My Favorite D&D Version

The Rules Cyclopedia

I’ve been playing D&D on and off for about 30 years now, and in late 2024 I began moving all of the games that I run to a set of rules that are over 40 years old: the version of D&D known as BECMI. If you aren’t well versed in D&D history, you may not even be aware this version exists. Many younger players know only of the 5 (and a half) numbered versions of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (though even the word “Advanced” was dropped from the name with 3rd Edition).

So what is BECMI anyway?

Once upon a time, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson created a tabletop RPG known as Dungeons & Dragons. They released multiple books and supplements that collectively are known today as OD&D (Original D&D). While many new players discovered D&D at this time, it was written for gamers who were already experienced with tabletop wargaming.

A few years later, John Eric Holmes reorganized and rewrote these rules for gamers who were new to tabletop wargaming, in a book known as Basic Dungeons and Dragons, which was enough for characters up to level 3.

It was at this point that D&D was split into two separate lineages: Basic and Advanced. The idea was that Basic was for new players, who would then “graduate” to AD&D when their characters needed to move beyond level 3. AD&D (what would today be known as First Edition/1e) was a major revision and expansion of the rules that compiled many new rules gathered over the previous years in magazine publications.

However, Basic D&D remained incredibly popular, partly due to the attention it received after the James Dallas Egbert incident and the Satanic Panic. It received another revision in 1981 by Tom Moldvay, followed up by an expansion boxed set called “Expert D&D”, which provided rules for characters from levels 4-14 and new rules for wilderness exploration and creating strongholds. Today the Basic and Expert rulebooks of the very early 80s are known simply as “BX or B/X”.

Basic and Expert were revised and rewritten again by Frank Mentzer, and this time it would be expanded with three more boxed sets: Companion, Master and Immortal. BECMI is an acronym composed of the names of 5 boxed sets published for Basic D&D: Basic, Expert, Companion, Master and Immortal. This separate “lineage” of D&D ran parallel with AD&D (1e) and 2nd edition through the 80’s and mid 90’s. BECMI had rules for characters up to level 36, and beyond into Immortality.

But why not just play 5e (or “Fifther Edition”)? Or if I’m going old school, with the wealth of modern OSR games and retro-clones, why settle on BECMI? That’s what I intend to share here. It was a bit of a journey, however, and the best way to explain it is to tell an abbreviated story of how I arrived at BECMI.

From 2e to 5e

I started playing D&D in the early 90s with 2nd edition. To me, this was D&D for many years. I started out having a lot of fun as a player, but I knew during my very first session as a player, that some day I wanted to be a DM. I would eventually run the longest running campain of my teenage years, one that lasted somewhere around 4 years. Various friends and their characters would come and go. In hindsight, it wasn’t a great campaign, and it was a mashup of all my favorite fantasy books, stories and even video game inspirations. But like so many players first getting into the hobby, none of us seemed to care, and we made lots of great memories.

Then college happened, followed by adulthood and even fatherhood. Due to various such reasons, I barely played 3e or Pathfinder, and completely missed 4e. But in 2014, my wife decided it was time I got back into the game and started me on 5e.

It was really fun learning a new edition, and for a time I thought I preferred it to 2e. I and my players had a great time, and without question the biggest difficulty was keeping groups together for more than a month. I was building a decent little setting and having lots of fun like I used to.

But in time, I started to burn out a little. Part of this was because I was creating Plots instead of Situations, which had some negative side-effects, but other reasons were related to 5e itself.

• Complexity: D&D got a lot more crunchy with 3e and 5e, and as a DM, I often struggled to remember everything, especially all of the character class options and abilities. Sessions often slowed down because I and the players were looking things up in books. It looked like a table full of people doing their taxes. It takes hours to create a character, even longer if they are a magic user, which most classes are any more. If players are new, the process takes even longer.

• Character Power: It seemed like characters were never truly challenged. No characters ever died, and once they hit 3rd and especially 5th level, they were nigh unstoppable. My primary gaming group is pretty experienced, so nothing was ever a threat. The characters were superheroes capable of dealing large damage, so I always had to modify encounters to make them more interesting. Players also got used to never being at a disadvantage to an antagonist, so there was never an opportunity for them to be captured, imprisoned, forced to give up a macguffin, etc. They always had a way out, to a point where they got frustrated if they were at any sort of disadvantage.

• Easy Survival: short and long rests, healing spells, high hit points and death saves means that death is far less likely, and for experienced players, almost impossible. The tension is nearly gone from the game.

• Kill Everything: This also led to every encounter being seen as a fight to the death that is almost a guaranteed victory. And since 5e experience is gained through killing monsters, the motivation is to destroy everything. No negotiations, bargaining, bluffing, or fleeing.

Meanwhile, I was still playing 2e, but this time with a completely new group of friends that my wife and I had met in early 2020. They had been playing 1e/2e for decades and had simply never stopped. It felt good playing 2e again, and I was right at home. I even ran 5e games for this same group, though two of them eventually stopped, specifically stating that 5e just wasn’t their thing.

It took me a year or so, but I finally came to the same realization, and I simply stopped being DM. I felt burned out, tired of trying to write good plots that would entertain the players, tired of contriving reasons for the players to stay on the rails of the adventure module (I’ve since learned that Tyrrany of the Dragons is considered to be the worst offender in this respect). D&D just wasn’t the same for me, and I needed time away from it.

From 5e to Knave

In early 2023, almost by accident, I discovered the OSR (Old School Renaissance) movement, its games and its play style. There is a lot of conversation out there these days about what OSR is, or what it means, but regardless of how one defines it, discovering the OSR was a pivotal moment for me. I realized that I was not alone in my experience with 5e, and my feeling of burnout. Others had noticed the same things I did about the 5e rules, adventure modules and the way many players approach the game. Through the OSR, I rediscovered what made my earliest adventures in 2e so much fun, and that 5e was not an improvement, but rather a sideways movement into something that just didn’t work as well for me, even if it worked fine for others.

In the OSR, I found people who were still playing classic versions of D&D, and a variety of retro clones like OSRIC, Basic Fantasy RPG, Old School Essentials, and Swords and Wizardry. I also found new games that set out to evoke the feel of older ones, and bring new ideas, including a number of “rules light” systems. I found Into the Odd, Mausritter, Mork Borg, Cairn, Maze Rats, and Knave.

I ran my games with Knave rules for about 2 years, because I liked the rules light system, the simplicity of magic, easy encumbrance tracking and its relative compatibility with classic TSR adventure modules, like Keep on the Borderlands.

Knave Results

The results were quite positive. The players were a mix of very experienced (the ones that played AD&D 2e for decades) and some entirely new to TTRPGs altogether. Experienced players enjoyed not needing to have reference books at the table, and new players appreciated how easy it was to get started. There was definitely been an increase in creative problem solving and true role playing. Players were engaging with the game world, rather than the character sheet, inventing clever ways of turning the tide of a difficult encounter in their favor.

My DM style also changed for the better. Instead of writing plots, I design conflicts and situations. I’ve become used to “rulings not rules”, and refereeing situations on the fly. I prepare each session so that I don’t need to refer to any books, and everything I need is on just a few sheets of paper. The pace of the adventures is much faster, and we get through a satisfying amount each session.

That said, some things had not gone as well as I had hoped.

The players spent far too much time on inventory management. The limited number of item slots has resulted in 10 minute long discussions among the players about how to distribute gold and items, or what to drop and leave behind. It looked tedious from behind the DM screen, and it took much more time than I’d have liked.

The classless system was also not ideal. Some players, namely the experienced ones, were able to work within the rules to create focused characters based on established archetypes or imaginative ones that were outside the box. But too many players didn’t seem to know what to do with their characters, as if removing boundaries made it difficult to find their place.

I also kept adding house rules, such as for memorizing spells, or being able to tattoo them on your skin to avoid using item slots. I added a simplified Weapon Mastery system, based on the one I found in the Rules Cyclopedia, just because it was so much fun, and the players really like it.

Overall, the results were positive, but it would be the Rules Cyclopedia that played a major role in what happened next.

From Knave to BECMI

In April of 2024, something wonderful happened. My local hobby shop acquired a large collection of classic D&D source books and adventure modules. It was mostly AD&D, B/X, BECMI and a little bit of 2e. This happened at exactly the time I started looking to buy some classic adventure modules to add to my small collection. The store owner gave me and a couple of others a sort of “first dibs” on these books, so for a few months I had the pick of the litter.

One day I noticed a copy of the Rules Cyclopedia in excellent condition. I was a little hazy on what exactly it was, as I was mostly familiar with the AD&D line. But I looked it up on my phone while I was in the store, and immediately knew I had to get it.

The Rules Cyclopedia is a compilation, revision and reorganization of all the rulebooks found in the Basic, Expert, Companion and Master boxed sets released between 1983 and 1986. It does have rules on becoming Immortal, but leaves out the details on playing as one.

I still remember my feeling of amazement while reading through the RC the evening I bought it. I couldn’t get over just how much was available in this single book. Rules for DMs and players, characters all the way up to Level 36(!!), spell lists, a bestiary, the Weapon Mastery and Skills systems, all the rules for wilderness exploration, building stronholds, dominion play, mass combat, and paths to immortality. It even discussed The Known World setting, later to be known as Mystara, and included several maps.

This was easily the most complete single D&D book I had ever seen, and I quickly became enamored with its simple, yet familiar core rules, and fascinated by those designed for higher level play.

I pitched the idea of switching to my main gaming group and everyone was on board. It was relatively easy to move Knave2e characters to BECMI, and we’ve been playing it for about 8 months now. Things have gone quite well and we’re having a blast.

Why I Like BECMI

Once I took the plunge and started running BECMI games, I quickly took a shine to it. What started as a tentative experiment has grown to become my favorite version of D&D, and for a number of reasons.

It’s Classic D&D

First of all, BECMI is true, classic Dungeons and Dragons. Anyone who has played First or Second edition would adjust very quickly. You get XP for treasure, the same saving throws, skill checks and ability checks, the same monster stat blocks (though with different numbers) and the mechanics overlap quite a bit. Overall, it feels a great deal like 2e did, and indeed, it seems 2e perhaps looked to BECMI for some of the changes it adopted, such as Nonweapon Proficiencies.

I find that the rules promote streamlined gameplay, faster combat and a greater emphasis on roleplay. While I enjoy rules light games such as Knave, I think that BX and BECMI both strike an excellent balance, where there are enough rules to make things interesting, but not in ways that slow down the game.

Returning to Character Classes

After playing Knave for a couple years, it was nice to go back to character classes. The newer players were able to get a better picture of who their characters are, their motivations and how to roleplay them.

This seems like a good place to address a common criticism of BX and BECMI: races are classes. You do not choose race, then class when creating a character. For anyone not familiar with this bit, BECMI elves, dwarves and halflings are classes unto themselves. This means you cannot create an Elf Cleric, a Dwarven Magic User or Halfling Ranger. Elves are basically fighter/mages that level up a bit more slowly, Dwarves are fighters with better saving throws, and Halflings are like fighter/thieves with the best saving throws in the game. The rest of the classes are assumed to be human.

However, if you explore supplements outside the Rules Cyclopedia or the BECMI boxed sets, you find rules for creating a variety of character types that blur some of these lines, such as Dwarven Clerics in the Dwarves of Rockhome Gazetteer. BECMI provides dozens of other playable races if that’s your thing. Even more than 5.5e, if you can believe that.

For that matter, I also don’t oppose the use of character classes from modern retro clones, such as those found in Old School Essentials, and even blog articles written by former TSR employees, such as Bruce Heard. After all, what’s D&D without house rules and exceptions?

All that said, I think “race as class” has its charm, and somehow fits the BECMI line, and even its default setting, Mystara, which leads me to the next thing I love about BECMI.

The Mystara Setting

When you think D&D settings, what comes to mind first? Probably Faerun/Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dark Sun, Ravenloft and Dragonlance. I know those would have been the ones I thought of if someone had asked me two or three years ago.

But did you know that BECMI has its very own setting called Mystara? And that it is one of the most detailed and extensive settings ever made for D&D? The Mystara setting had incredible support from TSR in the latter half of the 80s, with numerous supplements and books released for it, including:

• 14 Gazetteers - each detailing a particular part of The Known World, usually a nation/province such as Karameikos, Glantri, Alfheim, or The Northern Reaches. Most were 96 pages, had information for both DMs and Players, and included hex maps of the region, information on the area’s history, peoples, culture, traditions, cities, tribes and landmarks, how to create characters from the region, and adventure ideas (some of which are fairly detailed).
• The Hollow World - there’s a primary source book and multiple adventure modules that provide additional details on The Hollow World, the unique world that exists on the inner surface of Mystara’s hollow interior.
• 4 Creature Crucibles - these are source books on various types of creatures in Mystara, including creating playable versions of them:
  • Tall Tales of the Wee Folk - Faeries and woodland creatures
  • Top Ballista - Gnomes, and their flying city
  • The Sea People - The undersea realm and peoples of the Sea of Dread, including aquatic elves, merfolk and tritons
  • Night Howlers - Everything you wanted to know about lycanthropes
• Adventure Modules - Many of the BECMI adventure modules add more detail, lore and information as they take place in the Mystara setting

I’ll have a lot more to say about Mystara in future articles, but needless to say, the setting is one of the best things about BECMI, and I feel like the two dovetail nicely.

Options for High Levels

BECMI is anything but Basic. In some ways it’s more Advanced than AD&D, just in different ways.

My take is that AD&D adds numerous smaller rules and tables that cover many different scenarios, likely intended to level the playing field for tournaments. The 1e DMG is loaded with tables, percentages, calculations and minutiae. It leaves few stones unturned in terms of dungeon crawling, combat, building strongholds and some wilderness exploration.

BECMI takes a different route. It is less concerned with this minutiae, and focuses its additional rules on expanding the game as player characters grow in level. It’s the “CMI” in BECMI.

• Basic (Level 1-3) - dungeon crawling, essential combat and roleplaying
• Expert (Level 4-14) - wilderness exploration and survival, hex-crawling, building a stronghold and establishing a name for yourself
• Companion (Level 15-25) - dominion gameplay, ruling over lands, rules for mass combat (The War Machine rules)
• Master (Level 26-36) - becoming true world movers, extraplanar travel, and rules for the Path to Immortality
• Immmortal - rules for actually playing as an Immortal, a demi-god like character who can rule over entire planes of existence

Some fans, such as Youtuber BECMI Berserker, argue that this makes BECMI “The most complete Dungeons and Dragons”, as it covers the entire lifetime and beyond of a player character, as they move from intrepid adventurers clearing dungeons, to local heroes with a reputation, to rulers of dominions, shapers and movers of nations, and finally immortal beings.

I think this is an excellent approach that has the potential to keep the game fresh and interesting, even as characters attain higher levels. Instead of steamrolling through dungeon crawls, or simply encountering ever more difficult monsters, higher level characters have opportunities to have adventures that span larger parts of the world and even the cosmos. The best part is, you can take it as far as you like. If you aren’t interested in the larger scale gameplay, you can always continue with wilderness exploration, dungeon crawling, or even simply retire your character to make room for new generations of adventurers.

A Note on House Rules

I should mention that I don’t play BECMI “rules as written”. I diverge in a number of ways, including:

• Using some character classes from Old School Essentials, such as Ranger, Bard, Paladin and Druid
• Using Bruce Heard’s alternate spell progressions, thief skills and other class adjustments made after 30+ years of hindsight (Bruce Heard was the project lead for all things Mystara and other BECMI resources)
• I allow spells from other sources, such as OSR spell lists, 1e and 2e resources
• I use monsters from other sources, such as the Monster Overhaul, 1e Monster Manuals and 2e Monstrous Manual

Conclusion

The best version of D&D is the one you’re having fun with. But my new favorite has to be BECMI. The rules are light enough that we rarely have to consult books at the table, while still remaining classic D&D.

Obviously, all of the source books I’ve mentioned are out of print, so you won’t be finding them on any store shelves. You can always opt for Print-On-Demand books from Drivethru RPG, or if you’re ok with it, just obtain the PDFs. Another great option is to simply pick up Old School Essentials, which is based on Basic and Expert play.

Thanks for reading!