BECMI: not D&D?

[Korgoth]

Yep, revised so as to be readable and with art that doesn't make me cringe.

This makes me think you've never tried to look up anything in Mentzer.

Mentzer has a lot of good points, but most of them only apply if you're a kid trying to learn how to play D&D.

Not to mention the fact that trap finding and natural healing were left out of the Mentzer revision and as far as I know never made it back into the line.

Moldvay/Cook is an actually complete system. Not that Mentzer is bad... but your dismissal of B/X suggests a lack of familiarity with it.

Nothing I can do about the art: I like it just fine, but I can see why somebody might prefer Elmore.

 

[mhensley]

This makes me think you've never tried to look up anything in Mentzer.

Mentzer has a lot of good points, but most of them only apply if you're a kid trying to learn how to play D&D.

Not to mention the fact that trap finding and natural healing were left out of the Mentzer revision and as far as I know never made it back into the line.

Moldvay/Cook is an actually complete system. Not that Mentzer is bad... but your dismissal of B/X suggests a lack of familiarity with it.

Nothing I can do about the art: I like it just fine, but I can see why somebody might prefer Elmore.

Nay, you misunderstood me. By B/X, I meant the Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert sets. Mentzer is BECM. Why anyone would need 36 levels is beyond me. I never had a group survive to see 3rd.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Nay, you misunderstood me. By B/X, I meant the Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert sets. Mentzer is BECM. Why anyone would need 36 levels is beyond me. I never had a group survive to see 3rd.

You clearly were coddling them, sir.

 

[Zulgyan]

It's more about the spirit and gaming attitude and general flavour rather than concrete mechanics. Classsic D&D and AD&D shared a common soul and attitude.

d20 1st edition and the upcoming d20 second edition (a.k.a 4th Edition D&D) has changed too much in spirit, soul and style.

That's why it's not D&D to me.

 

[Korgoth]

Nay, you misunderstood me. By B/X, I meant the Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert sets. Mentzer is BECM. Why anyone would need 36 levels is beyond me. I never had a group survive to see 3rd.

Me am reading comprehension good.

I completely misread your post. Sorry, mate!

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

4. No it wasn't part of the great wheel. Neither was Ravenloft, Athas, or Spelljammer. They were all meant to be their own thing-- separate from the great wheel thing. Self-contained [except spell jammer that involved travel to different primes by ships rather than plane shifting]

Well, I know that Ravenloft was described as being part of the great wheel a couple of times. It is supposed to be a demi-plane that was near the negative energy plane on the ethereal.

Spelljammer books implied that it was part of the Great Wheel as well. The point was that the Material Plane was split into "subplanes" each of which was a crystal sphere. You could use plane shifting magic to get directly from one sphere to another as each was a separate material plane. Or you could use a spelljamming vessel to travel the phogeston between them. Spelljammer mentioned that Athas' crystal sphere was around somewhere, it was just remote and undiscovered.

This is all second edition lore, pretty much. With it's grand unifying theory of D&D. There were portals from all home campaigns everywhere to each other as well as all the published campaigns. Planar traveling magic could get you to any of them as well, and they were ALL part of the Great Wheel.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Possibly off-topic but I just reacquired the Cyclopedia, Creature Catalog and Book of Marvelous Magic and immediately set about creating a pick-up game of old-school D&D for my group.

After playing 3.x for so long, I was really surprised at how simple and uncomplicated the old game was. It's awesome.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

reacquired the Cyclopedia...old-school D&D for my group.
I was really surprised at how simple and uncomplicated the old game was. It's awesome.

Cyclopedia or BXCMI isn't that much more "old school" than 2e. Its a conecptually awesome system though.

 

[Clavis]

This is why all this talk of devils and demons doesn't sound like D&D to me. What about the Thouls?

Bring back the Thoul now!

 

[Wormwood]

Cyclopedia or BXCMI isn't that much more "old school" than 2e. Its a conecptually awesome system though.

The Cyclopedia was such a leap forward in game presentation that TSR didn't know what to do with it.

I was honestly surprised that WotC went back to the 3 core books models in 2000.

I'm more than a little disappointed that they're doing it again in 2008.