Swords & Wizardry (0E retro-clone)

[Mythmere1]

Forgive that this doesn't sound much like a press release, but my whole purpose here is to foster a hobbyist approach rather than a business/consumer approach to games.

Here is where to download the free pdf: Download Swords & Wizardry
Here is the Swords & Wizardry Home page, which accesses the forums as well as the game's supporting products (including the .doc version for cutting and pasting house rules): Index
The print version is available through Lulu at Swords & Wizardry Storefront

As a lot of you know, Swords & Wizardry is a retro-clone of 0E, although it's not as tight as OSRIC is with 1E. The main differences are that there is only one class of saving throw, the initiative system (there's not one in 0E) is rudimentary (since everyone had to house rule this or use the CM rules, I just used a least common denominator) and the XP bonuses are constructed differently (but with similar results) - for legal reasons. These core rules are a mix of the White Box classes (only), the GH system of hit dice and variable damage by weapon, and spells from across the supplements.

In addition to the normal reasons for creating a retro clone (organized/beginner-accessible rules, shared brand name, preservation of rules in free format), Swords & Wizardry is a project to re-initiate the "hobbyist" approach to OOP gaming, the idea that you can tinker from the ground up and make the rules fit any sort of fantasy you want. Too many gamers (and this is not limited to modern gamers, I have seen it on OOP sites as well) approach games like consumers. If it's not in the rules, it's not in the game; if it doesn't fit into the rules, it's not in the game; if the rules aren't completely specific, they're bad rules - you see what I mean by this mindset. But games used to be approached with the ASSUMPTION that the GM and players were going to hack them apart and make them fit the desired effect. The same way we'd take rules for Napoleonic wargaming and tweak them into rules for Space Marines or 52mm green plastic army men.

Knockspell Magazine will also launch - James Maliszewski is the editor - in due time. Knockspell will cover all OGL fantasy retro-clones for which we receive permission to use the game's name, and by extension it will be a magazine for 0E, 1E, and Holmes/Moldvay Basic.

I invite anyone to the project's forums at Swords & Wizardry Forums who would like to check in and find out more information.

Notes: the game is completely OGL content

 

[Angel Tarragon]

So, this is supposed to be an OD&D retro-clone?

 

[Mythmere1]

So, this is supposed to be an OD&D retro-clone?

Depending on where exactly you nail down 0E, which is kind of a moving target with all the supplements and optional rules. But it's a 0E clone.

EDIT: sorry, that might seem like an evasive answer. Under the OGL, I can't indicate compatibility with a trademark. I CAN say that it's a retro-clone of a game that Diaglo would recognize, and that's it's a retro-clone of the original rules Gary Gygax wrote in 1974, as supplemented from 1974-1978.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

EDIT: sorry, that might seem like an evasive answer. Under the OGL, I can't indicate compatibility with a trademark. I CAN say that it's a retro-clone of a game that Diaglo would recognize, and that's it's a retro-clone of the original rules Gary Gygax wrote in 1974, as supplemented from 1974-1978.

Sweet, so are you going to make this available in print through Lulu?

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

Just got done looking through it, great job!

 

[Mythmere1]

Just got done looking through it, great job!

Thanks! And yes, the print version is now available on Lulu at Swords & Wizardry Core Rules (print)

The print version is $7.50, and the pdf is free.

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

OK, just finished reading it. Very nice work on this, I hope a lot of people check this out. I also loved the "old-school" cover art!

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Thanks! And yes, the print version is now available on Lulu at Swords & Wizardry Core Rules (print)

The print version is $7.50, and the pdf is free.

Any chance for a hardback?

 

[Mythmere1]

Any chance for a hardback?

I suppose, but 80 pages just seems ridiculously short for a hardback. One suggestion I've had, which I think is really good, was that when we're done with the Whitebox version (the 3 LBBs only, with no supplemental material, and with much more of the original wonkiness like optional rules included), we should make a flip/over book with one set of rules at the front, and the other set upside down at the back - turn the book around and over, and you're looking at the other set of rules at the front half. That would be long enough to be a hardback, because it would be 160 or so pages. I think most of the people interested in a hardback will want to see both sets of rules anyway, and this is a cheaper way to present them than in two books, both with a high set-up cost for printing.

Unfortunately, the Whitebox version is still a ways away - it's still finalizing with our internal panel of 0e experts, so layout hasn't started yet.

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

I suppose, but 80 pages just seems ridiculously short for a hardback. One suggestion I've had, which I think is really good, was that when we're done with the Whitebox version (the 3 LBBs only, with no supplemental material, and with much more of the original wonkiness like optional rules included), we should make a flip/over book with one set of rules at the front, and the other set upside down at the back - turn the book around and over, and you're looking at the other set of rules at the front half. That would be long enough to be a hardback, because it would be 160 or so pages. I think most of the people interested in a hardback will want to see both sets of rules anyway, and this is a cheaper way to present them than in two books, both with a high set-up cost for printing.

Unfortunately, the Whitebox version is still a ways away - it's still finalizing with our internal panel of 0e experts, so layout hasn't started yet.

I'd buy that in a heartbeat.