Editing Dungeons & Dragons Glossary (section)

=== B ===

; BD&D
: '''Basic ''Dungeons & Dragons''''' - one term for the second branch in the fork that occurred when 0e split into "Basic" and "Advanced" lines. Started with the Holmes blue box in 1977 and continued through 1999 with the the B/X, BECMI, RC, black box, and later editions. "Basic" is something of a misnomer, since it only refers to three of the box sets (Holmes, Moldvay, and the first Menzter box) and levels from 1&ndash;3. See also Classic D&D and [[Editions of Dungeons and Dragons]].

; BECMI
: '''Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortals''' - the version of the game by Frank Menzter, delineated in ''Dungeons & Dragons Sets 1&ndash;5: Basic'', ''Expert'', ''Companion'', ''Master'', and ''Immortals Rules''. Sometimes distinguished by the author, color of the first box set (red), year of release (1983 for the ''Basic Rules'', though the ''Immortals Rules'' was not published until 1986), or the cover artist (Larry Elmore). In contrast to the more limited level range of the earlier Holmes and B/X sets, Mentzer's version provided rules for mortal characters of levels 1&ndash;36, and up to another 36 levels as immortals. See also BD&D, Classic D&D and [[Editions of Dungeons and Dragons]].

; black box
: A reference to ''The New Easy-to-Master Dungeons & Dragons Game'' (1991), which came in a predominately black box. Served as the RC's "Basic Set", but unlike the earlier box sets, it covered levels 1&ndash;5. Sometimes loosely applied to any of the post-1989 introductory box sets, like the two printings of the ''Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game'' or the ''Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game'' (only one of the versions of the ''Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game'' is primarily black).

; blue box
: The first ''Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set'' (in 1977) was compiled by Eric J. Holmes, and comes in a blue box. Sometimes distinguished by the author/editor or the cover artist (David Sutherland). Covers levels 1&ndash;3. More closely related to 0e than any other edition, including the later ''Basic Sets''.

; B/X 
: '''Basic/eXpert''' - the version of the ''Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set'' by Tom Moldvay combined with the ''Expert Set'' by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh. Sometimes distinguished by the authors, color of the first box set (mauve/purple), year of release (1980 for both sets), or cover artist (Erol Otus). In contrast to the Holmes and BECMI sets, B/X covers levels 1&ndash;14. See also BD&D, Classic D&D and [[Editions of Dungeons and Dragons]].