D&D, which edition? or something else?

[constrict]

To get my old friends back into gaming again after 15+ years, (I started painting again last year...) I was thinking of slowly luring them in with a little of old school rpg. Fantasy was what we played the most back in the days, but only pen and paper, never with minis. If I could incorporate some miniature,  maybe someday can have a battle with a lot of minis, it would be great. I would like to have a system that urge you to use minis, but in the same time are not so rules heavy. What I have understand newer D&D really point this way miniature-wise but at the same time "oldies" like me are not that keen about the rules. So what's your suggestion?

[Faust23]

We're playing with the Basic & Expert sets from the original D&D.  Having a blast.

[Cherno]

I'm currenty preparing a MicroLite 20 campaign in the Dark Sun setting. The rules are really easy and with a small amount of conversion every offical adventure can be made compatible.

[Grün]

Take a look at "Dungeonslayers"

http://www.dungeonslayers.com/

[oldskoolrebel]

I'd also have a look at savageworlds. The rules aren't that heavy, plus it is quite flexible with character creation. On their website you'll even find a test drive document containing some of the rules to give you a flavour of things.

Savage Worlds

Cheers
Andy

[blackstone]

Of the original versions I like the Moldvay B/X version although 1st AD&D is the best over-all although very harsh on the players

Lot's of retro clones of the old editions are available now and most of them are actually better than the versions they clone in terms of layout and tidying up some of the rules. I'd also recommend Microlite20. It's is a simplified "sub miniature" version of 3rd ed and very easy to DM.

Here's a good list of retro-clones http://www.retroroleplaying.com/content/retro-clones

[generulpoleaxe]

We're playing with the Basic & Expert sets from the original D&D.  Having a blast.

Yeah man, simple and fun system
Using dungeon floor plans etc for mini placement really brings it to life.

[constrict]

Thanx for the inputs! Need to do some exploring, quite alot of suggestions...

[Ithaquatini]

We got back to D&D after many years, everyone wanted to play!  I looked at D&D 4.0 but didn't really like it, so we stayed with 3.5, I had way to much money invested in 3.5 books anyway.  You can use minis in 3.5, we use them with Mastermaze from Dwarven Forge.  You probably can pick up big lots of the older 3.5 books on ebay.  There is lots of D20 compatible modules out there for it also.

[Colonel Tubby]

If you like Old school D&D then try Labyrinth Lord - I'm currently crafting a campaign based in 1st Ed Forgotten Realms using them.

http://www.goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html

Cheaper than trying to source the old D&D rule books and the rules are downloadable.

[Croaker343]

I am in a group that is playing Pathfinder.  It takes the D&D 3 and kind of makes it into 3.5 (fixing many of the problems from 3.0, or so I am told.)  The campaign we are playing has us playing the goblins.  Quite funny and exciting.   In the first scenario, two out of the six of us goblins die.  And the DM had nothing to do with it.

[bc99]

Take a look at Troll Lord Games. Their Castles and Crusades is very good, has a lot of support, and the Trolls are good guys themselves. It's really got that old school feel.

[Spooktalker]

I'm running by-the-book AD&D 1e and lovin' it. OSRIC and Labyrinth Lord with the Advanced companion also do the same thing but you miss out on the nutty-awesome Gygax prose stylings. I recommend getting a set of the AD&D books off ebay (cheap as they are so plentiful, especially the reprints) and having your players print out select chapters of your retro clone of choice. The retro clones present things in a more straightforward way and are more palatable to newbies. But when you want to know the difference in dive ratios of harpy vs. succubus, well, where would you be without your DMG???  Where, I ask you???  

[Splod]

I am in a group that is playing Pathfinder.  It takes the D&D 3 and kind of makes it into 3.5 (fixing many of the problems from 3.0, or so I am told.)

Not quite mate... It's based on the 3.5 OGL, you often hear Pathfinder being referred to as 3.75 or 3.P.
My vote always goes to Pathfinder, I've been playing it since the Alpha playtest and still have my hard copy of the Beta here in my grubby little hands.
Best bet would be to pick up the beginner box, it's designed to get new players into PF so it should work well for your group. Can be used with miniatures if you choose so, but by no means is it required. I just like painting little metal men
http://paizo.com/beginnerbox

[Doomsdave]

D&D B/X is my engine of choice.  Swords & Wizardry (White Box) is a very rules light 0e clone.  If you want to go super light try Searchers of the Unknown (download here: http://sites.google.com/site/wizardinabottle/searchers-of-the-unknown)

As has been said, add dungeon tiles and minis to any of these with ease.  Then enjoy.