And other times, it's past D&D texts and books. But, nuance... AD&D and onward.
A real left curve, for OLD timers... BASIC D&D era - when Dwarf, Elf, etc was a kinda of class-race stuff.
Is there anything worthwhile getting and ripping off from those days? Some adventures like Keep on Borderland are mentioned (it was Basic, no?) but I means beyond just this, and I want the fluff mostly, highly fluff.... There is the Mystara stuff, as it was claimed the AD&D2 update was 'bad'...
So, was some stuff worth reading, copying, ripping, etc... any sourcebooks or fluff books worth of it, or the whole thing is too old, too mirred in ancient games designs, a past era's ideas, etc?
Suggest me-us stuff worthy!
(a bit snarky on the last bit? yes, but half serious)
Other then that I never played the game, so there's much I can suggest.
Race-as-class is not a bad concept. It can work for some races, like the Vampire and other monsters of considerable power.
Other then that I never played the game, so there's much I can suggest.
To be fair, it's mostly the fluff and adventures that I would use. Or take ideas and inspiration from.
I remember having seen a serie of sourcebooks on races and cultures of Mystara I think, like a sort of elven version of the Plain Barbarians of DL, by example... I wonder if they are good.
One idea came from GAZ6 Dwarves of Rockhome. In Basic, your race was your class (unless you were human of course). Dwarves were fighters for instance; there were no rules for a dwarf cleric-- not til Dwarves of Rockhome at least. That book introduced the dwarf-cleric, a sorta hybrid class. The dwarf-cleric kept his clerical abilities and worship private; whenever possible, he (or she) posed as a fighter (to paraphrase the book). This seemed to be nothing more than a way to keep things simple but I liked it.
From that idea, I drew the idea of clerics in my homebrew being defined by race. In this setting, non-humans are very private about their religious practices. Except for humans, each race’s religious beliefs and practices are mostly hidden from outsiders. Very little is known about a particular race’s religion by outsiders. For instance, a dwarven cleric will almost never reveal to a non-dwarf that he is a servant of Moradin. He would have to have been a longtime friend of the non-dwarf, and there would need to be some pressing reason for him to make this admission. A dwarven cleric would likewise only use healing magic on a non-dwarf if the other were a close friend and/or if matters were extremely dire.
The intention was to provide opportunities for RP (although admittedly, it was a challenge). And the whole idea was inspired by the Dwarves of Rockhome book, specifically the dwarf-cleric. I think it really made 'demihuman' religion in my homebrew unique from many other settings.
= = =
The other idea came from GAZ5 Elves of Alfheim. There were no half-elves in Basic, but in this book there is mention of legendary 'half-elves'. Children of human/elf unions were either full human or full elf but their outward appearances often led onlookers to think them a unique race. It was just fluff (basically ;)).
That's an idea I swiped for my homebrew. The common races of the setting were humans, dwarves, elves, half-orcs and muls (that in theory, supplanted half-elves). By slightly narrowing the list of available races, I hoped to subtly increase the prominence of humans in the setting. Additionally, I felt a half-elf 'subrace' would delute that idea of elves being very reclusive. So, half-elves were quite rare, not an actual race but a full human or full elf with some added flavor.
There were dozens of excellent modules that could be rehashed.
As stated before, the Gazetteer books were great, too.
I actually find myself pulling more from 1E and 2E than from BECMI or OD&D, but that's just personal preference.
How great might vary on a case by case basis depending upon what/how you want to use it.
On the rules front? There's one rule in particular that I've always liked from pre-3x versions: Morale.
As mentioned, any of the Gazzeteers &/or modules are still great.
How great might vary on a case by case basis depending upon what/how you want to use it.
On the rules front? There's one rule in particular that I've always liked from pre-3x versions: Morale.
Too forced. Too complex to apply. A good thing Morale was dropped.