That was my opinion for quite a while after hearing about this project. But I’ve changed my tune.

To get to the game that I want to play, which not coincidentally is very similar to the game I played when I started, I’d have to either:

A) Play B/X/LL and add on AD&D races, classes, magic items, spells, and monsters.

or

B) Play AD&D and ditch 80% of the written rules and modify much of the remaining 20% to closely resemble B/X/LL.

Neither of these are ideal, in my mind. The Advanced Edition Companion, hopefully, will make option ‘A’ an easy install.

I never played B/X back in the day. Looking at things now, I wish I had. Someone listening to us play would have had trouble telling whether we were playing AD&D or B/X if they only considered they “way” we played and how we ruled things.

If legal PDFs of B/X had been available, I’d be playing B/X right now instead of LL. I’ve since bought B/X on eBay, but I don’t feel like requiring others to do the same just so they can play. And I like the organization of LL over the two books of B/X.

I mean if I wanted to play a bard or an assassin, for example, them I’d play AD&D. Period. I mean…isn’t that THEIR game. And then, of course, I could toss out the extraneous AD&D rules that are less than useful (as I did as a child).

I’m playing B/X because I see it as a better system. MY “companion set” doesn’t try to turn it into AD&D. But, hey, that’s just me…maybe I need to take my opinions back to my own blog.
; )

As for the flaming pyre: “Yes, Virginia, there WAS a Santa…”

Nothing, really. I’ve just made an arbitrary decision to try to stay more “by the book” with LL and the AEC would allow me to do that while having access to lots of the 1e stuff. I’d rather not play LL with a PH, MM, and DMG at the table. Though that’s sort of what I currently do.

Basically, I’m counting on the Advanced Edition Companion to be even better than sliced bread. It needs to be the holy grail of gaming material. That’s all.