So what is the difference between Basic, B/X and BECMI?
Marc_C
Solitary Role Playing
Yes, but you might want to invest in the OSE (Old School Essentials) because it is a very well thought out visual reprint of B and X books into a single coherent document with a few minor necessary fixes. That is what I use now.
Weiley31
Legend
But does it include the Nerfed Thief Skills table or the orignal non nerfed one?
Marc_C
Solitary Role Playing
OSE is only up to level 14 like the original B/X. Thief skills became nerfed in BECMI/RC because they were stretched to encompass 36 levels. Even Mentzer admitted later he dropped the ball on that one.
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Jack Daniel
dice-universe.blogspot.com
It's a little more complicated than that. Early printings of the Mentzer Expert Set with the darker-blue cover give the same thief skill numbers as the Cook/Marsh Expert Set. (Slightly different saving throw and spell progression numbers, though; and no three-point "kink" in the third row of the attack table.) It's only the later Mentzer Expert Set printings with a slightly-lighter dark-blue cover which have been revised to accord with the Companion and Master Sets and have the lower thief numbers. (I've never owned a copy of one of these late-printing Expert Sets, or even seen one in the wild for that matter.)
Of much greater significance is the degree to which the '81 edition nerfs the magic-user compared to earlier and later editions. B/X magic-users can't add more spells to their spellbook than they can cast at a given spell level. This is totally idiosyncratic to the Moldvay/Cook edition. In Mentzer and Denning/Allston, magic-users have no limit on how many spells they can learn from a teacher, a colleague, a captured spellbook, or a found spell-scroll. Holmes Basic, meanwhile, looks to Greyhawk for its magic-user spell-learning rules and therefore works much like AD&D 1st Edition.
Of much greater significance is the degree to which the '81 edition nerfs the magic-user compared to earlier and later editions. B/X magic-users can't add more spells to their spellbook than they can cast at a given spell level. This is totally idiosyncratic to the Moldvay/Cook edition. In Mentzer and Denning/Allston, magic-users have no limit on how many spells they can learn from a teacher, a colleague, a captured spellbook, or a found spell-scroll. Holmes Basic, meanwhile, looks to Greyhawk for its magic-user spell-learning rules and therefore works much like AD&D 1st Edition.
aramis erak
Legend
they are two of 3 flavors of the Basic D&D Line. (Holmes wasn't intended to be a separate line, it was supposed to be the starter set for AD&D.)
BX is basic by Tom Moldvay in 1980, and Expert by David Cook in 1981. It's the first point where DemiHumans are classes. Basic contains Fighter, Mage, Cleric, Thief, Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling. Many printings arrived three-hole punched. It's also the edition shown in Stranger Things.... but there is no Demogorgon in it.... Basic is levels 1-3, but has table support for up to 5th. Expert is levels 4-14. It's not AD&D compatible, but is readily convertible on the fly.
BECMI: Frank Mentzer was tasked to revise and expand the D&D line in 1983.
Basic and Expert are both the same basic content. Same levels. Basic has a solo module section to kick things off, too.
Companion runs levels 15-25. It adds a number of new high level character options that backport to level 9+: Druid, Paladin, Knight, Avenger. It adds the 20-die limit on spells, too. High-experience demihumans can get ahold of Clan Relics. and also continue to improve in combat capability, but not in HD, HP, nor spells cast. A landholding system is included, as is a mass combat mechanism. It also introduces the interplanar adventures.
Master is levels 26-36. It adds a new class (Mystic), and the quest for immortality. Weapon Mastery rules are also included.
Immortal is Levesl i1 to i36
Most of the changes are minor errata issues. It's fully compatible with BX, but (except for Expert) is split into two books per box, and the books are no longer available outside the box in regular channels.
D&D Cyclopedia by Aaron Alston is the next errata version, but it covers all non-immortal levels and options in one single hardcover. Alston makes a couple subtle changes, but they can cause a few problems with rules-lawyers. Literally all the abilities from BECM boxes of BECMI are included. Overview maps of Mystara and the Hollow World are included. General Skills are pulled in from Hollow World and the Gaz line.
Wrath of the Immortals was a big-box boxed set, covering levels i1 to i36 as well. It's mechanically different than Mentzer's edition. Alston chose to fix problems at the root with this one.
D&D Basic Set (big black box) is done by Troy Denning, and covers levels 1-5. This is the flavor of basic with the cardboard standups and a full color dungeon map. There are two different covers for the included book by which printing.
Remathilis
Legend
Damn. I got my answer 11 years later!
Marc_C
Solitary Role Playing
There is also the 1994 revision.
"A final version of the set was produced in 1994, entitled The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game. Edited by Doug Stewart, it removed the tutorial cards of the "black box", incorporating the material into sidebars within the single 128-page Rules and Adventure Book. The set also included a Dungeon Master's Screen, a set of six plastic miniatures for players, 24 foldable cardboard enemy standees, a poster map, and a set of dice. It was packaged in a tan-sided box."
aramis erak
Legend
reelo
Hero
And BX is also available in the form of the critically-acclaimed "Old-School Essentials" retroclone.Well, Cyclopedia and BX are available in POD at DTRPG...
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