OSR If you were going to commit to one clone of older edition D&D going forward, what would it be?

[jdrakeh]

If you were going to commit to one clone of older edition D&D going forward, what would it be? And why? Because that's what I'm looking at doing due to my limited financial resources. I'm just looking for some guidance in that regard.

 

[darjr]

Old School Essentials.

It’s based off my favorite and it has decent expansions for more of an AD&D style. Plus right now it has a ton of support.

Also I think that version is the easiest to port too.

Also also I think basic and specifically Moldvey has been a bit of a standard already.

 

[reelo]

Definetly OSE. The rules themselves are perfect, and 3pp support is massive.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

So, a non-WotC version of D&D?

Given my favorite edition is 3.5Ed, it would have to be one of the major clones. While I love some of the aspects of several of them, like FantasyCraft, Midnight, True20, Arcana Unearthed and others, the key feature of 3.5Ed that makes me love it so much is it’s flexibility of character design. Because of that, there’s only 2 I’d consider: Pathfinder or Warriors & Warlocks.

Pathfinder approaches the depth and variety of options 3.5Ed. But Warriors & Warlocks, as a supplement of Mutants & Masterminds, has the systemic flexibility to design PCs as I see fit, mimicking the options across 3.5’s myriad sourcebooks.

…and in other editions of D&Ds well.

 

[aia_2]

I would go with LotFP... The reason is simple: it has the best adventures...

 

[jdrakeh]

So, a non-WotC version of D&D?

Specifically a clone, so yes. Pathfinder 1e mostly falls into that category. Not sure about Warriors & Warlocks. Is the latter a stand-alone game?

[Edit: I see, after a bit of research, that it's not a clone of any edition of D&D or a stand-alone game.]

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Technically, it‘s the fantasy ruleset for Mutants & Masterminds.

 

[jdrakeh]

Technically, it‘s the fantasy ruleset for Mutants & Masterminds.

Yup, I saw that. Interesting, but not what I'm looking for in this thread. A "clone" is specifically a mostly faithful recreation of a previous edition of D&D, sometimes with minor improvements (e.g. better organization, ascending AC, unified Saving Throws, etc). It is also, especially for the purposes of this thread, a standalone game (not a supplement and certainly not a supplement for a game other than D&D).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Then my choice would be Pathfinder.

 

[jdrakeh]

Then my choice would be Pathfinder.

Totally valid choice (and one I had not considered)!