{"product_id":"2e-players-handbook-advanced-dungeons-dragons-ad-d-2nd-edition-softcover","title":"2e Players Handbook Advanced Dungeons Dragons AD\u0026D 2nd Edition SOFTCOVER","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e👉🏾\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis SOFTCOVER reprint is an unread copy that is made to order. Any foldout maps (if any) that were included in the original print are separated and bound all together as 8.5 x 11 inch pages.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-family: Western;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e👉🏼These reprints are made to order. Please allow 1-2 weeks for your order to ship. A tracking number will be provided when your order ships.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-family: Western;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e👉🏽\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThese reprints are fully licensed by Wizards of the Coast and printed on demand from original edition scans or digital files (if available). Please allow 1-2 weeks for your order to ship. A tracking number will be provided when your order ships.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"color: #333333;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: Western;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e👉🏾All orders are packaged safely in boxes for shipping.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e👉🏿\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAll books ship for FREE and thus have FREE combined shipping!\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e📧\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePlease get in touch if you want a particular title! TSR, WOTC, R. Talsorian, Space Frontiers and more are available!\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is the indispensable encyclopedia of fantasy role-playing. Everything the player needs is here: how to create a mighty hero or crafty wizard; uinque aspects of the elves, dwarves, halflings, and other fantasy races; all the weapons, armor, magical spells, and rules for thrilling battles against supernatural monsters. This fresh, new format for the Player's Handbook is your complete and illustrated guide to the world of heroic adventure!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProduct History\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePlayer's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e (1989), by David \"Zeb\" Cook with Steve Winter and Jon Pickens after Gary Gygax, is the first core rulebook for the AD\u0026amp;D 2e game. It was published in February 1989.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAbout the Title.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Apostrophes were famously absent from the AD\u0026amp;D 1e line (1977-1988). The second-edition \u003ci\u003ePlayer's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e (1989) was the first to show its apostrophe proudly; the punctuation would be used ever-after for the D\u0026amp;D line.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMoving Toward AD\u0026amp;D 2e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e The first hint of what Gary Gygax called the \"expansion, reorganization, and revision of the AD\u0026amp;D game system\" appeared in \u003ci\u003eDragon #90\u003c\/i\u003e (October 1984). Gygax said it was about a year off, because his right-hand man, Frank Mentzer, was busy digging through Gygax's 300 pages of info on \"The Temple of Elemental Evil\". Gygax's timeline proved quite accurate. The cover of \u003ci\u003eDragon #103\u003c\/i\u003e (November 1985) proudly proclaimed that it would reveal the \"Future of the AD\u0026amp;D game\". Inside, Gary Gygax's \"From the Sorceror's Scroll\" column gave the reorganization a name: the \u003ci\u003esecond edition\u003c\/i\u003e of AD\u0026amp;D.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAD\u0026amp;D first edition was only six years old at the time, but the recent releases of \u003ci\u003eUnearthed Arcana\u003c\/i\u003e (1985) and \u003ci\u003eOriental Adventures\u003c\/i\u003e (1985) had introduced lots of rules revisions and expansions for the game. Gygax thus felt that it was time to pull everything back together. According to his plan, a new \u003ci\u003ePlayers Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e would incorporate portions of the original \u003ci\u003ePlayer's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e and the two new player books. There was also talk of adding three new subclasses: the mystic (a cleric), the savant (a magic-user), and the jester (a bard).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSimilarly, a new \u003ci\u003eMonster Manual\u003c\/i\u003e would combine material from \u003ci\u003eMonster Manual\u003c\/i\u003e (1977), \u003ci\u003eFiend Folio\u003c\/i\u003e (1981), \u003ci\u003eMonster Manual II\u003c\/i\u003e (1983), and \u003ci\u003eDragon\u003c\/i\u003e magazine articles of note. A new \u003ci\u003eDungeon Masters Guide\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLegends \u0026amp; Lore\u003c\/i\u003e would then finish things, off, compressing eight core hardcovers into four \"hefty volumes\" — though there was some discussion of producing a learner \u003ci\u003ePlayers Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e focused on character creation, to keep the entry point to the game cheap.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExcept it never happened. At the end of 1985, Gary Gygax was forced out of the company that he'd founded, and his plans for second edition were abandoned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing Gygax's departure it took more than a year for TSR to return to the idea of a second edition of AD\u0026amp;D. At first, they too were considering a reorganization, what they called an \"editing task\" — but this idea was primarily driven by management, who was afraid of angering players and of obsoleting their profitable back catalogue. Meanwhile, editor Steve Winter was busy cutting and pasting together parts of the first-edition \u003ci\u003ePlayers Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDungeon Masters Guide\u003c\/i\u003e, to show how monumental of a task a simple reorganization was. He also raised concern about the shifting editorial voice in later books like \u003ci\u003eUnearthed Arcana\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eOriental Adventures\u003c\/i\u003e, and so was able to convince management that more was needed. First he convinced them that AD\u0026amp;D should be rewritten, then that it should be redeveloped. When author Cook (re)announced the project in \u003ci\u003eDragon #117\u003c\/i\u003e (January 1987) he called it a \"major reorganization, clean-up, and development\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd that's what Winter and Cook spent the next two and a half years on. Fans of TSR got regular updates in \u003ci\u003eDragon's\u003c\/i\u003e new \"Game Wizards\" column (1987-1997). Some of those updates were quite controversial (and purposefully so). Meanwhile, work continued on. Director of Games Development Michael Dobson laid out the release plans in \u003ci\u003eDragon #124\u003c\/i\u003e (August 1987): the two core books were to be done by December 1987, then turned over to the RPGA for playtesting in early 1988, then returned to TSR for redevelopment in late 1988. The goal was to release the new game in \"March or April 1989\". By modern standards, it was a slightly short development cycle for D\u0026amp;D. By any standards, Dobson's scheduling was quite accurate, as the 2e \u003ci\u003ePlayer's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e (1989) appeared in February 1989, then the 2e \u003ci\u003eDungeon Master's Guide\u003c\/i\u003e (1989) in May.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMany Printings.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e The new \u003ci\u003ePlayer's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e was reprinted more than ten times following its 1989 release. Then, about halfway through AD\u0026amp;D 2e's life cycle, a second edition (1995) of the book appeared. This was primarily a cosmetic change. It expanded the amount of color, revamped the illustrations, and increased the page count by 25% thanks to a looser layout. This new book was the foundation of AD\u0026amp;D 2.5e (1995-1997), though that nomenclature is based mainly on the books that followed it; the core rules were largely unchanged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA third major edition (2013) of the 2e \u003ci\u003ePlayer's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e appeared as part of Wizards of the Coast's premium reprint program. It used the 1995 revision as its basis, though it swapped out a couple of illustrations and cropped the original cover with a faux-leatherbound frame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Different Sort of Player's Handbook.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e The 1e \u003ci\u003ePlayers Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e (1978) was a very limited book that only provided the rules for creating characters — and not even all of those. Players didn't get to know how combat or saving throws worked. They weren't even told how to roll their characteristics! Unsurprisingly, the 1e \u003ci\u003ePlayers Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e was also a \u003ci\u003elot\u003c\/i\u003e shorter than the 1e \u003ci\u003eDungeon Masters Guide\u003c\/i\u003e (1979).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSecond edition totally revamped those ideas, with the new \u003ci\u003ePlayer's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDungeon Master's Guide\u003c\/i\u003e changing places in page count. Now the \u003ci\u003ePlayer's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e was the core rulebook of the game. You got (almost) \u003ci\u003eall\u003c\/i\u003e of the character creation rules and \u003ci\u003eeverything\u003c\/i\u003e else that players should know. There were still a few weird omissions — such as the level caps for demihumans only appearing in the \u003ci\u003eDungeon Master's Guide\u003c\/i\u003e. Nonetheless, the new release was much closer to the modern conception of a D\u0026amp;D \u003ci\u003ePlayer's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhat a Difference an Edition Makes: The Controversy.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e The controversy of 2e started early on, with a \"Game Wizards\" column that Cook wrote for \u003ci\u003eDragon #118\u003c\/i\u003e (February 1987) called \"Who Dies?\" There, he wrote about the need to trim down the list of character classes and suggested reasons to remove every one of the classes from \u003ci\u003ePlayers Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eUnearthed Arcana\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eOriental Adventures\u003c\/i\u003e. Then, he invited players to write to him with their own opinions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCook later said that he was intentionally trying \"to get a reaction\". And, boy did he. He was soon digging out from a deluge of hundreds of correspondences. Though many classes would eventually be cut from AD\u0026amp;D 2e, most of the classes that Cook talked about were actually safe — so call this a manufactured controversy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA more sustained controversy emerged following James M. Ward's \"Game Wizards\" article in \u003ci\u003eDragon #154\u003c\/i\u003e (February 1990). There he admitted that \"When the AD\u0026amp;D 2nd Edition rules came out, [he] had the designers and editors delete all mention of demons and devils.\" He said that this was because he was trying to avoid \"Angry Mother Syndrome\" and that TSR had been receiving a whopping \"letter or two of complaint each week\", many of them about the demons and devils in the original \u003ci\u003eMonster Manual\u003c\/i\u003e (1977). So, fiends were out. Though they'd appear under different names in MC8: \"Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix\" (1991), D\u0026amp;D wouldn't see hints of the forbidden names until the Wizards of the Coast era (1997+).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs it happens, one of the classes that Cook ended up cutting was the assassin, and many assume that this was also a part of Ward's bowdlerization of D\u0026amp;D. Cook says otherwise, stating that the class just wasn't good for party dynamics. The half-orc was also cut, but no one has talked about the precise reason for that removal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhat a Difference an Edition Makes: The Goals.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Much of the organization of the new AD\u0026amp;D game came from editor Steve Winter, who was very clear about his goals. There were four of them, all clearly laid out in \u003ci\u003eDragon #126\u003c\/i\u003e (October 1987):\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"First, the books should be restructured for easy reference. Second, all of the information on one topic should be in one place. Third, a player shouldn't have to pay for information he doesn't need when he buys the new \u003ci\u003ePlayer's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e, and the DM shouldn't have to pay for redundant information when he buys the new \u003ci\u003eDungeon Master's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e. Fourth, everyone who currently owns the \u003ci\u003ePlayers Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDungeon Masters Guide\u003c\/i\u003e should feel that his money has been well spent when he buys the second editions of these books.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCook had a few design guidelines of his own. First, the second edition must be largely compatible with the first (to preserve both players' investments and TSR's backlist). Second, the rules should be better written — a goal that Cook had a leg up on thanks to his writing of the \u003ci\u003eD\u0026amp;D Expert Set\u003c\/i\u003e (1981). Third, the new rules should once more be guidelines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last goal was a big change for AD\u0026amp;D, which Gygax had created to purposefully provide the D\u0026amp;D game with a very strict set of rules — in part to support tournament play. However, Cook was able to have his cake and eat it as well: though he presented the rules as guidelines and simultaneously included many optional rules, he also defined tournament rules that would be used for competitive gaming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhat a Difference an Edition Makes: The Mechanics.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e AD\u0026amp;D 2e was indeed relatively compatible with AD\u0026amp;D 1e. And, the biggest changes did turn out to be the paring down of character classes. Following Cook's thoughts in \"Who Dies?\", the assasin and monk were both dropped. However, the bard, which had also been marked for elimination, was saved by player response — though he now appeared in a dramatically different form, one that didn't have to move through other classes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe biggest addition to the D\u0026amp;D rules was the \"proficiency\" skill rules, which built on the non-weapon proficiencies that Cook himself had created in \u003ci\u003eOriental Adventures\u003c\/i\u003e (1985), and which had become increasingly prominent in the AD\u0026amp;D 1.5e era (1985-1988). The proficiency rules were listed as \"optional\", but they appeared throughout the examples in the new rules, and were generally considered standard by most gamers at the time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other big change was in the magic-user (now: mage) class. The traditional schools of magic in D\u0026amp;D now became \"specialities\", allowing for the creation of abjurers, invokers, necromancers, and other specific sorts of wizards. The traditional illusionist class was reimagined as one of these specialists. Clerics were similarly revamped so that their spells fell into spheres, with access determined by a god's portfolio. The game also moved toward the ideas of specialty priests by offering variant rules that allowed some clerics to use edged weapons.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWinter and Cook had considered much more far-ranging ideas while working on AD\u0026amp;D 2e — including eliminating character classes and reversing armor class — but in the end what they did was mostly cleanup. So, for example, THAC0 was brought into the core rules, where it had previously only been seen in supplements; and psionics were removed, to later be detailed in a non-core book. There were lots of other small changes, encompassing spells, combat, weapons, XP, levels, and everything else you can imagine. AD\u0026amp;D 2e was a very thorough rewrite and redesign … but one that kept as close to its source material as it could, given its goals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAbout the Creators.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e TSR lost a lot of its rules writers in the mid '80s. Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer headed off to form New Infinities Productions, while Tom Moldvay began writing for Avalon Hill. Fortunately, they still had David Cook on staff. He was the coauthor of \u003ci\u003eStar Frontiers\u003c\/i\u003e (1982) and \u003ci\u003eStar Frontiers: Alpha Dawn\u003c\/i\u003e (1983) and the author of the \u003ci\u003eD\u0026amp;D Expert Set\u003c\/i\u003e (1981), \u003ci\u003eThe Adventures of Indiana Jones\u003c\/i\u003e (1984), the \u003ci\u003eConan Role-Playing Game\u003c\/i\u003e (1985) … and perhaps most notably \u003ci\u003eOriental Adventures\u003c\/i\u003e (1985).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chaos Lord Games","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47290700660930,"sku":"Pnn-165-3d","price":70.44,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0741\/0591\/3538\/files\/s-l1600-1_ef3f6708-51e1-4419-a915-632fd6c97eff.jpg?v=1776036584","url":"https:\/\/chaoslordgames.com\/products\/2e-players-handbook-advanced-dungeons-dragons-ad-d-2nd-edition-softcover","provider":"Chaos Lord Games","version":"1.0","type":"link"}