I have been following the OSR scene now for a while and have seen the attempts to do retellings of the most famous RPG in history. Associated with that is the wave of nostalgia for all things from the hands of the Old Masters (Gygax, Holmes, Arneson) and this had gotten me thinking.
What would 2nd Ed AD&D have looked like if Gygax had still been at TSR?
I suppose we should look at the variables. What was TSR doing at the time (late 80s), what was Gygax doing (Mythus, Dangerous Journeys, and later Lejendary Adventures) and how would that have all blended into what could have been the 2nd Ed AD&D as written by Gary.
This is all speculation; I am not a Gygaxian scholar by any stretch of the imagination. But I am curious to know what you all think.
Would we have seen more classes? (I think so) More skills? (certainly) and I also think given the direction that TSR was headed and what Gygax did in DJ/Mythus that we would have seen more "world" books for different genres of play. So instead of Spelljamer (D&D in space) we would have gotten a Space Opera game that used the AD&D 2ed rules. Or not.
Thoughts?
EDITED TO ADD: Thanks to Herb and Jason Vey. They uncovered this link for me.
http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2009/02/ad-second-edition.html
I will have to read that in detail when I can.
Don't know if you know, but Greyhawk Grognard is trying to do just his based on UA and Gary's writings in The Dragon.
ReplyDeleteI think I might have read that and that is what got me thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteHmm. I will have to read that in detail when I can.
Here's where GG outlined what Gary's second edition would've looked like.
ReplyDeletehttp://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2009/02/ad-second-edition.html
Cool thanks!
ReplyDeleteHey Tim. I am indeed working on what I think a "Gygaxian Second Edition" would have looked like (in fact, the project just got its final name today; "Adventures Dark and Deep"), based on his Dragon articles about what 2nd edition was going to look like, his later work, and what he said over the years on various message boards and the like. I collated a lot of that material at the link you posted, and am working on putting it together into an actual game even now. Thanks for the plug!
ReplyDeleteJoseph,
ReplyDeleteI think I must have known you were doing this since it has been on my mind for a bit and I regularly read your blog. It was James over at Grognardia that made think of this with him talking about Mythus lately.
I am REALLY looking forward to what you do. Keep us posted!