Ad&d 2nd edition- does anyone still play it????

Jasonias

I used to DM/play 2nd edition, still have all the books & want to get back into it. There is basically no one in my geographical region who's into it. I just found this site and I'm wondering if anyone's interested...I think it's the ultimate version of the game, but hey, I graduated high school in 1993 and grew up with basic d&d and first edition ad&d in the 80's...

kenurion

Hi Jasonias,

There are over 200 AD&D 2.0 campaigns on this site (click on "Campaigns", then select AD&D 2.0 in the frame on the right).

I'm running a 2.0 PbP campaign. I have room for one more. Take a look!

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/saga-of-jaraah

kenurion

By the way, if you want to run a PbP campaign, there seems to be a fairly steady trickle of AD&D veterans who show up on OP interested in PbP games. I started with 6 players from my old table-top crowd, 2 backed out, but I've found 3 more in the past 3 months. I now have 7 players.

Jasonias

Thanks Kenurion! I just found the site yesterday so I'll have to spend a little time looking around it and see how things work...this just might be interesting. PbP sounds pretty good for adults who work and have lives. I guess the days of weekend long, up all night with Mountain Dew and pizzas are over! Your Saga of Jaraah campaign does sound very interesting, I like what I read in the description. It might take me a week or two before I'm ready to jump into something...

Idabrius

I also run TWO AD&D games set in the 10th Age, a homebrew 2e setting: http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/the-10th-age

AD&D is pretty well loved over at 4chans /tg/ as well.

Duskreign

"I guess the days of weekend long, up all night with Mountain Dew and pizzas are over!"

NEVAR!

I get nostalgic for 2.0 every now and again. I wouldn't be averse to trying out one of these play-by-post style dealies and whatnot.

JimTriche

Idabrius, why would you ever willingly subject anyone to the fa/tg/uys over at 4chan?

Idabrius

One of the greatest parties I have had the experience to play with came from suptg's IRC. I still play with them weekly!

JimTriche

Actually Idabrius, all of our group frequents there, just figured I'd put the standard warning out. 4chan has some positively brilliant stuff pop up from time to time, but it's got the low end stuff in spades. Also much trollface.jpg

Jasonias

Well, looks like there are a lot of options on here for D&D 2.0- I'm going to be reading up on a lot of these campaigns and see what grabs me! What is "4chan"?

kenurion

Jasonias, if you run a 2.0 PbP campaign, I'd love to play (haven't played AD&D in about 20 years, been DM'ing since the ninth grade). Like Idabrius, I also get nostalgic for playing a character. If Idabrius and Duskreign are in, that's 3 players which is enough to start, then you can take walk-ins as they arrive to fill things out. Maybe some of the players in my current campaign would be interested in playing as well. You're still welcome to join my PbP campaign. The limit on my campaign is 8 players. I don't think I can handle much more than that. At least I don't want to commit to more than that without trying 8 players for a while. I've been toying with the idea of starting a 2nd PbP campaign set in the same world (different time period). If you decide you're just not interested in running a PbP campaign, let me know and I'll give this spin-off campaign more thought. Idabrius and Duskreign are powerhouses here on OP. I'd love to get in a game with them either as a player or as a DM (though DMing those two is a bit of an intimidating prospect).

JimTriche

Jasonias, 4chan is like a conglomeration of the best and worst the internet has to offer. It's an image board, fairly famous actually, with boards dedicated to various subjects from cooking, music, traditional games, and a few more adult oriented boards. The board Idabrius and I are referring to, "/tg/" is the traditional gaming board, and it does have a good deal of great threads compared to some of the other boards. If you want to take a peek, "click here":http://boards.4chan.org/tg/ but even though /tg/ is supposed to be a Work Safe board, it isn't all the time. 4chan is recommended for adults. Visit at your own risk.

Jasonias

Thanks, JimTriche!

Dyluth

I was recently invited by a family member to play as a PC in his 2nd Edition, it's a system he loves and considers superior to even 3.5 and 4e, all of who's books he has collected and read through. Regrettably I had to turn down the offer due to time constraints, so I can't say that I've played the system myself.

arsheesh

Dyluth lives! Good to see you again man.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

kenurion

I wouldn't claim it superior to anything else, it's more of a sunk cost consideration for me. Besides the $ spent on books, there's also the time spent reading them. I'm comfortable with making up house rules to patch it up as needed.

Duskreign

THAC-0 can bite me.

Signed,

Duskreign.

JimTriche

Duskreign,

Sorry you don't know your integer line. THAC0 roxx ur sox.
Also, would bite you but WotC stole my teeth.

Signed,

AD&D

Duskreign

Dear AD&D,

I owe you much. You showed me a new world, a new life.

But your armor class system was dumb.

Eat it, 2.0

Signed,

Duskreign.

P.S. - I know my integer line. I just don't like it very much since it murdered my dog and made me watch that time.

Embirsiphone

I got to play it a few times but not for about 6 years.. The restrictions drove me batty but for me it was far more fun because it was that much more challenging that 3.5 is.. I really loved how it combined Battle and intellect. Well the campaigns I was involved in did.. though my most memorable experience with it never left the meeting point.. I would love to be able to play it again but the only person I know that can DM it no longer plays DnD of any sort as far as I know.. though he hordes all his books..

On a side note, Thaco-0 while frustrating is a nifty armour system..

Duskreign

Alright, it's not like I hate THAC0. I used it for over a decade, and it works fine. But it always seemed like they got to the armor class rules and handed the reigns over to Yoda. I prefer that all the math in a system goes in the same (forward) direction. It wasn't difficult, nor was it particularly different from the 3.5 d20 setup, but honestly it felt like they tried to make it just slightly convoluted without giving a substantial reason for the decision.

I agree with Embirisiphone that 2nd Edition seemed to require a bit more of an intellectual approach to battle, and every edition to come thereafter seems to have watered down the IQ cost of entry for D&D combat rules. I think the majority of people that play in my games would not enjoy it if Wyrmshadow was a 2nd edition game. That's not a slam on their intelligence, but a sign that the new versions of D&D succeeded in overcoming a lot of the old objections people had to getting into roleplaying in general.

Alright, I'll hop off my soapbox. It's a tiny cardboard package that held one bar of Irish Spring, so it wasn't accomplishing much anyway.

"Duskreign":http://www.obsidianportal.com/profile/Duskreign

"Wyrmshadow Campaign Setting":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/wyrmshadow

"Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic

Embirsiphone

Yeah it was convaluted but that's why I loved it so.. complicated things are fun :D

Most of the people I run campaigns for protested heavily when I described 2.0 to them, they disliked the restrictions and requirements the character sheets were intimidating.. so I never got around to learning to DM it.. I wish I could have though.. considering I have like 12 books for it

JimTriche

I'm angry neckbeard in this regard, I've tried 3/3.5 and 4E. 3rd is essentially the same game, they reordered THAC0, and took the stat limits off basically. Made for a more munchkiny game, but still playable. 4E vexes me so, I don't like the at will/per day crap at all. So I default to 2E, it's the rules I was raised on and what I'm most comfortable with, and the fastest therefore for our group to play (when we get into Fantasy mode).

"I want to hit that!"

"What's your THAC0?"

"Uhm, 17."

"Roll."

"Hmm, got a 13."

"Your swing bounces harmlessly off the critters skin."

"Rut roh."

I liked THAC0 because it lent itself to keeping minor details away from players, allowing for more tension in combat. The critter in the fake conversation above could range from AC3 to AC-10, which could be a nuisance creature or something very dangerous. Also I loved the Proficiencies. I had an awesome thief/tailor/statesman.

Embirsiphone

the skill lists were extensive too..

That was frustrating for me at first as a player, because I was used to the 3.5 way of life.. but 2.0 has this draw.. it's awesome

I can barely remember any of my 2.0 characters... Which is depressing.. I never got to play it to much but I was fun while I could.

gaaran

Wow, 2.0... I haven't played that since 3E was first introduced. I like 3.5's system quite well though, it seemed more fantastical I think. Like our ordinary heroes were transformed into super heroes. Need to life a horse over your head? Just go ask that 5th level fighter over there. It upped the ante for everything, monsters included I thought, and I liked it that way. Nothing inherently wrong with 2.0 though (and my memory of it is hazy at best).

I'm with Jim for 4E. It's like DnD for Dummies. That's not an insult, as the "For Dummies" series is great for everyday use and appeal to a wide audience, but it's much less customizable. The arguments about which is better though astound me. If WotC had released the 4e rules under a different name, no one would have minded. People seemed to take affront to it because it have the beloved DnD name on it, and they didn't like it as well as their old edition. Guess what? You just saved a lot of money AND WotC got a whole ton of new players to keep paying them to produce new stuff. Wow... this has nothing to do with where I was planning on going with this thread, but I typed it all, so too late now. Go 2.0!

Duskreign

My only 2nd Edition character that I really remember much about was Flank, an elven cleric-assassin who did wetwork for the church to keep embarrassing details from weakening the faith of those easily swayed by such things.

Jim, I have to admit, proficiencies in 2nd edition were fantastic. Not enough sheer roleplay stuff like that exists in the later editions.

Embirsiphone

I suppose it was a bit more fantastical.. but where before and Orc would present a challenge, now they're easily killed in one blow.. it just never made sense to me to dumb down some of the monsters like that..

i've never played 4E, I know people who do but from what I've seen and heard, well I'm just not sure if I'd find it very fun..

That's something that I missed about 2nd edition was the sheer roleplay aspects of it

gaaran

I think they did stuff like that because they wanted you to feel powerful, like no mere goblin or orc could cut down a mighty hero. That said, an orc with a great axe better not hit your level 1-2 wizard... you're probably going down.

4E definitely has it's appeal, but I played it once, and then switched back to 3.5.

Embirsiphone

True.. wizards do tend to die easily in melee.. and I have had an encounter with an army of Kobolds that decided I was the person that destroyed they're village.. one or two kobolds are rather easy kills, a hundred of them however are nearly impossible to defeat at a lower level..

gaaran

Exactly. And when I'm dealing with that many enemies, I don't track attacks and stuff for the enemies, I just assume a certain number of weak hits, depending on the players level and number of monsters. So much easier.

Embirsiphone

yeah, My uncle was Dming that time and had them attack in swarms of ten with crossbows.. though he did allow us sweep attacks to kill more than one at a time.. and considering that my brothers character and my character both died, it was inneffective at best