Aaron W Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 If folks are interested at all in Moldvay-era Basic D&D (and they certainly SHOULD be), Necrotic Gnome has launched a new KS bundling their excellent reorganizing of those rules with some Basicified versions of AD&D material. Ch-ch-check it out! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 I've never quite understood why the Old School community was always so enamored witMoldvay iteration of the game. Gimme the Allston Rules Cyclopedia any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andozane Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 As someone who doesn't know...how would one describe Moldvay D&D vs Allston Rules D&D? I do know I picked up Old School Essentials core book last year at Gencon, and I almost bought even though I had no intention of playing it....it was a gorgeous book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 BECMI and the Rules Cyclopedia are almost 99.999% the same dang thing, the main difference is in clarity and layout. Rules Cyclopedia has the advantage of being a complete version of D&D in one book, with some small changes (certain monsters were altered, or left out, for instance) and the addition of a skill system that wasn't in any of the BECMI books but was instead introduced in one of the Mystara / Hollow Earth supplements. Plenty of people, back in the day, ran campaigns where some of the players had the Rules Cyclopedia and others had some combination of the Rules BECMI books, since the BECMI stuff was all released years earlier and then the Rules Cyclopedia compiled it all into one single book. So when old school grognards decide to jump back to the older games, I just don't grok why they decide to go to BECMI... Although, I will admit, that Basic Rules Set 1, the iconic "red box," has one of the greatest cover designs of all time. Right up there with the mayday call from Free Trader Beowulf, the original Dark Sun box cover, the first edition Vampire the Masquerade cover, and the Birthright campaign boxed set. The artwork (or in Traveller's case, I guess the LACK of artwork) just grabbed me the first time I saw it and said "You need to experience this." Just so damn evocative of the mood, feel, and tone of the game they were designed for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron W Posted August 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 I'm sure part of my Moldvay preference is nostalgia - it's the edition I started with when I got it for Christmas one year, and it's always been my fave. It also feels like the last kinda "gonzo" D&D to me - the following Mentzer edition and then Rules Cyclopedia felt more codified, sanitized, and hewing more toward a firmer European medieval vibe. I like the looser, weirder Moldvay. I really like Moldvay art better, too - gimme Otus and Willingham any day over Easley and Elmore any day! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron W Posted August 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 You won't find this pack of a-holes in BECMI! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andozane Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 You guys need to delve into Dungeon World and Freebooters on the Frontier 🙂 https://lampblack-and-brimstone.com/shop/freebooters-on-the-frontier/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted August 13, 2020 Report Share Posted August 13, 2020 1 hour ago, andozane said: You guys need to delve into Dungeon World and Freebooters on the Frontier Personally, the game that has me most interested in playing and/or running would be Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of from Modiphius. Old school sword-and-sorcery sensibilities (it doesn’t get much more old school than Conan), an incredibly rich and fleshed our world (but one with plenty of “blank space” on the map to carve out your own stories), and a modern game system (I love OSR D&D for the flavor, not the crunch). Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to find anyone else interested. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron W Posted August 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2020 5 hours ago, Ish said: Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to find anyone else interested. Um, I am super interested in Conan! I have the book in hard copy and a few supplements in pdf - I would VERY much love to run or play Conan. That system seems great, especially the doom/momentum mechanic, and I love sword and sorcery. Maybe we try to drum up a game when the world gets more normal again, yeah? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted August 13, 2020 Report Share Posted August 13, 2020 Crom, I have never prayed to you before... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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