Why Your First D&D Was the Best D&D

[Cirlot]

My first edition was 2nd Edition - pre option books, post player's handbooks - stole the core books from my brother and have held onto them ever since. As for my reasons . . . well I've got three reasons right here.

 

 

You will take my Giant Space Hamsters and my Lady of Pain and my Defilers from my cold, dead hands!

 

Now for an actual answer:

1) Innovation - Rules-wise 2nd edition was at best an iteration (look, we don't talk about THAC0) but 2nd edition saw an explosion in settings and D&D lore that continues to this day. Specialist wizards, bladesingers, bards as a functional character class, settings ranging from the weird to the baroque to the political: Birthright, Planescape, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, expanded Greyhawk, The Forgottem Realms (the TIME OF TROUBLES!), Ravenloft, heck, even Buck Rogers XXVC. If they could dream it, they did it and they did it BIG with a level or wild abandon and material support you don't see from single party publishers these days. Did they over-saturate the market? Yes! Did they publish themselves into financial ruin? Also yes! Did they give me Modrons and Tieflings and cannibal halflings? ALSO YES.

2) The Monstrous Manual - weird specific callout but the one-monster-per page, full write-up with ecology and culture? It's colored my expectations for every monstrous manual in any system I've read ever since. The closest thing I've seen since is Hackmaster's Hacklopedia of Beasts which came out twenty years later. Also the illustrations - special shout-out to the the Invisible Stalker - which leads into point three . . .

3) The Art. The Art. The Art. - 2nd edition had an insane lineup of heavy hitters artwise, and sometimes art styles would define entire gamelines. Dark Sun would not be the same without Brom, Planescape would not BE Planescape without DiTerlizzi and what would the Realms and Greyhawk be without the trinity of Elmore, Caldwell and Jeff Easly. 2nd Edition had art you'd sparypaint on the side of your van with pride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by Cirlot (see edit history)

[leons1701]

2nd ed did have the best art, no argument.

[cailano]

Such a good argument for 2E! I had mixed feelings about that edition when it was first published, but looking back on it was really good in so many ways. And the art and settings books for it were just fantastic. Also, Baldur's Gate I && II, Icewind Dale, and Planescape are all based on 2E.

[Excior]

1 minute ago, cailano said:

Such a good argument for 2E! I had mixed feelings about that edition when it was first published, but looking back on it was really good in so many ways. And the art and settings books for it were just fantastic. Also, Baldur's Gate I && II, Icewind Dale, and Planescape are all based on 2E.

I just did not like some of the crappy Kits they had for some of the classes, the barbarian comes to mind

[cailano]

19 minutes ago, Excior said:

I just did not like some of the crappy Kits they had for some of the classes, the barbarian comes to mind

No edition bashing! That's a five yard penalty for @Excior

[Excior]

14 minutes ago, cailano said:

No edition bashing! That's a five yard penalty for @Excior

I'm not bashing I liked 2nd edition just not they way they created some of the Kits.

[roryb]

Those kits, for good or ill, were a game changers. They probably paved the way for future directions in character customization. I loved those kits at the time. The Complete Book of Fighters was crazy. Everyone wanted to be a Bladesinger. Business-wise, those were good decisions.

Ah, DiTerlizzi! What an artist!

[Excior]

3 minutes ago, roryb said:

Those kits, for good or ill, were a game changers. They probably paved the way for future directions in character customization. I loved those kits at the time. The Complete Book of Fighters was crazy. Everyone wanted to be a Bladesinger. Business-wise, those were good decisions.

Ah, DiTerlizzi! What an artist!

you are correct but the barbarians kit benefit was something like intimidation instead of something like berserker or rage or something combat oriented at least in my opinion. what I loved was the style specializations

[Cirlot]

I think the issues with kits is that early on the kits were really simple - one or two minor tweaks and roleplay benefits - but then as the designers got more comfortable and brakes came off and you got some kits that acted like whole new classes. Compare the Thief Handbook to the Bard Handbook for example and they're like night and day. Those later books are STILL a source of ideas for me to this day tho, be it the dwarven forgelighter paladins, anti-wizard rangers, halfling whistler bards, riddlemasters, deep rangers, or disavowed bladesingers . . .

Edited November 16, 2023 by Cirlot
Typos, typos everywhere! (see edit history)

[leons1701]

It's true, the kits were a big deal. I mostly missed 2nd ed due to A) not having a play group of any kind and B) being more interested in GURPS and Champions at the time, but of the pre d20 D&D editions, it's the one that came the closest to what I wanted D&D to be. They definitely dared to be creative with that edition in a way that we've never really seen one company do before or since.

[cailano]

Dang, you guys are making me want to beef up my 2E collection.

But what about 3E? I see in the poll that a bunch of people started with that edition. Why was it the best?

[Cirlot]

I mean, it wasn't MY first edition but Ebberron was and remains dope as heck, and I will *fight* a GM for the chance to play a Spellthief . . .

[Excior]

15 minutes ago, cailano said:

Dang, you guys are making me want to beef up my 2E collection.

But what about 3E? I see in the poll that a bunch of people started with that edition. Why was it the best?

the thing I liked the most about 3ed was the feats no two fighters could would be the same.

[RedRajah]

I admit, my first D&D was the Big Red Box -- but it most certainly was NOT my best D&D. For me it was 3.5 and the customization it offered.

[leons1701]

19 hours ago, RedRajah said:

I admit, my first D&D was the Big Red Box -- but it most certainly was NOT my best D&D. For me it was 3.5 and the customization it offered.

That's more or less where I'm at.