Well, I have been planning something like this for a bit now and I wanted to spend some time going over the D&D system I have the least familiarity with, at least in a proper sense.
The Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, and Immortal Sets edited and written by Frank Mentzer.
Each week I will cover a different set with reviews of the main boxed set, associated products, and topics. In my case I am also going to compare these sets with versions I am much more familiar with such as the B/X sets from Moldvay, Cook and Marsh, Holmes Basic, and the D&D Rules Cyclopedia.
Now I am not going into these reviews blind, I have had experiences with these books before, some experiences even going back to the time when they were published.
But I never played the game using these rules.
When the BECMI rules came out I was firmly in the camp of AD&D. As the years went on I would adapt some BECMI products to my AD&D game and others I bought out of curiosity or interest.
So this will be a learning experience for me. I am not expecting any great insights to the D&D game or any esoteric knowledge. But who knows, maybe there is a tied bit here or there for me to learn.
Can't wait to find out.
Its too bad that not a lot of gold level modules were made....
ReplyDeleteIts too bad that not a lot of gold level modules were made....
ReplyDeleteThis should be a good series. I look forward to reading your take on the Immortal rules especially.
ReplyDeleteI own all these and for a while (mid to late 90s) used them as my ONLY system when playing D&D. Started a campaign with Keep on the Borderlands and, let me tell you, if you use the Master set's weapon training rules from Level 1 you get some pretty damn powerful dudes. Part of the reason the campaign crapped out around 7th-8th level was because of the way PCs were just carving through old adventure modules like Castle Amber and The Isle of Dread. In the early 2000s, about the same time I became disenchanted with DND3 I picked up a copy of the RC and (briefly) ran a Mystara world (set mostly in Darokin and Glantri), but could not stand the skill system that had been become "built in" to the game by then.
Anyway, I'm interested to see your analysis.