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

[Staffan]

I played 2e quite a bit, but I was never really happy with it, and kept trying to fix it with various house rules and rules expansions. I loved Dark Sun and played that quite a bit, and still consider 2e psionics to be the target to aim for flavor-wise (though not necessarily mechanically), but all in all I picked "Played it but didn't really like it".

It is, of course, possible that my fond memories of Dark Sun are colored by being a relatively carefree teenager at the time.

 

[The Soloist]

I must note, that saying your THAC0 was very low was something cool and ¨dangerous¨ but saying your BAB/base attack bonus is very high somehow is just is not, in the least bit.

What kind of Taco do you prefer? Chicken or beef?

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I must note, that saying your THAC0 was very low was something cool and ¨dangerous¨ but saying your BAB/base attack bonus is very high somehow is just is not, in the least bit.

I do miss the old days of the PCs figuring out, "Oh crap, this dude has a -2 AC!!!"

 

[CleverNickName]

There has been quite an uptick in votes lately, so I updated the Edition Experience Survey Results. Check out how this edition compares to the others, in light of hundreds of new votes.

Spoiler: Spreadsheets!

 

[GreyLord]

I find it humorous all those fan bois who praise rising BAB in 3e but find THAC0 difficult or hard.

3.X math with everything tossed in was harder at times in a few instances then one could even dream of with THAC0.

All the small little modifiers, exceptions (oh...you can't have that bonus from your ring of protection because you already have this same type of defense modifier in effect from this other item...hope you remember all the different types that you can or cannot combine!!!!) which were a pain, and various other things that added or subtracted from the roll that the DM was supposed to keep track of.

The Math turned out to be far more convoluted in 3.X if you had min/max players who wanted to take advantage of every little thing than anything I ever had to deal with in 2e.

That's neither here nor there though, but just something that kind of burns me when people praise the ascending BAB of 3e and criticize THAC0.

 

[CleverNickName]

While I only ever played AD&D 2E the one time, and it was a bit of a disaster, I have a lot of fond memories of reading the 2E stuff. I had gotten a gift subscription to Dragon Magazine for the last half of 1989 and the first half of 1990, and I would pick up the occasional copy of Dungeon Magazine at the comic store, and I would read them over and over again until they practically disintegrated. And I remember the Desert of Desolation series of adventure modules--Pharoah, Oasis of the White Palm, Lost Tomb of Martek--and I ran them for my high school gaming group even though we were playing Expert Rules. (I had run them alongside the Desert Nomads series of adventure modules, creating the very first D&D "adventure path" I had ever run.)

For me, the storytelling and the artwork really peaked during the late 80s and early 90s era of 2nd Edition. I didn't care for much of the rules, but at least the adventures were flexible enough to translate easily into my beloved BECM.

 

[Velderan]

I find it humorous all those fan bois who praise rising BAB in 3e but find THAC0 difficult or hard.

Anytime someone tries to tell me THAC0 was too complicated, my immediate response is "my stoner friends could figure it out when we were in high school, it wasn't that hard".

 

[billd91]

All the small little modifiers, exceptions (oh...you can't have that bonus from your ring of protection because you already have this same type of defense modifier in effect from this other item...hope you remember all the different types that you can or cannot combine!!!!) which were a pain, and various other things that added or subtracted from the roll that the DM was supposed to keep track of.

Hey, at least 3e had a rationale and keyword methodology behind what worked together and what didn't. 2e had quirks you could only know by looking up the magic item like how rings of protection didn't help your AC if you wore magic armor and cloaks of protection didn't help your AC if you wore any armor other than non-magical leather (and no shield). 3e took that weird exception crap and systematized it so it was easier to use.
Just like BAB and ascending ACs were easier to use. That's not saying that THAC0 and descending ACs were impenetrable - just that the system behind using BAB and an ascending AC were easier to teach, learn, and use.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I really enjoyed 2e. That's the edition we played when I was in the army overseas. But the edition I actually prefer the most is 1e with some 2e elements. 1e's aesthetic just hits on all bars. But I do enjoy the way 2e handled thief skill progression, official THAC0, and spell schools. Just a lot cleaner all around.

 

[cbwjm]

Definitely had some fun moments in 2e, but would I play it nowadays? Yes, yes I would. That and BX/BECMI are probably my favourite editions. I could play 2e completely as is, but I know I'd end up tinkering with it. Since those old editions didn't have a lot of moving parts it was easier to tinker with than later editions. Probably the only thing I'd really want to change though is moving those percentile thief skills to proficiencies.