The Rules Cyclopedia - possibly the only D&D rulebook you’ll ever need

It’s time to dive into the Rules Cyclopedia, the amalgamation of the BECMI Basic, Expert, Companion and Master sets that was released in 1991. Compiled by Aaron Allston, based on the work of Frank Mentzer.
Artwork from the book credited to Jeff Easley (cover) and Terry Dykstra (interior illustrations)
Link to BECMI playlist: • BECMI Dungeon and Dragons
Introduction to BECMI: • Going back to Old Scho...
Basic Rules 1: • How Aleena and Bargle ...
Basic Rules 2: • How the 1983 Dungeons ...
Expert Rules: • BECMI Dungeons and Dra...
Companion Rules: • The Companion Rules - ...
Master Rules: • The Master Rules - Wea...
Immortal Rules: • Welcome to Immortality...
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Berserker image: www.pngall.com/viking-png/dow... (used under Creative Commons)
Many thanks to ITS A TRAPP for cleaning up the Berserker image for me. It’s a lot cleaner and sharper now.
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[@jeremydurdil556]

I started with the red box set and grew into the blue and eventually green. Played them through my childhood and enjoyed it. Then life happened. First it was a job, then a wife, kids, and a military career. Before I knew it years had flown past and I figured my TTRPG days were behind me. Then by random chance, I discovered the Rules Cyclopedia at a bookstore. I was awestruck. Here it was. Everything I would ever need to run BECMI all in 1 book. I remember trying to explain to my wife what a big deal this book was. I had no plans to get back into playing but I knew that if I got this book… maybe Someday I would. We bought the book, took it home, leafed through it and put it on the shelf for 20 years. Then 5 years ago broke it out and ran a campaign. Now playing with my wife, adult daughter, her husband, his best friend and others. It hasn’t stopped either. As word has gotten out I have more people lining up to play then I have room at my table. I knew almost 30 years ago that this was the single greatest D&D book ever made. It has stood the test of time and I am glad for it.

[@becmiberserker]

Oh wow! This is a great story. Love how people are just starting this hobby now with BECMI as well. Thanks for sharing!

[@Sanguivore]

What a beautiful story, Jeremy! :’) Blessings to you and yours!

[@INCIESSE]

That's awesome man I'm so glad you got a chance to revisit the game with friends and family.

[@stevefugatt7075]

I totally agree with the off putting nature of the "RC" for new players. In over 40 years of playing more games than I remember, I still hold to belief that "Red Box" was the best teaching guide ever written as far as RPGs go.

[@yvindheilo229]

MERP actually also did a very good job at this!

[@stillmattwest]

That’s what got me into the hobby! Although I think the Pathfinder 1e Beginner Box actually surpassed the Red Box. I don’t say that lightly, it’s a huge hat tip to Paizo.

[@nrais76]

I totally agree. Been gaming for about 40 years and in fact, i agree with sentiment so much, (having discovered this channel about five minutes ago, too) that as we are wrapping up a 5e campaign, my daughter said she wants to DM something a couple weeks back. I handed her the red box. "Read this first," I said, "even if you don't DM THIS game, this is flat out BY FAR, the absolute BEST explanation of 'when you are the DM, you do this' that you will ever find, anywhere. Ever."

[@becmiberserker]

@@nrais76 Love this!

[@anarionelendili8961]

When I managed to get RC, I was already a veteran of the boxed set, so I didn't really notice that, and just appreciated having everything laid out so nicely in crisp, concise format. But yes, it would have been much better to have the intro in there, as BECMI Berserker indicated.

[@yvindheilo229]

My mother bought this for my 12th birthday. I couldn't believe my own eyes packing this up. However, the AD&D kids at school laughed so hard at this that I ended caving in, selling it and buying into AD&D. Now I'm and adult and know how terribly wrong we all were! :)

[@becmiberserker]

😢

[@yvindheilo229]

@@becmiberserker Got a new one now, unfortunately not an original, but a copy of DriveThru. It's a little bit more big and clunky, but still a great book!

[@PedanticTwit]

It's just like selling off our high end CRT monitors. We simply didn't realize how much input latency and motion blur we were signing up for with LCDs. And now look at how much those old, 100+ lb. behemoths are going for. We knew not what we had!

[@BW022]

That's still a matter of taste. There are things I miss about all sorts of editions, yet when I go back I get hit with something I don't like. I never liked races as classes once I want to AD&D. I never liked attack role tables or inconsistent rules when I went to 3e. I never liked the minutia of assigning hundreds of skill points or the god-like power curve of 3e after I went to 5e. Then again, it isn't like I look back at BX or 1e and realize that combat was far faster and how that had a massive impact on the types and scales of dungeons and adventures you could run. 10 combats in session -- easy.

[@cypherion]

This was the first D&D book I owned. My mother reluctantly bought it for me from Walden’s Books in 1991. Having total nostalgia

[@becmiberserker]

My mother was quite scolding of how much money I “wasted” on D&D with my paper round money. But they’re still sitting on my shelf and I’m still using them all. 40 years later it’s been far from a wasted investment. 🙂

[@MarkAmesse]

I still have the original printings of the RC, Red box, Immortals and most of the gazateers. My aunt bought them and was the DM. She was the "cool aunt".

[@thossi09]

I got mine for Christmas from my parents. Still have it on my shelf, even though I haven't played for over 10 years.

[@docsavage8640]

An RPG was the price of a couple of movies back then. Compare 4-6 hours of passive entertainment to a lifetime of interactive socializing and fun...

[@Rich_H_1972]

Greatest RPG rulebook ever released - and I'm not even a massive D&D fan, I just appreciate how fantastically complete this book was. You could game with it and never need any other book. Personally I'd drop certain elements (eg, skills) but the RC is a fantastic artefact of RPG history.

[@MarkGoldfine]

I was disappointed that they didn't include the classes from the Gazetteers, like the Dwarven Cleric, from Dwarves of Rockhome, etc. They had a lot of skills in the Gazetteers as well. Great video, Berserker 🤘 Your insight on the whole BECMI series and RC really show how robust and great this game was and is. Look forward to the next one, Sir ⚔️🗡️🤘

[@luisesteban9770]

Agreed. I think I have always been looking forward to RC2.0, which, in my mind, included everything from all the Gazetteers; for example, Mystara character creation all in one place rather than having to jump around books. That is, RC(1.0) saved you having to jump around the boxed sets books. RC2.0 should have saved you from jumping around the Gazetteers!

[@midnightgreen8319]

I started with this book, and it's still the best single volume RPG book ever.

[@Arnsteel634]

It is probably the best d&d book ever.

[@hanng1242]

TSR *did* have an intro BECMI product in 1991. It was the "New Easy-to-Master" D&D box. The "black box." It went up to 5th level, and the box was mass-market board game-shaped rather than book-shaped. There was an intro adventure, as well as a grid map and standees for the same. I think that afterwards, there were a few adventure modules released using the same graphic design and branding.

[@TarikZeraoui]

Yeah, exactly, that's what I thought. You were supossed to start with that box and the jump into this book (What I did).

[@stephenclements6158]

I love that box set and the follow up sets, too. Zanzer's Dungeon will always have a special place in my heart, and I will continue to run it.

[@WonderLure42]

Aaron helped produce some of the best BECMI products. He passed away far too early.

[@PhilipDudley3]

I gotta say, after finding your channel, I purchased the BECMI rules and found I now have a much greater appreciation of what those rules were and are. Then also the insights into why certain things are the way they are today in 5e or PF2e. BECMI also helped me to understand what products like OSE and the many retro clones were presenting. I am getting my sister to try this rule set out as she found 5e overwhelming as a complete newbie who only ever watched Lord of the Rings

[@Giles29]

I bought this book on my birthday in 1991 - I began playing my longest lived and most beloved D&D character under the BECMI game group that I found that same day. This is one of my most prized possessions to this day.

[@tacky4237]

This book, +Stencil supplies, paper & dice is all you truly need.

[@captcorajus]

Great video, very informative and relaxed and easy listening presentation. Also great review of one of my favorite D&D books. Keep up the great work. I would only disagree with one minor point and that is the 'OP' nature of elves. While perhaps they are a bit OP, they also prgress very slow... and they are very long lived. I LIKED this addition to the game as it always bugged me that human mages were better at magic than elves who lived 10 times as long, and were a fae race. So that works for me. You can off set this a bit, by giving humans an additional skill at 1st level and a bonus skill at 5th, 10th and 15th level, reflecting their 'adaptability'. I also agree that the 'roll lower' than mechanic was annoying in that it allowed lower level characters to have a better chance at 'equivalent' class abilities than those characters who SHOULD be able to do them better such as the thief. I solved this problem by simply converting the skill system to a DC based system ... LONG before 3rd edition's D20 system came out. Another great addition to the game was the use of abilities scores to modify saving throws as an optional rule. This made a lot of sense, so your Constitution could modify your save versus poison for example. A superior rule that 2nd edition didn't have. Obviously, that would also help with the 'death ray' save vs death at 0 hit points rule as well, improving a character's chance to survive. I don't remove 'resurrections' completely when I use that rule either, but add an additional save with modifiers based on 'role-playing' elements as the player and their friends plead their case with the immortals for the character's return to life. Great video! Subbed!

[@becmiberserker]

Thank you! That means a lot. 🙂

[@EriktheRed2023]

You have a good point about elves. I pulled out my poor old copy of RC, and by the time a magic user is level 36, the variant rules elf would be level 26. That's without considering bonus or penalty for prime requisites.

[@RJ3040]

This was the follow-up to the Big Black Box starter set (TSR 1070), which is where new players used the Dragon Card Learning Pack in place of Mentzer's intro from the red box.

[@russellharrell2747]

I would like a review of the Big Black Box along with the adventure box follow-ups. And of course HOLLOW WORLD. I’ll forgive the Berserker if he never talks about B/X, the Holmes basic or OD&D since BECMI was basically (pun intended) the culmination of the original rules and attempts to streamline them.

[@0ptikGhost]

I learned D&D from the Big Black Box. I loved the Dragon Cards! The Classic Dungeons & Dragons box set has content nearly identical to the Dragon Cards but their appearance in a book doesn't help a new DM's organization while learning. I really didn't like the Classic box set but loved the Big Black Box. I think the most important difference between the Big Black Box and Red Box is that the Red Box teaches a player to play, something they can do on their own, in a very intuitive way. A new DM can also learn to DM after they've learned to play. In contrast, the Big Black Box teaches a new player to be a DM and then that new DM is given the responsibility of teaching the game with the help of the Dragon Card adventure. A player that doesn't also want to be a DM would have a hard time separating both roles. This approach was retained in basically all other beginer TTRPG products ever since. To make matters worse, most of the beginning content targetted character and combat mechanics. How to DM was conveniently left out. Good luck! Please come back for more supplements. In many ways TSR, and later WotC, was attempting to create a dependency that brought DM players back for more content to purchase.

[@nicklarocco4178]

I really like the Rules Cylopedia. It's a great desert island book. If you had only this you could play many amazing games of D&D for many years. The skill system is the one thing I really don't like, but it's optional, so I just don't use it.

[@becmiberserker]

That’s a really good way of thinking of it!

[@chazblank2717]

ALL the rules are optional 😁

[@greasysmith3150]

My absolute favorite D&D product, nothing compares

[@teseus6416]

Edit: For some reason youtube autoplayed this video as I was finishing up the Cyclopedia one, the comment was supposed to go on that one. Great video! Even if I don't play BECMI at my table, I have a lot of love for it and I constantly leaf through the books. I was wondering if the Cyclopedia is worth getting and now I'm completely sold. Hope this buys you a coffee!

[@becmiberserker]

Oh wow! Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.

[@jeremydurdil556]

I do so enjoy this video. I think I keep listening to it just to get to the final verdict at the end. “Yes. Yes it is.” BECMI Forever! Long live King Elmore!

[@Sanguivore]

Fantastic coverage of the legendary Rules Cyclopedia! ^-^ This is the very tome that inspired my love of the Old-School when it comes to TTRPGs.

[@becmiberserker]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@darthjc4]

I just started getting into Solo roleplaying and discovered OSR and BECMI. I love the simplicity of them.

[@griselame]

I'm about to initiate 6 players to the fun of B/X rules next weekend, using Old School Essentials as it is easy to use

[@Dave_L]

By the way, skills actually DID exist in the BECMI era. They debuted first in the AD&D 1e Wilderness Survival Guide (1986) and subsequently in the BECMI Gazetteers a year later.

[@becmiberserker]

Yeah. I was going to put a line in about the Gazetteers having skills but it got lost in all the rest of the stuff. Glad you raised it.

[@atinaroart]

When my group started playing OSE, all the 5e books were good for were as surfaces to write on! Great stuff as always Berserker!

[@randynichols1169]

Great channel and keep up the good work!😊

[@Plantgrowth]

Considering the Stealth skill against thieves, I judged thieves being able to ALWAYS be stealthy regardless of their level when they wanted to, but only when faced with something special, such as a field of dry branches that would make it for anybody else an automatic failure, thieves could attempt sneaking through the field using their skill and still succeed. Any non-thief could always pick the stealth skill for a certain type of terrain and be able to move quietly, but when faced with an impossible situation for being stealthy such as the example above, even with the skill, they couldn't even attempt it without failing whereas a thief could, because they're the expert at being a thief. This applies for other situations as well. Think about a non-thief standing next to a brick wall in an early evening darkness and a couple of guards happen to be moving by. The player says they're going to hide and try to be as stealthy as possible. I would make the guards spot the player probably every single time even with the Stealth skill unless their character was standing in deep shadows or some other form of heavy concealment. A thief on the other hand, even while not being concealed the same way, could attempt and "Hide in the shadows" against the brick wall and if the roll succeeds the guards will never spot the thief.

[@rogerwilco2]

Well, I don't remember it being explained that way.

[@stevefugatt7075]

Another excellent video!

[@jimmysmith2249]

Fantastic! I started with the box set from the mid 90s, then got the cyclopedia.

[@kellyjeaularson5786]

Excellent review!

[@charlesvincent4127]

I've considered getting this as a companion to the boxed sets I have this video has encouraged me to pick one up if I can find one for a respectable price.

[@stevefugatt7075]

Your best bet is to go get a POD from someone like "Drive thru RPG" rather than chase down an original copy. The prices are ridiculously expensive for an "original."

[@NecromancyForKids]

@@stevefugatt7075 I've heard of people selling the PODs as "original" too, so watch out.

[@finger3181]

I have the DTRPG hardcover POD and it's great. It's going to be better than any second hand copy for sale, and cheaper.

[@docsavage8640]

Just ordered a copy of this & B1-9 off that drive-through place to make it easier to find rules and save wear & tear on my old books. Can't wait to read it and run those modules.

[@AgranakStudios]

Awesome video!!! I love your presentation and breakdown, well done!

[@becmiberserker]

Thank you. That means a lot.

[@ITSaTRAP0001]

Britlliant again, I have all your videos on the BECMI series bookmarked for refrence for my own project. Theres always more to learn from our past and the past of D&D.

[@Gerod253]

You’ve inspired me to take another look at my RC. Thank you.

[@thecosmiccouch192]

Just got my copy in the mail - very good condition, was very excited to get it - love this video and yes, this is the best version of D&D out there!

[@davidjkelly1971]

Wonderful review !

[@Squirrel-Hermit]

fantastic book...well worth attaining for the library...

[@jeremygard]

I never got a copy of this tome, but I do now. Well, PDF at least. What a phenomenal review of this book. So insightful and with a passion and geeky attention to detail that I love. Really got me fired up about BECMI D&D as I've been returning to my own roots of late and dusting off my old boxed sets with absolute joy, like finding lost treasure. Will be running a BECMI campaign soon for sure. Thanks again BB.

[@becmiberserker]

What a wonderful comment. Thank you.

[@jameswight6259]

Have just discovered your channel. I like it a lot! Thank you.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

As are all all in one rule books which for D&D this is the greatest one! Which I was on the fennch about getting it for research for my game system which has all in ones as the standard version... But now you've shown me I need this book thanks!

[@notyetdeleted6319]

The way a run deception is that you are convincing the other person you believe what you are saying. They still may not think what you say it true, but they will consider it a possibility, and will not punish you for being wrong.

[@AJPickett]

Excellent video sir!

[@becmiberserker]

Thanks, mate.

[@anarionelendili8961]

Regarding the skill system... Here is a house-rule that just popped into my head: Skill level = Attribute/2 + Levels/2 This would see those skills improve through the campaign, rather than a 1st level character being just as proficient as a 36th level character, if they have the same stat. And once they breach value 20 in a skill, the excess could be a bonus to the roll (as in King Arthur Pendragon), and if you roll+bonus is > 20 (except if you roll a 20, as per the rules for skill failure), then it is a critical success which means that you get double the bonus from the skill or some other nice thing to reward you for that. Also, the GM can use positive skill modifiers to make things easier at the low levels ("Ah, there is an easy trail, roll Hunting with a +10 bonus to your skill.") and harder at the high levels ("Trying to find tracks of the assassin? Not that easy, they clearly were a pro, roll with -10 modifier to your skill level."). The Skill modifiers are already part of the skill system. Oh, and the skill bonus for putting more picks on a single skill? It should be more than +1, which is insignificant next to the utility of having more skills. Instead, at least +2, although I could also see +3. Needs some more thought. As for Deception, an easy fix would be to make it do the same as Muscle and Wrestling: it gives you an extra bonus to CHA when you are trying to deceive someone. But you'd still make a Reaction Roll or something, just with extra CHA bonuses. As for Stealth, I think I would just give a Thief a Stealth skill in all terrains, using it to replace Move Silently completely. Sure, it is significantly higher than he would get at 1st level, but Thieves need more love, since those abilities suck at low levels and are hard to use in a group anyway. Alternatively would be to give them like one terrain per 4 levels (i.e. whenever they get a skill point, they get an additional Stealth skill for free), and their Move Silently is the default for the terrains they don't have yet.

[@phildicks4721]

I love this book. I found a copy at a Half Price books around 20 or so years ago. I still have a few of my other BECMI rulebooks and material.

[@CaptainColdyron222]

My god this video brings back so many memories! My copy of the Rules Cyclopedia has definitely seen better days but that book was the gateway to so many adventures.

[@becmiberserker]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@pancakewizard1533]

The New Easy to Master 'black box' D&D set was the basic set (and its expansions) that was out along with the Cyclopedia, so they weren't just letting new players swivel as you suggest. The 1994 version was a rerelease of that. So when it says 'you should know the rules already', it means you should have that black box set.

[@jordana4910]

An excellent video sir! 👏

[@becmiberserker]

Thank you kindly!

[@andrewhaldenby4949]

Excellent video BB ty

[@wanderinghistorian]

Even though I don't play BECMI per se, this is still my favorite D&D book of all time. If I had to throw away all of them but one, I'd keep this one and just use a notebook of house rules. You're right about representation in the art. AD&D was very Eurocentric, but BECMI did a greater job of representing - respectfully - many different cultures.

[@cabdav]

A few other thoughts. (1) Diversity - this was done well in the RC, and with perhaps one or two slip-ups it was generally well done throughout the classic line. It's perhaps worth noting that the example characters we see in the artwork throughout module B3 (the first TSR product written by a woman, way back in 1980/81) are a diverse set of people. This is something that goes back further, with a lot more happening, than many in the modern era seem to understand. (2) RC is the best single volume reference guide for D&D ever written. It does however miss out on context of the boxed sets and that leaves some jarring issues. One is magic item progression - the simple % generation system for magic items there is a great way of producing a very wide range of items, but it's drawn from the Companion Set. If you use that straight you'll sooner or later end up rolling massively over-powered magic items in a Basic level game. Another is gems and jewellery - the values of basic treasure types containing them is hugely boosted to suit the XP needs of Companion level play in that set, and again, one good roll on the gem table and every Basic character is going to level! The inclusion of 'special' treasures in the % rolls is good but it doesn't go far enough imho, it could do with being a bit more expansive (3) That same context is lost from basic, expert and companion level monsters, and can rather impact on the challenge they represent with PC's using weapon mastery. A DM who came up through the boxed sets might know to adjust by giving his monsters HP totals near the top end of their scale. (4) The Masters set gave us two part finished character classes - headsman (thug, basically an assassin) and mystic. The latter was ALMOST ready to play, the former not so much. It's like Frank Mentzer was trying to guide us to produce our own classes, with specific guidance on how to do so. Aaron did a great job with a limited page count in RC, but what he didn't do was finish the mystic class, it sits there as a rather jarring anomaly in so many ways. On the whole, it's a brilliant reference guide. It's the single best D&D book ever written. But taken in context of what was happening in the game, with the extra rules from the GAZ and PC series, with the somewhat jarring lack of balance between some of the skills, and with demi-human options being broadened out unevenly, I tend to think that we were due, in fact we needed, rather more of a consolidation into a final form of the classic D&D game. Sadly, the line was canned before that happened, and we shall forever be left wondering what could have been.

[@becmiberserker]

Great insight!

[@matthewesch8758]

There *is* the companion box set to RC "Wrath of the Immortals" TSR1082 that covered playing an Immortal, artifacts, and even a campaign with a codex of Mystara/Hollow World's pantheon. It had a poster-sized map of Mystara, too. Hopefully, you have this at your fingertips and could do another video for that one. Personally, I agree with your critique of this tome and own a copy of it, myself.

[@mlfetlesjdrenbref1306]

Indeed... "Yes, yes it is". Bravo!

[@tabd3277]

Really insightful point about inclusion at the end. Thanks for that perspective!

[@becmiberserker]

You’re more than welcome.

[@paulll47]

I recently got my hands on one, I got introduced to the OSR scene with OSE and never really cared for dnd before since I grew up during the 4e era and wasn't impressed in the slightest, you are quite right, this is basically the only thing I will use to run games from now on.

[@DanielNicolato-qs3wt]

I also remember being enticed at the mention of the GAZ and PC series in one of the last pages, that sadly I wasn’t able to find in my country at the time - it was many years before I could finally track some in auction sites and second hand online bookstores, and buy digital downloads of the others…

[@timpyke4511]

Great video. I have the original BECM sets from when I was aged 10 or so. I recently wanted to get back in to RPGs and after playing Pathfinder, 5E, DCC have decided that none of them have me the same sense of wonder and excitement. I have now bought the RC, several of the gazetteers and adventures. It's near impossible to find anywhere to play BECMI in London as all clubs play 5E so I'm striking out on solo play. I really enjoy your explanations, keep going with all products 🙏

[@becmiberserker]

Thanks for that feedback. It really means a lot.

[@benchelton]

Tim, I'm in London and I play the Becmi rules. Get in touch if you need a player.

[@davidcauley9400]

Really good review. I just got into Basic Fantasy and will pick up the RC as well.

[@becmiberserker]

Thank you.

[@PedanticTwit]

As a self-contained game, it's hard to argue that the BECMI RC isn't the best D&D has to offer. I'd put 3.5 _slightly_ ahead if supplements are also considered, but either one is miles ahead of the last two editions.

[@villiamkarl-gustavlundberg5422]

It's such an easy read. The reasoning is easy to follow

[@retrodmray]

Totally agree with Steve here below! This was a great video, Berserker! Thank you! I especially thought your end part about inclusion was both true, and very much needed!👏👍 However, I wonder that it'll probably fall on deaf ears today by many, many folks in and around the hobby. 😔Keep it up, sir, you're doing wonderful stuff 🤓

[@becmiberserker]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@x.davidwilliams83]

Huzzah,, I bought this book when it 1st came out. My roommate and I would play for hours and hours Oh what joy it was. Then we moved apart and i stopped as i had no one to play with. Eventually got sucked into 3rd edition then 3.5 which were okay for the most part. But i will always love BECMI most of all.

[@lockstepsavior]

I never went to the red box, stuck with my purple box and my blue box (B and X) and my 1e DMG. But I barely count as anything these days, just playing solo.

[@rlbink2498]

Im a solo gamer, too - with rare exceptions when I convene and DM a group. I play BECMI rules using this very Rules Cyclopedia. Solo gamers are way more common than I once thought, and there are quite a number of good solo play channels out there.

[@m.a.packer5450]

I wish I had been introduced to this book way back when it came out. I was introduced through 3rd edition in 2000, and worked my way backwards when I played Icewind Dale (AD&D 2e-based system). After almost settling with AD&D 1e/OSRIC, I discovered Labyrinth Lord and played BECMI, only to discover Rules Cyclopedia by accident. I absolutely love this book, can't understand people's gripes with the layout as the editions that came later were far worse in terms of organization, at least until 5e came out, but that system never jived with me. Love how easy it is to create creatures for it and other additions of my own creation.

[@MalakyoftheOSR]

Excellent vid. I remeber getting this from my local Waldenbooks in the early 90s. Sadly, I had to get rid of it because of water damage. As for the opening about learning the game. I believe that the big black box with the dragon on it was meant to be the replacement to the Red Box. That was at least how I got started. As for the diversity part...I remember hearing about that what I returned to the hobby and I always pointed to this bookto refute yhose claims.

[@Dave_L]

The Rules Cyclopedia was actually preceded 6 months earlier by the New Easy to Master D&D Game boxed set, which is actually referred to on the back cover of the Rules Cyclopedia. The NETM box set went through multiple printings and was one of the best selling TSR boxed sets in the history of the company (according to TSR staff). Somewhat ironically, the Rules Cyclopedia on the other hand was very poorly received and did not sell well at all. In fact, in maintained a very poor reputation in the D&D community until maybe ten years ago or so, when everybody seemed to do an about-face and suddenly there was a rush to snatch up copies on the second hand market. It is really interesting to see the second wind that the RC has received in recent years!

[@CarlBrusse]

Leapt into the comments to point out this error as well: it had a new "black box" companion released to do what the red box used to. The 1994 box was a second attempt at that not a late catch-up (I'm curious to see DaveL say it sold well, that was not the info I saw)

[@Dave_L]

@@CarlBrusse Yes, but to be clear, I am referring to the Black Box (TSR product 1070), not the Classic D&D Game boxes that reprinted (and repackaged) it in 1994 and 1995 (I believe those were less successful and they were certainly less well-supported... TSR was contractually obligated to publish those boxes though and by the mid-90's it had run out of the money needed to really support a line of D&D products that was separate from the main AD&D line). The comment on the stunning success of the 1991 Black Box comes from Steve Winter (dev team lead in the late 80’s and early 90’s). The exact quote (from the 2004 WotC anniversary book "Thirty Years of Adventure") goes: "TSR put as much marketing push behind Ten-Seventy as it could muster when the game was published in 1991, and the payoff was tremendous. Distributors ordered what they thought would be a three-month supply and sold out in weeks. Ten-Seventy was one of the hottest products TSR ever produced, with something over a half a million copies sold worldwide. Hundreds of thousands of people who might never have tried D&D in anoher form, or who knew about it but were intimidated by the rules bulk, bought Ten-Seventy for themselves, as presents for friends and relatives, or even as a means of introducing reluctant friends to a game that they themselves were already playing. It was one of the great TSR success stories. Reflecting on that success, Troy explained that "the dragon cards were Lorraine's idea; what to put on them was my call. [Ten-Seventy] was the first time upper management and design really worked together on a project" with a clear, common goal, and the effort paid off with one of the biggest-selling RPG packages ever."

[@stillmattwest]

That's amazing to me. I've been singing the praises of the RC for something like 25 years and I'm sure I'm not the only one who was.

[@williammoore9794]

Great comment. I remember the NETM box was heavily advertised in Dragon Magazine at the time. They seemed very proud of the card system, where each rule was introduced. I don't know how successful it was at this as I learned from the 83 Red Box. But it looked as if it was a good product. Glad to hear it was a big seller, although slightly bittersweet as the line died not much later.

[@becmiberserker]

@@Dave_L I have to be honest, until recently I wasn’t even aware of this product. Do you know how well it did in the UK?

[@semajsivraj]

It is a great version of the game and certainly playable from 1st level to 36th level all in one book.

[@maxducoudray]

Nine minutes in, we get skills and I immediately prefer B/X.

[@becmiberserker]

Lol! I get it. Believe me.

[@Vasious8128]

I like to prune down the skills the distinct ones adventures might use but don't overlap class abilities and usually go with 2d12 if not proficient and 2d10 if Proficient rather than a 1d20 check vs the ability score.

[@johnscotto5045]

The AD&D Monster manual laid out and actually enumerated the possibility of monster spell casters or certain types of creatures, particularly orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, etc.

[@filkearney]

Great summary! I'm a big fan of nearly all editions, but BECMi / RC is far more thorough and broad-scoped than any following rule iterations. I lament the loss of purpose and world-engagement that is just simply built into the BECMI world now missing in modern editions.

[@beargenxgm]

Love your stuff man!... Now where's that Weapon Mastery deep dive? ;)

[@becmiberserker]

Ah, man. One day I’ll get to it. I promise. 🙂

[@megasquidd]

Great video. I have been eyeballing this on EBay for a while. I am having to hard time spotting an actual copy of the book as opposed to the PoD versions that people try to resell.

[@rogerr5485]

I have recently got a RC and I loved this video. But, please, could you do a video explaining more detailed the errata or failures of RC and how to deal with or fix it? Thanks a lot. Great work!

[@robtheeducator8230]

Best book ever

[@martinfiedler4317]

Had this book back in the late 90s. The thought, that the artwork shows a dragon never came into my mind. 🤯 Always assumed, this is some type of giant sea snake...😂

[@magnuscolable]

I've played pretty much every edition from Moldvay through to 5e and barring 2e's settings the rules cyclopedia was the best book I owned.

[@docnecrotic]

Considering attack ranks are much nicer for demihumans, part of me wants to trim higher level XP for demihumans... Just a little. Otherwise, you have humans near Immortality and halflings 4/7 of the way there if they're lucky. But, beyond that and doing nothing to change the Mystic, I love this book. Also, I am interested in your take on the Wrath of the Immortals rules (and not the awful adventures, just the revised Immortal ruleset.)

[@rollwight5228]

Great discussion about a great book, thank you. I love the RC to this day (although I have more nostalgia for the red box). The only issue nowadays, is the lack of VTT support for this book, if there was a way to play online, that would be fantastic. OSE doesn't have the scope and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of Mystara / gazeteer either.

[@becmiberserker]

Check out Foundry VTT and the Basic rules or OSE module packs. Good support.

[@dragonknight196]

Aaron Allston is one of the best rpg innovators to ever play and very little is said about him. Look at the original Strike Force book for Champions to know more about his inventive ability and innovation. The guy deserves more credit. Sadly, he died much too young and everybody seems to have forgotten him.

[@user-bf8ud9vt5b]

The black box, which was essentially largely similar as the 1994 set, was released in 1991 and was titled "The NEW easy to master Dungeon & Dragons Game." So, TSR didn't neglect beginners when it released the RC.

[@Nobleshield]

Even though most people seem to think B/X (Moldvay) is the superior rules for Basic D&D, I think the fact the RC has everything you could ever want out of a D&D campaign, including the stronghold rules (which often get overlooked despite being a "selling point" of the game IMHO), puts it ahead. It really is a complete game in a single book.

[@becmiberserker]

Couldn’t agree more.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

17:46 what an ogre mage- I’ve never seen one quite like it

[@russellharrell2747]

Beware the DM who describes his giant one-eyed wizard

[@engbama]

Another excellent video. Out of curiosity, does anyone know if the wider community ever created an updated presentation of the RC the way OSE did for B/X?

[@becmiberserker]

I think Dark Dungeons is close.

[@DanielNicolato-qs3wt]

29:29 Excellent review as always! About the e AD&D conversion appendix, I think it’s worth to note that it also supported conversion from AD&D to BECMI, including suggestions on converting some character types absent from “core” BECMI rules, like gnomes and class-race combinations. This was important, I think, because it was in a way against the misconception (that was nevertheless frequently repeated, even in official products) that D&D was merely a step towards AD&D - if it was so, then why would anyone want to convert “back”? So I see this chapter as supporting the view that the two game lines were both complete games, only geared towards slightly different play styles and with different ranges of supporting material - that could be converted and adapted as wished.

[@willmistretta]

Ah, yes. Proficiencies and general skills have much to answer for as the feats before feats. I never touch 'em. What I'd be most interested in seeing now that you've covered all the main real BECMI rulebooks is a similar deep dive into their modern "retroclone" iteration, Dark Dungeons. It's very under-discussed within its niche, I think.

[@EvilDoresh]

I love Dark Dungeons myself, but I think a large chunk of the OSR fanbase either only cares about the first couple letters of "BECMI" and/or demands an "authentic" retroclone, and Dark Dungeons takes some liberties here and there (level progression to 36 for everyone, Save progression smoothed out, different skills to avoid overlap with Thief abilities, a bit of overall streamlining here and there, adjusted monster fluff...).

[@williammoore9794]

Just thought of another possible advantage of skills in a BECMI/RC game. You can use them to create more sub-classes if you wish. Want a Ranger? Roll up a Fighter and give them some Wilderness and Animal Training skills. A Barbarian? Strength and Survival skills. I would agree with others about the work you need to do to make sure the skills system doesn't overpower the Thief. Changing it to a DC system with bonuses gets around a lot of that.

[@Agell]

RE: Skills - The skill system is meant to be worked with penalties and bonuses, as opposed to just DM fiat. The deception skill is a good application: convincing someone who doesn't like you is a -5 or even a -10 on the ability score target, nullifying high ability scores significantly.

[@PvtSchlock]

The page number require an opposed skill check to locate and read. For D&D I believe you are correct about this mechanic's appearance. I'd have to sift through the Gaz products and I have no Hollow World. I played a fair amount of Tunnels & Trolls and MSPE (Blade games) so I liked some of their mechanics for this area of the game. I think the DMG took some of the shock of finding nonhuman spellcasters in the RC. I love B/X and I was in the group that had indeed worn down my Moldvey books from use. The RC was a huge relief in this regard. Personally I loved 2nd Ed. Advanced while still loving B/X, so the crossover was just appealing as shit.

[@theDirtyLeprechaun]

I heard WotC is possibly going to put all older versions of dnd (BECMI included) on the creative commons license. Does anyone know if this is true?

[@DiceLifeJohnny]

a couple years back i actually photoshopped the errata into the PDF and had it printed into a book.

[@Jackalblade9]

I absolutely love this book, and you did a magnificent job reviewing it, sir. I have very mixed feelings about the skill system, and have no idea whether I'd use it or not if I were to run BECMI today. I was much in favor of the expanded level charts for demi-humans, personally, but much like you I was baffled at how the halflings were treated with their experience chart. Did someone just hate the little folk? There was barely a point in playing them over a dwarf or fighter in the first place. And artifacts were rather poorly revisited. However, the beauty of BECMI stands out here. I can rework those experience charts, flip a coin on skill usage and dig out my Master books for artifacts and not worry about upsetting any precarious balance baked into the mechanics. BECMI was intuitive rather than rigid and it was...is a game that encourages you to run it as best suits your table.

[@becmiberserker]

Exactly. You can bend it as much as you want and it doesn’t seem to break.

[@solomani5959]

“Yes, yes it is”. 💯

[@JustGimmeAFrakinName]

While I understand how "skills" (as a mechanical concept) may dilute roleplaying and may be "gamed", as an older player/DM, we ruled them as a specific kind of trained mastery. Other players can attempt the same feats, simply with lesser effects on completion or perhaps with greater difficulty, or both. Choosing Stealth as a skill would only put you on the same footing as a specific trained Class in that singular environment, while Deception... well, we all know that one guy who can spin a yarn about Coyodoodles and make it seem totally plausible, even if you remain skeptical. And that's how we played it back then.

[@stephenclements6158]

This is the one book I would take with me if stranded on an island. With this one book I could entertain myself forever, and probably convince myself I leveled up to Immortality. Good point on the representation in art topic, too. I stopped buying WotC products when I saw them slap the disclaimer on all their older products decrying every writer who came before now as a racist/sexist/bigot/homophobe. I know that none of those people were or wrote that way. They were the giants who built our fantasy world.

[@cabdav]

Re. stealth skill - the DM is advised in the basic DM's book and I think various other places to not over-use the dice. This is particularly relevant to thieves. If a DM is tempted to roll the dice every time a thief tries something, they're kind of missing the point. Game balance for thieves is best achieved by choosing how and when such rolls are needed. The same goes for stealth, which isn't really the same thing as hide in shadows or move silently. Ultimately this means that the thief abilities and the skill system are balanced by the DM and choice as to when to make rolls, and in that context the whole skills system builds well on the ethos of not over-using dice in telling the story of the game session.

[@firstlastname5332]

That is always how I played it. Move silently means just that, 'moving without making any noise at all' and stealth as just trying to be as quiet as possible.

[@Agell]

This is the correct way to play, and saves a lot of the headache around "nerfed thieves"

[@wilm3864]

The RC does have some nice art. I still prefer the art of the box set, but that is partially due to nostalgia from my childhood. I did not have the RC until about 6 months ago.

[@KabukiKid]

Aside from the Rules Cyclopedia missing the intro Bargle scenario, it is truly excellent. And I am not a big fan of skills in a class-based game, so that is a part of the rules I honestly don't like much, but they can be ignored... as with any D&D rule the DM doesn't choose to use... or to houserule. ;-)

[@stillmattwest]

I love my RC though. I still have my original copy. That said, the retro clone Dark Dungeons is a much better presentation. I learned a lot about BECMI from reading that game. It’s just so much better organized.

[@PixPunxel]

Best RPG book in existance

[@solarus2120]

I'd be interested in your takes on the other Basic boxes. The New Easy to Master Black Box, and Dragon Quest as the introduction/teaching boxes; and then the 3 Thunder Rift boxes, the Goblin, Dragon and Undead ones

[@becmiberserker]

I would love to, but I have never possessed or used any of them, which is unfortunate.

[@solarus2120]

That's a shame. And unfortunately I'm too attached to my copies the Black Box and Dragon Quest to part with them.