![]() Mentzer slows down the advancement of saving throws, thieves' abilities, and spell acquisition for clerics and magic-users.Ĭastle-building rules are more detailed in Moldvay, but Mentzer details a base town and talks about running town adventures. Some monsters are renamed: cave locust became locust, giant driver ant became ant, giant and killer bee became bee, giant. Insect swarm and noble are moved to the Expert rules. A number of people "monsters" are combined into the Human entry: acolyte, medium, trader, veteran. The monster list changes between these versions. Mentzer's get one spell plus Read Magic at 1st level, and then one new one at every level. Moldvay's magic-users get one spell at 1st level and have to find more in play. Mentzer gets all "wishy-washy" * about this aspect of the game and only says clerics get spells from "their beliefs." Moldvay states that clerics get their spells from gods. Moldvay stops at level 3 (and Cook's Expert set continues that to 14). Mentzer's Basic box didn't come with a module (the Expert set came with X1 The Isle of Dread, though!). Moldvay's red box came with B2 Keep on the Borderlands, but you could buy the books separately (unboxed). Mentzer adds complexity, like skills and weapon mastery. Moldvay's game is pretty simple and straightforward. The Moldvay version has weaker layout and art than the later Mentzer version. Moldvay aims his writing at a younger audience. The differences are minor in the Basic ruleset. In general, the Mentzer version was a repackaging and expansion of the Moldvay version. Holmes carries forward the OD&D class name "Fighting Man." Moldvay shortened that to "Fighter" (probably copying Gygax in AD&D). Moldvay adds automatic hits on a 20 and automatic misses on a 1. Moldvay does, but they're essentially brought back in from OD&D. Elves in Holmes need far more XP to advance than in Moldvay. There are differences in advancement for classes. Moldvay makes every ability count and provides bonus charts for each one, and most fall into the same seven bands (-3 to +3). In Holmes, not all ability scores have modifiers. Moldvay cuts this spell list a lot (from 18 to 3 3rd level spells, for instance). Holmes offers dozens of spells (level 1-3). The spell Magic Missile requires a to-hit roll in Holmes, but not in Moldvay. Moldvay gives weapons individual damage ratings. Moldvay has players roll group initiative.Ĭombat in Holmes is based on OD&D, which was based on Chainmail (more wargamey). Holmes has initiative in order of dexterity (high to low). Moldvay presents the game as guidelines to be considered. Holmes presents the game as rules to be followed. Moldvay Basic D&D is intended as its own game, with little connection to AD&D. The Holmes version is intended as an introduction for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and refers the reader to there for further help. Moldvay's game includes B2 Keep on the Borderlands. Holmes' game includes B1 In Search of the Unknown. Moldvay made many changes to the Holmes version to streamline play and make it easier for players to understand the game. ![]() These separate books would later be combined into the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. Mentzer would continue the Basic (1-3) and Expert (4-14) classifications but would go on to produce additional expansions: Companion (15-25), Master (26-36), and Immortal (characters too sexy for their levels, but you essentially get 36 more). This time, the Dungeon Master book was separated from the Player book. ![]() David "Zeb" Cook wrote the follow-on "Expert" rule book (another boxed set) that expanded the game to levels 4-14.įrank Mentzer revised the game again in 1983 with another "red box" set featuring the art of Larry Elmore. It came with dice (and a marking crayon!). It came in a red box and featured the B2 Keep on the Borderlands module. Tom Moldvay revised the "Basic" D&D game in 1981. You'll find far more differences between Holmes and the later red boxes than you'll find between Moldvay and Mentzer. Both produced "red box" versions of the game. Moldvay and Mentzer are game designers who took the old Basic D&D game (edited by Eric Holmes) and revised them. This was a dark blue, boxed set containing D&D in a single book, plus a module (B1 In Search of the Unknown), and some dice (or cardboard chits, when they ran out!). These booklets were basically barely-edited versions of the house rules of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. D&D started as a series of little booklets, now called "original D&D" (OD&D). ![]()
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