How To Play The Rules Cyclopedia

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I first bought the Rules Cyclopedia, a reference style book based on the BECMI version of D&D, back in 1991. I played the system in a campaign with two friends once per month until 1996 , then moved on to other systems.
Little did I realize that this book would become a classic of its kind: a complete Old School system that is now being rediscovered by gamers who grew up on 3rd, 4th or 5th edition D&D.
In this series I'm going to reacquaint myself with this system with the goal of helping players quickly experience the game. As a reference book, the Cyclopedia famously doesn't try to explain the concept of a RPG or dungeon crawls. But as you'll see, you only need a little familiarity with D&D to pick this system up easily.
Check out my podcast with Daniel Norton of @BanditsKeep. We talk about D&D and being a GM and a whole lot more.
Monsters and Treasure Podcast
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Here are some of the products you can use to start playing D&D and create your own homebrewed campaign.
Player's Handbook 5e, Amazon Affiliate Website Link:
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Monster Manual 5e, Amazon Affiliate Website Link:
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Dungeon Master's Guide 5e, Amazon Affiliate Website Link:
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Tasha's Cauldron of Everything
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Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse 5e
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Fizban's Treasury of Dragons 5e
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Xanathar's Guide To Everything 5e, Amazon Affiliate Website Link:
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Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes 5e, Amazon Affiliate Website Link:
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Volo's Guide To Monsters 5e, Amazon Affiliate Website Link:
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Dungeons and Dragons 5e Core Rulebooks Gift Set, Amazon Affiliate Website Link:
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Sword Coast Adventuring Guide, Amazon Affiliate Website Link:
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[@TKFKU]

BECMI as well as the RC, is the only book you will ever need and if you want more it explains how to convert it. Want to let Demi's go to 36th? It tells you how, spellcasters? Tells you how to add classes to the demi's too. The "B/X" crowd like to seem like it is vastly different, it's just the rest of the same game past Expert level. It is modular, use as much as you like or use it all and add more. Want to retire at name level, not use skill rolls, use weapon mastery, build anything. You don't have to. It's everything Basic/Expert had and then some and it is great that they gave it all to us in one single book, even though it was towards the end of the run. It gave the box sets a break anyway and kept it all in one place. Drive thrurpg's POD allowed my original copy to take a rest too haha.

[@DDHomebrew]

I'm getting a POD as well: I've already notice some wear and tear just reviewing the book for this video! Once I get that I'll be able to go back and forth (as you always did in these old TSR books!) without worrying about breaking the spine. It's funny too that what once seemed so simple but complete to me and my friends is now just complete to modern players! It shows how you don't have to have a complex system of character options to make a great game!

[@Joogoo96]

​@@DDHomebrew As someone who recently picked one up on sale, the POD is very very nice.

[@DDHomebrew]

@@Joogoo96 great to hear! If I start running this I'm going to pick one up to preserve my original edition.

[@mattnerdy7236]

Hey Kevin, great video & topic. Love the old basic set. Matter of fact that's what got me going on the old armor, 2e for the old weapons as you know, lol. About 2 years ago is when I discovered that the 5e armor list still had room for the old armor. I got super excited did all this reading, finding websites, making notes, etc. Then it came time to convert the old armor over to 5e. As soon as I looked at the 5e heavy armor I realized I had missed a step, there's now a strength minimum. All of the sudden it all came to a screeching halt. It was late at night, I was completely lost on what to do. After a few minutes of thinking about it, I suddenly remember a piece of an old rule from either basic or advanced. I tried it on the current 5e armor and it worked! I could see the pattern, I could see the math. Here's that list and as far as I know it's 100% correct. I know that is a big boast but feeling pretty good about this one. Thanks for everything Kevin you have a wonderful day! Heavy Armor Ring mail. 30 gp., AC 14, Str --, Stealth: Disadv., 40 lb. Brigandine. 40 gp., AC 14, Str --, Stealth: -----------, 45 lb. Banded mail. 55 gp., AC 15, Str 13, Stealth: Disadv., 50 lb. Chain mail. 75 gp., AC 16, Str 13, Stealth: Disadv., 55 lb. Splint. 200 gp., AC 17, Str 15, Stealth: Disadv., 60 lb. Heavy Plate Armor Bronze plate. 1,000 gp., AC 17, Str 14, Stealth: Disadv., 60 lb. Plate. 1,500 gp., AC 18, Str 15, Stealth: Disadv., 65 lb. Field plate. 5,000 gp., AC 19, Str 17, Stealth: Disadv., 70 lb. Full plate. 25,000 gp., AC 20, Str 18, Stealth: Disadv., 75 lb.

[@DDHomebrew]

Great to hear from you Matt as always! And thanks so much for these conversion charts. I know a lot of players want to take advantage of the armor stuff that was available in those earlier editions. You are the man!

[@DM_Curtis]

My primary misgiving with BECMI vs. B/X is the nerfing of the the thief's abilities by extending the progression all the way to Level 36. Since Old School thieves kinda suck to begin with, you should allow the higher percentages in B/X or BECMI for their level. Also, I cannot recommend enough Chris Gonnerman's optional rules for thieves and magic-users as part of his Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game, a free modernized take on old school D&D, which is itself another one-book option.

[@DDHomebrew]

I heartily agree: I will discuss this in my discussion on character classes. The chart is basically the same on thieves until level 5, where the rate of progression is lowered to allow for the level 36 endpoint. But if you aren't planning on handing out experience such that thieves can make it that high, I say use the BX charts for thief skill progression. I have a PDF of Basic Fantasy, and will check those out!

[@Arnsteel634]

I 1000000% agree. When I played RC I let players use the best their skills between B/X and RC

[@goblinrat6119]

I've long been of the opinion that the 36 level progression was a mistake - possibly a mistake in making an Expert set that stretches all the way to level 14, and then realizing (there wasn't some original plan to make the E C M and I sets, they conceived later, and Expert was conceived before Companion, not at the same time) that you actually have a longer-term goal and want to push in at least two more tiers of leveling. And worse yet make those two somewhat redundant; Master levels are Companion levels but larger scale). So of course you can't start making much smaller level ranges in the following products; the more levels you have, the less one more actually matters. If they'd had a plan going in, you can be sure it would not have included a massive number of levels like that; it's more or less unique in the whole game's history (excluding 4e, and that is hardly even comparable...). Of course many of the older editions do not have strict caps, but they also do not seriously consider the prospect of gaining THREE DOZEN of them. They could have done the exact same stuff with 20 levels, or a lower amount, and lost nothing of practical consequence. And of course they also made the higher levels almost inconsequential taken in one at a time; minuscule one point increases in things, very little actual difference (something the Thief feels particularly harshly). If they'd just had less levels, they would not have needed to make gaining levels, arguably the most central defining element of an advancing D&D character, feel like drops in a pond. The worst thing was that many of the higher-level BECMI products kind of felt like they were taking the piss about the whole thing. Some level

[@allenyates3469]

My home brew rule is if your ability score is under a 9 your modifier is just -. You get disadvantage on d6 rolls to perform an action but it doesn't affect combat rolls.

[@DDHomebrew]

It's always interesting to hear GM's homebrewed rules on these systems, especially one that I played like this. We had so many that I can no longer remember! This one is interesting in terms of using the disadvantage mechanic with an older rules system.

[@SuperKernel32]

I, too, will be at GaryCon. I had a great time last year.

[@DDHomebrew]

I'm looking forward to it. I'm playing a host of games, old school and new, and of course learning about what's new in the table top RPG world!

[@SuperKernel32]

@@DDHomebrew Nice to hear, this will be my second year attending. I played in captcorajus' Hyperborea game last year, had a blast.

[@DDHomebrew]

@@SuperKernel32 I'm playing in a Hyperborea game this year. Really looking forward to some different systems.

[@SuperKernel32]

@@DDHomebrew Awesome, it is my favorite OSR-style game, and the author, Jeff is a great guy.

[@DDHomebrew]

@@SuperKernel32 I'm really looking forward to the whole weekend!

[@searchforsecretdoors]

I ordered my POD copy a few months ago, but have not really jumped in like I hoped too. Too many games, so little time.

[@DDHomebrew]

I totally understand. I've got a ton of RPG's books on the shelves that I've collected over the years that I've read one time and never played. It's always tough to find players as well.

[@yagsipcc287]

I just ordered this and AD&D corebooks plus monster manual 2 and unearth arcana from DrivethrouRPG :-D excited for it big time. With these and Shadowdark and DCC I am sorted for life so happy and very excited. The older versions of D&D are much better and OSR type games that try to build on parts of it. Thanks for this video :-)

[@DDHomebrew]

Glad you liked it! And you will be having fun for a long time with those rule sets!

[@tylerjohnston5551]

None of the things you bought will be compatible with shadow dark

[@yagsipcc287]

@@tylerjohnston5551 who said anything about compatibility? They are all different games and systems for different types of games and people :-)

[@tylerjohnston5551]

@@yagsipcc287 I just don't like shadow dark personality, I think it failed at what it tried to do and there are better (plus hell of a lot cheaper) options then it. If it wasn't for the ogl stuff happening right as it went live it never would have made as much money

[@Motavian]

With prime requisites, I always prefered to adjust the XP to next level as opposed to adjusting earned XP all the time.

[@DDHomebrew]

I'd like to hear more on this idead.

[@karllammers4930]

Let say you need 1000 xp to level up, and you have a 10% xp bonus from prime, then you will need 900 xp to level up instead.

[@n.ludemann9199]

To me the RC is the best TSR rulebook ever, even the 3 AD&D core rulebooks...

[@DDHomebrew]

I really enjoyed looking through them again! I had such great fun with this system.

[@n.ludemann9199]

​@@DDHomebrewit's a great book

[@727xer]

Sorry but, you should have payed more attention on your weapon. Battle axe is 2H or two handed, can't use a shield. Want to use a shield, get a long sword for the same damage as the axe.

[@DDHomebrew]

Thanks. It had been a long time since I used that system!

[@docsavage8640]

What a bunch of bullshit

[@DDHomebrew]

I agree.