[AD&D] How Much Awesome Can I Do With This?

[Deth Muncher]

So, I ventured into the wilds of Real Life today, and returned with the Core AD&D books, plus Manual of the Planes and Oriental Adventures (for about 60 bucks, all told). My question to you all is - what's some really awesome way I can combine the MoP with OA? I've used both in 3.X, so I assume it's similar, but I'm also completely unfamiliar with AD&D. Which reminds me, as an added note, is there an AD&D SRD or some sort of reference jiggy, or some sort of AD&D For Idiots article on the interwebs?

EDIT: The OP is intentionally broad and openended. Also, I know that genreally you have to ease your way into a game before adding on expansions, but I'm hoping that my prior D&D knowledge will let me be able to do this without the requisite amount of time of adaptation.

[arguskos]

Which reminds me, as an added note, is there an AD&D SRD or some sort of reference jiggy, or some sort of AD&D For Idiots article on the interwebs?

It's called Matthew, and it posts on this website. Sooner or later, it will see this thread, and it will post. Listen well young one, for it contains more wisdom than many a wise man. Also, Matthew, sorry for the "it" business. I just ran with it (hurr hurr bad pun hurr hurr). ;)

[ShneekeyTheLost]

1e OA can be very broken, if done properly. Look up the rules for creating your own martial arts style. Monks were a viable class, back then...

[Deth Muncher]

Wait...OD&D and AD&D are two different things, right? Those are just shorthand for 1e and 2e, right? Just making sure, since everyone at the game store was saying these were 2e, and they say Advanced Dungeons and Dragons on them. The OA has the TSR logo.

[Matthew]

It's called Matthew, and it posts on this website. Sooner or later, it will see this thread, and it will post. Listen well young one, for it contains more wisdom than many a wise man.

It be here!

Your best bet is probably OSRIC, which also has a wiki somewhere, though that is unfinished. Dragonsfoot is the biggest resource site. I guess Manual of the Planes combined with Oriental Adventures would involve characters from the latter adventuring in the environments presented by the former.

Wait...OD&D and AD&D are two different things, right? Those are just shorthand for 1e and 2e, right? Just making sure, since everyone at the game store was saying these were 2e, and they say Advanced Dungeons and Dragons on them. The OA has the TSR logo.

OD&D = Original Dungeons & Dragons (1974-1977)
AD&D/1e = First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977-1989)
AD&D/2e = Second Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1989-2000)

The latter two are 95% the same game reskinned, which is to say actual editions of the same game in the same sense that you might get editions of a book.

Oriental Adventures was written in 1985, but no second edition version was ever released. All first edition material is "official" AD&D and can be used with 2e pretty much as it is. The designers expected AD&D/2e would be played in conjunction with AD&D/1e, so the OA material released with the 2e logo references the 1e material.

Be sure to download...

OA5, Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claws
OA6, Ronin Challenge
OA7, Test of the Samurai

...from the WotC Previous Edition Downloads page.

[arguskos]

It be here!

Totally called it.

Hope you didn't mind the introduction, Matthew. Also, I was secretly hoping you were actually still around. So many oldies have been banned or left of their own will, and I see you post so infrequently anymore that I thought you might have been among them, which would have been a damned shame.

[Mystic Muse]

Huh. I thought him and "Mathis" were the same person for some reason.

[Deth Muncher]

It be here!

Your best bet is probably OSRIC, which also has a wiki somewhere, though that is unfinished. Dragonsfoot is the biggest resource site. I guess Manual of the Planes combined with Oriental Adventures would involve characters from the latter adventuring in the environments presented by the former.


OD&D = Original Dungeons & Dragons (1974-1977)
AD&D/1e = First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977-1989)
AD&D/2e = Second Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1989-2000)

The latter two are 95% the same game reskinned, which is to say actual editions of the same game in the same sense that you might get editions of a book.

Oriental Adventures was written in 1985, but no second edition version was ever released. All first edition material is "official" AD&D and can be used with 2e pretty much as it is. The designers expected AD&D/2e would be played in conjunction with AD&D/1e, so the OA material released with the 2e logo references the 1e material.

Be sure to download...

OA5, Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claws
OA6, Ronin Challenge
OA7, Test of the Samurai

...from the WotC Previous Edition Downloads page.

Suggested materials have been downloaded. Also, for those who are curious, I'm FAIRLY sure everything I got had the 2e logo on it, so that clears up all my confusion.

As to the campaign setting, as I haven't really had a chance to go through the books hardly at all yet, my core plan of an idea is to have guys from the Prime Material get transported to some psuedo-Asialand, and the only way they can get back is by seeking out the help of extraplanar entities who have been warring back and forth, which has been causing the breakdown of the planar barriers in the first place.

[hamlet]

To the OP:

As Matthew said, OA is a 1st edition book but is perfectly usable with 2nd edition books with almost no troubles at all.

Manual of the Planes is also a 1st edition book, but again, no problems with portability. MOP did, though, get a sort of kind of reprint in 2nd edition with the Planescape setting, though they aren't 100% identical.

You might want to make certain of what rules books you have. The easiest way of determining that is to look at the artwork. Most anybody here can tell you what edition it is based on what's on the cover.

AD&D 1ed does have a sort of SRD in OSRIC which you can get for free from Lulu.com, or as a printed book. I recommend it. If you're really interested, you can get SRD type copies of OD&D (originally the little brown books) in Swords and Wizardry, again for free, but this is something that requires a great deal of work byt he DM to make it do exactly what you want it to do. Great if that's your thing, but not so much if you're looking for a canned game.

As for combining OA and MOP, I'm gonna go on record and say that I don't think they'd work terribly well together as is. MOP is, for all intents and purposes, a Greyhawk supplement, and it shows at the edges. At the brass tacks level, I suppose that much of the inner planes and the Astral and Ethereal would work without much trouble, but I'd go further and strip out everything except the Ethereal, Astral, the four key Elemental planes (removing Quasi and Para planes) and the Positive and Negative energy planes. Then I'd add in "Heaven" and "Hell" as their own unique entities, basing them off of whatever oriental myths I could filch and put to work for me.

[LibraryOgre]

How to combine the two... well, it depends on what you want.

You might try a straight up OA game, with a heavy planar aspect... either "Samurai surf Sigil" or "Succubi over Shou Lung." Perhaps some of the traits of the elemental planes make themselves felt in various parts of their quest, or you have a heavy Ethereal element.

[Fhaolan]

OD&D = Original Dungeons & Dragons (1974-1977)
AD&D/1e = First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977-1989)
AD&D/2e = Second Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1989-2000)

There's also the Basic/Expert/Companion/etc. version from 1977-1991. There are significant differences between that version and the 1974 OD&D as well as the 1977+ AD&D.

Not really relevant to the discussion. Just thought I'd mention.

[JadedDM]

Saying Matthew's name is just like saying Candlejack's name, but instead of him kidnapping you mid-sentence, he just answers and and all of your old school D&D questi

[Froogleyboy]

I absolutely love it when old-school stuff pops up around here :)

[Deth Muncher]

As a final FYI to everyone, the MoP and OA both say "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons," whereas the Monstrous Manual, Dungeon Master's Guide and Player's Handbook all say "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Second Edition." So yeah.

[hamlet]

As a final FYI to everyone, the MoP and OA both say "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons," whereas the Monstrous Manual, Dungeon Master's Guide and Player's Handbook all say "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Second Edition." So yeah.

OSRIC is free and is, for all intents and purposes, AD&D 1e, including the monster manual.

[Matthew]

Totally called it.

Hope you didn't mind the introduction, Matthew. Also, I was secretly hoping you were actually still around. So many oldies have been banned or left of their own will, and I see you post so infrequently anymore that I thought you might have been among them, which would have been a damned shame.

No worries. The life cycle of a forum I suppose, exacerbated somewhat by edition change.

Huh. I thought him and "Mathis" were the same person for some reason.

Nope. Interesting association, though.

Suggested materials have been downloaded. Also, for those who are curious, I'm FAIRLY sure everything I got had the 2e logo on it, so that clears up all my confusion.

As to the campaign setting, as I haven't really had a chance to go through the books hardly at all yet, my core plan of an idea is to have guys from the Prime Material get transported to some psuedo-Asialand, and the only way they can get back is by seeking out the help of extraplanar entities who have been warring back and forth, which has been causing the breakdown of the planar barriers in the first place.

Sounds like an interesting concept; reminds me a bit of Forbidden Kingdom, but better, I am sure.

As for combining OA and MOP, I'm gonna go on record and say that I don't think they'd work terribly well together as is. MOP is, for all intents and purposes, a Greyhawk supplement, and it shows at the edges. At the brass tacks level, I suppose that much of the inner planes and the Astral and Ethereal would work without much trouble, but I'd go further and strip out everything except the Ethereal, Astral, the four key Elemental planes (removing Quasi and Para planes) and the Positive and Negative energy planes. Then I'd add in "Heaven" and "Hell" as their own unique entities, basing them off of whatever oriental myths I could filch and put to work for me.

Hmmn. I can see what you are saying, but on the other hand there is supposed to be an "Oriental Adventures" zone in Greyhawk. Still, I guess that problem is mostly solved if OA is itself some sort of demi plane.

There's also the Basic/Expert/Companion/etc. version from 1977-1991. There are significant differences between that version and the 1974 OD&D as well as the 1977+ AD&D.

Not really relevant to the discussion. Just thought I'd mention.

Yes, indeed. Three editions, in fact, the 1977 "Holmes" edition, the 1981/2 Moldvay/Cook edition, and the 1983/4- "Mentzer" edition. I suppose Allston's Rules Cyclopedia is technically another edition, but that would be splitting hairs.

Saying Matthew's name is just like saying Candlejack's name, but instead of him kidnapping you mid-sentence, he just answers all of your old school D&D questions.

And finishes your sentences.

I absolutely love it when old-school stuff pops up around here :)

Me too!

As a final FYI to everyone, the MoP and OA both say "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons," whereas the Monstrous Manual, Dungeon Master's Guide and Player's Handbook all say "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Second Edition." So yeah.

Yes, indeed. Interestingly, both authors of the former works were second edition designer types, concepts from OA certainly made their way into the later edition.

[hamlet]

Hmmn. I can see what you are saying, but on the other hand there is supposed to be an "Oriental Adventures" zone in Greyhawk. Still, I guess that problem is mostly solved if OA is itself some sort of demi plane.

Yeah, could be something in the Deep Ethereal like Ravenloft is, though without the creepification.

Kara Tur itself was a FR "zone" as well, though it seems that everything got dumped into Fearun at some point.

I still stand by my point, though, that once you get into OA, you're better off divorcing it of the Great Wheel at least to some extent.


EDIT: Or just break out L5R and do it for real.

[hamishspence]

Yes, indeed. Three editions, in fact, the 1977 "Holmes" edition, the 1981/2 Moldvay/Cook edition, and the 1983/4- "Mentzer" edition. I suppose Allston's Rules Cyclopedia is technically another edition, but that would be splitting hairs.

What about the 1991 "Timothy Brown" version of Basic- or does that just count as an updated version of the "Mentzer" edition?

[Matthew]

What about the 1991 "Timothy Brown" version of Basic- or does that just count as an updated version of the "Mentzer" edition?

Not sure; Allston's Rules Cyclopedia was 1991, but a number of introductory boxed sets and other items (Dragon Quest, First Quest, Dragon Strike, Dungeons & Dragons Game, Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game, Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game, et cetera) appeared in the 90s that I have heard varying reports as to the contents of; I understand that some are just restatements of Mentzer, but others are rather different, like Crypt of the Smoke Dragon. As far as I am aware, none of those are full on editions. I am not sure which of those Brown was involved in.

[hamishspence]

The black introductory boxed set with the big red demonic-looking creature with blue eyes on the front (it doesn't look long-necked enough to be a dragon).

Probably a restatement of Mentzer, come to think of it- the statblocks are the same as those in the Mentzer Expert Rulebook, and the Mentzer Master DM's book.

The Holmes Basic book is written rather differently. And has 5 alignments instead of 3 (LG, CG, N, LE, CE)

[a_humble_lich]

As far as editions go, both OA and MOP were published late enough that they are more like 1.5e. Many of the changes between 1e and 2e were already present by then (like non-weapon proficiencies).

[Matthew]

As far as editions go, both OA and MOP were published late enough that they are more like 1.5e. Many of the changes between 1e and 2e were already present by then (like non-weapon proficiencies).

Actually, non-weapon proficiencies were introduced in Oriental Adventures, but Manual of the Planes was certainly comparatively late, or perhaps more importantly to some "post Gygax". Actual changes to the rules, rather than optional accretions, between first and second edition are relatively minor and only really observable in second edition itself. The real "1.5" of first edition is Unearthed Arcana, but you will not see much of its influence at work in the later supplements.