Really high quality book, clearly organized and easy to use. The colors are slightly dimmer than the PDF but it's not a big deal

Of the 3 files available for download, which one is the current/updated one?

Excelente livro. Uma das poucas críticas (válidas) que o AD&D recebera foi o fato da organização do livro não ter sido bem planejada. Você precisava, por exemplo, olhar em três locais diferentes para identificar o THAC0, resistências, habilidades e evolução de cada classe.

For Gold & Glory consegue remediar isso, mantendo o clima clássico de aventura medieval que D&D jamais deveria ter perdido.

I ordered the B/W hardcover copy and am quite satisfied with the layout, composition and quality of the printing. I've been a fan of 2e AD&D for a long time but felt the format of the older books left a lot to be desired. Now I have what is effectively a combination of the most useful parts and reference charts from the PHB, DMG and even the monstrous manual so no more flipping to figure out stat blocks or random tables/making arbitrary d20 checks.

A great book!

Flawed, yes. Could use some corrections, additions and clarifications from the original AD&D 2nd edition.

However, the book itself is great and anyone who played AD&D 2e would feel right at home.

Fore Gold & Glory is amazing. The best 2e Clone out there, can even use the red books with it.

2E D&D in all its messy glory. There's actually some interesting ideas in here you can incorporate into modern games. The weapon skill progression for example.

If you played Advanced 2nd edition Dungeons and Dragons in the 90's, this is pretty much it! A lot of nostalgia here!

I bought this as a high quality hard cover, hoping it would be a worthy replacement for my aging, 1989 2e AD&D PHB/DMG/MM. Unfortunately, the author barely mentioned Specialty Priests... For me, the Specialty Priest was one of the greatest innovations in the entirety of 2e core rules. Reading its short description within the original 2e PHB, in the gaming store aisle, sold me on 2e, when it first came out, in 1989; until I read that entry, I considered it to just be a money grab by T$R. That one thing sold me, completely, on 2e rules.

Imagine my disappointment in opening up For Gold & Glory, discovering the author barely mentioned it: "Clerics represent a generic member of a clergy. The Druid is an example of a specialized priest with specific tenants and abilities." That is the sum total of what the book says about Specialty Priests.

If the Player/DM wishes to utilize Specialty Priests within the FG&G games, they will either need to design and build it entirely on their own, or they will need to refer to official 2e AD&D books to figure out how to do it. In all fariness, there is a brief outline as to which Spheres of spells both the 'generic cleric' and the Druid have access to, and a mention of how Minor Access limits a Cleric to 1st through 3rd level spells only, within such a Sphere, but this is hardly a descripiont of how to build Specialty Priests! Talk about disappointing! No discussion of Granted Powers, other than what the 'generic cleric' and the Druid get. If I knew nothing about Specialty Priests, this books would leave me ignorant of the whole concept for them, aside from the Druid. This reduces these rules to a mildly revised version of the 1e game, IMO. There really are not many drastic changes between 1e and 2e rules. The Specialty Priest concept, along with the Thieves being able to assign percentage points to the skills they desire to beef up, the Bard as a class to be played from 1st level, without being a Fighter and Thief, first, using a d10 for Iniiative, really are the big differences between 1e and 2e. Those differences make 2e more desirable than 1e, by a wide margin, for me.

As to the qulaity of the book, it is fantastic. I love the artwork, I love the organization, such as listing the Character Class's Saving Throw chart below their XP tables. It is really well done, aside from leaving Speciatly Priests virtually out of the entire book.

For me, the Specialty Priest makes 2e rules stand out from all other Editions of the D&D rules. That feature makes 2e rules the only ones I will play. I was so excited to get my hands on a hard cover, high quality POD copy of these rules... And I was so crushed to see the author ignore the greatest feature of 2e rules.

This book is basic, covering just the original core rulebook topics, lacking more advanced rules for crafting magical items, and such. Again, the 2.5 era AD&D books are still useful, if you need more than what is covered in the original 2e core books.

If, like me, you love the Specialty Priest rules, and concept, hang onto your official 2e AD&D books, or buy a PDF/POD copy of it from WotC. This is still a great core rulebook for 2e fans, covering the original three core books, in a single volume, it just has one crater in the rules (causing a 2-star loss in my rating), which I think potential buyers need to be aware of. Cheers!

A Note on the premium color version: (tldr: don't buy that version)

First of all, I'd like to echo every previous review - this book is invaluable. And yet, I have to rate my purchase a 3/5. I'll make things clear further on. Basically, the AD&D second edition base rules (the PHB, the DMG and the MM) bundled up in a tightly knit bunch. If you're still playing ad&d 2nd edition or plan to start, you need this book. Especially the digital version.  If is super-easy to navigate and everything is crystal clear. Now, when it comes to physical versions, there are a lot of options. I purchased the highest of the high ends: the premium color hardcover version. And it was a premium disappointment. The book, as it can be seen in the digital version as well, comes with public domain artwork. That's understandable, but a number of images have really bad compression atrifacts. That's something you're so used to on a monitor, you don't even realize it's there. On a printed page, it's baffling. But where it absolutely differs from the digital version are the colors. While the images in the PDF look vivid and colorful, the premium print is washed out, muddled, dull and almost gray (and the quality of the laser printing definitely doesn't help). I have to commend the DrivethruRPG support staff, as they did their best to help, but the problem seems to be with the source the prints are made from. For the moment, all color versions will look pretty bad.

That said, Do I recommend this product? Absolutely! Now, should you get this book, I'd suggest the digital version - if you want a physical copy however, I strongly suggest going with a grayscale copy (and pray for the delivery service to handle your package with care). It's less than a third of the price of the premium color, and probably looks better in the end .

I received my FG&G a few days ago, and it fully fullfilled my expectations. The printing quality of the hardcover, B&W version is quite good (better that I had expected, in fact, for a print-on-demand product), the binding seems solid, and the content is exactly what it's supposed to be: a slightly upgraded version of the second edition of my favourite RPG.

I'm one of those few guys who didn't really like the third edition of the game, and still miss the good old days of THAC0s, ACs and percentages for the rogue abilities. At the same time, I acknowledge that some rules of the old edition, like proficiencies and unarmed combat, didn't make any sense. FG&G has a deep respect for the original text but, at the same time, makes the proper changes at the proper places. Besides, it's like a Player's handbook and a DM guide, all in one. It even includes a bestiary, so it has everything you need to start playing.

In short, if you buy FG&G, you'll get a game with all the flavour of the 90's, simple and fun, completely playable, with a decent printing quality, and at a reasonable price. If that's the kind of game that you're looking for, you won't get disappointed.

This is a really outstanding work! It's fully compatible with 2e which is of course the main draw. Like most/many of you I have multiple copies of the books I use but they're getting more and more expensive in the secondary market. This is a great way to get "user" books or to outfit a new group. It's pretty much 2e with much better organization and rewritten for clarity. The PDF is great and FREE! But I did also buy the standard color hardback. It's a gem! The color is greata and the binding is fantastic. I wish my early 1e and 2e books had been bound this well! Several of them fell apart in a couple months. I anticipate this POD tome to hold up to some hard use.

Highly recommended in whatever format you prefer. The PDF is awesome for research and casual reading (at age 52 I just can't read regular print as easily as I could when I was 20). Even if one has the PDF it's nice to have the hard copy at the gaming table.

Quite honestly, this is to AD&D 2nd Edition, what 2nd Edition was to AD&D. for me at least I see FG&G as AD&D 3 or at least 2.9. as the creators state the FG&G is compatible with AD&D 2nd Edition, which means they work together seemlessly. it is honestly a brilliant product and I cannot endorse it enough.

Thank you so much. At almost 400 pages you have condensed the original 900 pages of gaming content to the most critical concepts, components, and explanatory material to be able to re-create, for free, that which was originally covered in three times as many books. Your choice to present material in only two columns per page is much better than the original three columns per page. Your editing and formatting decisions aid the gamer to better follow the flow that you present. The public domain artwork that you selected is exquisite. Ample table of contents and index for cross referencing, not to mention the fully searchable pdf. A faithful reproduction of the original, and where you do make editorial/game designer decisions where the original was less than clear, you expressly lined out the method you used to derive the conclusions you made. Masterfully done!

As a long time 1st/2nd edition AD&D player/DM I have always looked for compatible products from various 2nd/3rd party publishers,God Emperor Games does a superior job of doing just that.This is a product that any and all lovers of the OSR community should have no,NEEDS to have in their collection/library.I cannot praise God Emperor Games enough for producing this book.It combines all the pertinent information from the 2nd edition Players Handbook,Dungeon Masters Guide,and The Monstrous Manual.I in all honesty cannot find one thing wrong with this product.I highly and I truly mean highly recommend this book for lovers of Old School 2nd edition AD&D.