original AD&D First Edition Player's
Handbook cover painting
I played First Edition quite a bit back in the day, and came back to "old school" gaming in 2011. More recently, I went back and took a closer look at the combat rules, and the result was a serious crisis of faith: I realized that we had never even come close to playing First Edition "by the book". But of course, who did? The 1e rules are so Byzantine that you basically have to house-rule it to play it at all. I've seen it run many different ways, but I think most people ended up playing it in a way that was closer to BX/BECMI than AD&D. What this often meant was throwing out the division of rounds into segments, and then why play First Edition at all?
How can we, as old-school gamers, play First Edition? You could do your very best to follow every single rule as written in the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, but you'd end up with something like the "ADDICT" document, and that way lies madness (I should note that I once had the honor of playing with the author of that document, with all rules in force, at Gary Con). But I think there's a happy medium between the two styles of play, and pointers toward it can be found in Gary Gygax' forum postings later in life. For example, besides almost apologizing for things like psionics and weapon speed factors, he agreed with the concept of "lower is better" for initiative, which makes perfect sense. I think the system described in that post is a good one, and I use individual initiative for the players. You still want to roll once for a band of orcs (or maybe twice for a band of orcs and an evil spellcaster), but I think having the players all roll for initiative keeps them more involved.
I ran a nine-session First Edition campaign in 2016; this is how I handled the labyrinth of its rules as a DM. [I've added a couple of notes in bracketed italics about questions that have come up since.]
For example, if a magic-user casting fireball (3 segment casting time) rolls a 4 for initiative, and a fighter wielding a sword rolls a 6, the magic-user starts casting in segment 4, the fighter acts in segment 6, and the spell goes off in segment 7... unless the fighter scores a hit on the magic-user, in which case the spell is spoiled. By the book, a spell is spoiled if the caster is hit any time before the spell goes off.
A spellcaster's action may extend into the following round. For example, even cure light wounds is a 5-segment spell; if the cleric rolls an 8 for initiative, his spell won't go off until segment 3 of the next round (this could also come up when rolling a 6-sider for initiative). Gygax' posts are unequivocal about this: he says the spellcaster would not get another action in that round. Let's not forget what he wrote on page 65 of the DM's Guide: "Because spell casting will be so difficult, most magic-users and clerics will opt to use magical devices whenever possible in melee, if they are wise."
I think both the high chance of a spoiled spell and the chance of losing the subsequent round's action put too much of a burden on spellcasters, so I add this:
Note that spellcasters may not use their dexterity bonus to armor class while casting.
During initiative "roll call", spellcasters should answer twice, e.g. once for "I start casting fireball, it goes off in segment 7", and again for "my fireball goes off".
Potions take one segment to drink, and take effect 2-5 segments later (DMG p.125). Bear in mind that a potion may not take effect until the following round.
The DMG (p.133) says that staves take 2 segments to discharge; I assume the same number for rods and wands. I ignore the part about them taking 8 segments to recharge, since that could mean losing a round at some point depending on the initiative you rolled, and that would negate the advantage of items over memorized spells (see quote above from Mr Gygax).
Unless specified otherwise, at-will effects take one segment to use, and are not subject to being spoiled: even if the creature takes damage during the segment in which he is using the power, it still takes effect (unless he is killed during that segment).
Critical hits and fumbles: maximum damage on a natural 20. On a natural 1, the character or monster loses his action for the next round.
To keep the game from getting bogged down in dice-rolling and table-consulting, there are some rules I don't use:
There are lots of ways to do character generation; here's what I use:
Playing First Edition is partly about learning (or re-learning) the rules; clarifications and interpretations are often necessary. These are some of the things that came up in the campaign I ran and how I ruled on them:
Characters per square: it's assumed that, unless stated otherwise, there are two characters per 1" square during exploration; four can fit during melee. [Update: Somebody emailed me about this, as it obviously doesn't seem right. I remember the discussion at the table (the players got their way), but not the details. Something with how we were using a battle map, maybe? I know we started with one to a square. I'll resolve it if I run 1e again.]
Charging: I run this by the book.
In order to charge, the character cannot be encumbered. Only one charge is allowed per turn (10 rounds).
Charge movement is double speed (1 1/3 outdoors); the attacker must be able to end the charge within melee range (10 feet). The charging character loses his dexterity bonus to armor class (if none, armor class is one worse).
The charging character attacks at +2, and his attack comes before the opponent's attack regardless of initiative, unless the defender is able to set his weapon against the charge (must be a spear or pole arm). In that case, the defender always attacks first, and a hit does double damage (dice roll times 2, not two dice rolls).
Detect Evil: Note the restrictions on p.60 of the DMG: "It must be a great evil or a strong good to be detected. Characters who are very strongly aligned, do not stray from their faith, and who are of relatively high level (at least 8th or higher) might radiate evil or good if they are intent upon appropriate actions. Powerful monsters such as demons, devils, ki-rin and the like will send forth emanations of their evil or good." Detect Evil does not allow "dowsing for monsters".
Encumbrance: First, add the encumbrance value of everything the character is wearing or carrying (see DMG Appendix O p.225, "Encumbrance of Standard Items"). Magic items and armor are considered weightless. Now factor in the character's weight allowance from the Strength table (PHB p.9, add the penalty or subtract the bonus). Find the character's movement rate in the encumbrance table (PHB, p.101). Now find the base movement rate for the character's armor (DMG p.27); magic armor is counted as one rate higher (DMG p.28). If this rate is lower than the one calculated above, use it as the character's movement rate. This is because regardless of weight, armor has encumbrance.
Flasks of flaming oil as missile weapons: in addition to a hit roll, the flask must fail an item saving throw (DMG, p.64) as ceramic vs normal blow (DMG, p.80). If thrown against a wall or floor, the save is vs crushing blow. Flasks of oil are not hand grenades.
Forcing open a locked wooden door: only one character at a time may try this, as his weight must be thrown against the center of the door to spring the latch. Two players can try to force open a stuck door (normal size) of any type.
Grappling: I use custom rules for this.
Illusory damage: if a character takes damage from an illusion, then later successfully saves against it (e.g. phantasmal force), the lost hit points are restored. However, if the spell ends (duration expires, caster stops concentrating, spell is interrupted or dispelled), the damage remains and must be healed normally.
Movement during combat: closing to melee range during combat delays the moving party's initiative by the number of segments required to close (check movement rate vs encumbrance).
Multiple attacks per round: for characters with more than one attack per round, they are all resolved in the same segment (as with monsters, e.g. claw/claw/bite).
Rope of Climbing: when the DMG says that the rope of climbing "is strong enough to support 3000 pounds", it does not mean that the rope will pull up that much weight by itself, or support it horizontally. It means that once the rope has "snaked" and attached itself (and there has to be something strong enough to attach it to), 3000 pounds of weight can be hanging from the rope without it breaking. The end of the rope (opposite the end being held) is what is moving; the rest of the rope is slack. The rope will not pull any more than its own weight. In the classic example of tying the rope around the ankle of an unwary guard to trip him, the character would have to pull the rope himself... assuming that the guard didn't notice a rope tying itself around his ankle. Also, the character must have line of sight to operate the rope; i.e. he must be able to see what it is tying itself to. The Rope of Climbing is not a forklift.
Subdual Damage: the PC(s) must announce intent to subdue at the start of combat. 75% of the hit points of damage scored are temporary, and are regained at the rate of one hit point per turn; the rest are normal points of damage. After each round in which damage is scored, calculate the chance of subdual as a percentage: total damage scored divided by the opponent's total hit points. If the percentile roll is within that range, the opponent is subdued. (See DMG p.67, Monster Manual I p.30.)
Switching weapons during combat: it takes one segment to do this (i.e. you have a one-segment initiative penalty), so of course you can't do it and still act if your initiative is 10. Also, this assumes that you are dropping your existing weapon; if you want to switch back to it later, it will take a full round's action to pick it up.
Contact me (cenbe at protonmail dot com) if you're interested in a long-running campaign (I'd much rather run Castles & Crusades than AD&D 1e).