D&D Basic Set (1983) [+]
Aug 05 2024
Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1983) is part of the BECMI series where, for the first time, D&D eventually had rules that got characters from levels 15 to 36 and to being demi-gods.
The boxed set (from what I remember) is two rules books and plastic dice. The Player's Manual starts with a tutorial section and even has a small solo adventure and that's the first 22 of 64 pages. Character classes -- 4 human and 3 demi-human -- is another 30 pages.Th rest is advice about group play and some more advanced rules (e.g. weapon damage is 1d6 and advanced is variable so that small weapons do less damage than large weapons).
Dungeon Masters book is 52 pages which starts with an intro dungeon with level one described out and that's about 10 pages. About 10 pages of rules situations advice like how to handle certain spells or how to do timekeeping. About 20 pages of monster descriptions, some fairly high level and you have to have dragons as a possible monster. About 5 pages of treasures and another 5 pages on dungeon design.
When I was 10 or so and read this as my first RPG it was a great introduction. I think it's still a good introduction although I do miss not having a real adventure module included (previous editions had one rulebook and one module). The one level of dungeon in this set is good enough for a session or so but B2 Keep on the Borderlands has lots of intro advice and enough material for a few sessions of play.
Overall I still think this is a good introductory RPG especially for D&D-like play (which I guess is obvious but there are a lot of OSR RPGs nowadays that try to do Basic Set better).
The boxed set (from what I remember) is two rules books and plastic dice. The Player's Manual starts with a tutorial section and even has a small solo adventure and that's the first 22 of 64 pages. Character classes -- 4 human and 3 demi-human -- is another 30 pages.Th rest is advice about group play and some more advanced rules (e.g. weapon damage is 1d6 and advanced is variable so that small weapons do less damage than large weapons).
Dungeon Masters book is 52 pages which starts with an intro dungeon with level one described out and that's about 10 pages. About 10 pages of rules situations advice like how to handle certain spells or how to do timekeeping. About 20 pages of monster descriptions, some fairly high level and you have to have dragons as a possible monster. About 5 pages of treasures and another 5 pages on dungeon design.
When I was 10 or so and read this as my first RPG it was a great introduction. I think it's still a good introduction although I do miss not having a real adventure module included (previous editions had one rulebook and one module). The one level of dungeon in this set is good enough for a session or so but B2 Keep on the Borderlands has lots of intro advice and enough material for a few sessions of play.
Overall I still think this is a good introductory RPG especially for D&D-like play (which I guess is obvious but there are a lot of OSR RPGs nowadays that try to do Basic Set better).