The 1981 Red Box rules are now up on the web as an SRD (can't put the link up but research Old School Essentials), which will save all your players the trouble of ponying up cash for retroclone PDFs or hunting down antique rulebooks on ebay while they also search for facemasks and han-san.

Thanks

So, .... I was thinking my best games here have been with very fixed rules and less rolling. This seems to keep combat moving, and interest seems to be higher.

When you use a spell one roll it works it happens and move forward.
When you attack one roll to hit or miss you post and move forward

ETC etc, .... and so on.

example on what fix damage could look like

dagger 2
short sword 3
long sword 4
two handled 5
standard arrow 3
hand ax 3
mace 3
pole arm 5

If you want ultra-lite rules check out Into The Odd. You only have three stats for STR DEX and INT. Damage is done on a die roll but hits are considered automatic. But hit points are more like a buffer in this game because damage beyond hit points only causes unconsciousness and lowers the STR score, and hit points are regained quickly after combat. Sort of like boxers running to the corners and getting a sip of water before running back in the next round.

A pity.  Killing Bargle has been a lifelong goal of mine. Every time someone runs a Red Box or Cyclopedia game, it is the one thing on the top of my bucket list. That magic-user has to die.

Anyway, Im not sure static damage will speed combat up any. What really messes it up is waiting for initiative order. My advice would be to let any player post on their turn, that way you could get through 3 or 4 rounds in a week. Possibly.

Hmm... not sure this will make any difference in a PbP game. Around a table, yes, but in a PbP game you have days, if not at least a 24 hour period to post in. An extra damage roll (taking an extra minute) is probably not going to slow things down too much.

In reply to Yozi (msg # 15):

From my experience combat in general is slow. Yes many times because players don’t log in daily and others seem to stall.
I have noticed players going to fast or too slow causing confusion in posts.

But I agree I have had issue with initiative.

So does revealing the monsters stats speed thing up and improves the game or takes away?

Personally, I like the idea of learning about a monster's abilities in the game. Hence I favor secrecy in fighting monsters I've never seen before.

Of course, I can't be that picky when facing the common fodder like orcs, kobolds, goblins, skeletons, zombies, gelatinous cubes, carrion crawlers, and all those things you always run into in a standard game. But I enjoy the wonder of discovery. And it makes for excellent detective work roleplaying even in fantasy.

"So you mean... in order to hurt the demon... we have to strike it with weapons made of forged star iron? Where are we going to get that? Where? All the way in the Cloudy Mountains? That's going to take at least two more weeks! Might as well get started." *Begins to load the horse*

So what it looks like so far is that a straight up red box game using the original modules would be as simple and interesting as one would like.
And adding or modifying any rules would not really improve on the game.

Well, I think you are collecting the preferences of people interested, and only among the vocal ones.

If you have a particular way you wish to run your game, by all means go right ahead. I know that I, for one, will certainly adapt to whatever you choose to put in place.

Consider me interested. =)

Well as an internet check thats 1
I would say my interest would be strictly with players that can post daily. Excluding weekends and holidays (family time for me ) Not just log in.
And because there is no feats, or to rule heavy I do feel it will be more fun for me.

I agree. Rule complexity is not a hallmark of Basic D&D.

But total lethality IS! =)

Also interested.  I was just in a BECMI game that fizzled ... would totally join another.

why did it fizzle out ??

Red box is OD&D? Or is it BECMI? Sorry I'm a bit not up to date on my old school terms

It is the 'B' of BEMCI, the Basic rules.

In reply to Aleph Null (msg # 25):

In 1983 Dungeons and Dragions can out with a beginers box set.
The box was Red, and some old timers like myself call it the Red Box Set or Basic.

Well at least my circles called it that.


if you google, any version of the below

dungeons and dragons basic set 1983 pdf

you should find tons of stuff

By the way my fiend has the gray 2nd printing cover, in almost perfect condition.
Was given to him by his uncle and we never stopped playing. :)
This message was last edited by the user at 15:13, Fri 13 Mar 2020.

OD&D is the White Box that came before Red Box. When Thieves were a new optional class.

1981 Basic/Expert (B/X) and 1983 BECMI are very similar but not the same game, as any Thief will tell you when he sees his abilities nerfed in BECMI.

The DM withdrew from the game.  It started off with some promise (I thought), but there was an overlarge amount of 'herding cats' that needed to happen.  The differing RP styles of the players proved to be a distraction as well.

Some were in the "I want things to be silly and absurd" camp.  [not wrong, per se, but not my cup of tea.  I'm pretty sure the DM didn't want to run the game as a parody though]

Others were completely new to the game and needed prompting and lengthy instruction to do even the simplest of game functions.

There was a pretty consistent struggle between the Roleplaying and Rollplaying aspects as well.

I think in the end, the game never really found its footing, and with such a different group of players, the DM came down with a case of the not-funs.  He apologized, and then pulled the plug.

In reply to Ski-Bird (msg # 29):

Thanks for that info it really helps

Maybe some experience needed to apply will help,
and game is for serious player (comic relief to a minimum)

The herding cats, I seen that happen in my own games, I'm even guilty of losing interest as well.

Herding cats isn't that hard... as long as it is just one cat. =D

So now this becomes an interest check.
And, it would be a straight forward out of the book.

Definitely interested!

Interested!

This chat is pretty much closed as there is enough interest and I have posted in the Players Wanted

Its moving fast and those that have been on this chat will have a spot for them in the game.