What is your second edition experience (no edition war!!!)

[Mishihari Lord]

I started with Basic, then played 1E for a few years, then moved on to 2E.

I have no complaints. I had a lot of fun with the system. While it was not as much fun to read as 1E, it was basically the same rules, cleaned up and easier to use. I don't see how anyone has a problem with it.

 

[Shemeska]

I started with 3e about the time the MM came out, and while I've played 3e games using 2e settings and setting books, I've never actually played a 2e game (or 1e or anything else pre-3e).

Unless you count playing Planescape Torment or Baldurs Gate 2 as playing 2e because technically the game ran 2e'ish rules in the background.

 

[Nifft]

My only 2e experience was Baldur's Gate II.

I took a break from the game when Unearthed Arcana came out, and got back into it when 3e was released.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Richards]

I started with Basic D&D, had a ball, moved on to AD&D 1E, had a ball, moved on to AD&D 2E, had a ball, moved on to 3E, had a ball, moved on to 3.5, and am continuing to have a ball.

I have many happy memories of AD&D 2E, as that was the current edition when I introduced my sons, then 8 and 10, to AD&D. They're now both in college, and still play to this day. (In fact, we gamed this afternoon.)

Johnathan

 

[Arkhandus]

I started with 2nd Edition, but converted to 3rd Edition around the time the DMG or MM was released for it. I enjoyed 2E and still play it once in a while, as I don't mind it, I just prefer 3rd Edition rules (I would prefer if 3E had kept certain things from 2E, though). I've had plenty of fun with 2E.

 

[Remathilis]

Started in Basic and quickly moved on to 1st Edition. I tried 2nd Edition a couple of times in college and ran back to my beloved 1st Edition as fast as I could.

pardon my ulterior motive...

Why?

This seems to be a reoccurring theme among some older gamers; I tried 2e, then went back to 1e (or moved on to another system, but I want to focus on the former).

I never played 1e (I got into the game in '92, and 1e was a distant memory then) but I did get the books later. As interesting as Gygax's prose was, I could never make sense of it. In fact, I'd wager to say that if I didn't know 2e so well, I would have never deciphered or learned the game using those rulebooks!

It was never the core mechanics that got me, it was the little things: I couldn't find rules for encumbrance, for example. There were also little things I took for granted that weren't so in 1e (rangers as stealthy, bards as arcane casters, dwarves could be clerics, thief % points, etc). Perhaps if I had played in those days, I would've seen it different. However, I am at a true loss as to what made 1e preferable to 2e (beyond she-who-must-not-be-named and some really bad kit balance).

I'd be interested to here why people went back to 1e (or in general, didn't play 2e).

 

[WayneLigon]

I began in OD&D, progressed to 1E, then to 2E. I never thought 2E was bad, per se, but then we seldom if ever used most of the kits which I think is where a lot of the problems came in for some people. I thought at the time it fixed some problems that 1E had, and almost all of the big changes were things we'd been doing via house rules for years.

It was just one of many games we played, though. Really, none of us noticed when Dragon stopped being produced. I bought iit fairly regularly but didn't miss it when it suddenly wasn't there. We were playing a lot of Champions, and later Vampire and other systems, so we were not even aware of TSRs problems as a company.

Then 3E came, we gave up 2E and never once looked back, not once, just like we never looked back to 1E when 2E came out.

 

[Cadfan]

I'd be interested to here why people went back to 1e (or in general, didn't play 2e).

Define "Fun" as "Awesomeness"/"Fiddly Bits"

1e (Rules Cyclopedia, for me, not technically 1e) provided perhaps 4 units of awesomeness, and maybe 1 unit of fiddly bits.

2e provided 12 units of awesomeness, and about 6 units of fiddly bits.

So, 1e was twice as "Fun" as 2e.

Of course, eventually 3e came along, and had like 30 units of fiddly bits, but about 120 units of awesome so it was ok. 4e has about 140 units of awesome, and about 20 units of fiddly bits, so now we're cooking with gas.

 

[ashockney]

So, here was my experience in 2nd Edition. That's a really good question, too.

I had run 1st Edition (in the Forgotten Realms). I ran my players through a "Avatar" series of adventures to mod their characters and transition from 1st to 2nd edition. I think my players would agree that this was a favorable and memorable experience. Overall, we ran several really cool campaigns. I ran up as high as the "20's" in 2nd edition. I explored about every book that came out for the game. I enjoyed this game, and there was plenty to play with as an amateur designer/tinkerer. One of my favorite campaigns was near the end of 2nd edition with teh Faiths and Avatars books from FR, along with the great "higher level" modules that were being written including Axe of the Dwarvish Lords, A Paladin In Hell, Rod of Seven Parts, and Dragon Mountain. Encyclopedia Magica and the spell compendiums are among my favorite books ever published.

My challenges started with the kits. I LOVED the kits and the complete books first came out. It seemed like a needed and clean way to balance players of non-multi class characters with the multi-class characters. Plus, it was a cool, and flavorful way to flesh out a character in an RP'ing way. The complete dwarves handbook came out, and I actually wrote my first letter to Dragon Magazine (forums) and got published! I was SO upset that they unbalanced, and were about to continue to unbalance the game from there. Which they did... The Skills and Powers book was simply too broken to use straight up. The charcater class balance was really tough to judge through the levels (from 1 - 20) so I was constantly pulling powers and abilities in from other games including Rolemaster, Dangerous Journeys, and Fantasy Hero. I had fun doing this, but it was extremely painful to have to do all the work, and not really be able to "share" these experiences with other gamers online or at conventions.

 

[cougent]

I started with AD&D in 1981 and stayed with it until EarthDawn came out in the early 90's then switched to it until 3E in 2000. Just from looking at 2E I could tell it was not my thing. Similar reaction to 4E, maybe it has something to do with even numbers?