How to convince my players to give 2e a try?

[Imperialus]

1. Give em high stats. 18,17,16,15,14,13 and make sure to allow one reroll for exceptional strength. I played lots of great characters with lower stats in 2e, but this isn't the time or place for that. If your players have low stats they'll feel severely underpowered.

I'm not sure I'd go that route. I'd say pick a method out of the DMG that will give them slightly higher stats (I like method V or IV personally) but cranking up the stats to godlike proportions is just asking for trouble IMO.

2. Make sure to use kits from the handbooks as this will make up for the lack of customization in 2e.

If you do this make sure you cherry pick your kits.

3. I would use the players option: Combat and Tactics rules for weapon mastery as well as the other weapon related proficiencies. This will make warrior classes more interesting. I would also houserule using Int for bonus mage spells for single class mages to give them more to do. Multi-class characters don't need this benefit.

Yes, this I agree with.

4. Do not use level limits, and instead balance out humans by giving them an extra weapon and nonweapon proficiency.

Level limits aren't likely to come up for a long time in the average 2nd ed game unless someone does something weird like play a single classed halfling cleric. I'm not sure that an extra WP and NWP would balance things out anyhow. The house rule we run with was that for every level beyond a racial maximum a PC needed 3 times the experience to advance.

5. Use a well esteblished campaign setting. I love making my own, but I felt the strongest characteristic of 2e was how well the fluff was written in campaigns like Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Planescape and Dark Sun. This is one area I feel that no other edition of any RPG compares.

Yeah, you already mentioned Darksun. I'd run with it. Darksun rawked!

6. Once in a while allow the purchase of magical items to mitagate the lack of crafting in 2e. I wouldn't over do it though.

I'd only do it under very specific circumstances though. It might take months to even track down a willing seller.

 

[Sir Robilar]

Wow, very helpful replies in this thread. Thanks to everyone! I´ll talk to my players soon and let you know how it went.

 

[Alan Shutko]

I've done this very successfully with my extended group of players. I've played a 1e Tomb of Horrors run and a two year BECMI campaign.

The first thing to do is pitch it to them and be enthusiastic! "This is a classic scenario and we should play it the way it came about!" Dark Sun is one of the most unique D&D settings I've played in, and it was envisioned in 2e. If you want to play the original, the way people originally thought about it, you should play 2e just so you understand where it came from.

Second, acknowledge things are going to be different. 2e is different from 1e is different from 3.xe is different from 4e. Things are going to change and people will have the most fun by embracing that change. Even if people start out campy, that's ok. One of the most well-developed characters in my BECMI game was a halfling with nothing mechanically different from any other halfling, but it worked because the player started out by accepting the mechanical limitations and working from there.

Third, stand firm. If you want to run 2e Dark Sun, stick to your guns rather than convert. I told folks I was really interested in running ToH in 1e to be authentic, but I wasn't going to convert it. If they wanted to experience it (and here's why they should WANT to) that was the way it was going to happen.

Last, listen to real concerns. A core element of any edition is house-ruling the bits your players are most concerned with. If your players, after having tried something out, have problems with some element of the system: change it. In BECMI, we went through a few different versions of a combat round to get with something that really felt right. Amusingly, it was closer to the original group initiative than anything else, but what was important was that all the players and I sat down and talked about what we liked and didn't like and made changes we agreed on. This should happen in any edition, but it seems easier in older editions without as much focus on Rules As Written.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

2nd ed was fun
but what really blew chunks for me was the non-weapon proficiency system, ugh so so unwieldy, thus, maybe pinch 4th ed's simplified skill system tack that in?

 

[Deset Gled]

Some things that I normally view as bugs in 2e could be spun into looking like features.

Explain how much easier it is to create gish or other combo in 2e because of the easily exploitable multiclassing rules. For anyone who is really into being an arcane powerhouse, sell them on the greater power disparity between magic users and warriors. If anyone you game with is one of the AoO haters that occasionally pops up, you can also use the lack of AoOs as a starting point.

If that fails, go straight to the source and show the players the 2e books you want to use. Show them the really cool things you want to do, and explain why conversion is a pain in the ass.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

A DM with a "my way or the highway" attitude, was the kiss of death for many games groups. Nobody is holding a gun to the players' heads, and forcing them to play in such a game.

That was pretty much how I ended up running my first game - the DM tried the 'my way or the highway', and was thrown out on the highway. (He was a terrible DM, having his bad example to fall back on made my life so much easier. No matter what problems the players had with my game, it was still better than his. )

You might be able to get away with this if you are an excellent DM, but otherwise... start thumbing.

The Auld Grump

 

[Sir Robilar]

So, ummm, it didn´t work out. No one wants to play 2E, not even give it a try, which makes me a sad panda...

 

[Neonchameleon]

I would do just the opposite. If you get some resistance, just say "That's what I thought. I did not think you were Man enought to handle THAC0". Obviously presumes a male gamer.

If you tried that on me you'd get a response like "I have a degree in mathematics. But I'm not masochistic enough to want to bother with something as pointless as THAC0. If that's your kink, count me out."

So, ummm, it didn´t work out. No one wants to play 2E, not even give it a try, which makes me a sad panda...

Pity. Much as I dislike 2e, being unwilling to try is sad. That said, you didn't have rules discussions pre 3e? And you consider 2e simple?

 

[clip]

Personally, I thought 2e sucked so hard it could power a small starship. It should have been Castles & Crusades, but instead it was a 1e-compatible mess, with the Monstrous Compendium setting new standards in bad ideas.

The only redeeming features I can think of were : Al-Qadim and Labyrinth of Madness. If it were my group, I'd tempt them into the old school using either of those two supplements.

 

[Crothian]

Personally I would be very wary if I had to "sell" something along these lines. The times I did it in the past, the game was frequently doomed from the start.

It has worked well for us. Sometimes you just have to to trust the DM to run a fun game for you and if you can't trust the DM then that leads to even greater problems.