[AD&D 2E] Advanced Rules and Index Guide

[jmbrown]

FG&G is an attempt to compile the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition rules into a single open game product. The idea arose after reading the Old School Reference & Index Compilation which is an open game adaption of AD&D 1E. FG&G, like OSRIC, will be free for use and reference.

The rules have been kept intact but the descriptions rewritten with clarity in mind. The casual writing style that made 2E's rules easy-to-learn but difficult from a reference perspective has been tightened in favor of the game's mechanics. All the rules from the three core books will be included in a single product and a separate appendix containing all the variant rules will be released separately. A third project in progress will include select material such as races, class kits, and options 2E fans have come to love.

This is a solo project and as such I need the support and commentary from the community to continue. I'm not a typist nor a proficient proofreader so I rely on you, the great reader, to point out my mistakes and mispellings.

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Yes, that was a joke.

Thank you for your time and support.

For Gold & Glory Core
Legal
Introduction
Ability Scores
Player Character Races
Player Character Classes
Alignment
Equipment
Combat
Adventuring and Exploration
Encounters
Hireling and Henchmen
Experience Points
Treasure and Research
Magic Overview
Spell Catalogue - Coming Soon!
Bestiary - Coming Soon!
Glossary
Appendix I: Tables - Coming Soon!
Appendix II: Spell Catalogue by Class and Level - Coming Soon!
Appendix III: Treasure Tables and Descriptions - Coming Soon!
Appendix IV: Monsters by Experience Points - Coming Soon!
Appendix V: Core Optional Rules - Coming Soon!

Player's Choice
Class Kits - Coming Soon!
Races - Coming Soon!
Psionics - Coming Soon!

Modifications to the original 2E system
-All halfling PCs are considered to be pure blooded stouts. This was a decision to keep halflings (as player characters) consistent with the rest of the demihumans. The percentage for stout/tallfellow will be added in with the optional rules section.

-Optional rules, including the proficiency system, have been removed. This is because FG&G serves as core rules and options would bloat the file. Optional rules will be combined and available as a single document for ease of reference.

-For (possible) legal reasons, THAC0 has been changed to "Combat Rating." It otherwise functions exactly the same as THAC0 (subtract FR from target's AC, roll 1d20 + modifiers to hit).

Work Log
20 November 2009: Project started around this time.

24 November 2009: Uploaded legal, glossary, and ability scores. Ability scores document is 100% finished. Glossary will be updated over time. Next document to finish is Races which is about 80% finished. Major work to be done on that is creating the applicable tables, cleaning up the writing, and basic formatting.

26 November 2009: Player Character Races finished and uploaded. Tonight I'll try to finish at least half the Player Character Classes section and upload alignments (although frankly I'll just copy and paste the SRD alignment descriptions as between AD&D and SRD they're the same).

I'll also start working on the appendixes beginning with all of the tables I use meaning I'll have to go back and number each individual table.

27 November 2009: A lot of minor changes (removed ascending AC, added fighting level in replace of THAC0, spell check).

29 November 2009: Uploaded Player Character Classes containing (near) complete write ups for the warrior and wizard groups.

05 December 2009: Finished Player Character Classes. Lots of things need to be done like formatting, spell check, adding weapon specialization for fighters, and rewriting the druid mythos because what I have right now is horrible and confusing.

Regardless, gotta keep trucking. I want to finish everything with the exception of spells and treasure by the end of the year. After that, it'll be a simultaneous battle between editing, proof reading, and the long and arduous task that is spells.

07 December 2009: A lot of work happened today. The beginning of appendix 1 was added, player character classes and races are pretty much finished, alignment finished and uploaded, and just tons of changes and formatting decisions made everywhere. Also, thanks to a recommendation, I changed the title to Advanced Rules and Index Guide :D.

December 15, 2009: Uploaded the files in rich text format and placed them up on my personal server so you can download the files. Alignment and Equipment are essentially finished. A few changes were made to how equipment works like the arquebus and mancatcher but they're 99% identical except in fluff.

January 1, 2010: Lots of changes. Every document's format has been updated for clarity, several dozen mistakes have been corrected (wizards no longer get d10 hit dice hehe), and the files just look and read better. Uploaded the Introduction, Combat and Encounters, and Magic Overview documents which brings the Player's Handbook to about 75% complete. After Movement and Exploration is finished, it's on to the spells which will probably take the better portion of this month.

A noticeable mistake right now is fighting rank. Some documents still refer to it as fighting level. This was a little oversight I forgot about and will fix later. (I might end up changing it to Combat Rank; a little send up to TETSNBN's convoluted challenge rating).

January 7, 2010: Adventuring and Exploration has been uploaded. Today marks the completion of the PHB material (with the exception of spells). My next major step is to scour the DMG as for whatever reason it contains information that even players would want to know hidden within it like how aerial combat works. This shouldn't take too long; perhaps 2 weeks at the most.

You'll notice several errors. For one, my "list of changes" is ever shrinking as I step back and realize few of them are necessary. Movement rate has gone back to a flat number and you'll find I haven't swapped everything back yet. I also changed Fighting Rank "FR" to Combat Rating simply to keep Fighting Rank and Fighter Level separate.

January 23, 2010: Experience and Treasure/Research have been uploaded. At the last minute I decided to combine experience with the encounters section from the DMG so that chapter is unfinished for now. The combat section and other sections have been heavily modified with additional DMG material especially combat which is 100% complete. Movement rating has been changed back to the original concept from the rules because, ironically, it ended up requiring too many fractions and math.

Working on Hirelings and Henchmen now.

February 02, 2010: The "official" website has gone up here. I'll continue to update forum posts but go there for cool things like homebrew rules, previews, art, reviews, musings, and adventures.

Hirelings and Henchmen and Encounters have been updated effectively finishing the PHB and DMG minus spells and treasure. I'll be working on spells first (with a quota of 2 spell levels a day) and probably bust out all the treasure charts in a day. Monsters will be a slower affair as I want to keep their fluff but it will require me rewriting it. Remember, the website will contain updates faster than I can check all the internet forum posts so it wouldn't hurt you to subscribe to the RSS feed.

[jmbrown]

26 November 2009: Player Character Races finished and uploaded. Tonight I'll try to finish at least half the Player Character Classes section and upload alignments (although frankly I'll just copy and paste the SRD alignment descriptions as between AD&D and SRD they're the same).

I'll also start working on the appendixes beginning with all of the tables I use meaning I'll have to go back and number each individual table.

[Matthew]

You might want to consider cross-posting this to Dragonsfoot, as you might get a better response there. I am not convinced that switching to an ascending armour class system is a good idea for an actual simulacrum game, but your call.

[jmbrown]

You might want to consider cross-posting this to Dragonsfoot, as you might get a better response there. I am not convinced that switching to an ascending armour class system is a good idea for an actual simulacrum game, but your call.

First time I heard of them. Probably join today.

Anyways, what do you mean by "simulacrum" game? As far as incremental armor class, the idea is that it's one less number to keep track of. Everything works exactly the same.

THAC0 System: Subtract THAC0 from AC, roll 1d20 + modifiers to meet or beat modified THAC0.

To-hit System: Roll 1d20 + to-hit modifier to meet or beat AC.

There are absolutely no gameplay mechanics to change except when you convert a monster you have to swap their THAC0/AC around which takes all of 5 seconds.

[Matthew]

First time I heard of them. Probably join today.

It is probably the biggest AD&D forum going, well worth joining if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Anyways, what do you mean by "simulacrum" game? As far as incremental armor class, the idea is that it's one less number to keep track of. Everything works exactly the same.

THAC0 System: Subtract THAC0 from AC, roll 1d20 + modifiers to meet or beat modified THAC0.

To-hit System: Roll 1d20 + to-hit modifier to meet or beat AC.

There are absolutely no gameplay mechanics to change except when you convert a monster you have to swap their THAC0/AC around which takes all of 5 seconds.

Well, if you are going to reproduce a rule set and make it open source, it does not make an awful lot of sense to change the rules to suit your own sense of good and bad. I am not going to debate THAC0 here (though you can read my views elsewhere on this forum, such as in this thread: Why THAC0?), but there is a purpose to having a descending armour class system, and changing that will affect numerous aspects of the wording of particular rules, spell descriptions, and so on, reducing the degree of compatibility with already existing materials.

Suffice to say, I think you may be taking it for granted that an ascending armour class system is preferred by the majority of people who will make use of CRAIG, and I do not agree that one method is inherently superior or intuitive than another. There are other rule sets out there that are basically AD&D/BD&D with an ascending armour class system, such as Castles & Crusades and Basic Fantasy, and there is Swords & Wizardry, which offers both; reactions have been mixed.

That said, it is your project, and I would not presume to force upon you a particular view or design criteria, I am only registering my opinion.

[edit] I should add that I have made extensive use of an ascending armour class system in AD&D in the past, and that it does not actually bother me either way what methodology is used in play. I generally use a descending armour class system because I prefer the aesthetic and do not need to do any conversion before or during the game when using the relevant resources. However, when using C&C material, we typically use ascending armour class.

[jmbrown]

No, I see your point. I want this to be the basic rules compressed in a single file and having to change every monster and such to fit the ascending armor class is counter intuitive when I look at it from a different light.

[Matthew]

No, I see your point. I want this to be the basic rules compressed in a single file and having to change every monster and such to fit the ascending armor class is counter intuitive when I look at it from a different light.

If it helps, as THAC0 might be difficult to reproduce legally, you might think of the calculation in this way:

1D20 + Fighter Level + Armour Class + Modifiers = 21+

That way you can streamline some aspects of the system without losing compatibility [e.g. THAC0 becomes "FL"] and even suggest that players pre calculate their "target number" by deducting their equivalent fighter level from 21. A "fighter level" can also double for "attack bonus" for those who prefer to use an ascending armour class system.

[Zeta Kai]

Yeah, I know plenty of grognards who prefer the descending AC mechanic to this day. To them, if it ain't broke...

[jmbrown]

Player Character Classes for the warrior and wizard groups are up. Finishing priest and rogue tomorrow. At this rate, I think I can finish the core rules by the end of the year. The biggest hurdle is going to be spell description and monsters.

Edit: I would like to hear opinions (from those familiar with 2E obviously) on the Paladin and Ranger's restrictions. Because I can't copy the descriptions, I rewrote them based on how I interpreted them during my play of 2E years ago. I feel I didn't stray far from the original idea but I also feel I'm not as rigid in the wording which caused a lot of confusion among new players. My first DM did the whole "You find a goblin baby in the road, what do you do" and I can't count the number of paladins I've had fallen simply because the interpretation of their code was so strict.

[Gorgondantess]

Ahhh, someone trying to keep the best days of D&D alive. Take my hat off to you, sir.
*takes hat off*

Yeah, I know plenty of grognards who prefer the descending AC mechanic to this day. To them, if it ain't broke...

Sir, I resent being called a grognard! Whatever it means... don't even think it's in the dictionary, anyways...
And honestly, I think the system is very clever and intuitive. Though I suppose maybe (probably) that's just me.

As for the paladin code of conduct, to prevent the whole 'Bastard DM forcing you to fall' thing, I'd insert something along the lines of 'so long the paladin considers what he does to be a good act, so long as an act could be considered non-evil by a normal, rational human, that it wouldn't cause the paladin to fall.' Or something along those lines... I really don't think TSR intended the falling rules to be so very brutal.
And then maybe include something along those lines in the ranger's description as well.
Speaking of which, several typos on the description there:

*Rangers are Good: Rangers must always remain good. A ranger who willingly commits an evil act irrevocably loses his status and becomes a fight of the same level losing any excess experience points. A range who unwillingly commits an evil act, either through magic or no choice on his part, cannot gain experience points until he atones through good deeds. This deed is determined by the GM and could involve challenging an evil lord, freeing captives to an evil master, or slaying a powerful evil beast.

Forgot the 'r's, and I think it should be from rather than to.

[jmbrown]

UGH writing the druid was an exercise in patience. One hour later there's still a lot of cleaning up and editing I have to do.

[jmbrown]

05 December 2009: Finished Player Character Classes. Lots of things need to be done like formatting, spell check, adding weapon specialization for fighters, and rewriting the druid mythos because what I have right now is horrible and confusing.

Regardless, gotta keep trucking. I want to finish everything with the exception of spells and treasure by the end of the year. After that, it'll be a simultaneous battle between editing, proof reading, and the long and arduous task that is spells.

[jmbrown]

07 December 2009: A lot of work happened today. The beginning of appendix 1 was added, player character classes and races are pretty much finished, alignment finished and uploaded, and just tons of changes and formatting decisions made everywhere. Also, thanks to a recommendation, I changed the title to Advanced Rules and Index Guide :D.

Tomorrow begins equipment.

Edit: Now that I look over it, I can't say I'm satisfied with the outcome of the alignment section. I tried addressing issues with 3.5's alignment then copied the individual descriptions over but rereading 2E's alignment descriptions I realize how absolutely clear it is. 3E describes lawful good as "crusaders" whereas 2E describes them as doing whatever it takes to benefit the greater good and cause the least harm. Lawful good societies can be incredibly restrictive in human rights but still maintain that semblance of lawfulness and goodness whereas 3E would make them teeter on the edge of law and neutrality.

I'll have to think long about how I rewrite 2E's descriptions instead of ripping 3E's.

[Tiktakkat]

Sir, I resent being called a grognard! Whatever it means... don't even think it's in the dictionary, anyways...

So you know:

"Grognard" is French for "grumbler".
As the story goes, it is the pet name Napoleon gave in good humor to the members of the Old Guard because of their habit of complaining about everything, then still going out and whupping anything they were aimed at.

The term was taken up by sand table miniature gamers, setting themselves as the "old guard" of gaming "grumbling" about new-fangled stuff like boardgames and later the total upstart RPG stuff.

The term was again usurped by the D&D crowd that preferred the earliest versions of the game. Depending on specific circumstance, it can mean either OD&D in the boxes, or just those who reject anything after Gygax left TSR.

Because of the evil that is edition wars, grognard tends to be used as a badge of honor and a derisive sneer, depending on which side you are on. It can be used more casually as an indication that you do remember using chits instead of dice, crayons to mark your d20s to know which was high and which was low, and low impact dice that turned d4s from lethal caltrops to just painful prods and d20s into bizarre ever-rolling spheres.

/end digression

[lesser_minion]

I'd be surprised to discover that there was any legal baggage attached to a number which acts as the basic roll needed to hit a given armour class.

I'm on the "keep descending AC" side of the fence here. It isn't hard to understand, and it's less odd than quite a few things that attract less flak.

Unlike 'speed', the term 'Armour Class' doesn't actually imply whether a lower or a higher number would be better (in both Exalted and Scion, the 'speed' of an action is the amount of time it takes to perform. Not 'cost' or 'time lost', but 'speed'. Go figure.)

[jmbrown]

Although I'm pretty sure TSR never did, THAC0 is a term that could be trademarked. I can use the concept itself or even call it "to-hit armor class 0" but the abbreviation of THAC0 is, I think, one of the defining aspects of 2E and I've never seen a publication, even those claiming to be based on AD&D, use the concept of THAC0 as a single number. Both OSRIC and Swords and Wizardry use the to-hit charts (although THAC0 is a 2E concept and both games were based on 1E).

Long story short, I don't want to take any chances

Didn't get much work done today but I busted out my pens and pencils for the first time in 8 months and created the first of my generic team of mascots kind of like how 3E had Regdar (whom I always thought was Redgar until a year ago) and Hennet, the belt fetish sorcerer.


Jalan the Swift

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Fighter 1/Mage 1/Thief 1
Hp: 6
FL 20

vs. paralyzation 13
vs. rod 11
vs. petrification 12
vs. breath 15
vs. spell 12

Strength: 15
Dexterity: 18 (+2 surprise, +2 missiles, -4 AC)
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 7

AC: 6 (unarmored), 5 (shield), 2 (studded leather + shield)

Move Silently 50%
Hide in Shadows 45%
Find/Remove Traps 40%
Backstab x2

Spells: Armor

Darts (10) +2 to attack rolls, 3 darts per round
Longbow +2 to attack rolls, 2 arrows per round
Scimitar
Studded Leather
Wooden Shield

Elf traits

edit: just realized his flaming wand (yes, it was supposed to be a wand) looks like a torch. A blue torch.

[jmbrown]

December 15, 2009: Uploaded the files in rich text format and placed them up on my personal server so you can download the files. Alignment and Equipment are essentially finished. A few changes were made to how equipment works like the arquebus and mancatcher but they're 99% identical except in fluff.

[Jolly Steve]

Would it be easier to present this as a series of extra rules for OSRIC (ie don't reproduce the rules that are the same as they are in 1st edition), rather than a complete game in itself?

[jmbrown]

Would it be easier to present this as a series of extra rules for OSRIC (ie don't reproduce the rules that are the same as they are in 1st edition), rather than a complete game in itself?

The differences are subtle but numerous. By the time I've cross-referenced the differences between both editions and compensated for them I could have just written everything myself. Plus I want everything to be in a single document for reference. The more books/pdf's/files a person has open, the more I'm inconveniencing the player which is what I don't want.

Besides, I always wanted a large body of work to call my own and the feeling of seeing a bound book that I wrote will make me ecstatic.

[Surgo]

Could this be released under the Creative Commons license in addition to the Open Gaming License?

The Creative Commons license is substantially more versatile, and really much more well-suited to projects like this.

[jmbrown]

Perhaps. I'll have to look into it.

[Biotroll]

I found small mistake in Wizard. His hit dice is listed as d10 but should be d4 (right? ). I haven't read all parts of it but if I find more mistakes I'll let you know.

[Anonymouswizard]

I found small mistake in Wizard. His hit dice is listed as d10 but should be d4 (right? ). I haven't read all parts of it but if I find more mistakes I'll let you know.

No. Are wizards should be able to withstand as much as fighters.[/sarcasm]

I am interested in this, although I will be looking at it periodically as I've never played 1 or 2e, although I did have a stab at BD&D. I am also working on my version of 3.5: A20, so I will be thinking about that most of the time.

[jmbrown]

I found small mistake in Wizard. His hit dice is listed as d10 but should be d4 (right? ). I haven't read all parts of it but if I find more mistakes I'll let you know.

Thank you for pointing that out. Last thing I want is d10 hit die wizards. There was another glaring mistake but I must have forgotten it on my plane ride.

I am interested in this, although I will be looking at it periodically as I've never played 1 or 2e, although I did have a stab at BD&D. I am also working on my version of 3.5: A20, so I will be thinking about that most of the time.

The combat portion should be finished on the 1st of January in which case the system will be largely playable. There will be a lot of updates on the 1st and I'm looking into starting a blog on the Wizards community for this project.

[Surgo]

Have you given any thought yet to also releasing it under the Creative Commons license?

[jmbrown]

January 1, 2010: Lots of changes. Every document's format has been updated for clarity, several dozen mistakes have been corrected (wizards no longer get d10 hit dice hehe), and the files just look and read better. Uploaded the Introduction, Combat and Encounters, and Magic Overview documents which brings the Player's Handbook to about 75% complete. After Movement and Exploration is finished, it's on to the spells which will probably take the better portion of this month.

A noticeable mistake right now is fighting rank. Some documents still refer to it as fighting level. This was a little oversight I forgot about and will fix later. (I might end up changing it to Combat Rank; a little send up to TETSNBN's convoluted challenge rating).

Have you given any thought yet to also releasing it under the Creative Commons license?

Someone will have to go over what the license entails to me such as if it conflicts with the OGL.

[Surgo]

The best summary is available right here, on their website.

The issue of incompatibility is an irrelevant one. When you release a work under multiple licenses, you are giving the licensee the ability to accept or reject which license they follow. In this case it's not even clear what compatible licensing means, because an OGL work can be referenced and used to create a Creative Commons work (as done on my wiki), and vice versa (so long as you are creating a separate entity).

[jmbrown]

January 7, 2010: Adventuring and Exploration has been uploaded. Today marks the completion of the PHB material (with the exception of spells). My next major step is to scour the DMG as for whatever reason it contains information that even players would want to know hidden within it like how aerial combat works. This shouldn't take too long; perhaps 2 weeks at the most.

You'll notice several errors. For one, my "list of changes" is ever shrinking as I step back and realize few of them are necessary. Movement rate has gone back to a flat number and you'll find I haven't swapped everything back yet. I also changed Fighting Rank "FR" to Combat Rating simply to keep Fighting Rank and Fighter Level separate).

The best summary is available right here, on their website.

The issue of incompatibility is an irrelevant one. When you release a work under multiple licenses, you are giving the licensee the ability to accept or reject which license they follow. In this case it's not even clear what compatible licensing means, because an OGL work can be referenced and used to create a Creative Commons work (as done on my wiki), and vice versa (so long as you are creating a separate entity).

Until I update the legal section saying so, consider this work to be under the creative commons.

[Surgo]

Thank you, jmbrown. This allows me to transcribe this completely onto my wiki with no licensing issues.

[jmbrown]

January 23, 2010: Experience and Treasure/Research have been uploaded. At the last minute I decided to combine experience with the encounters section from the DMG so that chapter is unfinished for now. The combat section and other sections have been heavily modified with additional DMG material especially combat which is 100% complete. Movement rating has been changed back to the original concept from the rules because, ironically, it ended up requiring too many fractions and math.

Working on Hirelings and Henchmen now. I'm also working on several neat projects

A) A website/blog for the official product. It'll include 2E adventures, homebrew, and reviews of D&D/Fantasy products that I feel could be incorporated into the game.

B) A unique campaign setting designed for the system. The details aren't hammered down, but it takes place in an antediluvian alternate earth where the world is a living entity which extends life into nature fantasy tropes like ents and dryads. An interstellar war takes place over earth resulting in hundreds of spaceships crashing on the planet. Centuries later, the fledgling human race builds their first civilizations around these ships and adapts the remaining technology (imagine Babylon with floating ziggurats and the hanging gardens are populated by assassin's vines and shambling mounds). The style is romantic swashbuckling adventure heavily influenced by Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

My website will be going up soon (perhaps first week of February) while the campaign setting will be fleshed out in more detail once this project is complete.