Favorite D&D Retroclone?

[Yora]

I love ACKS but mostly for rules that are not really character rules.

Yeah, I am very much considering using the ACKS combat rules for my AS&SH game instead.

 

[doghead]

When looking to try something more streamlined than 3.5/PF, I looked at ACK, S&W, DCC, Legend, True20.

Eventually I went with Dungeon World. I'm not sure that it strictly counts as a Retroclone. But so far, and we have only just started, it seems pretty good.

thotd

 

[Payndz]

I'll have to be cheeky and say my own retroclone, There's Always A Chance (TAAC), which takes its name from a rule in the DM's section of Moldvay Basic and applies its idea of "roll below your stat on a d20" for pretty much all task resolution. I started it out of curiosity as to what a 'modernised' B/X would be like, and ended up converting the whole thing!

While B/X is my favourite version of D&D by far, it (and TAAC) still have a bit too much fiddly crunch for my liking, so I've been working on and off on an even lighter version using the same base. Maybe some day I'll finish it...

 

[Zak S]

In one of our games we use Labyrinth Lord but with LOTFP's magic book for cleric and wizard spells and that works pretty well. The magic is (along with the combat progression) one of the most distinctive parts of LOTFP but unlike the combat numbers it ports a little more easily to other systems.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Nice to see you here, [MENTION=90370]Zak S[/MENTION]. I've been a lurking fan of your website ever since you sent me a Google+ invite. I learned about LoTFP from you and purchased the pdf sometime back, too.

For me, I still like the Castles and Crusades system for 1e retro clones, and Dark Dungeons for when I want to get BECMI back and running. I also like Labyrinth Lord, however, and the Mutant Future rules that clone Gamma World.
[MENTION=6698278]Emerikol[/MENTION] , thanks for mentioning ACKS. I love the campaign level play from BECMI, so ACKS looks like something quite different while simultaneously right up my ally.

 

[bulletmeat]

In one of our games we use Labyrinth Lord but with LOTFP's magic book for cleric and wizard spells and that works pretty well. The magic is (along with the combat progression) one of the most distinctive parts of LOTFP but unlike the combat numbers it ports a little more easily to other systems.

Would the spells work easily w/little rule manipulation for BFRPG or C&C? Unfortunately, I've not read this one.

 

[Zak S]

Would the spells work easily w/little rule manipulation for BFRPG or C&C?

Yeah. Most clones and clone-likes are interchangeable.

And thanks, Deuce!

 

[RevTurkey]

I think Labyrinth Lord is the best retroclone. You can have B/X D&D or with the Companion book you can have a very sweet steamlined version of Ad&d too. They are both compatible and allow you to draw from such a staggering amount of the old material as well as most of the newer OSR publishing. They are looking to produce a combined edition with both books as one this year which will be great. I hope they get better artwork for it. The rules are time-tested and proven...the presentation could be better but still keep that Old School flavour in my opinion. It's an excellent game.

Most of the others mentioned are also wonderful games...lets face it they are all nearly the same thing anyway. I really like Swords & Wizardry in particular.

If one wants to stretch into modified clones then my favourites are:

Castles & Crusades - I think D&D 5th trumps it for rules but I have fond memories of the games that we played. It was just a lot of fun.

Dungeon Crawl Classics - It's one of my favourite games of all time. Love it!

 

[RevTurkey]

Update: B/X Essentials is my new favourite. Castles & Crusades comes 2nd.

 

[scruffygrognard]

I've homebrewed my own "fantasy heartbreaker" rules from C&C, AD&D (particularly 2nd edition), D&D 3.5 and 5, and Basic D&D. So far it's been working really well for my Greyhawk game (I'm running it for some friends and their kids).

Here's a link for my houserules:
PHB: http://www.scruffygrognard.com/documents/phb.pdf
DMG: http://www.scruffygrognard.com/documents/dmg.pdf
Monstrous Manual: http://www.scruffygrognard.com/documents/Monstrous Manual.pdf