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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12093 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Jan 2021 : 15:21:04
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I'm just curious, as I've been posting over at the Piazza Forums a little bit, so I see a different crowd there. One thing I was noting was people using the term BECMI quite a bit, and I was like WTF is that? So, it's the old basic, expert, companion, masters, immortal boxes that were primarily in Mystara. I personally never did anything past the expert set (I bought the companion one and read it, but it was around then that I was discovering AD&D instead). I was just curious, because its been well over 30 years since I ever touched any of that (probably around 1983/1984), does anyone know anyone still using those rules? Lore wise the world of Mystara has some interesting bits and has a lot of things where you could intermix that world and FR, but the rulesets are entirely different (that being said, it would be pretty easy to convert things I believe since you're going from simpler to more complex). It also looks like there may even be several easter eggs linking the two worlds, but that's a topic for another day.
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Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2021 : 17:23:08
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Most people I've ever met went straight to AD&D. Basic D&D was just too thin and generic.
Mystara never really caught on. Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance were far richer settings. Though some of the Mystara supplements (like the Savage Coast and the Orcs of Thar) seemed popular - and also happened to fit quite nicely into certain corners of the Realms.
Some of the Immortal Rulebooks contained interesting stuff. Some of the BD&D Cyclopedias were actually better than their AD&D counterparts.
I doubt many people play the game. Those who are interested in "simplified" rules probably go with OSRIC or with D&D 4E. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36910 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2021 : 17:30:29
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quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
Mystara never really caught on. Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance were far richer settings. Though some of the Mystara supplements (like the Savage Coast and the Orcs of Thar) seemed popular - and also happened to fit quite nicely into certain corners of the Realms.
I made a point of picking up Orcs of Thar, thinking it could be mined for the Thar in the Realms. I never got far into reading it, though, after flipping through it.
Here's why:
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I recently got my hands on the Known World supplement Orcs of Thar, and there are names in there that make me cringe far more than Bistro Battenrooj or The Thunkers of the Thunkers...
See if you can guess which humanoid peoples live in each of these areas: High Gobliny, Bugburbia, Kol, Trollhattan, and Gnollistan. Go on, guess! 
I do have pdfs of the GAZ series -- there was some sort of bundle deal on them a while back, and I jumped on it. |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2021 : 18:13:54
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quote:
See if you can guess which humanoid peoples live in each of these areas: High Gobliny, Bugburbia, Kol, Trollhattan, and Gnollistan. Go on, guess!
Those are some fine place names! Too bad they missed their chance with Trollford, Kobolton, Grassy Gnoll, and New Orc. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4216 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2021 : 18:54:31
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There are indeed many that play BECMI. There is a large crowd at Dragonsfoot.
I used to play it a lot, even after I got hooked into AD&D. I still have much of the material as well. One of my all time favorite characters in fact was an Elf that had started to progress beyond 10th level who was from Karameikos but adventured a great deal in the Emirates. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6680 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2021 : 00:45:22
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Yes, that "jokey" trope that ran through 2E was so cringeworthy. I can't believe that editors and designers churned out this dross. It happened in every game world, and you could always tell who was writing for a pay check and who was writing out of passion.
-- George Krashos |
"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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The Arcanamach
Master of Realmslore
1883 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2021 : 01:44:12
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| I have all the BECMI material but haven't played it in decades. Despite the odd naming conventions the material can be mined for ideas. Case in point: The Five Shires is an excellent read. Want interesting magic ideas? The Principalities of Glantri will do for you. Some of the modules from the system are absolute classics now as well. |
I have a dream that one day, all game worlds will exist as one. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12093 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2021 : 15:47:29
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
Mystara never really caught on. Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance were far richer settings. Though some of the Mystara supplements (like the Savage Coast and the Orcs of Thar) seemed popular - and also happened to fit quite nicely into certain corners of the Realms.
I made a point of picking up Orcs of Thar, thinking it could be mined for the Thar in the Realms. I never got far into reading it, though, after flipping through it.
Here's why:
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I recently got my hands on the Known World supplement Orcs of Thar, and there are names in there that make me cringe far more than Bistro Battenrooj or The Thunkers of the Thunkers...
See if you can guess which humanoid peoples live in each of these areas: High Gobliny, Bugburbia, Kol, Trollhattan, and Gnollistan. Go on, guess!
I do have pdfs of the GAZ series -- there was some sort of bundle deal on them a while back, and I jumped on it.
Weren't Bistro Batenrooj and the Thunkers of the Thunkers from Bloodstone Lands? |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36910 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2021 : 16:28:26
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Weren't Bistro Batenrooj and the Thunkers of the Thunkers from Bloodstone Lands?
Indeed. It was in a discussion about Vaasa, Damara, and Narfell, and RAS's naming conventions got mentioned.
Though I've always excluded that particular reference from discussions of RAS-created names. I know that Dagnabbit and Cordio Muffinhead are names he came up with -- I don't know enough about the original Bloodstone material to know if RAS generated those names or if he was just including things from the original quartet of modules.
Bistro Batenrooj, in particular, could have been a player-created name. We've all known someone (or even been that person) who was not good at creating names for fantasy characters, or who liked jokey names. My previous gaming group, it was a tradition for there to be a donkey as a pack animal, and the donkey was always named Hotay (pronounced Hoe-Tay). Why? Say it out loud: donkey Hotay.
And a player that may or may not have fallen out of my current group named his svirfneblin character Thrall. No idea why he picked that one.
Given that 2E did have some really silly stuff, and that this particular supplement was based on modules and thus could have included player-created names, I don't know the original source of those names. The Thunkers of the Thunkers I could almost let slide, especially compared to Bistro Battenrooj (which I didn't even catch, the first time I read it) -- but those are still not as painful as Bugburbia and Gnollistan. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Seethyr
Master of Realmslore
USA
1253 Posts |
Posted - 08 Feb 2021 : 16:51:43
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Silly names were a trope of the 80s for certain. It was everywhere. I don't pay it much mind unless it persists to this day, which as much as I love his work, RA still goes to once in a while. Even Thibbledorf has me groaning a bit. I try to get friends into D&D and have to hide those indiscretions.
If you think D&D is bad though, try being a Marvel fan since the 80s. Some hero names are abominable.
As a side note - so much of what is still being written stems from those days. Most recently the Teeth of Dahlver Nar in Tasha's and the Magen in Rime. I know some folks that are annoyed that magen came to the realms. |
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Edited by - Seethyr on 08 Feb 2021 16:53:11 |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12093 Posts |
Posted - 08 Feb 2021 : 18:04:00
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quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
Silly names were a trope of the 80s for certain. It was everywhere. I don't pay it much mind unless it persists to this day, which as much as I love his work, RA still goes to once in a while. Even Thibbledorf has me groaning a bit. I try to get friends into D&D and have to hide those indiscretions.
If you think D&D is bad though, try being a Marvel fan since the 80s. Some hero names are abominable.
As a side note - so much of what is still being written stems from those days. Most recently the Teeth of Dahlver Nar in Tasha's and the Magen in Rime. I know some folks that are annoyed that magen came to the realms.
I thought the teeth of Dahlver Nar was something created in the 3e tome of magic. It predates that?
Just curious, what's the complaint on magen coming to the realms? Just stealing of ideas from Mystara? Or people have another reason to complain?
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Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 08 Feb 2021 18:05:04 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36910 Posts |
Posted - 09 Feb 2021 : 10:20:00
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
I thought the teeth of Dahlver Nar was something created in the 3e tome of magic. It predates that?
They go back to the 1E DMG, I know that. Maybe earlier. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12093 Posts |
Posted - 09 Feb 2021 : 13:04:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
I thought the teeth of Dahlver Nar was something created in the 3e tome of magic. It predates that?
They go back to the 1E DMG, I know that. Maybe earlier.
Oh wow, you are right, I guess they never stuck in my head as anything special until I saw them in ToM. Apparently back then they were relics of a cleric's body. I very much like them more as they were introduced in ToM as relics more of some binder/occultist.
As an aside for a second. I really did like the concepts of the binder, but the mechanics were what needed work. It was so "divided" into power levels much more than it should have been (which was only realized after tinkering with the rules). Instead of the 9 degrees of vestiges, they should have been more like 3 power levels for vestiges (lesser, moderate, and greater). That way they might stick to a specific vestige for much longer at the low levels, and when they get to a point where they can do multiple vestiges perhaps they can only initially do two lesser and then a lesser and a moderate. Then grow the ability by making it two lessers and a moderate, then two moderates and a lesser, then a greater/moderate/lesser, then greater/moderate/moderate/lesser, then greater/greater/moderate/lesser, etc... That way someone starts off with a character using some minor vestige and they can incorporate its personality with their roleplaying, and if they decide later on they do want to swap him for another lesser vestige they can, but they shouldn't feel they have to or they aren't optimized. Granted, the concept of the binder is that they will be using different vestiges based on the need, but in practicality I don't think many players enjoyed that. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Just curious BECMI - know people still playing it?
