What did TSR do wrong?

[teitan]

2e did have some great art up until the revision. I think the problem with the core book cover for the PHB and DMG was just really bad design. The logo looked like crap and the text was generic. The black border for the spine was also weak. Had the cover been a wrap around or something like that, it would have been 100% better, a battle image of some sort.

The art was great but there was some pretty generic pieces as well. The paintings presented a haphazard theme which implied AD&D could do a lot more than it did and the designers did stretch the system quite a bit to try and accomplish that goal.

Kits were what got to me. They were cool through the first four PHBR books, not too bad but not too much. A few sucked and seemed to have zero benefits but still had drawbacks! Then it started getting a bit much but we also were able to deal. A bladesinger was no big in our games, they just didn't get as much magic, mostly potions and scrolls while the items went to the other players until they theoretically caught up with the bladesinger. Kits just seemed to be a way around creating new classes for every idea and variation and taking up page space in the supplements. That was cool.

I used to hate 2e but in the last few years I have started to like it more and more.

 

[Ostlander]

And this is why Electronic Games Monthly (EGM) is still one of the hottest, most respected video gaming magazines around. It's also long running (I remember reading it in the early 1980's).

If video gamers who by nature are pretty tech-saavy want a print magazine, I think ostlander's statement is discredited.

Just a theory I have...here on the net the information is abundant, interactive, and most importantly FREE (minus cost of monthly internet service, computers, blah blah).

I would love to still have access to mags, being old school, but...it seems for us gamers the era of the two most important mags has been ended. If there is enough demand, they'll come back.

 

[Stormrunner]

Small point of order: Chainmail is a booklet. There's no box. You can usually find a copy or two on eBay for a reasonable price. I highly recommend picking up a copy.

Actually, they did produce a boxed set (light brown box) containing, IIRC, three booklets - Chainmail, Blackmoor, and a third I can't remember offhand. I've seen it, though I don't own one.

 

[Ostlander]

That's it, we need a picture!

 

[teitan]

Still sounds like the OCE to me because the Avsomething makes no mention of it...

 

[Desdichado]

I know you're trying to make a distinction away from stuff they did wrong to D&D vs. poor business decisions they made, but I honestly think the reason TSR near the end was so looked down upon was just that--that they nearly ran D&D into the ground with their bad business decisions. When it became known that they would likely file for bankruptcy, and folks started seeing the prospect of no more D&D--that's when people started saying that TSR was screwing the pooch.

 

[Ostlander]

I do miss the old 1e feel that's for sure. This new stuff just doesn't seem to have the endurance for all the rigors of gaming.

 

[buzz]

I miss absolutely nothing about any previous edition of D&D... with the possible exception of Dave Trampier.