Some of the kids at school are setting up a D+D club, and they're all newbs so they'll be buying the newest (3.5) edition. I still own the 3.0 versions, and will be DMing. Should I buy the new editions or are they mostly compatible?

Cool! A D&D club! I was in one when I was in high-school. There was my group, we were all around 14 years old or so, and then there was a group of older guys, all 17 or 18, and we played our separate campaigns in the same room at lunch time. Good times. Good times.

Anyhow - if you can do it, get the 3.5 books. They makes some changes that really do make a whole lot of sense, especially when it comes to weapons and armour. Classes are tweaked, making classes like the bard much more effective and less silly to play. I played a 3.5 campaign as a bard and kicked royal ass with a crossbow and a flail.

For the most part, though, they are fairly compatible. There are lots of minor changes with some spells, feats and skills that could get frustrating if some people are using 3.0 books and some are using 3.5 books. Maybe you should just go with what mostly everybody already has.

Something else you might want to consider, if you don't like how bogged down D&D can get while in combat, is to check out the latest edition of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay rules. Very streamlined, but very deadly. It's nothing like D&D combat... In WFRP you can die so easily, it really changes the way you think about getting into a fight.

Have a good time!

C.

Actually, one of the kid's dads is DMing now, as he has years of experience as a DM. He'll be following the 3.0 rules, so I'm good.

Wow how cool! I really miss playing! I havent actually played with the new rules as I dont have anyone that would want to play >.< I will say from what I have read, it seems a little confusing to me, no more THACO? I have seen the complete cd sets on quite a few torrent sites though so you shouldnt have any problems reading up!
On a side note...any D&D ers planning on checking out the mmorpg when it comes out? It says on release notes and reviews they are going to try to keep it as real as possible to the true D&D experience, we shall see I guess. Last I checked I think the go from beta to the real thing in March 2006.

3.5 is worthless.. they screwed alot up (alot of spells such as haste) pretty much all they did that was good (at least I was told about this) was better descriptions of spells
personally I don't see much wrong with 3.0 and anything that you thinks wrong just make house rules..

Posted by Pravus 3.5 is worthless.. they screwed alot up (alot of spells such as haste) pretty much all they did that was good (at least I was told about this) was better descriptions of spells personally I don't see much wrong with 3.0 and anything that you thinks wrong just make house rules..

Unless you count the fact that they BALANCED FREAKING EVERYTHING!
They reduced many spells' powers because if you're a power-gamer and figure out a few little tricks, you can make your character stupidly powerful in a matter of rounds.
The new updated rules (3.5) are MUCH better. The classes are more balanced, the skills are better organized, there are more feats, prestige classes. Hell, a lot of the art is even better!

Yeah, I'm with Jolt. All that the 3.5 edition did was fix all the things that were wrong with 3.0. One of the guys in my group is a serious munchkin min/max'er, and 3.5 put a stop to a lot of his tricks. Spell re-balancing, weapon tweaking, class tweaking, all done to fix what wasn't done properly the first time. Kudos to 3.5.

I play and DM in 3.5, but I'm not happy about it. The rules were adjusted, as far as I can tell, to prevent munchkins from being, well, munchkins. The cure for this is the word "NO!" coming out of the DMs mouth when needed. I only switched because Living Greyhawk is in 3.5, and I needed the spell and magic item changes. I'm still house ruling most of the changed material in my home game. The fact it was planed even before 3rd ED was released is my single biggest bitch though.