BECMI Dungeons & Dragons

This isn’t the edition that started it all, but it is the edition that first got people people interested in the game. These are the boxed sets that were released in the early- to mid-80s. BECMI is an acronym for the different levels of the rules as they were published: Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortal. These rules are the most brutal of all the versions of D&D, the premise being that your character is a slightly above-average person with an incredibly dangerous career. You begin the game with very few special abilities and slowly grow in power, so survival depends on you playing intelligently… and the dice being nice to you. Enemy power also scales slowly so there is balance. Play this edition if you want to experience what it was like at the beginning.