I’ve only ever played 2nd edition. Players and dungeon master guide books, monsterous compedium, and the forgotten realms campaign setting box. All I ever needed for years of adventure.
Remember an episode of Buffy the Vampire slayer where the gang were trying to identify a demon they were fighting. Xander - i found the demon we are chasing. Scooby gang - Xander that is a D & D monster manual.
Great video mate. I collect 2nd Edition material and am up to nearly 300 seperate books and modules so far but it's great to see books from the other editions.
I threw away the core 2nd ed books 😭 Over 10 years ago. Thankfully I kept campaign setting books and other supplementary ones except the black optional rules books.
Great video. After getting back into D&D with 5th I went back and bought the older editions except OD&D. Grew up playing AD&D with my dad. I definitely need to grab some campaign settings for the various editions. Focused on the core books to get started.
The first D&D books I bought was 2nd edition. 3.5 just released and my friends were playing it. I bought a box of D&D stuff from a used books store for 50 bucks. It was missing the monster books so I never played it, just this year I got the 1st monster binder for $45. Talking to my friends about playing a couple of games in that edition.
I am coming back to watching this again and it is still great. The Greyhawk book for OD&D didn't have setting information though Dave but Blackmoor was the closest to having setting info with an adventure (Temple of the Frog). More came for Greyhawk with AD&D 1st edition. Blackmoor pretty much got remade into Mystara (or the Known World) in the BECMI era of D&D.
Great history review! For "BECMI or Mentzer D&D, the Rules Cyclopedia is THE book to get! The Immortal rules (I) is in the "Wrath of the Immortals (WotI)" boxed set. To clarify a small error in the video.. PC Immortals in WotI go up in level the same way as mortal adventurers do. There is a whole set of rules there for that style of play.
Really solid video. One bit of advice I'd give to anyone seriously considering playing OD&D (the 3 little brown books) is to get the Greyhawk supplement book... it replaces the combat system from Chainmail, so you don't need to have Chainmail if you have that. More character classes are added... it is just all around better and becomes more of what we think of when we think of D&D. Basically a "required" supplement book.
I have seen a comment in another video about the 20 player group which presents the opinion that Gygax did not intend to have 20 people playing at the same time, but he described a game/campaign where multiple people and parties interacted, playing different adventures most of the time.
I play only 2nd edition but ended up collecting quite a bit of the TSR products (900+ books). Originally, I just wanted to collect only 2nd edition settings like Forgotten Realms (which includes some 1st edition books) but found that sometimes I needed to reference rules and mechanics from 1st edition when some of the information did not seem to make the transition between editions such as how many charges does a ring of the ram have? Then when collecting specific campaign settings like Greyhawk, some of the later 2nd edition Greyhawk books recommended the 1st edition material for reference. Then came Mystara which only had 10 products and was the 2nd edition version of the Known World of original D&D. This caused me to collect quite a bit of original D&D from the Mentzer version going forward. Our group prefers to play in an established setting and by having so many settings and material allows our group to make so many unique characters. I still have quite a few books left to collect...
There is also the, "Creature Catalog" monster manual that goes with the Mentzer Rules Cyclopedia version. Those box sets are becoming more collectible in physical form, and people can find the PDF cheap for the Rules Cyclopedia. There is also another Monster Manual for 1st edition and it has dragons/pegasus on the front cover.
ack when AD&D was first issued, we transitioned from D&D to AD&D, a step at a time. The players handbook came out and we used it with D&D, then we transitioned as the other two books came out. We only used the PH, MM, and DMG. The rest, we ignored. We only got one "module" and that was City State. We got that for the castle layout, and as part of our campaign, but other than that, our games were home brew and were as good as any bought module.
AD&D 2.5 is generally considered to be the Skills & Powers (Spells & Magic, Combat & Tactics) rules modification, the reprinted core books are still straight 2.0.
According to Shannon Applecline, author of Designers & Dragons - the Players Handbook (1995) and DM Guide (1995) were revisions not reprints. He does mention that the changes were mostly editorial but they were revisions, not reprints. 2.5e is an unofficial designation, but it really is the combo of these five books that are 2.5e - not just the three player option books that were also released in 1995.
Largest group I ever ran with actual success was an 11-player homebrew Forgotten Realms adventure I ran in 3rd Edition (my first actual time DMing in that edition after years of AD&D 2nd Edition AND my first foray into that setting, actually). It was an absolute blast, with the split in alignment you'd expect actually working for once (with two exceptions: both characters had to be retired because they were basically not wanted in the group after some shenanigans). The Lawfuls and Chaos, Evils and Goods actually stuck together for the adventure - a feat owing to the True Neutral Halfling Barbarian/Cleric who was respected by absolutely everyone and was considered the heart of the party. Sure, there was in-party fighting, attempts at convincing others to change philosophy (alignment), and smaller secretive "clique" groups forming when in town, but the party actually managed to successfully complete the adventure (starting out from the Sword Coast, learning about and finding a relic of Illmater that was kept in the Citadel of the Raven, and then having a character voluntarily sacrifice him- or herself to activate its power to end the growing conflict in the Dalelands before all-out war started). :) The largest group I ever ran for was 16 players for a Ravenloft game. Although it went okay at first, echoing the above-mentioned game at first, but then devolving into a royal rumble of sorts as characters started despairing and arguing. Never again.
Great Video! I love the Idea of people going back and learning older editions. I wrote an adventure for the DM's Guild, that was written using both 2nd and 5th edition rules. It makes it easy for DM who are familiar with one of these 2 editions to see how the rules for the other edition work. The adventure is called Ravenloft: Prey of the Black Wolf. If you like I could send you a copy to see what you think.
I'm six years late on this one - but great video!! Not sure I would call this a buyer's guide - but a cool video nonetheless. Cool that you have the OD&D books in physical form -- you have a late printing - the really valuable earlier printings have the man on the horse (i.e. the Dave Bell ripoff illustration) on the cover of the first book. But still the later printings are still worth a pretty penny - last time I checked around $600 to $800 for a 6th or 7th printing of the box set in American dollars. I started playing in 1977 with OD&D had a few friends that DMed it so I never I owned a copy of the OD&D rules -- and had so many chances to buy them -- but never did because I thought those booklets looked so cheap. If I'd only known. I do own a ton of 1Ed and 2Ed stuff though -- my only other regret is not buying those 1Ed RPGA modules -- more serious bank -- but again they looked so cheap back then -- I guess that's why they are now worth so much. The only good news is I'm not averse to buying PDFs -- and if you count digital or physical copies I think I own every single 1Ed product that TSR published from 1977 to 1989. Very hard to do through physical ownership -- what made this much more doable is I'm ok with digital copies, around 40% is physical and the other 60% is digital. So thankful that WotC makes the PDFs for most of their old D&D products available as PDFs.
When Gygax wrote about 4-50 players in the 0E games, I think he meant the total number of players in a single campaign, who may or may not be present in individual sessions, but instead join in on-and-off times(like player accounts in MMOs). As history showed, Gygax's and Arneson's own games rarely had sessions beyond four players, and they often even held games for solo players! Obviously nobody can run a session with 50 players at once.
Yes, but the book says the the ratio of Players to DM's can be 20:1. That's why I always say 20 players, since according to the original rules a DM should be able to handle 20 players...which is still an insane amount
Didn't Gygax and Arneson share the same campaign universe, though? I never looked deeply into the history of the earliest campaigns, but I think Gygax's Greyhawk and Arneson's Blackmoor maps have taken the two opposite corners of a large US-like continent which served as a hub for players, who could freely travel from one setting to another if they so desired. I think in that sense, the intention was that Gygax's Greyhawk or Arneson's Bladckmoor would not be populated by more than 20 PCs in total.
They did. In 1970 Gygax created the "Castle & Crusade Society" for table top war gaming. He created a setting known as the "Great Kingdom" which was a shared world. Each member had their own regions to flesh out and develop. Dave Arneson created Blackmoor for his region.
@@DravenSwiftbow @DravenSwiftbow 20:1 in the campaign, not in session. But the Original is not for beginers but for the ones who are wargamers at the time, and they knowed what 20:1 means. The game don't explain themself in a good way.
Good video. I like the in-depth retrospectives. You seem to be getting more comfortable in front of the camera. I'd maybe suggest working on transitions from topic to topic. Maybe try smiling more. You have a great passion for this hobby and it'd be cool to let it show through more. Definitely like this series and can't wait for more.
Blackmoor is the first D&D campaign setting. It was created by Dave Arneson when he came up with the rpg concept and D&D itself, which he designed alone. Then Gary Gygax would meet with him, and cooperate with him to publish it (the creator and the entreprenaur, Wozniack and Jobs) and modify it to his own taste. Afterwards, to stop paying copyright dues to the young Arneson, who owned 50% of the D&D brand, they came up with calling the game by different names, like Basic and Advanced. Wizards made justice paying Arneson his part. Gygax lost his when he lost TSR.
Lol, I have like all of the first and second edition books with several duplicates. I also have many second edition boxed sets and a few other things. Never could find anyone to seriously buy them.
...You got any Planescape or Al-Qadim stuff you're willing to part with for a reasonable price? I'm very much so in the market. EDIT: That goes for any Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Oriental Adventures, or Ravenloft content as well
The Encyclopedia Magica is awesome. I have the set and it is every magic item ever made. I don't have the priest set but I have half of the Wizards set.
Meatbyproducts I had the entire Encyclopedia Magicka set first since my mom got them for me as a gift (along with the Silver Anniversary box set) way back in the late 90s/early 2000s. I picked up the Wizard's Compendium on my own over a couple of years. I only recently completed the Priest's set because two of my friends happened to have the complete set when combined: one had volume 3 and the other had volumes 1 and 2. The friend with Volume 3 just gave me the book because he's been stripping down his library, but I only recently managed to convince the other to sell me his, which he finally did along with his Planescape boxed sets. Been a long road, but my collection is pretty much as complete as I want it to be for the non-setting Core, Options, and Class/Race books (including the rare Necromancer's Handbook). And Ravenloft, of course. :)
I want to play Dark Sun the way it was meant to be played. I tried for years to fit in other system but I just didn't want to learn the rules for 2e ad&d. I'm coming around to it now and I'll give it a try
I believe the cover art of some of the OD&D books was used without permission of the artists, so I think that may have had a part in changing the images for the reprint.
I haven't heard that personally, but I do know for sure that the Eldritch Wizardry book needed a new cover for the 2012 reprint since having a naked lady on a sacrificial alter would not go over well
They got rid of that questionable art in the later printings of OD&D. So that's not the reason. Two possible reasons 1) Like Dave said because of the nudity on the cover of the Eldritch supplement, and 2) More likely they did NOT want these books being confused with the old original printings. My guess is actually more of the latter. I'm glad they did - for collection purposes you don't really want these newer reprints getting confused with the old prints. Changing the covers makes it super obvious it's the newer print version.
Don't think you mentioned "The Complete ..." series of splatbooks for 2nd edition. We never actually used any of them in a game, but they were great for mining for ideas to fill out your PC's backstory
Pretty sure Mentzer D&D was out at about the same time or slightly after AD&D1st. Moldvay D&D (which just had the basic and expert set) was the transition between OD&D and 1st.
Good points, but AD&D paralleled if not preceded Moldvay/Cook (1981). White Box (1974) AD&D Holmes (1977) Moldvay/Cook (1981) Mentzer aka BECMI (1983) In all fairness I knew none of this 3 years ago and I got the Moldvay box for Christmas in 1981.
Holmes and 1st ed were out at around the same time but they were very different games. Holmes basic is an intro to white box D&D and shares more features with that game. Holmes/White Box & 1st ed existed together for a while. Moldvay/Cook came later.
It was a legit version and not print on demand. The original released in 1995, but the soft cover had 1997 for the year on it. I haven't found much information on it yet, but I suspect it was either part of a box set or a reprint collection. I'll try to dig deeper and let you know if I find anything.
@@DravenSwiftbow Yes, the Players Handbook (1995), DMs Guide (1995) and three player option books released in 1995 were all hardcovers. You definitely, might be right that there was a 1997 re-release of some of these books in soft cover.
If you really want to just play AD&D 2nd edition by the rules, most of the character rules can be found for free in the Baldur's Gate handbook, as it uses - almost verbatim - the AD&D 2e ruleset. So complete is this book that back in 1999 I had players who didn't own the PHB but could still build a character using their BG manual. Scroll down to the bottom of the site and you can download the manual, Adventurer's Guide, for free. www.siegeofdragonspear.com/
That is one of my last Holy Grail items I am looking for. I have never seen it anywhere in the wild and am wondering if it was released in Canada at all.
My brother had all from 2nd addition to 3rd and more plus cards and dice plus other old ones and he passed away were can I sell them at a fair price so someone else can enjoy also a bunch of box sets is in them also maps to thank you and he has all 1st edition and all the advanced d and d someone please let me know something
Swords and Wizardry for ODnD, it's free and significantly better organized and explained than the original. Basic Fantasy RPG is great and free, based mostly on B/X but with some d20 mechanics. Castles and Crusades for ADnD 1e (bit streamlined, 'rules lite'). For Gold and Glory for ADnD 2e (pretty much an exact clone).
Isn't Temple of Elemental Evil a 1st Edition AD&D Adventure? in the very first campaign path of Temple of Elemental Evil > Scourge of the Slave Lords > Queen of Spiders? Also no mention of Al-qadim setting, which had some of the best early D&D computer games linked to it.
You are correct about Temple of Elemental Evil, I for some reason thought it was 2nd Edition, and didn't realize I was mistaken until after I made this video. I would love to talk about Al-qadim, but sadly I don't own anything for it.
You may have mentioned this and I just missed it but 2nd edition also had a ton of class specific books. They had books centered on each individual class which offered players alternative class kits. They had the "Complete Wizards, Priest, Psionic, Necromancer, Ninja, Thief Guide" as well as some books focused on the individual races such as "Complete Elves Guide." They were a lot of fun to look through as they introduced new spells, kits, items, etc... for players to play around with. The "Complete Necromancer Guide" was interesting as it was designed not for the players but for the DM.
For anyone looking for a buying guide for the D&D set, just buy the Rules Cyclopedia. Done. Want more flavor and fluff? Get the Gazetteers. Available as PDF and Print on Demand via drive thru RPG. PS, is that bookshelf back there sagging?
The shelves were yeah so I flipped them over and the corrected themselves. I'm hoping to get some new bookshelves at some point, but until then I have to use what's available to me
I agree. The easiest way to get into playing an older version of D&D is the Rules Cyclopedia. You're right - one book and done - softcover as a print on Demand from DriveThru is $23 and Hardcover is $28. And Mystara is a great setting.
@@DravenSwiftbow The rules from the Player Option series were actually officially incorporated and part of some of the settings that were still in production at the time. For example, Forgotten Realms used most of the Players Option rules not specifically part of the character point system such as additional classes, weapon proficiencies, expanding specialization, and the new psionic rules (also officially used for Dark Sun). Much of the rules from these books (that are not part of the character point system rules) can be sourced in earlier TSR products like The Complete Fighter's Handbook. The Player's Option series refined and balanced some of these earlier rules while adding a few ones to the mix. As an interesting note to these books, the character point system rules were never officially adopted into any of the campaign settings and only existed in 4 products before being discontinued from any further official publication, though it was supported in Dragon Magazine as unofficial content.
I’ve only ever played 2nd edition. Players and dungeon master guide books, monsterous compedium, and the forgotten realms campaign setting box. All I ever needed for years of adventure.
how do you find players? I want to run that version but all the people I know are 5e purists
Remember an episode of Buffy the Vampire slayer where the gang were trying to identify a demon they were fighting.
Xander - i found the demon we are chasing.
Scooby gang - Xander that is a D & D monster manual.
The Player's Options books (Combat and Tactics, Skills and Powers) had really elevated my 2ndEd campaigns. And, yes, Red Steel is part of Mystara.
Great video mate. I collect 2nd Edition material and am up to nearly 300 seperate books and modules so far but it's great to see books from the other editions.
That's really impressive. I always feel bad that I have so little 2nd Edition. especially considering it was the first version of the game I played
I threw away the core 2nd ed books 😭 Over 10 years ago. Thankfully I kept campaign setting books and other supplementary ones except the black optional rules books.
Great video. After getting back into D&D with 5th I went back and bought the older editions except OD&D. Grew up playing AD&D with my dad. I definitely need to grab some campaign settings for the various editions. Focused on the core books to get started.
Thanks for watching. I'm glad you enjoyed it
The first D&D books I bought was 2nd edition. 3.5 just released and my friends were playing it.
I bought a box of D&D stuff from a used books store for 50 bucks. It was missing the monster books so I never played it, just this year I got the 1st monster binder for $45. Talking to my friends about playing a couple of games in that edition.
I am coming back to watching this again and it is still great. The Greyhawk book for OD&D didn't have setting information though Dave but Blackmoor was the closest to having setting info with an adventure (Temple of the Frog). More came for Greyhawk with AD&D 1st edition. Blackmoor pretty much got remade into Mystara (or the Known World) in the BECMI era of D&D.
Great history review! For "BECMI or Mentzer D&D, the Rules Cyclopedia is THE book to get! The Immortal rules (I) is in the "Wrath of the Immortals (WotI)" boxed set.
To clarify a small error in the video.. PC Immortals in WotI go up in level the same way as mortal adventurers do. There is a whole set of rules there for that style of play.
Thank you for clarifying that.
Really solid video. One bit of advice I'd give to anyone seriously considering playing OD&D (the 3 little brown books) is to get the Greyhawk supplement book... it replaces the combat system from Chainmail, so you don't need to have Chainmail if you have that. More character classes are added... it is just all around better and becomes more of what we think of when we think of D&D. Basically a "required" supplement book.
I have seen a comment in another video about the 20 player group which presents the opinion that Gygax did not intend to have 20 people playing at the same time, but he described a game/campaign where multiple people and parties interacted, playing different adventures most of the time.
I play only 2nd edition but ended up collecting quite a bit of the TSR products (900+ books). Originally, I just wanted to collect only 2nd edition settings like Forgotten Realms (which includes some 1st edition books) but found that sometimes I needed to reference rules and mechanics from 1st edition when some of the information did not seem to make the transition between editions such as how many charges does a ring of the ram have? Then when collecting specific campaign settings like Greyhawk, some of the later 2nd edition Greyhawk books recommended the 1st edition material for reference.
Then came Mystara which only had 10 products and was the 2nd edition version of the Known World of original D&D. This caused me to collect quite a bit of original D&D from the Mentzer version going forward. Our group prefers to play in an established setting and by having so many settings and material allows our group to make so many unique characters. I still have quite a few books left to collect...
There is also the, "Creature Catalog" monster manual that goes with the Mentzer Rules Cyclopedia version. Those box sets are becoming more collectible in physical form, and people can find the PDF cheap for the Rules Cyclopedia. There is also another Monster Manual for 1st edition and it has dragons/pegasus on the front cover.
Regarding Rules Cyclopedia. it can be had as a Print on Demand hard cover that's as good as the original. I have it. Low price too.
ack when AD&D was first issued, we transitioned from D&D to AD&D, a step at a time. The players handbook came out and we used it with D&D, then we transitioned as the other two books came out. We only used the PH, MM, and DMG. The rest, we ignored. We only got one "module" and that was City State. We got that for the castle layout, and as part of our campaign, but other than that, our games were home brew and were as good as any bought module.
AD&D 2.5 is generally considered to be the Skills & Powers (Spells & Magic, Combat & Tactics) rules modification, the reprinted core books are still straight 2.0.
According to Shannon Applecline, author of Designers & Dragons - the Players Handbook (1995) and DM Guide (1995) were revisions not reprints. He does mention that the changes were mostly editorial but they were revisions, not reprints. 2.5e is an unofficial designation, but it really is the combo of these five books that are 2.5e - not just the three player option books that were also released in 1995.
Largest group I ever ran with actual success was an 11-player homebrew Forgotten Realms adventure I ran in 3rd Edition (my first actual time DMing in that edition after years of AD&D 2nd Edition AND my first foray into that setting, actually). It was an absolute blast, with the split in alignment you'd expect actually working for once (with two exceptions: both characters had to be retired because they were basically not wanted in the group after some shenanigans). The Lawfuls and Chaos, Evils and Goods actually stuck together for the adventure - a feat owing to the True Neutral Halfling Barbarian/Cleric who was respected by absolutely everyone and was considered the heart of the party. Sure, there was in-party fighting, attempts at convincing others to change philosophy (alignment), and smaller secretive "clique" groups forming when in town, but the party actually managed to successfully complete the adventure (starting out from the Sword Coast, learning about and finding a relic of Illmater that was kept in the Citadel of the Raven, and then having a character voluntarily sacrifice him- or herself to activate its power to end the growing conflict in the Dalelands before all-out war started). :)
The largest group I ever ran for was 16 players for a Ravenloft game. Although it went okay at first, echoing the above-mentioned game at first, but then devolving into a royal rumble of sorts as characters started despairing and arguing. Never again.
Great Video! I love the Idea of people going back and learning older editions. I wrote an adventure for the DM's Guild, that was written using both 2nd and 5th edition rules. It makes it easy for DM who are familiar with one of these 2 editions to see how the rules for the other edition work. The adventure is called Ravenloft: Prey of the Black Wolf. If you like I could send you a copy to see what you think.
Have all that on my website for all of us :) And much more.
I'm six years late on this one - but great video!! Not sure I would call this a buyer's guide - but a cool video nonetheless. Cool that you have the OD&D books in physical form -- you have a late printing - the really valuable earlier printings have the man on the horse (i.e. the Dave Bell ripoff illustration) on the cover of the first book. But still the later printings are still worth a pretty penny - last time I checked around $600 to $800 for a 6th or 7th printing of the box set in American dollars. I started playing in 1977 with OD&D had a few friends that DMed it so I never I owned a copy of the OD&D rules -- and had so many chances to buy them -- but never did because I thought those booklets looked so cheap. If I'd only known. I do own a ton of 1Ed and 2Ed stuff though -- my only other regret is not buying those 1Ed RPGA modules -- more serious bank -- but again they looked so cheap back then -- I guess that's why they are now worth so much. The only good news is I'm not averse to buying PDFs -- and if you count digital or physical copies I think I own every single 1Ed product that TSR published from 1977 to 1989. Very hard to do through physical ownership -- what made this much more doable is I'm ok with digital copies, around 40% is physical and the other 60% is digital. So thankful that WotC makes the PDFs for most of their old D&D products available as PDFs.
When Gygax wrote about 4-50 players in the 0E games, I think he meant the total number of players in a single campaign, who may or may not be present in individual sessions, but instead join in on-and-off times(like player accounts in MMOs). As history showed, Gygax's and Arneson's own games rarely had sessions beyond four players, and they often even held games for solo players! Obviously nobody can run a session with 50 players at once.
Yes, but the book says the the ratio of Players to DM's can be 20:1. That's why I always say 20 players, since according to the original rules a DM should be able to handle 20 players...which is still an insane amount
Didn't Gygax and Arneson share the same campaign universe, though? I never looked deeply into the history of the earliest campaigns, but I think Gygax's Greyhawk and Arneson's Blackmoor maps have taken the two opposite corners of a large US-like continent which served as a hub for players, who could freely travel from one setting to another if they so desired. I think in that sense, the intention was that Gygax's Greyhawk or Arneson's Bladckmoor would not be populated by more than 20 PCs in total.
They did. In 1970 Gygax created the "Castle & Crusade Society" for table top war gaming. He created a setting known as the "Great Kingdom" which was a shared world. Each member had their own regions to flesh out and develop. Dave Arneson created Blackmoor for his region.
@@DravenSwiftbow @DravenSwiftbow 20:1 in the campaign, not in session. But the Original is not for beginers but for the ones who are wargamers at the time, and they knowed what 20:1 means. The game don't explain themself in a good way.
Good video. I like the in-depth retrospectives. You seem to be getting more comfortable in front of the camera. I'd maybe suggest working on transitions from topic to topic. Maybe try smiling more. You have a great passion for this hobby and it'd be cool to let it show through more. Definitely like this series and can't wait for more.
Blackmoor is the first D&D campaign setting. It was created by Dave Arneson when he came up with the rpg concept and D&D itself, which he designed alone. Then Gary Gygax would meet with him, and cooperate with him to publish it (the creator and the entreprenaur, Wozniack and Jobs) and modify it to his own taste. Afterwards, to stop paying copyright dues to the young Arneson, who owned 50% of the D&D brand, they came up with calling the game by different names, like Basic and Advanced. Wizards made justice paying Arneson his part. Gygax lost his when he lost TSR.
Lol, I have like all of the first and second edition books with several duplicates. I also have many second edition boxed sets and a few other things. Never could find anyone to seriously buy them.
...You got any Planescape or Al-Qadim stuff you're willing to part with for a reasonable price? I'm very much so in the market.
EDIT: That goes for any Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Oriental Adventures, or Ravenloft content as well
Great video, don't forget about "Domains of Dread", awesome compilation of the previous two box sets; everything you need for adventure in the mists!
I think I actually have that set
The Encyclopedia Magica is awesome. I have the set and it is every magic item ever made. I don't have the priest set but I have half of the Wizards set.
Meatbyproducts I had the entire Encyclopedia Magicka set first since my mom got them for me as a gift (along with the Silver Anniversary box set) way back in the late 90s/early 2000s. I picked up the Wizard's Compendium on my own over a couple of years. I only recently completed the Priest's set because two of my friends happened to have the complete set when combined: one had volume 3 and the other had volumes 1 and 2. The friend with Volume 3 just gave me the book because he's been stripping down his library, but I only recently managed to convince the other to sell me his, which he finally did along with his Planescape boxed sets. Been a long road, but my collection is pretty much as complete as I want it to be for the non-setting Core, Options, and Class/Race books (including the rare Necromancer's Handbook). And Ravenloft, of course. :)
Love the Red Blue Teal black and gold boxed DnD..so nostalgic
I want to play Dark Sun the way it was meant to be played. I tried for years to fit in other system but I just didn't want to learn the rules for 2e ad&d. I'm coming around to it now and I'll give it a try
I’d love to get a hold of those 1e reprints here in the UK
I believe the cover art of some of the OD&D books was used without permission of the artists, so I think that may have had a part in changing the images for the reprint.
I haven't heard that personally, but I do know for sure that the Eldritch Wizardry book needed a new cover for the 2012 reprint since having a naked lady on a sacrificial alter would not go over well
They got rid of that questionable art in the later printings of OD&D. So that's not the reason. Two possible reasons 1) Like Dave said because of the nudity on the cover of the Eldritch supplement, and 2) More likely they did NOT want these books being confused with the old original printings. My guess is actually more of the latter. I'm glad they did - for collection purposes you don't really want these newer reprints getting confused with the old prints. Changing the covers makes it super obvious it's the newer print version.
Don't think you mentioned "The Complete ..." series of splatbooks for 2nd edition. We never actually used any of them in a game, but they were great for mining for ideas to fill out your PC's backstory
You should look into The Apocalypse Stone supplement for 2e. It's perfect for people who are having issues getting out of a campaign
I'm going to have to look into that book. I need a 2e adventure.
Pretty sure Mentzer D&D was out at about the same time or slightly after AD&D1st. Moldvay D&D (which just had the basic and expert set) was the transition between OD&D and 1st.
Good points, but AD&D paralleled if not preceded Moldvay/Cook (1981).
White Box (1974)
AD&D
Holmes (1977)
Moldvay/Cook (1981)
Mentzer aka BECMI (1983)
In all fairness I knew none of this 3 years ago and I got the Moldvay box for Christmas in 1981.
Holmes and 1st ed were out at around the same time but they were very different games. Holmes basic is an intro to white box D&D and shares more features with that game. Holmes/White Box & 1st ed existed together for a while. Moldvay/Cook came later.
didn't WotC release a complete set of reprints for the original D&D game?
They did, I mention it in the video.
I wish I had watched this video a few years ago.
The Player's/DM's Options books were hardcover. The softcover ones which you mention are probably print-on-demand copies.
It was a legit version and not print on demand. The original released in 1995, but the soft cover had 1997 for the year on it. I haven't found much information on it yet, but I suspect it was either part of a box set or a reprint collection.
I'll try to dig deeper and let you know if I find anything.
@@DravenSwiftbow Yes, the Players Handbook (1995), DMs Guide (1995) and three player option books released in 1995 were all hardcovers. You definitely, might be right that there was a 1997 re-release of some of these books in soft cover.
I always thought the ad&d 2e player's options books to be ad&d 2.5e
It's such a shame that you can get only the 2e 1995 reprint PHB through print-on-demand. The original had much better art and layout.
1995 PHB was a slight revision (mostly editorial but there were some minor differences) not a reprint. Yeah, a shame.
Love the Klingon goatee
If you really want to just play AD&D 2nd edition by the rules, most of the character rules can be found for free in the Baldur's Gate handbook, as it uses - almost verbatim - the AD&D 2e ruleset. So complete is this book that back in 1999 I had players who didn't own the PHB but could still build a character using their BG manual.
Scroll down to the bottom of the site and you can download the manual, Adventurer's Guide, for free.
www.siegeofdragonspear.com/
I first played the Holmes box set. Good times
That is one of my last Holy Grail items I am looking for. I have never seen it anywhere in the wild and am wondering if it was released in Canada at all.
My brother had all from 2nd addition to 3rd and more plus cards and dice plus other old ones and he passed away were can I sell them at a fair price so someone else can enjoy also a bunch of box sets is in them also maps to thank you and he has all 1st edition and all the advanced d and d someone please let me know something
If you want to get into BECMI you can go to Exalted Funeral or Necrotic Gnome .com and look for Old-School Essentials
Swords and Wizardry for ODnD, it's free and significantly better organized and explained than the original. Basic Fantasy RPG is great and free, based mostly on B/X but with some d20 mechanics. Castles and Crusades for ADnD 1e (bit streamlined, 'rules lite'). For Gold and Glory for ADnD 2e (pretty much an exact clone).
For me the binding on the 1st edition AD&D Players Handbook was atrocious, mine fell apart within a week. (The blue cover one)
Yeah, the orange spine books were notorious for shoddy binding. To this day I have never seen an Oriental Adventures book fully intact.
@@DravenSwiftbow I have one that still has an intact cover - but barely played Oriental Adventures, so that's probably why.
Isn't Temple of Elemental Evil a 1st Edition AD&D Adventure? in the very first campaign path of Temple of Elemental Evil > Scourge of the Slave Lords > Queen of Spiders? Also no mention of Al-qadim setting, which had some of the best early D&D computer games linked to it.
You are correct about Temple of Elemental Evil, I for some reason thought it was 2nd Edition, and didn't realize I was mistaken until after I made this video. I would love to talk about Al-qadim, but sadly I don't own anything for it.
Gazetters for Basic-Expert-Companion-Master-Immortal D&D?
I don't own any of the Gazetters and at the time had very little for BECMI D&D and generally I try not to discuss things I don't own
Delving Deeper is an OE retroclone
You may have mentioned this and I just missed it but 2nd edition also had a ton of class specific books. They had books centered on each individual class which offered players alternative class kits. They had the "Complete Wizards, Priest, Psionic, Necromancer, Ninja, Thief Guide" as well as some books focused on the individual races such as "Complete Elves Guide." They were a lot of fun to look through as they introduced new spells, kits, items, etc... for players to play around with. The "Complete Necromancer Guide" was interesting as it was designed not for the players but for the DM.
I do have the Complete Book of Dwarves and the one on Wizards. They are really great.
For anyone looking for a buying guide for the D&D set, just buy the Rules Cyclopedia. Done. Want more flavor and fluff? Get the Gazetteers. Available as PDF and Print on Demand via drive thru RPG.
PS, is that bookshelf back there sagging?
The shelves were yeah so I flipped them over and the corrected themselves. I'm hoping to get some new bookshelves at some point, but until then I have to use what's available to me
I agree. The easiest way to get into playing an older version of D&D is the Rules Cyclopedia. You're right - one book and done - softcover as a print on Demand from DriveThru is $23 and Hardcover is $28. And Mystara is a great setting.
I remember 2.75 edition, Players Option Skills and Powers and Spells and Magic.
There was also Combat and Tactics. I have those in my collection now, but didn't when I recorded this
@@DravenSwiftbow The rules from the Player Option series were actually officially incorporated and part of some of the settings that were still in production at the time. For example, Forgotten Realms used most of the Players Option rules not specifically part of the character point system such as additional classes, weapon proficiencies, expanding specialization, and the new psionic rules (also officially used for Dark Sun). Much of the rules from these books (that are not part of the character point system rules) can be sourced in earlier TSR products like The Complete Fighter's Handbook. The Player's Option series refined and balanced some of these earlier rules while adding a few ones to the mix.
As an interesting note to these books, the character point system rules were never officially adopted into any of the campaign settings and only existed in 4 products before being discontinued from any further official publication, though it was supported in Dragon Magazine as unofficial content.
I could be talked into selling my add 2nd edition player handbook.
you're going to regret that choice of facial hair design when your older.
I absolutely love this idea. However, video is too long
The future ones will be shorter, in this case I wanted to get the older harder to find stuff out of the way first.