D&D 2E Are all my 2E books worthless now?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Worst case scenario, you can sell them to NobleKnight.com, which offers (IME) very fair prices on older stuff and take store credit and get 5E stuff instead. But like everyone said, nearly all of that stuff has at least some value in subsequent games -- I used older edition stuff in 3E all the time and use it even more now that I'm playing Castles & Crusades -- so anything you truly love, I would recommend keeping.

 

[SamWolfeIVI]

Dragonlance 2E ===> 5E

I'm sure this was posted somewhere else already... and probably in great detail, but speaking of using old 2E modules, does anyone know where I can get some good info on converting 2E Dragonlance over, since I have seen no mention of it in 5E as of yet?

I see no sense in doing the work if someone has already taken the time.

Please post any good links you have in reference to this topic.

/r
Wolfe

 

[Sacrosanct]

Shortly after the playtest started, I broke out and played my 1e stuff using 5e. Super easy. So yeah, your 2e stuff is good as gold.

 

[Sgurr]

And, I just feel the strong urge to chime in: 2nd edition stuff is really useful now in the 5e era.

I have a similar experience as you, and I did some well spent time in the attic a week ago and dug up all the 2nd edition books and boxes. I mainly focused on FR back then, and that stuff is definitely worth having around. Last Sunday, one of the players was done with his new character, so I put the 2nd edition Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue in his hands while the rest got ready. He was in a state of bliss

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'd even say 2e stuff is more valuable and easier to convert than 1e stuff, since 2e really focused on setting and fluff over mechanics and individual adventures. Literally all you have to do is replace the monsters stat blocks. And probably tone down magic items a bit. That's pretty much it.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

The other ENWorlders already told you about converting 2e stuff to 5e standards, but one thing is still missing from the discussion: 2e was the era of worlds and backgrounds! So if your slightly dusted library contains background stuff, e.g. for Dragonlance, you're golden. WotC has not published any game world for 5e and nobody knows whether they ever will.

So take your books and your 5e characters and play! Improvise a bit instead of waiting for official stuff, and have fun!

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Yes! Totally worthless. Please send to me and I will dispose of them properly

 

[Shiroiken]

I used my 1E and 2E books for reference throughout 3E and 4E, and am still using them for 5E.

TSR's non-core books were generally filled with edition neutral information, with a smattering of mechanics. Conversely, WotC's books were generally filled with mechanical information, which is normally only relevant for the edition released. WotC has been moving away from that in recent years, a trend I hope will continue. Fluff endures... crunch does not.

 

[the Jester]

As others have said, with a (very) small amount of work, you can easily use a lot of 2e material in your 5e game. Personally, I've converted stuff from Basic, 1e, 2e, 3e and 4e with very little trouble (although I'm also very willing to fiddle with the details to make it work better for my game). If you go to the House Rules board, you can find a ton of magic items and spells that I've converted over (sort threads by thread starter and set your date range to go back a few months and you should be able to find it pretty easily, if you're interested).

 

[jgsugden]

AD&D, 2E, 3E and 3.5 materials are wonderful things to convert into 5E. It is usually pretty easy and worthwhile. To that end, I think they have a lot of utility.

However, you can actually buy a bunch of 2E stuff dirt cheap at used book stores, online, etc... So, from a financial perspective, they are not valuable.