Thanks for watching and commenting. Please Like and Subscribe if you enjoyed the video. Also, I don’t have a Patreon or anything like that, so if you wish to support my channel further, please consider buying me coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/becmiberserker Thanks again for popping by.
I played Isle of Dread for years. Started with the PC in media res on a sinking ship. They carved out there own camp, scratching around for survival and progressed all the way to exploring the island and becoming its overlords at 9th level. Was probably the best D&D campaign I've ever GM'd. Would run it again in a heartbeat.
The Gazetteer series is one of my favorite things TSR ever produced. With 16 volumes, including the Dawn of Emperors and Hollow World box sets, it's hard to expect any other setting to match the level of detail Mystara provides.
That expert set really opened the game up. It gave the DM a good skeleton to build on with just enough detail to get you started.. The Gazetteers are nice and all but to me they started to suffer from forgotten realms syndrome with just too much detail and lore and maybe even a little power creep. Yes I know you can keep and toss what you like and don't like but to me the details in both the rule book and in the module were all that I really needed to hit the ground running. I will now start running from the torches and pitchforks.......
I know exactly what you mean though. Obviously a company has to make money and it does that by producing enticing products, but I have to admit being overwhelmed by too much content (even if it is just suggested) and I feel more comfortable being offered a framework and given the opportunity to come up with something myself.
The Grand Duchy of Karameikos actually pretty good in that regard. It gives you just enough to get the ball rolling in any direction you want but yet keeps it simple, I would highly recommend it. After that though I agree that it starts to get way too fantastical but as BB correctly put it, they have to make money.
This was single-handedly the biggest "jump" in scope that we kids were exposed to, game-wise. Just deciding how to move overland, which type of horses we could buy, perhaps move by river. The strongholds. On the spells side, you start to see classics like Fireball and you discover the dead can be raised, at a cost. On the monsters side, you would meet classics like the Troll, Mummy, Chimaera, and absolute nightmares like the Vampire. What a trip. Going through companion was less "traumatic".
I really learned a lession DM'ing the Isle of Dread back when I was 12. My players defeated a dragon and I rolled for treasure at the table while my players were watching and everything maxed out generating an insane amount of treasure. Playing this was an eye opener and a great DM learning experience! A little jealous about that one map though, the one zoomed in on Karameikos. Pretty sure that wasn't included in the norwegian translation.
Ha! Funny story about the dragon. Not so funny about the map though. 🙁 In the English version it was part of the central pullout. I know that in the Moldvay version it was in the last few pages. Anyway, thanks for watching my videos.
Thank you for a very nice overview of many of the best aspects of the Expert, and by extension, the BECMI edition in general. As a devotee of BECMI, I am thrilled that you are doing this series and wish you much success in your stated goal of bringing new players into the BECMI game. Cheers!
Been meaning to post. I've watched all your videos and hope you keep making them. I DM for TEN players. All friends, we play on Zoom and Owlbear because it's lightweight. We've been running BECMI for 14 months every week. I wouldn't dream of another system - BECMI is the only one light enough for me to handle ten players with any kind of speed and grace. It's such an awesome system and very house-rulable. I think one of the best ways to describe the difference is I know all the BECMI rules but there's no chance I could ever know all the 5E or even 1E rules. It makes things flow better when I feel like I know all the rules. Anyway, been loving this so far. Please keep it up. I'll buy you a coffee!
Thank you so much for your amazing videos. BECMI was when i started my way into the many worlds of TTRPG and i still enjoy these old books. I'm very hyped for your upcoming videos about the Companion, Master and Immortal box set! - Also i've to say i used some of your videos to give my friends some good examples on why i prefere die old school versions of classic D&D to the modern WotC Systems. Keep on with your amazing work, you're doing a great job!
I play the Known World with a 5e ruleset. I've been waiting to run Mystara for so long, and right now my players are enjoying the setting. I strongly encourage you to carry on with the channel, and for those who are interested, Mr. Welsh has several hundred videos dedicated to BECMI and Mystara as well. Thank you for this content.
Great video series. I was introduced to D&D in 85 with the BECMI boxes (I didn't know about the existence of RPG before that). I only discovered 1st Ed. AD&D later on. We had so many sleepless nights and busy weekends playing D&D. Thanks for giving us these videos and let us remember the good old days. I still have the 5 boxes (plus Rules Cyclopedia).
I love 4x games and I have to wonder now if the Expert and Companion sets were the genesis of that. I was particularly drawn to the kingdom management and Warmachine rules at the time, and have always found subsequent D&D incarnations sorely lacking in those rules, for the most part. You often have to go to a 3rd party supplement now for those, yet I have always considered them to be integral. I ended up converting the Kingmaker Pathfinder AP to 4e a decade ago just so I could run it for my group.
This is very well timed video. I just received my print on demand copies of the Gazatteer 1 and 3 (Karameikos and Glantri). I didn't realize that they were featured in the Expert box. I would love to hear your thoughts on the Mystara setting and the Gazatteer line of books.
Moldvay B/X was my introduction to RPGs. I GM a wide variety of RPGs, but BECMI always tops my list of favorites. I really enjoy your channel. Thanks for making these!
Once again very informative for my own practice. I never realized that the level of the hero correlated to their social status in such a direct way in this edition. P.S. The Berserker head is looking good in action :)
I'm definitely enjoying this overview of BECMI, particularly the way you've emphasized how the presentation of the rules encourages imagination and role playing.
In my Dolmenwood campaign one of my characters wanted to buy the house he lived in. He had to impress the local lord before he'd even get the permission, he still needs the money.
Have to say I really enjoy your content, your deep dives into becmi content is great and helps me improve my own campaign, thank you and keep up the good work
Far as I'm concerned, Mystara has aged better than any other "traditional" D&D setting, and BECMI is by far my favourite of the TSR editions. I like 3.5 (and even 4e, much as people love to hate that edition), but BECMI does a lot of really fun stuff, and even if you include more fiddly rules like weapon mastery, if you're starting at level 1 it's going to take a while to get to the point where anything beyond slightly more damage is being added to combat.
My first introduction to the world of Mystara was the Dungeons and Dragons arcade game. For the longest time, I just assumed it was a setting designed for the game by a japanese studio, but low and behold over a decade later I find out that it's an entire world that began with an edition of Dungeons and Dragons I didn't even know EXISTED back then. As someone who is very interested in the setting, do you have any recommendations for where to start getting into it?
I’m currently going through the Mystara setting. Check out my Known World playlist, which was the original name for Mystara, where I discuss the Gazetteers of each nation.
I never actually saw it as a official setting but simply an example setting, while taking "known world" to simply mean that was the area of the world known to the PCs culture if using that world. I was actually surprised later when I learned many treated as a default world and "Known World" as an actual (pre-Mystara) name. It seems that is what it became, though.
Really interesting video - thank you! I never really understood why a beginning fighter (lvl 1) started out as a 'veteran' ... I recently re-played the Isle of Dread, its a fantastic adventure, especially given its only 32 pages. It took us weeks to get through it. Fantastic value for money! I'd suggest 5e players look at the Goodman Games re-publish of it, as I imagine it gives a goood intro into OSR style adventures. (The party are now just about to start X5).
I really like what Becmi did releasing it's rules piecemeal instead of one/3+ novel length books like Patherfinnder and 5e it makes it more welcoming to new players. As for me though I'm releasing my Universal TT wargame/RPG rules in one 399 page or less all in one book. That can have it's content be swapped for other settings and released as a new "edition" as well as for it to be broken apart like made into a core rulebook with little content just mainly the rules. As it's been best for how I wok instead of working from core rules up and it's adds value as you just need one book. But yeah Becmi was a great strategy for the time and even now! Like I can see Project Black flag doing much the same... Also don't worry you content is amazing and I'm in it for the long haul!
Almost. OSE claims to be based on B/X, which was the edition before BECMI and only went as far as the Expert Rules. BECMI revised B/X a little and then released three more editions for high level play. As I understand things, there are no current plans to emulate what BECMI added to the game in these editions. Personally, I think it would be great if they did, but as it stands, only BECMI fulfilled the ambition of B/X in supporting play up to 36th level.
@@becmiberserker I would think even if they do make an "official" OSE version of BECMI or even just CMI boxes. One could probably easily adapt the BECMI books to OSE
Thanks for watching and commenting. Please Like and Subscribe if you enjoyed the video.
Also, I don’t have a Patreon or anything like that, so if you wish to support my channel further, please consider buying me coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/becmiberserker
Thanks again for popping by.
I played Isle of Dread for years. Started with the PC in media res on a sinking ship. They carved out there own camp, scratching around for survival and progressed all the way to exploring the island and becoming its overlords at 9th level. Was probably the best D&D campaign I've ever GM'd. Would run it again in a heartbeat.
So many hours as a young lad spent with the BECMI box sets. Thanks for this high quality trip down memory lane.
You are more than welcome.
Can I just say you've got this wonderfully gentle, smooth voice? Like, you could turn anything into a bedtime story with that voice.
Available for Bar Mitzvah’s, weddings, and Audible recordings. 😉 Thank you. That’s very kind.
I'd say that if Basic were the meat, Expert was the potatoes. Nice work on the video Berserker!
Companion Set was the homemade gravy
Expert rules opened up D&D for me, my copy is well used.
The Gazetteer series is one of my favorite things TSR ever produced. With 16 volumes, including the Dawn of Emperors and Hollow World box sets, it's hard to expect any other setting to match the level of detail Mystara provides.
That expert set really opened the game up.
It gave the DM a good skeleton to build on with just enough detail to get you started..
The Gazetteers are nice and all but to me they started to suffer from forgotten realms syndrome with just too much detail and lore and maybe even a little power creep.
Yes I know you can keep and toss what you like and don't like but to me the details in both the rule book and in the module were all that I really needed to hit the ground running.
I will now start running from the torches and pitchforks.......
I know exactly what you mean though. Obviously a company has to make money and it does that by producing enticing products, but I have to admit being overwhelmed by too much content (even if it is just suggested) and I feel more comfortable being offered a framework and given the opportunity to come up with something myself.
The Grand Duchy of Karameikos actually pretty good in that regard. It gives you just enough to get the ball rolling in any direction you want but yet keeps it simple, I would highly recommend it. After that though I agree that it starts to get way too fantastical but as BB correctly put it, they have to make money.
This was single-handedly the biggest "jump" in scope that we kids were exposed to, game-wise. Just deciding how to move overland, which type of horses we could buy, perhaps move by river. The strongholds.
On the spells side, you start to see classics like Fireball and you discover the dead can be raised, at a cost.
On the monsters side, you would meet classics like the Troll, Mummy, Chimaera, and absolute nightmares like the Vampire.
What a trip. Going through companion was less "traumatic".
this is the part of older DnD that appeals the most to me.
I really learned a lession DM'ing the Isle of Dread back when I was 12. My players defeated a dragon and I rolled for treasure at the table while my players were watching and everything maxed out generating an insane amount of treasure. Playing this was an eye opener and a great DM learning experience! A little jealous about that one map though, the one zoomed in on Karameikos. Pretty sure that wasn't included in the norwegian translation.
Ha! Funny story about the dragon. Not so funny about the map though. 🙁 In the English version it was part of the central pullout. I know that in the Moldvay version it was in the last few pages. Anyway, thanks for watching my videos.
@@becmiberserker My pleasure! Your videos are great! Nostalgia level = insane!
@@yvindheilo229 Thank you. Please share if you can. 😊
Thank you for a very nice overview of many of the best aspects of the Expert, and by extension, the BECMI edition in general. As a devotee of BECMI, I am thrilled that you are doing this series and wish you much success in your stated goal of bringing new players into the BECMI game.
Cheers!
Thanks for the kind comments!
Been meaning to post. I've watched all your videos and hope you keep making them. I DM for TEN players. All friends, we play on Zoom and Owlbear because it's lightweight. We've been running BECMI for 14 months every week. I wouldn't dream of another system - BECMI is the only one light enough for me to handle ten players with any kind of speed and grace. It's such an awesome system and very house-rulable. I think one of the best ways to describe the difference is I know all the BECMI rules but there's no chance I could ever know all the 5E or even 1E rules. It makes things flow better when I feel like I know all the rules. Anyway, been loving this so far. Please keep it up. I'll buy you a coffee!
Very kind. Thank you!
Never played BECMI but finding it very interesting.
That’s the plan! Thanks for watching.
Thank you so much for your amazing videos. BECMI was when i started my way into the many worlds of TTRPG and i still enjoy these old books.
I'm very hyped for your upcoming videos about the Companion, Master and Immortal box set! - Also i've to say i used some of your videos to give my friends some good examples on why i prefere die old school versions of classic D&D to the modern WotC Systems. Keep on with your amazing work, you're doing a great job!
Thanks for the kind words!
Thanks for relighting the spark - your review of "old friends" of the BX is making me consider it again for my groups next game.
That’s great. I hope you enjoy it.
Great stuff!.....interesting video of a fun youth.
I play the Known World with a 5e ruleset. I've been waiting to run Mystara for so long, and right now my players are enjoying the setting. I strongly encourage you to carry on with the channel, and for those who are interested, Mr. Welsh has several hundred videos dedicated to BECMI and Mystara as well. Thank you for this content.
Thanks for putting me on to Mr Welch. I didn’t know about that channel. Good stuff.
Great video series. I was introduced to D&D in 85 with the BECMI boxes (I didn't know about the existence of RPG before that). I only discovered 1st Ed. AD&D later on. We had so many sleepless nights and busy weekends playing D&D. Thanks for giving us these videos and let us remember the good old days. I still have the 5 boxes (plus Rules Cyclopedia).
i love these 4x aspects of old school dnd.
I love 4x games and I have to wonder now if the Expert and Companion sets were the genesis of that. I was particularly drawn to the kingdom management and Warmachine rules at the time, and have always found subsequent D&D incarnations sorely lacking in those rules, for the most part. You often have to go to a 3rd party supplement now for those, yet I have always considered them to be integral. I ended up converting the Kingmaker Pathfinder AP to 4e a decade ago just so I could run it for my group.
This is very well timed video. I just received my print on demand copies of the Gazatteer 1 and 3 (Karameikos and Glantri). I didn't realize that they were featured in the Expert box. I would love to hear your thoughts on the Mystara setting and the Gazatteer line of books.
still waiting for my Orcs of Thar
how long did it take them to ship the POD to you?
@@neohubris no more than 3 weeks for mine. The last 4 books I ordered were pretty quick
@@megasquidd thanks, I guess I'll be waiting another week or two
Another excellent video, Sir 🤘
Well done! ✝️📿☮️🧙
Moldvay B/X was my introduction to RPGs. I GM a wide variety of RPGs, but BECMI always tops my list of favorites. I really enjoy your channel. Thanks for making these!
Thank you! Please spread the word! 🙂
Thanks!
Thank you so much! ☺️
I look forward to your Gazetteer videos. Stay cool!
Once again very informative for my own practice. I never realized that the level of the hero correlated to their social status in such a direct way in this edition.
P.S. The Berserker head is looking good in action :)
youtube short sent me here... love BECMI. Subscribed! :)
This is really good information
Thank you!
Getting a lot of new traffic recently? Lol
Liked and subscribed. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the sub!
I'm definitely enjoying this overview of BECMI, particularly the way you've emphasized how the presentation of the rules encourages imagination and role playing.
Great video, great game, and great channel!
Your videos are amazing ! Keep it up! I'm sending these to my players and my other DM friends .
Thank you! That’s really appreciated.
In my Dolmenwood campaign one of my characters wanted to buy the house he lived in. He had to impress the local lord before he'd even get the permission, he still needs the money.
Have to say I really enjoy your content, your deep dives into becmi content is great and helps me improve my own campaign, thank you and keep up the good work
Much appreciated!
Keep up the great videos!
Thanks, will do!
Far as I'm concerned, Mystara has aged better than any other "traditional" D&D setting, and BECMI is by far my favourite of the TSR editions. I like 3.5 (and even 4e, much as people love to hate that edition), but BECMI does a lot of really fun stuff, and even if you include more fiddly rules like weapon mastery, if you're starting at level 1 it's going to take a while to get to the point where anything beyond slightly more damage is being added to combat.
My first introduction to the world of Mystara was the Dungeons and Dragons arcade game. For the longest time, I just assumed it was a setting designed for the game by a japanese studio, but low and behold over a decade later I find out that it's an entire world that began with an edition of Dungeons and Dragons I didn't even know EXISTED back then.
As someone who is very interested in the setting, do you have any recommendations for where to start getting into it?
I’m currently going through the Mystara setting. Check out my Known World playlist, which was the original name for Mystara, where I discuss the Gazetteers of each nation.
I never actually saw it as a official setting but simply an example setting, while taking "known world" to simply mean that was the area of the world known to the PCs culture if using that world. I was actually surprised later when I learned many treated as a default world and "Known World" as an actual (pre-Mystara) name. It seems that is what it became, though.
I love The Isle of Dread. I even bought the Goodman Games updated version.
Do you plan to make a video explaining the hexcrawl? It would be great presented and dissected by you (thanks for all your BECMI videos)
I have a specific section dedicated to this in my Isle of Dread video. Hope you enjoy it. :)
I wanna game with ya, brother!
Really interesting video - thank you! I never really understood why a beginning fighter (lvl 1) started out as a 'veteran' ...
I recently re-played the Isle of Dread, its a fantastic adventure, especially given its only 32 pages. It took us weeks to get through it. Fantastic value for money! I'd suggest 5e players look at the Goodman Games re-publish of it, as I imagine it gives a goood intro into OSR style adventures. (The party are now just about to start X5).
I really like what Becmi did releasing it's rules piecemeal instead of one/3+ novel length books like Patherfinnder and 5e it makes it more welcoming to new players. As for me though I'm releasing my Universal TT wargame/RPG rules in one 399 page or less all in one book. That can have it's content be swapped for other settings and released as a new "edition" as well as for it to be broken apart like made into a core rulebook with little content just mainly the rules. As it's been best for how I wok instead of working from core rules up and it's adds value as you just need one book. But yeah Becmi was a great strategy for the time and even now! Like I can see Project Black flag doing much the same... Also don't worry you content is amazing and I'm in it for the long haul!
I plan to use isle of dread for 5e adventure
BECMI is Old school Essential, right?
Almost. OSE claims to be based on B/X, which was the edition before BECMI and only went as far as the Expert Rules. BECMI revised B/X a little and then released three more editions for high level play. As I understand things, there are no current plans to emulate what BECMI added to the game in these editions. Personally, I think it would be great if they did, but as it stands, only BECMI fulfilled the ambition of B/X in supporting play up to 36th level.
@@becmiberserker probably they would expand it like BECMI one day, but with the OGL problem it might take awhile. Thanks for the reply!!
@@becmiberserker I would think even if they do make an "official" OSE version of BECMI or even just CMI boxes. One could probably easily adapt the BECMI books to OSE
Are you running any games on Roll20?
I’m not currently running any games on VTT, but watch this space…
@@becmiberserker I was a pro-gm on R20. I would be happy to assist.
@@justinboyett8843 I favour Foundry VTT but thank you for the offer.
The flaw with becmi was that Basic, Companion, Master, and Immortal lacked an adventure module unlike Expert.
Well...Basic did have a mini mod built into the DMG. Also, not sure about BECMI but the 1980 B/X always included B2 and X1.