The Heirs to AD&D, Part 2: AD&D 2e

It is kind of obvious what the first heir to AD&D's thrown would be, AD&D 2e, right? I would keep this to the first three books and that is it, none of the Forgotten Realms guides, the players' option books, or any of the other clutter. The only book I would consider adding to this is MC8 - The Outer Planes Appendix.

Why? This is where all the renamed demons and devils ended up. If you want the demon lords you need The Guide to Hell. And artifacts are in another book (The Book of Artifacts), but we never really used them that much (and I can pull them from the 1e DMG if I really need them). The downside? They went and renamed every demon's race with silly, made-up names.

The monsters in this version are way tougher than their AD&D 1e counterparts. An ancient red dragon has 23 hit dice (104 hp), AC -11, a breath weapon that does 24d10+12 (144 hp), and 65% magic resistance. Compare this with the Monster Manual 1 version and 88 hit points, -1 AC, a breath weapon that does 88 hp damage (equal to hp), and no magic resistance. The monsters have been toughened up to a great degree, and that is something I prefer about AD&D 2e over 1e. I suppose years of playing AD&D 1e left a lot of players feeling like the iconic monsters needed a revamp, and they got it.

We also have bards and specialty mages as new base classes, so if you are looking for "plus content" this is a good edition for you. Proficiencies are a part of the base game too, so you have more character development options. Oh, and we lost the assassin for some reason. I know, minus content.

Ghost Jesus vs. Skeleton with +1 Sword of Citrus, pg 39 2e DMG

The combat rules are greatly cleaned up, and a lot is better explained. If you can't make sense of AD&D 1e, start here, learn this, and go backward from here. I like the rethink of weapon speed, casting speed, and initiative, and it is a huge boost to rogues and fighters with fast weapons. Want to interrupt casters? Use a rogue. Daggers. Stabby.

I miss all the cool random charts and the random dungeon tables. The monster manual is horribly laid out. The art from the POD and PDF versions is the revised art, and a lot of it is average and not even up to the quality and consistency you see in B/X releases these days. The covers are not the originals. I miss the original layouts too, this feels way too artsy and flowery. We also have wasted space and random art that is not consistent in theme, quality, or style.

Despite all that, honestly, this is my preferred version of AD&D (if I was forced to official versions), just because everything is so easy to understand. When we finally got into AD&D we went big with this edition (just the three books), and we had a great time. It does have a few problems, but the ease of use and clarity of the rules makes up for any issues easily. Also, the monsters feel like monsters, and this is one of the few editions that give older dragons decent magic resistance. A powerful dragon is an epic-level threat.

For Gold & Glory: The OSR 2e Alternative

And if you want a retro-clone version, just grab the excellent For Gold & Glory hardcover. Mix that with a few monsters from the DMG that are product identity, and you got yourself a great throwback game. Do you need this retro-clone? It depends, I like supporting the small indie creators and communities, so giving them a mention helps let people know they are out there. And this book, even though it uses public-domain art, looks a whole lot better than the official AD&D 2e revised editions.

For Gold & Glory, page 34

The art alone in this book makes me want to play a serious campaign with an almost cinematic feel. Where the AD&D 2e books can feel at times like comic books and children's novels, this retro-clone feels serious, mature, and has a weight of grandeur all its own. Some of the art in the 2e books is laughably strange and oddball, and I can imagine indie creators getting roasted for art like that. Some of these selections are amazing, and all of them are consistent and beautiful.

The book looks like a film that would win an Oscar for cinematography.

Even though the layout is less complicated than the AD&D 2e books, For Gold & Glory has this beautiful, clean, simple style packed with information. The AD&D 2e books have these massive borders and giant headers, and they waste a lot of space on fluff. Tables are surrounded by double borders with thick, red, distracting lines. With the FGG book, the information is a lot denser with a lot less wasted space, but I find it easier to read and reference than the books TSR put out.

There are times the AD&D 2e books hurt my eyes to look at, and it is really a sin of gaudy graphic design excess. The FGG book is simple, but the layout is clean and frankly way more appealing and mature looking than the game it is based on. There are times this book looks like a history book or bible, and that is just incredible and puts me in the mood to play.

Visually, For Gold & Glory is my go-to AD&D 2e style game, and it beats the official reprints handily just in visual quality, presentation, and style. I buy one For Gold & Glory hardcover and have it all, plus it looks incredible. With AD&D 2e, I have three large softcover books that look and feel like phonebooks, and while the rules are solid, they are just tough to look at, with random art and terrible layout, tons of wasted space, and they just don't inspire me.

That was always a problem with mid-to-late 90s TSR, the art direction was all over the place and there was no real great driving inspiration and style guideline for any of the books. This would be fixed in a big way with the great-looking D&D 3rd edition a few years later when Wizards came in. The only exception to this was the original edition AD&D 2e books with the incredible art from the greats of the time. Those original 2e books are treasures and I wish they would bring them back.

For Gold & Glory wins this one easily, and this is my first pick for an AD&D Heir to the Throne. It is a "plus" game with clean rules, all the AD&D concepts in place, tough monsters, extra content, and is an OSR game. The book isn't censored, and you don't need a huge collection of softcover books, with random add-ons, for a complete game.

The only problem here is not many have heard of this game, and the hardcover is a bit on the pricey side. But it is worth the money and compared to the softcovers, an investment that will last a long time and provide many years of fun.