A week or so ago, I was watching a video on older versions of #DnD and #THAC0 finally really clicked hard with me. Once life settles down a bit, I'm going to work with members of my #Pathfinder group to develop an #ADnD2e game loosely based in #AlQadim as a backup for when we are missing one or more players.

I'm dying to get back to AD&D2e. That was the game I started with and that's the version that still really excites me.

I'd happily play some version of Basic D&D or one of the retro-clones, but I think if it's going to happen at all, I'll have to be the one to run it. But that's fine, I love the freedom of the earlier editions to tell a really fun, engaging story for my players.

#TTRPG #GMLife

Ontem eu dei boost num post falando sobre #THAC0 e, ao ler os comentários, fiquei chocado ao notar tanta gente considerando o sistema complicado. Como assim, gente?! O sistema não exige que você faça nenhuma integral tripla com mudança de variáveis não, você só precisa somar e subtrair. O que tem de tão incrivelmente complicado nisso?! rs #RPG

https://vmst.io/@jalefkowit/114457145277230011

I would be so much better at math if I had been allowed to play #DND as a kid. #THAC0

#GenX #SatanicPanic #PettyComplaints

@Lironah Monk!

Disclaimer: I haven't _actually_ played #DnD since #THAC0 was a thing

You wanna buy this pizza? It's $20. I'll spot you $4. That means you need to come up with ______.

There. That's THAC0.

#dnd #thac0 #rpg #ttrpg #osr

Just saw a post saying that THAC0 is unnecessarily complicated. I totally disagree, it is quite necessary!

How else are you going to hit an Armor Class of zero? Magic?

#DungeonsAndDragons #DnD #THAC0

I'm "for my first D&D games I used THAC0 math for for attack roles" years old.

#TTRPG #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #Joke #Jokes #THAC0 #ToHitArmorClassZero

Yes, "pen-and-paper RPG" or PnPRPG. I'm #GenXennial (formerly known as #GenXY / 80s ). Even though we're now using gadgets, and the web, it's still #PnPRPG ,#TTRPG for me is different. ^_^ LOL. I still prefer #THAC0 ! All hail THAC0! #RPG #gaming

Yes, "pen-and-paper RPG" or PnPRPG. I'm #GenXennial (formerly known as #GenXY / 80s ). Even though we're now using gadgets, and the web, it's still #PnPRPG ,#TTRPG for me is different. ^_^

LOL. I still prefer #THAC0 ! All hail THAC0!

#RPG #gaming

I disagree
#adnd #THAC0

@cynical13 #THAC0 4Ever :)

@Mumintroll @phf give me a T - give me an H - give me an A - give me a C - give me a Zero! What do you want? #THAC0 !!!

(Or erforderlicher Trefferwurf gegen Rüstungsklasse Null as we say in Germany)
#Adnd

@Alexander_Anotherskip_Davis I've never had that reaction from an actual player, once they understand the "automatic +5" footnote. I think for a lot of them, that insta-bonus gives the feeling of a "critical hit."

But if a player doesn't like #THAC0, they can still use the original attack matrices (even when other players at the same game table use THAC0), because the two systems have the exact same probabilities to hit. Nobody is disadvantaged by choosing one mechanic or the other.

I recently recreated these #THAC0 tables in Google Docs (because I misplaced my original Word files), so if you want to use them, here are the links:

Player's THAC0 Table: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IEJ2TYOZS-g5uthsrqKuz2JDaEtQqpMn-eZEu0qNFjE/edit?usp=sharing

DM's THAC0 Table: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O3i2E9XCd853W6Z4JQLCQU6WG6xZ4X5-TWLzt0tEHVA/edit?usp=sharing

(I just committed myself to maintaining those links forever, didn't I?)

There are three *negative* fighter levels added to the DM's #THAC0 table because of an obscure (and comically sexist) rule on page 88 of the DMG.

There's actually something worse than being a zero-level NPC in First Edition #ADnD -- "sedentary females" are negative-third level NPCs!

It's very important that I remember this distinction, for situations where PCs get in fights with scribes and serving maids.

Compared to the #ADnD DMG, this table has five additional entries for high Hit Dice monsters, because Gygax just casually extended the Attack Matrix For Monsters in "Isle of the Ape!" That's one way to make high-level adventures more challenging, I guess.

Gygax also added an insane rule about "additional damage inflicted to automatic hit," which doesn't play well with #THAC0, so I often forget about it. I really should add something to the table about that rule.

And now... the #THAC0 table that's on my side of the screen. It had to include monsters (who also benefit from the "repeating 20" rule, so the first monster entry had to be "corrected" to 21, just as for magic-users).

Why did I phrase the summary differently on the version? I don't know. I just did!

You might notice this table extends several levels beyond the DMG attack matrices, in both directions. Here where we start getting really obscure.

As for the body of the table, I'm using Gygax's optional rule for Fighters' Progression, so Fighter #THAC0 improves 1 point every level instead of 2 points every other level. It makes playing fighters a little more interesting, and makes the table look tidier, too.

The other character classes' THAC0 progressions are standard, and listing them next to each other has one added advantage: It help players better understand the relative combat ability of the different #ADnD classes.

The "If modified d20 >19, add +5 to hit" footnote preserves the "20 is repeated" principle explained on page 82 of the DMG. People using #THAC0 in 1E often forget that quirk of the attack matrices. Forgetting it makes hitting #ADnD monsters even harder than it was in the old days!

It's also why my table gives first-level thieves & magic-users 21 THAC0 when Gygax's matrices show 20 THAC0 -- that was the *second* 20 of the repeating 20s. We "correct" that to 21 because +5 replaces the repeating.

First and foremost, the table has a quick summation of how #THAC0 works ("THAC0 - modified d20 == AC hit") at the top, so absent-minded players always have a reminder. Better to have them looking at the screen a lot than flipping through the rulebook for it.

(I use "The World's Greatest Screen," by Hammerdog Games, in case you're wondering.)
https://hammerdog-games.myshopify.com/collections/the-worlds-greatest-screen