Using 2E stuff with 1E rules?

[Tewligan]

So, last night at my FLGS (yay, Game Empire!), I picked up the 1st edition PHB, DMG, and MM. Again. Oh, the number of times I've owned those, only to lose them, leave them behind when moving, etc... Anyway, they also had a copy of the 2E Monstrous Manual, which looks to be jam-packed with beasties. Was 2E close enough to 1E to make that usable with no problem? I had a LOT of 1E stuff but no 2E stuff, so I'm not sure. I'm thinking they were really close as far as rules go, weren't they?

 

[Voadam]

Yes. But note they made dragons and giants significantly more powerful in 2e than in 1e and magic resistance works a little differently (a straight roll I believe in 2e).

I used 1e/2e/and red book basic D&D stuff pretty interchangeably.

C&C and Hackmaster look mostly the same.

 

[Mark Hope]

So, last night at my FLGS (yay, Game Empire!), I picked up the 1st edition PHB, DMG, and MM. Again. Oh, the number of times I've owned those, only to lose them, leave them behind when moving, etc... Anyway, they also had a copy of the 2E Monstrous Manual, which looks to be jam-packed with beasties. Was 2E close enough to 1E to make that usable with no problem? I had a LOT of 1E stuff but no 2E stuff, so I'm not sure. I'm thinking they were really close as far as rules go, weren't they?

Very close in many areas, different enough in others (mainly the classes and some of the subsystems - like initiative, for example). You should have no real trouble with the Monstrous Manual, though. It's a very solid book. Some of its ecology and society sections have yet to be equalled by any other edition (3e is taking notable steps in this direction recently, it should be said.)

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I never had a problem working with 1e and 2e materials. I didn't do too much with 1e monsters, though. By the end of 2e, I had a plethora of 2e monsters.

 

[Roadkill101]

I mixed 1e and 2e materials all the time. Whichever editions manual was closest at hand, was the one that got grabbed and consulted. For the most part they seemed to be highly interchangeable. And everyone at my table had fun.
I never really paid any attention to the differences, I just treated 2e as being 1e with a different presentation.
A lot of the rules I ignored, like class level limits for demi-humans, or racial stat limits or class restrictions. Maybe if I was one to pay close attention to things like "RAW" and really worried over every little detail, the inconsistancies between 1e and 2e might've been glaring enough that I wouldn't have mixed them up.

 

[Nikosandros]

I mixed 1e and 2e materials all the time. Whichever editions manual was closest at hand, was the one that got grabbed and consulted. For the most part they seemed to be highly interchangeable. And everyone at my table had fun.
I never really paid any attention to the differences, I just treated 2e as being 1e with a different presentation.
A lot of the rules I ignored, like class level limits for demi-humans, or racial stat limits or class restrictions. Maybe if I was one to pay close attention to things like "RAW" and really worried over every little detail, the inconsistancies between 1e and 2e might've been glaring enough that I wouldn't have mixed them up.

Very wise words... I agree. If you worry a lot about playing by the book then you'll end up with quite a lot of inconsistencies, but if you're willing to wing it, you'll have no problems. I've mixed the two editions a lot...

 

[Dragonhelm]

I mixed 1e and 2e materials all the time. Whichever editions manual was closest at hand, was the one that got grabbed and consulted. For the most part they seemed to be highly interchangeable. And everyone at my table had fun.
I never really paid any attention to the differences, I just treated 2e as being 1e with a different presentation.
A lot of the rules I ignored, like class level limits for demi-humans, or racial stat limits or class restrictions. Maybe if I was one to pay close attention to things like "RAW" and really worried over every little detail, the inconsistancies between 1e and 2e might've been glaring enough that I wouldn't have mixed them up.

I'm with you all the way. I used to use 1e books with 2e materials all the time. They flowed pretty well together, and I didn't worry about the RAW too much.

 

[Delta]

Was 2E close enough to 1E to make that usable with no problem?

One thing I'll say is that spells and magic items were usually direct copy-and-pastes from 1E to 2E. Most of the changes were in the classes and combat system (but still much closer to each other than 3E).

 

[Turanil]

Yes. But note they made dragons and giants significantly more powerful in 2e than in 1e and magic resistance works a little differently (a straight roll I believe in 2e).

Indeed, but I think its better to have these monsters more powerful.

C&C and Hackmaster look mostly the same.

I guess you really wanted to say "2e and Hackmaster look mostly the same." This is indeed the case, while C&C and Hackmaster are much different.

 

[dcas]

The major differences I can think of is that 2e giants and especially dragons are more powerful than their 1e counterparts (however, 2e characters are generally not more powerful than their 1e counterparts, with the possible exception of the cleric). So you just have to be careful when replacing a 1e monster with its 2e equivalent if, for example, you're using a published 1e module.

A couple of the spells are different, too (the 2e version of stoneskin is particularly powerful). But winging it shouldn't be too hard. In general, I think that supplements for the following games are more-or-less convertible on the fly:

B/X D&D (Example: B2: Keep on the Borderlands)
AD&D 1e
AD&D 2e
HackMaster
Castles & Crusades