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Title: The Players Handbook: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Second Edition by David Cook, Margaret Weis ISBN: 0-88038-716-5 Publisher: TSR Pub. Date: April, 1989 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (109 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The start for any aspiring Dungeon Master
Comment: This book is the newest edition of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide. As it is one of the three "core books", i.e. ones that contain the general rules, it is required reading for the DM. This release has its faults and its good sides.
Like all three core books ( Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monstrous Manual) that were reprinted in 1995, this volume is expanded from the previous editions. It has many more pages that before, many with color illustrations. The font is larger and easier to read.
As a manual for creating realism in the adventures you create, the Guide does succeed, although not everywhere. Nearly every rule is followed by good sketches, tables, and graphs for easy reference. New situations are detailed, and there is a generous sprinkling of optional rules for enhanced realism. Despite this, some of the shady areas have been left only partially explained ( large-scale travel, for example). The book is written with good-natured humor, and is by itself fine reading. Also, I would like to commend on the lists of magical and arcane items.
The book is the required start for any DM, and it reamins the necessary component of any game session. Buy it, but never show it to your players.
Rating: 4
Summary: WELL DONE !
Comment: I thoroughly enjoy a good change. Change IS good. At least with regards to this revision of the 2nd Edition Player Handbook. If you are an old pro, this book will expand on the information contained in previous versions, clarify some of the old rules, provide a correction or two, and occasionally make a rule modification (which it will clearly point out!). For the beginner, this book is full of information and advice, and is required material for any AD&D (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) player and/or DM (Dungeon Master/Game Master). This Players Handbook gives you all the rules, as well as some helpful hints, you will need to begin a life time of AD&D adventure with a group of players. It is not a 'How To' book. It is only a Guide, and a very good one at that. This book provides the necessary framework from which you can play endless AD&D adventures. It does not teach you 'how to' role-play, though it will provide some advice in this area, as any good guide should. (Remember, the AD&D game is a product of the mind, not books. Adventures begin and end in the imagination. Guide books only lend some structure through rules and suggestions.) To sum up the good points, this Player Handbook provides all you need as a player in the AD&D game.
There's only one bad point. Too much of the art work is amateur. Some of it is very good, but there are enough sad looking drawings to make you wonder why they were included.
That is the only reason this book gets a 4 star rating, instead of a five.
As other reviews have mentioned, a DM will also require a 'Monstrous Manual' and an 'AD&D Dungeon Master Guide'. I also strongly suggest another supplement, the Dungeon Master Screen/Index. And the Player Handbook isn't needed for the DM if any other player has it. And one final comment, if you need more 'how to' advice for role-playing or writing adventures, which rightfully is not in this book, that information is available on-line for free. Try searching at about.com
AD&D is the greatest game ever created! Get this book and Enjoy the Game for many years!
Rating: 5
Summary: 2nd edition will reign for all time
Comment: I recommend 2nd ed. over third for various reasons, most important being the emphasis on roleplaying over strict rules...3rd ed. seems to encourage players to see it as a video game, making the *best* characters, and hacking away at baddies...I however, have always seen character development and backstories more important, and that is why I, as a DM and a player, prefer 2nd ed. Pick up the books while you still can.
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