When I run D&D, I’m not presenting just a game with mechanics and rules, but an experience. The fundamental part of my game’s experience is that I want players to believe they’re interacting with a real world. A world they can maybe only see in their imaginations, and interact only by talking to me, but a real place nonetheless that follows real rules of a world that are similar to our own
And sometimes something as simple as letting players buy equipment as they go along is enough to shatter that immersion and remind them that “you’re only playing a game. We’re only here for a few hours. Speed it along”
And that’s why I will not sacrifice verisimilitude for convenience, and why I don't play B/X.
Because there are many instances where B/X sacrifices verisimilitude for convenience. Race-as-class, the length of a combat round, movement rates, item weights, etc.
B/X is the game of convenience. It was literally written for kids to play, and play quickly. It does not deliver the immersion that I want to provide.
OD&D delivers pure immersion in its rawest form.
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