# Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition *The edition of THAC0, kits and a dozen worlds* - Work: Tabletop RPG - Date: 1989–2000 - Houses: TSR, Inc., Wizards of the Coast - Platforms: Hardcover rulebooks, Loose-leaf Monstrous Compendium binders - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-2nd-edition/ > The 1989 rebuild of AD&D that tidied Gygax's rules, banished demons and assassins, gave the world THAC0, and launched Ravenloft, Dark Sun and Planescape; later the invisible engine inside Baldur's Gate. **Why it matters:** Second edition carried Dungeons & Dragons through its most prolific and most troubled decade, fostering its boldest campaign settings and, through Baldur's Gate and its successors, teaching a generation of computer gamers the rules of AD&D. ## Quick answers **When was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition first released?** Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition was first released in 1989–2000. **Who published or developed Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition?** TSR, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast. **What kind of work is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition?** Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition is a tabletop RPG in the Tabletop Roleplaying Games tradition, released for Hardcover rulebooks and Loose-leaf Monstrous Compendium binders. **Why is Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition important?** Second edition carried Dungeons & Dragons through its most prolific and most troubled decade, fostering its boldest campaign settings and, through Baldur's Gate and its successors, teaching a generation of computer gamers the rules of AD&D. ## Overview *Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition* was [TSR, Inc.](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/tsr/)'s 1989 revision of the game [Gary Gygax](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/gary-gygax/) had assembled in the [first-edition AD&D](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/advanced-dungeons-and-dragons/) hardcovers a decade earlier. It arrived as three core books, a *Player's Handbook* and *Dungeon Master's Guide* in 1989 plus the *Monstrous Compendium* binders, and remained the official form of AD&D until [Wizards of the Coast](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/wizards-of-the-coast/) replaced it with [third edition](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dnd-3rd-edition/) in 2000. Second edition is less famous for new rules than for what it made possible: a flood of campaign settings, from gothic [Ravenloft](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/ravenloft/) to the desert world of [Dark Sun](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dark-sun/) to the multiverse of [Planescape](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/planescape/), and, late in its life, the computer games from [Baldur's Gate](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/baldurs-gate/) onward that ran on its tables. ## Origins By the mid-1980s first-edition AD&D had become a sprawl of hardcovers, magazine errata and optional rules, much of it contradictory. [Gygax](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/gary-gygax/) was forced out of TSR in 1985, and the company, now run by [Lorraine Williams](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/lorraine-williams/), gave the revision to designer David "Zeb" Cook. A small team began work in 1987 and finished nearly two years later. The revision also answered outside pressure. Through the 1980s D&D had been the target of the [The Satanic Panic & D&D](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/satanic-panic/), and the new books removed references to demons and devils, sexually suggestive artwork and playable evil-aligned character types such as assassins and half-orcs. The demons and devils returned in later supplements, but renamed tanar'ri and baatezu. The tone shifted as well, away from the pulp fiction Gygax loved, as catalogued in [Appendix N](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/appendix-n/), toward a blend of medieval history and mythology. ## How it plays In a tabletop roleplaying game, each player controls one [Player character](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/player-character/) while the [Dungeon Master](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/game-master/) describes the world and adjudicates what happens. An *edition* is a version of the rulebooks, and changing editions means learning a revised set of rules for the same basic game. A 2nd-edition player rolls six ability scores on six-sided dice, chooses a race (human, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, half-elf) and a [Character class](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/character-class/) from four groups: warriors (fighter, paladin, ranger), wizards (the general mage or a specialist such as an illusionist or necromancer), priests (the cleric, the druid, and priests of specific gods) and rogues (thief and bard). Skills outside combat are handled by proficiencies. Characters gain [Experience points](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/experience-points/) and levels, and their [Hit points](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/hit-points/) grow with each level. Combat centers on [THAC0](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/thac0/), "To Hit Armor Class 0." Each character has a THAC0 number; to find the roll needed on a twenty-sided die, subtract the target's [Armor Class](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/armor-class/) from it. Lower armor class is better, down into negative numbers, which made the arithmetic famously awkward to explain. [Saving throws](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/saving-throw/) against poison, spells and dragon breath, [Vancian](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/vancian-magic/) spell memorization and [Alignment](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/alignment/) all carried over from first edition. The edition's modular approach grew through supplements. The *Complete* handbooks, beginning with Aaron Allston's *The Complete Fighter's Handbook* in December 1989, introduced "kits," templates such as the gladiator or the swashbuckler that gave a basic class a cultural identity. The 1995 revision brought new covers, art and layout, and the *Player's Option* books that followed added point-based character building and more tactical combat. ## Reception & impact Second edition won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1989. Critics were mixed: reviewer James Wallis called it "a step forward for the game, but a very small step," faulting rules that remained overly complex. The edition's real legacy was its worlds. TSR launched setting after setting: Spelljammer (1989), Ravenloft (1990), Dark Sun (1991), Al-Qadim (1992), Planescape (1994) and Birthright (1995), alongside continued support for [Forgotten Realms](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/forgotten-realms/), [Dragonlance](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dragonlance/) and [Greyhawk](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/world-of-greyhawk/). Many were creatively ambitious, but the sheer number split the audience among incompatible product lines, often cited as one factor in TSR's financial collapse. In 1997 the near-bankrupt company was bought by Wizards of the Coast. ## Legacy Second edition had an unexpected second life on computers. [BioWare](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/bioware/)'s [Baldur's Gate](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/baldurs-gate/) (1998) and [Black Isle Studios](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/black-isle-studios/)' [Planescape: Torment](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/planescape-torment/) (1999) and [Icewind Dale](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/icewind-dale/) (2000) all adapted its rules, so THAC0, saving throws and memorized spells became familiar to players who never touched a tabletop book. When third edition arrived in 2000, it dropped the word "Advanced," reunified the game and replaced THAC0 and descending armor class with ascending numbers, retiring second edition's most notorious rule. Today its settings, especially Planescape and Dark Sun, remain among the most admired in the hobby, and fifth-edition revivals of Ravenloft and Planescape show how much of D&D's imaginative range was built in these years. ## Facts - Work on the revision began in 1987 under designer David "Zeb" Cook and took nearly two years. - Assassins, monks and half-orcs were dropped as player options; demons and devils were renamed tanar'ri and baatezu. - The Player's Handbook organized classes into four groups: warriors, wizards, priests and rogues. - The Monstrous Compendium first appeared as loose-leaf pages in binders, so new monsters could be slotted in; the bound Monstrous Manual replaced it in 1993. - The Complete Fighter's Handbook (1989) introduced character kits, thematic templates that became the edition's customization signature. - The 1995 revised books carried a foreword stating plainly that they were not a third edition. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editions_of_Dungeons_%26_Dragons) - [Wikipedia: Player's Handbook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player%27s_Handbook) - [Wikipedia: 1989 Origins Award winners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Origins_Award_winners) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.