The Mentzer
sets, also known as BECMI, for Basic Expert Companion Master Immortal. Of
course, this is the edition I started with, but actually I never played it much
beyond the basic set, changing to AD&D. I didn’t see how great this version
of the game is until I started playing it again about 5 or 6 years ago.
It’s the
most complete version of D&D, with rules for dungeon and wilderness
adventures, Domains and Strongholds, weapon mastery, and adventuring on alternate
planes of existence. Characters can advance to level 36 and even beyond, petitioning
to become an Immortal (god). Maybe it’s a bit much, and, since few campaigns
will run that long, unnecessary, but it’s nice to have these options.
BECMI also
has the best adventures published for it. Each set has a series of adventure
modules associated with it: the Basic Set has the B-series of modules, the
Expert Set the X-series, etc. This are not edited tournament modules that give
a wrong picture of how an adventure fits together. Each adventure teaches DMs the
rules from the corresponding boxed set. In Search of the Unknown and The Keep
on the Borderlands are great dungeon adventures, and The Isle of Dread is a
fantastic wilderness adventure.
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