A lot of people are going back to the original edition of AD&D, and I can see why. The OSR led the way here, and a lot of people rediscovered the fun and beauty of the original game.
It really is a different experience, and not many of the "sequels" to AD&D really offered something better than the original. With AD&D 2e we got a reorganization, censorship to avoid heat from parents' groups, a few new classes, a few streamlined rules, and rebalanced monsters and spells. AD&D 2e also began the "damage scaling" you see in more modern games, as the monster hit points and defenses ramped up, and player power did as well in the supplement books.
AD&D stopped at this point.
D&D 3 and 3.5 are really entirely new games, just like D&D 4 was an entirely new game that shared similar names and concepts, but the underlying structure was entirely ripped out and changed. One could say D&D 5 is also an entirely new game, with its origin back in B/X with a few features pulled in here and there from other newer games.
AD&D is really like that Led Zeppelin album in the 70s no one can ever really recreate or top. It is Stairway to Heaven and a lifetime of adventures in three books.
But it doesn't stop anyone from trying...
Why Anything Else?
There are a few games that attempt to recreate the magic, but honestly, none of them do. If you are going to play AD&D, play AD&D. One can make an argument for OSRIC because it is more of a reference guide and open implementation, but these are both equal in content but not in the spirit or wording. There are times the Gygaxian prose brings the experience home more than the cover song of OSRIC does, but OSRIC is still invaluable and a great reference should these ever go out of print again.
The why anything else question can be answered by asking, what do other games give you? If you are looking for AD&D+ then you begin to look at other games. That "plus" is why I look for games like AD&D, but they bring something else to the table we can't get in the original books.
And this plus can be a lot of things, new classes, monsters, spells, improvements to the system, simplifications, settings, themes, look and feels, different focuses, reinterpretations, or any number of changes that keep the AD&D feeling but tailor the game for new content or experiences.
What Makes AD&D ...AD&D?
This is a hard question because one thing AD&D is (and is not) is B/X. A few things stand out to me, and these are mainly the things that survived the transition from AD&D 1e to AD&D 2e:
- Classes
- Class Selection
- Hit Die Sizes
- Nonhuman Level Limits
- Multiclassing
- Ability Score Charts
- All Columns and Modifiers
- Exceptional d100 Strength
- Fighter Only CON hp Bonuses
- Magic Changes
- Magic Resistance
- Casting Time
- Spell Components
- Weapon Changes
- Weapon Size
- Weapon Type & Armor Modifiers
- Weapon Speed
- Damage vs. Size of Target
- No Censorship
- Demons & Devils in the Monster Manual
There are probably a few others, but my guide is if something survived and made it into AD&D 2e, it was a core feature of the system. Most things did, but a few things (like the to-hit modifiers for individual AC numbers per weapon) did not. I know I am missing a few things here, but these are the ones that come to mind.
And yes, by this list it makes AD&D 2e not AD&D, but that is the price you pay for self-censorship.
Yes, one of the best references you can use when playing AD&D 1e is a copy of AD&D 2e. If you are confused about a rule 2e will probably explain it a little better and clear things up, and also let you know what you can ignore for speed and simplicity.
And there are a few rules in AD&D 2e that I feel are very good to incorporate, such as the d10 initiative, adding your weapon speed or spell casting time, and low roll wins. This lets a dagger-armed thief roll d10+2, a longsword-armed fighter roll d10+5. This was a huge boost to thieves and weapon speed, and let them get hits in before wizards or fighters. In AD&D 1e weapon (and casting) speed was really only used for determining who goes first in ties.
And in neither system does DEX affect the character's initiative roll. In B/X you are typically rolling d6+DEX mod for the initiative roll, and weapon speed does not matter.
A Mix of Things, More Rules than B/X
You also notice a few B/X retro-clones cherry-picking from this list, and ignoring a lot of the things that make AD&D cool. To me, some of these things are tied together, like certain types of creatures and magic resistance.
And yes, spell components are on the list. And yes, spell casters, you need to track your components and expend them. With great power comes a little bookkeeping, finding these in shops or the wild, and they keep magic from feeling 'cheap' and 'too easy' - at least in AD&D. I know in other games we liked a more simplified approach to spellcasting, but we found components made magic feel strange and special, and there were times a mage could not cast a spell because of a lack of supplies.
Now that we know what we are looking for, we can consider the heirs to the throne.
And this is always different for everyone. What some people feel are must-haves, others see as huge issues. Some may see it as a non-factor. And there is always the default position, just stay with AD&D and have that lifetime of adventures there. But the goal is to find that "AD&D+" that works well, depending on what you like...
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