OSR Red Box, but like modern I guess?!?!?
Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
In addition to the excellent suggestion of OSE, bear in mind that 5th edition DOES have a Basic set.
It goes all the way to 20th level but doesn't contain the profusion of character options the main game does. It just includes "the big four" of Human, Dwarf, Elf and Halfling for races, and "the big four" of Fighter, Cleric, Wizard and Rogue for classes. Mind you, it still contains references to the other stuff; it's basically the PH just with that extra content chopped out.
It goes all the way to 20th level but doesn't contain the profusion of character options the main game does. It just includes "the big four" of Human, Dwarf, Elf and Halfling for races, and "the big four" of Fighter, Cleric, Wizard and Rogue for classes. Mind you, it still contains references to the other stuff; it's basically the PH just with that extra content chopped out.
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Tales and Chronicles
Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
Old School Essential + Advanced OSE is probably the cleanest, most usable version you'll find for the moment.
My favorite take on OSR is Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures: it has a special feel and thematic to it that just speaks to me, I guess.
The Black Hack 2, while differing from basic D&D, is pretty darn good, quick to play and fun at the actual table.
O5R (5e adaption for retro-sensibility) are numerous and most of them are really well made. Some good examples: Five Torches Deep, Into the Unknown, and
one-other I cant seem to find that was just released (or Kickstarted?) that I think I saw here on Enworld, but I cant remember the name (help please!).
My favorite take on OSR is Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures: it has a special feel and thematic to it that just speaks to me, I guess.
The Black Hack 2, while differing from basic D&D, is pretty darn good, quick to play and fun at the actual table.
O5R (5e adaption for retro-sensibility) are numerous and most of them are really well made. Some good examples: Five Torches Deep, Into the Unknown, and
one-other I cant seem to find that was just released (or Kickstarted?) that I think I saw here on Enworld, but I cant remember the name (help please!).
zarionofarabel
Hero
Thank you for all the great suggestions so far! Looks like I got some reading to do! 
Old School Essentials.Please don't start a flame war as the tone of this might seem hostile to people that love the new editions, and I am not trying to be hostile, I just need to explain what I am looking for!
Okay, so here goes...
Reading all the recent stuff on the new Tasha's book has reminded me that D&D ain't what it used to be. As with the later versions of 3.X I remember reading, classes have become so completely customizable that, IMHO, they are completely pointless. I miss the days when a character's class was important and making that choice had a serious impact cause that's what you were gonna play for the next X number of levels. I also miss the days when there was no race cause elf was a class, not a race. So...
Is there a modernized version of the Red Box D&D that includes the elf and dwarf and halfling classes. Hoomans get to be fighters, or mages, or thiefs, or clerics. There is no multiclasses, or, uh, cross-classes or whatever they were called. Plus, I always hated the THAC0, so I would love if it did the AC is a bonus and rolling higher is better and that kind of thing. Anyway I'm probably asking for the moon, just wondering cause I would love to play an old school campaign again one day, but really, THAC0 can suck it!
www.necroticgnome.com
Exactly what you want.
Democratus
Adventurer
I've seen my favorite two OSR game already mentioned here:
- Into the Unknown (5e-based OSR game)
- Old School Essentials (Red Box-based OSR game)
GreyLord
Legend
I'd say Castles and Crusades. I think it had the option to have an Elf and Dwarf Class in one of it's supplements (but I don't know which as I didn't use it but I think it may have been in the Codex Airde).
It's a rather simple system, but with modern tendencies (originally made to meld into one's choice of AD&D, BECMI, BX, or 3e) with Ascending to Hit and AC. It takes the ability scores of B/X and BECMI however, and has options on how to modify the game as you wish.
The full game has class and race though...
A free PDF for quickstart rules (which has full rules for the four main classes and the main races) is found
C&C QuickStart PDF
It's a rather simple system, but with modern tendencies (originally made to meld into one's choice of AD&D, BECMI, BX, or 3e) with Ascending to Hit and AC. It takes the ability scores of B/X and BECMI however, and has options on how to modify the game as you wish.
The full game has class and race though...
A free PDF for quickstart rules (which has full rules for the four main classes and the main races) is found
C&C QuickStart PDF
I'll add to the chorus of Old School Essentials.
Old School Essentials.
It has an SRD that you can reference here: OSE SRD
With the Advanced Fantasy option (just recently Kickstarted), Old School Essentials has pretty much made 5E obsolete for me. My next hex crawl campaign is going to be OSE, I'm really looking forward to getting back to old school D&D gaming.
Old School Essentials.
It has an SRD that you can reference here: OSE SRD
With the Advanced Fantasy option (just recently Kickstarted), Old School Essentials has pretty much made 5E obsolete for me. My next hex crawl campaign is going to be OSE, I'm really looking forward to getting back to old school D&D gaming.
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
My favorite "retro clone" RPGs that capture that old Red Box Rules flavor (in order of preference):
- Old School Essentials
- Castles and Crusades
- Dungeon Crawl Classics
- The actual red box rules, c.1986
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