Let’s talk about the 1981 D&D Basic Set

[@KabukiKid]

Loved Bill Willingham's Elementals comic back in the day. Seriously underrated series.

[@chadband9860]

Thanks for the video!

[@ClassicRollPlayer]

you have the exact same ripped box that I do! 😂

[@PGIFilms]

I never owned any of the 1981 B/X books and actually started D&D shortly after the 1983 Basic and Expert publications for BECMI D&D came out. Got all 5 sets for BECMI and it was great in the way each set broke down the general stuff relevant for the character levels they covered.

[@crhu319]

Encumbrance is to correct DM generosity errors. If they got too much gold you chase them with something horrific but just slow enough that they can escape by dropping all the gold and keeping only the best magic items.

[@adamli9767]

I just begin to play D&D last year and only play 5E so far, but I am really enjoying your talk, learned a lot, thank you, sir!

[@nicholasbielik7156]

5E is great. I’ve been running an online game of 5E for the last year or so, and we’ve been having a ton of fun. Though I do love many of the older editions of D&D, I realize they are not for everyone. Each edition has its strengths and weaknesses. The Moldvay basic rules, while simple in many respects, are sort of D&D hard mode.

[@crhu319]

@@nicholasbielik7156 yes my DM is constantly reminding me - a Basic and 1e vet and DM - not to freak out the other players with overly elaborate preparations...I'm expecting to die any time. He's made clear that we will be at risk of dying in every boss fight before levelling, but not really in the lead up. I like that house rule.

[@swirvinbirds1971]

@@crhu319 Feel lucky... I remember playing B4 The Lost City and my Dwarf died at the front door due to a trap. Yes, Basic was lethal... Even at higher levels. Lots of save or die. 1 bad roll and it could be the end.

[@bholl6546]

Good video. Iteration does not use the long vowel sound. It-uh-ray-shuhn. Pedantry aside, this is a fun video.

[@michaelmclaughlin261]

I had that red set. I found it to be really fun. I loved Keep on the Borderlands too.

[@PatriceBoivin]

I think mine had a yellow B1 module in it and a dragon on the box. 1977. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_Basic_Set Purchased it either at Hobbyland on O'Connor in Ottawa, or at Fandom II when it was near Ottawa U after they moved from Rideau Street over a restaurant called La Gargotte on Rideau.

[@nicholasbielik7156]

That would be the original basic set edited by J. Eric Holmes and released in 1977. The Tom Moldvay set I look at here is a refinement of the material in Holmes (which was a refinement of the original 1974 boxed set). The module you mention would probably have been module B1 In Search of the Unknown with its original monochrome color cover.

[@Samwise7RPG]

I like the idea of anti-character dungeons, that seem to have a sort of immune system in place to thwart these interlopers looking to loot and kill. I'm very much in the camp that likes mythological underworlds where the laws of reality need not apply.

[@patricksanders7988]

I have played Basic and AD&D since 1981. I enjoy the lethality of Basic. I have probably watched a dozen KZbin videos on the Moldvay ruleset and this one offers a fresh perspective and makes one yearn to roll 3d6 once more. Also, rather than rolling a pile of characters, I would suggest finding a random generator online and and creating half a dozen this way. It's a great illustration as to how cheap the lives of starting characters are

[@Samwise7RPG]

I played a good bit of Labyrinth Lord which is a retro-clone of this. It was such a fresh of breath air after player later more complicated editions. I'm playing and running (taking turns DMing) an AD&D campaign and at times I find myself wanting to play B/X style games again.

[@twinkied-lite1220]

Keep is the best module ever. Still us it to this day.

[@crhu319]

I had a 1977 "Home Set" or I think "Blue Box". We had a lot of fun with that and it was my first try at being DM. A friend wanted to try and was actually good at it, so he became our DM for like three years. After that I only ever DM'd Advanced or what is nor called 1e from 1981-1985, I think just once in 1985-87 I DM'd with a custom module I wrote for 3 people. After 35 years I'm now playing 5e as a tiefling water warlock. So glad the game got out of its Tolkien straitjacket & elf fetish. I feel.more like in Avatar - the Nickelodeon one - these days. It's time to move on from inherently racist and overly gender roles stories. The Silmarillion is the best of Tolkien and I hope no one ever gets to ruin it with an American adaptation.

[@crhu319]

My advice to "Basic" DMs re house rules: 1. A lot of us shifted to 1e strictly so our players weren't dying so much and then getting discouraged and quitting. So the "unconscious at 0, dead at -10" rule from 1e is necessary. In fairness and to keep Basic deadlier it should be applied to NPCs and monsters too, ie if they get help they may get back into the fight. 2. The "maximum first hit die" rule so all magic users have at least 4 HP and a "fighter" can take at least one d6 hit, is also necessary imho. I used to always let anyone rolling below average on first hit die re roll anyway, and I further allowed them to reduce one attribute by one point to gain one one time first level only +1 HP. More generous options include letting a character roll HP at advantage at any of the first few level-ups, but at a cost in an attribute, and a less generous option is just make first level HP roll at advantage. 3. Resurrections should be expensive but available, and "discount" or free ones were imperfect ie you come back -1 HP and -2 Charisma from a massive scar or voice box damage, or -1 dex from an arm that was nearly hacked off, or -1 con. A full intact resurrection always costs basically everything the character owned plus about half of what the group owned. You have to keep them broke, remember. The longer one goes beyond deadlines or below -10HP the more likely these nasty effects are even if you get an expensive good resurrection. 4. Restoring spells after 8 hours sleep or getting one back after a 4-6 hour rest even without sleep is fair. To me the key was not being on watch, not disturbed and able to basically meditate. 5. Discard any hard rule assigning alignment to creatures by race. There ARE evil elves, there ARE villages of good goblins trying to get away from monarchs who abuse them. Anything that can talk & think can change it's views. However it cannot necessarily change it's diet nor the attitude of creatures around it. If there's even one teen in your group, you may be actually fostering racist views if you don't follow this rule. Look at Ukraine MPs calling Russians "orcs" on TV and otherwise calling them subhuman, while letting actual Nazis in their army. It's unlikely that this will help them live in peace later, right? Don't create such views by letting people view intelligent beings as inherently evil by race. Ever. You can see the tragic consequences. 6. If a character party is too weak, consider letting a very experienced player be a "friendly monster". Within limits ie nothing with superinelligence and nothing bigger than might be needed to act as a bus. These characters are intended to be played only until characters level up and can't be retained as NPCs usually long term. They can level up but should be at half the speed of others. And it should not be possible for this "tank" or "air support" to go just anywhere is I prefer it be big, conspicuous, ugly and inhibit dealings with some characters. So for instance a 4th level team outmatched can still go on a long journey where they face big threats like a rowdy 1e city, say, which really requires a 6th-8th level party to survive. As one example, a giant wearing armor with flip-out seats on it for his party. He will be dull and putting most of his or her role playing into comic relief, like King Shark. He or she (Se) will reliably shield the party from one direction. Se will inhibit most dealings with dwarves or rangers or most good humans, if only out of prejudice. And se will not be able to get into a dungeon passage built for humans without crawling and blocking either the way forward or back. So will often need to be deployed elsewhere eg building a bridge for money the party needs, as the party negotiates with a dwarven princess. Just make sure that you don't let them end up as a 10th level party with a giant who has levelled up to be invincible. Or if you do, give the giant a great rationale to retire, and say guard a castle for the party, gardening happily. Another example is a young dragon who can be really helpful say getting between islands or mountain tops, and provide air cover, but again is not so helpful underground. 7. Just throw away all this 1", "turn", "round" stuff and talk in "minutes" and "melee initiatives". Also dungeons have floors not levels, characters have ranks not levels, etc, sort this "level" crap early. 8. The dis/advantage system works fine and it should be used rather than complex tables of + and -. Player vs player conflict should be at disadvantage to the aggressor unless the target has acted really out of alignment or character. And defense against unprovoked attack should likewise be at advantage. But always allowed because, hey, you just don't kick a druid's dog.

[@markbertenshaw3977]

Hi - sorry, but I find your 5th rule kind of insulting. All the people I have played with, including children, know that this is a fantasy game. It was based on books in which there were creatures which were created to be "evil", by a dark lord figure or an evil god. In real life, we know that it's just people, whose moralities may or may not align with our own. If Goblins raid human villages, murder and eat the inhabitants, it is nothing to do with some kind of racial politics or emnities. It is because they are doing what they were created to do. I am not saying that you shouldn't create Good goblins - it's your game. Just take into account that in a Manichaean good vs evil system, the terms "good" and "evil" are supernatural things, and all characters are fighting in that eternal battle.

[@petegiant]

To point 5, the only alignments in basic are lawful, neutral and chaotic. There is no mention of evil or good in the rules.

[@petegiant]

Turns are a fundamental part of the game for exploration, actions and any effect that has a duration. The dis/advantage system creates bonuses which are too large for the ability score modifiers in this version.