Run a game long enough, and the list of house rules becomes terribly unwieldy. A good DM will know better and try to categorize a vast number of things onto quicksheets so they can make common rulings instead of trying to remember that odd ruling from weeks/months ago.

Over the years I’ve watched the game run through various phases. 3e brought D&D into the videogame space with more rules and easy-to-create templates for a hellacious amount of custom content. Thusly the D20 system was born, and forged the path, ha, for Pathfinder to take center stage as D&D 4e sputtered while it’s relevance started to wane. Generally I’ve heard 5e is a great step in the right direction, but oh no. Not for me. Old, grumpy, set in my ways, and much to the chagrin of my players, 1e/2e/OSR is my comfort zone, and I’ve been poking this undead corpse with a stick despite the discontinued nature of the system.

A particularly perceptive passerby of the blog may have noticed a line in the Campaign Resources page “Players Handbook – In Progress – Chapter 7 “. This has been my long slow burning project over the past year or so which I’ve chronicled many of the re-writings on the blog. Although lately the chapters haven’t been terribly exciting, or at least my desire to copypasta work onto the blog has been particularly lacking. Nevertheless, on the chapter regarding equipment, weapons, and armor, I’m feeling pretty good about finishing it. So I’m no longer afraid of cursing myself by talking of it openly.

At it’s base, there is the 2e PHB. Literally ripped from the pages for a significant portion as I haven’t entirely bastardized the system. The bits inbetween (be them small bits, or staggering chunks) are what I’ve been running for years anyway that never quite made it to printed pages. You’ll note the various classes created, the changes to Clerics, pretty much anything on the Campaign Resources page, is going in. There’s other pieces that I’ve pulled from recent editions to ease transition for new players (THAC0 died, not sorry). The Great Net Equipment guide has long been my source for all the imaginables you might purchase in a town, or find littering the corpses of your enemies. Formatted for easily adding things too.

There are certainly BIG things being added. While I did take a gander at both the Wizard and Cleric Spell Compendiums, I decided ultimately that they were far to vast to really consider for a reasonable compilation. However I’ve pulled nearly all of the Arcane and Divine spells from the Tome of Magic, Unearthed Arcana, Spells and Powers, and the Complete Wizards and Necromancers Handbooks. Not to mention a fair chunk of new spells or old spells that have been modified to be generally less powerful (think Sanctuary, Find Traps). Cantrips and Orisons? Those are things, lists of em so players have a better idea of what the hell they can do. Anytime someone asks me what they can do with a Cantrip I refer them to the Unearthed Arcana, there’s 60 or so minor effects listed. Orisons are a bit different, they’re basically the level 1 signature spell for each domain. Hey, all those Cleric domains I compiled, they each have an Orison assigned to them as well as a passive (one at a time) domain power. Clerics feel good in my game currently, real good.

This is my long silence, my unending project. It’s not exactly a 900+ page wiki, but that’s work for those far more dedicated than myself. Eventually, a few months down the line, I’ll have it set in place proper and shared from my Google Drive, with every chapter from the 2e PHB retouched and added to. It’s seriously not something I could possibly publish (I think?) seeing as the vast amount of things I’ve pulled straight from the 2e PHB, but it would serve anyone interested in my particular style of DM’ing as a rather complete guide.