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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9839385" data-attributes="member: 7026594">When TSR released B/X in 1981 they planned to expand it with a third Companion book/boxed set in the future, and the Expert set explicitly talks about this.  It tells you that the Fighter, Magic-User, Cleric and Thief classes can advance up to 36th level (although the Expert set details only up to 14th), and gives some general guidelines on page X8 for how much XP levels past 14th will take to gain, and how attack and HP progression will work, but it only describes new abilities in limited detail, telling the reader that it's up to the DM whether to make up new high level abilities or wait for the Companion set to be released with all the details for levels 15-36.In practice, TSR decided instead to re-launch the Dungeons & Dragons line in 1983 with a new editor/writer (Frank Mentzer for the entire line, instead of Tom Moldvay for the 1981 Basic and David "Zeb" Cook and Steve Marsh for 1981 Expert) and several other changes:1. All-new art from Larry Elmore, providing a unified polished, professional looking consistent vibe throughout instead of B/X's IMO great but arguably more amateurish and weird mix of Erol Otus, Jeff Dee, Wade Hampton, Dave "Diesel" LaForce, Jim Roslof, and Bill Willingham.2. Major reorganization of the Basic set into two books, the Players Manual and Dungeon Master's Rulebook, with the Players Manual containing two solo tutorial scenarios to introduce brand new players to the rules concepts in a more dedicated and hand-holding manner.3. Some tiny general tweaks to the rules from the B/X books (but it's 98 or 99% the same rules).4. Splitting levels 15-36 across TWO boxed sets, Companion (1984) and Master (1985), and including more new rules, for domain management,  mass combat, and unarmed combat, options for higher level characters to become Druids, Knights, Paladins, or Avengers, as well as new weapons, in the Companion set, and new stuff like weapon mastery in the Master set.5. A brand-new Immortals set for characters to become divine beings after 36th level and have world-spanning and interdimensional adventures using some very different new rules that abandon a lot of the core mechanics of D&D.The BECMI game also got further expansions via the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Dungeons_%26_Dragons_Gazetteers" target="_blank">Gazetteer series</a> of 15 supplements centered on different regions of the Mystara (FKA The Known World) setting and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_World_Campaign_Set" target="_blank">Hollow World</a> campaign set, including elements like new race and class options, and a skill system. BECMI also got additional optional content in Dragon Magazine, including via the Voyage of the Princess Ark series of articles about a flying ship from the Empire of Alphatia exploring the world and giving even more detail (and occasionally new rules for) stuff in it.As a tangent, in 1991 TSR compiled the rules from BECM (leaving out Immortals) into the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_Rules_Cyclopedia" target="_blank">Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia</a>, an all-in-one book covering levels 1-36, and incorporating the skill system from the gazetteers, as well as some additional optional rules (like D&D's first Death Save rule for 0HP).</blockquote>

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