There are a ton of Dungeons & Dragons retro-clones. So many that there isn't a complete listing anywhere. The best listing I've seen is the one at Taxidermic Owlbear, though I believe that list is now out of date. The second best listing is the one at Tenkar's Tavern.
Anyway, I certainly have not had enough time to read every ruleset out there, but I've read a lot. The one I like the best is White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game, but it's still not an exact match for my preferences.
Maybe one of my readers knows of a better match for me.
Here are my preferences:
- Armor Class should be Ascending.
- Limited number of classes: Fighter, Magic-User, and Cleric (like OD&D). Druid is ok. I can barely tolerate Thief. Rangers, Paladins, and Bards are unacceptable.
- Race as class. Allowing all races to be thieves is acceptable.
- There should be some serious disadvantages for being non-human. The disadvantage should be so severe that most players would rather play a human.
- Three alignments (like OD&D). Or none.
- Savings throws based on attributes. Second preference is the 3E categories. Third preference is a single save. Recreations of the original D&D savings throw category is unacceptable.
- d6 based Hit Dice is preferred (like OD&D).
- All hits should do 1d6 (like OD&D).
- Most monsters get only 1 attack per round (like OD&D).
The problem with my preferences is clear: I want something that emulates OD&D, except where I don't want it to. Most retro-clones are written to emulate a specific version.
So what retro-clone would you recommend for me? How do you preferences differ from mine?
You want 0.3E. That's an odd request 😁 Go house rule the heck out of WBFMAG. Or start straight from 0DD. Use the single volume version somebody threw together a few years ago (easier on the eyes). Change saves to ability saves. Just don't use more than one attack per turn as you run monsters. This is the OSR! Don't like it? Change it!
ReplyDeleteKeep on with the podcast, bro.