OSR Hybrid TSR era clone, does it exist?

[Sacrosanct]

With the availability of the PDF. Why go for a clone when you can get the original?

Well, I have original hard copies of every edition printed (except 4e), so that's not the issue lol. It was more of a curiosity thing, to be honest. I am working on a project for an OSR clone, but I didn't want it to be a true clone of any one particular edition. Rather, I wanted to capture the TSR era D&D experience, or at least, the better elements of what each edition brought us. Simplicity of B/X (for things we mostly ignored in AD&D anyway or didn't like, such as weapon armor type modifiers, getting stuck in a rigid alignment system, etc), the flavor, feel, and aesthetic of 1e, and the rules improvements of 2e (THAC0, thief skill progressions, bard class, specialist wizards). It seems like that would be an obvious project that has been done already, and if so, I didn't really want to reinvent the wheel so to speak (even though that's kinda the point of a clone lol; ignore the contradiction)

 

[Helldritch]

I can see where you are getting at. You seem to want more of a streamlined 1ed mixed with 2e with a touch of the dungeon crawl that BE was encouraging players to do. I would still go for the second edition. It is the edition that can use any adventures from BECMI and 1ed without any modifications. Do not go for any of the complete books. Stick to the basic classes and if the alignment system bugs you, keep the law vs chaos of BECMI. It should do the trick. Only 3.xed and 4ed adventures would require heavy modifications/adaptations.

IMHO, a retro clone is great for when you don't have access to the original rules. And that was true until a few years ago. With the advent of Drivethru and DM guild, the OSR movement is now extremely good for one thing: The adventures made with OSR. They are really good in general and convey the feel that was prevalent in those years. The Questing Beast channel is also a good place to get a nice preview of some of the adventure you'll find in the retro clone adventures.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Well, I have original hard copies of every edition printed (except 4e), so that's not the issue lol. It was more of a curiosity thing, to be honest. I am working on a project for an OSR clone, but I didn't want it to be a true clone of any one particular edition. Rather, I wanted to capture the TSR era D&D experience, or at least, the better elements of what each edition brought us. Simplicity of B/X (for things we mostly ignored in AD&D anyway or didn't like, such as weapon armor type modifiers, getting stuck in a rigid alignment system, etc), the flavor, feel, and aesthetic of 1e, and the rules improvements of 2e (THAC0, thief skill progressions, bard class, specialist wizards). It seems like that would be an obvious project that has been done already, and if so, I didn't really want to reinvent the wheel so to speak (even though that's kinda the point of a clone lol; ignore the contradiction)

Well I like your ideas, I hope you do keep some of the idiosyncratic advanced stuff like ability scores, so much (unneeded but cool) nuance!

 

[Blue Orange]

From what little I can tell OSR is 'anything before 3e'--one class at a time, descending AC, straight stats for monsters without modifying by character attributes like Str, Dex, and Con. So pick your favorite bits.

 

[Zardnaar]

From what little I can tell OSR is 'anything before 3e'--one class at a time, descending AC, straight stats for monsters without modifying by character attributes like Str, Dex, and Con. So pick your favorite bits.

A few OSR games use ascending ACs.

2Es usually not regarded as OSR, there's very few 2E clones or whatever anyway. It's more B/X, OD&D then 1E.

 

[DammitVictor]

I'm working on something that I'm aiming to be a hybrid between BECMI and Player's Option with little pieces of 4/5 included.

 

[Bacon Bits]

I have a hard time internally rationalizing ascending AC as OSR lol.

I'm quite the opposite. I don't see the point in using an OSR system unless it eliminates descending armor class by default. It's the line between an old school reprint and an old school renaissance. A return to the old school gameplay style and not just mimicking the mechanics and hoping the result is the same. Bringing back the most cumbersome attack roll ever in order to enjoy older gameplay styles is cutting off your nose to spite your face. It'd be like bringing back tank controls just because you want to play a remake of Tomb Raider or Resident Evil.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm working on something that I'm aiming to be a hybrid between BECMI and Player's Option with little pieces of 4/5 included.

My hybrid I've a dually worked in is kind of B/X based with microfeats, ascending ACs and more old school monster designs.

I think I had around 50 odd pages actually written out with a small bestiary made.

Started revising it post 5E but haven't looked at it for a while.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'm quite the opposite. I don't see the point in using an OSR system unless it eliminates descending armor class by default. It's the line between an old school reprint and an old school renaissance. A return to the old school gameplay style and not just mimicking the mechanics and hoping the result is the same. Bringing back the most cumbersome attack roll ever in order to enjoy older gameplay styles is cutting off your nose to spite your face. It'd be like bringing back tank controls just because you want to play a remake of Tomb Raider or Resident Evil.

That's a fair point.

 

[Blue Orange]

I'm quite the opposite. I don't see the point in using an OSR system unless it eliminates descending armor class by default. It's the line between an old school reprint and an old school renaissance. A return to the old school gameplay style and not just mimicking the mechanics and hoping the result is the same. Bringing back the most cumbersome attack roll ever in order to enjoy older gameplay styles is cutting off your nose to spite your face. It'd be like bringing back tank controls just because you want to play a remake of Tomb Raider or Resident Evil.

People can do whatever they want IMHO--I've never been one for edition wars--but I can see the appeal of the other way as well. A lot of this is aimed at older people who played the games the original way, so going through arcane calculations like THAC0 has nostalgia value and serves as a type of 'arcane knowledge' perhaps like what your wizard learns to cast their spells. (For younger players there doesn't seem to be much point.)

It's like the Zocchi dice--the d3, d7, and so on used for Dungeon Crawl Classics. Sure you can have a computer's random number generator give you anything you want--you can roll a d23 on your computer if you want, and roll20 will let you--but using unusual dice gives you the tactile and visual feeling of playing with 'weird dice', like gamers did back in the 70s.