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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 8246896" data-attributes="member: 50987">Hello, self-avowed grognard here.My favorite edition of the game is the 1986 Basic/Expert rules.  It's the version I wish was still in print, still in development, and still being actively played by the majority of gamers.  I loved the simplicity of the system:  it was very much story-forward, with more emphasis on the character's role within the story and the world at large.  Your character was expected to do more than just Kill Things and Take Their Stuff:  you would earn titles, build castles, lead armies, fend off invaders, settle the wilderness, and build kingdoms.  Gaining levels was more than just watching some numbers get bigger on your character sheet.Rules were lightweight and open-ended, and were largely left to DM interpretation.  If you could imagine it, the DM had everything they needed to make it happen.  There were no battle mats or minis; combat was more about narrative and less like a board game.  For the most part, rules were meant to be scaffolding for the story: to be used only as needed, and only to prop up the story in key places.All of this, and more, are what speaks most strongly to me about the 1986 BECM rules.  But that shouldn't be confused with "better."  It's not a "better" system simply because I prefer it.  And it's not a "better" system because its older.  Nor is it "better" because of my personal history with it, my nostalgia associated with it.  And even if you could combine all of these things together and multiply them by the speed of light squared, it still wouldn't be "better."  Better will never be more than a simple statement of preference, according to the opinion of this one Moogle right here.  It's never a statement of fact.Rather than attempt to restructure the newer editions of the game to "recapture the old-school feel" of my favorite, I just play my favorite.  The Rules Cyclopedia is readily available as a print-on-demand hardcover book, and the PDFs for all of the original rulebooks and modules are available for sale at a fraction of their original cost.  There's no need to bend, twist, and carve newer editions of the game to fit it.  If you want to court new players to play an older system, just use the older system.  Don't worry about "selling your group on it," just let it sell itself.</blockquote>

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