wingsandsword
Legend
In a brief statement, I'd say that the "2nd Edition Feel" could be largely summed up with the expression: "Flavor over Rules". If it sounded cool, made for a fun game and represented the setting well, it was in, even if it was imbalanced. The "Balance rules all" mentality of 3e was right out. The entire Dark Sun setting and Spellfire were two things that really emphasized this, especially when you look at how it was treated then and now. Ruleswise, 3e beats 2e any day, but flavorwise, 2e runs circles around 3e.
The Multiverse is something I definitely miss and feel was a real part of the "2nd Edition Feel". The idea that all the various settings linked together, however tenuously, and could cross over as often, or rarely as the DM wanted, but the players knew that somewhere, out there was all of it. The books contributed, with the occasional offhand reference to something from somewhere else, be it a god from another world who got momentarily involved in another world's affairs, a famous wizard who crossed over for a brief stay, or an order of knights or wizards who meddled briefly in affairs beyond their normal reach. All the settings shared one universal cosmology, and through planewalking and spelljamming you could go almost anywhere (Athas was mighty hard to get into, and Ravenloft was mighty hard to get out of though).
That's a feel I still try to evoke in my D&D games, with the rare reference to things from beyond. It's rare and obscure enough that to characters it should be completely unknown (or vague rumors), but to the player it's that friendly wink & nudge that yeah, it's out there somewhere.
The flavor-richness of many of the setting books is also something I miss. So many books were written from an in-character point of view (at least mostly): Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, The Factol's Manifesto, The Planewalker's Handbook, Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark, the entire Volo's Guide series. . .when you read many 2e setting books, it was like you were reading something for fun (I often did, that's for sure), you could pick up a book and immerse yourself into the campaign world. Now, books seem like so much of a textbook or a reference manual. The books are often prettier, and well made, but a certain spark of creative life is often missing.
I also miss specialty priests. I liked being able to have a divine spellcaster that precisely fit his priesthood at 1st level, instead of the One Size Fits All Cleric that has to hit 6th level to get a Prestige Class that fits his faith, or multiclass and lose a level of spellcasting to try and kludge together a Specialty Priest equivalent. I really miss that there is no option in core D&D for a (non-nature oriented) priest that is not a heavily armored, mace swinging, undead-turning battle-cleric. The Favored Soul and Mystic (from DLCS) are much closer to what I'd have in mind for many priests.
The Multiverse is something I definitely miss and feel was a real part of the "2nd Edition Feel". The idea that all the various settings linked together, however tenuously, and could cross over as often, or rarely as the DM wanted, but the players knew that somewhere, out there was all of it. The books contributed, with the occasional offhand reference to something from somewhere else, be it a god from another world who got momentarily involved in another world's affairs, a famous wizard who crossed over for a brief stay, or an order of knights or wizards who meddled briefly in affairs beyond their normal reach. All the settings shared one universal cosmology, and through planewalking and spelljamming you could go almost anywhere (Athas was mighty hard to get into, and Ravenloft was mighty hard to get out of though).
That's a feel I still try to evoke in my D&D games, with the rare reference to things from beyond. It's rare and obscure enough that to characters it should be completely unknown (or vague rumors), but to the player it's that friendly wink & nudge that yeah, it's out there somewhere.
The flavor-richness of many of the setting books is also something I miss. So many books were written from an in-character point of view (at least mostly): Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog, The Factol's Manifesto, The Planewalker's Handbook, Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark, the entire Volo's Guide series. . .when you read many 2e setting books, it was like you were reading something for fun (I often did, that's for sure), you could pick up a book and immerse yourself into the campaign world. Now, books seem like so much of a textbook or a reference manual. The books are often prettier, and well made, but a certain spark of creative life is often missing.
I also miss specialty priests. I liked being able to have a divine spellcaster that precisely fit his priesthood at 1st level, instead of the One Size Fits All Cleric that has to hit 6th level to get a Prestige Class that fits his faith, or multiclass and lose a level of spellcasting to try and kludge together a Specialty Priest equivalent. I really miss that there is no option in core D&D for a (non-nature oriented) priest that is not a heavily armored, mace swinging, undead-turning battle-cleric. The Favored Soul and Mystic (from DLCS) are much closer to what I'd have in mind for many priests.
If I were to run Dark Sun again, I think I'd use it in place of the cleric in Dark Sun.
