I bought the digital version of set 1, sadly, I can't find any players so I haven't been
interested in set 2, especially after set 1 didn't really expand the DA world all that
much.
While Set 1 was minimal on background, a decent amount of new content was addded in the Blood in Ferelden adventure guide. That said, Set 2 does do a better job at expanding the Canon. For one it intro's the 7 differerent factions for the Circle Tower of Mages and secondly it brings in backgrounds for Orlessians, Quanari and characters from the Free Marches, all of which are playable. So in contrast, the 1st box set had 7 playable character backgrounds and that number has now shot up to 18! It really expands the Dwarf and Ozzamar portion of the canon - about 8 pages in Player Guide 2 alone dedicated to it. As well, 5 of the new character backgrounds are Dwarven. In terms of crafting knowledge, it has poison making and trap making that is significantly more advanced and detailed than the CRPGs. It also finally adds specializations - 3 each for the 3 different classes. Unfortunately the Ranger was left out and the Arcane Warrior and Bard were nerfed a bit, but the Blood Mages are very formidable - even more powerful than the CRPG
My biggest beef is that herblore and potion-crafting were left out, but a very professional looking fan-made guide filled that in virtually the moment the Box Set 2 was published. The same authors also did an excellent guide on Rune carving and enchantment for BS1. Honestly if you read those guides, you'd have a hard time determining if they were published by a fan or Green Ronin - they're that good. So if you include the fan-made material there's far more to the PnP now than what's in the CRPG's. Another beef is that, although they added a lot of Dwarf content it really only makes sense to use them in 2 of the 6 campaign types detailed in GM Guide 2. My last complaint is that GR is obviously saving the Elven portion of the canon for last box set, as BS2 didn't add to the existing City and Dalish Elf backgrounds.
