Quote from: GhostNinja on May 10, 2023, 04:16:24 PM
That's great but it's also hard to find the original books for a decent price.  If I had them then I would play them, but I dont and I dont feel like paying $70 for one book.

So then use FG&G. Like I said, it's "good enough". I have tons of books so there's no legitimate reason to use it, but if I had nothing and only wanted to spend $20, it works fine.

Quote from: shoplifter on May 10, 2023, 04:43:15 PM

$23 for a POD of the reprint PHB.

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16868/Players-Handbook-Revised-2e?src=hottest_filtered&filters=0_0_0_0_0_45347_0_0

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/17552/Dungeon-Master-Guide-Revised-2e?src=also_purchased&filters=0_0_0_0_0_45347_0_0

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/16865/Monstrous-Manual-2e?src=also_purchased&filters=0_0_0_0_0_45347_0_0

Could totally understand not wanting to give WotC any money though. Over the past couple years I've been picking up any good condition & reasonably priced PHBs I can find to supplement my originals for an entire table, paying around $25 a piece though I'd had to snap them up quickly. I've noticed a lot of the splats have started to increase in price over the past year as well, and those aren't available as PODs if you want physical copies.

Yep.  Don't want to give those assholes a dime so that's not an option for me.  I can just keep looking and maybe I will find something.

Quote from: Brad on May 10, 2023, 05:12:19 PM

So then use FG&G. Like I said, it's "good enough". I have tons of books so there's no legitimate reason to use it, but if I had nothing and only wanted to spend $20, it works fine.

That's probably what I will do if I cannot find any 2e books.

Here is another reason to avoid buying the 2e PHB: only the revised version is available and it is one of the ugliest books I've ever seen.

And AFAIK, the DMG is weak compared to 1e.

Too bad the 2e MM is really good...

Quote from: Eric Diaz on May 10, 2023, 07:50:35 PM
Here is another reason to avoid buying the 2e PHB: only the revised version is available and it is one of the ugliest books I've ever seen.

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. I got rid of those printings and got all the original ones with the blue headers and stuff because I hated the layout so much.

I really wish the original printings were a POD option. They're way better, IMO, but my players and kids dont care so I only bought an extra one of each.

Quote from: Chainsaw on May 10, 2023, 04:12:19 PM
Anyway, to be clear, all of the OSRIC makers would heartily and fiercely recommend using AD&D if you want to play AD&D and have access to the books. They never intended for people to choose OSRIC over AD&D... for them, it's AD&D every time, no brainer.

I wanted to respond to this because I think it's actually funny. Stuart Marshall, the primary author of OSRIC, would be the first one to say play AD&D instead. But if you go over to the K&K board, there are lot of people using it instead of AD&D. Most of them, I imagine, have been playing so long they don't even need the original books, just a reference, and OSRIC works well enough for that in most cases. However, a newbie to the hobby would be done a disservice to think that OSRIC is a replacement for AD&D if they've never played either. Hence my comments; I am trying to be as objective as possible about it since there are a lot more people wanting OSR-style D&D who totally bypass AD&D for whatever reason, thinking they're going to get the same game-play. Gygaxian prose is paramount to the true AD&D experience, I think. It's also the reason 2nd edition is less appealing to me, for the most part. Sanitized and uninteresting.

Quote from: Brad on May 10, 2023, 09:28:30 PM

Quote from: Chainsaw on May 10, 2023, 04:12:19 PMAnyway, to be clear, all of the OSRIC makers would heartily and fiercely recommend using AD&D if you want to play AD&D and have access to the books. They never intended for people to choose OSRIC over AD&D... for them, it's AD&D every time, no brainer.

I wanted to respond to this because I think it's actually funny. Stuart Marshall, the primary author of OSRIC, would be the first one to say play AD&D instead. But if you go over to the K&K board, there are lot of people using it instead of AD&D. Most of them, I imagine, have been playing so long they don't even need the original books, just a reference, and OSRIC works well enough for that in most cases. However, a newbie to the hobby would be done a disservice to think that OSRIC is a replacement for AD&D if they've never played either. Hence my comments; I am trying to be as objective as possible about it since there are a lot more people wanting OSR-style D&D who totally bypass AD&D for whatever reason, thinking they're going to get the same game-play. Gygaxian prose is paramount to the true AD&D experience, I think. It's also the reason 2nd edition is less appealing to me, for the most part. Sanitized and uninteresting.

Trying to figure out what you mean by "if you go over to the K&K board, there are lot of people using it instead of AD&D."

If you are simply saying that some people at K&KA might keep a table copy of OSRIC handy along with their AD&D books, and sometimes grab it for reference, then, yes, that's probably true. I would say "a few" rather than "a lot," but whatever.

Now, if you're really truly saying a lot of people at K&KA actually use the OSRIC book to "play OSRIC" instead of AD&D, that's definitely not true. I mean, I attended 1-3 conventions a year for maybe ten years with most of those guys... I don't remember anyone ever running an OSRIC game and honestly I can't even remember ever seeing an OSRIC book on the table (maybe the A5 travel one?). Everyone always had their AD&D books.

Separately, I agree 100% on the awesomeness and importance of Gygaxian prose to the AD&D experience - so would the regulars at K&KA. None of those AD&D militants are ever going to recommend or encourage anyone to "play" OSRIC instead of AD&D, exactly for the reasons you said. They treasure those books, that experience.

Quote from: Chainsaw on May 12, 2023, 06:28:36 PM
If you are simply saying that some people at K&KA might keep a table copy of OSRIC handy along with their AD&D books, and sometimes grab it for reference, then, yes, that's probably true. I would say "a few" rather than "a lot," but whatever.

This is what I'm saying, yeah. BUT to an outsider/newbie who signed up to play AD&D, you see a bunch of old grognards with OSRIC and they might think that's what they're actually playing. The OP probably doesn't have enough experience to differentiate the two. I got rid of OSRIC because as stated it annoyed me; I love AD&D but don't have a photographic memory so I kept going back to the real books so often for some reason or another I figured it wasn't worth keeping them around any longer. FG&G, however, might as well just be 2nd...the "real game" is so sanitized you cannot tell the difference, honestly.

Quote from: Brad on May 12, 2023, 08:06:16 PM

Quote from: Chainsaw on May 12, 2023, 06:28:36 PM
If you are simply saying that some people at K&KA might keep a table copy of OSRIC handy along with their AD&D books, and sometimes grab it for reference, then, yes, that's probably true. I would say "a few" rather than "a lot," but whatever.

This is what I'm saying, yeah. BUT to an outsider/newbie who signed up to play AD&D, you see a bunch of old grognards with OSRIC and they might think that's what they're actually playing. The OP probably doesn't have enough experience to differentiate the two. I got rid of OSRIC because as stated it annoyed me; I love AD&D but don't have a photographic memory so I kept going back to the real books so often for some reason or another I figured it wasn't worth keeping them around any longer. FG&G, however, might as well just be 2nd...the "real game" is so sanitized you cannot tell the difference, honestly.

I agree 100%, makes total sense.