OSR Which retroclone/OSR game is closest to AD&D 2E?

Zardnaar · Apr 4, 2019

lowkey13 said:
Regardless of whether or not I agree with your assertion, you don’t understand my point.

This is a retroclone for people who didn’t like 2e and thought it was an abomination- in other words, an attempt to channel Gygax (WWGD). This is, for all practical purposes, anti-2e, and is probably most enjoyable to those grognards who still cringe when they see a 2e PHB.

Iow, probably not the best choice for someone seeking a 2e clone.

C&C is a clone of 1E but there are a lot of 2E and 3E elements in it. For example it uses a unifed ability score table, gold=xp is optional, you can plug in modern d20 ability score mids etc. As I said it's full of optional rules including neo feats and Morrus likes his crunch so thought it might appeal. It has the best claim out if the clones to be AD&D 3E.

Gold and Glory is really the only clone of 2E as such. Mostly because of presentation.

JeffB · Apr 4, 2019

2E rulebooks are cheap and easy to score on the used market, and these days all the PDFs are there for purchase too, from WOTC. No real reason to seek out a clone, and as mentioned. there is basically only one: FG&G. I'd just grab the real deal in whichever format you prefer.

Morrus · Apr 4, 2019

JeffB said:
2E rulebooks are cheap and easy to score on the used market, and these days all the PDFs are there for purchase too, from WOTC. No real reason to seek out a clone, and as mentioned. there is basically only one: FG&G. I'd just grab the real deal in whichever format you prefer.

I have a large 2E collection (and other editions). I was curious what third parties had done to evolve or improve the core rules.

lowkey13 · Apr 4, 2019

*Deleted by user*

Legatus Legionis · Apr 4, 2019

Zardnaar · Apr 4, 2019

Morrus said:
I have a large 2E collection (and other editions). I was curious what third parties had done to evolve or improve the core rules.

There's not alot. 2E was alot smaller and a lot of it is not OGL. Gold and Glory evokes 2E well but it's a bit pointless if you have a 2E phb.

Voadam · Apr 4, 2019

Hackmaster 4e and Gold and Glory are the big ones but there are publishers with some individual products. Point of Insanity Games came out with their Modern Monks line to retroclone 2e rules tailored to do Martial Arts heroes in a modern world.

trancejeremy · Apr 4, 2019

For Gold & Glory (not just Gold & Glory) is the only 2e retroclone. People saying Hackmaster and Adventures Dark and Deep are flat out wrong.

FG&G is not the most popular retroclone out there, but does have some excellent quality adventure support from the Merciless Merchants. It also is nice because unlike say OSRIC (the only 1e AD&D retroclone), it's all open content, so you could use it as the basis for other games

Though AFAIK, no one has. But basically AD&D is probably the least popular part of the OSR. It's probably 70% OD&D (via S&W), 25% B/X (mostly Labyrinth Lord but also B/X essentials) and 5% the rest

And if you are talking about house ruled systems published as new ones, it's 90% Sword & Wizardry (there are dozens of these), 10% other, with only Adventures Dark & Deep being AD&D based (sort of AD&D 1.75)

Zardnaar · Apr 4, 2019

trancejeremy said:
For Gold & Glory (not just Gold & Glory) is the only 2e retroclone. People saying Hackmaster and Adventures Dark and Deep are flat out wrong.

FG&G is not the most popular retroclone out there, but does have some excellent quality adventure support from the Merciless Merchants. It also is nice because unlike say OSRIC (the only 1e AD&D retroclone), it's all open content, so you could use it as the basis for other games

Though AFAIK, no one has. But basically AD&D is probably the least popular part of the OSR. It's probably 70% OD&D (via S&W), 25% B/X (mostly Labyrinth Lord but also B/X essentials) and 5% the rest

And if you are talking about house ruled systems published as new ones, it's 90% Sword & Wizardry (there are dozens of these), 10% other, with only Adventures Dark & Deep being AD&D based (sort of AD&D 1.75)

Online it's 1E, S&W and a bit of C&C IIRC.