See, it's times like this that I regret starting my RPG experience with AD&D and mistakenly thinking of B/X as D&D "rules for kids". It took me years to get past that idea.
Monster Manual II - This was the the third of the AD&D monster books, and probably the only one that stuck to the actual AD&D rules (MM1 was released before the AD&D rules were completed, and often feels like a D&D book to me. As for the Fiend Folio, those wacky Brits produced a lovely wacky monster book). I still love the cover even today.
The Wilderness Survival Guide and the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide introduced Non-Weapon Proficiencies to core AD&D (they made their first appearance in Oriental Adventures). Aside from that, I don't recall getting much use from them. Maybe someone else did. The came out on the tail end of AD&D 1e, and I remember them being sold at a steep discount at the Complete Strategist in Manhattan when 2e released.
Even though I played a lot of RC D&D later, I could just never get past having race as a class in Basic and Expert.
ReplyDeleteI took one look at the MM2 when it was brand new and didn't play D&D again untill the mid 90s. The Modrons were just that stupid.
ReplyDeleteBasic D&D.. Its where we started... then we jumped into 1e and to quote Eric 'Ignored a crapton of rules'. We were kids when we started playing so I think we got AD&D DMs guide thinking it was THE Expert version.
ReplyDeleteI was WAY too fixated on those demon and devil tables in MM2, spending a ton of time (along with Dragons 75-76 if memory serves) trying to figure exactly how the 9 Hells were structured, and planning for the day when I'd take a level 20 paladin on a tear through the hells. It never happened, but I spent a lot of time planning it!
ReplyDeleteIf this had happened in 2006, there would be no Basic Fantasy RPG, just a 20 page house rules document. Not sure if this would have been a good or a bad thing.
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