Which Basic?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Moldvay for me, too -- so I don't quite follow the love for the Red Box, though we played with both. Other than organization, I don't think the rules for Moldvay/Cook differ at all from the Mentzer sets at B/X levels. My groups back then always had both sets of rules at the table depending on when someone happened to start playing.

Of course, after a while we just ported everything to 1E anyway, and ended up with sort of a B/X/AD&D mishmash that used 1E races, classes, spells, and magic items and the B/X combat system.

 

[Remathilis]

Of course, after a while we just ported everything to 1E anyway, and ended up with sort of a B/X/AD&D mishmash that used 1E races, classes, spells, and magic items and the B/X combat system.

I think this was true of D&D for many years; my own game kinda was a hybrid of 2e and Rules Cyclopedia D&D before officially moving onto 2e. It really wasn't until 3e that I played a rule set according to RAW, and even then, it was pretty liberal with d20 products.