D&D 2E Edition Experience - Did/Do you Play AD&D 2E? How Was/Is It?

[Ath-kethin]

I distinctly remember that the 2E Bard was truly hosed. Some of his songs took 5 minutes to cast before any effect happened. Which is fine if your dungeon master does not start every combat with, "Roll initiative. You didn't see them."

The thing that was great about the 2e bard, though, was the spellbook. No goofy school restrictions, no BS "spells known." You could cast anything you learned.

Vancian/spellbook casting gets a real bad rap, but it was in some ways a saving grace for partial casters.

 

[Ezequielramone]

I really do miss the original chromatic orb. Makes me want to change the current one to have one or two options with a 1st level spell slot and if you cast it with higher level spell slots, new options arrive like stunning, petrification, and death!

yeah, i don't know how it would work but I really miss that. It is not that important, only when I play that wizard.

 

[Redwizard007]

After BECMI, we switched to AD&D2e. We were in high school and this was our Golden Age. The settings were incredible, and the art that breathed life in our games was stellar. Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Dark Sun (really the best one), Planescape, Birthright. What a time!

Just now, for me it is impossible to play Dark Sun with another ruleset and don't lose the original feeling. I really hope Dark Sun 5e can do the miracle.

Anyway, the system was very baroque and inconsistent, but strangely enjoyable. Characters created with this system seemed organic, while later in 3e they felt logical but stiff in comparison.

The adventures producer in this age were rarely exceptional, but I sometimes feel the need to play again Die, Vecna Die; Return to the Tomb of Horrors; Dragon's Crown or other jewels (or the original Dark Sun).

This edition is a staple. Unforgettable.

It just occurred to me that I CAN still play 2e Dark Sun instead of praying for a 5e conversion... talk about obvious solutions.

 

[Gnosistika]

Started with 2e when it was released, when 3e came out we dabbled with it for a bit yhen went back to 2e. Same happened with 4e.

It is still our preferred d&d verdion to this day. We used some of the optional rules - Individual Initiative, Rolling initiative every round, Weapon speed factors, weapon and non-weapon proficiency - at the same time we completely ignored racial class limits, played TotM from the get go and seriously indulged in the Kits. It had the best settings available to this day. We never used the later "skills and powers" and other books - we liked it simple, still do. Now with our books that have gone to waste we picked up For Gold & Glory (the 2e retro clone but better layed out) that incidentally do contain some bits from those books we ignored - and it is great.

We had a 5e that we converted to another system that is going strong and just started a Mask of the Red Death 2e Ravenloft ising the For Gold & Glory rules.

2e is our nostalgia filled fever dream of golden days, it is far from perfect but it is comfortable.

 

[Gorg]

2nd edition was part of our D&D evolution. I guess, technically, we were still playing 1st ed (heavily houseruled) with 2nd ed tacked on, as we got the books. The 2 weren't THAT different, that you couldn't simply port in things from one to the other.

I'm guessing we got the most mileage out of it, due to the sheer volume of cool stuff that kept coming out, lol. Our campaigns were mostly homebrew. The DM says we were in Greyhawk, but none of the familiar trappings, characters, events or history played a role in any of our games. I don't recall playing any 2nd edition modules, save the Silver Anniversary Return to the Keep, and the OG Dragonlance 1-4 compiled in one book. What modules we did play were mostly 1st ed- with ME DM'ing- and using our hybrid 1st/2nd ed game.

We did go hog wild with Ravenloft- the boxed sets and hardcover, and I owned the 1st ed Dragonlance hardcover- so we used that to run the war of the lance. I also grabbed up every monstrous compendium expansion I could get my hands on- totally STOKED to find one for Mystara!! And any book that had extra spells or classes and such in it. One shorter lived campaign included the Complete Pscionics Handbook, too.

TBH, edition was irrelevant to us- it was just D&D. Lots of fun was had, in the late 80's and through the 90's with these editions!!! Many all nighters, Some wacky humorous games; An Epic mega party playing the original Ravenloft module by candle light during the Ice Storm of 1991; etc.

We never used kits, nor were the Spells and Powers rules included in our games.

Man, I miss those days! Everyone was around, we all had time to play often, and life hadn't gotten in the way yet...

My buddy/DM would like to play 1st Ed again, but I'm not sure I could do it. 3rd ed just consolidated too much of our hybrid mish mash into 3 well organized books (and a metric butt load of suppliments and 3rd party open game license stuff) with some cool add ons. The magic user and Cleric were revolutionized- esp at low levels. The Barbarian was back- and badder than ever! Sorcerers were added, Bards became a core class that actually made sense! Class/race limits? What are those? The D20 system is just so much easier to use. Multi-classing blew up! I loved that edition- it was OUR homebrewed system, done better!

And we were both completely enamored of the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting.

Then life got in the way again. 4th ed came and went with little to no interest from us. (it was just TOO different)

And then here came 5th ed- and that old feeling came back! Some serious changes here, but it WORKS together. And it has that old school feel to the playing. (and they kept the stuff that made low level mages more than just one shot charlies at low level- and Clerics more than just battlefield medics.)

 

[Alzrius]

I also grabbed up every monstrous compendium expansion I could get my hands on- totally STOKED to find one for Mystara!!

I spent a long time tracking down 2E Monstrous Compendium supplements, even after I'd stopped playing AD&D 2E. The hardest ones to get (since I wanted the folders and inserts as well as the pages) were the MC4 Dragonlance Appendix and the MC13 Al-Qadim Appendix. The former was hard to find with the three-ring binder while the latter never seemed to be sold with the cover.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[Zardnaar]

It just occurred to me that I CAN still play 2e Dark Sun instead of praying for a 5e conversion... talk about obvious solutions.

I find it easier to fix 2E than try and force 2Eisms into 5E.

Bye bye THAC0 no level limits build a better human.

 

[Zardnaar]

Started with 2e when it was released, when 3e came out we dabbled with it for a bit yhen went back to 2e. Same happened with 4e.

It is still our preferred d&d verdion to this day. We used some of the optional rules - Individual Initiative, Rolling initiative every round, Weapon speed factors, weapon and non-weapon proficiency - at the same time we completely ignored racial class limits, played TotM from the get go and seriously indulged in the Kits. It had the best settings available to this day. We never used the later "skills and powers" and other books - we liked it simple, still do. Now with our books that have gone to waste we picked up For Gold & Glory (the 2e retro clone but better layed out) that incidentally do contain some bits from those books we ignored - and it is great.

We had a 5e that we converted to another system that is going strong and just started a Mask of the Red Death 2e Ravenloft ising the For Gold & Glory rules.

2e is our nostalgia filled fever dream of golden days, it is far from perfect but it is comfortable.

Quite close to how I ran it and still do. Not a Ravenloft fan and I have since house ruled it slightly.

 

[Gnosistika]

Quite close to how I ran it and still do. Not a Ravenloft fan and I have since house ruled it slightly.

May I ask about your house rules? I'm always looking for interesting options.

 

[David Howery]

I spent a long time tracking down 2E Monstrous Compendium supplements, even after I'd stopped playing AD&D 2E. The hardest ones to get (since I wanted the folders and inserts as well as the pages) were the MC4 Dragonlance Appendix and the MC13 Al-Qadim Appendix. The former was hard to find with the three-ring binder while the latter never seemed to be sold with the cover.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

one of the criticisms of the whole MC series was that, in spite of the loose leaf paper and binder format, you still couldn't put the assorted sets into alphabetical order because so many of the sheets had different monsters on each side, and newer sets coming out wouldn't always fit in order. An odd thing that occurred to me a while back is that with the advent of DTRPG and the availability of practically every MC set on it in PDF, if you really wanted to, you could print them all out, one monster to a page, and put every single one in alphabetical order. It would be a huge expense in paper and ink and you'd need about 8 big binders to hold them all, but it could be done...