BECMI/BFRPG Training

This page summarizes where the BECMI D&D versions integrate into our various RPG player and Game Master training levels.

These will be changed in various ways based on results from experimentation and application to optimize the learning experience.

The goal, at least for the first levels is to try to cover all of the material for a training level within 12 weeks of just 1 4-hour training session per week, plus 2 other play/participation sessions per month.

I (Hawke) am also hoping over time to convert all of the valuable lessons learned in the BECMI series to the BFRPG ruleset so that they are more accessible to the general public. This will likely take years to complete.

What is BECMI?

The single best edition of D&D to teach absolute beginners to become exceptional players and game masters.

It is basically almost a series of tutorials on role-playing gaming from the most basic beginning all the way to immortal demi-gods, packed with guidance and advice, in a step-by-step process to help players and game masters begin and run a long-term and eventually epic high level campaign without it fizzling out or spinning out of control like most end up doing without the proper experience and training.

"BECMI" refers to the Frank Mentzer 1983 edition of Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, and Immortals Dungeons & Dragons. This edition might also be considered to cover the Allston-era Rules Cyclopedia, though the latter altered many of Frank's rules.

This is the successor to the Moldvay/Cook/Marsh "BX" D&D game.

D&D WIki: Written by Frank Mentzer as a clerical revision of the original Basic Set (BX D&D). This kicked off a series of publications which expanded the Basic game line into its own unique monster. This publication featured excellent art, particularly the iconic cover image by Larry Elmore. (Because of that distincytion, this is often called the Elmore-Art edition) Unlike the BX publications, this version was not genuine about its promotion of the AD&D line and, outside of the introduction, goes to great lengths to assert itself as a valid game in its own right. The guide covers character levels up to level 3. Further levels are included in Expert Set (BECMI D&D). Unlike the J. Eric Holms and Tom Moldvay versions, Frank Mentzer and his team made significant changes to the rules. The game now played very differently than the previous versions, which had all existed as half-hearted sales for the original game and marketing material for AD&D. This significant departure from the original rules and nearly absent marketing of AD&D lead to the product line eventually being cut after its rules were collected in the Rules Cyclopedia (Basic D&D)

What is the Rules Cyclopedia?

took all of the material from the Basic, Expert, Companion, Master's, and Immortals Sets and re-organized them into a cohesive whole.

While BECMI is the best way to learn, the RC is far better as the reference book. With BECMI you have to look through 7 different books "where was that rule?".... With RC, except for Immmortals level, it is pretty much all in one book.

This is _not_ recommended for absolute beginners. It is perfect for experienced gamers who have gone through the BECMI line, or are at the Expert or higher level in process going through the BECMI line.

All of the combat rules⁠ — basic combat, advanced combat options, weapon training and specialization ⁠— put into a single, comprehensive whole.
All of the spells ⁠— low, mid, and high-level ⁠— placed into one chapter and ordered properly.
All of the monsters⁠ — one chapter, organized alphabetically.
High Level campaigns... dungeon and wilderness mapping... advanced character options... immortals rules.... all of it.
This book was compiled and developed by Aaron Allston, one of the guys most responsible for the Immortals books. This book has its flaws, but overall, it is an amazing feat. This book has more relevant material for a player or Dungeon Master packed into 300 pages than the entire Dungeons and Dragons line.

Beginning Basic Character Sheet

https://rpgresearch.com/slides/slide/becmi-basic-d-d-pc-record-sheet-63

Expert-onward Character Sheets

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16965/AC6-DD-Player-Character-Record-Sheets

Purchase BECMI Rules (only available in PDF, no print on demand alas):

Basic Players Manual: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/116578/DD-Basic-Set--Players-Manual-BECMI-ed-Basic
Basic DM's Rulebook: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/116619/DD-Basic-Set--DMs-Rulebook-BECMI-ed-Basic
Expert Rulebook set (player & DM): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/116581/Dungeons--Dragons-Expert-Set-Rulebook-BECMI-ed-Basic
Companion set (player & DM): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17165/DD-Companion-Set-BECMI-Ed-Basic
Master set PDF (player & DM): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17167/DD-Master-Set-BECMI-ed-Basic
Immortals set PDF (player & DM): https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17166/DD-Immortals-Set-BECMI-ed-Basic

Purchase Rules Cyclopedia (available in PDF or various Print on Demand (PoD) options):

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17171/DD-Rules-Cyclopedia-Basic

Additional resources like character generators, form-fillable character sheets, and more: http://pandius.com/gam_res.html

Form Fillable BECMI Basic D&D Character Sheet by community: http://pandius.com/Basic_DD_Character_Sheet_FORM.pdf

Why is BECMI such an Important Part of RPG Training?

E. Gary Gygax (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons) focused almost entirely on the game mechanics of high-level characters: when you reach level 'X,' you get access to special ability 'Y' and can cast spells from list 'Z.'

Frank Mentzer (BECMI) gave you rules for advancement, but spent the bulk of the text on the role-playing ramifications of high-level characters: when you reach level 'X', the possibilities of establishing yourself as a hero of type 'A', 'B', or 'C' (as discussed below) are open to you...

This is what made Frank Mentzer and his almost forgotten line of Dungeons and Dragons history so beautiful: simple organization, staggered implementation, continued advice. Nothing like what is seen in the Companion Set existed in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.

Sure, AD&D gave costs for strongholds and the like; but these rules were given no more consideration than any other rule. The mechanics were described, but word on implication was left devoid. The rules were packed into the opaque density of the Dungeon Master's Guide without fanfare and left unmarked to be discovered whenever a Dungeon Master had the fortune to see them.

Frank Mentzer's approach was organic. You start here. Once you have those concepts mastered, we will move on to these concepts.

Immortal beings in BECMI were awe-inspiring powerful. And thanks to Frank Mentzer and his team, manageable. You could play as an immortal, even gain power as an immortal, all while having stories and adventures that challenged you on the level at which you were playing the game. From political intrigue to combat⁠ — these books had the ability to show the Dungeon Master how to run those games without them devolving.

The key was advice. You can hand a Dungeon Master a set of rules, and expect them to follow them. But you cannot set rules for everything a creative player can come up with. So, the game ⁠— at all levels ⁠— focused on the gameplay as a concept and gave guidelines for how to use, stretch, apply, and modify those rules to suit the situation.

https://hobbylark.com/tabletop-gaming/Frank-Mentzer-The-True-Master-of-Dungeons-and-Dragons

BECMI Summary

Summary of what is learned with each letter is listed below. Below that is detailed training levels and the specific adventures you will go through for your training badges.

Basic D&D (B) PC Levels 1-3

Levels: 1 through 3

Classes/Races:

Summary: character creation; basic game-play; basic spells, combat, and task resolution; character advancement from levels 1 to 3.

"A New Introductory Game. Mentzer claimed that the main reason behind this new edition of Basic D&D was that previous versions "were not 'revised', merely 'reorganized.'" He clearly wasn't talking about the mechanics, which demonstrably had been revised in Moldvay's version of Basic D&D, but instead how the game and its rules were structured. Mentzer's version of Basic D&D thus made some large changes to how the game was taught and presented.

Menzter's first two goals for the new Basic D&D were to make the game approachable by beginners and to make it learnable from the rules. Mentzer's Basic Set is thus laid out almost as a tutorial, with new rules and concepts being introduced to players very carefully; the rules about GMing are then introduced only after all of the basic player concepts have been discussed.

Mentzer also had three general goals for the new Basic D&D: it should be fun, playable, and true (i.e., to the spirit of D&D)." --Appelcline

Expert D&D (E) PC Levels 4-14

PC Levels 4-14

Races/Classes Added:

Summary: Wilderness adventuring, more advanced spells, combat, and task resolution; character advancement from levels 4 to 14.

begins with an introduction to wilderness adventures and playing a long-term campaign.

The Player's section introduces rules for adventuring in the wilderness, as well as new weapons and equipment. It expands the spell lists for the cleric and magic-user classes, and introduces the concept of "reversed spells" (in which some spells may be cast with a result opposite to their normal effect). Because of their special abilities, the three demi-human classes are given maximum levels "to help keep all the character classes in balance": dwarves, elves, and halflings can only rise to 12th, 10th, and 8th level, respectively. When any character reaches a specified "Name" level, depending on their class, they are permitted to build a stronghold, and thus attract lower-level NPC followers.

the Dungeon Master's section provides details for creating and running both wilderness adventures and a long-term campaign, including designing the home town and area of player's characters, and combat rules for various wilderness terrain. The Grand Duchy of Karameikos is presented as a sample wilderness adventure area. The lists of magical items and monsters are also expanded.

Companion D&D (C) PC Levels 15-25

PC Levels: 15-25

Races/Classes Added: Druid

Summary: Building and maintaining a stronghold, narrative-based game-play and character options; character advancement from levels 15 to 25.

advice to the players and the Dungeon Master on how to create and rule your own lands. The character paths diverge from those that remain landed to those that choose to roam the lands, continuing to seek adventure and the unknown.

Are you a cleric? Clergy can settle down to establish a church and rise within the theocratic hierarchy... or they can leave the administration of the church to others as they wander the lands spreading the word to the multitudes.

Are you a fighter? Fighters can settle down to establish a dominion and rise within the noble ranks... or they can forsake such duties and become a Paladin, a Knight, or an Avenger.

Are you a magic-user? Magic-users can settle down as a wizard or maga to establish a tower attracting young pupils seeking arcane knowledge... or they can wander the lands as a magus gathering information and rumor as they go.

Player's Companion details the new abilities and increases in skills, spells, and other abilities that accrue to members of each character class as they rise in level. This section concentrates wholly on human characters, treating dwarves, elves, and halflings separately.

"attack rank" is introduced for the three demi-human classes; although, per the Expert Set rules, they are capped at a specified maximum level.

introduces the optional character class of druid, presented as a special progression for clerics of neutral alignment.

details on running a stronghold and its recurrent costs, such as wages of the castle staff.

Clan Relics for demihumans, adds Druids, Paladins, Avengers. Landholding rules and the War Machine. Adds a variety of NPC specialist henchmen. Unarmed Combat rules.

Dungeon Master's Companion begins with general guidelines on running a campaign and planning adventures for characters of level 15 and higher. The introduction also constructs a feudal system to provide a basis for the dominions, which will be granted to or conquered by the player characters. This section ends with notes on the organization and running of tournaments. The next section "The War Machine" was designed by Douglas Niles and Gary Spiegel as a method for coping with large-scale battles, especially those in the campaign's background. This book covers running high-level campaigns, including mass combat, other worlds and planes, and new monsters and treasure. It also contains three mini-scenarios.

Masters D&D (M) PC Levels 26-36

PC Levels: 26-36+

Race/Class Additions: Mystic

Summary: Kingdoms/Dominions, building, maintaining. More on mass warfare, narrative role-playing, complex politics, more other planes of existence and adventuring.

master combat options

high-level spells

extremely-high level monsters

a multitude of character options

character advancement from level 26 to 36

Once you had things like character roles and responsibilities established⁠—the sorts of things that do not require rules, but need a steady hand at adjudication while playing the game⁠—as they were in the Companion Set, the Master's Set returns to the realm of rules to look at highly advanced and specialized combat options; spell options; and so on.

In the Master's Set, weapons cease being a one-or-two handed weapon dealing 'X' damage. They take on a role in-and-of themselves, with options indicating how that weapon is used in combat when fighting an unarmed foe or when fighting an armed foe. The options were seemingly limitless!

there is something about them that requires that you⁠ — the player and the Dungeon Master ⁠— have a firm grasp of the core rules before you attempt to use them. Combat, as presented in the earlier box sets, was quick and deadly. One or two dice rolls each round was all that was needed. A fighter need only decide who his target would be.

With the combat options presented in the Master's Set... the fighter needs to decide who his allotted number of parries would be assigned to, who would get the benefits of his potential knockout blows, and so on. The battlefield becomes rife with dramatic descriptions and potential combat flair!

Weapon Mastery Rules, Dimensional Travel, Planes. Introduces quest for immortality.

Master Player's Book expands the spell lists for the cleric, magic-user, and druid classes. It introduces the mystic class, an empty hand warrior. The book adds to the range of attack ranks for demihuman characters. The book provides rules for Weapons Mastery, a form of weapon specialization and proficiency, where the character starts as a Novice and rises to the rank of Grand Master. There is also a table listing all the weapons found in the D&D game, including all the restrictions (two-handed, use only in melee, etc.), costs, weights, damage at different levels of Mastery, defense uses, and special effects. This book includes experience rules, abilities, and spells for higher-level characters, new armor and weapons, and guidelines for sieges and siege equipment.

Master DM's Book is taken up with an expansion to the lists of magical items and monsters. This book provides a set of firm guidelines for the DM on how to cope with such a high-magic, super-powerful campaign, including how to cope with the paperwork of having players run small empires, and a section on balancing encounters. The book introduces the concept of Anti-Magic, a property possessed by the game's Immortals, and certain monsters like beholders, which reduces or nullifies the effects of magic within its sphere of influence. This book covers rules for character-ruled realms, reality shifts, nonhuman spellcasters, and artifacts.

Immortals D&D (I) PCs transcend levels 36+

PC Levels: 36+

Added Races/Classes:

Summary: becoming a demi-god; playing with the mortals as pawns; narrative-based immortal role-playing.

BECMI Training Levels Curriculum

Below is a summary of the BECMI portion of training, keeping in mind there is far more training in many other areas, with many non-D&D systems at each level. See our level training summaries elsewhere.

RPG Player/GM Level 1 (B):

BECMI Basic (1-3)

PCs base level = 1.

Adventure 1 & 2: SOLO PLAY: Solo Adventure 1 and Solo Adventure 2 from BECMI Basic D&D Players Manual. Can be played using the PDF version, do not need the physical version only to play. (TEST QUESTIONS)

READ: B1 In Search of the Unknown - Ten Tips for Players (page 32). (TEST QUESTIONS)

Adventure 3: CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY / DM (Main Campaign): DM's Guide Adventure: To the Keep. To the Dungeon. At least 5 auto-generated rooms created and explored by players. Can be played using the PDF version, do not need the physical version only to play. (TEST QUESTIONS)

BFRPG:

Adventure 1: Bear Dungeon. PC Levels: 1.

Adventure 2: Gold in the Hills. PC Levels: 1.

RPG Player/GM Level 2 (B):

BECMI Basic (1-3)

PCs base level = 1-2

Adventure 4: SOLO PLAY: BSOLO - Ghost of Lion Castle. Solo Adventure. Use the included pregenerated characters, do not use your campaign character. If PC dies, pick another one and try again. Play the adventure to completion. Can be played using the PDF, do not need the physical version only to play.

READ: BECMI PH Players are not characters! 52. (TEST QUESTIONS)

READ: Playing in a Group. pp 53-57 (to the end of the section "Traps". (TEST QUESTIONS)

Adventure 5: CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/ DM (Main Campaign): B11 - The King's Festival. Introductory campaign for new DMs and new Players. Learning about the Karameikos setting a bit. Evaluating this in conjunction with B12 as replacement for B2. Mostly a dungeon crawl with a base of operations like B2.

--Previously: GROUP PLAY/ DM (Main Campaign): B2 - The Keep on the Borderlands. Players learn to establish a base of operation in the Keep, getting to know the merchants, and some of the small town politics and some small plots, while they go to the nearby caves to clear out the creatures there in. Classic introductory adventure.--- Now evaluating B11 and B12 as replacement for B2.

Adventure 6: GROUP PLAY/ DM (non-campaign): B7 Rahasia. The players need to tread much more carefully they they usually do. Being stealthy and trying to avoid most opportunities to kill. Killing in most cases would defeat the point of their adventure. Emphasis on role-playing. Some unusual surprises that provide some significant mind challenges to the players. Heavy puzzle solving module.

BFRPG:

Adventure 3: Castle .... PC Level:

Adventure 4: Slavers .... PC Level:

RPG Player/GM Level 3 (B)

BECMI Basic (1-3)

PCs base level = 2-3

Adventure 7: SOLO PLAY: _______________ Use the included pregenerated characters, do not use your campaign character. If PC dies, pick another one and try again. Play the adventure to completion. Can be played using the PDF, do not need the physical version only to play.

Adventure 8: CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/ DM (Main Campaign): B12 - The Queen's Harvest. Direct sequel to B11. More social role-play integrated. Further experience in Karameikos setting.

Adventure 9: CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM (Main Campaign): B6 - The Veiled Society. Heavy role-playing. City setting play, detective mystery solving, social and multi-faction political intrigue. Karameikos campaign setting.

Adventure 10: GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): B3 Palace of the Silver Princess (Orange).

Adventure 11: GROUP PLAY/DM (Non-campaign): B3 Palace of the Silver Princess (Green).

RPG Player/GM Level 4 (B to E transition)

BECMI Basic to Expert Transition (1-3 to 4-14)

PCs base level = 2-4

Adventure 12: GROUP PLAY/DM (non campaign): B4: The Lost City. PC levels 1-3. Dungeon crawl but political intrigue and some other interesting creative components. NOT an introductory adventure.

Adventure 13: CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM (Main campaign): B10 Night's Dark Terror (modules to transition BECMI Basic D&D to Expert D&D Rules). Campaign PC levels 2-4. Grand Duchy of Karameikos setting.

RPG Player/GM Level 5 (E)

BECMI Expert (4-14)

PCs base level = 4-8

Adventure 14: SOLO PLAY: XSOLO Lathan's Gold. PC Levels 4-6. Teaches land wilderness and sailing on the open seas rules and skills. Use the included pregenerated characters, do not use your campaign character. If PC dies, pick another one and try again. Play the adventure to completion. Can be played using the PDF, do not need the physical version only to play.

Adventure 15: CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM (main campaign): X1 The Isle of Dread PC Levels 3-7. Classic introduction to Expert level play. Uses the sea faring rules, wilderness rules, and exploring a jungle island with various cultures above and below ground. Free-form adventure without much plot. True sandbox exploration adventure. Evaluate potentially of replacing this with X8 Drums on Fire Mountain?

Adventure 16: GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): _______________. PC Levels: ______. ____________________

RPG Player/GM Level 6 (E)

BECMI Expert (4-14)

PCs base level = 6-12

SOLO PLAY: XS2 Thunderdelve Mountain. PC Levels 7-9. Underground city dungeon adventure. Has option to wrap up as group game with other players. Use the included pregenerated characters, do not use your campaign character. If PC dies, pick another one and try again. Play the adventure to completion. Can be played using the PDF, do not need the physical version only to play.

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM (main campaign): X4 Master of the Desert Nomads. PC Levels 6-9. Part of the TSR UK series including X4, X5, & X10.

GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): X2 Castle Amber. PC Levels 3-6. Exceptionally creative adventure with lots of "odd" and distinctive experiences. French flavor. Trans-planar travel. Creatively psychotic NPCs. A distinctive (though rather warped) experience filled with many creative ideas.

RPG Player/GM Level 7 (E)

BECMI Expert (4-14)

PCs base level = 10-14

SOLO PLAY: __________________. PC Levels _______. _______________________________________ Use the included pregenerated characters, do not use your campaign character. If PC dies, pick another one and try again. Play the adventure to completion. Can be played using the PDF, do not need the physical version only to play.

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM (main campaign): X10 Red Arrow, Black Shield. PC Levels 10-14. Part of the TSR UK series including X4, X5, & X10. Three modes of play: PC role-play with complex diplomacy, BATTLESYSTEM wargame armies tactical combat rules, and the War Machines strategic combat. Sets players up for Companion-level adventures next due to their heavy involvement across multiple kingdoms during this adventure.

GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): ________________. PC Levels _______. ______________________________

RPG Player/GM Level 8 (C)

BECMI Companion (15-25)

PCs base level = 15-20

GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): ________________. PC Levels _______. ______________________________

SOLO PLAY (non-campaign): CM5 Mystery of the Snow Perls. PC Level 10. _______________ Use the included pregenerated characters, do not use your campaign character. If PC dies, pick another one and try again. Play the adventure to completion. Have to see if PDF version is playable, since original uses the red decoder option.

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM (main campaign): CM1 Test of the Warlords. PC Levels 15+. Introduction to dominion rules, role-play through politics, dominions, lordship, inter-empire-wars.

RPG Player/GM Level 9 (C)

BECMI Companion (15-25)

PCs base level = 18-22

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM (main campaign): CM4 Earthshaker. PC Levels 18-20. Continue your learning to manage a dominion/domain. special huge automaton.

RPG Player/GM Level 10 (C)

BECMI Companion

PCs base level = 20-24

GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): ________________. PC Levels _______. ______________________________

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM:

RPG Player/GM Level 11 (M)

BECMI Master

PCs base level = 25-29

GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): ________________. PC Levels _______. ______________________________

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM:

RPG Player/GM Level 12 (M)

BECMI Master

PCs base level = 28-32

GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): ________________. PC Levels _______. ______________________________

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM:

RPG Player/GM Level 13 (M)

BECMI Master

PCs base level = 30-36

GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): ________________. PC Levels _______. ______________________________

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM:

RPG Player/GM Level 14 (I)

BECMI Immortals

PCs base level = 36+

GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): ________________. PC Levels _______. ______________________________

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM: IM1 The Immortal Storm by Frank Mentzer.

RPG Player/GM Level 14 (I)

BECMI Immortals

PCs base level = 36+

GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): ________________. PC Levels _______. ______________________________

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM: IM2 The Wrath of Olympus by Robert J. Blake.

RPG Player/GM Level 15 (I)

BECMI Immortals

PCs base level = 36+

GROUP PLAY/DM (non-campaign): ________________. PC Levels _______. ______________________________

CAMPAIGN GROUP PLAY/DM: IM3 The Best of Intentions by Ken Rolston.

Differences between different Basic D&D Editions

Reference: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/2089/what-are-the-differences-between-holmes-moldvay-and-mentzer-dd

History

D&D started as a series of little booklets, now called "original D&D" (OD&D). These booklets were basically barely-edited versions of the house rules of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Holmes Basic Dungeons & Dragons book In 1977, TSR hired J. Eric Holmes to develop a Basic D&D game. This was a dark blue, boxed set containing D&D in a single book, plus a module (B1 In Search of the Unknown), and some dice (or cardboard chits, when they ran out!).

Moldvay and Mentzer are game designers who took the old Basic D&D game (edited by Eric Holmes) and revised them. Both produced "red box" versions of the game. You'll find far more differences between Holmes and the later red boxes than you'll find between Moldvay and Mentzer.

Moldvay Basic Dungeons & Dragons book Tom Moldvay revised the "Basic" D&D game in 1981. It came in a red box and featured the B2 Keep on the Borderlands module. It came with dice (and a marking crayon!). These rules handled levels 1-3. David "Zeb" Cook wrote the follow-on "Expert" rule book (another boxed set) that expanded the game to levels 4-14.

Mentzer Basic Dungeons & Dragons book Frank Mentzer revised the game again in 1983 with another "red box" set featuring the art of Larry Elmore. This time, the Dungeon Master book was separated from the Player book. Mentzer would continue the Basic (1-3) and Expert (4-14) classifications but would go on to produce additional expansions: Companion (15-25), Master (26-36), and Immortal (characters too sexy for their levels, but you essentially get 36 more). These separate books would later be combined into the D&D Rules Cyclopedia.

Differences between Holmes and Moldvay

Moldvay made many changes to the Holmes version to streamline play and make it easier for players to understand the game. Both games cover levels 1-3, though.

Overall differences:

Holmes' game includes B1 In Search of the Unknown. Moldvay's game includes B2 Keep on the Borderlands.
The Holmes version is intended as an introduction for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and refers the reader to there for further help. Moldvay Basic D&D is intended as its own game, with little connection to AD&D.
Holmes' book is a reference manual. Moldvay's book is an instruction manual.

Rules differences:

Holmes presents the game as rules to be followed. Moldvay presents the game as guidelines to be considered.
Holmes has initiative in order of dexterity (high to low). Moldvay has players roll group initiative.
Combat in Holmes is based on OD&D, which was based on Chainmail (more wargamey). The weapons all do 1d6 damage. Moldvay gives weapons individual damage ratings.
The spell Magic Missile requires a to-hit roll in Holmes, but not in Moldvay.
Holmes offers dozens of spells (level 1-3). Moldvay cuts this spell list a lot (from 18 to 3 3rd level spells, for instance).
In Holmes, not all ability scores have modifiers. Moldvay makes every ability count and provides bonus charts for each one, and most fall into the same seven bands (-3 to +3).
There are differences in advancement for classes. Elves in Holmes need far more XP to advance than in Moldvay.
Holmes has no surprise rules. Moldvay does, but they're essentially brought back in from OD&D.
Moldvay adds monster morale.
Moldvay adds automatic hits on a 20 and automatic misses on a 1.
Holmes carries forward the OD&D class name "Fighting Man." Moldvay shortened that to "Fighter" (probably copying Gygax in AD&D).

Differences between Moldvay and Mentzer

In general, the Mentzer version was a repackaging and expansion of the Moldvay version. The differences are minor in the Basic ruleset.

Overall differences:

Moldvay aims his writing at a younger audience. Mentzer writes for an adult audience.
The Moldvay version has weaker layout and art than the later Mentzer version.
Moldvay's game is pretty simple and straightforward. Mentzer adds complexity, like skills and weapon mastery.
Moldvay's red box came with B2 Keep on the Borderlands, but you could buy the books separately (unboxed). Mentzer's Basic box didn't come with a module (the Expert set came with X1 The Isle of Dread, though!).

Rule differences:

Moldvay stops at level 3 (and Cook's Expert set continues that to 14). Mentzer's "BECMI" continues on and on.
Moldvay states that clerics get their spells from gods. Mentzer gets all "wishy-washy"* about this aspect of the game and only says clerics get spells from "their beliefs."
Moldvay's magic-users get one spell at 1st level and have to find more in play. Mentzer's get one spell plus Read Magic at 1st level, and then one new one at every level.
The monster list changes between these versions. A number of people "monsters" are combined into the Human entry: acolyte, medium, trader, veteran. Insect swarm and noble are moved to the Expert rules. Some monsters are renamed: cave locust became locust, giant; driver ant became ant, giant; and killer bee became bee, giant.
Mentzer slows down the advancement of saving throws, thieves' abilities, and spell acquisition for clerics and magic-users.
Castle-building rules are more detailed in Moldvay, but Mentzer details a base town and talks about running town adventures.

A couple nits. Later printings of the Holmes' set came with B2 (including my copy :) Holmes uses the same rules for surprise that OD&D does, 1-2 out of 6. (From Maliszewski - grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/07/…) – Pat Ludwig Sep 2 '10 at 16:50

1

Oh, and Moldvay's individual weapon damages are from Gygax's Supplement 1. By using supplements 1 & 2, one was essentially playing AD&D. – aramis Sep 3 '10 at 4:29
10

I'll endorse this answer. :) --FM (Tho it's depressing to be the sole survivor of the three.) – ExTSR Sep 4 '10 at 1:34
1

Hi, Frank! Thanks for your kind words. Revel in surviving them all! I met Tom at NEOcon in Akron in the late 80's. I was a high school kid with big dreams of game design and he was very kind to me. Moldvay's death saddened me in a way that the deaths of Gygax and Arneson didn't, because I had met him and talked for a couple hours. – Adam Dray Sep 4 '10 at 18:17
1

Early versions of the Holmes box came with geomorphs and a monster & treasure assortment instead of a module. – Robert Fisher Feb 9 '15 at 14:30
Moldvay has individual initiative as an optional rule. – Robert Fisher Feb 9 '15 at 14:31
All weapons doing 1d6 is actually the standard in Moldvay. The damage-by-weapon is an optional rule. (Although I think everything else TSR published for B/X assumed this optional rule was in effect.) – Robert Fisher Feb 9 '15 at 14:33
1

I believe another difference was that in Moldvay there was a rule that if a character tried something not covered by other rules, you should roll 1D20 and try to roll =< a suitable characteristic value, perhaps with a modifier for difficulty. I think this was removed in Mentzer? – Simon Hibbs Aug 24 '16 at 12:33
This answer needs to address Pat Ludwig's comment about surprise rules. (p. 10 Holmes) (The use of pictures was a good idea). Another point made in Holmes was that this was a "role playing game for adults 12 years and up." (I guess they grew up fast back the ancient days of the 1970's! ) – KorvinStarmast Aug 8 '17 at 23:58
1

@KorvinStarmast Not all printings were 3-hole punched. – aramis Aug 11 '17 at 19:33
@aramis Ah, only aware of the ones that were. – KorvinStarmast Aug 11 '17 at 21:10

1973: woodgrain box D&D. (Actual publishing date in early 1974)
1974-76: supplements come out for D&D
1977: Holmes collates the "basic" set, incorporating some of Supplements 1 & 2 into the rules. White editions of original rules sold as "Classic D&D", AD&D announced.
1977: AD&D starts to be released, with the MM being published first.
1981: Moldvay simplifies the rules, and adds a few innovations, seems to ignore Supplements 1 & 2 except for variable weapon damage as an option.
1982 or so: Cook expands upon Moldvay with the Expert Set; D&D forks into two paths, Classic D&D discontinued.
1983: Mentzer revises Basic and Expert Sets, firmly entrenching Moldvay's changes, and creating a different look for B/X than the AD&D look.
By 1990, the game has been expanded to Basic (red), Expert (Blue), Companion (Teal), Master (Black) and Immortal (Gold) boxes. Companion adds AD&D inspired subclasses, Master adds weapon mastery. Immortal allows PC's to essentially ascend to Godhood.
1991 Black Box Basic - Denning rewrites Mentzer rules for levels 1-5, and puts them in a big box with maps, paper minis, and dice; Allston cleans up and collates Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master rules into the Cyclopedia, making some errata fixes and rewording a lot.
1992 Wrath of the Immortals - Allston completely rewrites the Immortals Rules...

All of them except Holmes use the simple stat mods; classic has the AD&D style mods in Supplement 1. All of them have variable weapon damage, some as an option; Classic, Moldvay, and Mentzer all have 1d6 damage for any weapon as standard. Alston and Denning use Variable Weapon Damage as a standard.

original or Classic D&D: levels 1-10+, Fighter, Mage, Cleric. All weapons do 1d6 hit points (at least one printing is missing that line). All hit dice in d6's with mods; completely re-roll HP each level. Races are not classes.

Note: sometimes called "Little Brown Book" or "Little White Book" D&D.

CD&D with Supplement 1: add thief class and paladin sub-class of fighter, HD type by class and 1 HD per level, asymmetric stat bonuses tables (later used in AD&D), damage by weapon type instead of all doing 1d6, modifiers to to-hit rolls on weapon vs specific armor types...

CD&D Supplement 2: adds monks and assassins. Adds more stuff, too.

CD&D Supplement 3: adds druids and demons(monsters)

Holmes Basic: I don't have a copy; no details I can check. It used some of the supplement 1 stat effect tables.

Moldvay Basic: Introduces Race-based classes; Basic set levels 1-3, Fighter, Magic User, Cleric, Theif, Elf, Dwarf Halfling. Covers only dungeons.
Cook Expert: adds levels 4-12, wilderness travel rules, more monsters.

Mentzer Basic: same classes and focus as Moldvay; different writing style, a few errata-ish changes.
Mentzer Expert: same focus as Cook; Levels 4-14, only Mentzer set done as a single volume.
Mentzer Companion: Levels 15-25, Clan Relics for demihumans, adds Druids, Paladins, Avengers. Landholding rules and the War Machine. Adds a variety of NPC specialist henchmen. Unarmed Combat rules.
Mentzer Master: Levels 25-36, Weapon Mastery Rules, Dimensional Travel, Planes. Introduces quest for immortality.
Mentzer Immortals: Levels Immortal-1 to Immortal-36, more on dimensions, lots of stuff.

Denning Basic: BIG black box (18x12x4 inches or so) Levels 1-5, 1st version without "All weapons do 1d6, but you have the option for polyhedrals," using only the damage by weapon type. Dungeon focused. Otherwise, very comparable to Moldvay or Mentzer editions.

Allston Cyclopedia: covers all the same as Mentzer through Master. Like Denning, no "1d6" option. Adds the General Skills from the Gazeteer and Hollow World series of modules.

Allston Wrath of the Immortals: complete rewrite of the Immortals rules; works differently in many ways, includes a campaign adventure for both Immortals and non-immortals (two sides of the same story!). Covers more details on the multiverse and planes, covers levels I1 to I36, and on how to become Immortal.

Advanced D&D just for clarity: Advanced D&D starts off with almost all of Supplements 1, 2, and 3 incorporated into the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide. It uses the asymmetric stat modifier tables, variable damage by weapon, no racial classes, has Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Mage, Ranger, Paladin, Monk, Assassin and Druid, and a funky Bard class as well. It included the Supplement 3 psionics rules in an appendix, and was revised by Gygax from a base of Classic and Holmes.

Supplement 2 added monks and assassins, supplement 3 added druids(PCs) and demons(monsters) – KorvinStarmast Aug 8 '17 at 23:36

Basic D&D Player's Manual

Dmsguild.com and Shannon Appelcline Description - https://www.dmsguild.com/product/116578/DD-Basic-Set--Players-Manual-BECMI-ed-Basic?src=also_purchased

This is the 1983 edition of the D&D Basic Set Player's Manual, part of the "BECMI edition" Red Box Set.

Product History

The D&D Basic Rules Set (1983) by Frank Mentzer was the third and final iteration of the boxed Basic Rules for Basic D&D. It was released in summer 1983.

The Evolution of Basic D&D. By 1983, Basic D&D had gone through two major editions. The first was edited by J. Eric Holmes (1977) and was essentially an introductory set for the original D&D game (1975). The second was edited by Tom Moldvay (1981); it was the first truly standalone version of Basic D&D, and the start of the short-lived (but well-known) "B/X" edition.

Frank Mentzer's version of Basic D&D, which would come to be called the BECMI edition (1983-86), was thus the third edition - or fourth, if you count original D&D as part of the sequence of games. BECMI would also be the most long-lived edition of Basic D&D, lasting almost eight years from the publication of the this Basic Set until it was superseded by The New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game (1991) and the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991).

A New Introductory Game. Mentzer claimed that the main reason behind this new edition of Basic D&D was that previous versions "were not 'revised', merely 'reorganized.'" He clearly wasn't talking about the mechanics, which demonstrably had been revised in Moldvay's version of Basic D&D, but instead how the game and its rules were structured. Mentzer's version of Basic D&D thus made some large changes to how the game was taught and presented.

Mentzer also had three general goals for the new Basic D&D: it should be fun, playable, and true (i.e., to the spirit of D&D).

A New Art Design. Mentzer's Basic D&D took advantage of the new "Product Finishing" Department at TSR, whose goal was to make TSR's books look as good as possible. You can best see their work through the upgrades to the trade dress of D&D that occurred in 1983. However, it's also very obvious in the Menzter Basic D&D, which is full of attractive graphic design (for the era), as well as artwork that's all by iconic D&D artists Larry Elmore and Jeff Easley.

Color-Coding the Boxes. Some people like to classify the D&D boxes by color. This is thus the "Red Box," to differentiate it from the "Magenta Box" edition, which was the previous edition edited by Moldvay.

New Adventures. The new Basic Set was the first D&D rule set to include a solo adventure, intended to make it easier for a player to learn the game even if he didn't know the rules yet. This was just TSR's second stab at a solo adventure for D&D, following M1: "Blizzard Pass" (1983), which was published earlier in the year. Of course, it wasn't a first for the industry; that was Buffalo Castle (1976) for Tunnels & Trolls (1975), published a full seven years earlier.

Mentzer's Basic Set also included a GM adventure that was meant to be an introduction to and tutorial for the rule system.

TSR's new tactic of trying to teach the game via a rulebook that acted as a tutorial and which contained carefully crafted teaching adventures was a technique that was very popular in roleplaying at the time. Yaquinto (1982-83) and Pacesetter (1984) were two other companies that pushed hard on the same idea.

Goodbye to the Keep. The expansion of the Basic Set into two rulebooks meant that something else had to go... and that something else was B2: "The Keep on the Borderlands" (1979), the adventure that had been packaged with Basic D&D since around December 1979. It was the end of an era for TSR's best-selling adventure, which thereafter faded away; the Acaeum reports that its seventh and final printing occurred in 1983, the same year that Mentzer's Basic Set was published.

About the Creators. Frank Mentzer was one of the star creators at TSR in the early to mid-80s, working closely with Francois Marcela-Froideval and Gary Gygax on the most important rulebooks for D&D. Mentzer took total control of Basic D&D around 1982 when Gygax approved the BECMI project, and would remain in that position through his work on the Immortals Set (1986).

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

Basic D&D DM's Rulebook

Dmsguild.com and Shannon Appelcline Description - https://www.dmsguild.com/product/116619/DD-Basic-Set--DMs-Rulebook-BECMI-ed-Basic

This is the 1983 edition of the D&D Basic Dungeon Master's Rulebook, part of the "BECMI edition" Red Box Set.

Product History

The D&D Basic Rules Set (1983) by Frank Mentzer was the third and final iteration of the boxed Basic Rules for Basic D&D. It was released in summer 1983.

Mentzer also had three general goals for the new Basic D&D: it should be fun, playable, and true (i.e., to the spirit of D&D).

Mentzer's Basic Set also included a GM adventure that was meant to be an introduction to and tutorial for the rule system.

About the Product Historian

Expert D&D

Dmsguild.com and Shannon Appelcline Description - https://www.dmsguild.com/product/116581/Dungeons--Dragons-Expert-Set-Rulebook-BECMI-ed-Basic?src=also_purchased

This is the 1983 edition of the D&D Expert Rulebook, part of the "BECMI edition."

This product does not include X1: "The Isle of Dread".

Product History

The D&D Expert Rules Set (1983), by Frank Mentzer, is the second iteration of the boxed Expert Rules for Basic D&D and the second volume in Mentzer's BECMI rules series. It was published in August 1983 — or perhaps a bit later.

About the Title. Frank Mentzer's Expert Rules were originally published as "Expert Rules Set 2". For their second printing that title was updated to "Set 2: Expert Rules", which definitely makes more sense. Starting with the Companion Rules (1984), all the Frank Mentzer's D&D rules would follow this new format for naming.

About the Cover. Larry Elmore continues to keep dragons front and center on the BECMI covers. To highlight the wilderness focus of the Expert Rules, the new cover features a fighter on horseback battling a dragon out in the middle of nowhere.

About the Box. Like the rest of the BECMI series, this one came as two books in a box: the "blue box", not to be confused with the original Holmes edition of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977), which is also blue. The Expert Rules box also contains another set of "low impact" dice and a crayon for coloring them in.

However, the Expert Rules is unique among the BECMI boxes because it's the only one where the rules are contained in just a single, 64-page book. Instead of a having second rulebook, the Expert Rules' second book is X1: "The Isle of Dread" (1981). This was a new, second edition of "Isle of Dread" (1983), laid out in TSR's new D&D trade dress and featuring a more attractive interior thanks to TSR's new Product Finishing department.

The inclusion of "Isle of Dread" was apparently a requirement from the powers-that-be at TSR. Because the new Basic Rules didn't have an adventure module, they said there "darn well better be one in Expert". Mentzer had no objections because he thought that "Isle of Dread" was "one of the best design jobs ever".

Origins: Moving Toward BECMI. When TSR decided to revamp the Basic D&D line in 1982, that meant revising both the Basic Rules and the Expert Rules. Frank Mentzer planned the two new rules sets together and even announced them in the same article, in Dragon #77 (September 1983). The new Basic Rules came out around May 1983, then the Expert Rules followed, perhaps as early as August 1983, perhaps as late as early 1984.

The new Expert Rules had the same goals as the Basic Rules before them. They were intended to be attractive and professional, which is reflected in better graphic design and layout and a unified set of artwork by Larry Elmore. They were also intended to be more approachable for new players — though this was less important for the second box in the series.

What a Difference an Edition Makes. Compared to Mentzer's major update of the Basic Rules, the changes in the new Expert Rules are quite subtle. That's because Mentzer felt that Expert designer David "Zeb" Cook "had done a great job on the earlier version", so "it was just tweaked to bring it in line with the overall plan".

Much of Mentzer's new material focused on the setting and on campaign design, but he also made any number of minor adjustments such as differentiating dwarf and halfling saving throws, updating wandering monster tables, changing weapon damage, and revamping encumbrance values. Mentzer also did away with the idea that anyone could find traps, offering better niche protection for thieves. Finally, one of his biggest changes was to the monster section, where he added the giant bass and insect swarms while cutting a dozen monsters. Some higher-leveled monsters would return in the Companion Rules. However, aquatic monsters also took a serious hit — perhaps because of the absence of aquatic fan Steve Marsh. Many of them would make a return in X7: "The War Rafts of Kron" (1984).

What a Difference an Edition Makes: Room to Grow. This is one large, systemic change in the Expert Rules: all of the human character progressions are slowed down — though usually that's offered hand-in-hand with some new advantages. So clerics now get fewer spells as they level up, but also have earlier access to sixth level spells; similarly turning is slightly powered down while a new "D+" result is introduced, to destroy more undead than ever. Magic-users also have their spells reduced, while a number of saving throw progressions are dialed back.

Rather remarkably, thieves did not get updated. Their skill progression was unchanged from Cook's Expert Rules. This may be because Mentzer originally intended to add new skills at higher levels, perhaps in accordance with Zeb Cook's notes in the Expert Rules, which suggested that higher level thieves might gain "the ability to climb overhangs, upside down, ventriloquism, powers of distraction, and the ability to mimic voices." That never happened, so when the Companion Rules rolled around, Mentzer realized that thieves didn't have enough upside. As a result, the thief skill levels were updated after the fact. New, slower skill progressions appeared in the Companion Rules and were then introduced to later printings of Mentzer's Expert Rules.

Surprisingly, demihumans still have level limits in these new Expert Rules: dwarves top out at 12, elves at 10, and halflings at 8. Though this made sense for a game that only went up to level 14, it would be problematic when levels climbed to 36 — but that'd be an issue for the Companion Rules and the Master Rules (1985).

Exploring the Known World. The new Expert Rules largely reiterate the background for the Known World found in the original Expert Rules and in X1: "The Isle of Dread". This includes redrawn maps of both "The Grand Duchy of Karameikos" and the surrounding lands from "The Isle of Dread". The latter map is now labeled "The Lands and Environs of the the D&D Wilderness" and is notable for placing the first four "B" adventures and the first five "X" adventures in the context of the Known World. This was a first for B1: "In Search of the Unknown" (1978) and B2: "The Keep on the Borderlands" (1979), which had not previously been an official part of the setting. The arrows denoting the direction to X4: "Master of the Desert Nomads" (1983) and X5: "Temple of Death" (1983) are somewhat inaccurate; they actually take place directly west of the map, not northwest as indicated.

Mentzer adds two new locales to the map of the "D&D Wilderness": Kelven and Threshold. Threshold is a new "Home Town", which receives a complete map and some additional detail; Kelven would get more attention in the Companion Rules.

Mentzer also adds a number of plot hooks for adventures in the Known World.

Exploring the Spheres. The phrase "Elemental Plane" shows up for the first time in Basic D&D in the Expert Rules, suggesting that Mentzer's revamp would bring its cosmology more into line with AD&D's Great Wheel.

NPCs of Note. Bargle the Infamous makes a return visit. Now he's hanging out west of Threshold with an army that is (oddly) asleep and polymorphed into trees.

About the Creators. Frank Mentzer was one of the star creators at TSR in the early to mid '80s, working closely with Francois Marcela-Froideval and Gary Gygax on the most important rulebooks for D&D. Mentzer took total control of Basic D&D around 1982 when Gygax approved the BECMI project, and would remain in that position through his work on the Immortals Set (1986).

About the Product Historian

Companion D&D

Dmsguild and Shannon Appelcline Description - https://www.dmsguild.com/product/17165/DD-Companion-Set-BECMI-Ed-Basic?src=also_purchased

his is the third boxed set of the Dungeons & Dragons game series. The first, the D&D Basic Set, introduced the game and explained the rules for 1st-3rd level characters. In the D&D Expert Set, character levels 4-14 were detailed, along with notes on the fantasy world in which the characters live.

If you started with a 1st character, and have enjoyed the wilderness expansion of Expert level play, then you are ready for this set.

You can also use this set if you'd like to discover what it's like to own a medieval castle. You can rule a land, bring civilization to the wilderness, and cope with all the threats to your territory, while facing monsters and magic of all kinds.

Your adventures will be different than ever before. Lower level characters must keep busy surviving and learning; but when you find the challenges lacking, or treasure too easily found, you may start to wonder?"Is there anything more?"

There certainly is! Games for higher level characters are often different?as new as when the characters first braved the unknown wilderness.

Product History

The D&D Companion Rules Set (1984), by Frank Mentzer, is the third volume in Mentzer's BECMI rules series. It was published in June 1984.

About the Title. The name of the "Companion Rules" dates back to at least 1980. At the time, Tom Moldvay and David "Zeb" Cook were working on their B/X iteration of Basic D&D; that D&D Basic Set (1981) and D&D Expert Set (1981) were together meant to be a complete game. But at the same time, Moldvay was considering a "D&D Companion supplement", which would extend play out to level 36.

There was never a B/X "Companion supplement" but when Mentzer started working on his new BECMI iteration of Basic D&D, he was told to use the "Companion" name for the third set — even though it was a totally different product with different content that addressed a narrower set of levels.

About the Cover. The Basic (1983) and Expert (1983) covers showed heroes fighting dragons against backdrops that linked with the sets' styles of play. That trend continues on the Companion cover, where a hero fights a green dragon; a castle in the background suggests the role of fortresses (and domains) in this new D&D box.

About the Box. This is the "teal box" in the D&D series.

Origins (I): Moving Toward BECMI. From the start, Mentzer had planned to advance his new BECMI edition of D&D (1983-1986) to those higher levels of play that the original Expert Set (1981) had only hinted at. Mentzer revealed this in Dragon #77 (September 1983), where he said that there would be at least three more major releases for Basic D&D: "Set #3, Companion", "Set #4, "Masters", and a new version of "Gods, Demigods & Heroes" — which presumably is what eventually became Set #5, Immortals. Mentzer said that these new sets would features "castles" and players ruling "their domains" and stated that new classes like druids, knights, and paladins would show up. And, that's pretty much what's in the Companion Rules (with a few additions): if Basic was about dungeons, and Expert was about the wilderness, Companion was about kingdoms

Though TSR was happy to continue the BECMI series to these higher levels, Mentzer says that the company had lower expectations for how well these products would do. The Basic Rules (1983) and the Expert Rules (1983) were expected to be big sellers, while the "'advanced' setup" of Companion Rules (1984) and Master Rules (1985) were thought to be a "tier down". Mentzer says that they "sold fine" but nothing like the "first tier" sets for Basic and Expert.

Origins (II): Strongholds & Warfare. In the oldest days of D&D, the game had a big focus on warfare. That was due to its origins in the miniatures wargaming genre and the fact that its first rules, Chainmail (1973), were all about battles. Dave Arneson's Blackmoor game clearly focused on warfare too, as stories of his campaign talk about wars with the Egg of Coot and others. However, when OD&D (1974) came out, it put much more emphasis on dungeons. A few years later, TSR published a miniatures warfare supplement, Swords & Spells (1976), but it was the last gasp for a dying style of play.

The trope of characters holding strongholds and ruling over lands lasted a bit longer. OD&D had short sections on ruling baronies and constructing castles. It was clearly intended as a successful end point for high-level characters. The idea carried into AD&D (1977-1979), where higher level characters could build strongholds (or towers), but by this point the rules were vestigial: the concept of characters settling down to rule was largely outside the norm of D&D play as the game entered through the '80s.

So it was up to the Companion Rules to bring this classic gameplay back.

Origins (III): A Little Help from My Friends. Though Frank Mentzer engaged in intensely personal work for most of his designs of the BECMI series, he enlisted a bit of help for the Companion Rules: he brought in Douglas Niles and Gary Spiegel to create the game's new warfare system. He asked the two for: "a fast, easy-to-run, uncomplicated but expandable, comprehensive but not tedious, all-new state-of-the-art method for handling REALLY large battles, something that newbies could embrace but that old-schoolers could use without squawking".

Easy.

The two delivered one of TSR's best received mass-combat systems, the War Machine. Niles would go on to produce a few other mass combat systems for TSR, while Spiegel would unfortunately fall victim to one of TSR's layoffs of the mid '80s.

What a Difference an Edition Makes. By the mid '80s, the D&D game had actually gotten a little staid. The AD&D rules were completed with the release of the Dungeon Masters Guide (1979) and since then the only hardcover sourcebooks had been god and monster books. The Basic D&D line broke some new ground with its original Expert Set (1981), which had reintroduced and codified wilderness play, but that was the only large-scale expansion of the D&D rules in the early '80s.

The Companion Rules thus mark a major turning point in the evolution of the hobby. They massively expand the Basic D&D game with a variety of new rules. While the warfare and domain rules were influenced by D&D's primordial play, and while the game's new classes were influenced by AD&D's own classes, Mentzer wasn't afraid to take these rules systems in new directions — introducing mechanics and play styles that had never been seen before in the D&D game.

Expanding D&D: Dominions. The innovation in the Companion Rules begins with its "dominion" mechanics, which provide a rule system for founding and administering an entire kingdom. This was a reimagination of the high-level play of baronies that had been lost with OD&D, but it was now rebuilt with sturdier mechanics that were more expansive and more modern.

These dominions would be used in the majority of the Companion-level "CM" adventures (1984-1987) and even into the Master-level "M" adventures (1985-1987), but they'd also show one of the lines' biggest weaknesses. Because TSR's modules assumed that players had founded their own dominions, those adventures lost the ability to detail concrete settings in the Known World. Instead, the adventures constantly offered up new, generic dominions that were meant to suit the individual adventure, but that had little importance to the overall Known World setting.

Expanding D&D: Warfare! Niles and Spiegel's new warfare system, "The War Machine", was built to work hand-in-hand with the new dominion system; it would similarly see use in the "CM" and "M" adventures — and even in the Immortal-level "I" adventures (1986-1987). As requested by Mentzer, War Machine is a very big-picture combat system. It is not a miniatures system like Chainmail or Swords & Spells or the then-upcoming Battlesystem (1985), but instead it is a more abstract, larger scale system that could easily be played on the area maps of the Known World, which sued hexes of 24 miles each! Niles describes it as a "'gut-feeling' kind of design" that incorporates everything but then "boils the details down to a fast, easy-to-resolve system"

Expanding D&D: Human Classes. The classic human classes all receive a variety of power-ups in the Companion Rules. Fighters get additional attacks; clerics and magic-users get higher level spells; and thieves get … the short end of the stick. Instead of giving thieves new powers, the Companion Rules takes back some of what they'd gotten in the Expert Rules … and then gives it back to them as they level up. Later printings of the Expert Rules reflected the decreased thief powers codified in the Companion Rules.

Expanding D&D: Prestige Classes. The Companion Rules also introduces four new human classes: druids, paladins, knights, and avengers. What's amazing about them is that they're essentially primordial prestige classes that players can switch over to as they level up. Neutral clerics can become druids at ninth level, while name-level fighters who decide not to rule dominions can become paladins, knights, or avengers depending on whether they're lawful, neutral, or chaotic. The last class, the avenger, is particular notable because it represented a fan favorite class that was finally introduced into the official canon: the anti-paladin, who dated back to an (unofficial) article in Dragon #39 (July 1980).

Expanding D&D: Demihumans. Finally, the demihumans of Basic D&D faced a major quandary with the Companion Rules because they'd been level capped with the Expert Rules. To sort of resolve this, the Companion Rules introduce "Attack Ranks", which allow dwarves, elves, and halflings to continue improving their attacks (and to gain a few other special abilities) as they level up beyond their caps. Demihumans probably still weren't as fun as the other Basic D&D classes at their higher ranks, but it was an improvement over the low limits of the Expert Rules (and of AD&D at the time).

The Companion Rules also debut a totally new bit of demihuman lore: demihuman clan relics. These artefacts include a Forge of Power for the dwarves, a Tree of Life for the elves, and a Crucible of Blackflame for the halflings. They mainly provide evocative color for the demihuman races, but they were quite innovative — though at least the idea of Blackflame originated in Mentzer's own Aquaria campaign.

These clan relics were well-used in later Basic D&D adventures. XS2: "Thunderdelve Mountain" (1985) and CM7: "The Tree of Life" (1986) would focus on the relics for the dwarves and elves respectively — though they're both actually Expert-level adventures. CM4: "Earthshaker!" (1985) meanwhile introduced the gnome relic. The relics are also touched upon in a few other adventures and Gazetteers.

Expanding D&D: The Disconnect. Today, fans think of the BECMI as a single, well-connected sequence of supplement. However, there's a definite disconnect between the Expert Rules, which was the last of the revisions, and the Companion Rules, which was the first of the new releases. It's most obvious in the changes in thief skills that occurred between editions. However, other Companion rules backtrack to the Expert levels, including the demihuman's attack ranks and the new druid class. Fundamentally, the clean progression of the BECMI boxes is broken by these Companion rules that are necessary for Expert play. It wouldn't be until the release of the Rules Cyclopedia (1991) that everything was shuffled into its proper place.

Exploring the Known World: Pangaea. There isn't a lot of information on the Known World in the new Companion Rules. But what's there is crucial. In particular, there's a map that shows the whole continent of the Known World, with locations of previous maps from X1: "The Isle of Dread" (1981), X4: "Master of the Desert Nomads" (1983), X5: "Temple of Death" (1983), and X6: "Quagmire!" (1984) all highlighted — though you'd have to be a scholar of the Known World to really understand what the map is showing, because it's largely unlabeled! There's also a previously unknown area highlighted, which would be revealed as Norwold in CM1: "Test of the Warlords" (1984).

The continental map is notable for another reason: it looks a lot like North America. The map was courtesy of Francois Marcela -Froideval, and is described by Mentzer as a "worldmap of Pangaea". Fans place it as the Earth of about 152 million years ago. This idea would be further expanded in the Master Rules (1985).

Exploring the Known World: The Black Eagle Barony. One other bit of notable new Known World lore appears in the Companion Rules. The third short adventure in the book, "The Fall of the Black Eagle", describes a short war between the Black Eagle Barony and the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, fought in the town of Kelven (which was introduced in the revised Expert Rules). The epilogue to the book suggests that Black Eagle Barony falls, leading to a new time of boring peace in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. CM1: "Test of the Worlds" then reveals that this event drives adventurers to the new lands of Norwold, which would mark it as the start of a metaplot that would run through the "CM" and "M" adventures.

Except the canonicity of this defeat of the Black Eagle Barony is in question. X10: "Red Arrow, Black Shield" (1985) would feature another battle between the Black Eagle and Karameikos — though the caconicity of that adventure is troublesome too!

Exploring the Spheres. After hinting at a new design for the multiverse in the updated Expert Rules (1983), the Companion Rules finally provide a more complete exploration of Basic D&D's planes. For the first time ever, Basic D&D's multiverse is definitively revealed to be a lot like the Great Wheel. There's a Prime Plane surrounded by an Ethereal Plane; there are also four nearby Elemental Planes. The Companion Rules also introduces vortexes and wormholes, which are fresh to the Basic D&D game. As for the Outer Planes: players would have to wait for the Master and Immortal rule book.

Speaking of Immortals, they're mentioned for the first time, as entities living in other planes. The Companion Rules even talk a little bit about "paths to immortality", which would be the focus of the Master Rules.

Monsters of Note. Each of the BECMI boxes contains a new set of monsters for the new levels of play. for the Companion rules, this includes high-level dragons and wacky golems (including the draconic drolem, the mud golem, and the obsidian golem). Finally, the undead get some love, with the phantom, haunt, and spirit giving clerics something to do when they're done beating up on vampires. There's also a nice list of monsters from other planes, which helps to flesh out the Inner Planes described elsewhere.

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Masters D&D

Dmsguild.com and Shannon Appelcline Description - https://www.dmsguild.com/product/17167/DD-Master-Set-BECMI-ed-Basic

At last, the cycle is complete. Players and Dungeon Masters alike may experience the wonder of reaching for the ultimate levels of mortal might with the D&D Master Set.

In the Basic Set you learned to crawl through dungeons and defeat the minions of evil. In the Expert Set you set out on wanderings through the wilderness. In the Companion Set you climbed to the pinnacle of success and founded kingdoms, conquered wild lands, and battled barbarian hordes. Now, in the Master Set, you can soar across the sky and into the pages of legend.

These books are written for the experienced D&D player. The Master Player's Book expands on the known abilities of characters with new skills and spells. The Dungeon Masters Book features three sections that have become a standard for each rules set: New Procedures, Monsters, and Magical Treasures, all designed with the Master Level characters in mind.

Now, you are only limited by your imagination. Answer the clarion call to adventure; the lands of legend await!

Product History

The D&D Master Rules Set (1985), by Frank Mentzer, is the fourth volume in Mentzer's BECMI rules series. It was published in June 1985.

About the Cover. In all the previous BECMI covers, a fighter had been battling a chromatic dragon, but this time the fighter has ascended and he's instead flying atop a gold dragon. The mountain castle from the Companion Rules (1984) is visible far below him.

About the Box. This was the "black box" in the BECMI series, not to be confused with The New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game (1991), which is the "black box" D&D game.

Origins (I): Moving Toward BECMI. The BECMI line was a strongly themed and carefully constructed series of boxes for the third edition of Basic D&D (1983-1991). The Basic Rules (1983) focused on dungeon exploration for levels 1-3, the Expert Rules (1983) introduced wilderness exploration for levels 4-14, and the Companion Rules debuted kingdom building for levels 15-25. Now the Master Rules finished the collection with a march to immortality for levels 26-36.

Origins (II): Developers & Designers. Back in the '70s and '80s, developers and revisers didn't get a lot of credit at TSR. Prior to the release of the Master Rules, the Basic D&D books all said "by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson", despite the fact that they'd only created the original OD&D (1974) system and none of the text in the continuing line of Basic D&D games. Thus the "B/X" series said that it was "edited" by Tom Moldvay, David "Zeb" Cook, and Steve Marsh, while the new BECMI series similarly gave Frank Mentzer a mere "revised" credit for the Basic Rules and Expert Rules. He got a full byline in the Companion Rules, but it was under a "Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson" byline.

The Master Rules were even more an original work by Frank Mentzer than the books that came before it, but this time he was dropped back to a "compiled by" credit. Surprisingly, the main credit goes only to Gary Gygax, with no reference to Dave Arneson. It was a curious omission of one of the two creators of D&D when a more accurate byline would have highlighted Mentzer's name alone. Mentzer explains: "TSR had enough problems between Gygax & Arneson, no sense giving me grounds to add my name to the list. However, the further it went, the greater the amount I 'compiled' from my own ideas; there's very very little in Masters and nearly nothing in Immortals that had ever appeared before."

There were probably other political reasons for how the credits appeared, including: the attempt to move aware from credit (and royalties) to Arneson, who hadn't worked on the game in years; and a push to put Gygax's name forward in a year when TSR badly needed the attention and sales that might result.

What a Difference an Edition Makes. The Companion Rules had been an innovative and ground-breaking expansion of the D&D game, the first of its sort in several years. Meanwhile, the Master Rules came out the same month as Unearthed Arcana and unfortunately loses out in comparison. Where Unearthed Arcana was a groundbreaking expansion for AD&D, the Master Rules was a more simplistic continuation of the Basic D&D books that came before it; it expands classes, spell, and weapons to the ultimate levels of mortal D&D, but it's evolutionary, not revolutionary.

What a Difference an Edition Makes: The Controversy. Mentzer says that the Master Rules may be his "favorite". However, the wider view of the set is more uneven. This may in part be because it doesn't introduce any notable new play styles, unlike the previous BECMI boxes. Certainly, there's a new focus on questing for immortality, but it's given a fairly small amount of attention in the rules; it would later appear as a major focus in just one of the Master-level adventures, M3: "Twilight Calling" (1986), and none of the paths to immortality introduced in the Master Rules would be used.

The Master Rules are overall a bit of hodge-podge, not even focusing exclusively on Master-level play. The siege rules are an expansion of War Machine that could be used by anyone, while the weapon mastery rules can be used by 1st level characters! Even the new material introduced on Immortals and the planes got partially retconned in the Immortal Rules (1986), which included half a page of corrections!

Expanding D&D. The Master Rules include a variety of expansions, including artifacts, siege machines, and high-level spells.

One of the biggest changes is a new system of weapon mastery, which lines up with similar ideas of extended weapon proficiency then being introduced in Unearthed Arcana. The concept is generally a nice way to give fighters more advantages, where otherwise they might be overwhelmed by spell casters at higher levels, but the Basic D&D weapon mastery system is generally thought to instead overbalance fighters at low(!) levels.

One of Mentzer's favorite additions in the book is the information on pole arms, which appears in the weapon mastery section. He says that the appearance of so many pole arms in D&D was due to Gygax's "Swiss heritage and background in wargaming" but that they were "a historical triviality that was a constant source of irritation for most of us [at TSR]". By given specific benefits to each pole arm, Mentzer finally gave them a reason to exist.

All of this weaponry info was intended to go in the Companion Rules, where it would have fit nicely with the rules on armies and warfare, but it wasn't finished at the time and so ended up in the Master Rules instead — which in part explains the hodge-podge feel of the rule set.

One other major rules expansion is the introduction of a mystic. It's a character class that Gygax himself had long touted for use in AD&D 2e, alongside the jester, mountebank, and savant. Except that Gygax's character class would have been "an augur-clairvoyant with minor monk and cleric abilities" also "meant to deal with critters from other planes". Mentzer's mystic is instead almost identical to the monk as seen in Supplement II: Blackmoor (1975), but with a new name. The mystic is also not actually offered as a full class, though it would be expanded in the Rules Cyclopedia (1991).

Exploring the Known World. The Master Rules offer one notable expansion of the Known World: the inside cover of the DM's Book contains a map of the entire world. And sure enough, it's Pangaea of 152 million years ago, with the continents slowly moving toward their final positions. Curiously, there's no explanation of this map (and you'd have to remove the staples from the DM's Book to see it in full).

There are 31 labels on the map, and they show mighty empires and kingdoms all across the planet, with the existing Known World a very small part of that. Future Known World line editor Bruce Heard didn't like this, saying that they "were completely out of proportion with the Known World". He also didn't like the lack of textual description, so he'd largely ignore this map when he began writing the "Voyages of the Princess Ark" (1990-1992) that eventually led to Champions of Mystara (1993).

Exploring the Spheres. The Companion Rules detailed the Inner Planes of the Basic D&D multiverse and stopped there. The Master Rules … surprisingly opted not to expand beyond that. However there is a lot of material on immortals, overviewing their rules and their powers. There's also discussion of the five Spheres of Power that immortals serve (matter, energy, time, thought, and entropy). The sphere of entropy is even explicitly linked to the sphere of death, to sort of connect the cosmology of CM2: "Death's Ride" (1984).

Monsters of Note. As usual, the Master Rules contains new monsters, and as usual they're somewhat distinct from their AD&D brethren. The highlights may be the brand-new gemstone dragons and Basic D&D's own dragon rulers: Pearl the Ruler of all Chaotic Dragons, Opal the Ruler of all Neutral Dragons, and Diamond the Ruler of all Lawful Dragons. The Master Rules also continues to reveal strange creatures from Other Planes, including the Blackball, the planar spiders, and the Elemental Rulers.

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Immortals D&D

DMsguild.com Reference with Shannon Appelcline

Ever wonder what happens to powerful heroes after their adventures legendary, and they have passed in to the realms beyond? Now you can find out with the D&D Immortals Set.

The Player's Guide to Immortals lays out the basic information needed to convert you mortal player characters to Immortal status. It also explains new game mechanics, as are many aspects of the character's new existence.

The DM's Guide to Immortals details the rules for playing in the realms of the Immortals. With descriptions of the Astral and Outer planes, details of creatures found therein, and other information and ideas for Immortal adventures!

Product History

The D&D Immortal Rules Set (1986), by Frank Mentzer, is the fifth and final volume in Mentzer's BECMI rules series. It was published in June 1986.

About the Cover. The previous four BECMI boxes showed a fighter wearing ever-increasing amounts of armor. At first he was fighting a dragon, then riding one. In the Immortal Rules (1986) something has clearly changed because the fighter has now stripped down to just a loin cloth, and a strange red and blue dragon just … looks on.

Origins (I): Finishing Up OD&D. The Basic D&D rules of the '70s and '80s were very much seen as a continuation of OD&D (1974). They built on the classic and unadorned rules that gave GMs more opportunity for fiat, though those basics were extensively expanded by a variety of designers. This continuity was recognized internally at TSR by staff who considered the BECMI games the "fourth edition" of D&D and legally by TSR through the inclusion of Dave Arneson's name on the Basic D&D credits — at least through the Companion Rules (1984). In fact, Frank Mentzer was asked to carefully maintain the separation between Basic D&D and AD&D when he was working on the BECMI rules.

Since it was officially based on OD&D, Basic D&D could draw from the original OD&D supplements (1975-1976). In fact one of Mentzer's earlier articles about the new game line said that he was planning to update Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976). It's not hard to imagine that the Immortal Rules was the result.

Origins (II) Finishing Up BECMI. Frank Mentzer describes the Immortal Rules as "the capstone, finale, logical conclusion, glimpse-behind-the-curtain, ultimate explanation of all that had come before." The idea of becoming an immortal dated back to the Companion Rules and had become an option in the Master Rules (1985). Now, players could see the results.

However, Mentzer also admits that Immortals is "not really D&D". Instead it's the "epilogue to the story", but "not an integral part of everygame play like the others".

Origins (III): A New Infinity. The Immortal Rules were written at a weird time, because Gary Gygax had left TSR at the end of 1985 to form his new company, New Infinities. Frank Mentzer was preparing to join him, but first was finishing up his final commitments, while also waiting for Gygax to get his new company funded and running.

Meanwhile, there were also weird expectations for the new Immortal Rules. TSR had hoped the new Basic Rules (1983) and the Expert Rules (1983) to do very well, while the Companion Rules and the Master Rules were a tier down. The expectations for the Immortal Rules though were "low".

The combination of these two facts resulted in Mentzer having a very free hand with producing the Immortal Rules. The result was one of the quirkiest supplements produced by TSR in the '80s, from its weird cosmology to its somewhat undefined style of play, which was only partially explained through the three Immortal adventures to follow (1986-1987).

The Immortal Rules are also notable because, for the first time ever, Frank Mentzer gets full authorship credit for his work. It's hard to imagine that Gary Gygax being stripped from the credits of a core D&D rulebook for the first time ever wasn't the result of his departure from the company.

Origins (IV): Classic Sources. Mentzer's conception of immortals is quite unique in fantasy RPGs because they're not deities. He traces this idea as far back as William Blake (1757-1827) and John Milton (1608-1674). However, he notes a few books that he read in the '70s as being other sources of non-godly immortals: the One Immortal Man stories by AE Van Vogt, The Weapon Shops of Isher (1951) and The Weapon Makers (1947); The Computer Connection (1975) by Alfred Bester; and Blake's Progress (1975), by Ray Nelson, which was later revised as Timequest (1985).

Based on these sources, Mentzer debuted immortals in his very early campaign games. A few of the mechanics that are published in the Immortal Rules even appeared in those primordial games … but it'd take until Mentzer was working on the rulebook itself for him to finalize all his work.

Origins (V): The Coming Storm. Mentzer's Immortal Rules are sufficiently wacky that he was also asked to write the first adventure for the line, IM1: "The Immortal Storm" (1986). It would give him one final opportunity to show how he intended these new rules to be run — and it would be his last project for TSR.

What a Difference An Edition Makes: The Controversy. Frank Mentzer himself admits that the Immortal Rules set "isn't for everyone". In fact he says that it's "damned weird in spots", that it may be "too mathemagical and is certainly eschatologically bureaucratic". Over the years, some players have agreed that the Immortal Rules aren't what they expect. So, of all the BECMI boxes, this one was themmost controversial.

Expanding D&D: Immortals. Part of the reason for the controversy over the Immortal Rules is that it isn't really D&D. It's really a totally different game that can be played after D&D character ascend to immortality.

The Immortal Rules start with a character converting his XP into Power Points (PP) at a 10,000:1 ratio. His characteristics convert to talent scores and he picks up new powers. Overall, the Immortal Rules offer a nice, clearn translation but the play is still very different.

Oh, and there's another 36 levels of play to advance through, just like the 36 that made up mortal-level play in Basic D&D!

Adventure Tropes. What's the main adventuring trope of Immortal-level play? It's apparently fighting against the followers of the sphere of entropy. For more details, GMs would need to read the three "IM" adventures (1986-1987).

Exploring the Known World. A short description of the Known World admits that it is Pangea: "The land masses diagrammed in the Companion set are a rough depiction of the ancient world of Pangea. The continents have only begun to drift from their early unified position, following the modern theories of the shifting tectonic plates." However, Mentzer goes further, saying that this planet known as "Urt" has "been designed as if it were an actual predecessor to our real [world]". As a real earth, the Known World is then set in a real solar system — something which M4: "Five Coins for a Kingdom" (1987) would take advantage of.

Exploring the Spheres. After the Companion Rules introduced Basic D&D's inner planes, the Immortal Rules go the rest of the way with the outer planes … and it's not a Great Wheel at all. Instead, the outer planes of the Basic D&D multiverse are very reminiscent of the D&D 4e (2008) cosmology that would follow decades later. The astral plane is actually described as an "astral ocean", and an infinite number of outer planes are scattered about it … as islands. Unlike AD&D's Great Wheel, there isn't a specific listing of outer planes (or even a listing of important ones) — though there are rules for generating outer planes of many sorts.

The Immortal Rules also focus a lot of attention on dimensions, each of which is "a real direction perpendicular to every other". Immortals can see into the fourth direction (convergence), while the fifth direction (divergence) leads to the dimension of nightmares. There are even more dimensions, but they've been blocked off from immortals by those who came before them. Overall, this idea of dimensions may be the most curious element of Basic D&D's unique cosmology.

The other thing that's notable about the cosmology of the Immortal Rules is that it retcons several things that had been detailed just a year earlier in the Master Rules. The Prime Plane is less special, the Sphere of Entropy is less evil, and the immortals are a little different.

It also contradicts some of the older Basic D&D adventures, particularly CM2: "Death's Ride" (1984), which imagined a Sphere of Death that can't be found anywhere in this more developed cosmology. In general the ideas of dimensions, planes, gods, and immortals were used inconsistently in the Basic D&D line — both before and after the publication of this rule set.

NPCs of Note. The immortals are of course the heart of the Immortal Rules. They're not gods (though some gods appear as immortals). They're also not allowed to "endanger the Prime Plane" — though later adventures would increase this stricture.

And the immortals aren't the biggest powers in tbe Basic D&D cosmology. That would be the Old Ones, who hide in the higher dimensions, and who don't really show up in any other Basic D&D sources.

Monsters of Note. Demons finally appear in the Basic D&D game. They seem to be of the standard types from Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry (1976), though the've been renamed to be the screaming, croaking, howling, groaning, hissing, roaring, and whispering demons. Orcus and Demogorgon also make appearances.

Future History. Parts of Immortals were apparently too outré, so it was rebooted as Wrath of the Immortals (1992).

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Additional References

Different Initiatives: https://www.kirith.com/random-wizard/articles/initiative-and-combat-rounds.html

VIDEOS

Previous BECMI individual sessions (not campaign):

June 21, 2020, GM: Dan Ivey: https://youtu.be/fvmZ5GOwbys

Week 1

First group meeting. Sessions are from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm PST8PDT weekly.

Participants:

GM: Hawke
Players: John Welker, Samuel Garrett, Daniel Ivey,

Overview:

Lecture.
Character Creation
Beginning of adventure.

Adventure Summary

Adventure straight from the Basic D&D DM Manual, to the Walls of the castle.

Day/Date: Sunday, August 16, 2020.

Link: https://youtu.be/eHxpBItoHiM

Music by Synthetic Zen (Hawke): Stepic

Week 2

Sessions are now Wednesdays from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm PST8PDT weekly.

Session: 2

Participants:

GM: Hawke
Players: John Welker, Samuel Garrett, Daniel Ivey,
Joined by new players: Danielle Whitworth and David Griffith.

Overview:

Lecture.
Character Creation
Resuming adventure, adding new PCs into the group.

Adventure Summary

Adventure straight from the Basic D&D DM Manual.
Return to the Walls of the castle. Try to get to the Keep.

Day/Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2020.

Link: https://youtu.be/eHxpBItoHiM

Music by Synthetic Zen (Hawke): Stepic

Week 3

Sessions are Wednesdays from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm PST8PDT weekly. Streamed live on https://youtube.com/rpgresearch. Recorded videos made available to Patron and Gumroad supporters of RPG Research a month or more before the general public.

Session: 3

Participants:

GM: Hawke Robinson
Players: John Welker, Danielle Whitworth, Samuel Garrett, Daniel Ivey, David Griffith.

Overview:

Lecture.
Adventure

Adventure Summary

Adventure straight from the Basic D&D DM Manual.
Group vanquished all 10 kobolds to various degrees.
Group enters the Keep.
Group enters the grounds between the wall and the keep, battling the kobolds.

Day/Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2020.

Link: https://youtu.be/qz6myt__iic

Music by: Synthetic Zen (Hawke): "Stepic"

Week 4

Session: 4

Participants:

GM: Hawke Robinson
Players: John Welker, Danielle Whitworth, Samuel Garrett, Daniel Ivey, David Griffith.

Overview:

Lecture.
Adventure

Adventure Summary

Adventure straight from the Basic D&D DM Manual.
PC Mac died.
PC Gruum traumatized by Mac's death went back to the monastery.
Rest of the PCs mourned Mac's death (after looting the corpse first).
Group returns to town, "Castillion" to recover, recuperate, mourn, and find replacements.
Met and recruited through role-playing, new PCs: Ophodar (Sam), Ham Rodeo (David), and Raggedy-Abbey Longstockings (Daniel).

Day/Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2020.

Link: https://youtu.be/eAO9ThwbiZI

Music by: Synthetic Zen (Hawke): "Stepic"

Week 5

Session: 5

Participants:

GM: Hawke Robinson
Players: John Welker, Danielle Whitworth, Samuel Garrett, Daniel Ivey, David Griffith.

Overview:

Lecture.
Adventure

Adventure Summary

Adventure straight from the Basic D&D DM Manual.
Group enters the Dungeon.

Day/Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2020.

Link: <pending>

Music by: Synthetic Zen (Hawke): "Stepic"

Week 6

Session: 6

Participants:

GM: Hawke Robinson
Players: John Welker, Danielle Whitworth, Samuel Garrett, Daniel Ivey, David Griffith.

Overview:

Lecture.
Adventure

Adventure Summary

Module: XX
<pending>

Day/Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2020.

Link: <pending>

Music by: Synthetic Zen (Hawke): "Stepic"

Week 7

Session: 7

Participants:

GM: Hawke Robinson
Players: John Welker, Danielle Whitworth, Samuel Garrett, Daniel Ivey, David Griffith.

Overview:

Lecture.
Adventure

Adventure Summary

Module: XX
<pending>

Day/Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2020.

Link: <pending>

Music by: Synthetic Zen (Hawke): "Stepic"

Week 8

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Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Week 17

Week 18

Week 19

Week 20

Week 21

More coming soon!