Any reason to play 1 before 2?

I think 2 is a little better and was going to get that first.

Different rule sets, so depends on which set of rules you like best, but I'd play 1 first.

The first takes place about 30 years before the second and there is some carry-over history involved, so you get some backstory as well.

I don't see why not.

Thanks so much!

In my opinion 1 is much better:
It has better rules set.
It has better UI (Spellbook and scrolls look so mechanic in 2)
It has better story.

But 2 has a much better and lovely narrator.

These are my opinions ofc.

As a point of contrast, I think Icewind Dale 2 is significantly more fun to play, mainly because of the rules used, the scenario design, and the improvements to the GUI. If you're planning on playing both, you probably want to start with IWD1 so you don't get used to features that only exist in IWD2.

In fact the only reason I'm not playing IWD2 is because my laptop chokes on it because of the Nvidia bug :(

I'd have to mostly agree with Skysong on this, I really do like the the rule-set in two better but everything else gets the nod for IWD1. Even the graphics I liked more in IWD1, the fog of war is so smooth in 1 but in IWD2 it's badly Pixelated.

I prefer IWD2, personally, but I've made a lot of modifications to it. In particular, I greatly reduced the effect of the XP decrease for lower-level monsters, because at higher levels, the bad guys can still put a WORLD of hurt on you, and they'll spawn in groups of 10+, but you get almost zero XP for what is definitely NOT a "trivial encounter."

For me, 1 has the advantage of a neat story and a better HoW hardmode, but the game mechanics for 1 are just meh. And a large amount of the first section of the game feels like the classic "Level One Adventure" where a single goblin archer can kill your entire party if you're unlucky. AD&D is best balanced in the lvl 6-15 range, which shows a lot more in the first game.

I like them both, but for me, 2 has much higher replay value.