D&D General Basic Rule Set Help

[Mannahnin]

Pretty much the publication date. Any module after 83 is BECMI, which happened partway through the B and X module series which started in 81. The only things pre-BECMI are earlier B and X modules.

Everything later with different module codes or none are BECMI or later stuff. If you look at the narrative extra descriptions in the Basic PDFs it will say the publication date for them. Most of Basic is post B/X.

Rules Cyclopedia is basically a compilation BECMI BECM stuff and the later Basic boxed sets are just redoing levels 1-5 without system changes so those ones are all useable with BECMI with zero mechanical contradictions.

BECMI is mostly B/X but the thief has a significantly different (worse) progression in BECMI and there is a bunch of high level stuff that gets different (plus BECMI master set introduced weapon mastery which is not in base B/X at all). For a module the B/X ones are going to be fully compatible with BECMI. Holmes has a few little bits of weirdness but will still be 95% compatible as written.

This is what I was doing to write, basically.

Slight nitpick: Whether the BECMI Thief has a different and worse progression than the B/X Thief depends on how high level you actually play to, and which version of the E for Expert rules you're looking at.

As originally printed, the (dark blue, Larry Elmore mounted fighter vs. dragon cover art) 1983 Expert set has the exact same Thief skill percentages as the (medium blue, Erol Otus wizard scrying on fighter and M-U facing dragon cover art) 1981 Expert set. They only retroactively altered the Thief percentages to make space for higher level advancement once the Companion set was published in '84. They also altered saving throw progressions and a couple of classes' XP/level progressions. TSR printed an errata sheet for that and started including it in Expert sets after that. It might also have been distributed in Dragon Magazine.

Unfortunately the Rules Cyclopedia also carries forward the Thief nerfing.

More discussion of the errata sheet here:

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[aco175]

There is also the basic rules for the 5e system. Most of this one can tell the difference right away though. If you are looking for a gift for someone it might help.