But what am I supposed to do?

One of the shortcomings in classic D&D is what some call the "Take Turns Having Fun" problem. More accurately, it's taking turns at doing well at something in one of D&D's two primary sub-games. Fighters and Rangers really kick-ass in combat, while Thieves really kick-ass at dungeon crawling. Clerics are more evenly divided between the sub-games depending on what spells them have prepared and Magic-Users either suck at both or dominate both depending on what level they are. Result: players spend 20 minutes watching other players being awesome while they have nothing to add.

Please note that I have no problem in inexact equality. That's the stuff of life and makes the game more authentic. But everyone wants to feel like they can help out, even if only in a small way. Helping each class find ways to help out is the topic of this post.

D&D 4E "solved" this problem by basically making every character exactly the same - they all have at-will, encounter and daily combat powers and a Skill Challenge System for dungeon crawling and wilderness/urban encounters. No one has to take turns because everyone can do anything anyone else can do using the same mechanics. That's one solution I suppose, but it's not a solution I am in favor of. One of the key strengths of classic D&D is that playing one class doesn't feel even remotely like playing any of the other classes. I like that magic works by different rules than swordplay, as you would expect magic to.

The "take turns having fun" problem is why I proposed in my previous post that some classes ought to have sub-sets of the traditional Thief skills. All classes have the same 1-in-6 chance of finding traps, but now Magic-Users can also Read Languages and Read Magic Scrolls, and Fighters and Elves can improve their climbing as they level up. An OD&D DM operating without supplements would of course be free to provide these skills at his pleasure, but since they have been provided to the Thief I have provided them to others as well to avoid the suggestion of deliberate omission. In this way more players have defined roles they can jump into in helping the dungeon crawl sub-game. All of the roleplaying and free-form opportunities, such as using iron spikes to keep a trap door from opening, of course remain.

I have a few other suggestions for improving sub-game participation. Some of them may seem radical, and I do not suggest they all be adopted en masse without careful thought, but here they are for your consideration:

1) Allow Thieves to set up attacks by others. A thief has little to offer in combat once his backstab chance has been lost. Allow him to attack a melee opponent vs. AC 10 in order to disrupt that opponent's defenses. Success grants another PC a +2 to-hit that round.

2) Improve the AC of Thieves and Monks while armed with appropriate weapons. They need it.

3) Remove the weapon restrictions from magic-users. This goes against the grain for many classic D&D players, but there are many fantasy examples of wizards using swords and other weapons (Glamdring, anyone? Even Jack Vance's Dying Earth wizards had swords. And don't forget Stormbringer). Frankly magic-users have such poor ACs and to-hit that they won't be getting mixed up in combat often anyway, but at least this way they can have a crossbow to help out with and (if cornered) can draw that sword and not be completely helpless against a couple orcs. As they level up their to-hit will fall further behind as their spells become more potent, allowing them to transition smoothly from "poor man's fighter-m/u" to arch-mage.

4) Establish some non-spell magic for Clerics and Magic-User to interrogate the magical traps and oddities found in the world's dungeons. Just as Clerics and Magic and scribe scrolls and brew potions independently of spell casting, you could have Rituals (from 4E; great idea) to perform minor divinations given time and proper components.

5) Give Clerics light-sabers and rename them "Jedi." ... just kidding. :-)

6) Most importantly, and this is more a guideline on good Dungeon Mastering than a rule, remember to not roll any Thief Skill checks or similar rules until all roleplaying and free-form problem solving options have been exhausted. This ought to be sufficient reminder to the players that D&D is first and foremost of game of player skill rather than character skill, and that good ideas sufficient to overcome any challenge faced can come from anyone.