Would YOU play AD&D 2e?

[Psion]

Well, it WAS for me, but that was with lots of jury rigging and selective inclusion of supplements that gave the system the "crafting" ability that it lacked, plus plugging up loopholes and inconsistancies.

But still, I wince to think of going back to percentile strength, multi-classing, level restrictions, and THAC0 again. As I would probably be the only DM to run it with the right tweaks, and if I was running, it'd be 3e, I'll go with "no".

 

[Menexenus]

I faced this exact dilemma!

I actually faced this exact dilemma! I was in a 2E game with a group of good friends playing in a campaign that had been ongoing for 3 years. There was a strong developing main plot with lots of intriguing side plots for individual characters. So the company was good, and the DMing was far from shoddy. But still, when my 9th level cleric cast a 4th level Cure Serious Wounds spell and only healed 8 pts of damage, it was the last straw. The next week I told my DM (a good friend of 15 years) that I just simply couldn't bring myself to play 2nd edition D&D anymore when I knew that a better edition was out there. Apparently, my feeling was shared by others, because once I dropped out, the game quickly collapsed and we started a new campaign (with a new DM) using 3E rules.

Luckily, the story has a happy ending. My former DM and I are still close friends, and we are still playing together in multiple campaigns. But the point is that I know from personal experience that no amount of good company or good DMing could ever convince me to return to 2nd edition D&D.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

I played a game of 2E at Gencon. It was a pretty maddening experience, but mostly because the DM didn't really seem to know the rules very well. I still had fun rolling up a character, and I'd imagine with a good DM it'd be enjoyable.

I definitely wouldn't want to run it, though.

 

[Mallus]

Sure, why not?

(...but it would have to be a really good DM)

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Heh heh. Funny that so many people in the thread are bashing 2e, but the numbers in the poll show a strong majority vote YES. The silent majority, heh.

Yeah, I'd play a 2E game. I still play Baldur's Gate on occasion!

But seriously, I answered yes because, while I really like D&D and d20, I'll play just about anything.

Heck, I even had a blast getting my butt totally handed to me as Blue Marine in a game of Doom last weekend.

 

[was]

Yes, I would.

 

[rogueattorney]

Meh. Probably. It's on the bottom of my D&D "to play" pile, though. It would largely depend on what, exactly, the DM was wanting to do in the campaign and why he chose 2e over, well, every other system ever made.

R.A.

 

[gamecat]

If I knew what 3.0 was when 2e was out, I'd have ran away. Screaming.

3.0 makes everything make a bit more sense to my troubled and damaged mind.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I ran 2e for many years but I wouldn't go back to it. Heck, I'd play 1e for the sheer joy of the broken rules but not 2e. 2e was a stripped down version of 1e rather than an upgrade. that was good since 1e was rife with abusable rules but bad since 2e really wasn't that good of a game.

A GM that couldn't grok 3.x is probably a GM that I couldn't enjoy playing under over the long haul.

 

[Greg K]

My answer is maybe depending on what supplements and house rules were in use. However, there is not a chance that I would play a 2e straight by the book core rules only. I would rather the DM run a close to core game with the following changes

1. just strip out all of the elements such as spiked chains, dwarven urgroshes, riding dogs, alchemical items, etc.)

2. add in the missing 2e armor and weapons

3. alter the halflings to be more like 2e halflings

4. change sneak attack to 2e backstab.

5. use variant classes as per the PHB and Unearthed Arcana to capture the flavor of kits.