Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
5 Fun Facts about the 1991 D&D Black Boxed Set
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Jack Daniel" data-source="post: 8514141" data-attributes="member: 694"><p>The actual rules are very similar to Mentzer Basic, but with some very odd changes.</p><p>• Charisma modifiers go up and down to ±3, making all ability score adjustments uniform. (But partially offsetting this, the monster reactions table is shifted one point towards hostility: a 2d6 roll of 6–8 indicated neutrality in Mentzer and earlier, but in this edition, it's 7–9.)</p><p>• Halflings for some reason attack as clerics rather than fighters.</p><p>• Mentzer and the Rules Cyclopedia both accidentally omit the natural healing rules. The black box has them: a very generous 1d4 hp recovered per night of rest. (Earlier editions had anywhere from 1d3 to ½ hp per night.)</p><p>• There's a very offbeat rule in this edition about filling out small parties with retainers (defined as NPCs with a class and level, rather than mere 0-level hirelings), but instead of being based on PC Charisma, it recommends filling out a party with only one or two NPCs, bringing a group up to no more than 4–6 characters maximum. Very small parties compared to earlier expectations!</p><p>• Finally, the biggest change (and quite possibly a mistake, though there are some who argue that it was very deliberate) is to the action economy. In Mentzer and earlier, you can move and still make a melee attack. (Your encounter speed equals one-third your exploration speed, so, e.g., if you normally move 120' per turn through the dungeon, you can close 40' into a melee and still take a swing.) And leaving melee let you either turn your back and retreat at your full encounter speed or make a fighting withdrawal at half that speed. But this book changed that: you could only do <em>one thing</em> on your turn in a combat, including either moving <em>or</em> attacking. And a fighting withdrawal was reduced from half your encounter speed to a mere 5'. Weirdly, the Rules Cyclopedia includes <em>both</em> some of the text from the black box <em>and</em> some from Mentzer, so it contradicts itself when explaining movement and the action economy.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jack Daniel, post: 8514141, member: 694"] The actual rules are very similar to Mentzer Basic, but with some very odd changes. • Charisma modifiers go up and down to ±3, making all ability score adjustments uniform. (But partially offsetting this, the monster reactions table is shifted one point towards hostility: a 2d6 roll of 6–8 indicated neutrality in Mentzer and earlier, but in this edition, it's 7–9.) • Halflings for some reason attack as clerics rather than fighters. • Mentzer and the Rules Cyclopedia both accidentally omit the natural healing rules. The black box has them: a very generous 1d4 hp recovered per night of rest. (Earlier editions had anywhere from 1d3 to ½ hp per night.) • There's a very offbeat rule in this edition about filling out small parties with retainers (defined as NPCs with a class and level, rather than mere 0-level hirelings), but instead of being based on PC Charisma, it recommends filling out a party with only one or two NPCs, bringing a group up to no more than 4–6 characters maximum. Very small parties compared to earlier expectations! • Finally, the biggest change (and quite possibly a mistake, though there are some who argue that it was very deliberate) is to the action economy. In Mentzer and earlier, you can move and still make a melee attack. (Your encounter speed equals one-third your exploration speed, so, e.g., if you normally move 120' per turn through the dungeon, you can close 40' into a melee and still take a swing.) And leaving melee let you either turn your back and retreat at your full encounter speed or make a fighting withdrawal at half that speed. But this book changed that: you could only do [I]one thing[/I] on your turn in a combat, including either moving [I]or[/I] attacking. And a fighting withdrawal was reduced from half your encounter speed to a mere 5'. Weirdly, the Rules Cyclopedia includes [I]both[/I] some of the text from the black box [I]and[/I] some from Mentzer, so it contradicts itself when explaining movement and the action economy. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
5 Fun Facts about the 1991 D&D Black Boxed Set
Top