OD&D Edition Experience: Did/Do you Play BECM/RC D&D? How Was/Is It?

[CleverNickName]

I always enjoyed the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. Probably, my favorite D&D book.

Agreed; the Rules Cyclopedia is one of the best (and most complete) D&D rulebooks ever written. And I'm not just saying that because it's my favorite.

 

[kronovan]

I didn't vote, because none of the choices seemed to apply to me. I've only played and DM'd Old School Essentials, but I've been told by some that it's a modern BECMI retroclone. If that's the case, there's nothing in that poll that would suit me.
Unless I should just vote for "I'm playing it right now and so far, I like it" ?

You could only find AD&D1e on shelves back in the early 80s in my city when BECMI was still a thing. If it was possible to buy it then, I'd have no doubt played it. If it is indeed close to OSE, I would have certainly liked it.

 

[Zardnaar]

I didn't vote, because none of the choices seemed to apply to me. I've only played and DM'd Old School Essentials, but I've been told by some that it's a modern BECMI retroclone. If that's the case, there's nothing in that poll that would suit me.
Unless I should just vote for "I'm playing it right now and so far, I like it" ?

You could only find AD&D1e on shelves back in the early 80s in my city when BECMI was still a thing. If it was possible to buy it then, I'd have no doubt played it. If it is indeed close to OSE, I would have certainly liked it.

OSE level 14 or 20 or something else?

 

[CleverNickName]

I didn't vote, because none of the choices seemed to apply to me. I've only played and DM'd Old School Essentials, but I've been told by some that it's a modern BECMI retroclone. If that's the case, there's nothing in that poll that would suit me.

Sounds like you should probably vote for one of the "never played it" options, since the poll only pertains to those specific books... not clones.

That said: OSE is excellent.

 

[Mannahnin]

I didn't vote, because none of the choices seemed to apply to me. I've only played and DM'd Old School Essentials, but I've been told by some that it's a modern BECMI retroclone. If that's the case, there's nothing in that poll that would suit me.
Unless I should just vote for "I'm playing it right now and so far, I like it" ?

You could only find AD&D1e on shelves back in the early 80s in my city when BECMI was still a thing. If it was possible to buy it then, I'd have no doubt played it. If it is indeed close to OSE, I would have certainly liked it.

For clarification, Old School Essentials is a clone of 1981 Basic/Expert D&D, typically referred to in shorthand as B/X. The ones written by Tom Moldvay, David "Zeb" Cook, and Steve Marsh. With the Erol Otus covers.

BECMI is the re-launch and expansion of B/X, from 1983-1986, into Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortals, all written by Frank Mentzer and with covers by Larry Elmore. And was later compiled into a single-volume of rules, the Rules Cyclopedia, by Aaron Alston, jettisoning the Immortals part and incorporating some bits from the Gazetteer series of expansions, including a skill system.

B/X and the BE parts of BECMI are pretty darn close, closer to each other than to other editions, but have a bunch of little differences from one another.

 

[John Quixote]

The '86 and '92 Immortals rules are much more different from each other than any little differences between BX and BE.

And yet, BX gets to be its own edition in the eyes of OSR gamers, while BECMI and 1070/RC/WotI get lumped.

BXceptionalism makes no sense to me. As far as I'm concerned, everything from 1981 to 1996 is the Classic (or "BXcetera") edition of OD&D.

 

[Mannahnin]

The '86 and '92 Immortals rules are much more different from each other than any little differences between BX and BE.

And yet, BX gets to be its own edition in the eyes of OSR gamers, while BECMI and 1070/RC/WotI get lumped.

BXceptionalism makes no sense to me. As far as I'm concerned, everything from 1981 to 1996 is the Classic (or "BXcetera") edition of OD&D.

Is it "BXceptionalism" to note that it's a more compact and limited version than BECMI, which adds all sorts of new stuff on top of the same core chassis? Including weapon mastery and (in the gazetteers and RC) a skill system?

Fair enough to note that some of the distinction is historical, B/X having made a mark in a lot of people's consciousness during the height of the 80s fad period, and BECMI coming along and continuing as and after the fad ended.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I started with B/X and not BECMI, so I am partial to that edition. Especially since BECMI didn't have Willingham art In all seriousness, it was a good edition, but just too bulky for my tastes of what a basic version was. A few years ago I asked Frank what he would change if he could about BECMI, and he said he'd cap levels at 20. I tend to agree.

 

[Gus L]

I'd add that the primary distinction between B/X and the BE part of BECMI is the instructional elements and the way the game is presented through examples, samples, and advice. The rule changes are minimal but the play style that the game aims for is different to a significant degree. This is a hard thing to capture in the rulebooks alone and isn't likely to be super obvious to many people, especially those that are more familiar with an entirely different play style (such as that of more recent D&D editions).

 

[Willie the Duck]

The '86 and '92 Immortals rules are much more different from each other than any little differences between BX and BE.

And yet, BX gets to be its own edition in the eyes of OSR gamers, while BECMI and 1070/RC/WotI get lumped.

BXceptionalism makes no sense to me. As far as I'm concerned, everything from 1981 to 1996 is the Classic (or "BXcetera") edition of OD&D.

The actual amount of differences that between LBB OD&D plus Supp. I in 1975 and pre-Player's Options AD&D 2nd edition (1994-) is small enough that a DM houserule could dwarf them in impact. It's never been about specifics.

BX get sthe focus because it covers the level range (1 through name-level) and activities (dungeon crawling and wilderness hex-crawling) that excited the OSR as it formed. As well, BX (or the BE portion of BECMI) is a good building block for each OSR game to tack onto it whatever components or subsystem their specific new interpretation adds and focuses on. If you're making Torchbearer, the jousting and warmachine additions of BECMI's Companion Set are of little value to you, so you build your torch-bearing subsystems on top of a BX (or BE) shell.

I started with B/X and not BECMI, so I am partial to that edition. Especially since BECMI didn't have Willingham art In all seriousness, it was a good edition, but just too bulky for my tastes of what a basic version was. A few years ago I asked Frank what he would change if he could about BECMI, and he said he'd cap levels at 20. I tend to agree.

IIRC, he was also working on a revision to thieves such that their percentiles approached 100 while you were still in the dungeon-crawling phase and then... would get something else after that (I never saw the results). His kinda aborted return to the OSR spotlight seems to have ended that.