I loved this version of D&D as well as 2nd Edition AD&D. Have the box sets and the book. Loved Mystara, the X modules and all the other box sets and gazetteers that expanded this game. I found this so much easier to play as a 12-year-old starting then AD&D 1st Edition. The Basic box set led you by the hand through the game with solo adventures and group play. Also had fairly impressive high level end game content going up to 20th level+ with the immortal's box set. The whole game had a forgotten realms type feel to it and the world building was superb.
The introductory materials in the BECMI Red Box Basic Set player and DM books are very helpful for learning the game. The Basic Set books are available in digital and together with the Rules Cyclopedia are a complete collection imo.
Yeah! It's pretty great though not everything comes through perfectly clear. It takes a bit of effort to really grasp for example the combat sequence or reaction checks.
I played (when I was about ten or so) back in the B/X days (Basic/Expert), before the Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortal edition came out. Still remember my first Fighter. I also remember that one of the guys in the group bought the Companion, Master, and Immortal sets (which none of us, including the DM) owned, and spent the rest of the adventure fruitlessly checking the downed enemies for magic ear-rings.
I played the old school Basic/Expert and preferred the balance of it to AD&D 1E. I just resumed playing last year with my kids and but am using Basic Fantasy as it reminds me of the BE. I still liked your overview of BECMI, and the rational reason for switching from 5E.
@@paavohirn3728 Last Christmas, my family got me everything for BFRPG 4th ed. As I got tired of printing off stuff and holepunching and then needing ink. It was the perfect gift for me.
BECMI - basic, expert, companion, master, immortal. The game was one of the easiest RPGs to learn, play, and master ever. That said, it was incredibly dangerous. It was very easy to die or loss a level or two. Because of this the BECMI spells actually were powerful. Read hold person. Yes, it was a third level spell, but its duration was one turn (10 minutes) per level and affected up to 4. In 5th edition it is for 1 minute! In BECMI one minute hold spell would be so weak it would fail to be a first level spell. This danger added a challenge to the game, it became getting to higher level (hopefully without losing a level or two). That made a retreat is useful and reasonable to use. Not using that retreat could be deadly.
Great video! It's a noble cause to make BECMI more inviting. The basics are simple but yeah, when we played as kids I think we simplified it even further because we didn't get all of it. Didn't stop us from playing 😅 I was about to point to the helpfulness of OSE but you mentioned it already. My own favorite for a while has been Dolmenwood (the system in this context) by Gavin Norman/Necrotic Gnome the creator of OSE. I really dig the tweaks to the system. Too bad the official publication had to be pushed to around the start of 2025. Thanks again!
Thanks! I play BECMI and 5e concurrently. Advice on to hit tables - don’t use them. With descending armor class you just add AC to the die roll and modifiers. If the sum is equal to or greater than a player’s, or monster’s, THACO, success!
if you want to play BECMI, I'd suggest getting the different rulebooks (basic, expert, companion, master and immortals), then introducing new rules as your players progress. easier to learn/absorb...than the hundreds of pages of rules cyclopedia.. Also learn the names of the rules before you play haha. also look into Holmes Basic rules or the Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert rulebooks otherwise known as B/X. Damn shame you're not in Hawaii, I've been trying to get a BECMI game for months now, lol
i get why people use "roll under" checks, but imo, i like "big number good" when rolling dice, ie nat 20 is good, and nat 1 is bad. If its the other way around, it just feels weird to me i also like "big number good" when setting my stats. if i can have that way for both my dice rolls and my stats, im happy
Agreed. I play using the White Box: FMAG system as a baseline and it has both descending and ascending AC/DC rules. I'll always use ascending for that sweet Nat 20 goodness, and because it's just easier to play with imho.
You can used a modified ‘skill roll’ by choosing a target number, like the difficulty class in 5E, and add your ability mod to the roll. Maybe add your level also for skills that your class should be good at, or half level if it’s something outside your class but you might know.
I get that! I felt the same especially at first when going back to old school. Now I'm fine with just attacks working like that. Skill type rolls ie the roll under ability thing I avoid mostly because I've come to see constant 5e style rolling unnecessary as well as often detrimental to immersive and creative play. Regarding thieves' skills I've actually come to love d6 based skills (from an OSE variant rule). Also I really like the 2d6 based reaction rolls 😅
I have to say as someone who played basic in the 90s (it was what we had from a friends parents) before moving on to 2nd then 3rd, 4th and 5th. I do not understand the nostalgia for a worse and harder to use rule set. We have have about 50 years of improvements on basic, it was rough and janky. And the criticisms you raise seem like problems with your DM not the system. A DM could just as easily have you roll and consult the THAC0 chart themselves and “cheat” if they wanted to. Hand waving spell preparation is no different from one system to the other. It reminds me of people buying vinyl records over digital recordings.
Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortals.
I loved this version of D&D as well as 2nd Edition AD&D. Have the box sets and the book. Loved Mystara, the X modules and all the other box sets and gazetteers that expanded this game. I found this so much easier to play as a 12-year-old starting then AD&D 1st Edition. The Basic box set led you by the hand through the game with solo adventures and group play. Also had fairly impressive high level end game content going up to 20th level+ with the immortal's box set. The whole game had a forgotten realms type feel to it and the world building was superb.
just found your channel. this was one of the clearer explanations of the BECMI rules I've yet to hear.
Thanks for the video, and looking forward to the next one. I'm also moving from 5e and going back to BECMI
The introductory materials in the BECMI Red Box Basic Set player and DM books are very helpful for learning the game. The Basic Set books are available in digital and together with the Rules Cyclopedia are a complete collection imo.
Yeah! It's pretty great though not everything comes through perfectly clear. It takes a bit of effort to really grasp for example the combat sequence or reaction checks.
I played (when I was about ten or so) back in the B/X days (Basic/Expert), before the Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortal edition came out. Still remember my first Fighter.
I also remember that one of the guys in the group bought the Companion, Master, and Immortal sets (which none of us, including the DM) owned, and spent the rest of the adventure fruitlessly checking the downed enemies for magic ear-rings.
I played the old school Basic/Expert and preferred the balance of it to AD&D 1E. I just resumed playing last year with my kids and but am using Basic Fantasy as it reminds me of the BE. I still liked your overview of BECMI, and the rational reason for switching from 5E.
Basic Fantasy is in fact a Basic/Expert retro clone or hack iirc
BFRPG is great with all the materials you get for free! I really appreciate the creative community behind it and the open source idea.
@@paavohirn3728 Last Christmas, my family got me everything for BFRPG 4th ed. As I got tired of printing off stuff and holepunching and then needing ink. It was the perfect gift for me.
BECMI - basic, expert, companion, master, immortal. The game was one of the easiest RPGs to learn, play, and master ever.
That said, it was incredibly dangerous. It was very easy to die or loss a level or two. Because of this the BECMI spells actually were powerful. Read hold person. Yes, it was a third level spell, but its duration was one turn (10 minutes) per level and affected up to 4. In 5th edition it is for 1 minute! In BECMI one minute hold spell would be so weak it would fail to be a first level spell.
This danger added a challenge to the game, it became getting to higher level (hopefully without losing a level or two). That made a retreat is useful and reasonable to use. Not using that retreat could be deadly.
Great video! It's a noble cause to make BECMI more inviting. The basics are simple but yeah, when we played as kids I think we simplified it even further because we didn't get all of it. Didn't stop us from playing 😅
I was about to point to the helpfulness of OSE but you mentioned it already. My own favorite for a while has been Dolmenwood (the system in this context) by Gavin Norman/Necrotic Gnome the creator of OSE. I really dig the tweaks to the system. Too bad the official publication had to be pushed to around the start of 2025.
Thanks again!
I like your rolling box.
Thanks! I play BECMI and 5e concurrently. Advice on to hit tables - don’t use them. With descending armor class you just add AC to the die roll and modifiers. If the sum is equal to or greater than a player’s, or monster’s, THACO, success!
if you want to play BECMI, I'd suggest getting the different rulebooks (basic, expert, companion, master and immortals), then introducing new rules as your players progress. easier to learn/absorb...than the hundreds of pages of rules cyclopedia..
Also learn the names of the rules before you play haha. also look into Holmes Basic rules or the Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert rulebooks otherwise known as B/X. Damn shame you're not in Hawaii, I've been trying to get a BECMI game for months now, lol
Spread the word man this is what D&D is supposed to be
i get why people use "roll under" checks, but imo, i like "big number good" when rolling dice, ie nat 20 is good, and nat 1 is bad. If its the other way around, it just feels weird to me
i also like "big number good" when setting my stats. if i can have that way for both my dice rolls and my stats, im happy
Agreed. I play using the White Box: FMAG system as a baseline and it has both descending and ascending AC/DC rules. I'll always use ascending for that sweet Nat 20 goodness, and because it's just easier to play with imho.
Also the same for first edition, you roll under for skills checks except they weren’t called skills, they were called proficiencies
You can used a modified ‘skill roll’ by choosing a target number, like the difficulty class in 5E, and add your ability mod to the roll. Maybe add your level also for skills that your class should be good at, or half level if it’s something outside your class but you might know.
I get that! I felt the same especially at first when going back to old school. Now I'm fine with just attacks working like that. Skill type rolls ie the roll under ability thing I avoid mostly because I've come to see constant 5e style rolling unnecessary as well as often detrimental to immersive and creative play.
Regarding thieves' skills I've actually come to love d6 based skills (from an OSE variant rule).
Also I really like the 2d6 based reaction rolls 😅
Your D20 is super readable.
I have to say as someone who played basic in the 90s (it was what we had from a friends parents) before moving on to 2nd then 3rd, 4th and 5th. I do not understand the nostalgia for a worse and harder to use rule set. We have have about 50 years of improvements on basic, it was rough and janky.
And the criticisms you raise seem like problems with your DM not the system. A DM could just as easily have you roll and consult the THAC0 chart themselves and “cheat” if they wanted to. Hand waving spell preparation is no different from one system to the other.
It reminds me of people buying vinyl records over digital recordings.