More and more, as the last time I played any D&D of any kind recedes further and further, I find I want to play simpler games. Simpler is the wrong word of course. What I want to play are versions with smaller rules. This arguably trades character differentiation (smaller rules don't have room for distinguishing Tieflings from Gnomes (as much as I love Gnomes, and love lovers of Tieflings!)) for my preference for not having to remember every dumb optimization.
And there are lots of options, The Vanilla Game, a dungeon game, my own Fairly Simple d6 Dungeon Game, and--I'm sure--hundreds more.
But the gravity pull of the actual, original Dungeons & Dragons calls and calls, like a lover's voice fires the mountain side. I have never played that game, but I started with a Basic edition, so it's like a ghost haunting the role-playing game play of my whole life.
I wonder if there are any OD&D DMs around here.
