Moldvay vs. Mentzer... FIGHT!

[Remathilis]

C.) Aaron Allston's Rules Cyclopedia (which is a repackaging and slight editing of Mentzer's B, E, C, & M rules (with hints of I thrown in).

Since THAT's where I started, that's the best one.

 

[TerraDave]

An all time great.

 

[DaveyJones]

Holmes 2edD&D

 

[Holy Bovine]

An all time great.

I'm quoting this just because it is one of my all time favorite pictures. To me it is everything that makes D&D awesome.

Of course I voted Moldvay - first, best, 'nuff said!

 

[Riley]

Moldvay: best art (see above); clean, concise, and easy presentation. Admittedly, I was introduced to D&D by watching and playing it - but the rulebook made perfect sense as soon as I opened it.

The Mentzer revision seemed cluttered by comparison. Oh, and my 13-year-old self thought that the "every guy's got at least one earring" Elmore art in the book was a needless attempt to be hip in the era of Duran Duran.

 

[rogueattorney]

I find the number of "I had x first, so that's the one I'm voting for," to be interesting. But then, as there are no real differences between the rules, I suppose that's as good a reason as any.

The question is more akin to whether you like the original covers or the orange spine covers of the 1e books, and less like whether you like 1e over 2e or 3e over 3.5e.

 

[Grimstaff]

Moldvay - still in my opinion the best, most concise, clearly presented, and quickly grokked version of D&D to ever be produced.

And the art is awesome too.

 

[Wik]

I find the number of "I had x first, so that's the one I'm voting for," to be interesting. But then, as there are no real differences between the rules, I suppose that's as good a reason as any.

The question is more akin to whether you like the original covers or the orange spine covers of the 1e books, and less like whether you like 1e over 2e or 3e over 3.5e.

Yeah, the rules are pretty similar, but I do prefer some of the changes in the Mentzer set (particularly the fact that monsters had an attached XP value, and that the books were split up).

Other reasons for voting, though, come down to the "peripheries" - example characters, included adventures, and basic fluff. In which I prefer Mentzer's tone (which I guess is a bit more "modern") over Moldvay's "Borg the fighter" tone.

It really does come down to personal taste, though. There is little that seperates the two, empirically.

Also, I just want to mention that I bought both the Moldvay Basic set *AND* the Mentzer DMG for 4 bucks each yesterday.

And can someone post a picture of the moldvay Expert set? I might go back and see if the used book store has it...

 

[Mishihari Lord]

Holmes!

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Never even looked at the Mentzer version. I owned Moldvay, and moved on to AD&D, so why did I need another Basic Set?