I just played my first Rules Cyclopedia based game

[Ed_Laprade]

With regards to the HP thing, be aware that the expected PC party had about 6 characters (and often more), plus hirelings and henchmen! So if your group only has 3-4 characters and no hired help they'll need some sort of boost.

Also, things can get kinda wonky (to say nothing of annoying) if the MU has twice as many HPs as the Fighter! Even with everyone starting at full HP there's still no guaranty that they'll survive the first encounter. Its just more likely. (Watch out for those Save or Die spiders!)

 

[S'mon]

- I would also not give hp boosts. That radically warps the game as written. And it makes accounting afterwards a pain. If you must, start PCs at 2nd or 3rd level and use RAW.

Makes accounting a pain? Please explain.

 

[S'mon]

Full agreement. A "kicker" warps the game, and makes it into something subtly different.

Well, I am looking for something a bit more like Runequest or Fighting Fantasy, where PCs have some durability right from the start - subtly different, yes. I don't want to start PCs at higher level because it sets the default magic level too high. I've switched from C&C to Labyrinth Lord for the same reason - C&C gives too many spells to 1st level casters. I'd rather a LL 12 hp M-U with 1 spell than a C&C 2 hp Wizard with 7 spells.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I would start with B1 if you want an easier dungeon with some wondrous and odd-ball mysteries inside. And if they clear it out they start with a base of operations that they can stock mercs from the expert book with!

I typically run B1 without writing in the monsters, and just add the monsters in at points in the game when I want to speed up the action or pick a monster on an ongoing theme. For instance, in B1 my characters ran into some of the human berserkers so they reasoned that these berserkers were barbarians who had raided the complex. I let them think that, occasionally adding an oddball orcish mercenary of the berserkers, and eventually a berserker leader and his guards in the throne room. Other encounters were large creatures in the provided listing, and I also tried to use up most of the treasure on the list, also on the fly. I really like B1.

By the by, I played a game with Frank Mentzer (the creator of BECMI) last June and I can say that the way you play the game and the way I played the game are just like Frank ran his.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

i would say that the fun you had was at least as much a result of just letting everything go and not worrying much about consequences in game as it was about the ruleset. You could throw together a short notice game in any edition with which you have some core rules familiarity.

I have run games without a battlemat prior to 3rd edition, and in the end I almost always end up needing to draw stuff out. The real benefit of a mat in my experience is that it prevents certain kind of arguements from ever happening. In earlier editions, Fireballs have a tendency to encompas every monster and never hit any PC's with friendly fire.

Regardless though, if you think you can have more fun running a game with the Rules Cyclopedia than with a current edition, then go for it.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Sadly, I can't claim that one. I stole it from elsewhere (PapersAndPaychecks, maybe?).

Yup, that was me.

It applies particularly to the RC-B/X-BECMI-Labyrinth Lord paradigm. The 1e-OSRIC paradigm is more forgiving but those games are totally Darwinian.

Survival of the least dumb.

 

[scourger]

Inspiring. I'm glad you're having fun with a simpler version of the game. It makes me want to pick another copy of the RC, but I already tried it a year or two ago. It wasn't for me. Savage Worlds is my rules lite choice of game right now, but maybe I'll give the RC antoher look...

 

[Remathilis]

4. Are there any sweet house rules people would use?

Somewhere near the end of the RC is a chapter that discusses optional rules. I'd use the one that removes level limits. Just be careful on the mystic; the text contradicts itself on saves.

Enjoy the best pre-2000 D&D available.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Let me add that while I love BD&D, the adventures themselves are the best things. I've revisited them in other editions and they continue to play well regardless of what rules set you use.

Oh, and I'm surprised there aren't more recommendations for B4. That module rocks ... almost as much as B2.

 

[garyh]

I started with 2e myself, but picked up a Rules Cyclopedia at a used book store a few years back not even knowing exactly what it was, other than a nifty old D&D book (something I always look for in used book stores). Never gotten a chance to play it, though, but all the good things I'd heard about it here has made me want to, with your story being the latest version of that.

In case you aren't aware of it, there's another source of old D&D material besides eBay and Amazon - at least, if you're open to PDF's. RPGNow.com has a lot of old D&D books in PDF form for pretty cheap. I picked up the Red Box set there, after reading so much about it here (and, like the RC, still haven't had a chance to play it).

Say, anyone up for running an RC or Red Box Play by Post game?

Also, this thread got me to finally get Keep on the Borderlands. Decided to go old school on that and get the hard copy off Amazon ($2.50 plus $4 shipping ain't bad!).