B/X Lives!
"Kiddie D&D" is back, and it's grown-up after all.
Rejoice!
We live in the golden age of simple Dungeons & Dragons rules. It was not always so.
In 2006, my favorite version of D&D—the Basic Set by Tom Moldvay, along with the Expert Set by Zeb Cook and Steve Marsh—had been an historical artifact for over 20 years. It survived in the form of an uncounted number of 64-page paperback booklets—like those in my basement right now—played, in some cases, by grown-up children of the early ‘80’s. In many other cases, undoubtedly, it was not played, but neither was it forgotten—and it was missed.
Then, something incredible happened. Chris Gonnerman, a motivated and creative fan of the game, released Basic Fantasy, based on the Open Gaming License Wizards of the Coast (the owners of D&D) published in the early 2000s. Gonnerman’s game emulated the look and feel (and in may cases the mechanics) of the fondly remembered Basic and Expert sets. It was one of the founding texts of what has come to be called the Old School Renaissance (OSR). A year later, game designer Daniel Proctor and Goblinoid Games released Labyrinth Lord, another very close emulation of Basic/Expert (B/X).
As the OSR grew in popularity, Wizards of the Coast (WotC), may have recognized the existence of a viable market for the older intellectual property they had acquired from TSR, Inc. (TSR), the previous owners of D&D. In 2012, WotC began offering the Moldvay Basic and Cook/Marsh Expert rules online. B/X lives, once again for sale from its publisher! The entirety of the official product line remains available to this day:
B/X Official Product Line
Adventures
B3: Palace of the Silver Princess
Green Cover (Replacement version)
Orange Cover (Original, recalled version)
X4: Master of the Desert Nomads
M2: Maze of the Riddling Minotaur
Rules
WotC has also made available many largely compatible materials released for the version of the Dungeons & Dragons that replaced B/X—the Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortals rules (BECMI).
This has been a fantastic development. Original players who may have given away, sold, or lost some or all of their B/X materials, but who would like them back, can now replace them at affordable prices. Those who still play the game can invite others to join them, recommending new players pick up copies of the rules online.
The resurrection of B/X hasn’t stopped there. OSR designers have found its simple, streamlined system to be a useful foundation for the creation of new B/X-compatible games. Sometimes derided as “kiddie D&D” during it’s initial release, B/X probably enjoys more respect today than it ever did in the ‘80s and ‘90s. This, along with the freedom granted by the OGL, has resulted in what I call the B/X Community Product Line—new materials produced for B/X by independent designers or small companies:
B/X Community Product Line
Adventures
In the Shadow of Tower Silveraxe
Mike’s Dungeons: The Deep Levels
Mike’s World: The Forsaken Wilderness Beyond
X14: Atlantis, The Sunken City
Game Aids
A5 B/X OSR Character Record Sheet
Goblin Bandit Camp/More Goblin Bandit Camp
OSR B/X Character Record Sheet
Monsters
Trilemma Adventures Bestiary B/X
Rules
Class Catalog for B/X Ascending
Settings
The above list is not exhaustive, but even so, it contains three times the number of B/X products produced by TSR. The golden age is upon us!
No doubt, some of you have noticed I’ve excluded from this list materials written specifically for B/X emulation systems like Basic Fantasy, Labyrinth Lord, and—one of the latest OSR phenomena—Old School Essentials. All these materials are highly compatible with B/X as well. This is not an oversight. I will consider the contribution of the B/X retroclones in an upcoming article.
Coming Soon
What IS B/X, in 2022?
Fun stuff, the more the better. I got a fever, and the only prescription is more B/X!