In this video, I go over some of the advantages to playing AD&D 2nd Edition in 2024, as well as some ways that you can get started at any cost, including FREE! (and legal). #DND #ADND2e #TTRPG #Solorpg #OSR
Speaking of great splatbooks, the Book of Necromancers is absolutely fantastic. For a super grim campaign, I used that as the ONLY spellcaster class available. AD&D 2e is my favorite system after BECMI.
I have never broken down to buy it, as it has been pretty pricey… that said, there are some interesting options in Hyperborea one could port over for that purpose as well! Thanks for watching!
One more 90's player here. Started with the OD&D black box, missed 1e, but when we started playing 2e, man! We played ALOT over the years. I started to run a new 2e game last weekend and it was a blast! I'm using FG&G but I started to build my pdf collection on DTRPG. Glad to see some 2e love on youtube!
Good to see that the game is seeing some play as well as the nostalgia about it! FG&G is a great tool to get new players in cheaply. I intend to do some more product, setting and regional focused 2e content in the future as well, mixed in with my solo play and other system videos of course. Welcome to the channel!
@@arcticcirclepit2008 I like settings that are something somewhat unique, and it fits the bill! Not just the setting, which is great, but the focus on culture and the monsters, and the Sha’ir, and the varied locales… even the fact it is a setting within a setting is pretty interesting! I also like that with my Forgotten Realms box, and Kara-Tur, and the Horde, and Maztica, and then Al Qadim… and then Realmspace… I have so much world for the players to explore, very fleshed out.
I'm fan of 2nd edition...and we have almost none material for second edition ad&d here in youtube...wich is a shame!! Love to see a dedicated channel to 2nd ...great video!
A lot of Easley and Elmore. The picture of the adventurers holding up the dragon carcass from the tree is so much of what my earliest games were about… so good… and then Brom…
I started with AD&D 2E when I was a teenager and unfortunately our dungeon master moved us to 3rd edition. A few years ago I managed to get an original PHB and Arms and Equipment guide for $10 total and both looked as if they were seldom used. Since then I have managed to track down almost the entire line and glad I did. I wish this edition got more love.
absolutely agree, dnd is the major influence of all ttrpgs [in my opinion] my own game included, although ive dropped many of the mechanics and went with something of my similar but different, as well as dumping the traditional stats and just using modifiers, cheers Keep 'em Rollin'
You know, that was a beautiful aspect of the game, it was assumed to be a toolkit that had many proper ways to play. The 2e books codify more of those “optional” rules in the sidebars, but since OD&D and on, the hobbyists always were tweaking the game to meet their table’s needs. Like old mechanics making their hot rod’s engine sound particularly unique, that is a legacy of the game that is very often ignored or chastised in later editions.
Great stuff, sir! Thank you 👊🤓 Would you consider covering 2E in deeper dives, and maybe give us kinda how you run it (houserules, initiative, what you use and what you don't from "RAW")?
You know Ray, you might be pleasantly surprised over the next couple months buddy! I’m planning on doing several 2e videos in the coming months. Stay tuned and thanks for always being a part of the conversation. You are appreciated sir!
Loved it in the 90s. One of my most successful D&D campaigns in 44 years. Tried going back to it during Covid but it did not work. I'm not the same person I was in 1994. My tastes have changed too much. I prefer simpler and more streamlined systems like Dragonbane, which does low-level gritty D&D very well.
That’s fair. I like Dragonbane a lot! There are definitely some advantages to each. Right now I have a solo Worlds Without Number game going, an AD&D 2e game with my 2 boys, a Pathfinder 2e game ending with a larger group, and getting ready to really launch our Savage Worlds Pathfinder game (in the Forgotten Realms). The system isn’t as important as the experience, but different systems do offer different advantages. Thanks for watching!
The question this brings up in my head is this: am I going to admit to myself that I'm totally going to end up buying these books, or should I keep acting like I won't for a few weeks?? No need for me to even say as much, but this was off the chain and I miss me some old AD&D. It's like an old DKs record. Sure it might seem out of place now, but back in the day? Brilliant!
If you want to see what it plays like mechanically, Baldur’s Gate I & II, as as well as the first Icewind Dale computer games are 2e, as are the various setting specific games for Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Al Qadim and Planescape, but as I have never played those PC games, I know that BG 1&2 are good representations of the 2e system.
I enjoyed DM’ing 3e, never played in it. I think where it lost me a bit is in the higher levels with so many combinations and modifiers. At lower levels I like it quite a bit.
@@booksbricksandboards783 your not wrong. In my opinion most games are better at the mid-levels. The challenge is good and theirs room for character growth. The Epic level becomes a challenge to find appropriate challenges, if you get my meaning. That's where all the planer travel and god- like foes come into play. I rarely get to play, but I start loosing interest above 10th unless I'm playing a spell caster, 15th lvl, tops.
I, selfishly, look at it from a DM’s perspective, and as you level up in 3e the actions and modifiers, and options, between the players and the monsters, get to be more than I want to deal with. The 2e rules hit a sweet spot for me. BTW, I have watched several of your videos, love your channel.
Haven't yet decided what route to go getting these but I'd love to read them. I actually have the MM pdf. If dtrpg had them pod as hardcover I'd probably jump right in. I think I can't get the og's as I doubt I could get them in good shape as the ones I threw away 😭 I'm not entirely sure I'd prefer to play 2e comparing to BX but who knows.. It would be really interesting to see how different it would actually feel in comparison. The nostalgia factor is surely there for it is the edition I first got my wife into rpg's (quite a few years after I actually got my set). Thanks for the presentation and showing off that really nice collection! 😁
Paavo, I played some Old School Essentials with a group a few years back, and recently ran 2e for my sons. My older boy was in both groups. I think as a player, it FEELS more interesting to play 2e, as the advancement in BX just feels like there are no choices to differentiate outside of the equipment package and spells. In 2e it is basically a given you would use the proficiency system (BX has a skill system, but it didn’t seem as obvious to be used), and often kits and sub races were common too. Throw in campaign specific stuff, and players really have an interesting set of decisions to make. I actually like the SC pod reprints. If you need HC, the For Gold and Glory one would be a great choice!
@@booksbricksandboards783 Cool thanks for these points! I get it! I might move back into that direction again at some point though I still feel like I'm just getting into the simplicity of BX though with the Dolmenwood stuff and recently advanced OSE (even though it's been my main game for over 3 years). One element I've been consciously avoiding is a comprehensive skill system like the non-w prof in 2e. It's pretty fiddly as I recall but maybe there's an allure to it. There's also the BECMI skill system which could be used in BX based systems. I really loved the kits back in the 90's but I'm not sure if that would also be mostly just nostalgia for me. 😅 My main group might end up yearning for more customizable characters but I'm first going to attempt a more free form system where you can use xp and training to buy some skills and other abilities. We'll see.
Aaah my beloved 2nd Edition! Great video mate, takes me back. Maybe i should dig up my books and dust them off. How compatible do you think it would be with B/X, out of interest? It seems pretty similar at first glance - just more advanced 😅
lol. You are very welcome. I know as we grew our collections, we used lots of various edition books. Typically, I think the monsters might have gained some abilities between editions, but largely pretty similar. I ran BX adventures with AD&D characters, especially appropriate being that it is unlikely to have 10 heroes at the table now, which didn’t feel uncommon then! Dust off the books and roll some dice!
2E enjoyers unite! 2nd edition books on Ebay can be found for very decent prices if one is patient. I bought an original Players Handbook for just over $40 and the Dungeons Masters Guide for less. Both are in very good condition. The Complete Players Handbooks and other books can be found for similar prices. I am looking at original Complete Players Handbooks for $25 right now. Getting into original books is pretty much the same as buying new 5E books. There are only a few books that cost crazy money like the Complete Barbarians Hanbook or the Necromancers Guide, not to mention o Of Ships and The Sea. Ouch. $100 bucks and up. :(
Love it, we have our own clan. I was able to get the Complete Barbarian for $60 a few weeks back, but it had a pretty bad listing that made me question my judgment. It ended up being excellent condition, just bad pictures. Risk paid off. Some of the less popular boxed set can be nabbed for like $60 in NM condition (just got Red Steel at that cost). I think the value, regardless of editions, of the boxed sets is generally higher than ANYTHING put out today. Thanks for watching!
I downloaded them a while back, I believe from Dragonsfoot. This one has EVERYTHING. It has spots for kits, psionics, honor, birth rank, martial art styles, etc. love that sheet.
I've been playing 2nd Edition pretty regularly for the last 30 years... I'm currently running the 1991 New Easy to Master D&D though. Playing with the kids is awesome and that is now my preferred group... I don't have to worry about rules lawyers or murder hobos when I game with the kids. I actually started my kids on 2nd Edition at age 4 and they've been playing for years now. I never played 3e by the way, or 4e or 5e... I never played any WOTC version. I was never interested and I never had trouble finding 2e players in the 2000's. I'm sick of waiting for the older millennials to have their nostalgia wave though... where are the 90's TSR purists? We should all collectively abandon the OSR and WOTC... it's just a false dichotomy between two awful choices. OSR is for Generation X and WOTC is for younger Millennials and Gen Z. Us older Millennials should go back to our roots and forget about this false choice between "old school" and "new school." We were never welcome in the "old school" anyway... we're "middle school" and should commit to building our own community.
Dave, I never thought of it that way but there is a lot of truth there. Some older guys always made fun of the 2e books when we played as kids. The TSR games were my preferred, but WOTC games allowed me to get groups when otherwise I would not have, so they served a purpose. I have ran every edition except OD&D (but I have read it). 2e is my preferred. 5e is my least favorite. 4th is my second least favorite. Thanks for watching!
I did as well. We were playing basic with some 1e books, and then when 2E came out, we converted all of our characters over. As the PHBR series came out, we updated for that. Later campaigns we played all the settings as they released, except unfortunately, Birthright and Planescape, by which time we had discovered beer, girls and cars… but I came back around to those when I discovered that none held a candle to a natural 20 and a bag of holding.
I was born in 82, never got to play AD&D. I started with 5e, couldn't run away fast enough. Now I am completely obsessed with 2e AD&D and continue to add to the collection and I'm loving it.
@@pewprofessional3181 Like I said, AD&D 2e is our birthright (no pun intended)-it's the game of OUR generation, the older Millennials. The OSR is full of Gen X'ers that worship Gygax and Moldvay, but those are NOT the games that we older Millennials grew up with. We grew up with post-Gary TSR, which was loaded with tons of amazing campaign settings, supplements, adventures and more. Our D&D is much more polished than 80’s D&D, much higher production quality, much more imagination. It's sad to see how many non-Gen X'ers like to pretend that they are OSR fans. We need to have more pride for the glory that was 90’s D&D. Leave the OSR to the grognards and leave WotC to the younger crowd. Our home is 90’s D&D and we should stop denying that.
Is WotC the license holder for these? They're always trying to monetize DnD, so why not bring these back into print? I know they weren't written for their precious One DnD, but money is money, and people still play these. My 2 cents.
They did a reprint in premium covers in 2013 (same time they reprinted 1st edition), but only the core books. They still own the rights, and evidently get a portion of the pay on demand profits. My guess is that they didn’t feel the demand for the premium reprints were enough to invest in the full scale production. The originals are still not too hard to track down and if I have the choice avoid paying any more to WOTC than I need to. Don’t get me wrong, I’d buy premium 2e stuff if they offered it, but not giving them my money is good with me as well.
The only thing WOTC and current editions of D&D have over TSR era D&D and OSR games is higher production artwork. Besides the eye candy, they have nothing that makes them better.
Even then, I’d put the Brom stuff from Dark Sun, or the Easley pieces from the core books, against anything before or since. Of course art is always somewhat subjective, but the house art style of the new edition didn’t feel right, it felt clinical, even though it was much more consistent. Thanks for watching and for sharing your thoughts, may your rolls be 20’s… unless you are using a Non Weapon Proficiency, then may they be 1’s!
@@booksbricksandboards783 there is great OSR and TSR artwork, but some are hit or miss and even if they're good, they're usually not as frequent. OSR games with black and white artwork are the best.
I know that the direction 5e art was going when I finally gave up on collecting it, I felt like the look was too graphic novel and not enough high fantasy pulp/novel for my preferences. Like I said, matter of taste to some degree.
I don't see anything here that really makes me interested in playing AD&D. Knave 2e, OSE, Shadowdark, and WWN can play any of this material without being bloated and poorly written. What is the draw of this over WWN or OSE Advanced, for example?
Well, for myself, I think that the core game of AD&D 2e has some advantages in the resolution systems, in the spell list, in the class list, the kit system and the core monster manual over both of those. WWN and OSE are simpler at their core, but simpler isn’t always better. They are also just different… while the attribute system of both are “simpler” than AD&D, but the proficiency system is in my opinion is simpler in AD&D (with an attribute check, as compared to the WWN Traveller skill system). The big draw for AD&D 2e is the toolkit nature, it has options to make the game optimal for my liking. Also, the native settings made for the system are the best in the history of the game. But, a lot of this is subjective. AD&D and 2e are a hobbyist’s system, a toolkit to build the game you want. OSE and WWN are a complete game tuned for a specific experience.
Fair enough, but it’s almost like saying why does someone want to drive an old 70’s model Charger when they could have a new car with all of the modern advantages. The old hot rod DOES have some advantages, and one of them is that a shade tree mechanic can easily work on them, as well as the look, feel, and sound that they produce when you tweak them just to your perfect specifications… Will they outperform a new Tesla Cybertruck in conventional measurable? No way! Does that mean that they are objectively worse, also no way. You and I agree on most things, so I don’t want to cause too much of a rift here, but I do want to say that I disagree with two of your criticisms of AD&D 2e. You said it was 1) bloated and 2) poorly written. To 1, I would say the core rules are pretty light, my 5 year old is playing and enjoying the game… the bloat is in the options you can choose to add. To 2, I would say this, the rules if looked at compared to rules sets that were iterated over 40 years of refinement, might seem like they are not as cleanly written, but they are far from poorly written… I was playing the game in grade school, from the books, so they had to be at least competently written. They also formed the shoulder upon which later newer systems would stand, so I’d say that itself holds much value in understanding. I’d compare this to looking at a movie from the 30’s, like Casablanca, compared to a more modern movie, like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Both are a reflection of the times in which they were written and the audience to whom they were written for, but to write off one as superior to the other simply because we are not the intended audience is to miss out on the genius of the works, both of which are great in my opinion. 😀
@booksbricksandboards783 I don't want to come off as a hater. I like that you covered this game. You covered it well and explained it well. And I am sure there are lots of people who love it. Keep making awesome content, man. I just want to reserve the right to politely disagree sometimes. 😉
that is more for my "personal culture". OK. ODD is unreadable and you cannot play it without seeing it played firstly. ADD 1e is a chore to read. Not only because of Gygax's style but because it is everywhere.(that and it is a wargame and not a RPG) So I see why 2e as a bare minimum. But why not 3E??? 3.5e?? 4e??? 5e??? or wait a tad bit and go to 6e. To be clear I never read or played 4e. I scrumed over 5e. And reread it when BG3 came cause people around me knows I do RPG and deduced I was a champ at 5e... and asked questions... Go figure XD I ain't a Dnd fan. Never was. Never will be. I am just curious what motivates 2nd e vs 3rd e. NB : while not a fan WHATSOEVER of DnD Pralinor as I said was my character in DnD 2 edition, the few time I played that game. And Ed Greenwood... Man that guy can write lore as a champ.
Pral, thanks for the detailed post… I can’t speak for everyone, but for me: 2e was the best official variation of the intent of the original game. It reorganized and cleaned up what was started in OD&D, became 1e and then was refined in 2e (the peak of TSR D&D for me). The reason to not go to 3rd and 4th would be that they are much more influenced by tactical board games and MMO’s respectively. 5e tried to pare back the “board game” type of elements, but maintained the focus on build synergies with the feats (which while optional are still very prevalent) and class combinations and options. For all the flack that 2e kits get, they basically add a benefit or two, and maybe some proficiencies at creation and then you don’t have to think about it mechanically again. Subclasses from 5e give more options which also creates more chance for analysis paralysis while creating the perfect “build”. For me the 5e game also has morphed further away from the older editions as releases were added, often for reasons not related to gaming. To now see that races don’t receive a balancing modifier to stats that they are traditionally poor at removes a lot of the mechanical connections to the lore and I think that is a shame.
2e was where I started. Complete nostalgia. But, man, those revised black border books by TSR had some of the worst art in the history of the game. Terrible perspectives, unfinished and detailess drawings. They look amateurish.
There are a couple of pieces I like in them (barbarian type hero busting the door down being the one that comes to mind), but largely yeah a downgrade from the original artwork. Some of the faces on random characters looked pseudo real and pretty modern, like they might have put themselves or people around them into the art… pretty weird at times. I’m guessing that they switched art to stop paying royalties on the original art, just because that was the TSR way, total speculation.
