D&D 2E On AD&D 2E

Mannahnin said:

I've been working through the OD&D one on my commutes for the past few days.

Click to expand...

Thats a really good idea. D&D to me at the core is TotM so you aren't losing anything listening to it while you're driving or on public transportation.

You know you're getting old when you think I'll wait for the VHS/DVD only to realize there isn't going to be one.

R_J_K75 said:

Thats a really good idea. D&D to me at the core is TotM so you aren't losing anything listening to it while you're driving or on public transportation.

You know you're getting old when you think I'll wait for the VHS/DVD only to realize there isn't going to be one.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I listen to a fair number of D&D podcasts or YouTube videos on my commutes. Most of the time the visual is superfluous.

Mannahnin said:

It's basically a solid hour and a half to two hour roundtable discussion on the edition led by an expert (Jon Peterson, for OE, and it looks like lead designer Zeb Cook for 2E), then a break, then an Actual Play session. I don't think they're going to edit these down.

I've been working through the OD&D one on my commutes for the past few days.

Click to expand...

They really are fascinating videos.

Mannahnin said:

Yeah, I listen to a fair number of D&D podcasts or YouTube videos on my commutes. Most of the time the visual is superfluous.

Click to expand...

I dont commute anymore so I go for groceries, do a beer run, cat food, etc. Unless Im actively engaged in something, everything else is background noise.

I will say that tail end of 2E Forgotten Realms was pretty F'ing good when Dale Donovan and Steven Schend were writing for TSR. I think they wrote a bit in 98-99 after WotC bought them. Once 3E came out they werent seen again, AFAIK. Which is a shame. Last thing I saw either of their name on was Dale Donovan, the Book of Erotic Fantasy

Every time this thread bubbles back up to the surface I start thinking about running 2E for a short nostalgia campaign. ::sigh::

I love 2e. I think 1/3rd of my entire RPG collection is 2e related. My wife even ran it a few years ago and fell in love with it after years of 3e and PF1.

Belen said:

I love 2e. I think 1/3rd of my entire RPG collection is 2e related. My wife even ran it a few years ago and fell in love with it after years of 3e and PF1.

Click to expand...

I never played 2E but collected some of the settings. I still want to try to do a proper 2E Dark Sun campaign. Some day.

R_J_K75 said:

Is that really 6-1/2 hours?

Click to expand...

The interview part’s about 1.5, and the Zeb runs a game for them.

Belen said:

I love 2e. I think 1/3rd of my entire RPG collection is 2e related. My wife even ran it a few years ago and fell in love with it after years of 3e and PF1.

Click to expand...

Honestly my best D&D memories were 2E too. There was so much support for the campaign settings.

I've mostly been running 2e exclusively this year as I have kind of amassed a large collection of content (originals, reprints, hand printed/bindered material).

With my main group I had two people new to D&D entirely, one AD&D 1e veteran, and two 5e veterans. First sessions were painfully slow since no one read the rule books except me so I had to walk everyone through it(on Roll20/discord nonetheless). However, every session ran smoother and smoother. By the 4th session most people were getting comfortable with 2E(revised with options) rules and even obtaining content themselves. Despite some irks my 5 PCs are content with it, even the 5e players.

I did give some concessions to the PCs to ease them in; First 2 levels are max hit die value by default and I allowed 1 full reroll of attributes using Method V so they had 2 sets of numbers to choose from. Perhaps it was too much but it was enough to get the more closed minded ones to try 2e.

My recommendation if someone is interested in running 2e: Just do it, BUT stick with basic core rules from the DMs and PC's guide for the first adventure. 2e can get insanely complex insanely fast if you just suddenly start using all the options and extra content. Certain extra options can be a lot of fun, but when you and other PCs are trying to (re)pickup a different game system; the extra options can overwhelm everyone and make the experience devolve into a rules lawyering session and that is rarely any fun.