I am truly at a loss. Actually, in the Moldvay Expert Books they say that you can keep playing with the Companion books who will let you take your PCs to the 25th level. I thought B/X went only to the 14th level.

Are there any significant differences between those editions?

The companion set was planned but never made. So B/X only goes to lvl14.

And the differences, while real, are pretty minimal and mostly obsessed over by nerds with too much time on their hands.

Given that the demihuman Class/Races in B/X ended before L14, I've pretty much played that L14 is the max for Moldvay.  I know about the lines in there about L36, but even with built-in advantages the Elf/Dwarf/Halfling classes would be completely outclassed by the human classes long before the "maximum" of L36.

I've never looked at BECMI, honestly, so I can't compare the two.

• IIRC, the Thief' skill percentages are stretched out to account for 36 levels in BECMI. Thieves in B/X have greater skill % chances at lower levels compared to BECMI thieves.
  
• I think that BECMI includes some additional class abilities, like Set Spear vs. Charge and Lance Attack.
  
• Weapon Mastery shows up in M, I think.
• General Skills. (Not sure if it appeared in E, C, or M).
• The War Machine, the mass combat system, showed up in Companion.

I think Cleric spell progression is different. I believe BX had some wonkiness where you got access to two spell levels at once that BECMI fixed.

Quote from: Piestrio;720935The companion set was planned but never made. So B/X only goes to lvl14.

And the differences, while real, are pretty minimal and mostly obsessed over by nerds with too much time on their hands.

As a nerd with too much time on his hands, let me explain a few:

A B/X cleric at 7th level can raise dead (which is much closer to the OD&D 6th level). A BECMI cleric doesn't get a 5th level spell until 10th level.

The spell progression tables are all different. A level 10 B/X elf gets 3,3,3,3,2 compared to a BECMI elf that gets 5,4,3,2,1.

The Lance combat rules appeared in both the rulesets. In B/X it is in the combat section and in BECMI it appears as a fighter ability along with the spear combat.

K.Peterson is correct about the thief abilities. While not exactly good in B/X, a BECMI thief is really terrible in comparison.

Weapon Mastery, skills, and mass combat are all from BECMI.

A few years ago a B/X companion was created http://www.rpgnow.com/product/103412/B-X-Companion

While not official, it is a pretty cool supplement.

BECMI has worse Thieves but better art...

(and goes all they way to level 36 and godhood)

Quote from: K Peterson;720952

• IIRC, the Thief' skill percentages are stretched out to account for 36 levels in BECMI. Thieves in B/X have greater skill % chances at lower levels compared to BECMI thieves.
  
• I think that BECMI includes some additional class abilities, like Set Spear vs. Charge and Lance Attack.
  
• Weapon Mastery shows up in M, I think.
• General Skills. (Not sure if it appeared in E, C, or M).
• The War Machine, the mass combat system, showed up in Companion.

Quote from: Exploderwizard;720976As a nerd with too much time on his hands, let me explain a few:

A B/X cleric at 7th level can raise dead (which is much closer to the OD&D 6th level). A BECMI cleric doesn't get a 5th level spell until 10th level.

The spell progression tables are all different. A level 10 B/X elf gets 3,3,3,3,2 compared to a BECMI elf that gets 5,4,3,2,1.

The Lance combat rules appeared in both the rulesets. In B/X it is in the combat section and in BECMI it appears as a fighter ability along with the spear combat.

K.Peterson is correct about the thief abilities. While not exactly good in B/X, a BECMI thief is really terrible in comparison.

Weapon Mastery, skills, and mass combat are all from BECMI.

A few years ago a B/X companion was created http://www.rpgnow.com/product/103412/B-X-Companion

While not official, it is a pretty cool supplement.

Quote from: The Ent;721028BECMI has worse Thieves but better art...

(and goes all they way to level 36 and godhood)

So, 95%-99% compatible, at least until level 14, innit?

Quote from: Imperator;721045So, 95%-99% compatible, at least until level 14, innit?

Definitely. You're not likely to see an edition war between B/X and BECMI fans.

Quote from: K Peterson;720952

• IIRC, the Thief' skill percentages are stretched out to account for 36 levels in BECMI. Thieves in B/X have greater skill % chances at lower levels compared to BECMI thieves.
  
• I think that BECMI includes some additional class abilities, like Set Spear vs. Charge and Lance Attack.
  
• Weapon Mastery shows up in M, I think.
• General Skills. (Not sure if it appeared in E, C, or M).
• The War Machine, the mass combat system, showed up in Companion.

And aside from the issue with thief percentages, it's notable how much of the above only really appears in the "CMI" part of the equation - in other word, it's all stuff (particularly the war machine, plus the domain management stuff which I don't think you mentioned) which would have quite possibly ended up in a B/X Companion at any rate.

If you want to compare like-for-like you really need to put B/X up against the BE part of BECMI, and there the differences are truly minimal aside from thief skill percentages, a difference I truly cannot muster the energy to give a shit about.

Quote from: The Ent;721028BECMI has worse Thieves but better art...

That really is a matter of preference. I preferred the artwork of B/X myself, as it lacked adventurers that looked at home in a Nickelback cover band

Quote from: Skywalker;721071That really is a matter of preference. I preferred the artwork of B/X myself, as it lacked adventurers that looked at home in a Nickelback cover band

Mercifully, there was no such thing as Nickelback in the 1980s...

Quote from: JeremyR;721075Mercifully, there was no such thing as Nickelback in the 1980s...

So, Nickelback is a Mentzer cover band? Yikes

Quote from: Skywalker;721071I preferred the artwork of B/X...

I agree.

The Erol Otus stuff is of course great and awesome and among the best D&D art ever, but  most of the B/X art doesn't really work for me (like some of the stuff by the dude that made the comics in Dragon, whatshisname. Allthough his stuff in Deities & Demigods is cool). I'm well aware that it's got more oldschool cred than the BECMI version, but well. BUT imo, ymmv, etc etc. As we say where I'm from: "tastes are like asses, divided*".

I still like B/X and prefer its art direction to dungeonpunk stuff etc., of course. I do have a soul, etc. I just like BECMI's way, way, WAY more. Elmore 4EVAR!!**

*=if you wanna be a bit crude about you can add "...and there's a lot of shit in the middle".

**=well his stuff for BECMI and Ad&d anyhow, his later stuff leaves me cold.

Quote from: K Peterson;721058Definitely. You're not likely to see an edition war between B/X and BECMI fans.

Well except the Morgan vs. Aleena war.