THE SMOKING LEPRECHAUN: FURTHERMOOR SUPPLEMENT 1

A ways to go, obviously, but this looks pretty tight...

 

GOT A LIGHT?

 So as our game's been on hiatus for a few weeks due to sicknesses & schedules I been working on a "supplement" of sorts to help folks drop smokables into their campaigns. Though I've littered my OSR circle on G+ w/ some of the rough drafts, I recently turned in an article to Fight On! w/ a solid sample of ten. I'm not sure how I want to prepare the full on supplement though, whether I wanna go cut-and-paste zine style, or PDF; Futura, or good old typewriter like The Hooded Periscope*? Also, as I've thought more about it, I've had some creeper ideas that may expand this sizably... More as I have it, but here's something for now:

*The Hooded Periscope is a typewritten zine that I've done two issues for over the past two years in support of the two games I was DMing. I will put up a way to download those two issues here shortly.

MONKS

So after much thought & comparing everything from Blackmoor to AD&D to Nod, I have decided for now, to go w/ the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion version of the monk. Main reason is b/c it is more Blackmoor than AD&D while also incorporating the best parts of the AD&D monk, like getting 2HD @ 1st level, as well as lowering the XP limits for levels just a bit, though moreso than AD&D, actually. I really dont care to get into too much nit picky stuff right now as the monk is a difficult class all around, for those that play them & the DM. There are a lot of nuances. After looking through these all though, I felt this was the best "balance" w/o having to cut & scrape, so for now, here you go:

SESSION 10 - LEIF MAKES LIKE A TREE & LEAVES AN EMAIL ON SOME ARMOR

RANGERS

"But in the wild lands beyond Bree there were mysterious wanderers. The Bree-folk called them Rangers, and knew nothing of their origin. They were taller and darker than the Men of Bree and were believed to have strange powers of sight and hearing, and to understand the languages of beasts and birds. They roamed at will southwards, and eastwards even as far as the Misty Mountains; but they were now few and rarely seen. When they appeared they brought news from afar, and told strange forgotten tales which were eagerly listened to; but the Bree-folk did not make friends of them." - Fellowship of the Ring

Rangers are humans that have left civilization in order to protect it from chaos & evil lurking in the forests, therefore they are always Lawful in alignment. If a Ranger ever does any action outside of this alignment, he immediately becomes a Fighter & loses all Ranger specifics. Rangers start out w/ 2 hit dice b/c they have already gained experience & heft in their relocation to the woods. Though they do not see eye-to-eye w/ Elves in all matters (if they are not themselves an elf), they usually become familiar w/ Elves & can speak Elvish by 2nd Level & read & write Elvish by 3rd Level. In addition, beginning w/ 4th Level, a Ranger has access to magic from the Elf Spell List (though it is limited to specific spells). The Ranger accesses this magic through primitive means (as the Elves first did), ie. communing w/ the forest, learning its wild laws, meditation, etc. They memorize their spells similarly to a cleric. Due to their stealth, Rangers cannot wear plate mail & also, when using missile weapons within the forest & w/ surprise, gain an additional +2 to hit.

 for now...

SESSIONS 9 & 10 - THESE AREN'T THE GNOLLS YOU'RE LOOKING FOR

In which the party untraps zombies from a cell - Djarel gets rushed to the Church of the White Widow - The party tries to convince Goody that thieves killed Shadow - A day of rest is in order - Unrest in & outside Talbot Outfitters - Gnoll Too leads the party into the rolling fields north of Talbot - Inside an old tree Leif senses a secret door & the party investigates...

PARTY CAST:
Leif, elf ranger - LE
Djarel, cleric of Dawnbringer - RM
Telal, thief - JT
Amadi, magic-user - MN
Gnolan, charmed gnoll - NPC
Mellon, freed gnoll - NPC
Magus, dwarf - MIA

ENCOUNTERED NON-PARTY NPCs:
Chill Deeter - holy man @ Church of the White Widow
Goody Threeshoe - barkeep @ the Green Lantern Inn
Dashdalian - traveling bard
Leonard Loonberry - hobbit owner of Talbot Outfitters
Farmer John & 4 of his friends - 2 w/ shovels, 2 w/ spears, FJ w/ sword

Before heading up out of the jail below the Gambling Hall, the party weighs their options & decide to try one more of the remaining jail cell doors... One of the gnolls beats down the door & four zombies move about. Djarel forces entry, brandishing the symbol of Dawnbringer, but the zombies keep on toward the door. They start clawing into the two gnolls who end up crunched over in a corner outside the door, a zombie on top of them & before the party can get the best of the 4 zombies, Djarel takes a serious blow that puts him @ Death's Door. Once the zombies are bested, they lift Djarel, rush out of the Gambling Hall & move west to the Church of the White Widow. It is late at night by this time, & inside the church, where they see a massive, sparkling spider @ back upon a dais, sits a man, quietly. He offers his services for a contribution of 20 gold. Leif is quick to hand over the $. The holy man, Chill Deeter, casts a spell upon Djarel who begins to groan & flounder a bit. Everyone is happy to see he hasnt kicked the bucket. They return him to a bed in the common room @ the Green Lantern & go in & speak w/ Goody who is cleaning up. Though they speak of Shadow dead down in the bottom of the Gambling Hall, killed by thieves, Goody doesnt quite seem to buy it & asks them why exactly he should believe them. They retire for sleep & in doing so, cause a bit of a controversy as a few others there, like a bard named Dashdalian, are not so psyched on their gnoll friends. The next day the party stays the entire day @ the inn, resting. The inn seems oddly quiet all day, which is fine w/ them. On the following morning, they leave the inn & go next door to Talbot Outfitters so that Leif can purchase items to replace those he lost when captured. Like the inn, the town seems rather dead except for a handful of men standing down the strip, in the road, watching the party as they enter the Outfitters. The owner/clerk, Leonard Loonberry, refuses to do business w/ them & after a while agrees to sell the items if the gnolls leave the store. He tells them that word around town is that they killed Shadow & rescued this other gnoll. Leonard tells them this gnoll they rescued robbed his shop @ one time. The party calms him down w/ their purchases & assures him they are trying to do the right thing & are actually trying to get to the bottom of who killed Shadow, saying they are being wrongly accused. Though Leonard doesnt seem to totally buy their story, he gives them enough slack to get what they want & get out of there...

As they exit the shop, they find that the men from down the strip are now just outside the shop, in a semi-circle surrounding the gnolls. The two on the outside have spears, the two closer in have shovels & the guy in the middle has a sword. He's the one that starts taunting the party, waving his sword. Farmer John says they better get the hell outta town & never come back. They are convinced the party killed Shadow & they dont like these gnolls they're runnin' w/. After a bit of a stand-off, the party simply walks through their line, calling their bluff. Farmer John & his lackeys dont do anything, but Farmer John keeps telling them they better not come back to Talbot, or else.

By mid-morning the party is north of Talbot walking through the fields - they are being led by Mellon (gnoll 2), who finally noticing a few dips in the plain, inside a slight valley, brings them to an old, gnarly tree. The tree is extremely massive @ its base, though not that tall; a bit stunted it seems & dying. About five feet up, there is a broken, hollow branch that looks to lead into the tree. Gnoll Too says this is where he hid the bags of silver. The party tells him to go in & get it & Telal lends him his rope. After about 5 or 10 mins in the tree, the gnoll shows his head out the hole & is irritated. He tells the other gnoll & Leif that the bags are gone & says he knows this is the place b/c he specifically disarmed a pit trap the last time. The party decides to enter the tree to check it out. Telal lights up a torch. Sure enough they see the pit trap & spikes & a skeleton down there. But as Leif looks about the hollowed out room, which is about 10 feet high & 10 feet in diameter, he senses something about the north wall. He goes over & lays his hands about, & sure enough, feels the crease of something there. Telal comes over & helps investigate & before long they are opening a secret door which once opened, reveals a stair that suspends up into darkness... They can hear the slow slosh of water somewhere. In order, the party climbs the creaky stair, reaching a dirt landing of sorts, but as Djarel, who was last, gets close to the landing, the stair wobbles & snaps & Djarel falls...  hitting something rubbery he pops off & into the water which is not very deep but next something whips around, what he landed on & an alligator is swinging it's jaws @ him, missing, two other alligators can then be heard splashing from each side, further away... Telal shines his torch down there & then tries pushing Mellon over ledge, but it backfires when Mellon simply grabs his hand & tosses him off, his torch landing beside the water, but not in it... Telal takes 1 damage from the fall...& everyone can hear Amadi chanting something, he's reading from a scroll & then suddenly the alligators are asleep, snoring, hacking up water...It takes a bit but the party heals the rift between Telal & Mellon & Telal & Djarel are hauled back up to the landing using the rope.

Another torch is lit & the party moves forward down a corridor, away from the stairs & the snoring alligators. They come to a 10 x 10 ft. clearing where another stair leads off upwards to their left, a passage also leads straight ahead, they head down the passage & enter into a 15 foot wide, 25 foot long room w/ webs about & as they move in they notice a large, golden key sticking down into the floor. After some talk, they turn the key. When doing so, a section of the north wall spins & opens. They pass through the opening in the north wall & come out into a 30 foot long hallway that smells of mold, about 10 feet wide, armor statues stand to each side, six in all... The armor is a funny cast as it looks to be armor for a crawfish-shaped man, long arms of armor opened for pincers, etc. Telal gets out front & searches for traps, scanning the armor, notices that the 2nd on the left has a pole arm attached to a trip wire. He is able to disarm it. They move in further & Magus slowly examines the armor, telling everyone that the second set on the right seems made of especially fine metals. The party takes time to bag up the suit of armor... They then notice a large collection of gray/black mushrooms growing up from the red rug running down the hall, 12 total, @ the center point of the room, they collect them all... They look down the hall to the other side & the doorway there, about 10 feet in front of them... They get back into a marching order, ready to move on...

3:40 PM, Friday, 15th day of the month of the Hummingbird, Talbot, Furthermoor

OD&D - AD&D: CHAR GEN: HOLMES BASIC (ADDITIONAL)

Since Flake was such a quick roll up, I rolled up another w/ Holmes...

Character rolled up using Holmes Basic:

[in approx. 50 minutes]

NADINE THE NADIR, Medium/Veteran, Chaotic Evil, Female Elf

HP: 1 / AC: 6 [13]
STR: 8
INT: 12
WIS: 7
CON: 7
DEX: 7 (-1 missile to-hit)
CHA: 11

12 - Death Ray/Poison
13 - Wands/Polymorph/Paralyze
13 - Stone
15 - Dragon Breath
15 - Staves &Spells

LANGUAGES: Common, alignment, elvish, human, orc, hobgoblin, gnoll & harpy.

SPECIAL ABILITIES: Can detect secret doors, 60' infravision, not paralyzed by ghouls

POSSESSIONS:

Leather armor
Shield
Sword
Dagger
Short Bow
Quiver of arrows (20)
Leather back pack
Small sack
Water/wine skin
Tinder box
Wine, 2 quarts
Iron rations (1 wk)
50' rope
Spell book*

Mule (Grigory)

*Spells in book:
Dancing Lights
Enlargements
Hold Portal
Light
Magic Missile
Protection from Good

gold: 9

OD&D - AD&D: CHAR GEN: HOLMES BASIC

Dude, what is up w/ me & rolling up clerics?

Character rolled up using Holmes Basic:

[in approx. 10 minutes]

FLAKE THE FOUNDLING, Acolyte, Chaotic Good [+5% earned XP]

HP: 2 / AC: 2 [17]
STR: 9
INT: 10
WIS: 13
CON: 11
DEX: 10
CHA: 11

11 - Death Ray/Poison
12 - Wands/Polymorph/Paralyze
14 - Stone
16 - Dragon Breath
15 - Staves &Spells

LANGUAGES: Common, alignment, human

POSSESSIONS:

Plate Mail
Shield
Silver Cross
Mace
Tinder Box
Torches (6)
Water/wine skin
Standard rations (1wk)
Small sack
Silver mirror, small
3 stakes & mallet

gold:  1

SESSION 9 - THE CONFESSIONS OF DJAREL

From the Journal of Djarel...

Foolish of me to stand before both of the abominations at once. The scars will help me remember this lesson. Blessed be the Dawnbringer to let me see the sunrise again and for her I will not let this lesson go unlearned. I still feel my rib floating... I do not wish to be a burden on my companions but I will not be able to swing my hammer with sureness until my injuries are healed. I am grateful to my new found friends for bringing me out of the thieves den. I must trust my companions and err on the side of caution.

I miss the clear skies of  Debthaven. It is always grey and dark here in Talbot which makes me feel that much farther from the Temple of the Dawn-bringer. Kumis... guide me to my grandfather's bones and help me return them to the Rising sun Barrows... Kumis keep my companions safe from that which harrows us.

I will pray to the Dawnbringer for healing...

-D

SESSION 9 - LEIF'S LETTER (TO LUCIUS?)

Dear L,

The blasted undead have almost taken one of us to the depths. Of all the creatures, it is they who confound me most—these abominations that haunt Wild Earth surely risen from the egos of craven gods.

Dginger lies in recovery. We dragged his limp body from the thieves guild. None can say we were blameless. Our own egos—his most of all—whispering in our ears to stuff our pockets when they were already bulging. I admit, my own head was ringing with the thought. I was naked but for my clothes, wanting revenge for those who robbed and tied me.

I wanted my White Knife back; my skull pipe with mouthpiece worn to my lips. But at what cost? I whispered to myself; perhaps audibly to my companions, “Let us stop now. We can buy 50 knives; 40 pipes. Let us consider ourselves lucky, and ascend from this dark place.” But whispers are whispered; they are not heard when blood is pounding. No longer can my indecision allow the loudest to prevail.

I was blinded by conceit. I carry the weight of this. I pray to Obad for strength to guide our young and eager party with a thoughtful and strong voice. I pray to Ehlenestra to restore my friends—to ease the half-orc’s pain, to focus the dwarf’s concentration, to soothe our Gnolls as they lick their wounds. We have been lucky; we will not last on luck.

-LTR

THE NAME IS DAWSON, RICHARD DAWSON

Richard Dawson (born 20 November 1932) is an English-American actor, comedian, game show panelist and host. He is best known for his role as Corporal Peter Newkirk on Hogan's Heroes, being the original host of the Family Feud game show from 1976–1985 and from 1994 to 1995, and for being a regular panelist on the 1970s version of Match Game on CBS from 1973 to 1978. He is also famous for what is to date his final film role, that of Damon Killian, host of "The Running Man" in the 1987 film, The Running Man.

"It’s very important to me that on "Family Feud" I could kiss all people. It sounds crazy, but when I first came here, Petula Clark was on a show with Nat King Cole and he kissed her on the cheek and 81 stations in the South cancelled him. I kissed black women daily and nightly on "Family Feud" for 11 years and the world didn’t come to an end, did it?"

Dawson was born as Colin Lionel Emm in Gosport, Hampshire, England, to an American father and English mother. At the age of 14, he ran away from home to join the Merchant Marine, where he pursued a boxing career. After his discharge, he pursued a comedy career using the stage name Dickie Dawson; when he reached adulthood, he revised this to become Richard Dawson. This name he would later officially legalise. In the course of his career in comedy Dawson is known to have played the London Palladium.

He did not kiss the female contestants in his second run on Family Feud due to a commitment he made to his wife and daughter. Richard announces this and shows a picture of his daughter on an episode in the '94 version of the Feud -- as he is greeting one of the contestants who happened to be a former contestant of his while he was a panelist on the Match Game. The episode was featured on the 25th Anniversary of Family Feud as No. 14 on the Game Show Network's Top 25 Feud Moments.

MAGIC-USERS & SPELL BOOK GENERATION

From Men & Magic:

Characters who employ spells are assumed to acquire books containing the spells they can use, one book for each level.

This implies that though a first level magic-user can only learn & cast one first level spell per day, they have @ their finger tips all the first level spells in one huge tome. You would not lug this into a dungeon.

With the Greyhawk supplement, Gygax limits this a bit, which is wise. This is the same spell book generation that would later be found in the Holmes Blue Book: percentile dice are rolled for each first level spell to determine whether that spell is in the m-u's spell book or not.

Here's the chart:

INT       % Chance to Know Spell       Minimum       Maximum
3-4          20%                                       2                   3
5-7          30%                                       2                   4
8-9          40%                                       3                   5
10-12      50%                                       4                   6
13-14      65%                                       5                   8
15-16      75%                                       6                  10
17            85%                                       7                  All
18            95%                                       8                  All

Example: Jimmy the Hex Master has an INT of 15. To determine what spells he has in his spell book, I go down the list of first level spells & roll percentiles. Every time I roll a 75 or lower, Jimmy adds that spell to his spell book. Once he has 10 spells, he stops (cuz that's his max on the chart for his INT). If Jimmy makes it through the entire list & has 6, he's done (cuz that's his minimum). But if Jimmy only has 5 after going through the list, he starts again w/ the spells he failed to add the first time, rolling until he can add one more to meet his minimum of 6.

This is the way to do it. Not only does it open up magic-users @ the start of the game, but also, it awards players w/ high intelligence for what we could assume is a lot of time & study done before setting out for fame & fortune.

So how was I doing it before?

From Moldvay Basic:

These spells are stored in large spell books... Each magic-user & elf has a spell book for the spells that he or she has learned. A first level character will only have one spell (a first level spell) in the spell book. A second level character will have two spells (both first level) in the spell book...

I always asked myself, why would a magic-user w/ only one first level spell carry around a mostly empty, massive spell book? My guess was that Moldvay wanted to simplify the spell selection process for an introductory game while also holding on to the classic fantasy image of the magic-user's exhaustive tome. So while Moldvay keeps the description of the "large spell book" within his rules, he doesnt go so far as Holmes to say that Magic-users can not bring their magic books into the dungeon w/ them.

So it's a trade off: OD&D/Holmes equip magic-users w/ exhaustive spell tomes that give them a wide daily spell selection, but the location they can study these tomes is limited. On the other hand, Moldvay severely limits the number of spells a magic-user has access to, but they are free to carry the book about as they wish, even into a dungeon.

There are benefits to both approaches, so I've fused the two: while first level magic-users will start per the Greyhawk rules, I think they should also be able to, down the line, purchase a smaller spell book to copy select spells in for possible overnight dungeon travel. However, if any spell book has more than 5 spells in it, it is only possible to travel into dungeon w/ m-u if they have a STR of 12 or more, & even then, there may be other consequences or limitations.

What about elves?

Elves will not use these same rules. As elves know magic inherently, their magic-use learning is different, @ least starting out. For their spell list, they will choose the Moldvay way (plus additional spell or two for high INT). That is, UNLESS, an elf character decides to be a magic-user only. I/o/w, they will not be a multi-classed elf, they will be an elf magic-user.

OD&D - AD&D: CHAR GEN: MEN & MAGIC + GREYHAWK & BLACKMOOR

Character rolled up using Men & Magic w/ Supplements I & II: Greyhawk & Blackmoor:

[in approx. 40 minutes]

MARLOWE THE MANIACAL, Medium, Neutral [+10% earned XP]

HP: 2 / AC: 9 [11]
STR: 14 (+1 to-hit; +100 weight allowed; 1-2 open doors)
INT: 17
WIS: 6
CON: 6 (-1 HD; 30% chance of resurrection survival; 35% chance of surviving spells)
DEX: 13 (+1 missile to-hit)
CHA: 10 (4 hirelings max)

13 - Death Ray/Poison
14 - Wands/Polymorph/Paralyze
13 - Stone
16 - Dragon Breath
15 - Staves &Spells

LANGUAGES: Common, alignment, human, elvish, dwarf, gnome, halfling, orc, goblin & dragon

POSSESSIONS:

Dagger
Steel mirror
Water/wine skin
Wine, quart
Torches (6)
Small sack
Standard rations (1 wk)
Spell book*

Mule (Dandy)
Saddle
Saddle bags

*Spells in book:
Detect Magic
Hold Portal
Read Magic
Read Languages
Protection/Evil
Light
Sleep
Shield
Magic Missile
Ventriliquism

gold: 8

OD&D - AD&D: CHAR GEN: MEN & MAGIC + GREYHAWK

Character rolled up using Men & Magic w/ Supplement I: Greyhawk:

[in approx. 20 minutes]

CARLYLE THE WANDERER, Acolyte, Lawful [+10% earned XP]

HP: 5 / AC: 2 [17]
STR: 15  (+1 to-hit; +100 weight allowed; 1-2 open doors)
INT: 10
WIS: 17
CON: 12  (75% chance of resurrection survival; 80% chance of surviving spells)
DEX: 12
CHA: 14  (5 hirelings max; +1 loyalty base)

11 - Death Ray/Poison
12 - Wands/Polymorph/Paralyze
14 - Stone
16 - Dragon Breath
15 - Staves &Spells

LANGUAGES: Common, alignment, human

POSSESSIONS:

Plate Mail
Shield
Helmet
Wooden Cross
Mace
Lantern
Flasks of Oil (3)
10' pole
12 iron spikes
Water/wine skin
Iron rations (1wk)
Large sack
Leather back pack
3 stakes & mallet
garlic, bud
wolvesbane, bunch

gold: 24


Next will be a character considering Supplement II: Blackmoor as well.

The plan is to roll up characters from OD&D to AD&D to Moldvay & compare them.

OD&D - AD&D: CHAR GEN: MEN & MAGIC

Character rolled up OD&D style, using Men & Magic only:

[in approx. 15 minutes]

ZIGGY OF THE DANGLING TREE, Acolyte, Lawful [+10% earned XP]

HP: 3 / AC: 4 [15]
STR: 10
INT: 6
WIS: 15
CON: 5  (-1 HD)
DEX: 9
CHA: 8  (3 hirelings max)

11 - Death Ray/Poison
12 - Wands/Polymorph/Paralyze
14 - Stone
16 - Dragon Breath
15 - Staves &Spells

LANGUAGES: Common, alignment, human

POSSESSIONS:

Chain-type mail
Shield
Silver Cross
Mace
6 torches
50' rope
Water/wine skin
Iron rations (1wk)
Large sack

gold: 0


Next will be a character considering Supplement I: Greyhawk as well.

The plan is to roll up characters from OD&D to AD&D to Moldvay & compare them.

ELVES & EXPERIENCE

My initial plan for this game was to treat elves like Moldvay Basic: they function as both magic-users & fighters @ any given time & b/c of this, their experience path reflects this mash up by requiring 4000 XP to reach 2nd Level, i/o/w the m-u & fighter XP paths have been joined together w/ a slight handicap. I think this is also an optional rule in the Swords & Wizardry White Box rules.

But I dont want to do it this way anymore. I wanna do it the old way, w/ a few mods.

The old way is this: elves are multi-classed: you have two XP paths: the magic-user path & the fighter/ranger/thief/whatever-else path. When you are given XP, you can choose where to put that XP: split it up, put it all in fighter XP, put it all in m-u etc. The only guideline I really have is that you put the XP in the appropriate place, i/o/w, if you just gained 500 XP & you havent cast one spell in the game, I would rather you not put 500 XP into the magic-user XP path. I'm not saying that you can't do that, but doing so would probably mean your character isnt getting much sleep since they must be secretly practicing magic in their downtime. Going this route will make it standard for an elf to have different levels in each class, e.g. Willowbrain is a 3rd Level fighter & 2nd Level magic-user.

This is basically OD&D, though I'm removing the need for an elf to specify each day (or before each adventure) what class they are playing. Likewise, I am removing total armor restrictions on elves that use magic: they can still cast magic while wearing leather armor, just no metal armor (unless magical, of course).

Leif, I've updated your character sheet w/ this info. You just need to assign your XP. Also, Robert, take note for your new dude.

QUIRKS OF THE DICE: OD&D - AD&D

The first time I ever played D&D was when I was 7. I remember it taking a bit to establish my character, but in the end, I was a fighter, named Kron. I know the module was T1: Village of Hommlet b/c I remember the artwork & the graphed map of the town inside (huge impression), but I dont remember seeing any other books present that day.

So was Kron a hero, or a superhero? Since there were no books involved, did we use D&D or AD&D?

AD&D character generation is when Old School became Old School. First off, I know there are those that will say that 1st edition AD&D is "Old School" & perhaps in some ways they are correct, but in the way I mean Old School, AD&D is actually the first move into modern RPGs or @ least modern D&D. Not that I am an expert in the history of RPGs, but let's take a look @ OD&D Men & Magic, where it is stated that the DM should themselves roll for any players' ability scores, etc.:

Prior to the character selection by players it is necessary for the referee to roll three six-sided dice in order to rate each as to various abilities, and thus aid them in selecting a role.

In OD&D, a player's role choices are dependent upon the rolls of the dice. After the DM rolls, you are given choices: trade certain abilities, one class over other, race, etc. If you go w/ the highest rolls, you are limited. You know what type of character you are playing quickly.

BASIC (Holmes Blue Book to Mentzer Red Box), DM rolling aside, continues this approach. Though a few more ability trading options, you have the OD&D approach to character generation intact. Roll 3d6 down the list of attributes, adjust where able, if you like, choose class/race, etc.

But ADVANCED D&D is much different. What kind of character do you desire? Let's look @ the 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide:

As AD&D is an ongoing game of fantasy adventuring, it is important to allow participants to generate a viable character of the race & profession which he or she desires. While it is possible to generate some fairly playable characters by rolling 3d6, there is often an extended period of attempts @ finding a suitable one due to quirks of the dice. Furthermore, these rather marginal characters tend to have short life expectancy - which tends to discourage new players, as does having to make do with some character of a race and/or class which he or she really can't or won't identify w/. Character generation, then, is a serious matter, & it is recommended that the following systems be used. Four alternatives are offered for players characters:

Method I:
All scores are recorded & arranged in the order the player desires. 4d6 are rolled, & the lowest die (or one of the lower) is discarded.

Method II:
All scores are recorded & arranged as in Method I. 3d6 are rolled 12 times & the highest 6 scores are retained.

Method III:
Scores rolled are according to each ability category, in order... 3d6 are rolled 6 times for each ability, & the highest score in each category is retained for that category.

Method IV:
3d6 are rolled sufficient times to generate the 6 ability scores, in order, for 12 characters. The player then selects the single set of scores which he or she finds most desirable & these scores are noted on the character record sheet.

OD&D/BASIC had already factored in that any adventuring PC is of exceptional something. That's what qualifies them to be a 1st level adventurer vs. any "normal human" on the attack chart, etc. Personally, I find "quirks of the dice" to be a positive to D&D vs. a limitation of the earlier game.