OSR Why B/X?

[Parmandur]

5E is not a "version" of AD&D in any meaningful sense. They share a bunch of terminology and a few core mechanics, but little else.

Ever tried using the official 5E conversion document for AD&D or BD&D? Crazy easy. Recognizably the same overall game.

 

[Reynard]

Ever tried using the official 5E conversion document for AD&D or BD&D? Crazy easy. Recognizably the same overall game.

Only based on experience with both systems. I challenge you to hand a new 5E player a copy of AD&D's Unearthed Arcana and tell them they can use both to create a character.

 

[Parmandur]

Only based on experience with both systems. I challenge you to hand a new 5E player a copy of AD&D's Unearthed Arcana and tell them they can use both to create a character.

Player side? Sure, fair. However, you can run Monaters out of the Fiend Folio by basically just flipping the AC around on a 0-30 scale. Spells aren't hard, either.

 

[Reynard]

Player side? Sure, fair. However, you can run Monaters out of the Fiend Folio by basically just flipping the AC around on a 0-30 scale. Spells aren't hard, either.

With experience. You know how to play both games so you can translate between them. You can do the same with any 2 games you know well. I can run a Gamma world adventure in Savage Worlds.

 

[Parmandur]

With experience. You know how to play both games so you can translate between them. You can do the same with any 2 games you know well. I can run a Gamma world adventure in Savage Worlds.

Takes way, way more work.

 

[Reynard]

Takes way, way more work.

Not if you know them both as well as you know AD&D and 5E. In fact, I would be inclined to say you might find stumbling blocks in the latter conversion because similar terminology has different meanings in each game.

But my overall point is that they are related but separate games. As opposed to, say AD&D and 2E, which are clearly versions of the same game. I would be inclined to put 3E and 5E in that category as well.

 

[CleverNickName]

I've run "X1: The Isle of Dread" in every RPG campaign I've ever been the DM for, reskinning it to fit the setting and reworking the mechanics to fit whatever system we are playing under. I've played it under the original Basic/Expert rules it was written for, but also 3E, 3.5E, Pathfinder, Dread, Call of Cthulhu, and twice under 5E (once in Eberron, and again in my homebrew D&D campaign.)

I've done the same with other modules to a lesser extent: I've run "Keep on the Borderlands" in 3E and Pathfinder, and I've run the whole "Master of the Desert Nomads" series in both 3.5E and Call of Cthulhu.

In my experience: the B/X adventures are incredibly easy to convert to different systems. The stat blocks and descriptions have just the right amount of detail to describe what the author's intent was, so that I can handle the rest. "Hmm...I just rolled a random encounter and it's a group of rhagodessae. Heh, I haven't seen one of those in years! Let's see, it says they're giant spider-like creatures with sticky suckers on their front legs, and if it hits a creature with those legs, it gets a +2 bonus to its bite attack. Gotcha. Sounds like I can just drop in a giant spider, give it a Leg attack as a bonus action, damage = 0+Restrained, and give it Advantage on bite attacks against a restrained target. Done. Roll initiative everyone!"

(real example from the last time I ran X1.)

 

[Parmandur]

Not if you know them both as well as you know AD&D and 5E. In fact, I would be inclined to say you might find stumbling blocks in the latter conversion because similar terminology has different meanings in each game.

But my overall point is that they are related but separate games. As opposed to, say AD&D and 2E, which are clearly versions of the same game. I would be inclined to put 3E and 5E in that category as well.

Humorously enough, 3E>5E conversions are significantly more work than AD&D or Basic. Most of the crunch in Tales from the Yawning Portal are Monster conversions for the 2 low level 3E Adventures.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Humorously enough, 3E>5E conversions are significantly more work than AD&D or Basic. Most of the crunch in Tales from the Yawning Portal are Monster conversions for the 2 low level 3E Adventures.

I have to concur with this. I had to look askance at the comment that 5e was basically just a version of 3e- I don't agree with that.

I admit that my familiarity with TSR-era D&D make it ridiculously easy for me to convert TSR modules "on the fly" when I'm running 5e, and that might not be true for everyone, but I don't think I've heard of people doing the same for 3e. And I've never thought of 5e as another version of 3e.

IMO, YMMV.

 

[Parmandur]

I have to concur with this. I had to look askance at the comment that 5e was basically just a version of 3e- I don't agree with that.

I admit that my familiarity with TSR-era D&D make it ridiculously easy for me to convert TSR modules "on the fly" when I'm running 5e, and that might not be true for everyone, but I don't think I've heard of people doing the same for 3e. And I've never thought of 5e as another version of 3e.

IMO, YMMV.

Definitely has 3E DNA, but "Bounded Accuracy" alone is enough to make it a fundamentally different game.

For fun, here are the quick and dirty conversion rules (as opposed to the more thorough conversion rules that require reading gue DMG like a nerd):