Ending at level 21...

[med stud]

Jack99 and Bold-and-Stupid, I'll be kind enough to let you buy licenses if you want to play like that

 

[Keldryn]

Sweet memories...

Oh, well where's the bad in learning from the past, anyway?

If I REALLY had to be nitpicking, I'd say that Heroic -> Expert Set (3-14), since 4e starting characters seem to be a bit more powerful than BECMI 1st lev characters.

That leaves room for, what, maybe a basic introductory D&D 4e game?

Yeah, that works too. It's not a direct comparison, as another posted pointed out that your Fly and Teleport spells are still given to characters at levels 5 and 9.

Basic (1-3): Dungeon adventures, and just learning the rules of the game. No game world setting included at all.

Expert (4-14): Wilderness and city adventures (and more dungeon adventures). The boxed set included a map and sketchy information about several countries in a fairly small and contained geographical area.

Companion (25-25): The focus shifted towards founding and ruling a dominion, and adventures that weren't so focused on killing things and taking their stuff. The "Known World" has now expanded to include an entire continent, with highlighted areas on the included map showing where the "Expert Set" world was located (as well as a couple of expanded areas for X series modules). The first CM module (Test of the Warlords) introduced a massive new frontier to the north where it was intended that players would stake out their own realms. We got 7th-9th level spells introduced for the first time, as well as something similar to "Paragon Paths" for some characters; wandering Fighters could become a Paladin, Knight, or Avenger (depending on alignment), and wandering neutral Clerics could become Druids.

Master Rules (26-36): The focus here begins to transcend the management of earthly territory, and now the quest for immortality comes into the forefront. The boxed set details four paths to immortality, and the adventure modules deal with truly epic events that all play back into the paths to immortality. The "Known World" presented in the boxed set now shows a map of the entire world. The "Weapon Mastery" rules introduced here try to make every weapon feel unique, though I'm not sure why it was included so late in the series, but it looks like 4e is borrowing some of this too, at least for Fighters.

Back in the day, this was a pretty awesome progression, as each "set" of levels felt different (if not mechanically but thematically), and the adventures supporting each set tended to reflect the focus of their respective boxed sets. I always missed that feeling after "upgrading" to AD&D.

 

[Henry]

Sweet memories...

Oh, well where's the bad in learning from the past, anyway?

Mouseferatu was the one who got me thinking in this mindframe, a few months ago. I was noting so many similarities between 4E and 1E, when he pointed me more towards BECM. And as time has gone on, I keep finding more that reminds me of it in this light. In a way, the hobby HAS come full circle, with some of its meta-themes, and it's both weird and really fun to see it in that light. The only things that are bugging me are the rather large number of healing surges, and the degree to which vancian/slot-based magics are removed; I hope to find a happy balance somewhere in the middle when the rules are released.

 

[Henry]

I'm not too keen on routine resurrection at any tier. In real world myth, resurrection is a big deal even for gods.

True, but it's not always portrayed as world-shaking to have dead people come back. People remember Sisyphus as the guy on permanent construction-detail, but fewer realize that he first lived to a ripe old age by having his wife skip the funeral rites, and Hades got ticked off and sent him back to fuss at her. For that matter, the whole "play chess against death" thing is centuries old (though popularized by an old movie, The Seventh Seal). Plus, there's a welsh myth about someone cheating death that I can't quite remember the details about. So, death is often portrayed as world-shaking, it's not always.

Not that it matters for D&D, because it's always been a part of D&D, almost since the beginning. It's an element that most fans want, evidenced by so many postings and conversations I've had and seen over the years, though they apparently don't want it too much.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hiya mate!

I'll likely want to start at level 1 and work my way up, just to learn the rules better, but after that point, I'll be playing levels 21-50 pretty much exclusively. Yes, I did say to 50. Upper_Krust is already planning his next edition Immortal Handbook extension to allow players to play as gods.

I'm just trying to work out what I'll call the higher tiers. I have them pencilled in as "Demigod", "God" and "Overgod", but perhaps something like Immortal Tier, Sidereal Tier and Primordial Tier would be better...?

 

[S'mon]

Yeah, but since when has D&D been good for modelling real world myth?

Well I mostly base my games off swords & sorcery literature, which with a few tweaks it's not bad at. Anyway many D&D concepts are clearly based off myth, eg its Greek-style deities engaged in a Zarathustran style Good vs Evil struggle. In 1e the relative power of heroes & deities was similar to that in Greek myth.

 

[lukelightning]

I like the adventure guidelines for the tiers. I hate having to save the world as a 5th level character. The way D&D currently is, it seems by the time you're 20th level you've saved the world from three doomsday cults, four evil mages, three resurrected evil forgotten deities from ages past, one planar gate, one planar vortex, and one planar gate vortex.

 

[Grossout]

I'm certainly planning on running the published adventures from levels 1 - 30, if I can find players that want to do that.

However, if the players don't want to play then I guess I'll be playing lower level games...

That's a good point. I'm planning on buying all the WoTC published adventures [see current avatar ] and probably lots of third party ones as well, so as long as I can get into the story lines of the Epic modules whatsoever, I'll probably give them a try.

Once again, great discussion. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read and respond!

 

[boolean]

For that matter, the whole "play chess against death" thing is centuries old (though popularized by an old movie, The Seventh Seal).

And, of course, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.

 

[The Little Raven]

For that matter, the whole "play chess against death" thing is centuries old (though popularized by an old a classic movie, The Seventh Seal Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey).

FIFY.

Grim Reaper: Um, best two out of three.
Dead Bill, Dead Ted: No way!
Grim Reaper: Yes way.