I was thinking of starting a Red Box game.
What type if any rules would be a must have or a no go.

We gotta kill that Bargle!

? Explain

In the red box, Bargle murders Aleena in the solo game at the start and in then mentioned again in the DM's book as the 'hook' for the published level there. If you're running a Red Box game, I was suggesting that his murder be a part of that.

Wow, that is some way old-school stuff. I still remember the Red Box from when I was in high school, over thirty years ago.

I don't know about which rules you should or should not use, but if you are only using the original stuff, you won't be needing to worry about rules until... what?... level 15? That's when the blue book turns into the green book? ... I think... =)  Been a while...

I like to use the Rules Cyclopedia. It contains all the rules and some optional stuff as well.

But if you are planning in runnin', I would be planning on playin'. =)

And kudos for remembering Bargle. It was a pleasant shock to remember that from waaaaaay back. =)

But to reply to the actual question: I would recommend a slightly altered characteristic roll system. Anything but the original one. I find it stiff and expensive, and very often creates characters you don't actually want to play because the numbers just don't fit themselves into the idea.

This message was deleted by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 04:05, Thu 12 Mar 2020.

Ok, I was actually reading that hook and thinking of a re-write.
This message was last updated by the user at 00:45, Mon 16 Mar 2020.

In reply to MrKinister (msg # 5):

Well one thing I was thinking was fix damage
Less rolling more role playing is an idea

Fix damage? As in weapons do a fixed amount of damage? Interesting.

I don't think I've ever played with that before in an RPG.