Tips on running a B/X/BECMI campaign! | Dungeons & Dragons / Fantasy D20 Spotlight (2024)

Hello all!

Lately, some of my friends read up on a history of DnD, and really wanted to give some of the old classic DnD modules a try. Couple of different people also expressed interest at running a Retro-style campaign.

The group is going to have six players, all semi experienced - good deal of them played lots of heavily homebrewed DnD, and those who didnt, play a lot of video games and board games.

What are you general tips on DMing B/X and BECMI? My plan is on starting with B/X then switching to BECMI, which, from what i researched, is next to no problem.

I was thinking of running B-1 then B-2, and not sure where from that, but I'd like to move to do at least one expert set later on. Any suggestions are welcome!

Tips:
Use the rules that seem stupid, especially Retainers, Reaction and Morale, but consider possibly using movement rate, encumbrance, and light source duration as well.

I still like Horror on the HIll best of any of the Basic modules, although the Veiled Society is strangely charming too. B1 is a great, strange. trainer dungeon and B2 is a classic in the sense that everyone knows it, even if I don't think it's actually that great ( and it does more than any other module to set up the concept of PCs as genocidal murderhobos, so mixed blessing at best).

My tip would be to give each PC an extra 10 hit points at first level.

B/X characters are terribly vulnerable at low levels. I found in my retro campaign that adding the extra 10 hp was enough to avoid the meaningless deaths we endured in the 80s, while not making the PCs overpowered.

Philig said:

You have a lot of good choices even sticking to old TSR modules; B4 (The Lost City), B10 (Night's Dark Terror), and X1 (The Isle of Dread; first and best of the Expert modules) are universally recognized as classic for good reasons.

Click to expand...

It certainly looks like so! Cant wait to dive deep into that stuff!

Philig said:

That said, you could head for slightly less-trodden paths. If you don't need a lot of handholding and enjoy filling in the blanks yourself, you could put together a sandbox campaign based on old Judges Guild OD&D stuff;

Click to expand...

Sadly my DM experience is limited, and for starters, I'd really like to something completely by the book.

Philig said:

Verbosh is a campaign in a booklet, and Bob Conley's recently released new maps of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. And if you want to get really historic, Gygax's original tournament version of Tsojconth, from 1976, is still out there.

Click to expand...

ooh, I never heard about any of this, looks real interesting! Ty!

komradebob said:

Tips:
Use the rules that seem stupid, especially Retainers, Reaction and Morale, but consider possibly using movement rate, encumbrance, and light source duration as well.

Click to expand...

This sounds like just the sort of tip I need. Ty!

Sirharrok said:

My tip would be to give each PC an extra 10 hit points at first level.

Click to expand...

See Also

An Actual Review of B/X and BECMI D&D

Another good sounding tip, Ty! We 'll see how it goes. Perhaps starting the session as usual, and then, if things start getting out of hand, "bless" the characters by 10 hp increase from ingame?

So many fun and cool modules and concepts are thrown around, I really am not sure which ones should I pick. I think B1 is a real good start though, so I could probably delay choosing the next point, until we finish it. We 'll certainly make it to the X set, but even though I have my doubts we 'll make it to C/M/I levels, are those modules consistent in quality?

WhiteNoise said:

Another good sounding tip, Ty! We 'll see how it goes. Perhaps starting the session as usual, and then, if things start getting out of hand, "bless" the characters by 10 hp increase from ingame?

Click to expand...

My suggestion would be to approach it from an OOC perspective--

'OK, so we've seen the problems with the B/X starting hit points for real.

So let's press on but on a more modern basis.

Kurt the magic user, you didn't die when you were hit for 2 points of damage by that kobold. And you've all got 10 extra hp as a buffer.'

Incidentally, I want to strongly endorse K komradebob and his thoughts about retainers, reaction rolls and morale.

D&D is a very different, more nuanced and more survivable game when characters have retainers, when not every encounter ends in a fight, and when monsters retreat or surrender.

The B/X | BECMI morale rules are in particular a small gem. They make a huge difference. I would strongly recommend using them from the start.

Sirharrok said:

My tip would be to give each PC an extra 10 hit points at first level.

B/X characters are terribly vulnerable at low levels. I found in my retro campaign that adding the extra 10 hp was enough to avoid the meaningless deaths we endured in the 80s, while not making the PCs overpowered.

Click to expand...

This is probably a better idea then the buffer where -10 equals death. That often, in practice leads to boredom at low levels as the player gets stuck in unconsciousness for half the session as the party don't have the means to heal them and have to lug them around. At least if the character is dead the player can begin rolling up a new character and get back into the game relatively quickly.

This is a more elegant solution. I like it.

Other common possibilities are:
-max hps at 1st level
-start at level 3
-or death save at 0 hps rather then automatic death Failure meants death, success means you wake up with 1 hp in 10 minutes.
- just fudging things so they find a large haul of travel very early and level up before there is the opportunity for too much of a meatgrinder.

Dog Quixote said:

This is probably a better idea then the buffer where -10 equals death. That often, in practice leads to boredom at low levels as the player gets stuck in unconsciousness for half the session as the party don't have the means to heal them and have to lug them around.

Click to expand...

Absolutely. Also, the player gets to play their character and contribute during the battle, rather than sitting on negative hit points and watching everyone else have fun.

One rule I like is that every time the players level up they roll a D20 for every ability score. If the result is higher then their previous score it goes up by 1.

Somewhat compensates characters who persist with characters with poor stats.

Dog Quixote said:

This is probably a better idea then the buffer where -10 equals death.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I'd make it class specific so the high HD characters retain their advantage e.g. d8 -> +9 hp; d6 -> +7 hp; d4 -> +5 hp. This is a bit like starting at 3rd level, another popular option. Combined with 'save or die' at 0 hp, this can considerably increase character survival rates.

As a player, I quite enjoy the 1st level grind, given the right adventuring environment. But experience teaches me it is not to everyone's taste.