The books of ye Olde School Revival

[Ironnerd]

DARK DUNGEONS is a retro-clone role-playing game - a game in the style of old-school 1980's and 1990's role-playing games; harking back to the days when rogues were thieves, races were classes, and you could start your adventuring career exploring a few basic dungeons and end up traveling the planes as an immortal being of pure divine power.

This book contains the entire game in a single work, so there is no need to cross-reference between multiple rule books and supplements.

Grab some dice and form a party like it's 1989!

Clone of: BECMI

[Ironnerd]

The Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a rules-light game system based on the d20 SRD v3.5, but heavily rewritten with inspiration from early RPG game systems. It is suitable for those who are fans of "old-school" game mechanics, yet simple enough for children in perhaps second or third grade to play while still having enough depth for adults as well.


Clone of: B/X

[Ironnerd]

Labyrinth Lord

Down to the Roots of Fantasy Gaming

"Enter a world filled with labyrinths, magic, and monsters! You can take the role of a cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter, halfling, magic-user, or thief on your quest for glory, treasure, and adventure! This is a complete role playing game. All you need are a few sheets of paper and some dice. Welcome back to a simpler old-school gaming experience. The Labyrinth Lord awaits your arrival. Can you survive the dangers of the labyrinth?"



Clone of: B/X

[hengest]

It was these works that really got me excited some eight years ago. They were free, they had a cool feel to them, and they finally showed me (sort of) what I had been looking for in gaming all along and had never quite found, despite having plenty of fun. Very grateful to those who wrote / assembled / edited / illustrated these works.

[Ironnerd]

I have to say Dark Dungeons was my personal pick for OSR systems (until I found Old-School Essentials). It's similar to the Rules Cyclopedia. It even works in references to the Dark Dungeons Chick Tract. I remember reading it when I was a kid and thinking "Wow! What a load of crap."

[Ironnerd]

Old-School Essentials is not just a clone of B/X (but I use it in place of BECMI), it is quite a bit more. Created by Gavin Norman and published by Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome, the system gives you everything you loved about Basic D&D in a high-quality, well bound, digest-sized package. As I stated, this is not just a compilation of the old rules. Old-School Essentials includes corrections to the old rules, adds in a few things that seem to have been misplaced along the journey up from OD&D, and presents these rules in a really nice, well-organized format. The interior art may not be Elmore, but some of it is really darn good. Players can still pick from the B/X classes (Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User, Thief, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling). Character creation is still quick and easy. Game play is still quick and easy. Best of all, OSE is compatible with all the cool old B/X and BECMI stuff (Modules, Gazetteers, Creature Catalogue, Hollow World... all of it).

For those pulling players in from more recent versions of D&D (5e), there is an option for using ascending armor class which is annotated throughout the rules. Monsters have THAC0 Armor Class, then Ascending AC in brackets.


The rules are well supported with free downloads at the Necrotic Gnome website like character sheets, setting information (Dolmenwood seems to be OSE's Greyhawk/Blackmoor), and at least one adventure module. DM's will also find the on-line Rules Reference and Generator tools to be quite handy.

But wait... there's more.
Necrotic Gnome also came out with Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy. This set of expansion rules allows players to adventure as an acrobat, assassin, barbarian, bard, cleric, drow, druid, duergar, dwarf, elf, fighter, gnome, halfling, half-elf, half-orc, illusionist, knight, magic-user, paladin, ranger, or svirfneblin) and adds new creatures, magic, and treasures.

Since I have started using OSE, I have rarely needed to pick up my Rules Cyclopedia when running a game of D&D. I have not had to change any characters, monsters, settings, or anything in order to make the switch, and it has made both running and playing Old School D&D more enjoyable for me and my players (less time looking up hidden rules - like natural healing - means more time pulverizing Orcs).

You don't have to believe me (I'm a Dungeon Master... I lie), you can download a free super-basic version of the rules to look over for yourself right here: LINK

And if that ain't enough, here's Captain Courageous' review:

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

Ironnerd Great post!  OSE has been on my radar for quite some time and I really need to pick up a copy.