As I get older, I do feel deeply the love of the games that got me into the hobby in the first place. And no matter how many slick, full-color, hardcover books are on the market now with production values the 80s could only dream of- I still find myself paging through many a saddle-stapled booklet that came in a boxed set.
Being somewhat older than you, I think of Red Box Basic as the high point in D&D development. Starting with OD&D in a little white box and eventually advancing to AD&D hardcovers once they appeared, I had learned to just make up mechanics that escaped my understanding in the Gygaxian rule texts. Red Box by contrast is written in clear and concise language. It has excellent examples of play and even includes a progressive learning experience for both player and DM. A most excellent improvement over previous presentations and one that has yet to be equaled imo. Cheers!
I would tend to agree. While I did play and enjoy the "Black Box" and "Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game" that replaced BECMI in the 90s, I also feel the best era and presentation of the game were these five boxed sets, and the supplements designed for them, like the GAZ series.
I started with the Moldvay Basic Set from 1981, but this version definitely has the best introduction to the game for complete newbies. That choose your own adventure style story with Bargle and Aleena is just perfect. More games should do this.
Moldvay/Cook/Marsh is definitely an awesome set of rules. In fact, as I've gotten older, I appreciate the level 14 cap quite a bit over BECMI's 36 levels. But I will agree with you completely, this was the perfect way to draw folks into the game.
@@TheOldDragoon Yeah, going to level 36 was never an issue for us in any version of the game, to be honest. Highest I think I ever got a character was to level 16... and that was AD&D 1e. Most of the time, we retired them around level 11 or 12 and started fresh again. lol The Companion and Master sets were almost more useful for all of the other stuff in them. :-)
BECMI was so good. It was before my time (I learned on Dragon Strike, and the 1991 reprint of Basic before moving to AD&D 2nd revised). As an adult, I went back and read BECMI- that was the best introduction to D&D. I have no idea why they didn’t keep that as the standard way to learn.
I wholeheartedly agree. While I did appreciate the "Dragon Cards" included in the 1991 Black Box, they proved a bit fiddly. I think the BECMI Red Box was the sweet spot.
I was born in 1995, but this was still the first verison I played cause my dad played this straight in 1983 and still had the boxes laying around when I was a kid and introduced me to it, in a self-copied version they made out of the only legal version available for their group, and in french but still..it worked and now at 28 I'm still in two ttrpgs campaign a week :p. And I did consider trying to go through some of the older adventures of the BECMI system and see if I could modernise some, it's campy, it's aged but in a (mostly) good way.
Being somewhat younger than you, my first games were mid-late 90s, so it would have been 2nd Ed AD&D at the time, which served me well for the era of CRPG classics like Baldur's Gate 1&2, Icewind Dale 1&2, Planescape Torment et al.
Those were all great PC games, and the 2nd Edition era was a wild time for AD&D - so many wonderful campaign settings, but those very settings became TSR's downfall. Since I am a bit older, my AD&D PC Game nostalgia is usually rooted in the Gold Box series from SSI. Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, etc. And once they released the construction toolkit - Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures? We were all making dungeons for our friends to play. All of these games are available on Steam or GOG these days.
Glad to bring back good memories. I saw Luke Gygax was selling new production dice that come with a crayon at GaryCon- but I've not found the budget to go to GaryCon. ;)
Great video. I received my red set as a birthday present in 1988. The box has just been translated into Danish. Back then I also enjoyed reading the player book. I look forward to seeing more movies from you with basic d&d. I particularly like the level of detail and the many good stories and experiences with the game. There are not many who make youtube films about BECMI. Keep up the good work.
Thank you! My next video will of course be the DM's book from this set. You might also want to check out BECMI Berserker on TH-cam if you haven't already!
@@TheOldDragoon I'm a big fan of BECMI Berserker. It was his youtube that made me find my old boxes. I also watch "the dungeon minister" and "Wally DM". I especially like going through books and modules but also the game mechanics.
Lone Wolf got me through 9th Grade Algebra. I had the book down below my desk, and either an old low-impact blue d10 or my trusty scientific calculator that had an RND function. I still have both the die and the calculator.
Algorithm be praised. Insta sub. As a BECMI magic user, I just want to point out that spellbooks are listed as being 2 square feet. I often wonder how modern mages would feel about having to stash their spellbook before going inside a dungeon.
That's a great point. I think I'm going to talk a bit about the old days where logistics and encumbrance were a thing in a future video. Kind of an analysis of game approaches.
@@TheOldDragoon would really enjoy that. BECMI is my fav version of D&D that I have played, but came to it really late. Love hearing how different groups handed the "simulation" parts of the rules.
While I think most of us used the Variable Weapon Damage optional rule I believe the weapon restrictions was a way of limiting magic items. Magic Swords were often the best weapons and the restrictions meant they could not be used by Clerics and Magic-Users. It was for game balance. I really like how Saving Throws were linked to Class rather than Ability Scores.
Saving Throws being a class-based thing really shows, especially at the Red Box and Blue Box levels, which classes are especially resistant or vulnerable to which attacks.
This came out before I was born :-P First edition I played was 4E I was I think 19 or so, after maybe a year we played the newly released Pathfinder as our second game after we done a handful of games with 3.5. We all hated 5E ha But now I am mostly a solo player so DCC, Shadowdark, Mork Borg and I order POD AD&D books as well as Rules Cyclopedia. Different game feels for different wants :-)
Great video! Constructive feedback (not sure if this was previously mentioned): The volume and audio quality on the video is a bit low. Hope this feedback helps, keep up the great work!
So. I've watched the video on a couple of platforms - TH-cam scales the quality down depending on various factors. When watching it on my PC, I could easily read the page images. When watching on my laptop, the image was incredibly fuzzy. I'll see if I can play with the upload settings to see what we can do. Thanks!
Hi @TheOldDragoon. In the video, you said that the PC in the solo adventure is named ("Brannis"?) in later publications. Which publications are they? Would you please spell the name?
Hiya, "Brannus" appeared as the name when Wizards of the Coast made a "Red Box" for Fourth Edition, there was a set of laminated character cards that could be used for demos at game stores. I cannot recall off the top of my head if they were included in the actual Red Box 4e- I don't think they were. But I own a set as I was an in-store DM at that time.
My in-game morality tended to be quite a bit more loose when I was in middle school. Today, I tend to play a bit more straight-laced while claiming to be Chaotic Good. In BECMI, I guess Chaotic Good is still just "Chaotic."
I think it has a lot to do with age and which version of D&D was your onramp. Yes, the Erol Otus cover is awesome, and I have it on a couple of t-shirts, but a lot more merch has had the Elmore art attached for whatever reason.
My staring point as well!!! If i could, I'd live forever in the night i spent reading and learning with those books and coloring those dice.
As I get older, I do feel deeply the love of the games that got me into the hobby in the first place. And no matter how many slick, full-color, hardcover books are on the market now with production values the 80s could only dream of- I still find myself paging through many a saddle-stapled booklet that came in a boxed set.
You cant beat the Elmore art. @@TheOldDragoon
Being somewhat older than you, I think of Red Box Basic as the high point in D&D development. Starting with OD&D in a little white box and eventually advancing to AD&D hardcovers once they appeared, I had learned to just make up mechanics that escaped my understanding in the Gygaxian rule texts.
Red Box by contrast is written in clear and concise language. It has excellent examples of play and even includes a progressive learning experience for both player and DM. A most excellent improvement over previous presentations and one that has yet to be equaled imo.
Cheers!
I would tend to agree. While I did play and enjoy the "Black Box" and "Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game" that replaced BECMI in the 90s, I also feel the best era and presentation of the game were these five boxed sets, and the supplements designed for them, like the GAZ series.
I started with the Moldvay Basic Set from 1981, but this version definitely has the best introduction to the game for complete newbies. That choose your own adventure style story with Bargle and Aleena is just perfect. More games should do this.
Moldvay/Cook/Marsh is definitely an awesome set of rules. In fact, as I've gotten older, I appreciate the level 14 cap quite a bit over BECMI's 36 levels. But I will agree with you completely, this was the perfect way to draw folks into the game.
@@TheOldDragoon Yeah, going to level 36 was never an issue for us in any version of the game, to be honest. Highest I think I ever got a character was to level 16... and that was AD&D 1e. Most of the time, we retired them around level 11 or 12 and started fresh again. lol The Companion and Master sets were almost more useful for all of the other stuff in them. :-)
BECMI was so good. It was before my time (I learned on Dragon Strike, and the 1991 reprint of Basic before moving to AD&D 2nd revised).
As an adult, I went back and read BECMI- that was the best introduction to D&D. I have no idea why they didn’t keep that as the standard way to learn.
I wholeheartedly agree. While I did appreciate the "Dragon Cards" included in the 1991 Black Box, they proved a bit fiddly. I think the BECMI Red Box was the sweet spot.
I was born in 1995, but this was still the first verison I played cause my dad played this straight in 1983 and still had the boxes laying around when I was a kid and introduced me to it, in a self-copied version they made out of the only legal version available for their group, and in french but still..it worked and now at 28 I'm still in two ttrpgs campaign a week :p. And I did consider trying to go through some of the older adventures of the BECMI system and see if I could modernise some, it's campy, it's aged but in a (mostly) good way.
There's a lot of good to be found in old modules, especially ones for the Known World/Mystara setting. Mine away!
Being somewhat younger than you, my first games were mid-late 90s, so it would have been 2nd Ed AD&D at the time, which served me well for the era of CRPG classics like Baldur's Gate 1&2, Icewind Dale 1&2, Planescape Torment et al.
Those were all great PC games, and the 2nd Edition era was a wild time for AD&D - so many wonderful campaign settings, but those very settings became TSR's downfall.
Since I am a bit older, my AD&D PC Game nostalgia is usually rooted in the Gold Box series from SSI. Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, etc. And once they released the construction toolkit - Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures? We were all making dungeons for our friends to play. All of these games are available on Steam or GOG these days.
This was the set that I started with. Completely forgot about the crayon thing. Brought back so many memories. Thanks.
Glad to bring back good memories. I saw Luke Gygax was selling new production dice that come with a crayon at GaryCon- but I've not found the budget to go to GaryCon. ;)
Great video. I received my red set as a birthday present in 1988. The box has just been translated into Danish. Back then I also enjoyed reading the player book. I look forward to seeing more movies from you with basic d&d. I particularly like the level of detail and the many good stories and experiences with the game. There are not many who make youtube films about BECMI. Keep up the good work.
Thank you! My next video will of course be the DM's book from this set. You might also want to check out BECMI Berserker on TH-cam if you haven't already!
@@TheOldDragoon I'm a big fan of BECMI Berserker. It was his youtube that made me find my old boxes. I also watch "the dungeon minister" and "Wally DM". I especially like going through books and modules but also the game mechanics.
Woohoo more old school! o7
Old School is where it's at. I mean, there are plenty of great games that are more recent, but you never forget your first.
Wow! Lone wolf...old school man!
Loved Lone Wolf. Much better than most of the Fighting Fantasy stuff imo.
Lone Wolf got me through 9th Grade Algebra. I had the book down below my desk, and either an old low-impact blue d10 or my trusty scientific calculator that had an RND function. I still have both the die and the calculator.
Algorithm be praised. Insta sub.
As a BECMI magic user, I just want to point out that spellbooks are listed as being 2 square feet. I often wonder how modern mages would feel about having to stash their spellbook before going inside a dungeon.
That's a great point. I think I'm going to talk a bit about the old days where logistics and encumbrance were a thing in a future video. Kind of an analysis of game approaches.
@@TheOldDragoon would really enjoy that. BECMI is my fav version of D&D that I have played, but came to it really late. Love hearing how different groups handed the "simulation" parts of the rules.
While I think most of us used the Variable Weapon Damage optional rule I believe the weapon restrictions was a way of limiting magic items.
Magic Swords were often the best weapons and the restrictions meant they could not be used by Clerics and Magic-Users. It was for game balance.
I really like how Saving Throws were linked to Class rather than Ability Scores.
Saving Throws being a class-based thing really shows, especially at the Red Box and Blue Box levels, which classes are especially resistant or vulnerable to which attacks.
#Question Can you make a video explaining Basic Encumbrance from page 61 in the Players Manual? Thank you
An interesting request. Let me see if I can do that.
This came out before I was born :-P First edition I played was 4E I was I think 19 or so, after maybe a year we played the newly released Pathfinder as our second game after we done a handful of games with 3.5. We all hated 5E ha But now I am mostly a solo player so DCC, Shadowdark, Mork Borg and I order POD AD&D books as well as Rules Cyclopedia. Different game feels for different wants :-)
OK, now you're making me feel old. ;)
Just finished this…would love to see more Robotech and TMNT…thanks again for this video. I should go dust off my copy
I will absolutely do more Robotech, and explore TMNT, especially since Palladium is about to re-publish it.
Great video! Constructive feedback (not sure if this was previously mentioned): The volume and audio quality on the video is a bit low. Hope this feedback helps, keep up the great work!
So. I've watched the video on a couple of platforms - TH-cam scales the quality down depending on various factors. When watching it on my PC, I could easily read the page images. When watching on my laptop, the image was incredibly fuzzy. I'll see if I can play with the upload settings to see what we can do. Thanks!
Hi @TheOldDragoon. In the video, you said that the PC in the solo adventure is named ("Brannis"?) in later publications. Which publications are they? Would you please spell the name?
Hiya, "Brannus" appeared as the name when Wizards of the Coast made a "Red Box" for Fourth Edition, there was a set of laminated character cards that could be used for demos at game stores. I cannot recall off the top of my head if they were included in the actual Red Box 4e- I don't think they were. But I own a set as I was an in-store DM at that time.
Thankyou,@@TheOldDragoon😀
I believe in the BECMI narrative he is known as ''Rolf". I will dig up the page reference.
I started on the ref box in 85
It's where I started, too, and in my opinion the best onramp I could have had as a kid.
My gateway into a much larger world of rpgs.
Charm'n and stealin is evil kids
My in-game morality tended to be quite a bit more loose when I was in middle school. Today, I tend to play a bit more straight-laced while claiming to be Chaotic Good. In BECMI, I guess Chaotic Good is still just "Chaotic."
It always bugged me how much it was based on Tolkien, but you couldn't have a wizard with a freaking sword.
I allowed it on the basis of Tolkien- Gandalf carried his Elvish blade, after all. But still, no armor, and the M-U attack table.
The Erol Otis art is more iconic IMHO
I think it has a lot to do with age and which version of D&D was your onramp. Yes, the Erol Otus cover is awesome, and I have it on a couple of t-shirts, but a lot more merch has had the Elmore art attached for whatever reason.
@@TheOldDragoon well, naturally the main reason I say that is because the erol otis cover was the one I had as a kid, of course!