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Clark,

I found out about this thread via Grognardia. And I want you to know that I agree with you. I think that it is possible to have "4e rules, 1e feel."

Let me very briefly summarize my gamer bio. I started out in 1980 with the Holmes' "basic" D&D and then played AD&D for years. I lost interest in 2e in favor of GURPS and its solid game rule mechanics. When 3e D&D was published, I bought the core books out of curiosity but did not play it. I was completely oblivious to all controversy at the time about it being so radically new and different. To me, 3e looked like a vast improvement. When 3.5e came out, I was slightly annoyed that I had to buy the core books again but I understood that WotC wanted to get it right. Again, I was merely curious about the game mechanics. I hadn't actually played a proper D&D campaign in almost two decades. It wasn't until I started reading Knights of the Dinner Table that I became nostalgic for some good ol' dungeon crawling. Finally, in 2005, I joined a 3.5e gaming group that started out with Crucible of Freya and proceeded simultaneously through Tomb of Abysthor and Rappan Athuk.

When I started my own gaming group last year, I wanted to have lots of "classic" dungeon crawling. Being a DM for the first time in years, I was confronted by the almost overwhelming nature of the 3.5e rules. Yes, those rules are solid and very consistent. But it always seemed like I was bogged down in preparation for each week's session. And I was also having a sort of existential crisis about the fundamentals of gaming itself. Eventually, I had decided that I didn't like what role-playing games had evolved into. To me, so-called "adventure paths" were nothing more than railroading of the players. Pencil-and-paper RPGs were no longer games and had instead turned into interactive story-telling with the endings already pre-determined. I wanted the DM to be a referee, not a storyteller or entertainer.

When I found out about the imminent release of 4e, I was very interested and learned all I could about it. I was very pleased that they were planning to simplify the rules, etc., etc. When I finally got the core books and tried it out with my game group, I had mixed feelings. Like you, Clark, I was very pleased with some aspects of the rule mechanics. But I could not deny the card game/video game feel. I like 4e much better than 3.5e. But it has moved even further away from the spirit of the original game of the 1970s.

So I am with you. I really like 4e. Personally, I don't want to ever go back to playing with the 3.5e rules. But I want to play 4e in a 1e style. In the last half year, I have learned that there seems to be developing some sort of retro-gaming revolution. Perhaps because of the controvery of the new 4e, "old school gaming" is being re-examined. I presume something like this happened when 3e was released but I wasn't paying attention at the time. I had never heard of the term "sandbox campaign" until recently but that term exactly defines what I want out of a D&D campaign.

For the last couple of months, I have been doing exactly what you are doing. That is to say, I'm trying to retrofit 4e into a 1e style. To this end, I have been using 4e as a starting point and experimenting with plugging in 1e ideas and refining them with more recent ideas to fit the modern rule set. I can't say that I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm not a profession game writer (or game rule technician or whatever). But when I heard about your idle interest in reworking 4e into a 1e-esque set of house rules, my ears perked up and I want to pay close attention to what you and your associates have in mind.

Over at my infant blog (I was inspired by Grognardia) my most recent entry pertains to the idea of incorporating 1e morale checks into 4e. I call the concept "DM utility powers." It might be hair-brained and it might not work. I wanted to see if an old AD&D square peg could be hammered into a 4e round hole. It uses the 4e combat-centric system of the power-based mechanics to apply a long-discarded AD&D fundamental of combat encounters. But my point is that perhaps "DM utility powers" could open up new avenues of rule experimentation. Take a look. Perhaps you might use it in your 4e house rules. If you do, let me know.

Anyway, I apologize for the long-winded forum post. When I get on a roll, it's hard to stop. I just want to say that you have my support and there are no doubt plenty of like-minded gamers out there. If there weren't people interested in playing it "old school" style, Necromancer Games would have ceased production long ago. But I suppose you already knew that!

Cheers!

Mark