Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

[Desertpuma]

Plus, there are some of there are some of the Dungeon Crawl Classics out there.

But many of my players played the original 2nd Ed mods over 10 years ago so we'll see how much they remember too.

[@stroVal]

I started out with adnd in the late nineties at the age of twelve; and after two or three years it was already the time for 3rd, so I must have missed a lot.
One thing I recall distinctly -that 3/3.5/pathfinder never gave me no matter how upgraded they supposedly were- was freedom in combat.
I remember how the system itself helped in jumping in your characters feet; it was ''if I move towards that tree I can jump and hack this devil...etc'' not ''hmmm as I can see on this battle-mat I can move 5 squares and attack the coin that represents this demon''
you can see were I am going with that...
Also the phb actually urged people to research for their characters,to..read other material! I've never seen that EVER since,no matter how well developed a game is...

[Catodon]

I play a lot of things but for Fantasy I came straight from AD&D 2e to FC!
When I first got FC I did a first pass conversion of my home grown campiagn. FC was a better match for that old world than the ruleset it was written for in the first place.

[Desertpuma]

It was not until 3.0 came out that having grid maps were essential to playing that game. It was only important with 2nd Ed when it came to dungeoneering. Something else came about also though: the GM drawing the map. Prior to that, as players we had to draw the map because we had to know how to get out of the dungeon and someone always had to mark it off. With the Living Campaigns it became necessary though for expediency's sake.

With FC and the Crafting (Inscription or maybe Cartography) skill, I can now have players mark off the map and keep their own copy. This also has the added benefit of allowing the GC to give them physical tracing paper copies of pieces of maps so they can try to figure out where it fits with their own map. Rather than give exact dimensions, you give approximations and allow them skill checks periodically. If they succeed or even get a Threat or a Crit Success, then correct them. It makes revolving room traps that much more dangerous and interesting when the players wig out from looking at their copy vs what is actually going on.

[@stroVal]

It was not until 3.0 came out that having grid maps were essential to playing that game. It was only important with 2nd Ed when it came to dungeoneering. Something else came about also though: the GM drawing the map. Prior to that, as players we had to draw the map because we had to know how to get out of the dungeon and someone always had to mark it off. With the Living Campaigns it became necessary though for expediency's sake.

With FC and the Crafting (Inscription or maybe Cartography) skill, I can now have players mark off the map and keep their own copy. This also has the added benefit of allowing the GC to give them physical tracing paper copies of pieces of maps so they can try to figure out where it fits with their own map. Rather than give exact dimensions, you give approximations and allow them skill checks periodically. If they succeed or even get a Threat or a Crit Success, then correct them. It makes revolving room traps that much more dangerous and interesting when the players wig out from looking at their copy vs what is actually going on.

Agreed...Though for completeness's sake I must add that there were a few adnd modules with maps using 5' squares for close combat,but these were: 1) mostly for the DM 2) a rare thing alltogether

[Forcegypsy]

Darksun original boxed set.

[Mister Andersen]

My favourite setting is old school Raistlin-era Krynn, back when there were a managable and affordable number of books mostly by Weiss & Hickman. I remember the great anticipation I felt when I brought my copy of the harcover source book with its distinctly satin-finished cover of Tanis holding aloft the dragon crown.

The Realms also hold a soft spot for me, because that's where Curse of the Azure Bonds took place, as well as the AD&D comic, whose cast I was almost as fond of as the Companions of the Lance (Kyri was seriously teh hotness).

I've only passing familiarity with Ravenloft -- I only played there in a 3.0 campaign that collapsed halfway through the first story arc, which had us as newly arrived strandees working as emmisaries for von Straad -- but I did make a point of buying the Dragonlance/Ravenloft cross-over novel with Lord Soth.

And to my mind, that's what  makes Krynn and Ravenloft so cool -- they have a smaller number of signature baddies. The Realms are crawling with baddies of every colour and description to the point that they often threaten to lose anything that makes them special as characters.

[@stroVal]

My favourite setting is old school Raistlin-era Krynn, back when there were a managable and affordable number of books mostly by Weiss & Hickman. I remember the great anticipation I felt when I brought my copy of the harcover source book with its distinctly satin-finished cover of Tanis holding aloft the dragon crown.

The Realms also hold a soft spot for me, because that's where Curse of the Azure Bonds took place, as well as the AD&D comic, whose cast I was almost as fond of as the Companions of the Lance (Kyri was seriously teh hotness).

I've only passing familiarity with Ravenloft -- I only played there in a 3.0 campaign that collapsed halfway through the first story arc, which had us as newly arrived strandees working as emmisaries for von Straad -- but I did make a point of buying the Dragonlance/Ravenloft cross-over novel with Lord Soth.

And to my mind, that's what  makes Krynn and Ravenloft so cool -- they have a smaller number of signature baddies. The Realms are crawling with baddies of every colour and description to the point that they often threaten to lose anything that makes them special as characters.

I really liked all the FR novels they made into adventures though(like the avatar trilogy etc)

[Mister Andersen]

As it happens, I just today literally stumbled across the Dragonlance New Adventures novels in my library. It's a series of 8 books split up into two 4-book sequences; #1 and #7 are currently on reserve for me, so I'm starting with #2.

Obviously I'm missing out on great chunks of set up, but so far I can make out we're still in classic generation territory post War of the Lance, and I miss the original Dragonlance party; even Tanis and Cameron at their worst don't come close to the whiny emo vibe half the new party give off (secretly the son of party's foe, wannabe Solamnic night & amnesiac cipher/lynchpin of villain's scheme, accompsnird by a cheerful Gambit knockoff elf and the umpteenth clone of Tas which is all people seem to be able to do with Kender). I'm still just curious enough to finish to book. But it makes you realise how good Weiss & Hickman were as a team both as writers but in the creation of their characters; if it hadn't been for those characters I doubt the setting would have been anywhere near as enduring.

[@stroVal]

As it happens, I just today literally stumbled across the Dragonlance New Adventures novels in my library. It's a series of 8 books split up into two 4-book sequences; #1 and #7 are currently on reserve for me, so I'm starting with #2.

Obviously I'm missing out on great chunks of set up, but so far I can make out we're still in classic generation territory post War of the Lance, and I miss the original Dragonlance party; even Tanis and Cameron at their worst don't come close to the whiny emo vibe half the new party give off (secretly the son of party's foe, wannabe Solamnic night & amnesiac cipher/lynchpin of villain's scheme, accompsnird by a cheerful Gambit knockoff elf and the umpteenth clone of Tas which is all people seem to be able to do with Kender). I'm still just curious enough to finish to book. But it makes you realise how good Weiss & Hickman were as a team both as writers but in the creation of their characters; if it hadn't been for those characters I doubt the setting would have been anywhere near as enduring.

Yeah it figures...though there is a reason there was only one dominant Kender in almost all know mythos...They are greatly stereotyped(even in the campaign settings) and you cant actually play them very much differently*,unless its an afflicted Kender(but that's really a bad thing)...

*=you can avoid being a Tas clone..but you cant avoid being cheerful and naive etc...so there is always a portion of people who will accuse you of playing Tas...even though its really a racial trait

[@stroVal]

Just to make it clear..I love Krynn and almost everything ''Dragonlance''
And I really adored Kenders(at least when I was younger...I am growing more cynical in my old age)

[VisualStatic]

Personal Fav was T1-4 :  Temple of Elemental Evil.

[Desertpuma]

Got it in pdf ...

That would be a Crafty production indeed but Wanters Of The Cash will never allow another company to convert their modules into a different rules set.

[Catodon]

Personal Fav was T1-4 :  Temple of Elemental Evil.

Rocking!

[Morgenstern]

That would be a Crafty production indeed but Wanters Of The Cash will never allow another company to convert their modules into a different rules set.

Nor should they. Those are their toys. We have to make our own if we want toys like that.