Your favorite older edition products

[Mouseferatu]

Okay, I know we've recently had a "Best D&D product ever" thread. This isn't quite the same thing.

If you'd be so kind, please list:

1) Your favorite OD&D supplement (such as they were)

2) Your favorite Basic D&D supplement (and ID which Basic set it was for, if you know)

3) Your favorite 1E AD&D supplement

4) Your favorite 2E AD&D supplement

Core rulebooks are not elligible. If you didn't play a given edition, feel free to ignore that entry.

Note that this doesn't have to be "the best" supplement. Don't worry about whether it accomplished a specific goal, or was well put together. I want to know your favorite--the one you got the most game use out of, or enjoyed reading/playing the most, or what have you. I'd also love to know why it was your favorite, if you're so inclined.

Thanks.

 

[Scarbonac]

Okay, I know we've recently had a "Best D&D product ever" thread. This isn't quite the same thing.

If you'd be so kind, please list:

1) Your favorite OD&D supplement (such as they were)

2) Your favorite Basic D&D supplement (and ID which Basic set it was for, if you know)

3) Your favorite 1E AD&D supplement

4) Your favorite 2E AD&D supplement

Core rulebooks are not elligible. If you didn't play a given edition, feel free to ignore that entry.

Note that this doesn't have to be "the best" supplement. Don't worry about whether it accomplished a specific goal, or was well put together. I want to know your favorite--the one you got the most game use out of, or enjoyed reading/playing the most, or what have you. I'd also love to know why it was your favorite, if you're so inclined.

Thanks.

1) Null

2) Keep On The Borderlands

3) Totally torn between UA, DSG and WSG

4) Original Spelljammer boxed set

 

[Kylearan]

1) never played it

2) see 1)

3) torn between Unearthed Arcana and Manual of the Planes - both expanded the game incredibly

4) Faiths & Avatars, Powers & Pantheons and Demihuman Deities - Fluff Forever!

Kylearan

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Okay, I know we've recently had a "Best D&D product ever" thread. This isn't quite the same thing.

If you'd be so kind, please list:

1) Your favorite OD&D supplement (such as they were)

Never played this (though I'm interested in getting a copy, just out of curiosity, when I can afford to get one).

2) Your favorite Basic D&D supplement (and ID which Basic set it was for, if you know)

The Shady Dragon Inn. Used that floor plan for various inns (despite which edition I played). Also liked seeing the D&D toy characters statted up, too. A close 2nd would Quest for the Heartstone (mainly for D&D figs stats as well).

3) Your favorite 1E AD&D supplement

Easy--Unearthed Arcana. Didn't care for the disproportionate power levels of the classes (I did use the modified versions of the classes provided in Dragon, back in the day); but I did like having the barbarian as a core class.

A close 2nd for this is the 1st ed. Lankhmar supplement.

4) Your favorite 2E AD&D supplement

Another easy one--Skills & Powers. Liked the idea of picking & choosing some class abilities (it's 1 of the things I like about the generic classes from 3.5's UA); liked the same option for the races as well (allowed for players to build a half-drow/half-aquatic elf if that's what they wanted to play; also gave humans a bit something more that just unlimited advancement).

A close 2nd for this is the 2nd ed. Lankhmar supplement. Would be 1st, but the Skills & Powers options allowed me to really customize the classes & races so that they fit better in the setting.

Core rulebooks are not elligible. If you didn't play a given edition, feel free to ignore that entry.

Note that this doesn't have to be "the best" supplement. Don't worry about whether it accomplished a specific goal, or was well put together. I want to know your favorite--the one you got the most game use out of, or enjoyed reading/playing the most, or what have you. I'd also love to know why it was your favorite, if you're so inclined.

Thanks.

For the most part, one of the things that I liked about 2nd ed. AD&D's Skills & Powers is being able to play with the class abilities, allowing a player to build/design their PC a bit closer to their concept. It's one of the things that I like about the generic classes in 3.5's Unearthed Arcana (which makes it my favorite supplement for the current incarnation of D&D). Right now, I'm using the generic classes for my 3.5 Lankhmar game, but I'm really tempted to use them for my main D&D game as well (or at least for something with a bit higher magic level than Lankhmar).

 

[iblis]

1. N/A - I probably wasn't even born!

2. A couple of the old modules really attracted my enthusiasm; I forget which ones now. :\

3. Unearthed Arcana, perhaps. I really liked Barbarians and Cavaliers, and a lot of the other fun stuff. Lankhmar was also a fave. For a while there, it was the only setting we used. And I realise it could've been my youth's mind being more easily enamoured, but does anyone else think that the cover art on those 1st ed AD&D products was really cool?

4. Avoided 2nd ed like the plague I, and a few other people, thought it to be. Probably not a fair assessment, with the benefit of hindsight, but well, that was the verdict, so hence I've neither played nor DM'd 2nd ed. Ever.

 

[MonsterMash]

Okay, for me (remembering of course that OD&D is the three books from 1974 not anything else):
1. As core rulebooks are ineligible that'd rule out Gods, Demigods and Heroes, so its:
City State of the Invincible Overlord from Judges Guild.

2. Not sure I remember any supplements, etc that I used with BD&D

3. I'd say the Fiend Folio if it's eligible

4. Never played 2e, but I do like the Al-Qadim stuff.

 

[diaglo]

1) Your favorite OD&D supplement (such as they were)

the reference sheets from the white boxed set.

2) Your favorite Basic D&D supplement (and ID which Basic set it was for, if you know)

B1 In Search of the Unknown from 2eD&D Holmes Basic if modules don't count then i'll have to go with Monsters & Treasure Assortment lvls 1-3 from the same edition.

3) Your favorite 1E AD&D supplement

World of Greyhawk 1980 (the folder version)

4) Your favorite 2E AD&D supplement

aurora's whole realms catalog

 

[Staffan]

Didn't really play Original, Basic or Advanced 1st ed, though I do have some stuff for Basic (but not enough to make a proper judgment).

When it comes to 2nd ed, though, I think I'll go for Dragon's Crown again. It's a high-level adventure that features lots of travel, a strong connection to the setting it's supposed to be played in (as opposed to many adventures that could easily be used in a different setting with just a search-and-replace of the names of people, places and gods), along with ancient ruins to explore, sorcerer-kings to persuade, gladiatorial arenas to fight in, giants to outwit, Sea of Silt lanes to travel, man-eating halfling tribes to survive, mad thri-kreen to fight, and stuff like that. In other words, it has everything a man needs in an adventure - even a few dungeons, though they're not as huge and monotonous as mega-adventures built around just a dungeon (Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, I'm looking at you). It's been a while since I read it, but IIRC the adventure had three proper dungeons (mapped out and stuff).

 

[francisca]

1) Before my time...

2) B2

3) The original AD&D character sheets, the ones on the goldenrod paper

4) skipped 2E altogether

 

[Psion]

1) Your favorite OD&D supplement (such as they were)

Gods, Demigods, and Heroes. For some reason, I dug the Conan material.

2) Your favorite Basic D&D supplement (and ID which Basic set it was for, if you know)

Er, were there supplements?

Closest, I guess, would be the Expert set, which introduced wilderness adventuring and had lots of neat Jeff Dee art. But that's sort of a core rulebook... but not. Whatever.

3) Your favorite 1E AD&D supplement

Oriental Adventures. Introduced NWP's and Martial Arts.

4) Your favorite 2E AD&D supplement

World Builder's Guide. Still use it today.

Core rulebooks are not elligible. If you didn't play a given edition, feel free to ignore that entry.