Demarcation Needed

[Griogre]

... snip
It's funny, but when it came out I was a big supporter of 2e, and thought the changes were awesome. Now that I look back on it, the hyper-organization just appealed to my OCD personality. All the structure didn't really make the game any easier to play, and it's much more "mechanical" - a lot of the charm from the original cobbled-together rules was lost.

I still think 2e has it's place - I can only think of the original boxed set of Forgotten Realms in terms of 2e, for instance - but it's unique.

I was just like you. I was a big supporter of 2E when it came out, but like you looking back it was the start of the road to a great deal of added complexity for little gain. At the time it seemed like an update not much more than the 3.0 to 3.5 update.

[S Ferguson]

I was just like you. I was a big supporter of 2E when it came out, but like you looking back it was the start of the road to a great deal of added complexity for little gain. At the time it seemed like an update not much more than the 3.0 to 3.5 update.

Or, I'd suppose the 3.5 to "3.7" rules they used to power the "Star Wars Saga Edition." in which a lot of the mechanics for 4e were worked out. This was a prime example of house ruling, almost with every new book that came out. Not that I was complaining at the time. Although I have to admit it's still one of the more "complete" universe games out there, with everything you need in 14 books (although you don't need all of them). It had intrigue, background wars that you could engage in or try to make your way though them, generic classes that could be specialized... I guess I liked the system because it reminded me of the 1e to UA rules changes, and that "cobbled together," house rules that drove the first edition.

The one thing I loved about 1e was you never knew where the rules would take you next. Whether introducing new classes as in UA, or races as in DLA (I loved playing Minotaurs sailing the high seas). TSR at that point was truly a house of imagination.