sort of open table, with rotating DMs, and we didn't care two whits what you played. We brought in Boot Hill and Gamma World characters. (remember when the games had conversion sections for playing those characters in D&D? Yeah, we ran with that.)
Dragonborn and Tieflings are weak sauce compared to our roster of freaks and wierdos. Mutant rabbits and adult dragons as PCs. Spaceships and dungeons and Zap! Pow! Zowie!

We grew out of it, but I still have fond memories of being 12 years old and just having silly fun with the game. A part of me wants to run a game like that again, just for the hell of it.

Quote from: Staff of Morning Wood +5 on January 26, 2021, 09:27:51 PM
I might be one of the few people who didn't hate THAC0.

I have been remembering old 2e games in a sort of crazy ex-girlfriend sex kind of way but I dont have the time I used to have to mitigate the craziness that used to drive me insane.

OSR folks, which one is the cleaned up non-THAC0 version of 2e that you would recommend?

Quote from: Shasarak on January 26, 2021, 10:29:10 PM
OSR folks, which one is the cleaned up non-THAC0 version of 2e that you would recommend?

The math is pretty simple, you don't need a whole system, unless there's more you want to see changed.

Subtract AC from 20 to determine ascending armor class.
Subtract THACO from 20 to determine Attack Score.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 26, 2021, 10:53:45 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on January 26, 2021, 10:29:10 PM
OSR folks, which one is the cleaned up non-THAC0 version of 2e that you would recommend?

The math is pretty simple, you don't need a whole system, unless there's more you want to see changed.

Subtract AC from 20 to determine ascending armor class.
Subtract THACO from 20 to determine Attack Score.

There is also the change to the silver backed economy system.

Quote from: Shasarak on January 26, 2021, 11:16:33 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 26, 2021, 10:53:45 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on January 26, 2021, 10:29:10 PM
OSR folks, which one is the cleaned up non-THAC0 version of 2e that you would recommend?

The math is pretty simple, you don't need a whole system, unless there's more you want to see changed.

Subtract AC from 20 to determine ascending armor class.
Subtract THACO from 20 to determine Attack Score.

There is also the change to the silver backed economy system.

Ah. First I've heard of that change. Does that mean OSR games that use the silver piece as the baseline coin?

Quote from: EOTB on January 26, 2021, 03:49:02 PM
Gary is guilty of the sin of stating his beliefs without endlessly qualifying them to allow for contrary beliefs.  Which always draws contrarians out of the wood work in a way unique to him, while his detractors state their own beliefs as certainly, and allow others to state beliefs just as certainly, without challenge or qualification. 

But for some reason Gygax statements hit their Id in a way that can't be ignored

Truth.  There's nothing people hate more than confidence.  Especially when it is deserved...

Greetings!

I currently play D&D 5E, though I also love AD&D 1E. I'm a grognard, so I started playing with OD&D and then AD&D 1E. I like D&D 5E very much. It would take some work to somehow get my players to abandon 5E and just play AD&D though, I'm sure.

I sometimes wonder though, if I am weird for having crazy thoughts of saying "Fuck it!" and demanding my players all just switch over entirely to AD&D. WOTC's continuous antics into SJW lala land inspire in me a nagging desire to become a sadistic retro bastard. Simplified old school everything, racial class limits, all the limitations, including sex-based ability modifiers, 3d6 straight down.

That's right. Wallow in the mud, crushed in poverty and oppression of every kind. Racism, sexism, hatred, war, corruption and brutality everywhere. *Laughing*

I'm so sick and tired of all of these whining crybabies.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

For anyone that might be interested heres a set of rules that blends 5th edition and AD&D 1st edition very elegantly.

http://scruffygrognard.com/

The PDFs are all listed here and free to download.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 26, 2021, 11:31:08 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on January 26, 2021, 11:16:33 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 26, 2021, 10:53:45 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on January 26, 2021, 10:29:10 PM
OSR folks, which one is the cleaned up non-THAC0 version of 2e that you would recommend?

The math is pretty simple, you don't need a whole system, unless there's more you want to see changed.

Subtract AC from 20 to determine ascending armor class.
Subtract THACO from 20 to determine Attack Score.

There is also the change to the silver backed economy system.

Ah. First I've heard of that change. Does that mean OSR games that use the silver piece as the baseline coin?

I have a feeling ACKs uses the Silver standard.

Quote from: deathknight4044 on January 27, 2021, 03:34:43 AM
For anyone that might be interested heres a set of rules that blends 5th edition and AD&D 1st edition very elegantly.

http://scruffygrognard.com/

The PDFs are all listed here and free to download.

Thanks!  Interesting stuff.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 26, 2021, 10:53:45 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on January 26, 2021, 10:29:10 PM
OSR folks, which one is the cleaned up non-THAC0 version of 2e that you would recommend?

The math is pretty simple, you don't need a whole system, unless there's more you want to see changed.

Subtract AC from 20 to determine ascending armor class.
Subtract THACO from 20 to determine Attack Score.

Another option that only requires shifting the approach, without any recalculation: Roll 1d20+target's AC. If you beat your THAC0, you hit. This does mean players have to know the target's AC, though.

Quote from: Shasarak on January 27, 2021, 03:57:53 AM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 26, 2021, 11:31:08 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on January 26, 2021, 11:16:33 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 26, 2021, 10:53:45 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on January 26, 2021, 10:29:10 PM
OSR folks, which one is the cleaned up non-THAC0 version of 2e that you would recommend?

The math is pretty simple, you don't need a whole system, unless there's more you want to see changed.

Subtract AC from 20 to determine ascending armor class.
Subtract THACO from 20 to determine Attack Score.

There is also the change to the silver backed economy system.

Ah. First I've heard of that change. Does that mean OSR games that use the silver piece as the baseline coin?

I have a feeling ACKs uses the Silver standard.

Nope. ACKS uses a gold standard for coinage. In the background of the economics, it's a "bushel of grain" standard.

Re: the Gygax quote. Which editions was he referring to?

Quote from: Aglondir on January 27, 2021, 01:06:04 PM
Re: the Gygax quote. Which editions was he referring to?

3rd Edition.