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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arjomanes" data-source="post: 6642835" data-attributes="member: 94951">Congrats on finding a copy of the Rules Compendium! It's my favorite D&D book of all time. I had a copy back in high school, but it went the way of all my D&D stuff when I went away to college (my mom unloaded a bunch of my toys, books, etc). I've missed that book more than anything (even more than the Planescape, Spelljammer, and Dark Sun boxed sets). I purchased the PDF; I just haven't bitten the bullet yet to buy the actual book.  My advice is to explore the concept of Old School D&D. There is a bigger difference than just the mechanics. There was a different play style in the old days and a somewhat different philosophy to the game. Part of that was necessary (the game was younger and everyone was newer at it) and part of it was just a difference of style. I'd start with Matt Finch's <a href="http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_63/3019000/3019374/1/print/3019374.pdf" target="_blank">Old School Primer</a> for his take on the idea of Old School. I'd also pick up a copy of one of the classic old school Basic modules. Any of the classic early level 1 modules would be great. They are rated highly for a reason. Here are my recommendations:<a href="http://www.dndclassics.com/product/17081/B1-In-Search-of-the-Unknown-Basic?it=1" target="_blank">B1 In Search of the Unknown</a><a href="http://www.dndclassics.com/product/17158/B2-The-Keep-on-the-Borderlands-Basic?it=1" target="_blank">B2 The Keep on the Borderlands</a><a href="http://www.dndclassics.com/product/17084/B4-The-Lost-City-Basic?it=1" target="_blank">B4 The Lost City</a><a href="http://www.dndclassics.com/product/17056/N1-Against-the-Cult-of-the-Reptile-God-1e?it=1" target="_blank">N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God</a>Read through the modules and notice how sparse they are compared to 5e modules (especially B1 — it's up to the DM to populate the dungeon with monsters!) Feel free to pencil in notes, flesh things out, and use them as a starting point for your own campaign world. Much of the B/X experience was that the D&D world was brand new, undefined, and ready for a DM to make her own. I think it's great to embrace that, get the graph paper out and make a dungeon. Get a hexmap out and start plotting ruins and lairs in a circle around the starting village. I really appreciate your enthusiasm to play the different versions of the game. That's pretty impressive! Since you're interested in the history of the game, I also highly recommend <a href="http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Playing at the World</a>, both the blog and the book. Jon Peterson has done some exhaustive research into the origins and growth of Dungeons & Dragons, and his book is a masterpiece of the history of the greatest game.</blockquote>

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