Been a busy time at work, so just a fast one today.
Some time ago I grabbed something called "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition" from the web. It has been sitting in my "to be sorted" folder for ages. I was in the process of digging up some other material for a project when I happened upon them. The layout was nice and clean and the covers were nearly print-ready. So I spent some time a few nights ago tweaking it and slapped the whole thing on Lulu.
Here is what I got.
Frankly, I am pretty happy with it.
I went a re-looked up what this game was/is and it turns out it was done by Chris Perkins. The game is a very nice blend of AD&D 1st and 2nd Editions with mechanics from D&D 3rd Edition and inspiration from Castles & Crusades. The overall effect is not unlike D&D 5th Edition, but more of a 1st Edition feel.
The art is all copied from published classic D&D sources, so there is no way this thing is legal to sell. I am sure if cleaned up it could be released under the OGL, but it is so close to Castles & Crusades and D&D 5th edition there is no need to do so save as an entertaining experiment.
Perkins used to have a website for it, http://www.adnd3egame.com/cnc.htm but it is long since gone. There are details about it at RPG Geek and Boardgame Geek. I have no idea where it is hosted anymore. I found a new site for it here: https://scruffygrognard.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/add-3rd-edition/. Note: Perkins is now working on a BX3e.
It is a completely playable game and has a lot of nice features. It reads like a D&D "Greatest hits" album. It is just missing some "kits" or "subclasses" to make it more like 5e.
The question of course is why play this when I have all the other versions of *D&D? Well, the simple answer is that it looks like fun. IT might be neat to play this "what if" version. It is also interesting to see which design choices Perkins went with. Like why 20th century D&D style saving throws and not say 3rd/4th Edition ones or 5th Edition/Castles & Crusades ones? How does the skill system work (feels like a mix of AD&D 1st ed and D&D 3rd ed)? There are Bard and Monk classes, how do they compare to their 1st and 3rd ed counterparts? Plus there is a section on Psionics. So there is a lot to explore here.
Besides the books are damn attractive. The layout like I said is clean and simple, but it appeals to me.
Now that I found his site again I am curious to see if there will be more updates on it. His BX3e project also looks very interesting.
