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Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Quixote" data-source="post: 4617659" data-attributes="member: 694">Let me start off first by saying that BECMI and the RC are still definitely Basic D&D, but calling it "BD&D" is such a misnomer in the first place.  It's just D&D.  Basic is the name of the low-level rulebook, but it's not part of that particular game's moniker.  "Classic D&D" is the more widely accepted term.  The Companion and Masters Sets and the Rules Cylopedia might make the game a little more complicated at high levels, but let's face it, when is high level play not complicated?So, between Classic D&D and Advanced D&D?  I personally much prefer Classic, although, when I do play AD&D, it's 2nd edition without any kits or Player's Option books, which is about as rules-lite as AD&D can possibly get.  But even then, AD&D has complexities that just turn me off, from the ability score charts to the massive and pointlessly unwieldy spell lists.  Frankly, when I first gave up playing 3rd edition, and the choice before me was to go back to either the Classic game or the Advanced game, my gut instinct said "Advanced" because I thought that I'd miss multiclassing, race-class combinations, and the moral-ethical alignment axis.  Then I tried both games out, and I found that when I was playing Classic I didn't miss any of those things at all.  Single-classed characters, demihumans pegged in their racial classes, and an ethics-only alignment system actually made character creation so much easier to deal with that the whole game followed suit and ran like a well-oiled machine.  Add on top of that the succinct spell, magic item, and monster lists and the real strong point of Classic D&D shines forth: it is complete and self-contained.  You can play it right out of the box, and you don’t have to add or subtract anything.  You can count on the game to be balanced all the way up to level 36, because it doesn’t get wonky until Immortals-level gameplay.  And there are actual, playable rules for running dominions, conducting wars, and ascending to godhood!  In short, Classic wins, because it's the most playable edition.</blockquote>

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