Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
[COMPLETE] Looking back at the leatherette series: PHBR, DMGR, HR and more!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 8167672" data-attributes="member: 14159"><p>The "green book" Historical Reference series are favorites of mine.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>I remember Complete Ninja's Handbook being the closest we really got to a 2nd Edition version of Oriental Adventures.</p><p></p><p>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.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wingsandsword, post: 8167672, member: 14159"] 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. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
[COMPLETE] Looking back at the leatherette series: PHBR, DMGR, HR and more!
Top