I was introduced to rpgs with the moldvay boxed sets, B/X. Recently used it to teach my kids how to play. The system definitely has a small following. I think it is great to teach kids or if you want rules light and more liberty as a DM and more situational  player choice. I much prefer race and class instead of race as a class, but it's a great game.

Lots of clones and retroclones too as others have mentioned. Good luck.

Old School Essentials allows you to separate race and class.

Every possible thread, Batjon? How much are you getting paid?

It's just B/X. It's a perfectly frabjous presentation of B/X, but it's just B/X.

I am pretty pumped actually.  I have not thought of playing BECMI for many years.  Decades. I played basic a couple of times maybe 40 years ago as a small kid!  Can't be sure—-might have been isle of dread because I remember being attacked by natives on a ship.  But you know, 2nd grade = hazy memory.

We got into AD&D by junior high and held on tight:  skipped 2e. 

So this really is unknown territory for us.  But I am sick of adding lots of bonuses and fiddle shit.  I want the risk of death and do for treasure.  I am really optimistic.  Plus, my own 7 year old (holy shit prophetic) will better be able to grasp it I hope and foster his interest...

I did an experiment yesterday, based on a thread on another forum. Using the cover art of Mentzer's red box for inspiration, I created a fighter (actually, I used the guy in the intro adventure), levelled him to three, gave him gauntlets of ogre power, magic armor, a couple of magic rings, and three magic swords for the player to choose from. Then, I scribbled down the info for a red dragon. The only numbers that I changed were the hit points of both fighter and dragon. Then, I have them fight.

The dragon won every time but once, when the player won initiative and used the normal sword +1/light to cast light at the dragon's eyes. The dragon failed its save, and was blinded. In Basic (but not in the Rules Cyclopedia!) blinded creatures cannot attack. I ruled that that included breath weapons. So, the player rolled multiple times, sometimes hitting, but mostly missing. The spell was the cleric's version, which meant it lasted two hours (12 turns). I finally said that the two hours had passed, and the spell wore off. The dragon won initiative, and immediately blasted the fighter with its fire breath—for one point of damage, since the fighter had knocked the dragon down to one hit point. The dragon was then despatched.

Most of the time, if the fighter made the save versus dragon breath, he survived the first fire blast, but got barbecued on the following round. I rerolled the dragon's hit points after each fight; hp ranges from the low forties to the low fifties. I had the player reroll the fighter's hp (roll a d8 twice and add 4 for the CON modifier and another 8, which was the starting hp in the intro adventure), and it ranged from a low of 18 to a high of 25.

Whoa! Free Wrath of the Immortals!! Nice! Thanks!

Quote from: Batjon on July 15, 2021, 01:57:41 PM
Old School Essentials allows you to separate race and class.

How?

Others have mentioned very solid presentations of B/X. I'll just throw in one more if you are feeling adventurous. Lamentations of the Flame Princess is a great B/X adaptation, particularly if you enjoy a focus on weird horror or favor a setting with primitive muzzle-loading firearms.

For me, the first thing to check for any RPG is the character sheet: gives a pretty good indication on the complexity of the game.  One just has to look at the traditional B/X character sheet vs. the Goldenrod standard Advanced D&D, and it becomes pretty evident that B/X wins out for far less fiddly bits.

Your son will definitely grasp it better at that age.  Heck, Advanced D&D rules still confound most of us as adults.  Last thing you want to do is introduce those frustrating rules and turn him off the RPG concept, even though we seem to revel in rule talk later on in life. heh

I have an 8 year old son who I'm slowly introducing to RPG's: B/X has proven (as it was intended) to be grasped relatively easily by younger players and he's enjoying it.  I'll let him decide when to break from the traditional and find his own way.

It's definitely a solid foundation for a game system that is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Quote from: palaeomerus on July 14, 2021, 10:57:50 AM

Yes, but be warned that the I/Immortals is not in the Cyclopia, it's just BECM. They did have a Wrath of the Immortals product which is free on drivethru that covered some of the same stuff but it is not in the rules Cyclopedia itself.
[/quote]

Alot of folk seem to consider the omission of Immortals from Cyclopedia a boon.

Personally I thought Immortals was ok. Totally weird. But ok. It got the job done and did it in an interesting way. Little more convoluted than I'd have done. But overall that was a problem of BECMI throughout. The War Machine rules being the exception.

Quote from: Eric Diaz on July 17, 2021, 01:12:36 PM

Quote from: Batjon on July 15, 2021, 01:57:41 PM
Old School Essentials allows you to separate race and class.

How?

More the point... why?

Quote from: Omega on July 18, 2021, 07:30:18 AM

Quote from: Eric Diaz on July 17, 2021, 01:12:36 PM

Quote from: Batjon on July 15, 2021, 01:57:41 PM
Old School Essentials allows you to separate race and class.

How?

More the point... why?

It's an optional set of rules in the Advanced Fantasy books if you want to play it closer to AD&D. Otherwise it's B/X versions of AD&D races and classes, i.e. you have a Paladin class or Ranger class that are humans, and you also have the Half-Elf class, or Gnome, or Half-Orc, etc.

There are Basic Paladins. A 9th level fighter that is Law aligned can opt to become a paladin instead of buying a castle and becoming a lord. If the fighter has a WIS of 13 or above, then the paladin can cast cleric spells. There is no minimum CHA requirement.

I started on B/X BITD and still have fond memories of it... particularly Castle Amber.

I looked at Mentzer's BECMI, realized it was Mentzer, then put it down and washed my hands.

The RC? I bought it on a whim, but honestly the artwork looked like shit from Charlton Comics.

Quote from: Semaj Khan on July 18, 2021, 10:16:11 PM


I looked at Mentzer's BECMI, realized it was Mentzer, then put it down and washed my hands.

Greetings!

Hmmm...what is so wrong or terrible about Mentzer's BECMI?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK