God, I *LOVE* BECMI!

[rogueattorney]

"Of course" Mentzer's Expert set is the "only one worth" using?

How odd . . . many of us absolutely love Cook's Expert rules.

I hate finding out I've been mistaken all these years.

The differences between the two are so minimal as to make choosing one over the other a non-choice.

I did a side by side comparison here:

Dragonsfoot • View topic - Cook/Marsh Expert v. Mentzer Expert

Essentially, the only real changes are that fighters, clerics, and magic-users are de-powered a tad, mainly with worse savings throws.

 

[Jack Daniel]

I hate finding out I've been mistaken all these years.

Well now you know.

B/X Player: "Check it out: my cleric gets both a 3rd *and* a 4th level spell when he reaches level six! You've got to wait for level eight to cure serious wounds or neutralize poison, hahaha!"
BECM Player: "At least my cleric gets 6th level spells. Hey, look, a huge monster---quick, cast Word of Recall! Oh, wait, yeah, I forgot. You *can't*! Hahaha!"

 

[JeffB]

The *ONLY* thing I prefer about the Mentzer* set is the slightly expanded treatment of the Known World. Much prefer the M/C/M books for utility/ease of use (and aesthetically).




* No slight on Frank whatsoever- just a preference thing. He's an awesome guy, and a TSR icon. I actually have Frank's first print personal copies of his B/X rulebooks including his hand penned eratta. Beat to shreds but functional. Lots of gaming mojo in them. Several years ago, he was gracious enough to offer them for my son to learn with. He tried to send them for only the cost of shipping, but I paypal'ed him some extra cash for them.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

"Of course" Mentzer's Expert set is the "only one worth" using?

How odd . . . many of us absolutely love Cook's Expert rules.

Can't give you XP again yet, so I'll give you an "AMEN!"

 

[havard]

I love BECMI, but for a different reason that the OP. I'm not using BECMI for nostalgia type games. Instead I like BECMI because it is one of very few games which can handle such a wide range of gaming experiences within a single campaign in terms of advancement, wilderness exploration, Kingdom management, questing for immortality, planar exploration etc.

-Havard

 

[Aplus]

All else being equal, I prefer the typeface of Moldvay/Cook/Marsh