Man in the Funny Hat
Hero
Who needs a retroclone? 1E AD&D is available and is what I use. Still needs some changes to be the game I want - but then so does every retroclone I've looked at.
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Favorite D&D Retroclone?
- Thread starter Libertad
- Start date
Warunsun
First Post
Well, I am playing one so maybe I need it. It was easier for me to get a group of people together to play Castles & Crusades than it was when I tried to do so with first edition. I had one person "all in" and totally excited to play AD&D 1E again and no other member of our local gamers were actually for it (other than myself) with perhaps two others that said they would do it. When I brought Castles & Crusades around suddenly I have two full campaigns running with six players in the one and five players in the other. Could I run these same games I am running with AD&D? Certainly! But people tend to want to try new things I guess.
Man in the Funny Hat
Hero
Tell them to report to me for re-education.
Yora
Legend
AD&D is a decent system with horrible rulebooks. When I tried two learn it on two occasions, I threw my hands up in despair, not seeing anything that would explain its popularity. Only after I got familiar with some retroclones did I learn that it was mostly the same rules that AD&D tried to explain, but failed spectacularly. If I would introduce someone to AD&D and let him see the books, I wouldn't exoect him to be on board either.
C&C is a game that at least makes sense when you read it.
C&C is a game that at least makes sense when you read it.
Iconic Maps
First Post
As someone who cut my teeth on 3.5e and only became acquainted with the OSR in the last few years, I don't fell that I've had enough experience to weigh in here. However I must say that I've recently downloaded and partially read through B/X and have just been really impressed with the system. I think that it may be my favorite exemplar of the OSR (and it's not even a retro-clone). From a purely aesthetic point of view however, I really like the way the S&W books are laid out. They've done a great job with presentation.
Cheers,
-Tad
Cheers,
-Tad
Seraph2011
First Post
Labyrinth Lord with Advanced Edition Companion is my favorite overall.
It's the closest to how I played D&D/AD&D in the 1980s, with very similar adjustments to the rules that my group used.
And one big thing for me, it doesn't have what I consider big changes to the rules; no different unwieldy AC, no changes to the core classes that make them not the core classes, no added -because-they-felt-like-being-different thrown in.
Original D&D/AD&D1 aren't as easy to get new players into. The books are out of print, and despite what people say all the time, none of the OSR books are exactly the same as the original.
Those old books were much easier to understand as rules then, actually, than they are now. It worked then because it's what we had, but since then other people have found better ways of presenting a set of rules. RPG books are just put together better now, easier to read through and understand.
ACKS has a feel that I like, it reminds me of how we'd play back then, when our characters would often 'retire' from adventuring to become Lords involved in politics and wars in the campaign world, eventually becoming either high level NPCs in the campaign world for new players to start characters in, or would go on to become Immortal (though I only got one character to that point ever, usually they'd retire and I'd start a new one.)
S&W looks good and works good, but it's not the D&D I want to play.
I don't want a game that I need to alter or convert, if it's supposed to be replicating the old game, I don't want to do work to make it work. I make games, RPGs and tabletop games, so when I'm playing a game, I just want to play the game, not do my job in my spare time, haha.
It's the closest to how I played D&D/AD&D in the 1980s, with very similar adjustments to the rules that my group used.
And one big thing for me, it doesn't have what I consider big changes to the rules; no different unwieldy AC, no changes to the core classes that make them not the core classes, no added -because-they-felt-like-being-different thrown in.
Original D&D/AD&D1 aren't as easy to get new players into. The books are out of print, and despite what people say all the time, none of the OSR books are exactly the same as the original.
Those old books were much easier to understand as rules then, actually, than they are now. It worked then because it's what we had, but since then other people have found better ways of presenting a set of rules. RPG books are just put together better now, easier to read through and understand.
ACKS has a feel that I like, it reminds me of how we'd play back then, when our characters would often 'retire' from adventuring to become Lords involved in politics and wars in the campaign world, eventually becoming either high level NPCs in the campaign world for new players to start characters in, or would go on to become Immortal (though I only got one character to that point ever, usually they'd retire and I'd start a new one.)
S&W looks good and works good, but it's not the D&D I want to play.
I don't want a game that I need to alter or convert, if it's supposed to be replicating the old game, I don't want to do work to make it work. I make games, RPGs and tabletop games, so when I'm playing a game, I just want to play the game, not do my job in my spare time, haha.
Emerikol
Adventurer
I love ACKS but mostly for rules that are not really character rules. I like C&C for the actual game. ACKS is just chock full of good tidbits usable by any system. Even if I ended up playing 5e, I'd still have ACKS handy.
The nice thing about C&C is that it is easy to use it as a baseline. You can add houserules easily.
I do like the "throws" approach in ACKS. It massively reduces the math. Not that I can't do math but it's nice in a game if it's simpler.
The nice thing about C&C is that it is easy to use it as a baseline. You can add houserules easily.
I do like the "throws" approach in ACKS. It massively reduces the math. Not that I can't do math but it's nice in a game if it's simpler.
Jack Daniel
dice-universe.blogspot.com
Basic Fantasy RPG is by far my favorite retroclone. The Core rules combine the feel of BD&D with a nice dose of modern mechanics. Plus a ton of free (and optional) supplements to choose from that allows a lot of customization. And everything is free (PDFs) or at cost for printed books.
Ted Sandyman
First Post
Labyrinth Lord is the way to go ... if you can't spring for six bucks to pick up a Moldvay pdf at DriveThruRPG
