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[UristMcDwarf]

I picked up the 1st edition reprints today, (70% off w00t) and I had a few rules questions.

1: How many feet big is a square? (5x5?)
2: What does space required on a weapon mean?
3: How the HELL does rolling to hit work? (negative AC? wut?)

Thanks.

[Mech#4]

1: I've seen 5 feet said as the size of a square.

2: It sounds like the length of the weapon and how much space is required to wield it. I've looked it up briefly and say a two handed sword is 6 feet long, you will need 6 feet of room around your character to wield it. Apparently this also includes characters side by side. So if you have two characters wielding swords at 3 feet long, they need 6 feet between them to use them without colliding. I'm assuming it doesn't really count for in front if you have an enemy there because you would want to hit the enemy so space doesn't mean as much.

3:Hn, again, I'm not sure if it changed between 1st and 2nd, but the armour class is done using THAC0 in 2nd Edition.

THAC0 (/ˈθækoʊ/, thack-oh) is an abbreviation for To Hit Armor Class Zero (0). To calculate if a hit succeeds you would take the AC of the target and subtract it from the attacker's THAC0, then roll a 20-sided die; if the die rolls equal to or higher than the calculated number, the attack hits. That is, THAC0 − AC = roll needed to hit.
 Example: If a target has an AC of 5 and the attacker has a THAC0 of 18: 18 − 5 = 13. The attacker must roll 13 or greater to hit. Example: If a target has an AC of −3 and the attacker has a THAC0 of 8, 8 − (−3) = 11. The attacker must roll 11 or greater to hit.
Fighter classes have the best THAC0 progression and spell users have the worst. Lower THAC0 is better, since you have to roll equal to or higher than the to-hit number.
 
For more on THAC0, consult the AD&D 1st/2nd edition DM Guide(s).

[Sensei]

Yeah, THAC0 works like that. You start with a THAC0 of 10, meaning, you have to roll a 10 to hit something with 0AC, an 8 to hit something with +2 AC or a 14 to hit something with -4 AC. If you get better at attacking your THAC0 goes down; if you have a +2 to attack, you have a THAC0 of 8, so you need to roll an 8 to hit something with 0 AC, a 6 to hit something with +2 AC, or a 12 to hit -4 AC.

[loose nut]

1) It depends. Seriously, it's 10" square, which means feet if you're indoors and yards if you're outdoors.

Ultimately, there's not much stopping you from using 5-ft squares if that makes more sense to you, but all the AD&D materials you'll see have that metric.

2) Pretty much what Mech#4 said, although it does count for what's in front, so, if you're locked in a closet and you have a two-handed sword and the other guy has a dagger you've got problems.

3) There are tables in the middle of the DMG. Use those. THAC0 does work, except you have a thing where (IIRC) past 20, you repeat the 20 to-hit 6 times, and then it goes up to 21 (which means you can only hit that AC if you have some sort of bonus). Look at the tables, you'll see it.

[UristMcDwarf]

One last thing, rounds, segments, turns? Hwat?

EDIT:

And 10 feet to a square indoors, 6 feet for a broadsword, so basically, space required doesn't really matter unless in an absurdly small space?

[Khorne]

One last thing, rounds, segments, turns? Hwat?

EDIT:

And 10 feet to a square indoors, 6 feet for a broadsword, so basically, space required doesn't really matter unless in an absurdly small space?

Space matters if you don't want to accidentally cut your teammates head off. Turns means which side gets to do actions, it's really simple actually... -_-

[Catastrophic lolcats]

DnD 1 and 2 is quite simple really when you understand some of the quirks. Much easier than 3 and 4 in my opinion, it's a lot harder to gimp your character in the early rulesets.
If you really want to understand the basics quickly without having to study any rulebook you can play some of the video games. Just turn on the complex roll data and you should pick up the ruleset extremely quickly. It's how I learnt DnD.

Of course if you want to do anything advanced like being a Dungeon Master you're going to have to really study those rulebooks and other sources of data. There's websites dedicated to monster builds and the like.

[Geen]

Oh god. 1st and 2nd edition were almost Paranoia-level lethality. The walls could eat you. The floor could eat you. Your cape could eat you. There was something indistinguishable from a beholder that exploded on death, killing whoever killed it. Jesus christ, those dungeons were like Normandy. And I haven't even gotten to the Tomb of Horrors...

[nenjin]

1 Round = A few seconds.

1 Turn = 1 minute.

10 Rounds = 1 Turn.

1st & 2nd Ed. are just lethal games in general, particularly for 1st level characters, where even 2 of something like a rat can inflict enough damage to leave you so wounded you're one attack away from death. And then the modules just dial up the lethality to ludicrous with traps, monsters with nasty permanent afflictions they put on you, and overwhelming numbers of guys. If your GM is nice and let's you rest frequently, it's doable. But when you just plow straight from one nightmare to another, there's a lot of attrition.

That's why to me spellcasters are pretty much a necessity for any party. I forget exactly what one of my friends called it, but to him D&D basically requires lots of tactical planning to overcome obstacles, and nothing is more useful to that than spellcasters.

[loose nut]

Nononono, in 1st edition AD&D a round = 1 minute, a turn = 10 minutes (or 10 rounds), and there are 6 segments in a round (so a segment = 10 seconds).

[UristMcDwarf]

I know how long those are, but I mean, how do I use that in game? Magic missile is one segment, does that mean I'm tossing down over 20 a round?

[nenjin]

Anything takes a round to do unless (like in a spell) it explicitly states otherwise. If a mage can cast 1d4 +1/level magic missiles, they'll shoot all of them in one round. If a player can make 1 or more melee attacks, they'll do it in one round. (Although I think AD&D 1st ed. has some weird thing where attacks get staggered across a single round of combat.)

[UristMcDwarf]

omg
I'm learning sooo much.

What are the character speeds? It doesn't say discretely.

[Werdna]

Hoo boy.  I remember every group I played with had different interpretations of how a combat round played.  I believe your 'initiative' roll indicates the 'segment' of a round that your group starts at.  So rolling a 5 on a d6 means your team starts at segment 5 of 10.  From there you add your character's weapon speed or spell segment, and the total is when your attack 'goes off'.  I think DEX bonus was subtracted from that but I can't recall if that was a house rule or not.  So in other words, just because you beat the other group on initiative, they may very well go first because they have lighter weapons or faster spells prepared.  You basically proceed segment to segement of a 10 segment round, resolving the attacks in order.  It got complicated when slow actions went off in the next round!  I don't think it allowed you to attack multiple times per round, except under certain conditions.  Anyways, this system morphed into simpler 'initiative modifiers' in later editions.  I may just be remembering whatever house-ruled interpretation that is stuck in my head, so take it for what it is worth.

Weapon length I think is used to determine who attacks first in a charge.  Longer weapons go first, and I think that ignored initiative.  Also, the lengths came into play if you were exploring tight spaces.  I remember it often determined if the party order was single file, or 2 wide, or what have you.

[Werdna]

And a word of advice - 1st Ed was horribly vague and we probably never played a single session 100% according to rules.  We house ruled like crazy.  You should too.  There is no bigger fun-suck than spending half of a session thumbing around in rulebooks trying to find some vague rule that does little to add to the story/action.  IMHO, the best approach to playing RPG's is to realize that the rules are just there to provide a framework for your sessions; NEVER let them get in the way of a good time.