Remathilis
Legend
An Informal Poll: Which version of Basic did you play?
A Brief History:
The Holmes Edition (Blue Box) came out in 1977 and acted as a bridge between OD&D (and its at the time mess of supplements) to AD&D (which was still forthcoming). It only covered three levels, and had a number of interesting oddities: 5 alignments (LG, LE, CE, CG, N), spells known based on Int, monsters had DEX scores, etc.
The Moldvay/Cook edition (Magenta box) came out in 1981. The Basic set covered race-as-class, had 3 alignments (law, neutral, chaos) and capped (in the expert set) at 14th level (-ish, rules for going higher were mentioned). Often called B/X for the module codes it spawned.
The Mentzer edition came out in 1983 and was the backbone for "Basic" from that point forward (till 1989). It resembed M/C version, but with a more "heroic fantasy" motif and a higher level of play; it went to 36th level (and beyond) using the Companion, Masters, and Immortal rulesets (called BECMI together). It formed the backbone of the Rules Cyclopedia.
Mentzer was later revised into the "All New, Easy to Play" versions that came between 1991 and 1999. The first few (1991-1994) were meant to lead to the Rules Cyclopedia (edited by Aaron Allison); later box sets flowed into the AD&D 2e line. These latter box-set used different art and featured different adventures, but rules-wise were akin to BECMI.
More info Here: http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/rulebooks.html
A Brief History:
The Holmes Edition (Blue Box) came out in 1977 and acted as a bridge between OD&D (and its at the time mess of supplements) to AD&D (which was still forthcoming). It only covered three levels, and had a number of interesting oddities: 5 alignments (LG, LE, CE, CG, N), spells known based on Int, monsters had DEX scores, etc.
The Moldvay/Cook edition (Magenta box) came out in 1981. The Basic set covered race-as-class, had 3 alignments (law, neutral, chaos) and capped (in the expert set) at 14th level (-ish, rules for going higher were mentioned). Often called B/X for the module codes it spawned.
The Mentzer edition came out in 1983 and was the backbone for "Basic" from that point forward (till 1989). It resembed M/C version, but with a more "heroic fantasy" motif and a higher level of play; it went to 36th level (and beyond) using the Companion, Masters, and Immortal rulesets (called BECMI together). It formed the backbone of the Rules Cyclopedia.
Mentzer was later revised into the "All New, Easy to Play" versions that came between 1991 and 1999. The first few (1991-1994) were meant to lead to the Rules Cyclopedia (edited by Aaron Allison); later box sets flowed into the AD&D 2e line. These latter box-set used different art and featured different adventures, but rules-wise were akin to BECMI.
More info Here: http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/rulebooks.html
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