Huh? AD&D 2.5 edition??

[Dragonhelm]

If I dislike anything about 3.5, it's that we look back on 2e and call the black cover books "2.5." :\

From what I remember of that time, they were reprints with the errata figured in. That's it. There was nothing to make it into a new edition or half-edition. Then they came out with the various other black books.

Man, those were good times.

 

[trancejeremy]

A lot of times the "Skills & Powers" stuff is called 2.5

 

[pawsplay]

A lot of times the "Skills & Powers" stuff is called 2.5

In fact, I think most of the time. The revised 2e books were just... revised 2e. Blue, revised blue, black, revised, revised again, I think. Something like that. 2.5 means a few hundred Kits, Skills & Powers, DM's Option: Combat, The Complete Book of Humanoids, and Asmodeus is the ultimate source of Evil.

 

[Glyfair]

Things at TSR had been going sour since the very early 1980s if the warehouse full of unsold Basic D&D and AD&D 1e products that WotC inherited were any indicator.

TSR continued to print AD&D products even after 2nd edition was released. The 2nd edition of AD&D was released in 1989, yet the 15th printing of the AD&D PHB was in July of 1989 and the 17th was July 1990 (a year after 2nd edition was released). Basic D&D products were printed well into the mid-1990's.

The existence of those products in no way indicates the problems went back to the early 1980s. More than likely most of those were printings from the late 80s and even early 90s. Certainly they wouldn't have done 3 prints of the AD&D PHB in the year after the release of 2nd edition if they had plenty of stock (even at TSR's most incompetent).

 

[jdrakeh]

The existence of those products in no way indicates the problems went back to the early 1980s. More than likely most of those were printings from the late 80s and even early 90s. Certainly they wouldn't have done 3 prints of the AD&D PHB in the year after the release of 2nd edition if they had plenty of stock (even at TSR's most incompetent).

I'm certain that I recall somebody from WotC (maybe Dancey) saying that they were able to save two Mint, first printing, copies of the PHB and DMG from destruction for posterity.

 

[Thondor]

Anyway, the originals had a smaller font and triple columns, the reprints had a larger font and double columns. I don't know how much that contributed to page count, but it probably added some. Plus I think there were more full color art pieces, and full page pieces as well. The reprints were formatted just like the PO books, there was that header at the top of the pages like the PO books, and that took up more space than the headers used in the early 2e books (hardcovers and splats). There's also that page they put at the beginning of each chapter, there's no intro page in each chapter like that in the original PHB.

Thanks a loy Orius, this is really useful.

TSR continued to print AD&D products even after 2nd edition was released. The 2nd edition of AD&D was released in 1989, yet the 15th printing of the AD&D PHB was in July of 1989 and the 17th was July 1990 (a year after 2nd edition was released). Basic D&D products were printed well into the mid-1990's.

The existence of those products in no way indicates the problems went back to the early 1980s. More than likely most of those were printings from the late 80s and even early 90s. Certainly they wouldn't have done 3 prints of the AD&D PHB in the year after the release of 2nd edition if they had plenty of stock (even at TSR's most incompetent).

Huh. That's seems quite strange. Still promoting 1e when 2e is out? Was there actually demand for both?

 

[Nikosandros]

Huh. That's seems quite strange. Still promoting 1e when 2e is out? Was there actually demand for both?

Yes, there was. The two editions were quite compatible and a lot of players didn't switch or didn't switch fully, mixing material from the two editions.

 

[Glyfair]

Huh. That's seems quite strange. Still promoting 1e when 2e is out? Was there actually demand for both?

Indeed, Unearthed Arcana had a two printings in 1991.

The Acaeum has a very detailed printing history for all OD&D, AD&D and BD&D products. You can't always get the dates for every printing, but they have a lot of that information.

Here is their comment on the last PHB printing:

The Twelfth printing was in November 1987, the Fourteenth printing was in October 1988, the Fifteenth printing was in July 1989, and the Seventeenth printing was in July 1990 (actually a year after the 2nd Edition Players Handbook had been released, since dealers were still placing orders to TSR for the 1st Edition PHB!).

 

[Nikosandros]

In fact, I think most of the time. The revised 2e books were just... revised 2e. Blue, revised blue, black, revised, revised again, I think. Something like that. 2.5 means a few hundred Kits, Skills & Powers, DM's Option: Combat, The Complete Book of Humanoids, and Asmodeus is the ultimate source of Evil.

I think that they started being called that after 3.5 came out...

Anyway, I agree about the revised printings. It was just a reprint, with a different (and IMO much worse) layout.

 

[Darrin Drader]

The black covered core books actually say in the introduction what the story is with them. They just increased font size, improved the art, and included errata.