The B/X Companion by Jonathan Becker is his answer to the never published follow-on to Basic (edited by Tom Moldvay) and Expert (edited by David Cook with Steve Marsh). Expert contains discussion of a follow on product which will take characters from level 15 to 36, adding new spell levels for casters, new abilities for thieves and additional attacks per turn for fighters. This product was never published by TSR. Instead what the hobby got from TSRwas a reboot of the whole Basic system under editor Frank Mentzer.
For his B/X Companion, Mr. Becker draws upon material subsequently published for other versions of the game and adds quite a few of his own original ideas. The resulting product looks very much like a continuation of the B/X line with similar layout and art (there is even a "3" on the cover). It does a pretty good job of fulfilling the expectations set in Expert, taking characters to level 36, magic user spells to level 9 and cleric spells to level 7. Fighters do indeed receive multiple attacks, two at level 15, three at level 23 and four attacks at level 31. There are a host of more powerful monsters (some based on those found in other publications) some original to Mr. Becker (such as the ancient goblin lord). Thieves however seem to get shorted here as there are no rules for "climbing overhangs, upside down , ventriloquism, powers of distraction or the ability to mimic voices" as is mentioned in Expert. In fairness, Expert lists these abilities as suggestions and implies the actual supplement may differ.
B/X presents race-as-class and limits demihuman races to "maxing out" at relative low levels so there is not a lot here for those classes. Mr. Becker follows Frank Mentzer's lead regarding demihumans, retaining the level caps and giving them advancement in "to hit" numbers and saving throws once they top-out, but nothing else.
Mr. Becker does go beyond merely extending the game to include higher levels and takes the opportunity presented by publishing this volume to include several pieces of advice and "house rules" which demonstrate his take on the game and offer some interesting new ways to do things. His advice on hirelings and retainers, designing adventures and campaigns and general refereeing (DM: Dragon Master) skills I found refreshing. He offers additional rules for combat including grappling and mass land combat which I look forward to giving a try. There is a new bard class offered, several new magic items (along with a few borrowed from later versions of the game) and some useful information on how to involve higher level characters in ruling dominions.
Recent acquisition of the B/X Companion has prompted me to revisit Basic and Expert and upon reflection I think I understand some of the appeal this version of the game has for the many in our hobby who prefer it above other versions. As I recollect, my group and I skipped over Moldvay and Cook as we journeyed along our hobby path from White Box on. We were influenced by Holmes Basic (a friend had a copy from which we learned a bit more about how the game was played) and we used Red Box (Mentzer). My copies of Basic and Expert were purchased second hand and I have never actually played using them at the table. I may have to soon remedy that.
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