A "Shadowdark" For High Fantasy Adventure

[Reynard]

If you are curious enough, you can find out for yourself, for free: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/144651/exemplars-eidolons

But if you’re not, the most obvious differences that come to mind would be: a) Heroes - an altogether different “tier” of being, to which all PCs belong - do damage directly to non-Heroic beings’ Hit Dice, rather than Hit Points; and b) Fray Dice, which are essentially automatic damage that will be inflicted on, again, non-Heroic beings, this time all of them in close proximity, every round, as a kind of “free action” thing,

I had a chance to skim it quickly at lunch. I like it a lot (unsurprising, as I am a fan of how Kevin Crawford designs stuff). It is in fact quite a lot like one might imagine a "heroic Shadowdark." there is, of course, a lot packed in there in just a few pages so it is hard to know for sure, but it looks like PCs are robust while still being simple, and the "aspect like" three things it leans neo-trad.

 

[Autumnal]

Exemplars & Eidolons is partly a proof of concept that an OSR game can lean in Exalted’s direction without becoming Exalted.

 

[Thierry-Advent]

My vote goes to Shadow of the Weird Wizard. Very Neo-trad with modern design. According to its creator it is a nod to AD&D 1e and Greyhawk. I've read it, soloed it and I agree.

Satisfying background, profession, identity and personality creation rules (random or not). Class system but with the build your own class module approach as you gain levels, multi-classing. Lots of talents and class abilities from the players to have fun with. Magic covers 33 traditions ranging from Aeromancy to War. No skills! Yes no skills - you use attribute scores instead. Boons & Banes adds of subtract 1d6 to the d20 roll.

Very high fantasy with a rich adversary section in the Secrets of the Weird Wizard GM book. It's humanocentric in the core book but with Weird Ancestries softcover you get 30 fantasy species ranging from Archon to Woodwose.

Nevermind.