FIrst Edition D&D and retroclone Skill Systems

[okumarts]

Any takes on a skill system for first ed. D&D or retroclones such as Labyrinth Lord or Swords and Wizardry? I like a d6 system as opposed to a % or roll under stat approach.

[LibraryOgre]

My favorite is a roll under stat approach, but also a d6 approach.

Basically, the DM determines a difficulty for tasks based on your background, and the assigns you a number of d6 to roll under a specified attribute. Something easy that you should know? Might be 2d6. Something that is WAY out of line for your character to know? Might be 6d6. You might say a gnome thief knows more about gems than a gnome fighter, who knows more than a human farmboy, so the gnome thief rolls 2d6, the gnome fighter 3d6, and the farmboy rolls 4d6 or 5d6 to appraise a gem.

If you were to go with a more 1e-style approach, I'd take the defined secondary skills from the DMG, and use a d6 to adjudicate success or failure, with the difficulty of the task determining what is a successful roll... 1-4 being a fairly normal task, harder tasks being 1-2. It's similar to how secret doors are detected.