Tumgik
#AD&D 2e
oldschoolfrp · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media
A corpse emerges from the mushroom-covered midden and cries out "You cant make me leave! Never! I'll guard my home forever!" This is a reasonable reaction to being awakened suddenly. (Terry Dykstra, from Steve Kurtz' AD&D Ravenloft adventure "The Price of Revenge," Dungeon magazine 42, July/August 1993)
443 notes · View notes
cat-cosplay · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media
Maybe tomorrow we can play D&D?
Or something fun, like we used to?
3K notes · View notes
volos-stupid-hat · 7 months
Text
hey. don’t cry. first edition Galeb Duhr ok?
Tumblr media
65 notes · View notes
vivianvixen · 10 months
Text
Help me out here. So I was reading ye olde Monstrous Manual for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, and as I was looking over the stats for the gold dragon, I noticed it had several modes of movement listed. They were as follows:
12, Fl 40 (C), Jp 3, Sw 12 (15)
Some of those are simple enough to parse, and are explained in the book. The first one is the normal land speed, Fl is flying speed (the C denoting maneuverability class), and Sw is the dragon's swim speed (which is higher when it polymorphs into a wingless form).
But what's Jp? Jump? Japan? This isn't explained anywhere as far as I can tell. So I'm beseeching the hive mind: anyone know what this means?
104 notes · View notes
theoutcastrogue · 5 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
"The second edition of AD&D was finally released in early 1989. Many of the changes turned out to be cosmetic. One of the biggest was that the sizes of the Player’s Handbook (1989) and Dungeon Master’s Guide (1989) were reversed. Back in 1978 Gygax had decided that it was best if the players did not know the rules, and so the original Player’s Handbook was a skeleton that didn’t even detail combat. Now the entire roleplaying industry had accepted the fact that players and gamemasters were united in games — not adversaries — and the new rules reflected this. [...]
Perhaps most surprisingly, the rules were once again presented as “guidelines” — a reversal from Gygax’s original goal for the AD&D lines. Finally, the character classes were indeed cleaned up, with Arneson’s assassin and monk eliminated.
Though Cook had said that assassins were removed due to problems of party unity, their excision has always been seen by the public as part of TSR’s well-documented attempt to make AD&D more public friendly — TSR’s only allowance to the religious hysteria that had shadowed the game throughout the 1980s. Half-orcs were similarly removed as player characters, and demons and devils were eliminated entirely.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
James M. Ward, who had instituted the removal of demons and devils, explained in Dragon #154 (February 1990) that “[a]voiding the Angry Mother Syndrome has become a good, basic guideline for all of the designers and editors at TSR, Inc.” Apparently, TSR had received one letter a week complaining about the demons and devils since the original Monster Manual was printed, and those 624 letters, or what Ward called “a lot of letters,” had been the reason he’d removed the infernal races.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The readers were not amused, and to his credit Ward printed many of their replies in Dragon #158 (June 1990). One reader stated that the decision “becomes censorship when an outside group dictates to you … what you should print.” The release of the Outer Planes Appendix (1991) for the Monstrous Compendium assuaged some of the anger because it restored demons as “tanar’ri” and devils as “baatezu,” but some fans left D&D entirely as a result of this decision."
— Shannon Appelcline, Designers & Dragons: The ’70s
15 notes · View notes
Text
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Box Set - 1993
Tumblr media
Whilst I toil away at mapmaking, I did reward myself with a bit of treasure! In my deep plunges into the interwebs, I did in fact stumble across a wonderful artifact indeed. (But do forgive me for the photo quality, I was too excited for touch-ups!)
Tumblr media
From thirty years ago, the “New Edition” of the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting! What a find! Though the box itself has a few dings and dents (a sign of much love, I’m sure), the treasures inside this chest were in far better condition.
Tumblr media
Near mint, if I do say so myself! We see here our good friend Elminster here in some of my favorite art of him, but a Drizzt Do’Urden can also be spotted on the Grand Tour of the Realms, among other familiar faces.
I have not yet read through all of these, but soon I will be able to dispense what knowledge I find!
In addition to these fine books, the set came with a number of loose papers and maps, of which I had never seen before in digital or physical form. 
Tumblr media
Four in total! Two of eastern Faerun, and two of western. Once I am able to do so safely, I will be creating high resolution scans of these maps to share on this very blog, so do keep your eyes out!
Tumblr media
But even more ingenious, included in the box was not one, but two of these! The transparent overlay seen here is made to show scale, and to be moved across the maps. As they all are drawn to the same scale, the overlays can be used between any of them, and having two copies of the overlay means more than one can be placed at a time, or, in case one is lost, there is a backup. These will provide themselves invaluable in reconstructing maps of the realms.
It also makes me wonder why we do not see these more often in more modern reproductions of these maps. I have not seen such overlays in any other piece of media for the Realms or any other setting, but they seem so useful, as well as inexpensive to produce! Perhaps this can be traced to the phasing out of overhead projectors and other such common technology of the 80s and 90s that saw the use of transparencies such as these. Wet erase markers faded out of use, and purchasing transparency films has become more difficult over time. Still, I hope that tools such as this can make a return. If nothing else, it sure beats getting out strings to try to measure the distances!
Tumblr media
Following the maps, we find these sheets of symbols. My first thought was, are these sticker sheets? But thankfully, no! No aged glues or sticky pages greeted me (for surely stickers would not age well over three decades). These are actually cards, meant to be cut out and referenced. I am infinitely grateful that the previous owners of this box did not do so, since being in one piece has kept these from being lost or damaged, in the way small pieces often are. 
The first three pages include runes and symbols. Some are for factions, such as the recognizable harp of the Harpers on the first page. Some are magical, namely the runes in green, and others are simply to convey a message. 
The last two pages are the symbols of various gods and powers in the Realms, though some of the page is still dedicated to runes. Again, I will be creating scans, both front and back, to share.
Tumblr media
And yes, the backs of all of them contain some information about the image on the front. I cannot wait to make copies so that I feel confident in cutting out and using the cards, while still keeping the originals in good condition.
Tumblr media
The final portion of this treasure chest of information is a bestiary. The pages are unbound, but punched to fit into a ringed binder. I adore all the art. Like before, I will create scans, and perhaps write on more specific aspects of the creatures therein.
But before I go to work on my maps again, I grant you the most wonderful gift that this box has to offer: 
Tumblr media
Thank you all, and safe journeys, travelers~
76 notes · View notes
shaneplays · 9 months
Text
Tumblr media
Following on from last week's entry, astute adventurers pointed out that the Quasqueton map from B1 In Search of the Unknown is lurking in the Ruins of Undermountain level 1 map. Let's ponder whether it's a random encounter, an in-joke, or an homage (or maybe just someone needing to fill a map in quickly)… on Map Monday aka Dungeon Day!!
31 notes · View notes
tehjleck · 6 months
Text
New npc who dis?
Ask any DM, and they will always need new antagonists for their stories. I just came up with a really cool one, and he is really nasty.
Imagine, an Ursoi (a humanoid bear race from Dragonlance) standing just over 9ft tall, weighing close to 1200lbs - looking every bit the large grizzly, except he's wearing the skull and upper jaw of a Kirre as a shoulder piece and its pelt as a cloak. (Kirre pictured below)
Tumblr media
Oh, and you see that tail? Yeah, he's had that preserved and made into a *really* nasty mace - his 'trophies'. He worships the "Blue Bear" which (in Forgotten Realms lore) is another name for the Beastlord, Malar. The Beastlord likes it when his worshippers kill things with their bear hands (see what I did there?).
I just plotted out his travels to bring him into the area where my pcs are doing their thing - completely oblivious to how very real and close the danger is. They've got about a month of in-game time... and then Kubaarad comes to town.
I won't present him as an enemy. Just a highly competent npc that's there to join the fight against an enemy that threatens all of them. I won't share too much about him or his background because "it isn't about him". Then when I'll slowly have him do more morally bankrupt shit and force the pcs to question him, leading to one of my favorite moments as a dm...
"Oh, you thought we were allies... it was merely our interests that had aligned, but now..."
I can't wait.
13 notes · View notes
kassil · 1 year
Text
Planescape had a point
First, a little bit of explanation for those unaware: Planescape was a setting for 2nd edition AD&D. It is, arguably, one of the most uniquely creative settings ever devised for a D20 system, but that's probably just my love of it and how weird it could get coming through. The important part right now is that it had the Factions - philosophical groups that struggled to manipulate the nature of the multiverse, because belief can alter reality for the Outer Planes.
When it was a new-ish setting and I was deep into it, of course I thought the louder and wilder ones were cool. You know how it is, right? But there was one faction that, these days, absolutely 100% speaks to my very heart - the ominously named Bleak Cabal. You'd expect them to be nihilists with that name, and to a degree they were, but what made them different is that, where everyone else is looking to enforce their philosophy on the multiverse and prove that it's the real truth, the Bleakers looked at everything and went, "Well, doesn't seem to be much of a point to any of this, does there? Hey, buddy, you look hungry, want some soup? And you, gentlefolk, I saw you sleeping in that alley, I've got a spare room you could set up kip in for a bit so you can stay dry."
The Bleakers looked at the multiverse, decided there's no grand meaning or ultimate purposes, and concluded that you should be kind. Everyone's going to be going through the worst of it sooner or later, and it's better to hold out a bowl of hot soup and a warm blanket when they do than it is to mock or belittle them. The world's on fire and in the trash bin, why make it any worse when you don't absolutely have to?
As an elder Millennial, I really like that. The world's on fire and filled with awful things, so why not be kind if you can?
57 notes · View notes
badragonplays · 13 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Dragonfinds Epic fined today my pets. Today I bring you a mint condition CIB of the ADND2e planescape campaign setting box set. This box has everything you need to play unlike later publications you can play with this box a DMG and PH nothing else is needed!
3 notes · View notes
oozequest · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media
Me sending you bad vibes before I fucking stab you.
4 notes · View notes
oldschoolfrp · 14 days
Text
Tumblr media
Help, our friend has been stabbed 23 times in the curia by persons unknown (David Dorman, from the AD&D 2e Dungeon Master's Guide, TSR, 1989)
313 notes · View notes
orangeloungeradio · 3 months
Text
youtube
Classic Game of the Week: Pool of Radiance Developer: Strategic Simulations Publisher: Strategic Simulations (NA - PC), U.S. Gold (Europe), Pony Canyon (Japan), FCI, Inc. (NA - NES) Platforms: Amiga, Apple II, Commodore 64, DOS, Macintosh, NES, PC-9800 Video Courtesy of: Squakenet
3 notes · View notes
sigmasupreme · 1 year
Text
Zeb Cook’s Player Types
I recently remembered this AD&D 2e module. It’s written by David “Zeb” Cook who some may know as the author of the original D&D expert set.
Tumblr media
It’s most interesting to me because of the section title “the great treasure”, wherein Cook discusses how to cater the rewards and treasures of this campaign to different kinds of players.
He describes 5 different player types.
Tumblr media
It’s important to note, he’s talking about each player type in the context of the kinds of treasures that these players might like.
It’s also worth noting that Cook described these as “styles of play” a term that has a completely different meaning today, referring to the style of the overall campaign and how the rules support that style, rather than a way that a player plays the game.
Tumblr media
Warlords appear to be a kind of player that isn’t as well accommodated in something like 5e, with the absence of the old stronghold rules.
However some might argue this isn’t accommodated in OD&D and Basic D&D either, since in some games, you were supposed to retire a character once they became a monarch.
Tumblr media
This one interests me most because I’m wondering how long Cook had known about this kind of player. Was it very common to see players who played this way?
Tumblr media
On “The Storyteller” I believe this one is not named correctly and reading the description, I feel “story-reader” is more appropriate, since it doesn’t appear like they actually want to tell stories as their character.
Tumblr media
Interesting that the rewards for puzzle solvers are simply more puzzles. This one is cool because I feel this kind of player would enjoy “solving” a dungeon.
And there you have it.
Tag yourself for which one you think you are.
14 notes · View notes
urbandragondice · 1 year
Text
I sit here wondering why I enjoy psychic character options so much, but when I really think about it it goes back to the 1980s X-Men.
Tumblr media
I was also influenced by movies like scanners, but the interesting way that era of comic books handled strange powers always captured my attention. Hell my first D&D characters were called Havoc and Polaris. I wish I was kidding but I'm not.
So I was really big into GURPS Psionics, and the unbalanced wackiness that was second edition Dungeons & Dragons psionic handbook. Back with mental Powers were kind of treated like their own thing.
Tumblr media
I mean technically in some of the earliest fantasy role-playing like roll master, they just called it mentalism. The move around the 2000s to blend psychic powers into existing magic structure is kind of irked me. But I mostly over that these days. But that doesn't mean occasionally I don't long for the day of people running around back alleys warping reality with the depths of their mind. You know Akira style.
Tumblr media
22 notes · View notes
theoutcastrogue · 10 months
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Illustrations for “Climb” and “Treasure” in the Player’s Handbook of AD&D 2nd Edition (TSR, 1989)
45 notes · View notes