I just played my first Rules Cyclopedia based game

[ExploderWizard]

Sounds like an awesome session No matter what rules you end up using to play I think you will find that the adventures you make up as you go along will turn out to be the most memorable and possibly the most fun. Every part of games like this come from you and your players. The rules fade into the background and the events take center stage. I say keep going like you are. The games sounds like a lot of fun.

If character death is ruining the experience for anyone then you can simply rule that anyone reduced to 0 hp or below is knocked out. If the whole party gets wiped out, fade to black and the next scene opens with the characters as captives and the story continues. Use the rules as rough guidelines and keep things moving. From the sound of your session report you already know how to do this.

 

[Ant]

One of us ...

Welcome! Pull up a heady tankard of ale and warm your weary feet by the hearth.

As has been stated, B2 is a classic. I've run it several times for OD&D and BECMI. As an alternative to some of the great suggestions above, if you're keen to get straight into the action you could do as I've done on occassion and start the PCs in situ outside the caves. Simply fill the players in with a brief back story of how they arrived at the keep, were hired because of their obvious skill, travelled to caves and have now arrived (just on dark, of course). As an example you can read my account of DMing B2 at Gencon Oz here.

 

[ExploderWizard]

One of us ...

Welcome! Pull up a heady tankard of ale and warm your weary feet by the hearth.

As has been stated, B1 is a classic. I've run it several times for OD&D and BECMI. As an alternative to some of the great suggestions above, if you're keen to get straight into the action you could do as I've done on occassion and start the PCs in situ outside the caves. Simply fill the players in with a brief back story of how they arrived at the keep, were hired because of their obvious skill, travelled to caves and have now arrived (just on dark, of course). As an example you can read my account of DMing B1 at Gencon Oz here.

Do you mean B2 Keep on the Borderlands? B1 is In Search of the Unknown.

 

[Ant]

OOps! B2, sorry. It's been a long day.

 

[Grazzt]

Re #2 - for a game that can run from 1st level without piles of PC corpses, I give everyone a hit point kicker at 1st level. I've tried various approaches, x2 max hp does not work well (too much, makes people think they have 2 hit dice), +10 for everyone works well (because Basic D&D Clerics don't spellcast, it won't overpower them) but favours non-Fighters. Currently I favour +10 for Fighter & Dwarf, +8 for Cleric Elf Halfling and Thief (because low level Thieves suck), +6 for Magic-Users. A kicker like this deals with the '50% fatalities every fight' issue without increasing their offensive power. Also unconscious at 0, death at -10, instead of 0.

Ive done the same. The hit point "kicker" at 1st, though I just make it a flat +10 across the board for all classes.

 

[crash_beedo]

Awesome! The Rules Cyclopedia is like a precious treasure.

Regarding the questions...

1. Keep on the Borderlands: Good choice, KotB is a mini-campaign disguised as a module... it'll keep your group going for a long time.

2. Do the PCs have no hope for life? --One house rule you might consider is guaranteeing at least average or 3/4 HP for all level 1 guys (so a fighter would have 5, a cleric 4, a MU or Thief 3). I'd only do this if your players will get seriously discouraged otherwise - part of the old school fun is getting to survive past level 1 (the hard way). Old school play like this really supports big parties (6-8 characters) and combat will still run super fast - definitely let your PC's hire some cannon fodd... er, mercenaries and hirelings.

3. What are the best BECMI products? The guys already posting are pros, you can't go wrong there. Following up B2 with X1 or X2 in the module series is a solid choice. X1 is a good sandbox for exploration; X2 is chock-full of nutty (really nutty) NPC's and is a dream if you and your players like roleplaying. Tom Moldvay was a master of the art. B4 the Lost City has many similar situations. The Grand Duchy of Karameikos gazetteer would provide a handy setting.

4. Are there any sweet house rules people would use? Just hit points...

 

[rkwoodard]

and the great thing is

That is great, and the cool thing is that it can teach you to do that in the later editions.

Having grown up playing/dm'ing D&D and AD&D, when I moved over to 3rd, I had no problem doing things on the fly. I did tons of monsters and NPCs on a half sheet of paper just listing saves, attacks, and hit points.

I am actually on the look out for a cheap rules compendium. My group has no real interest so it would not get a lot of use except for reading pleasure.

anyway, good luck and keep the dice rolling

rk

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Check out the forums at The Piazza, many online Mystara veterans seem to have clustered there for discussions after WotC blew up the Retired Settings forums.

Likewise, the official Mystara fansite The Vaults of Pandius has tons of fan created material that uses BECMI/RC rules. Don't be discouraged that the site focuses on Mystara if you are more interested in the rules than the setting, that was just the default setting that grew out of the early modules for the BECMI/RC rules so many fans who are still using the BECMI rules today are offering their work at The Vaults for others to use.

 

[Mercule]

I had done absolutely no prep at all--no planned encounters, no pre made dungeons, no map of the area, no preconceived towns and NPCS. I literally had nothing. I made up the entire thing as I went.

Ah. This warms my heart. For everything before 3e, this is how I ran D&D. When I couldn't do that with 3e, I just assumed I'd gotten old and/or had too much other stuff going on in life to master the game. To hear that you got the book and played this way right off the bat is validation that I'm not senile or overly nostalgic.

There were a few questions I wanted to ask about RC games:
1. Is Keep on the Borderlands a good way to start? I ordered it off Amazon the other day. My hope is to start a monthly sandbox style game. Was this a good decision, or would something else have been better?

It's how I started. I don't remember much about it, but it got me hooked.

2. Do the PCs have no hope for life?

My solution, since I was winging it anyway, was to fudge a bit if the PCs weren't being dumb. Not enough to really mess with the flow of the game, but enough to give the PCs a break when something "swingy" happens.

4. Are there any sweet house rules people would use?

I'd say let 'em evolve naturally. Your group will find things they want to do a bit differently or you'll find a tone you want to set and the rule will generally just happen. The nice thing about BECMI and 1e is that the systems are pretty robust. You don't usually get bizarre ripples into other areas of the rules.

 

[Delta]

Skillful play matters ("the slaughter will continue until play improves").

LOL. Wow, is that funny.

My rules input:
- I would say do not go for an "announce intent before initiative" rule. At this point I'm sold that that's one of the key "bad game design" mistakes. It massively slows down the game -- for immersion's sake, you want the action to occur immediately as soon as the player declares it. Games that fight this usually force into the next step, which is everyone writing down their actions on paper pre-initiative. Yuck.

(In AD&D I require announcing actions only for people casting spells. Which is how I read at least one part of the DMG.)

- I would also not give hp boosts. That radically warps the game as written. And it makes accounting afterwards a pain. If you must, start PCs at 2nd or 3rd level and use RAW.