OSR Which retroclone/OSR game is closest to AD&D 2E?

[Morrus]

I think that’s the edition I have most nostalgia for. I was wondering what careers design work is being done in that area? (I’m fairly unfamiliar with most OSR stuff).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

For Gold & Glory is the only one that really springs to mind, though I can't vouch for it.

2e doesn't seem to spark as much nostalgia as other editions, it would seem. Despite starting prior, I played a ton of 2e. Still have fond feelings for it.

 

[lowkey13]

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[epithet]

You might also give Adventures Dark & Deep a try. It is sort of an "alternate universe" version of D&D 2e.

Adventures Dark and Deep™ explores the question, what if the designer of the world’s most popular role-playing game had not left TSR in 1985, and had been allowed to continue developing it? Unfortunately, Gary never got the opportunity to publish his next version of the game, but he did leave various hints as to his intentions over the years. Using the 1st Edition rules as a foundation, we’ve taken those hints and built an entire game around them. There are new character classes like the bard, jester, mystic, savant, and mountebank; streamlined combat; new spells and magic items; consolidated and re-worked monsters; and much more besides. All of these publicly-published bits of information about the intended revision to 1st Edition have been taken as inspiration for Adventures Dark and Deep™. And it’s all compatible with most other old-school games, so all your favorite adventures can be run using Adventures Dark and Deep™.

 

[Zardnaar]

Myth and Magic but the Kickstarter tanked and I think the sites took the PDFs down.

2E is more about settings and rulebooks on levers etc to make the game you want.

Castles and Crusades is more of a 1E clone but it's kind of an AD&D 3E which is where late 2E was heading and is well supported.

Otherwise Gold and Glory is your best bet. Personally I use 2E as is but have a page of houserules. Buffed humans, no level limits, BAB over THACO, ascending ACs. Helped that my 2E stuff came out of storage in 2012 so we played it again. It kind of has as lower power level than 1E and even 5E spells.

2E is the best D&D if you like tinkering with rule/settings/genres etc. It can do 1E type games, gritty GoT type games. Or high fantasy and things like Planescape.

 

[lowkey13]

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[Inchoroi]

My favorite OSR is Swords & Wizardry, or just use straight B/X if I'm going to do that. I don't get to play those anymore, as my players would revolt if I tried to get them to run a campaign using either of those. They like having a chance to survive to the end of the campaign. S&W, though, is definitely not like 2e.

 

[Zardnaar]

Eh .... I'm thinking Morrus wouldn't like it if he's looking for a 2e clone (as opposed to a 1e clone).

If he's looking for a clone of 2e, he definitely won't like AD&D (get it?).

Personally, I think AD&D is a truly amazing retroclone. BUT ... it's more for the type of person who thinks ...

"I really like 1e. Loved it. And I hated 2e. But my favorite part of 1e was after UA was released, and running 1e WITH UA and a lot of Dragon Magazine content."

Basically, AD&D is a total rejection of 2e.

Not really you can run 1E type games in 2E. Adventure design changed, 2E adventures tend to be more narrative. 2E had weak adventures though hence not many make best of adventures type things.

The difference s between 1E and 2E are less than 1E and clones if 1E generally. There's not much point in cloning 2E as you can use a 1E clone and can't touch the parts of 2E that made it distinct from 1E. That being the settings and levers type books. 2E kits can work with clones and 1E.

Other clones like Castles and Crusades have a lot of optional rules in the castle keeper guide so they kind of duplicate the 2E dmg and you can plug in 3.0 type "feats" if you want to as they are in the CKG.

B/X clones tend to be close to the old B/X rules maybe with ascending ACs and a lower power level on the classes.

We mixed and matched heavily circa 2012-14 and kind of settled on houseruled 2E and C&C if you want to keep elements of modern D&D or if you wanted a genre. 2E would be the best D&D for a Game of Thrones type game due to things like Birthright and critical hits from Combat and Tactics for the grittiness.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I second the notion that the difference between AD&D 1E and AD&D 2E is more in the presentation than in the substance - you could play a game, with the DM telling you what to roll, and you wouldn't know whether you were playing 1E or 2E unless you were extremely well-versed in minutiae. That being the case, any game labelled as a 1E clone should function equally well as a 2E clone.

 

[lowkey13]

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