tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post5009961146527376205..comments2024-03-26T22:17:42.458-04:00Comments on Semper Initiativus Unum: AD&D Second Edition, Nostalgia and Missed OpportunitiesWayne Rossihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11347401495298367324noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post-75768240442427785442014-05-20T12:55:01.383-04:002014-05-20T12:55:01.383-04:00Our group ended up playing a mix of AD&D 1e an...Our group ended up playing a mix of AD&D 1e and 2e after switching from the BASIC RULES set. We used the 2e rules system but played 1e modules. Our campaign setting was a mix of Greyhawk, Dragonlance and Mystara (BASIC RULES). We also ran AD&D Forgotten Realms campaigns for fun. <br /><br />We never really had any problems with the rules system. We played within the boundaries of that concept and everyone was fine with THACO. <br /><br />Many of our adventures were home made or modified from Dungeon Magazine, with 3 rotating DMs. <br /><br />Fairly recently I put up our 2nd Edition house rules, with a large number of updates, for the 2e hold out community. I got linked at Dragonsfoot.<br /><br />Here is the address if you are interested: http://thacodragon.blogspot.com.au/<br /><br />There's also some original adventures linked to the blog, of similar calibre to what we used to make up and run ourselves - although there is nothing like the murder mystery werewolf adventure our party went through, the ethical challenges we had facing an evil wizard's cat-princess 'monster' that, by chance, turned out not to be evil, or the kind of orc lair set-up that allowed dialog and trickery such that we could bluff our way through a large part of their underground complex.<br /><br /> SpookyOnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04247845234734644470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post-42326499626860396792013-04-13T09:27:49.443-04:002013-04-13T09:27:49.443-04:00It was so restrictive that people who liked the id...It was so restrictive that people who liked the idea didn't embrace it, and it was spell points so people who preferred Vancian magic rejected it. If you look at it doing anything but memorizing your spells per the PHB is basically rendered useless.Wayne R.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04118962136054206381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post-49111496624095355602013-04-13T07:55:45.102-04:002013-04-13T07:55:45.102-04:00I'm curious as to what you feel didn't wor...I'm curious as to what you feel didn't work about sell points. I never used them, but was looking at the rules the other day.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10678503778316350427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post-48459508810269122922013-04-13T00:16:56.005-04:002013-04-13T00:16:56.005-04:002e seems to me to be the edition that attempted to...2e seems to me to be the edition that attempted to 'rationalize' 1e and reconcile the rules with the way many people had wound up playing the game. 2e seemed to spend a lot of time just trying to systematize everything that had been kind of haphazardly stitched together in 1e games. But with no really unusual vision like Gygax behind it, it kind of plays like a more vanilla fantasy RPG with a lot of the oblong bits shaved off. So it had more consistency, but way less flavor, and also seems spiritually different in a way I can't quite pin down.Anathematahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03459426255827443025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post-602185864519658522013-04-12T15:46:48.276-04:002013-04-12T15:46:48.276-04:00He he, Advanced &. I think the shift in source...He he, Advanced &. I think the shift in source material to sub-par door-stop high fantasy/romance and power ballads was what did it. There was no correlation between the gritty ruleset and the assumed setting. To an extent, the power bloating splatbooks went a way towards correcting this disconnect (now you can be a bladesinger!)but the mechanics were never quite Elmore enough.Tom Fitzgeraldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14893168729760333884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post-23064119153920187422013-04-12T15:41:15.699-04:002013-04-12T15:41:15.699-04:00I am going to pick them up. I never owned the 2.5...I am going to pick them up. I never owned the 2.5 books having given up on D&D at about that time. But 2e was the edition I played in college and I still have my original books, so these would be nice.<br /><br />Timothy S. Brannanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02923526503305233715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post-48435958003244114182013-04-12T14:33:57.744-04:002013-04-12T14:33:57.744-04:00I'm guessing you mean that AD&D was writte...I'm guessing you mean that AD&D was written to get Arneson's name off the cover? That bothers me as well. Although Gygax was clear that the other motive for writing AD&D 1e was that they needed hardcovers to get into mass market book stores.Wayne R.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04118962136054206381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post-42256717369650347012013-04-12T14:12:48.274-04:002013-04-12T14:12:48.274-04:00"The fact that 2e was basically written to ge..."The fact that 2e was basically written to get Gary Gygax's name off the cover and stop paying him royalties has always irked me."<br /><br />Why? when that was the whole reason AD&D existed in the first place.Hedgehobbithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17606283586332210195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post-91632330397108878592013-04-12T10:38:06.211-04:002013-04-12T10:38:06.211-04:00Whoah ... 50 dollars for a 2nd edition PHB? I stil...Whoah ... 50 dollars for a 2nd edition PHB? I still have that brick (in the 2.5 version, no less), but I remember the absolute chaos of trying to make 2nd edition characters after years of, well, other variants!<br /><br />And true, the dragons became sadly unusable.Lukahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18210941654513813581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5377543525075660166.post-20970120772292473222013-04-12T10:32:14.677-04:002013-04-12T10:32:14.677-04:00"That really was what got me into old school ..."That really was what got me into old school gaming, as well as (via the famous Appendix N) reading more sword & sorcery and less crappy Dragonlance tie-in novels."<br /><br />Amen! I've never read any of the Dragonlance stuff, never figured I missed out on anything. <br /><br />Even when I started running 2e, I never stopped using the 1e DMG... as you said, too much was deleted to make 2e.Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10231423670489116607noreply@blogger.com