OSR Hybrid TSR era clone, does it exist?

[Sacrosanct]

I am a big fan of the D&D OSR, but admittedly have only really followed S&W, labyrinth lord, and OSRIC. One thing I’ve noticed is that they seem to emulate a particular edition of TSR era D&D. So is there one that’s a hybrid mix match of B/X, 1e, and 2e? I feel like I’m missing an obvious one

 

[Stormonu]

Castles & Crusades is sort of "what if 3E had been closer to 1E/2E". Perhaps Dungeon Crawl Classics - it seems to be a mix of 1E & B/X, but throws out 2E and adds elements more towards the Weird Tales end of the gaming spectrum.

 

[Retreater]

Old School Essentials has recently released the Advanced Fantasy Genre Rules add-on that gives 1E/2E feel to their B/X inspired line - and it's cross-compatible within the same campaign. (With an entire product line on Kickstarter, I think until tomorrow.)
Highly recommend it. I will be porting over one campaign to it in a few weeks.

 

[Greg Benage]

Basic Fantasy is B/X, plus separate race/class, the AD&D Monster Manual, and ascending AC (roll high to hit).

 

[Voadam]

Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion adds AD&D race and class options to the B/X Labyrinth Lord rule set.

 

[Voadam]

Basic stats are different from AD&D ones. Only going up to +3 bonuses, no percentile strength, bonuses at lower stats for Basic while AD&D has a reverse bell curve for stat bonuses, particularly with percentile strength. OSR games have to basically pick one style or the other of those two.

Basic races do not have stat mods, classes have smaller HD and there is no stat prereqs for classes, while AD&D races have stat mods (generally only +1 -1 though) and multiple class and multiclass options while the classes themselves have slightly higher HD and all sorts of stat requirements.

Mostly AD&D has more options than basic, so usually it is adding AD&D options onto the simpler Basic base rules such as paladins, monks, and assassins and half-orcs and splitting race from class (although I have seen BECMI weapon mastery adapted into AD&D long before the OSR).

 

[Markh3rd]

Fantastic Heroes and Witchery does a great job of blending the different editions and giving you options to make it more like Basic or more towards second edition.

 

[Parmandur]

Castles & Crusades is sort of "what if 3E had been closer to 1E/2E". Perhaps Dungeon Crawl Classics - it seems to be a mix of 1E & B/X, but throws out 2E and adds elements more towards the Weird Tales end of the gaming spectrum.

Neither if those are really retroclones, though they are OSR.

Castles & Crusades is very much 3.x slimmed down and focused on old school play and tropes, but it's not really mechanically mimicking one of the older editions.

Dungeon Crawl Classics is very odd: it's also basically 3.x with the math toned down (most things work like 3.x, but you can use monster stat blocks from older Editions if you invert the AC number), but with some entirely new takes (like spells are skill checks, and the Die Chain core mechanic) that put it pretty far out from any edition of D&D.

 

[mach1.9pants]

It can't be a clone if it is of more than one parent, so really answering the thread title is no. But OP is more nuance and just talks OSR so the closest for me is LL AEC. Old School Essentials with the advanced bits does similar. Which is close to how we played AD&D BitD, BECMI rules with all the AD&D class, monster and magic trappings. I never got my head around AD&D combat!

Maybe Blood and Treasure?

 

[Zardnaar]

Castles and Crusades. OSR kind of a hybrid between 1E and 3E but OSR playstyle.

Basic Fantasy.

B/X inspired, level 1-20, separate race and class. Ascending ACs.

Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game

www.basicfantasy.org