Rating: 
Summary: The new D&D books look flashy, but are low on content
Review: I was really impressed with the second edition books - circa 1985 -. These books had FANTASTIC art, graphics, design... , the readability was easy, they were well thought out, the rules made sense, they were easy to follow.These new books are anything but. They lack the most basic concept of role playing games; keep it simple so that people can follow along AND find things easily. The new art looks like a cross between a bad pokemon doll and pictures from a chinease "art of War" book. They really got away from the classical traditional and went to a more "Neo" look. It is almost painfull to look at because i cant take some of the more fearfull things seriously anymore (dragons (they look ULTRA wimpy) golemns, character designs...) The new charts and character tables are in small print and in a hodgepodge of disarray. The spells used to be broken out in a easier to read format, but now are confined to three rows to a page. I got the new Monster Manual as a gift - the goofy drawings in here would have prevented me from buying this as well. i think the D&D folks really messed up by trading "flash" for substance, i hope the next set are better
Rating: 
Summary: Great changes
Review: What WotC did in Third Edition was amazing. They really have an idea of what the gaming community is after. A lot of the changes are based on common house rules and the system is greatly streamlined. You'll be pleased.
Rating: 
Summary: They really changed alot of 2nd Edition rules stupidly.
Review: ýFor example, in AD&D 2nd edition there is the proficiencies optional rule. I have always used it since I ýýstarted playing. This book includes a cut-down version of the non-weapon-proficiencies rule, and does ýýnot include any remainder of the weapon-proficiencies. I personally think the proficiencies optional ýýrule didn't need any changes at all.ý ýThe new classes are nice, though some are totally unnecessary. For example, the Barbarian class - in ýýthe AD&D second edition a fighter could choose a Barbarian kit. Here they made it a separate class. I ýýsee no need for this, because it only complicates things.ý ýThey did improve some things, however (or the book would have gotten only one star). They made the ýýoptional rule of being on-verge of death mandatory.ý ýStill, there are a lot of things that needed change, but they didn't change.ý ýTo summarize, it seems to me that they took all the bad things from D&D and all the bad things from ýýAD&D, plus some not-so-bad things from AD&D, and turned the whole lot of bad rules into the new ýýPlayer's Handbook.ý ýI would advise anyone who can to get the AD&D 2nd edition before they run out of stock.ý
Rating: 
Summary: More Realistic Rules but Few Examples in the Book
Review: Third Edition rules are much more realistic and easier to play, however they are harder to understand than the previous version. What about the book itself, it contains more rules and less intersting examples. The best thing in the book (in my opinion), is the illustrations. They explains how to draw some races (halflings, elves etc.), and there are many drawings of weapons, armor and gear.
Rating:
Summary: WOC does what was Feared
Review: I purchased the 3rd edition book after playing 2nd edition for about four years now and I say, frankly, that Wizards of the Coast, after purchasing TSR, turned a credible and somewhat realistic set of game mechanics into a mindless Hack 'n' Slash game where Player Characters are wildly powerful after achieving a scant six levels. While six levels are hard to attain if you start at first, it is possible to attain one of the two strongest feats in the game. Ok, lets rephrase this. WOC has taken a game where the most powerful weapon of the character's was their mind and turned that weapon into feats and dice. Some of these feats may be earned, but I do not see balance between two 5th level fighters fighting a sixth whose recieved Whirlwind or Grand. If the stereotypical dungeon crawl followed by the dragonslaying and goblin horde beating is what you crave, then 3rd edition is right for you, 3rd edition is your Rollplaying game. If you take to the more realistic campaign with brain taking just as much a part as brawn, then Second edition is the Roleplaying game. The reason for these fundamental differences: 3rd edition can make your character a God. This is too much power to keep the actual person from relying on just their strength and not their character's skills and traits. 2nd edition keeps your character an average Joe (up until 20th level, at least) so that Players will be forced to roleplay their characters and keep the game going. Context and Contents: Plenty of feats and character information to have any 3rd edition game going. DMG is good to have to supplement and the Monstrous Manual is nice to have but just as unnecessary as the DMG. Any game can be good if you're DM is skilled with intrigue and human to human (or elven, etc.) reactions. AD&D doesn't always have to be war. DMs are sometimes to blame though. Just try to keep roleplaying fun all you other DMs. I've made that mistake too.
Rating:
Summary: Dumbing down the old rules
Review: Third edition AD&D is a double edged blade. On one hand, some of the revamped charts are easier, faster, more convinient. On the other hand, the need to roleplay is completely eliminated. Any race and any class can do anything they want, for instance, there could be a halfling necromancer/bard/paladin. Even then, they get minor access to the abilities of the classes they are not. The barriers between races and classes that make a choice of a character unique are destroyed, and some of the rules that gave the characters diversity have been oversimplified. As a result, the fun of roleplaying your character in certain ways in certain situations has been sucked out and replaced by mindless hacknslash clerical battles. If you like mindless battles and lack of roleplaying boundaries, buy 3rd edition. If you also like AD&D for the necessary roleplaying, stick with 2nd.
Rating:
Summary: Good Game, Second Edition Better
Review: D&D is excellent, but go with second edition. This is why I only gave it four stars.
Rating:
Summary: i think its really good
Review: i love D&D. And i like third edition, it makes some things alot easier to understand
Rating:
Summary: 3rd Edition - Wow!
Review: With an atmophere reminiscent of the original Dungeons and Dragon boxed sets, this is a real piece of work. The edition undoubtably improves the game as whole - almost all of the new ideas and rules included are good, such as the Feats and Skills system. Some are down right brilliant, such as the new Class system. But there is still one point that absolutely baffles me - Initiative. The Class system has been completely overhauled, and is the undoubtably the single biggest improvement in the game. The concept of a class has become quite abstract, and the focal point of a character has become their overall advancement. For example a 2rd level Fighter, 4th level Mage is a 6th level character. Rather than the character having two seperate classes, each seperately advancing, a character now advances as a character. When a character advances a level they choose in which class they will train in, and this improves the character as a whole. For example as the afore mentioned character rises they could put levels into their Fighter class, and their combat skills and hitpoints will improve quickly, while their magic not at all. If they then chose to improve their Mage class, their magic will improve drastically, but their hit points and fighting ability would continue to improve slowly. This reflects that as the character practices fighting with the Mage class, their fighting improves overall, not just as a Mage. Thus the character rises as a character and not as a collection of classes. The Initiative system however seems ludicrous. Spell casting speeds, weapon speeds and variability have been completely removed, effectively cutting out one entire dimension of the combat system. Instead character roll once at the beginning of a fight and keep that score till the end. This presents some loop holes, very easily exploited. I give you this example. Two mages enter a dual - a 20th level Mage, with say 80 hit points and a 1st level Mage with 4 hit points and a heavily charged wand of magic missles. They start the combat and roll their d20s, the 1st level mage beats the 20th level mage so the 1st level mage goes first and uses his wand of magic missle. The 20th level mage can't counter spell or block the 1st level mage because of his intiative, nor can he cast anyspell of his own because he's being hit for damage and losing his spells. So he can't do anything with his magic. This will happen every round until he dies from small scratches from the magic missles leaving him with only two choices - run or attack the 1st level mage with his fists! Thus based on one roll unrelated to magic ability, a 1st level magic can defeat a true archmage. This also removes the element of say selecting faster weapons against opponents such as mages where initaitive is clearly important, effectively removing one strategic element from the game. While this system does have this one flaw that veteren players might find disturbing, overall the new system is nothing but an improvement and I recommend it to all players, beginners and veterens. Nice job WoC!
Rating:
Summary: Great product flawed by poor (no?) quality control
Review: I've been playing D&D in it's various incarnations since 1979, and am very impressed with the 3rd edition game system. Everything is well thought out and once you understand the system it flows much better than any previous rule set. Having said that, the 3rd Edition Players Handbook suffers from very poor (or no) quality control. My initial satisfaction quickly faded as I began to find small mistakes throughout the book. When I went to the official site to look for updates and errata, I was shocked to find that 9 pages of errata had already been identified. While many or all of these errors will be corrected in the second and subsequent printing, there are currently no plans to offer those of us who bought the first printing the opportunity to return or exchange our purchase. Buyer beware - if this is any indication of other products in the series, wait for the second and subsequent printings. With the majority of the corrections made I'd give this book 41/2 Stars, but the first printing is more trouble than it's worth.
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