Search Results
6/22/2025, 1:15:15 AM
>>95924373
>Weird, my crawl around 2019 OSRG had people explaining 2e as being more "streamlined". I guess people can spin things in one way or another
In some ways it is. THAC0 is often cited as "easier" for some people compared to looking up attack tables (really it's a sidegrade, it's only "easier" due to idiots being disorganized and not keeping sheets at hand, it's not the mechanic itself... many found it harder).
But the monster entries and other garbage storyfag shit expanded to fill that empty space, because of a perverse incentive cascade of "gotta sell books" and "get paid-per-word."
The kobold entry is several times the size of 1e, the only improvement is the stat block's colorized rows. It uses in-text stats for the higher ranking ones instead of the elegant 1e solution of just referring to other monsters.
The modron stats are all in one place with the specific writups being spread across several pages. compare that to 1e that has a blurb and then each is self-contained, stats and text all neatly together.
The way 1e stuff is arranged you could legitimately photocopy most monsters, cut them out and then just stick them onto appropriately sized cardstock (or print them on cardstock directly). And arrange them in your notes nice and easy. The big binder and sheets for 2e's monsters is neat but anyone who has used a binder knows the wear-and-tear and reference issues with that. (Hint: office supply stores sell hole reinforcement stickers for a reason, and TSR would have interest in your rebuying the sheets you already bought.)
>>95924385
The core books are genuinely nice to hold and look through. I love the 3-column format and a good amount of the artwork is really inspiring (in particular "Dragonslayers and Proud of It" is quite a masterful "introduction to RPGs" piece of art, see this explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfNoPYChIqk ).
It's just a shame that the actual, you know. Rule-part of "rulebook" sucks when the "book" part is nice.
>Weird, my crawl around 2019 OSRG had people explaining 2e as being more "streamlined". I guess people can spin things in one way or another
In some ways it is. THAC0 is often cited as "easier" for some people compared to looking up attack tables (really it's a sidegrade, it's only "easier" due to idiots being disorganized and not keeping sheets at hand, it's not the mechanic itself... many found it harder).
But the monster entries and other garbage storyfag shit expanded to fill that empty space, because of a perverse incentive cascade of "gotta sell books" and "get paid-per-word."
The kobold entry is several times the size of 1e, the only improvement is the stat block's colorized rows. It uses in-text stats for the higher ranking ones instead of the elegant 1e solution of just referring to other monsters.
The modron stats are all in one place with the specific writups being spread across several pages. compare that to 1e that has a blurb and then each is self-contained, stats and text all neatly together.
The way 1e stuff is arranged you could legitimately photocopy most monsters, cut them out and then just stick them onto appropriately sized cardstock (or print them on cardstock directly). And arrange them in your notes nice and easy. The big binder and sheets for 2e's monsters is neat but anyone who has used a binder knows the wear-and-tear and reference issues with that. (Hint: office supply stores sell hole reinforcement stickers for a reason, and TSR would have interest in your rebuying the sheets you already bought.)
>>95924385
The core books are genuinely nice to hold and look through. I love the 3-column format and a good amount of the artwork is really inspiring (in particular "Dragonslayers and Proud of It" is quite a masterful "introduction to RPGs" piece of art, see this explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfNoPYChIqk ).
It's just a shame that the actual, you know. Rule-part of "rulebook" sucks when the "book" part is nice.
Page 1