So I've been looking for a game system to play. There's Basic D&D (Basic/Expert; which I have been playing a little), D&D modern (aka 5th ed.), and AD&D (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, aka 1st ed., though I'm including 2nd edition under "AD&D").

A digression: surely the original edition of D&D should have been considered the first, but for some reason, it isn't. It's called OD&D (original D&D) by players and historians, and for the life of me I can't figure out why this occurred. But in the 80s, Advanced D&D became considered 1st ed., and then there was a 2nd edition of AD&D and then the convention stuck. Anyway. Just something I think about.

All three systems are open to me. (I'm excluding games like Space: 1889, Call of Cthulhu, and Star Frontiers because I might have issues finding other players and anyway, these don't quite scratch the rather specific fantasy itch I have.) But let's consider each one in turn.

Basic D&D, which I love and know best of all these systems, is pretty, well, basic. That's part of its charm and one of its greatest strengths, but I have to concede I may be outgrowing it a little. Bringing Basic up to the same level as AD&D or 5th ed. would involve a lot of work. If I embarked on that, why not choose the other two to save time and energy?

Consider the advantages of Modern D&D. It's ubiquitous, and that's a good thing. I also like the idea of D&D being available in stores; hobby shops, toy stores, game stores, and book stores. And it is really well supported nearly everywhere. Resources, online and otherwise, abound for 5th ed.

There are lots of prepared adventures ready to read and deploy at the table. I even own a few of them.

There's also a Lego set out, which is almost unfairly cool.

Apart from learning a new system, there are disadvantages. For one, I'd have to buy all new books, including some of the non-free resources I might wish to use. (If I'm committing to using a system, I am committing to buying all the books to reasonably run that system.)

There are also ... complaints which might be levied. (I find some of these points baffling in an adventure game 50 years in the making.)

And ... sigh. There's this. I dislike AI and am not keen on supporting it, however indirectly.

So let's say 5th ed. going forward is disqualified for those reasons.

That leaves AD&D, which also has a lot going for it. Like 5th ed., there's a lot of support going for AD&D. But I also have a lot of the books and boxed sets from that era of gaming in my own personal collection, which I've been collecting for years, and otherwise not doing anything with. Now it has been years since reading this stuff—I was in high school at the time and my comprehension of Gygax's prose was  questionable. Some of this stuff is pretty cool, and I'm not just talking about the older stuff (though I guess it's all older stuff at this point).

I also have to admit some nostalgia is an issue, though I never ran AD&D myself. I was always a player back in the 80s. When I DMed games, I tended to choose Basic and Expert D&D to run. It was just easier, though I would sometimes borrow elements (as I understood them) from AD&D in the running.