Which edition would best fit my playing style?

[tenkar]

There are more than three classes in OD&D, but you have to grab Supplements 1 & 2 for the rules. That said, this is the only requirement of the OP that OD&D and BD&D don't fill, while several other recommendations in this thread fall flat on multiple requirements (notably for rule density, easy prep, etc). He could do far worse than OD&D or BD&D.

If you start adding in OD&D supplements you no longer have an easily referenced set of rules. Greyhawk has the rules for thieves spread out. Also, if you are going to use the extra classes, you might as well use variable HD and variable weapon damage. When you add druids you are now spread thru 5 booklets.

OD&D is not well organized which is why I suggest retro clones before delving into the old white box and its supplements.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I suggest 4e. The only thing that may not live up to your expectations right out of the core books is the relative lack of options. Since you're not overly concerned with balance though, you can find tons of fan-made options as quickly as you can search the homebrew forum here, at giantitp.com and wizards.com, to name a few. (Who knows, some of the homebrew stuff might be better balanced than core stuff!) And if you're willing to put extra money into the game, more and more options will come out in splatbooks as time goes by.

TS

 

[tenkar]

One could argue that 4E can accomplish this as well. I would recommend avoiding things like Martial Power and Adventurer's Vault if you are trying to avoid "crunch explosion" as those books certainly qualify. The core books are short on magical items though, so Adventurer's Vault is hard to ignore, though you did mention a low to mid-magic game. Adding more options while avoiding crunch explosion would be more along the lines of Players Handbook II next march than things like Martial Power.

Maybe its just me but 4e feels like a high magic game from my experience with it. That is just from the racial and character abilities. Its a fun game, but low magic feel it is not.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Maybe its just me but 4e feels like a high magic game from my experience with it. That is just from the racial and character abilities. Its a fun game, but low magic feel it is not.

High/Low magic and 4E depends on what you're looking at. Its high magic in the fact that a Wizard can spam Magic Missle and Scorching Burst all day long, and never spend a round of combat without casting a spell. Its low magic in the fact that magic items and character powers tend to not have earth shattering effects, ever. The only real earth shaking magic in the game comes from ritualls. 4E is full of magic, but the magic it is full of is very low key.

 

[Shroomy]

While 4e is by default "high magic" (for lack of a better term; I agree that the magic in the game is lower powered than in previous editions), it would be pretty easy to pull off a low magic game with a few house rules, such as all martial characters, trading the expected magic item bonuses for flat bonuses as one levels (someone worked out the math, you could search EN World for it and not have to do the work yourself), etc.

 

[pawsplay]

High/Low magic and 4E depends on what you're looking at. Its high magic in the fact that a Wizard can spam Magic Missle and Scorching Burst all day long, and never spend a round of combat without casting a spell. Its low magic in the fact that magic items and character powers tend to not have earth shattering effects, ever. The only real earth shaking magic in the game comes from ritualls. 4E is full of magic, but the magic it is full of is very low key.

Unfortunately, the Perpetual Wizardry Machine is exactly what turns some people off of 4e. Removing those kinds of things means rewriting the magical classes a lot.

 

[Neil Bishop]

I would suggest Savage Worlds with the free Advanced Dungeons & Savages PDF.

 

[Darrin Drader]

buy.com has the C&C PHB for $13.52... get you order to 25 bucks and the shipping is free. They don't have the Monster's and Treasures book in stock directly... an affiliated merchant has it for less then $13 but you'll need to add shipping (brings the price to about $16) EDIT (well the link for the M&T book is for a used copy, but the price is now 9 bucks plus shipping... or you could just download the OSRIC 2.0 rules for free and crib the monsters from there)

This whole issue is why I buy PDFs now, almost exclusively. Books are never out of print unless the publisher pulls the files, and if I decide to run the game, laser printing and binding is cheap. I also know a couple people who own their own small (very small) print machinery in their garages and have printed up copies of actual books for me in the past (my almost like-new paper copy of the original Temple of Elemental Evil should be the envy of everybody here! ).

The only books I'm actually buying in print right now are the Paizo Pathfinder adventures. I have a printed copy of the two main C&C books and I'm quite happy with them. I see C&C as kind of the basic D&D of our time and Pathfinder as the AD&D of our time.

 

[tenkar]

This whole issue is why I buy PDFs now, almost exclusively. Books are never out of print unless the publisher pulls the files, and if I decide to run the game, laser printing and binding is cheap. I also know a couple people who own their own small (very small) print machinery in their garages and have printed up copies of actual books for me in the past (my almost like-new paper copy of the original Temple of Elemental Evil should be the envy of everybody here! ).

The only books I'm actually buying in print right now are the Paizo Pathfinder adventures. I have a printed copy of the two main C&C books and I'm quite happy with them. I see C&C as kind of the basic D&D of our time and Pathfinder as the AD&D of our time.

Oh, they are very much in print. The Player's Handbook is in its 3rd printing, the Monsters and Treasures book is in its 2nd printing. I was just trying to find the OP the biggest bang for his buck.

Buy.com is not the best site to find stuff in general, but when it does have something you are looking for the price is often "right" (read cheap)

Amazon has the core books in stock (eligible for Prime shipping) at full retail value... basically $20 bucks a book. Why pay full if you can find it cheaper? On closer look it seems Amazon has most of the line in stock.

 

[Dausuul]

Maybe its just me but 4e feels like a high magic game from my experience with it. That is just from the racial and character abilities. Its a fun game, but low magic feel it is not.

It is by default intended to be a flashy, high-magic game, this is true. However, and rather ironically, it is of all the editions the best suited for low-magic gameplay. (The fact that they hired the designer of Iron Heroes to play a major role in developing 4E might have something to do with that.) The Player's Handbook contains a full complement of martial classes, so you can strip out any or all of the caster classes without trouble, and it is likewise quite easy to do away with magic items. Just hand out a +1 bonus per 5 levels to attacks, damage rolls, and all defenses.

Furthermore, there is virtually none of the mind-bending, plot-wrecking magic that made high-level wizards a DM's nightmare in previous editions - and I'm including BECMI, 1E, and 2E in that. (Can't speak for OD&D since I never played it.) Turning invisible for more than a few seconds is a major job of work in 4E, whereas in previous editions you could do it by 3rd level. Free-range teleportation used to be available by level 9; now you don't get it until level 28. And while resurrection magic still shows up fairly early, it's much easier to remove it from 4E without having PC mortality go through the roof.

As regards racial abilities, the only one that seems overtly magical to me is the eladrin fey step. If you don't like that, ban eladrin, or give them some other racial power instead.

As far as interesting out-of-combat options... I'd say 4E provides fewer of those for the casters, but a whole lot more for everyone else. Have a look at rogue utility powers sometime.