Quasqueton
First Post
Hence, this thread.
Quasqueton
Changing to another edition
- Thread starter Quasqueton
- Start date
Quasqueton
twofalls
DM Beadle
I stopped playing AD&D2E after running several campaigns and just gave up on D&D in general. I moved on to GURPS, Earthdawn, Shadowrun, and a few other game systems. I was playing Earthdawn heavily when 3E came out and a friend of mine purchased a copy of the 3.0 PHB for me when it hit the stores. It went up onto my bookshelf unopened for over a year (thats how tired I was of AD&D). When I was finally convinced that I was a mule headed lout and was drug kicking and screaming to a table where the book had been opened up I stopped my screaming and said "Oooooh, pretty pictures...."
Then I read it.
Been playing ever since. Have several hundred d20 books now.
Then I read it.
Been playing ever since. Have several hundred d20 books now.
We played through all the editions, changing from one to the other largely because the new edition was just there. We barely used the changes that 2E made to 1E. 3E looked good because of the increased specialization and detail. Recently switched to C&C, which is basically like going back to a 1E that's got nicely cherry-picked attributes of the later D&D editions. So, we made sort of the whole journey.
My experiences...
Started playing AD&D in '82. Played a *lot* of it until '89, when we switched to 2nd Edition.
After a few years of playing 2nd Edition, our group started to try other games & systems (Star Wars RPG, TORG, etc.) We all felt that, compared to these newer systems, 2nd Edition was way too awkward and clunky a rules system. We didn't switch back to 1st Edition because, frankly, 2E was better in this regard, but still not good enough.
So, our play of AD&D trickled off to just about nothing, as we played the other games more and more. Thus, the latter half of the 2E era (Player Options, all that stuff) is pretty much unknown to us, as we were off in other games.
By the mid '90s, as we had begun to miss the swords-and-sorcery genre, I wrote a set of house rules ("Sword Wars") based on the West End Games d6 system, and we played a lot of that.
When 3E came out, we tried it, and immediately fell in love with it, and most of our gaming since has been with 3E / 3.5.
So, yes, in my case (and that of my gaming group), 2E drove us away, but 1E wouldn't have saved us. And, 3E brought us back.
Started playing AD&D in '82. Played a *lot* of it until '89, when we switched to 2nd Edition.
After a few years of playing 2nd Edition, our group started to try other games & systems (Star Wars RPG, TORG, etc.) We all felt that, compared to these newer systems, 2nd Edition was way too awkward and clunky a rules system. We didn't switch back to 1st Edition because, frankly, 2E was better in this regard, but still not good enough.
So, our play of AD&D trickled off to just about nothing, as we played the other games more and more. Thus, the latter half of the 2E era (Player Options, all that stuff) is pretty much unknown to us, as we were off in other games.
By the mid '90s, as we had begun to miss the swords-and-sorcery genre, I wrote a set of house rules ("Sword Wars") based on the West End Games d6 system, and we played a lot of that.
When 3E came out, we tried it, and immediately fell in love with it, and most of our gaming since has been with 3E / 3.5.
So, yes, in my case (and that of my gaming group), 2E drove us away, but 1E wouldn't have saved us. And, 3E brought us back.
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
There are so many possible switches and actual switches...I have followed a fairly linear path through various D&D iterations (which made the switch to 3.0 easy becuase it cleaned up stuff already in the various 2nd ed "option" books), with big changes sometimes being helped by real life (2nd edition came out when I went to college) and sometimes not...but people I now...the guys in Brooklyn who have known each other since elementary school who still play in the same 1st edition campaign, or my good friend who at one point seemed to be involved in more distinct systems and campaign worlds then I could ever keep track of, or my other friend who has also moved through the various D&D editions, but can always run a classic CoC campaing when needed.
People switch for novelty, but also nostalgia. They switch to add options and detail, but also to go back to basics and simplify. And they switch because of what other people are doing and what is happening in their lives. Anything is possible.
People switch for novelty, but also nostalgia. They switch to add options and detail, but also to go back to basics and simplify. And they switch because of what other people are doing and what is happening in their lives. Anything is possible.
Last edited:
Brown Jenkin
First Post
I am one of those who left in part due to 2ed. I started with Basic and immediately advanced to AD&D (1st ed) as soon as I found out about it. I happily played 1st ed. Until 2nd ed. came out. I found the new version clunky and didn?t want to really play it. The people I gamed with started to play other games more and more and by the time I left for other pastures there was no longer anyone willing to play 1st ed anywhere around me so I just stopped playing D&D altogether.
When 3rd ed. came out I looked at it and immediately fell in love. I joined a new RPG group and started playing FR and buying tons of d20 stuff. Now however I am falling into the same thing with 3.5 that I found with 2nd. I don?t like the rules changes and can?t find people to play 3.0 with. I have once again stopped playing D&D (We now play other systems) and refuse to purchase anything 3.5. I eagerly await 4th edition in hopes that they unbreak it again like they did from 2 to 3. I personally hope 4th edition is out at Gen Con 2006 so I can play again.
When 3rd ed. came out I looked at it and immediately fell in love. I joined a new RPG group and started playing FR and buying tons of d20 stuff. Now however I am falling into the same thing with 3.5 that I found with 2nd. I don?t like the rules changes and can?t find people to play 3.0 with. I have once again stopped playing D&D (We now play other systems) and refuse to purchase anything 3.5. I eagerly await 4th edition in hopes that they unbreak it again like they did from 2 to 3. I personally hope 4th edition is out at Gen Con 2006 so I can play again.
Ranger REG
Explorer
That's weird. How could an OD&D fan honestly review the new editions without impartiality?diaglo said:
mikedidthis
First Post
I happened to leave around the time of 2e, but it wasn't really because of 2e. It was more of a timing coincidence. I'd been playing the basic/expert boxed sets and then using the Rules Cyclopedia, but then I got into a new hobby (joined a band) in the early 90s that took up most of my free time for the next several years.
My D&D books went into a box for about nine years until I dusted 'em off in 2001. I went online to see what was happening in D&D and discovered that 3e had been released. That interested me, and I came back to the hobby (especially after I found Privateer Press' stuff which totally stoked the fires of my imagination).
These days most of my playing is PBP with an on-line group which is is fun, but I've been considering buying the C&C materials for a live campaign because it looks as if it will have much of the flavor of Rules-Cyclopedia-era D&D.
My D&D books went into a box for about nine years until I dusted 'em off in 2001. I went online to see what was happening in D&D and discovered that 3e had been released. That interested me, and I came back to the hobby (especially after I found Privateer Press' stuff which totally stoked the fires of my imagination).
These days most of my playing is PBP with an on-line group which is is fun, but I've been considering buying the C&C materials for a live campaign because it looks as if it will have much of the flavor of Rules-Cyclopedia-era D&D.
Voadam
Legend
I went from basic to AD&D to 2e and stuck with 2e until 3e came out.
I changed because it was what we migrated to as a group and I liked the expanded options in AD&D, although I eventually longed for the consistent ability modifiers of basic (which came back better in 3e IMO). We used material pretty interchangeably from those three editions without real problems and our 2e campaign had characters with 1e races and classes but 2e nwps, etc.
I changed because it was what we migrated to as a group and I liked the expanded options in AD&D, although I eventually longed for the consistent ability modifiers of basic (which came back better in 3e IMO). We used material pretty interchangeably from those three editions without real problems and our 2e campaign had characters with 1e races and classes but 2e nwps, etc.
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