Sorry I'm sure this has been asked a thousand times. I'm old school. Is there a way to try this to see if it can bring back the old book playing days before I commit money to this. I played in the 80's and I still have those manuals.
To correct/clarify constructively, without spending any money you can set up an account (as you have) and you can access the basic rules. You can also find these rules on the Sources part of the drop down menu. The paid for content will grant you broader access to spells, monsters, subclasses, and backgrounds, just like the physical books did and still do.
One thing to clear up is that while some folks do "play by post" here, most folks use D&D Beyond as an accessory or tool for their sit down (or Zoom group) playing. So those basic rules would be in place of the books, there's also a way to roll dice as a function in your character sheet.
I feel reviewing the Basic Rules and playing with the character creator may give you a sense as to whether the tools capture the old school feel. It's probably a good way to mess around with the game in your head for a bit, maybe even play a bit with some friends (I think there are some free adventures too) to see if it's something you want to invest in digitally (here) or the physical books.
5th edition is the present edition of Dungeons and Dragons, it's not really compatible with the old books other than sharing some common terminology. It's a lot more streamlined than AD&D and 2nd Edition. So the old books would be useful for maybe adventure ideas and what not, but beyond inspiration, converting "old school" adventures into something compatible with 5th edition characters is sort of cottage industry art form.
If I understand the initial question correctly, you will not be able to use dndbeyond for AD&D 2nd Ed content. The functionalities here can only be used with D&D 5E.
So, for running AD&D (or 3, 3.5 or 4), you'll probably need to use another platform.
Look up the "Original Adventures Reincarnated" series by Goodman Games. (Haven't tried them myself but they look pretty good.) If you're willing to drop some money into it, they've converted a number of classic D&D modules for 5th edition. That way, you could use the current rules and tools while still having that old school feel.
I wasn't trying to be brutal, but wanted to make sure it was clear what DDB is and what it is not. I'm sorry if my comments slighted you in anyway, that was far from my intent. D&D Beyond has great free options, as I've outlined, to see if it's up your alley before you invest in a subscription or other paid content. You can run a game all the way to level 20 (5e levels cap at 20) with those free options if you want, though I think you'd have to create your own adventures after maybe level 10, though there are a lot of 3rd party providers of sometimes free content to consider.
I've purposefully avoided talking about paid for options, but if you decide to buy in there's a really well put together buyers guide at the top of this forum.
So I'd say step one would be to explore the Basic Rules and see if they give you the same feel as the game did in prior editions. Most of my D&D playing prior to 5e was AD&D and 2nd Edition. I like it, I think you can play the same "stories" for the most part (high level play isn't all that well supported by WotC, the official D&D publisher) but it's easier to teach, and frankly remember, the rules. Things don't get as bogged down with tables and cross referencing character sheets (the cool thing about D&D Beyond is that a D&D Beyond character sheet will actually "look up" the rules of a feature through cursor hovering). If it's not feeling right, there's a sort of small press movement called "Old School Rennaissance" or OSR which (I think) which tries to more explicitly capture the "old school" flavor of the game. That stuff I don't believe will be compatible with 5e or D&D Beyond.
The most frequent complaint fielded on D&D Beyond forums stems from folks who want all the functionality/support D&D Beyond's tools provide, but they don't won't to pay for it. Rather they feel their investment in print versions of D&D 5e books should entitle then to access the D&D Beyond toolset. That will likely never happen. D&D is published by Wizards of the Cost and produces materials available through retail (game stores, comic shops, book stores and Target/Walmart) and Amazon. D&D Beyond, takes Wizard's publications and converts them into Digital editions that are integrated into D&D Beyond's tools. If you're the sort who prefers reading books online anyway, D&D Beyond would probably interest you in the long run. If you're more someone who prefers the feel of paper and the bells and whistles of D&D Beyond don't do a lot for you, you may want to stick with printed books. There's a subset of that complaint field consisting of people who are irked that if D&D Beyond went away, in all likelihood, users purchased content would go with them. Presently that possibility seems astronomically unlikely. Another complaint is D&D Beyond doesn't support third party publishers contents all that well. Some of that can be remedied through the tools' pomebrewing system, though its clunky, takes time and frankly mentoring to get down right. There's also content, particularly third party classes (not subclasses, subclasses can be integrated, but there isn't a way to invent a new class outside of the options presented in the basic rules) that just can't be implemented in the homebrew system without an exhaustive amount of work arounds.
For me, I have a master's tier subscription and own a lot of content both in print and in D&D Beyond. I made that investment because I'm more a printed book person and sort of collect Table Top RPG books (my other hobby is basically free until my boots or trainers' soles wear out, so it's not really outrageous in terms of my life expenses). However, I also sorta lead a "club" of sorts of family and friends. With the master tier subscription's content sharing feature, those players can access online any book I've purchased on D&D Beyond simultaneously without having to make any purchase of their own (as long as they're playing in my group). So with the subscription and content purchases I can "share" without worrying about physical books disappearing, getting damaged or having to weight for a book to be returned before I lend it to someone else (that was always a problem when gaming back in the day).
So again, I think the best advice for someone thinking about returning to the hobby, see if the basic rules do it for you. If you want to go further, you'll find there's a lot of great guidance on this forum for all aspects of D&D Beyond use as well as buyer's advice, and just discussion of playing the game in general.
EDIT: one last "complaint" is that D&D Beyond isn't a Virtual Table Top (VTT). There are some tools that you'd find in a VTT, but a lot of the functionality in the major VTTs, like basically virtual battlemaps, aren't present in D&D Beyond. That's because D&D Beyond wasn't actually lauched to support online play exclusively, but support in person play (basically instead of a paper sheet you keep scratching up or redoing with every level increase, the players just consult their laptop, tablet, phone or whatever screen they access D&D Beyond on.
Sorry I'm sure this has been asked a thousand times. I'm old school. Is there a way to try this to see if it can bring back the old book playing days before I commit money to this. I played in the 80's and I still have those manuals.
thank you so much for the reply! How would I find a game for old people like me on the site? would I have to find DM's willing to run old content?
To correct/clarify constructively, without spending any money you can set up an account (as you have) and you can access the basic rules. You can also find these rules on the Sources part of the drop down menu. The paid for content will grant you broader access to spells, monsters, subclasses, and backgrounds, just like the physical books did and still do.
One thing to clear up is that while some folks do "play by post" here, most folks use D&D Beyond as an accessory or tool for their sit down (or Zoom group) playing. So those basic rules would be in place of the books, there's also a way to roll dice as a function in your character sheet.
I feel reviewing the Basic Rules and playing with the character creator may give you a sense as to whether the tools capture the old school feel. It's probably a good way to mess around with the game in your head for a bit, maybe even play a bit with some friends (I think there are some free adventures too) to see if it's something you want to invest in digitally (here) or the physical books.
5th edition is the present edition of Dungeons and Dragons, it's not really compatible with the old books other than sharing some common terminology. It's a lot more streamlined than AD&D and 2nd Edition. So the old books would be useful for maybe adventure ideas and what not, but beyond inspiration, converting "old school" adventures into something compatible with 5th edition characters is sort of cottage industry art form.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
@midnight plat
Well i thank you for your brutal honesty. Lol
If I understand the initial question correctly, you will not be able to use dndbeyond for AD&D 2nd Ed content. The functionalities here can only be used with D&D 5E.
So, for running AD&D (or 3, 3.5 or 4), you'll probably need to use another platform.
Look up the "Original Adventures Reincarnated" series by Goodman Games. (Haven't tried them myself but they look pretty good.) If you're willing to drop some money into it, they've converted a number of classic D&D modules for 5th edition. That way, you could use the current rules and tools while still having that old school feel.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
They published a collection of old modules updated for 5e in Tales from the Yawning Portal that you might be interested in too.
I wasn't trying to be brutal, but wanted to make sure it was clear what DDB is and what it is not. I'm sorry if my comments slighted you in anyway, that was far from my intent. D&D Beyond has great free options, as I've outlined, to see if it's up your alley before you invest in a subscription or other paid content. You can run a game all the way to level 20 (5e levels cap at 20) with those free options if you want, though I think you'd have to create your own adventures after maybe level 10, though there are a lot of 3rd party providers of sometimes free content to consider.
I've purposefully avoided talking about paid for options, but if you decide to buy in there's a really well put together buyers guide at the top of this forum.
So I'd say step one would be to explore the Basic Rules and see if they give you the same feel as the game did in prior editions. Most of my D&D playing prior to 5e was AD&D and 2nd Edition. I like it, I think you can play the same "stories" for the most part (high level play isn't all that well supported by WotC, the official D&D publisher) but it's easier to teach, and frankly remember, the rules. Things don't get as bogged down with tables and cross referencing character sheets (the cool thing about D&D Beyond is that a D&D Beyond character sheet will actually "look up" the rules of a feature through cursor hovering). If it's not feeling right, there's a sort of small press movement called "Old School Rennaissance" or OSR which (I think) which tries to more explicitly capture the "old school" flavor of the game. That stuff I don't believe will be compatible with 5e or D&D Beyond.
The most frequent complaint fielded on D&D Beyond forums stems from folks who want all the functionality/support D&D Beyond's tools provide, but they don't won't to pay for it. Rather they feel their investment in print versions of D&D 5e books should entitle then to access the D&D Beyond toolset. That will likely never happen. D&D is published by Wizards of the Cost and produces materials available through retail (game stores, comic shops, book stores and Target/Walmart) and Amazon. D&D Beyond, takes Wizard's publications and converts them into Digital editions that are integrated into D&D Beyond's tools. If you're the sort who prefers reading books online anyway, D&D Beyond would probably interest you in the long run. If you're more someone who prefers the feel of paper and the bells and whistles of D&D Beyond don't do a lot for you, you may want to stick with printed books. There's a subset of that complaint field consisting of people who are irked that if D&D Beyond went away, in all likelihood, users purchased content would go with them. Presently that possibility seems astronomically unlikely. Another complaint is D&D Beyond doesn't support third party publishers contents all that well. Some of that can be remedied through the tools' pomebrewing system, though its clunky, takes time and frankly mentoring to get down right. There's also content, particularly third party classes (not subclasses, subclasses can be integrated, but there isn't a way to invent a new class outside of the options presented in the basic rules) that just can't be implemented in the homebrew system without an exhaustive amount of work arounds.
For me, I have a master's tier subscription and own a lot of content both in print and in D&D Beyond. I made that investment because I'm more a printed book person and sort of collect Table Top RPG books (my other hobby is basically free until my boots or trainers' soles wear out, so it's not really outrageous in terms of my life expenses). However, I also sorta lead a "club" of sorts of family and friends. With the master tier subscription's content sharing feature, those players can access online any book I've purchased on D&D Beyond simultaneously without having to make any purchase of their own (as long as they're playing in my group). So with the subscription and content purchases I can "share" without worrying about physical books disappearing, getting damaged or having to weight for a book to be returned before I lend it to someone else (that was always a problem when gaming back in the day).
So again, I think the best advice for someone thinking about returning to the hobby, see if the basic rules do it for you. If you want to go further, you'll find there's a lot of great guidance on this forum for all aspects of D&D Beyond use as well as buyer's advice, and just discussion of playing the game in general.
EDIT: one last "complaint" is that D&D Beyond isn't a Virtual Table Top (VTT). There are some tools that you'd find in a VTT, but a lot of the functionality in the major VTTs, like basically virtual battlemaps, aren't present in D&D Beyond. That's because D&D Beyond wasn't actually lauched to support online play exclusively, but support in person play (basically instead of a paper sheet you keep scratching up or redoing with every level increase, the players just consult their laptop, tablet, phone or whatever screen they access D&D Beyond on.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.