THAC0 (AD&D 2e) with my dad

Transcript

For this final episode of the Dice Exploder D&D miniseries, I wanted to go back to the source, to my first experiences playing the game. And I figured who better to do that with than someone else who was there, my first DM, my very own father.

We get plenty nostalgic for back when I was 8 years old, but I also made him talk to me about THAC0, early D&D's needlessly opaque and complicated version of an attack bonus. I made him do this because I think of THAC0 as so representative of how D&D's rules have worked for me over the years, and because my dad has never given a crap about any of those rules. When we played, he barely even read the rulebooks. So how did we still end up playing D&D? What were we even doing?

Further Reading

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, second edition

Dice Exploder on Theorize from Brindlewood Bay, and the pros and cons of a fixed world vs one you’re making up together at the table.

E.T. (1982, dir. Steven Spielberg)

Ad Links

Reacting Consortium

Fractals Co-op

Socials

Sam on Bluesky and itch.

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