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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 9201018" data-attributes="member: 82106">Well, I agree, TSR was certainly well aware that B2 was perfectly playable with 1e or even 2e despite technically being a pre-Molvay Basic product (it doesn't hurt that the 1e MM itself seems to be written to conform to original D&D rules, not AD&D). Certainly we played B/X modules and such in our AD&D play without actually bothering to 'convert' anything, as about the worst you'd run into would be AC off by one and really who cares about 1 point? Maybe a few monsters have slightly different hit dice or something here or there, but most of the ones that appear in both systems have the same stats (again, modulus a point of AC maybe). I think the to-hit numbers are pretty close as well in most cases, though you probably looked those up anyway, and if you were playing 2e and using THAC0 you'd have had to do that anyhow before play (you could use the 1e charts since they yield the same numbers for all but a few fairly obvious cases). But yeah, it held back the system a lot in some ways. I still don't however get why 2e couldn't have had a better skill system. Its not like MOST of 1e officially had much anyway. I get the feeling TSR hoped that OA and WSD/DSG could continue to be sold as '2e books' effectively since they had a massive supply of them left over.However: The beefing on 4e as breaking compatibility rings VERY false, because 3e is JUST AS MUCH incompatible with 2e as 4e is with 3e! Every bit! Like NOTHING from 2e works at all with 3e. You can argue that the same classes exist in 3e, and the same races (modulus a couple of things), but then you'd have to also admit that the same is true of 4e. If you can convert your level 12 half-orc ranger from 2e to 3e, then you can surely convert him to 4e as well! Both conversions will result in a somewhat different character, though exactly HOW different may depend on the degree of tinkering and reflavoring you're willing to do.So honestly, the whole "4e breaks D&D!!!!!!!!" gnashing of teeth gets not even a drop of sympathy from me. Its just not going to fly.</blockquote>

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