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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5223628" data-attributes="member: 58197">This is something I have been thinking about a lot over the last few years. In fact, I went on eBay and bought myself a full set of the one edition that really tried to support this model: BECMI. Not so much because I planned to run a BECMI game, but because I wanted to remind myself how BECMI approached it.For those not familiar with it, BECMI (also known as Basic, Classic, or Rules Cyclopedia) was a highly simplified and stripped-down edition; it existed concurrently with AD&D and was meant as an introduction to the game, but it ended up becoming its own distinct product line. It consisted of five boxed sets, each one covering a range of levels: Basic (1-3), Expert (4-14), Companion (15-25), Master (26-36), and Immortal (mortal level no longer relevant).The notable thing about BECMI was that each boxed set had a distinct focus. Basic was built around the classic dungeon crawl. Expert took the PCs out of the dungeon and into the wilderness. Companion gave them domain management and mass combat mechanics. Master set them on the long (very long) path to immortality. Immortal made them literally gods.I think I would focus on three tiers, modeling them after the "cycles" that many mythological heroes followed. The first tier would focus on individual heroics and adventures in the traditional D&D vein; the PCs making a name for themselves and rising to glory. The second tier would focus on the PCs as rulers, concerned less with personally battling evil and more with dealing with threats to their domains. The third tier would leave these temporal matters behind and turn to the spiritual--the PCs' Grail Quest, as it were, seeking immortality or transcendence.Mechanics-wise, D&D has spent decades refining the first tier, and there are plenty of wargames to work from as a basis for the second. I'm still having a bit of trouble figuring out the third... spiritual transcendence doesn't really lend itself to dice and number-crunching. BECMI's Master Set took a stab at it with its four paths to immortality, and that might be a good starting point (though all of the paths have major issues that would need fixing).When 4E was announced and we heard about the tier system, I had high hopes that they were going to revive the BECMI approach, but it didn't really pan out that way. Paragon paths and epic destinies pay lip service to the idea, but in the end the higher tiers play out just like the lower ones... you're just crawling bigger dungeons and fighting bigger orcs.</blockquote>

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