#BECMI

[oldschoolfrp]

Special characters, the bad guys -- Zarak the Half-Orc Assassin Thief, Raven the Cleric, Kelek the Magic-User, Zargash the Cleric, Skylla the Magic-User, Fox Fingers the Thief, and Warduke the Fighter (D&D/AD&D toy characters by Tim Truman, Jeff Easley, and Larry Elmore, statted as NPCs in AC1: The Shady Dragon Inn by Carl Smith, TSR, 1983) Since this book gives only BECMI D&D stats it does not use AD&D classes, thus Zarak is described as an assassin but has standard thief abilities.

[vintagerpg]

Tarrasque? Pfft, that’s nothing. This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we’re looking at CM4: Earthshaker (1985), the BECMI module that pits players against a 1,280-foot-tall robot run by an entire clan of gnomes. Well, not exactly, the gnomes run the robot as a tourist attraction, the players have to deal with the evil NPCs who try to hijack the robot. And they better win, because, well, the tarrasque is just 50 feet tall.

[dndhistory]

504. Tom Moldvay - M3: Twilight Calling (1986)

In 1986 we seem to be getting some names that we hadn't heard from in a long time... Tom Moldvay had been kind of removed from module creation since 1982's The Lost City but he is back now with a Master Set module for D&D, a rare thing in itself. Might the return of these names have something to do with the rearrangement of people in TSR? The fact that Arneson published his Blackmoore module this year is definitely a result of Gygax having left the company (they weren't best buds, let's say), but its interesting to see some other names showing up again. 

So, this is one of the few Master modules, as I've mentioned, and they seem to kind of work together with previous modules as a campaign. Here Alphaks returns to mess with the party. This time players have to enter the plane of nightmares to get to Carnifex castle but not before retrieving seven keys from seven pocket universes.

The pocket universes do give some variety to the gameplay as the fight against Alphaks, the clear nemesis of Master level players, continues his nefarious plans.  

[dndprofessor]

[solofighterblog]

More of Hroarr's adventures are coming soon. This is just a quick note I'd like to share.

A lot of my inspiration for a Norse-themed Ironsworn campaign came from The Northern Reaches, a gazeteer written by Ken Rolston, published by TSR in 1988 for the Basic Dungeons & Dragons game. This is a photo of my copy of the gazeteer that I've had since the early 1990s.

[vixensdungeon]

(I'm not including the Denning and Stewart versions because they're basically just BECMI in new packaging)

[1-50thofabuck]

I wrote up a character background for a BECMI Mystara game I'm joining tomorrow. I recently suspended a 7-8 year campaign in Mystara I was running using heavily modified(homebrewed) 2nd Edition AD&D rules. I'm looking forward not only to getting to play in Mystara myself, but getting to play BECMI again, in particular, getting to use my POD R͟u͟l͟e͟s͟ C͟y͟c͟l͟o͟p͟e͟d͟i͟a͟!

The character, Zolfatara, is related to one of my favorite characters in another game, a homebrew system called I͟g͟n͟o͟t͟a. The character in that system in named Kratr. This is the "Red Sonya" to my "Conan," not that either character is modeled on either of those two. The background was only supposed to be a few paragraphs but I got carried away!

Art is not mine and is being used for a personal game only. The oc tag only reflects the story and personality. Art is for reference.

[foobaryoyodyne]

[adventuresandshopping]

Dungeons & Dragons Cyclopedia, 1991, TSR - PDF and Print

" Whether you're a player or a Dungeon Master, the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia is now the comprehensive sourcebook you need for the original fantasy roleplaying game! For ages 12 and up, the Cyclopedia contains the compete game system and hundreds of features, including the following:

All the rules from the D&D boxed set series, including Basic, Expert, Companion, and Masters

Guidelines to develop and play characters from levels 1-36

Comprehensive lists of weaponry and equipment

Expansion rules including optional skills and talents

An overview of the Known World and the HOLLOW WORLD game setting, the official D&D campaign world; and Rules to convert D&D games and characters into AD&D 2nd edition game statistics and back again "

[black-hedron]

How can anyone not love this?

[downtobaker]

Dungeons & Dragons, eroi e draghi che non muoiono mai

di Vanni Santoni (articolo apparso in origine sul Corriere della Sera del 24 ottobre 2024) L’illustrazione di Alberto Dal Lago per l’album di figurine Panini da collezione che si rifà a quella storica di Larry Elmore Dungeons & Dragons compie mezzo secolo e Lucca Comics & Games — ma potremmo dire: il mondo — lo celebra. Non solo perché ha cambiato per sempre il mondo dei giochi e…

[oldschoolfrp]

Flight to the Star Kingdoms -- The party commands a fleet of ships at sea, passing through a magical storm into a void between worlds (Valerie Valusek, D&D module M1: Into the Maelstrom, TSR, 1985)

[lord-soth-dk]

Based

[dndhistory]

522. Robert J. Blake - IM2: The Wrath of Olympus (1987)

The second in the small run of little played Immortal level BECMI adventure modules, for characters that are so high-level and godlike that you need a whole new game system to deal with them, Wrath of Olympus is often considered one of the best in the run of only three IM modules covering character that have, in fact, transcended the idea of levels.

What makes this better than IM1: Immortal Storm? For one, the fact that the planes make more sense in this module than they did in the previous one. Also we get some old fashioned combat in this module as some of the immortal powers get cancelled. 

The story as a whole makes you take on the guise of mortals as you try to retrieve the necessary components for an artifact which might save the prime plane by saving the immortals which have been imprisoned by the demons of entropy. By the time anyone is playing Immortal level rules the old D&D is pretty much out the window, and depending on who you are this might be a good or bad thing. I find it interesting but not very compelling, but then I was never that much into "cosmic storytelling" not even in comics like Marvel, so you know... your mileage may vary. 

[shaneplays]

Released in 1987, GAZ 1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos was the first in a series of fourteen Gazetteer (GAZ) supplements from TSR for Basic (BECMI) D&D that detailed the world of Mystara, previously called "The Known World." Each entry provided more information on the setting but there was no metaplot or advancing timeline. And that's a grand entry… on THAC0 Thursday!!

[jeffs-gamebox]

TTRPG Done Well.

Remembering Dungeons & Dragons back when I first started. It had a simple formula both in its play style and creative concept. A small, simple team of guys made a beautiful product in a box.

Yesterday I said we would explore a successful TTRPG and look at how it is built. Way back in 1983 I had this red box that came with a full set of six dice and two fairly thin books. The game was called Dungeons & Dragons, and the box was the first in a series referred to as the BECMI edition. (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal.) This game is where a lot of us first fell in love with…