Tuesday, October 5, 2010
B/X Companion is Mine!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Special: C is for Companion

Yes I know. No A-to-Z posting on Sunday and C is Monday's letter. But I do have a C for Monday.
The Companion Edition of D&D was one of the near mythical books for me growing up. As I mentioned yesterday that I began my game playing with the Basic/Expert, known today as B/X, sets from the early 80s. The expert took the game from 3rd to 14th level and the Companion book was then going to take the game from 14th to 36th level. Even though I knew of AD&D at the time, I thought that the Companion book was going to be the way to go. So I waited for it.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Finally I gave up waiting and dove into AD&D instead, leaving Basic D&D behind. Eventually a Companion Rules Set did come out. But it was for the new Mentzer-edited Basic set (now called BECMI) and I no longer had any interest in it having discovered the world could also have Assassins, half-orcs and 9 alignments.
I did manage to read it once. I was in college and it was at Castle Perilous Games in Carbondale. Of course now AD&D 2nd Ed was the new hotness and I had no desire to look backwards. What I saw though at the time did now impress me. I think the entire Mentzer set at the time (AT THE TIME mind you) made me think of it as D&D for little kids (now I see it differently).
Fast forward to the Old School Revolution/Renaissance/Resurgence/Recycled and I have re-discovered the Basic sets (all of them) in their imperfect glories. And I am not the only one that must have felt a little gipped by not getting a Companion book for B/X.
JB over at B/X Blackrazor designed his own Companion rules.
If it is not exactly what the companion was going to be, it is really, really close.
I have gushed on and on (and on) about how much I love this book here and elsewhere. If I went on anymore then Jonathan owes me advertising. ;)
But I have to add this. B/X Companion I think is the best embodiment of the what is the spirit of the OSR, not to diminish the to efforts of others (hardly at all), but the B/X Companion gives us something new, something that we didn't have before. Something, for me at least, that I have been waiting years for.
I only have two issues with the book. First I want a PDF of it. It is my only old school book that I can't cart around with me everywhere. Though now according to JB the pdf is on the way! Second I wish he had used the OGL so others could expand on it, make modules for it. But no big deal, I am just thrilled to have it.
Speaking of which, I did get a chance back in the day to get my Companion fix in. My DM ran the module CM2 Death's Ride under AD&D and it nearly killed us all. In a perfect world I'd run Death's Ride again using the B/X Companion. Maybe one day I will.
In general I like the idea of the Companion rules, either of them. They take the rules into a different place; a place that the Basic or Advanced rules had not previously done well. The idea of running a kingdom or even traveling the planes. Great stuff.
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Review: Comes Chaos
One publisher that has delivered well on the nostalgia factor is Jonathan Becker of Running Beagle Games. Becker, known for his B/X Blackrazor blog, "gets" B/X D&D. He has demonstrated time and again that he gets how B/X is different that AD&D and indeed other Basic-era clones. His B/X Companion remains one of my top 10 favorite books of the published OSR books. So when he came out with a new book I jumped on it!
And...promptly forgot about it! Ok, in my defense October is like my high holy month and I had a lot going on. So now it is February and I figure I should come back to this one.
by Jonathan Becker. 64 pages, black & white art by Kelvin Green.
Comes Chaos is a combination rules addition/setting for use with B/X era D&D. It can be used with other versions of Basic D&D and the various clones, but there is a focus here. That is appropriate for a few reasons I will touch on in a bit.
Like the Basic and Expert books of old, and his own Companion book, this is a 64 page book. Printed with it's black and red cover it would look rather nice sitting next to the other books. At this point Becker has enough material (Companion, Complete B/X Adventurer, and this one) for a reasonable boxed set. Maybe one with a "3" in the corner.
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
Comes Chaos deals, naturally, with the forces of Chaos (capital C) and how to use them in your game. There is an implied setting that can be used as-is or elements can be used in any game.
The book is formated like that of the Basic and Expert (and Companion) books, so following the flow of information is straightforward. The difference here is that these are alternate and additional rules.
This section also introduces the "Four Great Powers" the Demon Lords ArjaDem, MorSolahn, SeiAhsk, and TeeGal.
PART 2: RUINED PLAYER CHARACTERS
Here we get alterations to the seven player characters classes. Clerics of gods of Law, for example, cannot use reversed versions of their spells. But their "Turning Undead" chart is not extended to include the demons of this game. There is a new Magic-User "sub-class" (that word is not used) in the Chaos Sorcerer. This class works a bit like the Sorcerer or Warlock of other D&D games. It uses Intelligence as a Prime, but I am going to change it to Charisma.
The next part of this section deals with Corrupted characters and Chaos Champions. Corrupted characters are ones that started out "good" and then fell into chaos. Chaos Champions start out chaotic. These characters also gain the favor of one of the four powers.
The four powers and their gifts are covered last. The four masters are unique to this book but remind a bit of the sort of creatures one might find in the writings of Moorcock. Not quite demons, not quite Lovecraftian horrors, but a little bit of both. There is also a desire, and this might just be me, to link them up with the old AD&D Elemental Princes. Maybe because there are four.
PART 3: TAINTED MAGIC
Magic gets some changes in Comes Chaos. Both Clerics and Magic-users now have some restrictions on what spells they can normally cast. We also get some new Dark Sorcery spells used by Chaos Sorcerers, Demons, and Chaos Champions. Additionally, some spells are "patron" spells for three of the four Chaos Masters. The other Master, ArjaDem, forbids their followers from using magic.
The spells are in B/X format and there are eight per level for levels 1 to 6. Some are repeats of other B/X spells. There are enough new spells to keep players on their toes when dealing with a minion of chaos.
PART 4: EXPLORING THE WASTES
The Wastelands are areas that are corrupted by Chaos. Spending time in these lands also leads to corruption and mutations in the living creatures here. This section also has other hazards such as how long food and water will last, how much movement and time is changed, and what sorts of strange occurrences and creatures that can be encountered. The section has a whole Colour out of Space feel to it.
PART 5: BLOOD AND SOULS
This section deals with encounters and combat. Alterations are given for Champions of Chaos and demons as well as others dealing with these threats.
PART 6: BEASTS AND DEMONS
This is our monster section and it has 37 new monsters. As expected 19 of them are demons and 4 are undead. There are also corrupted versions of other monster types (elves, dwarves, etc) that can be used as guidelines for other corrupted monsters not listed.
The demons depicted here are not the Demons of the AD&D monster manual. Nor are they the demons of Earth myth and legends. These are new creatures unique to this book. There are some interesting ones here and again the feeling is not quite demons and not quite Lovecraftian horrors, but a combination of the two.
PART 7: UNHOLY TREASURES
This section covers the treasures you can find with these creatures or in the wastelands.
PART 8: DEMON MASTER INFORMATION
The person running these games is called the "Demon Masters" which is just a way really to use "DM." This section covers how to deal with corruption, magical research and chaos magic, and how to design a wasteland.
There is another class presented here, the Witch Hunter, from the Complete B/X Adventurer. Despite the success and dare I say universal approval of his own Companion Rules, this class only goes to level 14. Though it is mentioned that levels 15-36 can be found in the Adventurer book.
In fact the next section covers using this book with the Complete B/X Adventurer and the B/X Companion.
PART 9: SLAVE-LORDS OF CHAOS
This section covers how to run an "evil" game including unique experience point rewards.
Comes Chaos is a great extension to any B/X style game. Especially ones where "Chaos" is more of a factor than say "Evil."
Chaos in Comes Chaos follows the implicit guidelines originally set up in Moldvay Basic. Chaos is not just a philosophy or moral outlook, it is a force and "thing" that must be dealt with. I feel this book does a good job in trying to expand on this notion and make it something to use in your games.
The ideas presented here are not all unique; Lamentations of the Flame Princess and Dungeon Crawl Classics cover similar ground in terms of Chaos as a Force to Fight and Realms of Crawling Chaos for the Lovecraftian Chaos is a Force. Comes Chaos though combines these ideas into something that is uniquely B/X. Yes both LotFP and Realms of Crawling Chaos have strong B/X roots, but this is explicitly B/X.
Given this, Comes Chaos should work well with Old School Essentials as well. Though one gets the feeling that OSE is more like "The Hobbit" than it is "Colour Out of Space." Though I am not sure it would feel the same for Advanced versions of the Old-School games since there is a focus on Good vs. Evil there as well.
The art by Kelvin Green is great and having one artist to do all the work gives the book a united vision.
It is available at DriveThruRPG where it is currently just under $14. The rule of thumb I have adopted over the years is 10¢ per page, which would place this at $6.40. The price is twice that, but I still feel it is worthwhile. Again this is a rule of thumb, not a hard and fast rule.
There is no print-on-demand option on DriveThru for this. Though none of Running Beagle's books have this. You can though get print copies of this and all their other books from their website. Print copies of Comes Chaos are $27.99 and handled via PayPal.
Comes Chaos also is not released through the Open Gaming License. Not an issue to be honest, but I look at it as a way the creator/publisher "gives back" to the community. Generally speaking, OGL products sell better than their non-OGL contemporaries/counterparts.
Comes Chaos is a fun supplement. I used similar ideas when running my B/X games in the past I will adopt some of these ideas to use in my current OSE game. I am not likely to use the four demonic princes, my game has a solid cosmology, but I might adopt them for a 5e game I am running that could use Chaotic Evil figures like these.
Who should get this? DMs that want to add a little chaos effects to their games but do not want to go the full Dungeon Crawl Classics route. DMs that play/run B/X and/or OSE in particular.
This is also for DMs that enjoy the classical roots of the game but whose interests lean more towards Moorcock rather than Lovecraft.
For me, the price and the lack of the OGL keep it from being a perfect addition to my games.
Monday, November 18, 2024
Companion Set Dungeons & Dragons
NOTE: My oldest has been running his Sunday group through all the editions of D&D. I have been planning on doing something with the Cook/Marsh Expert set, but schedules being a thing I have had to adapt and now do a Companion-level adventure.
One thing led to another, and now I have a new, different project on my hands.
Today is my "Day 1" of it. The day I start pulling together research notes into a draft.
I put this post together as a set of notes and research from previous posts.
No. I am not doing my own Companion set. As I have outlined below we have plenty very good ones.
D&D Companion Set
The Companion Edition of D&D was one of the near-mythical books for me growing up. As I mentioned yesterday that I began my game playing with the Basic/Expert, known today as B/X, sets from the early 80s. The expert took the game from the 3rd to the 14th level, and the Companion book was then going to take the game from the 14th to the 36th level. Even though I knew of AD&D at the time, I thought the Companion book would be the way to go. So I waited for it.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Finally, I gave up waiting and dove into AD&D instead, leaving Basic D&D behind. Eventually, a Companion Rules Set came out. But it was for the new Mentzer-edited Basic set (now called BECMI), and I no longer had any interest in it, having discovered the world could also have Assassins, half-orcs, and 9 alignments.
Fast forward to the Old School Revolution/Renaissance/Resurgence/Recycled and I have re-discovered the Basic sets (all of them) in their imperfect glories. And I am not the only one that must have felt a little gipped by not getting a Companion book for B/X.
Jonathan Becker over at B/X Blackrazor designed his own Companion rules. If it is not exactly what the companion would be, it is really close.
Soon after, I managed to pick up my copy of the Companion Set. So join me on my exploration of the new worlds of the D&D Companion Set. But a warning, here there be Dragons!
D&D Companion Set (1984)I don't think it is too much to say that the Companion Set contains some of the most interesting changes and updates to the D&D than any other product TSR had published to date. I will talk more about these in the review, but first a look back.
I have eagerly awaited the Companion set for D&D ever since I got my Expert Set, which is by B/X Moldvay/Cook Basic and Expert Set.
The Companion Set, as promised by the Expert Set rules, mentions that characters will now go to 36th level and there will be a way to cure undead level drain! Such promises. Such hope!
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D&D Cook/Marsh Expert Set, page X8 |
I did manage to read it once. I was in college, and it was at Castle Perilous Games in Carbondale. Of course, AD&D 2nd Ed was the new hotness at the time, and I had no desire to look backward. What I saw, though, at the time did not impress me. The entire Mentzer set at the time (AT THE TIME, mind you) made me think of it as D&D for little kids (now I see it differently).
Looking back now, I see I made a BIG MISTAKE.
Well...maybe. I would not have traded my AD&D time for anything, but I wish I had given the BECMI rules more chance.
Now I can fix that.
Today I am going to cover the BECMI Companion Rules. I am going to cover both the DriveThruRPG PDFs and my physical box set.
The Companion Set follows the rules as presented in the BECMI Basic and Expert books. But unlike those books, the Companion Rules sets off into uncharted directions and gives us some new material.
While the claim can be made that Frank Mentzer only edited and organized the Basic and Expert rules based on previous editions, the Companion set is all his. While there may be some influences from earlier editions such as Greyhawk (with it's 22nd level cap [wizards] and some monsters) and AD&D (some monsters and the multiverse) this really feels new.
Companion Player's Book 1
The player's book is 32 pages with color covers and black & white interiors. Art by Larry Elmore and Jeff Easley.
Opening this book we get a preface with a dedication to Brian Blume. A nice touch and yeah he is often forgotten in the tale of D&D's earliest years. The preface also firmly situates us in time. We 10 years out from when D&D was first published. The design goals of this book, and consequently this series, have never been more firmly stated. This is an introduction to the D&D game and designed to be fun, playable, and true to the spirit of D&D. It certainly feels like this is the successor to the Original D&D game; maybe more so than AD&D.
One page in and we are off to a great start.
The title and table of contents page tell us that this game is now "by" Frank Mentzer, based on D&D by Gygax and Arneson. As we move into the book proper we get a feel for the "changing game." Characters are more powerful and once difficult threats are no more than a nuisance or exercise. The characters are ready to take their place among the rulers of the world. This makes explicit something I always felt AD&D only played lip service to.
We get some new weapons that have different sorts of effects like knocking out an opponent or entangling them. We also get some unarmed combat rules. Now, these feel they really should have been added to the Basic or Expert rule sets. Maybe they were but were cut for space or time.
Up next is Stronghold management from the point of view of the player characters. Again here D&D continues its unwritten objective of being educational as well as fun. More on this in the DM's book.
Character Classes
Finally, about 11 pages in we get to the Character updates. Here all the human character classes get tables that go to level 25; again maybe a nod to Greyhawk's level 20-22 caps, and caps of 7th level spells (clerics) and 9th level spell (magic-users). Clerics get more spells and spell levels. The big upgrade comes in the form of their expanded undead turning table. Clerics up to 25th level and monsters up to Liches and Special. This mimics the AD&D Clerics table; I'd have to look at them side by side to see and differences. One difference that comes up right away is the increase in undead monsters. There are phantoms, haunts, spirits, and nightshades. Nightshades, Liches, and "Special" will be detailed in the Master Set.
Something that is big pops up in the cleric listing. A Neutral cleric of level 9 or higher may choose to become a Druid! Druids only resemble their AD&D counterparts in superficial ways. They have similar spells, but the BECMI Druid cannot change shape. It is an interesting implementation of the class, and I'll discuss it in detail.
Arguably it is fighters that get the biggest boost in the Companion Set. They gain the ability to have multiple attacks per round now and other combat maneuvers such as smashing, pairing and disarming. This is a big deal since they got so little in the Expert set. Fighters can also "specialize" into three paths depending on alignment. There are Knights, Paladins, and Avengers. Each type gives the fighter something a little extra. Paladins are not very far off from their AD&D counterparts and Avengers are as close to an Anti-Paladin as D&D will get until we get to the Blackguards.
Conversely, Magic-users do not get as much save from greater spells. We do get the restriction that any spell maxes out 20dX damage.
Thieves can now become Guildmasters or Rogues. A name that will come up more and more with future editions of D&D.
BECMI "Prestige Classes?"
The Druid, Knight, Avenger, Paladin, and, to a lesser degree, the Magist and Rogues represent what could arguably be called the first Prestige Classes to D&D. Their inclusion predates the publication of the Thief-Acrobat in the AD&D Unearthed Arcana.
The BECMI Avenger and Paladin are the best examples of these working just like the Prestige Classes will in 15 more years. This is interesting since it also means other classes can be added to the basic 4 core ones using the same system. An easy example is the Thief-Acrobat from UA or even the Ranger from AD&D. Though in this version the problem lies in the alignment system. Rangers are supposed to be "good" for example.
Demi-Humans
Demi-humans may not advance any more in level, but they are not idle. This is also the area of the Companion Set that I most often go wrong. Each demi-human race has a Clan Relic, and some demi-humans could be in charge of these clan relics, making them very powerful. There are also clan rulers, and they are also detailed. What does all that mean? It means there is a good in-game reason why demi-humans do not advance in levels anymore. They are much more dedicated to their clans than humans. So, after some time, they are expected to return home to take up their responsibilities for the clan.
That is not to say that these characters do not advance anymore. Each demi-human race can still gain "Attack Ranks" as if they are still leveling up. They don't gain any more HP, but they can attack as if they are higher-level fighters. They also gain some of the fighter's combat options. Each class gets 11 such rank-levels. It seems to split some hairs on "no more levels" but whatever.
We end with a map of the expanding Known World. This is the continent of Brun of Mystara, but we don't know that yet. But I will discuss that later this week.
This book is a lot more than I expected it to be and that is a good thing.
Companion DM's Book 2
The DM's book is 64 pages with color covers and black & white interiors. Art by Larry Elmore and Jeff Easley.
There is a lot to this book. First, we get to some General Guidelines that cover the higher levels of play and planning adventures accordingly. There is sadly not a lot here.
We follow up with Part 2: The Fantasy World. This continues some of the discussion of stronghold management and dominion management as well. Now here is quite a bit of good information on what happens, or could happen, in a dominion.
This section also includes the hidden secret of the D&D BECMI series. The War Machine Mass Combat system.
War Machine
Around the same time, TSR also developed the BattleSystem Mass Combat system. The two are largely incompatible with each other. I always thought it was odd that two systems that do essentially the same things were created and incompatible. Later I learned that D&D BECMI lived in what we like to call a "walled garden" in the business. It was out there doing it's own thing while the "real business" of AD&D was going on. The problem was that D&D Basic was outselling AD&D at this point. This was not the first time that TSR would woefully misunderstand their customers, and sadly, it was not the last time either.
War Machine is elegant compared to BattleSystem. I am not saying it is simple, but the work involved is not difficult, and I am happy to say it looks like it will work with any edition of D&D.
The Multiverse
A big part of any D&D experience is the Multiverse. This section allows the DMs and Players to dip their toes into the wider Multiverse which includes the Ethereal Plane and the Elemental Planes.
Space is also given to the discussion on aging, damage to magic items, demi-human crafts, poison, and more. We also get all of our character tables.
Monsters
About halfway through the book, we reach the monster section. Many familiar AD&D faces are now here, though a bit of digging will show that many of these are also from OD&D up to the Greyhawk supplement. Most notable are the beholder, larger dragons, druids (as monsters), and many elemental types. Monsters are split into Prime Plane and Other Planes.
Monsters from the Other Planes focus on the Elemental planes.
Treasure
Lots of new treasures and magic items.
Adventures
There are three short adventure or adventure hooks for companion-level characters.
All in all the Companion Set is full and had many things I did not think it had given my very casual relationship to it over the years. Reading it now and in-depth for the very first time I see there is a lot I could have used in my games back then.
Other Companion Books
I was not the only one that waited.
Others came up with their own Companion rules for the B/X Style Basic D&D instead of the BECMI Style Basic D&D. Now...let's be 100% honest here. The differences between BX and BECMI are so subtle that only a huge nerd like me cares. But then again, I was not the only one.
I mentioned Jonathan Becker's B/X Companion above and I reviewed it a while back. It compares favorably to the BECMI Companion from TSR, and it fits the look and feel of the BX books well.
There was also the Companion Expansion from Barrataria Games, which was also quite good. It was more of a move from BX Basic D&D closer to AD&D, which is fine. It is also free, and all the content was released 100% under the Open Gaming License, so that was a nice plus in my mind.
And proving that sometimes the wait is good, Stephen R. Marsh, the Marsh of the Cook/Marsh Expert Set, is working on his own Companion set. So I can have all three to satisfy that desire the 12-year-old-me had.
It just goes to show how active the old-school D&D communities still are.
Some part of me still wants a proper B/X Companion set from 1982. Maybe such a thing existed in an alternate universe. But that is also a universe where the BECMI sets didn't exist, and given how popular Mentzer's red box was, I am unsure how it would have changed D&D as a whole in the mid- to late 1980s.
What Role Does the Companion Serve?
One has to ask. What does the Companion rules actually do? Or even what role does it serve?
In many ways, the Companion rules (and here on out, regardless of which one I mean) represent the fork in the road where D&D splits from AD&D. With the continuum of OD&D to Holmes Basic to Moldvay and then Mentzer Basic, you could still go on to AD&D (largely as Gary would have liked). The Companion rules then are the path of no return. Once you head down that path there is no turning back for AD&D. So the Companion needs to fill the same gaps that AD&D fills, but it doesn't need to do them in the same way.
For me, any discussion about the various merits of AD&D vs Basic-era D&D has to include a conversation about how the Companion (and Masters) handle various AD&D topics. The only problem is that no Companion development ever happened in a vacuum.
Things like Druids, stronger monsters (notably elementals), the outer planes and their inhabitants, are all slightly different in the Companion rules. But rare are the entirely new elements. Granted, the BECMI Companion often has new monsters and the War Machine. The Companion Expansion from Barrataria Games was designed to fill in the gaps B/X had compared to AD&D. It is hard to throw off the shadow of AD&D. Though I would like to see something new. Something that AD&D would have to convert over from D&D for a change. But likely that time has long since passed.
Should Classes Be Different?
One of the ideas floated by the BECMI Companion is that there are some classes, the Druid is my prime example, that act like Basic Prestige Classes. So, a neutral 9th-level cleric could now be considered a Druid if that is what the player wanted. Does that mean a Fighter then could be something else? Knights, Avengers, and Paladins are mentioned in BECMI. But would Rangers, Barbarians, and Cavaliers be out of the question?
While I would not want to recreate the Prestige Class bloat of the early 2000s, the idea is an intriguing one. Would my witch even be just a type of magic-user, then?
Should Monsters Be Different?
My go-to here is the humble succubus. In Becker's Companion, she is a 7 HD monster. In BECMI, granted in the Immortal Rules, she is a whopping 15 HD (Whispering Demon in the Immortals boxed set). In Eldritch Wizardry (where she is introduced) and in AD&D she is 6+6 HD. Obviously, for characters 15th level and higher, a single 6 or 7 HD succubus is not really a challenge unless she is played correctly in a non-combat role.
Other times, we get more powerful dragons and more powerful elementals. A 15 HD succubus may be a bad idea, but the 15 HD Queen of Succubi is better.
The threats need to be targeted to the level of the characters involved.
Gives me a lot to think about.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
B/X Boxing Match: OSE vs. BX RPG
Thursday, August 2, 2012
The Complete B/X Adventurer
What do I think of it?
Well, it certainly lives up to it's hype and to it's predecessor the B/X Companion (BXC). Though there is no emotional investment on this one for me. I waited for the B/X Companion for almost 30 years. I waited for this one for only about a year or less.
I am going to make comparisons of it to B/X Companion AND to the old Bard Games "Compleat Adventurer" series (Adventurer, Spellcaster, Alchemist). I think both comparisons are fair. The first is obvious, but the second I want to explain. It is obvious in the construction that this book owes a lot to those previous books. The author, Jonathan Becker, acknowledges this in his Introduction. I did the same with the first book on Witches I ever wrote back in 1999, so I might be predisposed to like this.
There is also a feel to this book that reminds me of the later Bard Games books, The Arcanum and the Atlantis series.
In all three cases the books provide additional classes, spells and magic with additional rules that can be added with little effort to your game. We saw something similar from the official D&D books in the Unearthed Arcana books.
But getting on with the review proper.
The physical book is now perfect bound, not stapled, and it comes in at 62 pages. The cover doesn't try to invoke any other old-school product I am aware of, but I could be wrong. This is a good thing really since it should have it's own identity. BXC very much wanted to invoke the images of the old Basic and Expert sets.
Table of Contents is on a page, not the inside cover.
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Ready to play! |
First up we have charts on random head gear. While this section is very good, it feels completely random. Not in terms of the tables, but why does the book lead off with this? I would have made this an appendix or part of a later chapter. Oddly enough the class table does not include any of the new classes in this book. Move this to the back in future printings I say. This follows with class exceptional traits. Also very cool. This one would belong here, but I would have put it after all the new classes. Again, this does not have all the new classes listed. Sure use the sub-class idea with Witches as a type of Magic-User. Follwing this firearms. Again move to equipment. I might not ever use this, but my son wants too (he read the book before I did).
Next up are all the classes. These are the gems of the book in my eye. The classes get about a page each. So this will be nice to print out the PDF pages and re-org as needed. The classes are Acrobat, Archer, Barbarian, Bard, Beastmaster, Bounty Hunter, Centaur, Duelist, Gnome, Mountebank, Mystic, Ogre-Kin, Scout, Summoner, Tattoo Mage, Witch, and Witch Hunter.
The classes are about what you would expect if you have been in this game for a number of years, but they have their twists. The gnome, centaur and ogre-kin are obviously race-classes in the Basic/Expert style. The Summoner is really cool. You summon creatures to do your magic for you. So part demonologist, part Pokemon trainer! (ok ok) only really awesome about it. It is one of the neatest takes I have seen on this ill-used fantasy archetype. I will discuss the witch and the witch-hunter in detail in a bit.
This is followed by all the new spells that these classes need. It's a good amount, taking up the remaining 20 pages of the book. The spells are of a good sort and there are a lot of them here.
The art is good and similar in style to BXC, sharing a couple of the same artists. Each class gets an art piece (another similarity to the Bard Compleat books) but the spells doesn't get much if any. That is too bad since the art is generally very good.
My Thoughts
Again I think I would have put some the beginning material in the back to focus on the classes more.
But I really enjoy all these classes and I think that for my kids old-school AD&D game I would let them choose from this as a possible source. I can see my youngest wanting to play an Acrobat and my oldest a Bounty Hunter. I would some tips I have written in the past about converting "Basic" classes to "Advanced" ones, but honestly there is not much here I would change.
Another thought is that most of these classes are stated out to 14th level. This makes them perfect, obviously, for pure Basic/Expert style D&D. But there is something else they would work well with, ACKS.
In fact I have mentioned before how well BXC would work in extending ACKS. Well now you can use the TCBXA as an add on to ACKS. These two games have different purposes in life, but they fit together rather nicely, and this gives you some new classes to play around with till ACKS Player's Companion is out.
NOW all we need is Jonathan to give us a B/X Companion boxed set. It can include the B/X Companion, the CBXA, and a brand new module. I think that would be great!
The Witch
Ok, I have to play special attention to the witch. Not just because it is a witch class, but because it is different than the other spell using classes. For starters the witch can cast in groups to cast higher level spells. That is a nice feature really and something very much in tune with the archetypal witch. The witch is the class in the book that is stated up all the way to 36th level AND built to gain powers to that point, also something I rather like. Why? Because a 36th level witch is the only class that can cast 10th level spells. Yup. This one goes to 10!
Crafting spells. The witch does not memorize a spell, but she does have a limit on how many she knows. The witch needs both a high intelligence (to know the spell) and a high wisdom (to learn and scribe it down in the first place). So a first level witch with a high Intelligence knows 1+Int mod 1st level spells. She can also scribe spells of 1st level + how ever many extra levels equal to her Wisdom mod. I like it. It is a nice quick way to know what can be done. In fact I would like to use that for clerics since gods should know ahead of time what spells their flock need and then they just give them to the cleric at that time.
For the witch though I would reverse it. Intelligence to write or scribe the spell and Widsom to know how many they can cast. Witches are often called the "Craft of the Wise" afterall. But all in all I like it.
10th level witch spells are nothing at all to sneeze at. This is a powerful witch class.
The 10th level spells are a nice solution to the "Coven spells"/"Powerful magic" vs independent witches. I can't see too many witch covens in groups. Maybe two or three at a time. With what JB has done here is given us a way to have powerful magics in groups at lower levels and keep those same magics out of the hands of solitary witches till much later. This then does not make them a more attractive solution over Wizards/Magic Users.
Witchhunters
If you are going to have witches then you should have witchhunters. The ones here are fairly straight forward but they have some nice features. I like that they get magic, but not as spells but powers. Sure you could do a multi-classed Cleric-Ranger, but this is B/X not 3.x. I'd like to give this witchhunter a spin sometime.
Bottom Line
If you enjoyed BXC or even Basic/Expert or other Old School play then this is a great buy. If you enjoy old school play but are sticking with your clone of choice then I still say get this. Look at the class list above and decide if any of those sound interesting to you.
I like it and I recommend it.
I'll stat up a witch after a bit and compare her to other OSR witches.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Plays Well With Others: Old-School Essentials
Mechanics are largely easy, what about tone and style? Well, that is what I am going to chat about today.
OSE & B/X
This is the obvious mix. So obvious in fact that there is not a lot to say that isn't painfully obvious. So instead I am going to admire how nice those two black covers look together. A nice addition to what I tend to call Black Book or Black Box Basic (also because like a Black Box, I throw things in and get things out and don't really care how or why it works as long as it does).
Obviously, any adventure designed for B/X or even BECMI will work with OSE. At least up to level 14.
OSE & Maximum Mayhem Adventures
Mark Taormino's collection of crazy gonzo adventures run from levels 1 to 14. Are you thinking what I am thinking? Well, today is the flip-side of a PWWO on Maximum Mayhem Adventures I did a while back. If you want to know more about those adventures, hit that link.
While the adventures are overtly and specifically designed for OSRIC/AD&D1, I have had a great time running these under B/X style rules. I also find that none of the deadliness is lost here. If anything the fun factor is increased.
OSE & Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
Another popular choice of mine for PWWO. For this, I would use the Advanced Fantasy options of OSE. AS&SH can be trimmed down to "Basic" style play easily enough. So the two games can meet in the middle, system-wise. Style-wise there is more to overcome. AS&SH is a "Black Sabbath" album. Deep, rich with darker tones and cold nights. OSE is a "Yes" album. Ætheric, it is journey of expected highs but also surprising depths. The demi-humans of OSE-AF bolster the newer classes of AS&SH. IT might not be a mix that all people like, but it does appeal to me.
OSE & the B/X OSR
There are so many products out there that support B/X style play these days and there is no way I could cover even all the ones in my own collection.
But here are few.
Does B/X or OSE *need* psionics? Likely no. Is it better with it? I think so! Richard LeBlanc's Basic Psionics Handbook is a great book and a fun psionic system. One he could redo for OSE if he wanted. But like all things psionics, it's a choice. As it is now it is a perfect fit.
The same is true for any number of Monster books. I mentioned that OSE would easily support Monsters 2 and Monsters 3 books with no issue. Hell. With all the OGC sources a Monsters 2 and 3 could be made that mimic the monsters in Fiend Folio and Monster Manual 2.
OSE is not the only Basic-game in town. Blueholme cleaves closer to Holmes Basic, but it's 1-20 levels provide a little more play (though those last 6 levels are not as fun as the first 6) and Labyrinth Lord provides the same. LL has their Advanced versions too if you are planning an "Advanced Fantasy" style game. This takes it in a slightly different direction, but ultimately (for me anyway) it makes it possible to play a "cleaner" version of the D&D/AD&D hybrid we used to play in the early 80s. Purity is for water, not games.
OSE & BX Companion
Eventually, someone will ask for an OSE Companion book. Taking OSE to level 36 or Immortals. Well, you can wait for one or use the one we are all using now.
A while back I posted How I commit heresy with Adventurer Conqueror King. I can do the same thing with OSE. Johnathan Becker's magnum opus is as much of a love letter to BX as OSE is. While B/X Companion doesn't work as well with say Labyrinth Lord of Basic Fantasy (the main Basic clones at the time) it does work great with OSE.
Basic-Era Witches
I'd be remiss if I didn't point this out. In fact, while working on this post and taking these pictures I am once again hit with the idea of how well this would all work out for my War of the Witch Queens campaign.
So OSE has been giving me no end of pleasure and I don't see that stopping anytime soon.
Monday, April 2, 2012
B is for Basic Clones
BTW if you like, check out Bunnies and Burrows. It really is a classic and a piece of RPG history.
But today I want to talk about Basic Clones.
In the OSR (Old School Renascence) a Basic Clone is a game that emulates the rules of Basic D&D, or about the time frame of 1978 to 1984. I talked about the D&D Basic Game last year and ACKS yesterday. In fact I talk so much about it here it has it's own label, Basic.
D&D Basic was always my favorite system for quick and fast play. D&D Basic has been long out of print and usually can only be found at places like Noble Knight Games or Ebay. So I was thrilled when the Basic clones began to come out.
Basic Fantasy is one of my favorites. It is a simple game that covers the Basic D&D feel, but incorporates ideas from the later Advanced D&D game. Namely is splits up race (elf, human, dwarf) and class (fighter, cleric, magic-user). In other words it was D&D like how I used to play Basic D&D anyway. It is flexible, easy to use and totally free.
Labyrinth Lord is the biggest and arguably the most popular Basic clone. It is closer to Basic D&D than BFRPG is, but for me it lacks a little of the charm. Not to say that LL isn't great, it is and both lovingly sits on my shelf.
Dark Dungeons is another Basic clone aimed at emulating the old Rules Cyclopedia. It is a good effort but feels a bit off to me. Can't quite figure out why though.
Last year I also talked about the Companion rules. When the B/X version of Basic came out we were promised a book called the Companion rules that would take characters from 14th level to 36th level. We did get one, but is was part of the BECMI version of Basic and thus not 100% compatible and you would have to be a HUGE D&D geek like me to even care about the differences. Or you have to be these guys, since they wrote their own.
B/X Blackrazor came out with his B/X Companion which I have talked about extensively here and is currently sold out. But it is a great book.
Another book is called the Companion Expansion by Barrataria Games. It didn't get the same level of hype as the B/X Companion, but it covers much of the same ground. I have not looked at them together to see how they cover similar topics, but they seem very compatible. You can get the PDF of Companion Expansion for free at DriveThruRPG and a print copy for 16 bucks at Lulu.
My love for Basic D&D and the Basic clones is what prompted me to make my new witch book, The Witch, for Basic Era Games. Look for that later this month!