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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Sing to me, O Muse, of BECMI!
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<blockquote data-quote="Willie the Duck" data-source="post: 8892486" data-attributes="member: 6799660"><p>At the levels where they both play, and if you do not use rules introduced in post-expert BECMI, I think the main rules differences are the thief skills and that BX Magic Users had more limits on how many spells they could learn (IIIRC a BX MU has the same number of spells per level as their cast-per-day limit for that level, and can only up that with post-name-level spell-research; BECMI has more nuanced rules which allows some more options to find and add more spells to their spellbook). Other than that, it is mostly presentation. BX made the procedural aspects of dungeon-crawling front and center. BECMI included them, but didn't make them clear*, nor explain why you should want to follow them when the DM could just wing it. A lot of 8-10 year olds picking up BECMI missed vital parts of the exploration procedure.</p><p><span style="font-size: 9px">*I am saying this as someone whose first or second fictional-character-crush was on Aleena (after Eilonwy from the Chronicles of Prydain books) -- the BECMI "choose-your-own-adventure"-style introduction did a disservice in that it showcased the character-sheet component of the game, the combat and spell resolution component, but completely omitted the dungeon-crawling procedures, morale checks, the reaction table, and other vitally important game mechanisms that countless of us didn't pick up on the first time through the game.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Willie the Duck, post: 8892486, member: 6799660"] At the levels where they both play, and if you do not use rules introduced in post-expert BECMI, I think the main rules differences are the thief skills and that BX Magic Users had more limits on how many spells they could learn (IIIRC a BX MU has the same number of spells per level as their cast-per-day limit for that level, and can only up that with post-name-level spell-research; BECMI has more nuanced rules which allows some more options to find and add more spells to their spellbook). Other than that, it is mostly presentation. BX made the procedural aspects of dungeon-crawling front and center. BECMI included them, but didn't make them clear*, nor explain why you should want to follow them when the DM could just wing it. A lot of 8-10 year olds picking up BECMI missed vital parts of the exploration procedure. [SIZE=1]*I am saying this as someone whose first or second fictional-character-crush was on Aleena (after Eilonwy from the Chronicles of Prydain books) -- the BECMI "choose-your-own-adventure"-style introduction did a disservice in that it showcased the character-sheet component of the game, the combat and spell resolution component, but completely omitted the dungeon-crawling procedures, morale checks, the reaction table, and other vitally important game mechanisms that countless of us didn't pick up on the first time through the game.[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
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