Rules Cyclopedia is back in print. How did you run/play it?

[Rhedyn]

What are some assumptions that the game makes that would be alien to "modern" players?

How should you approach this game to have fun with it as a player that is very different from what "newer" editions/games assume.

What kind of adventures did you run in it?

Did you bother using Mystara or did you use custom settings?

How did you handle thief skills vs general skills vs "ability checks" (or did you even use these)?

Did you like the weapon mastery system?

[BWR]

What are some assumptions that the game makes that would be alien to "modern" players?


Paladins are cool, monks were useful, player entitlement wasn't nearly as big, and you expected to die alot.
These opinions are 100% objective truth and not at all a result of having spent too long on these boards.




How should you approach this game to have fun with it as a player that is very different from what "newer" editions/games assume.

Expect to die a lot more often. You could easily be a Fighter with 2 hp at 1st level and you died at 0. On top of this, SoD was something you could encounter at level one. Those giant bees are right pain in the arse. Don't get too attached to your character right off the bat. Also, fewer mechanical options mean you have to fluff your character's abilities more. Mechanically, it may be 'make an attack with your sword', but you can fluff it to be a brutal, overpowering style or a graceful, acrobatic one, or a 'feinting, subtle one'.


What kind of adventures did you run in it?
Um, normal D&D adventures, I guess. Go places, kill things, get loot, build houses/strongholds, fill them with cool stuff you picked up on the way.


Did you bother using Mystara or did you use custom settings?
Mystara and Hollow World. Not terribly canon versions of these, primarily because we didn't have any information on the setting other than the RC and the HW boxed set (which devolved into lulzy murderhoboing on the other continents, soon enough). Kept to these settings even when we transitioned to 2e, which we did after a year or two of using the RC.



How did you handle thief skills vs general skills vs "ability checks" (or did you even use these)?

Can't really remember. I think we let thieves do their thing but if we could come up with some really clever and careful way of doing something that worked too. E.g. only thieves could pick pockets unnoticed but anyone with the right gear and some clever thinking could scale a wall with time and effort. Ability checks rarely showed up, IIRC. Honestly, it's been long enough since I thought about this that I could be imagining a whole bunch of stuff.


Did you like the weapon mastery system?
Loved it. It was one of the things I really missed when we started using 2e.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

What's alien?
Inverse AC - I always explain that by saying that it started out as meaning 1st class armour is better than 2nd class armour, but then as better armour options appeared the game ended up having negative ACs. Whether its true or not doesn't matter, it worked as a way to explain it.
Law vs Chaos - in game, I embrace this ideology (out of game, I am of course Neutral Good, and no-one can prove otherwise :smallwink:).
Good vs Evil isn't a thing in my BECM campaign settings. It is entirely possible for the pursuit of freedom (Chaos) to lead to evil or good outcomes, just as the desire for order (Law) can oppress or protect. My setting makes Law the desired goal of society, so that Chaos is feared and mainly attacked. It can allow you an awful lot of moral choice and blurred lines between our modern ideals of Good and Evil.

Having fun with "modern" players
I ran some BECM D&D recently when I wanted to simplify and throw off the baggage of the newer editions. I told the new-school players from the outset that it's similar, but different. We talked about those differences - increased mortality at low level, more winging it and DM fiat.
One of the things I did to break the assumptions and have some fun was I created an Escape the Dungeon adventure, where the party consisted of a nebulous number of NPCs, plus the PCs, all escaping at once. When a PC died, roll up a new one, pick up the dead guy's gear and get stuck in. What this helped firmly establish was that character creation was fast, and that being killed wasn't a disaster.
At the end of the adventure - the escape - I granted XP to the surviving PCs as if they'd done the whole adventure. Most of them levelled up, so they were less squishy for the next session.

What sort of adventures
I started out running published modules mainly, or things that read sort of like them - travel overland to a dungeon, fight the monsters, steal the treasure. But as I grew up, things got more political, more subtle. I added an Inquisition within the Lawful church, I had scheming lords and ladies plotting to take power... The dominion management system, and war machine system for higher level play do tend to encourage more political play.

Did you use the Mystara setting
Sort of... When I was kid, I totally did - but then I moved out, and I lost the Expert Set for a few years (found it again - this was before they published the Cyclopedia), so I sort of made up my world from what I could remember, and ran games using the Basic Set. There was enough rules to let me run up to 4th level or so before I had to go back to my folks' place and dig out the Expert Set - and that was when I realised I'd remembered lots of things wrong. I stuck with my own version though, and it's the basis of my current campaign now.

Thieves' skills vs ability score skills:
When a wizard uses the Stealth skill, she increases her chance of gaining surprise by 1 in 6.
When a thief Moves Silently, no-one hears them, when they use Hide in Shadows, no-one see them - it bypasses the surprise rule (unless the target creature has an ability that lets it bypass the surprise rule, too - some creatures are never surprised).

Weapon Mastery kept fighters useful at the same level as magic users - dishing out such massive damage with your bow or sword: awesome!
However, Weapon Mastery has the effect of making you want to use NPCs as adversaries, rather than monsters, which isn't everyone's taste. Example, with Weapon Mastery bonuses and damage, to one mid-level player party reduced a purple worm to -115hp before it took an action.

[Xuc Xac]

Thieves' skills vs ability score skills:
When a wizard uses the Stealth skill, she increases her chance of gaining surprise by 1 in 6.
When a thief Moves Silently, no-one hears them, when they use Hide in Shadows, no-one see them - it bypasses the surprise rule (unless the target creature has an ability that lets it bypass the surprise rule, too - some creatures are never surprised).

I like thief skills as an unmodified, supernaturally good, second chance. Anyone can make a Strength check to climb a wall, but a sheer wall is difficult if they don't have rope or handholds and they'll probably fail. If a thief fails the normal check, they can use their "Thief skill" to climb smooth walls even without gear. They can climb a sheer surface like a gecko. Like Conan in "The Jewels of Gwahlur", they hang onto the tiniest crevices by their fingernails. Anyone can hide behind something or step carefully to be quiet, but a thief can hide in plain sight as long as he's standing on the shady side of something or move without making a sound like a cartoon ninja. Anyone can use a knife and a steady hand to cut a purse off someone's belt, but a thief can reach into your pocket and steal the underwear that you're wearing.

Unlike D&D3 and later, thief skills aren't just normal skills that thieves put more ranks in. They are special abilities that only thieves get in addition to the normal skills that everyone can attempt.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

I like thief skills as an unmodified, supernaturally good, second chance. Anyone can make a Strength check to climb a wall, but a sheer wall is difficult if they don't have rope or handholds and they'll probably fail. If a thief fails the normal check, they can use their "Thief skill" to climb smooth walls even without gear. They can climb a sheer surface like a gecko. Like Conan in "The Jewels of Gwahlur", they hang onto the tiniest crevices by their fingernails. Anyone can hide behind something or step carefully to be quiet, but a thief can hide in plain sight as long as he's standing on the shady side of something or move without making a sound like a cartoon ninja. Anyone can use a knife and a steady hand to cut a purse off someone's belt, but a thief can reach into your pocket and steal the underwear that you're wearing.

Unlike D&D3 and later, thief skills aren't just normal skills that thieves put more ranks in. They are special abilities that only thieves get in addition to the normal skills that everyone can attempt.
That's kind of what I meant, too - but you've expressed it better!