Older D&D and Retroclone Thread: From OD&D To 4E

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Older D&D and Retroclone Thread: From OD&D To 4E

Red_Mage: Jul 23, 2007; I SHOULD BE FUCKING PERMABANNED BUT IN THE MEANTIME ASK ME ABOUT MY FAILED KICKSTARTER AND RUNNING OFF WITH THE MONEY

Don't forget the other feature of ACK, a close relationship with the Escapist which leads to biased articles and misinformation about non ACK systems. Also tons of shameless promotion.

I would kill for a baggage free OD&D clone.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2012 08:29

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 09:03

Red_Mage: Jul 23, 2007; I SHOULD BE FUCKING PERMABANNED BUT IN THE MEANTIME ASK ME ABOUT MY FAILED KICKSTARTER AND RUNNING OFF WITH THE MONEY

bishun posted:

Not a retro-clone of D&D/AD&D, but definitely in the same spirit, Dungeon Crawl Classics has been a source of fun lately.

If you are familiar with any other D&D alike

DCC features a loyalty oath
Casting a healing spell is a 12 step process
Character creation involves playing the survivor of a pool of lambs you generate and lead to the slaughter

Red_Mage fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jul 24, 2012

# ¿ Jul 24, 2012 19:23

Red_Mage: Jul 23, 2007; I SHOULD BE FUCKING PERMABANNED BUT IN THE MEANTIME ASK ME ABOUT MY FAILED KICKSTARTER AND RUNNING OFF WITH THE MONEY

Hey I actually need this thread's help. Being as it is of dubious legality to provide straight AD&D stats for monsters, if I were converting an adventure, what retroclone would probably provide the most universal base so lots of retroclone players could use it. I am leaning toward S&W, but if anyone has a better idea, I'd love to hear it.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2012 19:00

Red_Mage: Jul 23, 2007; I SHOULD BE FUCKING PERMABANNED BUT IN THE MEANTIME ASK ME ABOUT MY FAILED KICKSTARTER AND RUNNING OFF WITH THE MONEY

OtspIII posted:

Is this something you're publishing/selling, and if so in what context? From most of the retroclone-style modules I've seen they generally at most provide a tiny 1/2 line statblock that lists the creature's Hit Dice, Armor Class, any attacks they can do, Morale, and maybe like movement speed and a class level it saves like and reminders of special abilities and stuff. If you just went with something along the lines of "6 Goblins (HD:1-1,AC:6,1 Club(1d6),M:7,Playing Dice)" you'd be pretty universally usable. If this is something you're going to be selling for profit you might want to look at some other published modules out there and see how they handled it, but just that level of detail should keep you from emulating any one specific product (be in D&D or a retroclone or whatever).

I really just need to provide a statline for monsters as it is a thing I will be publishing. Any suggestions for a universal module with some monster variety?

# ¿ Aug 1, 2012 21:05

Red_Mage: Jul 23, 2007; I SHOULD BE FUCKING PERMABANNED BUT IN THE MEANTIME ASK ME ABOUT MY FAILED KICKSTARTER AND RUNNING OFF WITH THE MONEY

Hey if anyone was wondering why any of the RPGs are in the categories they are in, check Fatal and Friends, it has your answers. For example this is why DCC is listed where it is;

DCC posted:

Abandon all presumptions, ye who enter here.
Turn the pages of this tome only should you
meet these qualifications:

That you are a fantasy enthusiast of imaginative mind, familiar with the
customs of role playing, understanding the history and significance of the
Elder Gods Gygax and Arneson and their cohorts Bledsaw, Holmes, Kask,
Kuntz, Mentzer, and Moldvay, and knowledgeable of the role of �judge� and the
practice of �adventure.�

That you are in possession of the implements of role playing; namely, graph
paper and an assortment of polyhedrons, including but not limited to d4,
d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20; that you know the works of the great mage Zocchi
and are prepared to exercise d3, d5, d7, d14, d16, d24, d30, or d% should they need
to be deployed; and, although you may possess metal figurines and erasable mats
for purposes of enjoyment, you understand their role as optional visualizers not
prerequisites.

That you understand and appreciate certain visual hieroglyphs derived from
denizens of the higher planes whose deific identities among mortals are
rendered, in the Common tongue: Otus, Easley, Roslof, Holloway, Caldwell,
Trampier, and Dee.

That you should be appreciative of a life of fantastic adventure and
escapades, and acknowledge that a dungeon crawl facilitates the judging of
a game focused thereon, but in no way excludes broader adventures in the
wilderness, at court, on the outer planes, or on the sea, air, or other places.
That you apprehend the fantasy pandect recorded in Appendix N with
reverence and delight, acknowledging its defining place in creating this
hobby.

That you are prepared to pledge, with right hand upon your little brown
books, that you shall uphold the honor of the hobby of role playing to all
comers, whether young or old.

If these conditions are not met, then replace this book upon the shelf and flee
with great celerity, for a bane befalls the heretical beholder of that which lies
herein.

Should you meet these qualifications, be aware that you are indoctrinated into
the order of Dungeon Crawl Classics and will find kind fellows of similar
sentiment also within this order. You may proceed in good health.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2012 21:54

Red_Mage: Jul 23, 2007; I SHOULD BE FUCKING PERMABANNED BUT IN THE MEANTIME ASK ME ABOUT MY FAILED KICKSTARTER AND RUNNING OFF WITH THE MONEY

VacuumJockey posted:

Admittedly DCC is not my cup of tea, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game either. It's a dungeon-crawl RPG aimed at a distinct segment of roleplayers, and I applaud the author for communicating his intent so clearly. That intro right there tells you what DCC is about in no uncertain terms.

And say what you will, but there's no rape in DCC. :0

I'm going to come down from my lofty new school throne and say that if your game requires more than 6 kinds of dice, and has individual spells that require more than 3 steps to resolve you have made a bad game.

But you are definitely right, it is not as bad as Carcosa or LotFP/

# ¿ Aug 16, 2012 22:57

Red_Mage: Jul 23, 2007; I SHOULD BE FUCKING PERMABANNED BUT IN THE MEANTIME ASK ME ABOUT MY FAILED KICKSTARTER AND RUNNING OFF WITH THE MONEY

OtspIII posted:

Either way, both systems are about equally good for that in a "there aren't a lot of bad rules that make running a game like that actively hard" sort of way. Both can work really well for it, but I suggest looking into both loose (general GMing advice) and relatively strict (like, how Dogs in the Vineyard handles town creation) town and conflict generation guidelines. D&D is very much optimized for dungeon-crawling, but early editions are simple enough that if you're cool with winging non-combat stuff they can work just fine as combat adjudication systems.

Yeah there isn't really a D&D or retroclone that is really bad at that per say. And some of the best advice for this sort of game isn't going to be in corebooks anyhow, it'll be in supplements focused on exploration.

http://www.gnomestew.com/tools-for-gms/old-school-fantasy-hexcrawl-resources/

There is a lot of useful stuff there, but skip the primer on old school gaming, it'll do more harm than good. If you don't want to randomize, thats OK (I'd suggest its even better). Pick up some cool adventures (Castle Ravenloft and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks are 2 of my favorites) and some modern Setting books (late 3.5 Adventures and multisetting books like Ghostwalk or Stormwrack, or 4e campaign guides) and just rip the parts you like out wholesale. Need hooks for the eastern deserts? Pull some cities out of dark sun with maybe a large sandstone dungeon ripped out of an AD&D module. Northern forests? Forgotten realms has a few neat standalone kingdoms and towns, each with many secrets.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2013 12:05

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 09:03

Red_Mage: Jul 23, 2007; I SHOULD BE FUCKING PERMABANNED BUT IN THE MEANTIME ASK ME ABOUT MY FAILED KICKSTARTER AND RUNNING OFF WITH THE MONEY

TheGreySpectre posted:

It looks like it has a lot of potential, I was rather disappointed in their current planescape selection though. 3 products out of 30 and it was three of the products that arn't very helpful to running a campaign. I am really hoping they put out the full campaign setting and the planes boxed sets at some point.

On a side note with digital editions most things are fine but is there a good way to get the maps printed at a decent price? Large format prints seem to be exceedingly expensive. To get the four maps from the planescape campaign setting alone printed would cost almost $100 at most print shops I have found.

http://arje.net/rasterbator and a lamination machine/modgepodge and canvas possibly?

# ¿ Jan 22, 2013 23:42

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