D&D 2E [COMPLETE] Looking back at the leatherette series: PHBR, DMGR, HR and more!

[Voadam]

I distinctly recall being pleased by what could be done with the fighter specializations found herein. I’d been reading some of the earlier Drizzt Do’Urden books, and recalled a passage where Artemis Entreri (fighting a few other drow) “marveled at how they could fight with two weapons of equal length.” Given that I was a rules lawyer even then, I was quite happy to note that this book made that possible if you put a weapon proficiency slot toward Ambidexterity and specialized (something this book made possible) in the two-weapon fighting style.

The drow two weapon fighting was a 1e drow racial thing mentioned in the drow monster entries in modules, the Fiend Folio, and the 1e Unearthed Arcana when you could play them as an official player race.

 

[Alzrius]

The drow two weapon fighting was a 1e drow racial thing mentioned in the drow monster entries in modules, the Fiend Folio, and the 1e Unearthed Arcana when you could play them as an official player race.

I have a vague memory of stumbling onto that much later. I got my start with BECMI-era Basic D&D, and then made the jump to AD&D Second Edition; it took quite a few years before I went back and started collecting AD&D 1E products.

 

[Voadam]

The surprising part of Drizzt was the scimitars, normally the drow used daggers, light maces, and short swords.

From UA:

Dark elves do not gain the combat bonuses of the surface elves with regard to sword and bow, but may fight with two weapons without penalty, provided each weapon may be easily wielded in one hand. They cannot use a shield when performing this type of combat, but may use a spiked buckler as one of their two weapons.

 

[Stormonu]

Probably the worst of those books was the Humanoid book, followed by the Gnome & Halfling book. The humanoid book suffered from "we don't really want you to play these races, but if you do, we'll make you miserable you did". The Gnome & Halfling book, was entirely uninspired - it had to be made, but the authors didn't know what to do with these races.

Complete Bard and Wizard were my favorite. Always loved the Blade, and my longest-running character was a Witch kit.

 

[pukunui]

I loved these books (and their thematic covers) as well! I still have most of my copies. I’ve got most of the PHBR series, some of the DMGR series, the Gladiator book (which is Dark Sun themed), and the FR Player’s Guide.

I used to have the Celts historical campaign book, but I’m not sure what happened to it.

I think my favorite was probably the Complete Book of Dwarves. I probably spent hours making dwarf characters using the random tables (like the dwarf name generators).

I can remember playing a blade bard! 5e’s College of Swords does a pretty good job recreating it.

 

[wingsandsword]

The "green book" Historical Reference series are favorites of mine.

I always loved D&D played in a pseudo-historical setting. I've long been sad that WotC has stepped more and more away from that over the years. AD&D 1e and 2e always seemed to be "Medieval Europe with Tolkien influences and magic and monsters added", which seems about the right default tone for D&D to me. 3e went into Dungeonpunk and pseudo-historical games and the idea that D&D had any roots in historic settings and culture showed up in some early 3e era Dragon articles, but faded quickly. I ran so many games set in the Roman Empire, or during the Crusades, or among Vikings with those books.

The brown splatbooks were very hit-or-miss. The Complete Book of Elves was cool, but full of broken, cheesy stuff. The Complete Priest's Handbook was pretty much a waste, it was more a DM's guide on creating religions and priesthoods for games with very little for players or DM's who were using an established setting.

I remember Complete Ninja's Handbook being the closest we really got to a 2nd Edition version of Oriental Adventures.

The Dark Blue/Grey covered DM's handbooks were good. Sage and Specialists basically introduced the first implementation of the NPC class concept that would be a core part of 3e. The Castle Guide was a great book, and was definitely also rooted in the idea of D&D as pseudo-historic gaming, as it was basically how to implement historically accurate castles into a D&D game and the society that would function around such a castle.

 

[el-remmen]

The Gnome & Halfling book, was entirely uninspired - it had to be made, but the authors didn't know what to do with these races.

Just goes to show mileage varies. The Gnome and Halfling book is one of my faves and I even recommended a current 5E player in my group playing a gnome read some of it for flavor.

I don't remember much about the humanoid book, but the one I remember being the worst was the Priest's book.

 

[el-remmen]

I'd figure I'd stick with my usual schtick here on ENWorld and share a pic of the ones I still have (a couple are missing - not sure if I sold or gave them away)

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Just goes to show mileage varies. The Gnome and Halfling book is one of my faves and I even recommended a current 5E player in my group playing a gnome read some of it for flavor.

I don't remember much about the humanoid book, but the one I remember being the worst was the Priest's book.

Did you read the complete munchkin manual called "Complete Book of Elves"? The author apologised for it years later!

 

[el-remmen]

Did you read the complete munchkin manual called "Complete Book of Elves"? The author apologised for it years later!

Yeah. We even used some of it, but nerfed a bit to be playable. The flavor stuff was cool though. I am not gonna turn around and naughty word on books I loved using in various ways just because they don't fit with my preferred way now.