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

[Zinovia]

When 2E came out, it seemed on casual inspection to be largely the same as 1E, and we owned all the books (2 copies of most of them) from 1E already. Besides, we'd already picked up Rolemaster with the thought of using Arms Law in D&D, and decided to just play that instead. We were bored with D&D by then - my last character was a faerie dragon magic-user who never cast directly offensive spells. She changed color as she leveled up, and cast Web, barrier spells, utility spells, and cantrips to make yellow stripes up the backs of the foes when they ran away. I was so tired of characters feeling the same at that point.

So AD&D was my fantasy RPG of choice for the first 5 or 6 years of my gaming career. We played other non-fantasy games as well. Then Rolemaster for about 10 years (again with other games), and then a long hiatus in which we weren't gaming. We had young children and were occupied with the SCA. I bought the 3.0 books when they came out, and was interested in a system that looked to be easier than RM, but still offering flexibility in character design and customization. Finally about 6 years ago, we started a group, and have been playing 3.x since then.

We're finishing up that same campaign, and starting a 4E game. I have one going already with the family and a friend of ours who's good with kids, and it's been fun so far. I don't think my 10 year old would be having as much fun in 3.5 as he is now in 4E.

To sum up - I never played 2E, but did play 1E, 3E, and 4E.

 

[Bluenose]

I started with OD&D, and played more of the BECM version than I did of 1st edition. I did own and play 2nd edition, but I didn't enjoy it very much and by preference played Runequest, Traveller, or Paranoia (and other games, I can even remember a few). 3rd edition got me back to playing D&D regularly, but in the last couple of years too many things I dislike made me ready for something different.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Oh, let's see, my gaming journey.

Started with the blue and white boxed set back in 6th grade. We played Keep on the Borderlands in our G/T pod in Florida. Then somebody bought the second red boxed set and we played that for awhile. Then we played Star Frontiers. Then I moved and found some neighbors and we played Red Box basic and Expert. I went off for the summer and got a copy of the 1e AD&D PH and I incorporated that (so I was using the Player's Handbook with the BE boxed sets). My stepgrandmother went through the whole "D&D is evil" phase and convinced my stepmother (who wasn't all that religious in the first place) to destroy my books. But I had friends who had the 2nd Edition books and we played a little bit. Then I went to Governor's School and played an entire summer of AH's Runequest (I found a mint boxed set at SoonerCon this year, joy!) about 6 hours a day on the weekdays and 12 on the weekends for six weeks with a little bit of Paranoia. When I went to college, I briefly flirted with Champions, Cyberpunk 2020, and Torg and ran a GURPS/D&D hybrid game (before S&P was ever thought of), I ended up playing a mixed White Wolf game (by the time I got around to playing on VtM, WtA, and MtA were out) and then after about 4 years of playing we went back to Champions, but the White Wolf game would occassionally reappear (and I ran a session of a pure core book only GURPS game). Then I moved again and I found a group and we played 2nd Edition D&D, FASERIP Marvel, Megatraveler, 4e Gamma World, Alternity, and, again, White Wolf. After that we started playing 3e and switched to a 3.5e/Modern game (we started out with Age/10 in Modern classes and then multiclassed into D&D classes) with occassional forays back into White Wolf (both WoD and Exalted) and I've run two nWoD games (one was a Bughunters game, I have the Amazing Engine book and I used its background with the WoD engine and used Trinity and Cyberpunk for the high tech), with one long running Call of Cthulhu game (a d20/BRP hybrid, I replaced the D&D hit point style system with the BRP static system and used SIZ) and a Pulp game using a cross between Polyhedron's Pulp Heroes and Adventure! (mainly I beefed up the classes to Star Wars Revised standards and then supplemented the Action Point system with Adventure's dramatic edit system), and I've run Singapore Sling using Modern and Future d20 (I recreated the craziness of Transhuman space by using also adding some of Star Wars Revised and S&S Gamma World into the mix). And we would play Mongoose Paranoia as a space filler. Then I moved again and played a few Modern and Pendragon games and a long running 3.5e game that didn't trip my buttons so I quit. I have an off and on long distance D&D 3.5e game using Rogue Mistress from Stormbringer as the basis for the adventure. And I occasionally play a few rounds of 4e with the local RPGAers, but its all been combat.

 

[AllisterH]

Greatest 2E products

Best non-campaign specific module
Gates of Firestorm Peak
Night Below

Best campaign specific module
Dead Gods (for planescape)
The Doomgrinder (Greyhawk)

Best Campaign setting
Al-Qadim
Planescape

Best campaign accessory (to steal for your own home campaign)
Faith & Avatars (Forgotten Realms)
Van Richten guides (favourite one was "The Created)

Best non-campaign specific accessory
Encyclopedia Magica
The Worldbuilder's Guidebook


Honourable Mentions
The Monstrous Arcana series
jakandor: Island at war
Wizard spell Compendium
Forgotten Realms interactive Atlas
Dragon CD-ROM
Darksun

 

[renau1g]

I started in 2e, THAC0 I remember ye fondly, and have kept playing through 3e and now have made the switch to 4e. I've loved every system I've tried and I really enjoy the new mechanics each time, it keeps it fresh for me as a DM.

 

[Desdichado]

Never played it. It came and went during a period where I had no interest in D&D.

 

[Drammattex]

Basic > 1e > 2e > 3e > 4e

The most fun I had was with Basic & 2e.
2e's many varied settings and supplements (though unprofitable for TSR) as well as their Core Rules tools for the PC, and their optional Skills & Powers rules, made 2e the most complete and flexible edition, to my mind, even if its mechanics weren't terribly sound.

3e fixed a lot of what I didn't like about 2e, but introduced complexities that regularly threatened to kill our fun.

Thus far, 4e looks like it could be my favorite edition, but I probably won't know that for certain for a couple years.

 

[olshanski]

Started with Basic and AD&D pretty much using them interchangably.
When 2nd edition came out I played it until they started pushing out the complete crap, then I dropped D&D and played Gurps.

I came back to D&D with 3rd edition and have not picked up 4th edition.

 

[stonegod]

Did a little 1e, but really started playing when 2e came out. Played it a lot in HS. In college, ran and played in some big 2e campaigns. But as it went on, it seemed more laborious, and we stopped about the time "2.5e" came out (when all the PHs and whatnot were rereleased with different covers). By that time, my college group was doing Vampire/Mage. Didn't get back into D&D until 3e.

 

[pweent]

Started with first ed. AD&D. As I experimented with other RPGs (Shadowrun, Paranoia, Rolemaster, WFRP), I grew to really dislike the AD&D mechanics, and dropped it before 2nd edition ever came out. In the late 90s, we started playing Temple of Elemental Evil in AD&D 1e for the sake of nostalgia / kitsch. And about the time we were getting sick of the system all over again, news of 3e started coming out and kept us going. While not our favorite system, 3e was enough of an improvement that we were willing to play it for its own sake, and the vast depth of support materials has kept it in place as our primary game system.