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Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition

In 1989, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition was published. By the end of its first decade, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons had expanded to several rulebooks, including three monster manuals, and two books governing character skills in wilderness and underground settings. Initially, the second edition would consolidate the game, with three essential books to govern Dungeon Masters and players alike. Periodically, TSR published optional rulebooks for character classes and races to enhance game play.

Overall, the combat system was changed to a mathematical formula, known as THAC0, with actions based around real-life distances (feet) rather than miniatures-board distances (inches). Demi-human races were given higher level maximums to increase their long-term playability, though they were still restricted in terms of character class flexibility. Critical hits were created as optional rules. Moreover, the game editors made an effort to remove some objectionable aspects of the game, which had begun to attract some negative publicity, due (in part) to a company policy that tried to pander to people that didn't play Dungeons & Dragons. Shedding the moral ambiguity of First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the TSR staff eliminated character classes like the murderous assassin, while stressing the importance of heroic roleplaying and player teamwork. For the first few years, Second Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons managed to be very popular despite the number and diverse styles of games it now competed with.

The game was once again published as three core rulebooks, incorporating the expansions and revisions which had been published in various supplements over the previous decade. The Monster Manual was replaced by the Monstrous Compendium, a loose-leaf binder which was later replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual in 1993.

The release of AD&D2 also corresponded with a policy change at TSR. An effort was made to remove aspects of the game which had attracted negative publicity. Half-orcs were no longer presented as a player character race in the core rulebooks, heroic roleplaying and player teamwork were stressed, demons and devils were renamed tanar'ri and baatezu (respectively, and only after they were eliminated from the game entirely and were "restored" by the outcry of outraged fans), and the product artwork became less racy. The target age of the game was also lowered, with most 2nd edition products being aimed primarily at teenagers. The Second Edition art and marketing were also modified to appeal more to female players.

Critics of TSR have suggested that the second edition was produced mainly to have a set of core rulebooks to sell which did not list Gary Gygax as the primary author, and thus deprive Gygax of royalties; certainly, few major changes to the rules were made, aside from the addition of nonweapon proficiencies (which were introduced in various 1st Edition supplements) and the division of magic spells by group into Schools (for mages) and Spheres (for clerics) of magic.

In 1995, the core rulebooks were slightly revised and a series of Player's Option manuals were released as "optional core rulebooks". Although still referred to by TSR as the 2nd Edition, this revision is seen by some fans as a distinct edition of the game and is sometimes referred to as AD&D 2.5.

After this auspicious start, the new owners of TSR (Gygax and Arneson had left earlier) angered some fans with several practices intended to make up for declining sales. These practices included raising prices, high split pricing of individual game products, and relentlessly pursuing copyright infringement lawsuits. They also repeated the practice of publishing many sourcebooks and handbooks, making it cumbersome to keep up with rule changes. Fantasy had begun its decline in popularity during the late 1980s, replaced by science fiction and horror themes. Furthermore, collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering offered a simpler means of fantasy gaming. Coupled with the rise in popularity of White Wolf, Inc.'s Storyteller System games (primarily Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse), this led to a gradual decline in popularity into the 1990s. In 1997, TSR considered filing for bankruptcy but was purchased by former competitor Wizards of the Coast, the creators of Magic: The Gathering.

(różnice) Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition to 2nd Edition

• Half-orcs were removed from the Player's Handbook, although they would be again made a playable race in supplements such as the Complete Book of Humanoids.
• Character classes were grouped into one of four groups: Warrior (Fighter, Paladin, Ranger), Wizard (Mage, Specialist Wizard), Priest (Cleric, Druid), and Rogue (Thief, Bard).
• Assassins and Monks (from Players Handbook) and Barbarians and Cavaliers (from Unearthed Arcana), were removed from the game as character classes. Later supplements would introduce "kits" bearing the names of these classes and/or optional classes from sources such as Complete Book of Barbarians.
• "Magic-users" were renamed "mages".
• Illusionists were made into a subtype of the Wizard class, along with new classes specializing in the other seven schools of magic (which were first introduced in Dragonlance Adventures).
• Bards were made a normal character class, rather than the multiple-classed character that they had been, although they still possessed elements of fighters, thieves, and mages.
• Proficiencies were officially supported in the Player's Handbook and many supplements, rather than being the optional add-on found in a handful of 1st Edition supplements.
• Attack matrices were renamed "THAC0" (To Hit Armor Class 0) and the table printed only once in the Dungeon Master's Guide was reprinted in the second edition Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide.
• References to "segments" (individual units of time representing one phase of initiative, or 6 seconds of game-time [simulated time]) were removed from the game; instead, "melee rounds" (game-turns) were changed so they now represented six seconds of game-time instead of one minute of game-time, with a "turn" representing ten rounds (one minute).
• Priest spells were organized into themed "spheres" that were similar to the wizard spell schools that had been introduced in Dragonlance Adventures, with access to spheres being determined by the priest's class and deity.
• Descriptions of artifacts {unique magic items) were removed from the Dungeon Master's Guide.
• Many utilities, including tables for random generation of dungeons, were removed from the Dungeon Master's Guide.
• The weight of coins was changed from 1/10 lb. each to 1/50 lb. each, making the carrying of large numbers of coins out of an adventure site much less of an impediment.
• Exchange rates for the low-valued coins were doubled; it now took only 100 copper pieces or 10 silver pieces to make one gold piece.
• The hardcover Monster Manual was initially replaced by the looseleaf binder-format Monstrous Compendium; the Monstrous Compendium would eventually be replaced by the hardcover Monstrous Manual.
• Dragons were increased in strength and power to make the title monsters of the game a more serious challenge to players.
• Fiendish and angelic creatures (demons, devils, daemons, devas, solars, etc.) were removed from the game, as were spells that allowed such creatures to be summoned or controlled. These creatures would later be renamed and modified in the Monstrous Compendium supplement on the Outer Planes.