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DEMOn1n3 wrote:so does AD&D encompass the basic and expert rules?

Not really. For you own sanity consider B/X and AD&D different games. B/X takes D&D into the simplicity of the original game where dwarves are classes and the rules take a simpler, yet vague in areas, approach. The term "Advanced" was often misunderstood in the 80's where one thought it was a more "Advanced" game than "Basic". This is not the case at all. If you feel you need more things spelled out for you, then AD&D has that where Basic gives you a very light framework to then run your game. There is nothing wrong with either version...it is all a matter on how you feel you need to play some good old D&D. I myself prefer AD&D and then strip out the stuff I don't want to use instead of playing Basic where I would then add stuff and have loose papers of house rules.

i see

Does the AEC include an option to separate class and race from one-another? Races as class is a huge turnoff for me.

daddystabz wrote:Does the AEC include an option to separate class and race from one-another? Races as class is a huge turnoff for me.

That it does...and it is one of the main reasons people move to use the AEC. It feels like playing AD&D without all of the crunch that came with AD&D. If you know how to play Labyrinth Lord then you can play AEC right away. There are even some optional rules that give it more of an AD&D feel where some characters have higher hit dice for example.

Wizardawn wrote:

daddystabz wrote:Does the AEC include an option to separate class and race from one-another? Races as class is a huge turnoff for me.

That it does...and it is one of the main reasons people move to use the AEC. It feels like playing AD&D without all of the crunch that came with AD&D. If you know how to play Labyrinth Lord then you can play AEC right away. There are even some optional rules that give it more of an AD&D feel where some characters have higher hit dice for example.

+1. I've felt that AEC plays like AD&D the way we played it when I was young - some of the finer points we just didn't worry about (segments, weapon speed factors, that sort of thing). We just rolled initiative and took our turns, and this is how the AEC handles combat. If you played strictly by the AD&D rules in the early days, however, then OSRIC would be for you (even though OSRIC does away with some of the quirkier things too, like weapon type vs. armor type).

redwullf wrote:

Wizardawn wrote:

daddystabz wrote:Does the AEC include an option to separate class and race from one-another? Races as class is a huge turnoff for me.

That it does...and it is one of the main reasons people move to use the AEC. It feels like playing AD&D without all of the crunch that came with AD&D. If you know how to play Labyrinth Lord then you can play AEC right away. There are even some optional rules that give it more of an AD&D feel where some characters have higher hit dice for example.

+1. I've felt that AEC plays like AD&D the way we played it when I was young - some of the finer points we just didn't worry about (segments, weapon speed factors, that sort of thing). We just rolled initiative and took our turns, and this is how the AEC handles combat. If you played strictly by the AD&D rules in the early days, however, then OSRIC would be for you (even though OSRIC does away with some of the quirkier things too, like weapon type vs. armor type).

+2 , I prefer AD&D without all the finer points, thats why i think AEC is great.

Is there a lot if fan support for it in terms of extra classes you can add, etc. one of the things I love about Castles & Crusades is the fan support. So many classes have been made available.

daddystabz wrote:Is there a lot if fan support for it in terms of extra classes you can add, etc. one of the things I love about Castles & Crusades is the fan support. So many classes have been made available.

I don't want to say there is a "lot" of fan support as most of the major retro-clones are pretty spread around in terms of "fans". With games like OSRIC and Labyrinth Lord, don't get hung up on finding something with an official seal from those games. I can't stress this enough to newcomers. Whatever material you find for games like D&D and AD&D, can be used with these games with pretty much zero effort. There were classes released for AD&D in the old Dragon magazines. Those will work with LL/AEC (as an example). If you get a copy of the AD&D Fiend Folio...it will work with those games. If you find the old Gazateer called Orcs of Thar, you can use those humanoid classes for your Basic LL game. On a more recent note...If someone releases new material for OSRIC, you can use it with LL/AEC. If you can keep these things in mind, the Internet is packed with tons of material for LL and/or AEC.

I "play" LL-AE, but OSRIC as source book.

Backing what many people said before me, I'd say that LL + the AEC is an exact copy of the 'game' we played when AD&D came out. And that's the game we played till AD&D2 was published, at which point I lost my players in the sand dunes of Dark Sun and the crowded alleys of Al-Qadim. Most of us never played segments, speed factors, flight manoeuvrability otherwise than as a hint of how well the buggers flew nor really paid for their level training, or at least never as much as the official DMG would have us.