trancejeremy
Adventurer
I am referring to what is called in OSR nomenclature, B/X, basically the version of D&D rules that came in a 1981 Basic Boxed set by Tom Moldvay and Expert Boxed set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh.
It was superseded in 1983 by a new Basic version by Frank Mentzer, with later Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortals boxed sets (and thus dubbed BECMI), which in turn was replaced by the Rules Cyclopedia by Aaron Allston in 1991 (mostly just a compilation of the BECMI rules) and then in 1994 by another basic boxed set, this time called "The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game" which I think was supported until WOTC killed off D&D, merging the line with AD&D 2e (which only lasted a few years and then we got 3e)
So anyway, B/X lasted only 2 years. And by my count, it only got 5 products for it (B3,B4, X1, X2, and X3 — B1 and B2 were written for Holmes D&D). Yet it's arguably the 2nd largest part of the OSR, next to OD&D. A Kickstarter for another retroclone of it has already pulled in $60,000 after two days (despite there being one from another company a month before that).
I am one of those people that started with AD&D, I never got into D&D until I read the Princess Ark stuff by Bruce Heard, which got me interested in Mystara, so I ended up with the Rules Cyclopedia. I was fairly impressed with that rules set. You had rules for running dominions; a surprisingly robust skill system that isn't class based; rules for weapon mastery that makes each weapon different. And if you delve into the various gazetteers and such, you get economic rules, rules for playing dozens of monsters, magical airplanes, flying ships, historical cultures (preserved in a Hollow World), and even becoming and being a god.
B/X has none of that. While I suppose that could be part of the appeal, you could get the same by just ignoring all the extra stuff in BECMI D&D.
It was superseded in 1983 by a new Basic version by Frank Mentzer, with later Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortals boxed sets (and thus dubbed BECMI), which in turn was replaced by the Rules Cyclopedia by Aaron Allston in 1991 (mostly just a compilation of the BECMI rules) and then in 1994 by another basic boxed set, this time called "The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game" which I think was supported until WOTC killed off D&D, merging the line with AD&D 2e (which only lasted a few years and then we got 3e)
So anyway, B/X lasted only 2 years. And by my count, it only got 5 products for it (B3,B4, X1, X2, and X3 — B1 and B2 were written for Holmes D&D). Yet it's arguably the 2nd largest part of the OSR, next to OD&D. A Kickstarter for another retroclone of it has already pulled in $60,000 after two days (despite there being one from another company a month before that).
I am one of those people that started with AD&D, I never got into D&D until I read the Princess Ark stuff by Bruce Heard, which got me interested in Mystara, so I ended up with the Rules Cyclopedia. I was fairly impressed with that rules set. You had rules for running dominions; a surprisingly robust skill system that isn't class based; rules for weapon mastery that makes each weapon different. And if you delve into the various gazetteers and such, you get economic rules, rules for playing dozens of monsters, magical airplanes, flying ships, historical cultures (preserved in a Hollow World), and even becoming and being a god.
B/X has none of that. While I suppose that could be part of the appeal, you could get the same by just ignoring all the extra stuff in BECMI D&D.
