What is your second edition experience (no edition war!!!)
- Thread starter Remathilis
- Start date
blargney the second
blargney the minute's son
I got BECMI as a hand-me-down from my oldest brother when I was a kid, and played that for years. I skipped AD&D 1e and 2e, and got (happily) roped into a 3e game when that came out. Right now I'm in two 3.5 campaigns and one 4e game.
-blarg
-blarg
I started in Basic, then Expert. Although I got Companion, Masters and Immortals, I never played them. I then moved onto 2nd Ed D&D and dabbled in Dark Sun, Spelljammer, the Forgotten Realms and still played in Mystara.
Then I moved away and my D&D gaming became very spotty. 4 years ago I started 3e and although I liked it for awhile, I was starting to sour on it at the end. I think I might have gone to a meld of 2e/3e if it weren't for 4e.
Although I'm nostalgic for BECMI, I glanced at the Rules Cyclopedia recently and realized there was no way I could go back to that. I did really enjoy 2nd Ed, especially with some of the splat books (namely the Complete Fighter, Thief, Psionics and the Tome of Magic. Wild Mages FTW!
Then I moved away and my D&D gaming became very spotty. 4 years ago I started 3e and although I liked it for awhile, I was starting to sour on it at the end. I think I might have gone to a meld of 2e/3e if it weren't for 4e.
Although I'm nostalgic for BECMI, I glanced at the Rules Cyclopedia recently and realized there was no way I could go back to that. I did really enjoy 2nd Ed, especially with some of the splat books (namely the Complete Fighter, Thief, Psionics and the Tome of Magic. Wild Mages FTW!
thundershot
Adventurer
I got the old magenta basic set from my uncle way back when. Me and the kids from school would play after school (in 6th grade, IIRC), and I was the DM. We had weird names like Dogster, Elfk, Dude, Questor (from Gauntlet) and what not...
It must have been mid-80's when Real Genius and Top Gun were out, because my first character was named Val Kilmer. He was a Fighter, and was dark and fought like Batman. He even had an elf sidekick. It was SO ironic when the 3rd Batman movie came out... I was a decade ahead of myself.
In any case, we picked up the Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortal sets and had a blast. It wasn't until 91 or so when we adopted 2nd edition and statted up a new group of characters (though later, we connected the continuities and had the characters meet).
I've got to say we had the most FUN during 2E. Spelljammer was a HUGE jump and suddenly our characters were out in space. Those two Spelljammer adventures (Goblin's Return and something else) were adventures that we STILL talk about to this day. We used spelljammer as a vehicle to run modules in other campaign settings, and when the mood struck, we'd make new chracters, and add them to the party.
When we finally got around to Dark Sun, we started with new characters again, and after a couple adventures, they were picked up and rescued and added to the cast.
Then came one of the BIGGEST adventures... Dragon Mountain. We had a blast with that. However, since the party was higher in level already, they made it their goal to CLEAN OUT the entire mountain and turned it into a headquarters. There was even a spelljammer dock for the ship.
Good times...
In the end, though, we had so many characters, we had a great event that offed a bunch of them, and the remaining ones went on the Apocalypse Stone adventure. The universe was completely rearranged, and the world was remade.
A select group of characters were all put back to level 1 again for 3E, and had no memory of what happened. As time went on, they alone became aware of the changes around them (they KNEW that halflings used to have hairy feet, and dwarven women had hairy chins, and kobolds didn't used to be reptiles).
It must have been mid-80's when Real Genius and Top Gun were out, because my first character was named Val Kilmer. He was a Fighter, and was dark and fought like Batman. He even had an elf sidekick. It was SO ironic when the 3rd Batman movie came out... I was a decade ahead of myself.
In any case, we picked up the Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortal sets and had a blast. It wasn't until 91 or so when we adopted 2nd edition and statted up a new group of characters (though later, we connected the continuities and had the characters meet).
I've got to say we had the most FUN during 2E. Spelljammer was a HUGE jump and suddenly our characters were out in space. Those two Spelljammer adventures (Goblin's Return and something else) were adventures that we STILL talk about to this day. We used spelljammer as a vehicle to run modules in other campaign settings, and when the mood struck, we'd make new chracters, and add them to the party.
When we finally got around to Dark Sun, we started with new characters again, and after a couple adventures, they were picked up and rescued and added to the cast.
Then came one of the BIGGEST adventures... Dragon Mountain. We had a blast with that. However, since the party was higher in level already, they made it their goal to CLEAN OUT the entire mountain and turned it into a headquarters. There was even a spelljammer dock for the ship.
Good times...
In the end, though, we had so many characters, we had a great event that offed a bunch of them, and the remaining ones went on the Apocalypse Stone adventure. The universe was completely rearranged, and the world was remade.
A select group of characters were all put back to level 1 again for 3E, and had no memory of what happened. As time went on, they alone became aware of the changes around them (they KNEW that halflings used to have hairy feet, and dwarven women had hairy chins, and kobolds didn't used to be reptiles).
To grossly simplify it:
Basic D&D → Expert D&D → (Traveller) → AD&D1e → AD&D2e → (GURPS/Rolemaster/Hârnmaster/HERO) → AD&D2e → D&D“3e” → Expert D&D
When 2e came out, my group & I embraced it. By c. 1991, though, I didn’t think I’d ever play any version of D&D again. Mid-1990s I played a 2e game (sticking to the core book, however), which I was surprised to find I enjoyed a lot. In the run-up to 3e, I played another 2e game in 1999–2000. (With my old AD&D group via WebRPG!)
Overall, I have a lot of mixed feelings about 2e.
Basic D&D → Expert D&D → (Traveller) → AD&D1e → AD&D2e → (GURPS/Rolemaster/Hârnmaster/HERO) → AD&D2e → D&D“3e” → Expert D&D
When 2e came out, my group & I embraced it. By c. 1991, though, I didn’t think I’d ever play any version of D&D again. Mid-1990s I played a 2e game (sticking to the core book, however), which I was surprised to find I enjoyed a lot. In the run-up to 3e, I played another 2e game in 1999–2000. (With my old AD&D group via WebRPG!)
Overall, I have a lot of mixed feelings about 2e.
Red Box Set > 1st Edition > 2nd Edition
I bought the 2nd edition books the day they came out and remember how everyone in my group was really stoked about the changes and simplifications. To this day, I prefer the way classes were grouped in 2nd edition to any other incarnation of the game.
We played 2nd edition for many years, ignoring most of the splatbook stuff and only switched to 3rd edition when 3.5 came out.
J.
I bought the 2nd edition books the day they came out and remember how everyone in my group was really stoked about the changes and simplifications. To this day, I prefer the way classes were grouped in 2nd edition to any other incarnation of the game.
We played 2nd edition for many years, ignoring most of the splatbook stuff and only switched to 3rd edition when 3.5 came out.
J.
Turjan
Explorer
This.
Gwaihir
Explorer
Played Red Box basic for about a month, moved into AD&D.
Played AD&D all through Junior High & High School.
Took College off.
Started an AD&D campaign with new folks a couple years after college, partially converted that campaign to 2e and played that for 6 or 8 years.
Stopped for a year when I got married then restarted on 3e.
It does get in ones blood, doesn't it?
Played AD&D all through Junior High & High School.
Took College off.
Started an AD&D campaign with new folks a couple years after college, partially converted that campaign to 2e and played that for 6 or 8 years.
Stopped for a year when I got married then restarted on 3e.
It does get in ones blood, doesn't it?
Invisible Stalker
First Post
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.
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