commandercrud
Hero
BECMI was my base, but definitely pulled in whatever I wanted from AD&D 1e and 2e. Those little one page conversions at the end of some BECMI material was enough for me.
D&D General Veteran fans - did you think of Basic D&D and AD&D as completely different games?
- Thread starter JEB
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Hussar
Legend
It depended on how far along in AD&D you mean. By 2e, especially with a couple of splats, the PC's were SO much more powerful than Basic characters that it wasn't even close. You were blitzing through Basic D&D modules like no one's business.
So, they were kinda/sorta compatible but became land less so as time went on.
So, they were kinda/sorta compatible but became land less so as time went on.
Specifically Basic D&D and AD&D? Only kind of. Lots of folks where I played thought of Basic as a springboard to A&D. They thought the division was Basic then Advanced.
B/X and then later BECMI D&D though were completely different animals from AD&D as far as we were all concerned. As a DM I would only run B/X or BECMI (more realistically BEC except in a few cases) because AD&D 1e was a game that I felt was too fiddly to wrap my head around the rules for (it was only later that I realized that many of the DMs who ran AD&D around me got around this problem by ignoring large chunks of rules). Meanwhile I knew of other groups who viewed the BECMI games as lesser versions of AD&D mostly because they were marketed towards ages 12 and up instead of having a demon statue on the cover. (A few ended up in my BECMI games eventually because, well, I was willing to DM and the group of folks willing to DM felt like it got smaller every year back then).
It was pretty trivial from a DM perspective to adapt adventures from AD&D to BECMI, so the wall that TSR created between them was more of a chain link fence with holes in it from that side of things. But actually running things at the table felt different enough that even after I tried running 2nd edition for a while I moved back to running BECMI games because I just enjoyed it more.
B/X and then later BECMI D&D though were completely different animals from AD&D as far as we were all concerned. As a DM I would only run B/X or BECMI (more realistically BEC except in a few cases) because AD&D 1e was a game that I felt was too fiddly to wrap my head around the rules for (it was only later that I realized that many of the DMs who ran AD&D around me got around this problem by ignoring large chunks of rules). Meanwhile I knew of other groups who viewed the BECMI games as lesser versions of AD&D mostly because they were marketed towards ages 12 and up instead of having a demon statue on the cover. (A few ended up in my BECMI games eventually because, well, I was willing to DM and the group of folks willing to DM felt like it got smaller every year back then).
It was pretty trivial from a DM perspective to adapt adventures from AD&D to BECMI, so the wall that TSR created between them was more of a chain link fence with holes in it from that side of things. But actually running things at the table felt different enough that even after I tried running 2nd edition for a while I moved back to running BECMI games because I just enjoyed it more.
Maggan
Writer for CY_BORG, Forbidden Lands and Dragonbane
We started playing RPGs with the Swedish Magic World translation. So when picking up D&D and AD&D we figured that both were basically the same game, since they were so different from what we were used to, but very similar to each other. We found them to be so similar that we didn't really understand why TSR had the stance of "don't mix and match".
We started with D&D and D&D modules, then started using AD&D modules with D&D and finally began playing AD&D.
We started with D&D and D&D modules, then started using AD&D modules with D&D and finally began playing AD&D.
OD&D, D&D (B/X, BECMI), and AD&D are essentially interoperable, although not the same game.
The best way to think of it is to remember B2 (Keep on the Borderlands).
B2 was written under the OD&D rules. B2 was originally packaged as a starter module for Basic (Holmes), which was a streamlining of OD&D. It was also used as a starter module for Moldvay Basic. In addition, it was the starting module for numerous AD&D campaigns.
In other words, D&D (in all the variants, from OD&D up to and including 2e) was always the same game during the TSR era, just with more or less stuff added on.
The best way to think of it is to remember B2 (Keep on the Borderlands).
B2 was written under the OD&D rules. B2 was originally packaged as a starter module for Basic (Holmes), which was a streamlining of OD&D. It was also used as a starter module for Moldvay Basic. In addition, it was the starting module for numerous AD&D campaigns.
In other words, D&D (in all the variants, from OD&D up to and including 2e) was always the same game during the TSR era, just with more or less stuff added on.
eyeheartawk
#1 Enworld Jerk™
I started around 1995, around when AD&D 2e got that black bordered book rebrand. By then D&D was more or less dead. I think that was the last year of any D&D start box and the Rules Cyclopedia was published a few years back. We never even considered playing D&D instead as we read the writing on the wall. We therefore assumed it was a separate gameline that was 99% dead.
Stormonu
NeoGrognard
Yes, I've treated them as different systems - except in the case of modules. I've used several Basic modules in AD&D with no changes needed. Well, at least up to about 6th-8th level, BECMI's leveling up to 36 scales differently to high-level AD&D, so I'd be more cautious about using higher level modules cross-system.
Voadam
Legend
I considered them separate games but not completely separate.
They had some specific rules differences (different stat mods, class HD, extra race and class options, initiative, etc.) which mostly affected PCs.
I used B/X modules and magic items in my AD&D games, but I would not mix and match class and race stuff between the two the way I would between 1e and 2e.
I considered B/X and 1e different games the way I thought the close to AD&D games (Elric!, Palladium, etc.) were different games but close enough to mix in some stuff.
The different games in Atari's Combat were different games too, but not completely different.
They had some specific rules differences (different stat mods, class HD, extra race and class options, initiative, etc.) which mostly affected PCs.
I used B/X modules and magic items in my AD&D games, but I would not mix and match class and race stuff between the two the way I would between 1e and 2e.
I considered B/X and 1e different games the way I thought the close to AD&D games (Elric!, Palladium, etc.) were different games but close enough to mix in some stuff.
The different games in Atari's Combat were different games too, but not completely different.
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