How useful was the AD&D Core Rules CD?

[Ron]

I have it and if you are playing AD&D it is really very useful, even having most of the books in print. Especially because the complete series is not that good anyway and I find easier to paste what is worthy and print it to put in use. Additionally, I had a lot of fun with the character generator, which is quite handy.

 

[grodog]

Just to clarify, the Core Rules CD was for 2nd edition, wasn't it?

 

[Darth Shoju]

I had the 2.0 version as well and I found it quite useful. I also share the opinion that the quick-map maker was way easier (and produced nicer maps) that the more complex world-mapper (it was incredibly convoluted just to draw a simple landmass, let alone put all the icons on decently). The character generator was great, particularily in light of all the 2nd ed rules that were out at the time and all the equipment available. It also had a nice selection of PC portraits that I pulled from the program file and printed for use as NPCs. Did the same thing with all the art from the Monster Manual (it was nice to be able to just print the pic to show to the players without having to worry about them looking at the monster's stats). It also had a dice-rolling utility that I found less than useful, but entertaining.

 

[Klaus]

I have the 2.0 CD here if anyone's interested. I've not used it in... (starts counting)... Dang! Eight years!

:O

 

[Delta]

Just to clarify, the Core Rules CD was for 2nd edition, wasn't it?

That's right.

 

[GeorgeFields]

I constantly used it and expansion when preparing games. IT was really nice b/c you could customize almost EVERYTHING on it! I used ahybrid of the core rules nad Skills & Powers along with the other option books. I made the modifications I wanted. Once I had them done, setting up games nad making characters was a snap.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I remember it being extremely useful, but I don't recall why.

 

[delericho]

I found it was a really cool product in principle, but never really saw the use I thought it should in practice. I had both the core product version 2 and the expansion disc, and barely used them.

The Dragon Archive, on the other hand, still occasionally sees use.

 

[JediSoth]

The Core Rules CD-ROM was the most useful aid I had for my second edition games. I could easily create player handouts outlining all the optional rules the game would be using (and as you may recall from the last days of 2nd Ed., there were A LOT), and the encounter creator was awesome.

The mapmaker was OK, but I find I prefer Dundjinni for the types of maps I do.

JediSoth

 

[Alzrius]

I thought the Core Rules CD-ROM was excellent, presuming you use the 2.0 version. Tack on the Expansion, with all of the Complete books, and it was very worth it. There was even a downloadable expansion to the Expansion that added The Complete Book of Necromancers, which was one of my favorite 2E sourcebooks.