Ad&d Srd?

[SouthpawSoldier]

I may, if I'm lucky, be getting in with a group that plays "second edition" exclusively. All I know about it is stories of Gygaxian "blindman's cane"-wielding adventurers tapping every square with a 10ft pole to keep from falling in a pit of Tucker's Kobolds. Is there a SRD for 2E, so I can familiarize myself with the differences between 2E and 3.x?

Oh, and just so I'm clear, it was D&D>AD&D>AD&D2E>3.0/3.5 and so on, so forth, right?

[erikun]

I may, if I'm lucky, be getting in with a group that plays "second edition" exclusively. All I know about it is stories of Gygaxian "blindman's cane"-wielding adventurers tapping every square with a 10ft pole to keep from falling in a pit of Tyler's Kobolds. Is there a SRD for 2E, so I can familiarize myself with the differences between 2E and 3.x?

Oh, and just so I'm clear, it was D&D>AD&D>AD&D2E>3.0/3.5 and so on, so forth, right?
This (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editions_of_Dungeons_%26_Dragons#Time_line) might be useful to you. Yes, D&D came out before AD&D, but the two systems (D&D and AD&D) were supported at the same time. AD&D2e replaced AD&D, and both were replaced by D&D3.0e in 2000 when Wizards of the Coast bought out TSR and started producing it. From there, it has been a steady progression from one to the next, with Pathfinder being an unofficial third party "split" of the 3.0/3.5 system.

The term you're looking for is Tucker's Kobolds, to make finding them online easier.

[SouthpawSoldier]

Thanks, and fixed. Knew it was "T-something" but thankfully all my games have been low level easy stuffs.

[Rhynn]

Is there a SRD for 2E, so I can familiarize myself with the differences between 2E and 3.x?

Not as such, but Vertharrad's link seems to amount to the same. Not sure how legal that is, though. (The legalese on the front page looks very dubious.)

For 1E, there's a very faithful free retroclone, OSRIC, but the editions have a lot of differences in details.


Oh, and just so I'm clear, it was D&D>AD&D>AD&D2E>3.0/3.5 and so on, so forth, right?

Not really, no - that first part ("D&D") doesn't make any sense. :smallbiggrin: See here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=287020&p=15389011) for the short edition history.

The even shorter of it is this:

1. Original D&D (OD&D)
2. Holmes Basic D&D (BD&D, Holmes Basic)
3a. AD&D 1E
3b. Basic D&D and Expert Set (B/X, Moldvay Basic)
4. BECM (Mentzer Basic, Basic-Expert-Companion-Master, we'll pretend Immortals never happened)
5. AD&D 2E
6. D&D 3E
7. D&D 3.5E
8. D&D 4E
9. D&D 4E Essentials
10. D&D Next

[satorian]

I might also recommend playing Baldur's Gate 2 to get a handle on a lot of the ruleset. While not by the book in every respect, you'll certainly get a feel for the game. The Gold Box games are more midpoint add-2e, without some of the additions like the sorcerer class in BG2, but still, the feel is there.

[Beleriphon]

I might also recommend playing Baldur's Gate 2 to get a handle on a lot of the ruleset. While not by the book in every respect, you'll certainly get a feel for the game. The Gold Box games are more midpoint add-2e, without some of the additions like the sorcerer class in BG2, but still, the feel is there.

And just so you know BG2 just got rereleased as the Enhanced Edition complete with all of the original BG2 expansions and some extra stuff. I think its about $25 on Steam right now.

[Rhynn]

I might also recommend playing Baldur's Gate 2 to get a handle on a lot of the ruleset. While not by the book in every respect, you'll certainly get a feel for the game.

Baldur's Gate 2 isn't going to acquaint you much with the 2E ruleset, IMO. Aside from the fact that it's largely opaque, it uses a not-really-by-the-book version of Player's Option weapon proficiencies, and several classes that were lifted from the 3E material being developed (and advertised in Dragon Magazine) at the time. THAC0 and descending AC are probably about the only things you'll get from it you wouldn't know from 3E, and those are easily and better explained than gleaned from the game.

Really, just read the PHB. It's not a complicated game (although the revised 2E books especially are pretty badly written).


The Gold Box games are more midpoint add-2e, without some of the additions like the sorcerer class in BG2, but still, the feel is there.

Actually, about half the Gold Box games are AD&D 1E: the Krynn series, and at least 50-75% of the Moonsea series. I think the Savage Frontier games are 2E, though. It's an easy mistake to make, because very few things would tip you off to this in these games - basically, almost everything that's different between the edditions is absent in the games.

The Goldbox games are easily worth playing, though; I much prefer them over either Baldur's Gate (although those are pretty much the second-best AD&D computer games).