Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2E Player's Options: Skills & Powers - Preview 

Rob Kuntz had some very interesting things to say about it. I agree with every word Rob Kuntz wrote. That said, based on my own research, early TSR was pretty much a tech-bro environment, and women like Darleen and Jean Wells definitely ran into a number of walls. But it was also the early and mid 70s, so there is context. That was the case in most companies at the time, who were just beginning to contend with the influx of women in the workplace. Like all humans, the early creators of D&D were a product of their time and they were imperfect beings. If perfection is the standard, then we are all doomed--including the jackasses who run WOTC People like Gary Gygax's attitudes changed over the years, as they frequently do with most of us. I'm sure this was the case for all of the early designers. After all, it was a much older Gary Gygax who first encouraged Kelsey Dionne, who recently published Shadowdark, to become a dungeon master when she a young teen. What makes the disclaimer so odious is that it presumes that the early design team deliberately crafted the game with hate in their hearts when that is the furthest thing from the truth. The game was crafted with love--love of fantasy whether it was Conan, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Lord of the Rings, or the Hammer Films and Kung-Fu--love of unlocking people's imaginations. To that point, we all owe them heartfelt thanks because what they created has changed all of our lives for the better.

@@TheAlterspark I have a whole shelf of 2E books and I’ve only scratched the surface of covering this edition of Dungeons & Dragons. If anyone would like to join me in talking specifically about AD&D 2E, I’d set up a live stream or even a few to really break it down and promote its play.

@@DM_Bluddworth I've come to the conclusion that 2nd edition was one of the most creative periods of TSR's history. 1st edition AD&D was wonderful and highly experimental--you see that in the Dragon Magazine articles from that time. So a lot of the raw creativity was already there when the designers went to work on 2nd edition. When you get to many of the splat books--some were good some weren't so great. The Skills and Powers players options books had been thought through--and they gave you a lot to chew on. In many ways, they struck me as having some significant GURPS influences---not a terrible thing.

Psionics have always been overwrought and never quite worked with the rest of the game system.