BECMI pronunciation?

JRR · January 20, 2025, 01:27:50 PM

Do you also say "Fro-drick?"

Venka · January 20, 2025, 02:52:24 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 19, 2025, 02:18:00 AMI spell it out. But I usually refer to it as Basic D&D.

1977 Basic, 1981 Basic? B/X and BECMI are different enough things, and saying "Basic D&D" doesn't even really specify what OP is talking about, as the ECMI that OP refers to goes way beyond any of the level or adventure range that any basic version gets to.

Ratman_tf · January 20, 2025, 05:02:47 PM

Quote from: Venka on January 20, 2025, 02:52:24 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 19, 2025, 02:18:00 AMI spell it out. But I usually refer to it as Basic D&D.

1977 Basic, 1981 Basic? B/X and BECMI are different enough things, and saying "Basic D&D" doesn't even really specify what OP is talking about, as the ECMI that OP refers to goes way beyond any of the level or adventure range that any basic version gets to.

Any D&D after "white box" but before 2nd edition that wasn't AD&D. All of the D&D's in that time frame were pretty indistinguishable, just adding more rules as the ECMI went along.
Until you get into Immortals which I think was such a dramatic departure that it's no longer D&D and becomes some kind of god simulator. But it's in the acryonym because it's technically part of the line.

Joey2k · January 20, 2025, 09:05:35 PM

Quote from: weirdguy564 on January 19, 2025, 02:17:32 PMPeople call it Beck-me, or Basic Edition, Moldvay-Cook for the two authors, or just Basic Expert.

They're all synonyms.

Not the same game, or at least not the same version Moldvay-Cook is BX. BECMI is Mentzer

Venka · January 20, 2025, 09:16:17 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 20, 2025, 05:02:47 PMAll of the D&D's in that time frame were pretty indistinguishable, just adding more rules as the ECMI went along.

But we aren't in that time frame anymore, and B/X and BECMI (or any subset of BECMI, even just the BE) are quite distinguishable these days. There was a relatively tiny time window when "basic" referring to multiple rulesets at once was a good enough distinguisher, and we are well past it now.

ForgottenF · January 20, 2025, 09:56:13 PM

Quote from: Venka on January 20, 2025, 09:16:17 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on January 20, 2025, 05:02:47 PMAll of the D&D's in that time frame were pretty indistinguishable, just adding more rules as the ECMI went along.

But we aren't in that time frame anymore, and B/X and BECMI (or any subset of BECMI, even just the BE) are quite distinguishable these days. There was a relatively tiny time window when "basic" referring to multiple rulesets at once was a good enough distinguisher, and we are well past it now.

I find that "Basic D&D" is a useful appellation when talking about OSR games, particularly for someone like me who isn't intimate with the differences between B/X and BE (The CMI part is easier to spot). If you're talking to someone about an OSR game they haven't played, or trying to compare two OSR games, the distinction between a game based on some version of Basic and a game based on Advanced is very useful. The distinction between which version of Basic it starts from is less useful.

BECMI pronunciation?

JRR

Venka

Ratman_tf

Joey2k

Venka

ForgottenF