Huh? AD&D 2.5 edition??

[Orius]

I don't know, I always liked the black covered books, they always seemd more stylish than the early books. But then the original printings were only black and blue, where the reprints were full color.

I got into 2e around 1994 or 1995, so that's why my hardbacks are split. My PHB is (probably the last printing of) the original, my DMG is the first black cover printing, and I have the full white cover MM and no MC binder. Got the PO books too when they first came out, and a copy of the ToM with the round TSR logo that was used in their final days. I know that later on both the MM and ToM were reprinted with black covers and the red AD&D logo, probably so that all the books would match. I'm fairly sure that happened after WotC bought TSR. Also, I think the PO books and ToM had their final printings as softcovers. Possibly the Book of Artifacts as well, but I never bought that because I had the whole Encyclopedia Magica set.

Also, even PO isn't a "2.5" edition, it's more like the 2e version of 1e's Unearthed Arcana, possibly UA with the Survival Guides thrown in. It was an optional system added onto 2e, not a rewrite of the rules that was more than a revision and less than a new edition.

 

[Chris Tavares]

This is Friend-of-a-friend info, but it sounds like it fits...

Back in college, a friend of mine had an uncle in the advertising biz, and my friend got to meet one of these consultants. This consultant mentioned that he'd done work at TSR to help them "think out of the box."

One of the questions TSR wanted to answer was how to raise the prices of the core books. "We have to increase the page count." "So how do you do that?"

From somewhere in the room it was said "We could increase the font size."

Instead of the obvious hoots and jeers, the consultant stood up, said "now that's thinking out of the box!" The font size was raised, and you got 64 more pages in the book.

 

[wingsandsword]

Also, even PO isn't a "2.5" edition, it's more like the 2e version of 1e's Unearthed Arcana, possibly UA with the Survival Guides thrown in. It was an optional system added onto 2e, not a rewrite of the rules that was more than a revision and less than a new edition.

It was never officially called anything like that, but our gaming group always called the Player's Option/DM's Option rulebooks "2.5" at the time (and we used them in every campaign we ran after they came out).

We got a big laugh when the revision to 3e was officially called 3.5.

 

[an_idol_mind]

Calling the reformatted core books 2.5 is erroneous, since they are 100% compatible with the older printings. I had an old copy of the core books, while my friend brought the new printing to the table. We never encountered any discrepancies.

Calling the Player's Option stuff 2.5 makes sense to me, though. Those books radically changed the system, and using them in a game meant that you were playing with material that was largely incompatible with the rest of the 2nd edition supplements and adventures.

 

[tzor]

As far as I can recall there was no new rule changes between the printing of the editions, if there was no one noticed. I'm not sure there wasn't any fluff changes between the printing in addition to the larger print. There was a number of minor formatting changes IIRC.

Generally speaking I consider 2.5E to be the Complete Series since the idea of kits was a radical rule change. Player DM Options were generally considered to be 2.5 PO Then again I loved to sub category the versions sine 1E

1E - Original edition of AD&D
1E-D - Original edition plus Dragon supplements

IE-D had 0 th level spells - which would not be seen until 3E​

1.5E - Unearthed Arcana
2E - Original Second Edition of AD&D
2E-DS - Dark Sun variant on the rules

Dark Sun broke the 18 barrier and paved away for the demise of extraordinary strength​

2E-C - Complete Series
2E-PO - Options Series

 

[Gentlegamer]

IMHO, in light of the revelations made public (such as the stock of the aformentioned warehouse), TSR stands as a shining example of why it is better to let professional businessmen run game companies rather than gamers or IP owners. While it's very tempting to blame the company's demise entirely on Lorraine Williams -- and, to me, there's no doubt that her decisions were the final nail in the coffin -- it seems that the company was already in the hole when she assumed control (or had one foot it in it, anyhow).

Yes, the Blume Bros. had been ruining TSR for years before Williams entered the picture.

 

[TerraDave]

OP: It was a change of format. Less dense.

2.5: The option books: Skills and Powers, Combat and Tactics, Spells and Magic, High Level Campaigns. These also started coming out in 1995, and had a similar look.

Glyfair: That remains one of my favourite TSR anecdotes (right up there with the needle point bussiness).

Gamers in charge: The Blume brothers did start as fans...But so did Peter Adkinson. His track record wasn't bad.

 

[Darkwolf71]

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.

This.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

I was doing a bit of digging (I'm doing a economics of media assignment on D&D) an was shocked to see that the 1995 printings of the PHB and DMG, were not just new cover art. Apparently they had 65 and 64 more pages respectively. (arguably the 1993 release of the hardcover Monstrous Manual had 96 more pages -- but that's only if you count only Montrous Compedium Vol 1 and 2).

So . . . what was different between 1989 an 1995 versions? What made a difference of 129 pages? Were there many rule modifications? A lot more fluff? Different interior illustrations? Different layout?

I would think that since I heard so little about it before that there were relatively few rule changes. Am I right? It also seems a strange time to release something, if I remember right things were starting to go sour at TSR around then.

Any comparative information any of you can share is greatly apprecciated.

Hey Thondor.

I did not buy the updated editions, so I can't help you there, but could you email me, or post here, the details of your assignment and your bibliography? It would really help me out.

 

[Thondor]

Hey Thondor.

I did not buy the updated editions, so I can't help you there, but could you email me, or post here, the details of your assignment and your bibliography? It would really help me out.

Hi Kwalish Kid,

Unfortunately I didn't see your post till now. (This thread did sor tof fall off the boards.) I decided to simply attach the project. Hopefully you find some useful information. What exactly were you looking for? If you don't find it in there I may be able to help anyway.

The assignment was basically 'write a 4000-4500 word project about something your interested in./love and tie it into economics of media'.

If I don't see a response in a few days from you, I'll try to remember to drop you an e-mail.

Thondor