Best 2e books for 3e inspiration? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Best 2e books for 3e inspiration? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
LadyCreator
06-02-05, 03:28 PM I started playing nine years ago with a combination of first and second ed books, but only the core ones. I was quite a young child and we only played in my family, so I didn't even know there were books beyond the DMG, PHB, and MM.

I've heard of and seen some 2e books in game shops and ebay, but I'm curious to know which are the best, least stat-heavy, most flavorful books TSR put out. The price of used books is nice, they're "classic" which appeals to the traditionalist in me, and from what I've heard they could give me a lot of flavor-inspiration. Any recommendations?
Shemeska the Marauder
06-02-05, 04:01 PM I've heard of and seen some 2e books in game shops and ebay, but I'm curious to know which are the best, least stat-heavy, most flavorful books TSR put out. The price of used books is nice, they're "classic" which appeals to the traditionalist in me, and from what I've heard they could give me a lot of flavor-inspiration. Any recommendations?

ANY of the 2e Planescape books. They're crunch light and almost pure flavor, many of them written from an in character perspective. They're also the inspiration for all 3e perceptions of the planes.

My recommendations:

Faces of Evil: The Fiends - almost pure flavor, details the nature, psychology, form, society and history of the major fiend races of DnD. The single best written book for DnD ever for any edition. Hands down.

Factols Manifesto - almost entirely flavor. Details the philosophical planar factions of Sigil and elsewhere, their goals, history, beliefs, prominant members, relation to each other etc. From the Athar who believe the deities are non-divine pretenders; to the Bleak Cabal who believe that there is greater meaning in anything thus leaving all to find a meaning for themselves within themselves; to the Free League who have no belief other than freedom above all else; to the Doomguard who believe in the supremacy of Entropy (to quote 'Fight Club' - "Nothing is static, everything is evolving, everything is falling apart").

Uncaged: Faces of Sigil - best NPC book ever written. Details notable denizens of Sigil the City of Doors, their history, aims, relation to one another, etc. Plus my namesake is on the cover in all her fiendish glory.

Hellbound: The Blood War - details the War Eternal, its history, its three sides, and how every other plane approaches it. Damn fine box set. Tanar'ri and Baatezu butchering one another while the Yugoloths try to play them both against the other, the Rilmani try to balance them all and the Upper planes try to ensure that it all never ends to keep the fiends killing each other so they'll never turn their eyes anywhere else.
Bane's hand
06-02-05, 05:06 PM Totally agree with her ladyship Shemeska. :teach:
Also there is 2E goodies here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads) kindly provided by generous WotC :bow:
Recommeneded readings: CULT OF THE DRAGON Villain's Lorebook
TheErsatzFacsimileOfMe
06-02-05, 05:13 PM I use/modify alot of the information found in the Forgotten Realms Box Set from 2e, that is if you're playing FR. :embarrass
Board_Rider
06-02-05, 06:23 PM As a DM I still use the Creative Campaign supplement from the old 2E days. Some good stuff there.
Azar the Prince
06-02-05, 06:29 PM For fluff and in-depth stories of Undead, you can't beat Van Richten's Guides, from the Ravenloft setting, which could apply to most any other. :)
Fixxxer
06-02-05, 06:37 PM Dungeon Builder's Guidebook and Complete Necromancer's Handbook come to mind.
VirgilCaine
06-02-05, 07:28 PM For practical, basic world building, The World Builder's Guide is useful.
Kraguk
06-02-05, 08:43 PM The Dungeon Builder's guidebook is very useful. If you don't particularly care about much of the backstory or whether or not the dungeon could be feasible even in a fantasy world (a big monster locked behind a door guarding a treasure chest would starve quite quickly) then it won't tell you too much, but even so it has a lot of traps and example rooms and rules for doing crazy planeshifting dungeons/underwater dungeons/airborne dungeons(!) and so on.

I also find that the Arms and Equipment guide never falls out of style. It's more about what these weapons we all talk about were historically and less about their AC mods and what not. I use the Complete Humanoids guide every once in a while too but only because I play an orc or a kobold or something 75% of the time I RP.
krichaiushii
06-02-05, 09:19 PM If you are up for it, you can also purchase many of the older edition titles as pdfs. RPGNow.com is a great place to start.

Lots of the early adventures can be mined for maps and ideas. For example Xak Tsaroth from DL1 - a beautiful ruined city.

There are numerous threads across the net debating the merits of old adventures. This particular batch (http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=1669988#post1669988) from Enworld has resulted in my purchasing a number of older adventures from RPGNow. The best part is that many (not all) adventures have already been converted to 3.x, so all you need to do is find them.

That aside, the earlier posters have most of my recommendations covered.

Oh, if you should stumble across a 1st edition Deities and Demigods that contains the Cthulu and Melnibonean Mythos for cheap, snatch it up and ebay it. Or hold it for personal value, as the assorted pantheons described go a long way towards worlds NOT modeled on Greek, Norse, or Roman religions.

The boxed set of City of Lankhmar has received high praise as far as cities go.

Some of the Role-Aids stuff from Mayfair Games might be worth thumbing through; my memories of those I once went through are dim. The same goes for old Judges' Guild products. Though if you wait long enough, they will probably release updated versions of the items worth having.
carew
06-02-05, 11:31 PM Some of My Faves

Drizzt's Guide to the Underdark
Wilderness Survival Guide
Complete Bards Handbook
Complete Ninja Handbook
Sages and Specialists
The Complete Book Of Villains
Monster Mythology
And the Domains Of Dread Sourcebook for Ravenloft
The Human Target
06-03-05, 12:14 AM Alll of the Volo's Guides are Forgotten Realms specific, but have an crazy amount of detail that could be used in a variety of settings. And if you play in the FR, they are better than gold. If you play in the Realms, any 2e sourcebook is your friend.
Karota
06-03-05, 12:19 AM Some of My Faves

Drizzt's Guide to the Underdark
Wilderness Survival Guide
Complete Bards Handbook
Complete Ninja Handbook
Sages and Specialists
The Complete Book Of Villains
Monster Mythology
And the Domains Of Dread Sourcebook for Ravenloft

My favourite was the Bard´s book, since bards are my prefered class; try the trickster, the gypsy and the blade... fantastic..

And the downloadable Alice in Wonderland and Through the looking-glass convertions to D&D are wonderful, plenty of fun...

From the 3e and 3.5, i like Oriental Adventures, Unnaproachable East, Fiend Folio and Serpent Kingdoms
babysamurai
06-03-05, 08:35 AM 1. The Historical Reference series was nice (especially the viking one).

2. I happen to love the original Spelljammer boxed set.

3. The Kara-Tur boxed set (it's great, mostly fluff).

4. And if you can find it, my all time favourite accessory-The Moonshaes, for Forgotten Realms.
LadyCreator
06-03-05, 12:19 PM Thank you - I've put these all into my game book wish list, and will soon be spending some quality ebay time :). There are a couple hobby shops around here that have heaps of old stuff that doesn't even appear to be sorted well; I can probably pick up some good stuff that nobody's looked at for ages. I'm looking to make myself a library of all the classics.
zzyvits
06-03-05, 03:13 PM One book I liked from 1e was Dungeoneers Survival Guide. Great source for DMs and players. I pulled it out and used it to help me with building my "trap the players underground" part of my campaign.
Cetali
06-03-05, 03:13 PM And the downloadable Alice in Wonderland and Through the looking-glass convertions to D&D are wonderful, plenty of fun...

Where can they be found?

For the thread starter, I think some of the best (A)D&D adventures published were for 2nd Ed Ravenloft. Try 'The Created', for example. And 'Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue' from the FR setting can be a wonderful toy and inspiration.
krichaiushii
06-03-05, 05:34 PM Cetali -

WotC has a number of free downloads of older edition stuff; found here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads).
Cetali
06-03-05, 05:59 PM Ah, thanks. :) I knew that site but must have overlooked these modules before.
Arrowhen
06-03-05, 06:27 PM The World Builder's Guidebook was a good one, as was the (highly underrated, in my opinion) Historcal Reference series.
numitor
06-03-05, 08:57 PM All four encyclopedia magica's and pages from mages for a more indepth spellcasting and item creation.
Draco Strang
06-03-05, 10:40 PM Forgotten Realms Boxed Set
Taris
06-04-05, 11:09 AM Any Spelljammers books!

Spelljammers kicks ass. I hope they release a 3rd ed version.
carew
06-04-05, 12:37 PM My favourite was the Bard´s book, since bards are my prefered class; try the trickster, the gypsy and the blade... fantastic..

Bard is my prefered class too :)

I really enjoyed the kits in that book. My favorite experience in 2nd Ed was playing a Saytr Bard, now I can't find a DM who will allow it. :weep:
Karota
06-05-05, 11:05 PM Where can they be found?

For the thread starter, I think some of the best (A)D&D adventures published were for 2nd Ed Ravenloft. Try 'The Created', for example. And 'Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue' from the FR setting can be a wonderful toy and inspiration.

On the downloads sections here in this site; look for the dungeonland series and download them, they are funy and all the times i have run them my players have been delighted, except one time when accidently, a tree fell over them and killed them...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
LadyCreator 06-02-05, 03:28 PM	I started playing nine years ago with a combination of first and second ed books, but only the core ones. I was quite a young child and we only played in my family, so I didn't even know there were books beyond the DMG, PHB, and MM. I've heard of and seen some 2e books in game shops and ebay, but I'm curious to know which are the best, least stat-heavy, most flavorful books TSR put out. The price of used books is nice, they're "classic" which appeals to the traditionalist in me, and from what I've heard they could give me a lot of flavor-inspiration. Any recommendations?
Shemeska the Marauder 06-02-05, 04:01 PM	I've heard of and seen some 2e books in game shops and ebay, but I'm curious to know which are the best, least stat-heavy, most flavorful books TSR put out. The price of used books is nice, they're "classic" which appeals to the traditionalist in me, and from what I've heard they could give me a lot of flavor-inspiration. Any recommendations? ANY of the 2e Planescape books. They're crunch light and almost pure flavor, many of them written from an in character perspective. They're also the inspiration for all 3e perceptions of the planes. My recommendations: Faces of Evil: The Fiends - almost pure flavor, details the nature, psychology, form, society and history of the major fiend races of DnD. The single best written book for DnD ever for any edition. Hands down. Factols Manifesto - almost entirely flavor. Details the philosophical planar factions of Sigil and elsewhere, their goals, history, beliefs, prominant members, relation to each other etc. From the Athar who believe the deities are non-divine pretenders; to the Bleak Cabal who believe that there is greater meaning in anything thus leaving all to find a meaning for themselves within themselves; to the Free League who have no belief other than freedom above all else; to the Doomguard who believe in the supremacy of Entropy (to quote 'Fight Club' - "Nothing is static, everything is evolving, everything is falling apart"). Uncaged: Faces of Sigil - best NPC book ever written. Details notable denizens of Sigil the City of Doors, their history, aims, relation to one another, etc. Plus my namesake is on the cover in all her fiendish glory. Hellbound: The Blood War - details the War Eternal, its history, its three sides, and how every other plane approaches it. Damn fine box set. Tanar'ri and Baatezu butchering one another while the Yugoloths try to play them both against the other, the Rilmani try to balance them all and the Upper planes try to ensure that it all never ends to keep the fiends killing each other so they'll never turn their eyes anywhere else.
Bane's hand 06-02-05, 05:06 PM	Totally agree with her ladyship Shemeska. :teach: Also there is 2E goodies here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads) kindly provided by generous WotC :bow: Recommeneded readings: CULT OF THE DRAGON Villain's Lorebook
TheErsatzFacsimileOfMe 06-02-05, 05:13 PM	I use/modify alot of the information found in the Forgotten Realms Box Set from 2e, that is if you're playing FR. :embarrass
Board_Rider 06-02-05, 06:23 PM	As a DM I still use the Creative Campaign supplement from the old 2E days. Some good stuff there.
Azar the Prince 06-02-05, 06:29 PM	For fluff and in-depth stories of Undead, you can't beat Van Richten's Guides, from the Ravenloft setting, which could apply to most any other. :)
Fixxxer 06-02-05, 06:37 PM	Dungeon Builder's Guidebook and Complete Necromancer's Handbook come to mind.
VirgilCaine 06-02-05, 07:28 PM	For practical, basic world building, The World Builder's Guide is useful.
Kraguk 06-02-05, 08:43 PM	The Dungeon Builder's guidebook is very useful. If you don't particularly care about much of the backstory or whether or not the dungeon could be feasible even in a fantasy world (a big monster locked behind a door guarding a treasure chest would starve quite quickly) then it won't tell you too much, but even so it has a lot of traps and example rooms and rules for doing crazy planeshifting dungeons/underwater dungeons/airborne dungeons(!) and so on. I also find that the Arms and Equipment guide never falls out of style. It's more about what these weapons we all talk about were historically and less about their AC mods and what not. I use the Complete Humanoids guide every once in a while too but only because I play an orc or a kobold or something 75% of the time I RP.
krichaiushii 06-02-05, 09:19 PM	If you are up for it, you can also purchase many of the older edition titles as pdfs. RPGNow.com is a great place to start. Lots of the early adventures can be mined for maps and ideas. For example Xak Tsaroth from DL1 - a beautiful ruined city. There are numerous threads across the net debating the merits of old adventures. This particular batch (http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=1669988#post1669988) from Enworld has resulted in my purchasing a number of older adventures from RPGNow. The best part is that many (not all) adventures have already been converted to 3.x, so all you need to do is find them. That aside, the earlier posters have most of my recommendations covered. Oh, if you should stumble across a 1st edition Deities and Demigods that contains the Cthulu and Melnibonean Mythos for cheap, snatch it up and ebay it. Or hold it for personal value, as the assorted pantheons described go a long way towards worlds NOT modeled on Greek, Norse, or Roman religions. The boxed set of City of Lankhmar has received high praise as far as cities go. Some of the Role-Aids stuff from Mayfair Games might be worth thumbing through; my memories of those I once went through are dim. The same goes for old Judges' Guild products. Though if you wait long enough, they will probably release updated versions of the items worth having.
carew 06-02-05, 11:31 PM	Some of My Faves Drizzt's Guide to the Underdark Wilderness Survival Guide Complete Bards Handbook Complete Ninja Handbook Sages and Specialists The Complete Book Of Villains Monster Mythology And the Domains Of Dread Sourcebook for Ravenloft
The Human Target 06-03-05, 12:14 AM	Alll of the Volo's Guides are Forgotten Realms specific, but have an crazy amount of detail that could be used in a variety of settings. And if you play in the FR, they are better than gold. If you play in the Realms, any 2e sourcebook is your friend.
Karota 06-03-05, 12:19 AM	Some of My Faves Drizzt's Guide to the Underdark Wilderness Survival Guide Complete Bards Handbook Complete Ninja Handbook Sages and Specialists The Complete Book Of Villains Monster Mythology And the Domains Of Dread Sourcebook for Ravenloft My favourite was the Bard´s book, since bards are my prefered class; try the trickster, the gypsy and the blade... fantastic.. And the downloadable Alice in Wonderland and Through the looking-glass convertions to D&D are wonderful, plenty of fun... From the 3e and 3.5, i like Oriental Adventures, Unnaproachable East, Fiend Folio and Serpent Kingdoms
babysamurai 06-03-05, 08:35 AM	1. The Historical Reference series was nice (especially the viking one). 2. I happen to love the original Spelljammer boxed set. 3. The Kara-Tur boxed set (it's great, mostly fluff). 4. And if you can find it, my all time favourite accessory-The Moonshaes, for Forgotten Realms.
LadyCreator 06-03-05, 12:19 PM	Thank you - I've put these all into my game book wish list, and will soon be spending some quality ebay time :). There are a couple hobby shops around here that have heaps of old stuff that doesn't even appear to be sorted well; I can probably pick up some good stuff that nobody's looked at for ages. I'm looking to make myself a library of all the classics.
zzyvits 06-03-05, 03:13 PM	One book I liked from 1e was Dungeoneers Survival Guide. Great source for DMs and players. I pulled it out and used it to help me with building my "trap the players underground" part of my campaign.
Cetali 06-03-05, 03:13 PM	And the downloadable Alice in Wonderland and Through the looking-glass convertions to D&D are wonderful, plenty of fun... Where can they be found? For the thread starter, I think some of the best (A)D&D adventures published were for 2nd Ed Ravenloft. Try 'The Created', for example. And 'Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue' from the FR setting can be a wonderful toy and inspiration.
krichaiushii 06-03-05, 05:34 PM	Cetali - WotC has a number of free downloads of older edition stuff; found here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads).
Cetali 06-03-05, 05:59 PM	Ah, thanks. :) I knew that site but must have overlooked these modules before.
Arrowhen 06-03-05, 06:27 PM	The World Builder's Guidebook was a good one, as was the (highly underrated, in my opinion) Historcal Reference series.
numitor 06-03-05, 08:57 PM	All four encyclopedia magica's and pages from mages for a more indepth spellcasting and item creation.
Draco Strang 06-03-05, 10:40 PM	Forgotten Realms Boxed Set
Taris 06-04-05, 11:09 AM	Any Spelljammers books! Spelljammers kicks ass. I hope they release a 3rd ed version.
carew 06-04-05, 12:37 PM	My favourite was the Bard´s book, since bards are my prefered class; try the trickster, the gypsy and the blade... fantastic.. Bard is my prefered class too :) I really enjoyed the kits in that book. My favorite experience in 2nd Ed was playing a Saytr Bard, now I can't find a DM who will allow it. :weep:
Karota 06-05-05, 11:05 PM	Where can they be found? For the thread starter, I think some of the best (A)D&D adventures published were for 2nd Ed Ravenloft. Try 'The Created', for example. And 'Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue' from the FR setting can be a wonderful toy and inspiration. On the downloads sections here in this site; look for the dungeonland series and download them, they are funy and all the times i have run them my players have been delighted, except one time when accidently, a tree fell over them and killed them...