In the comments to my post on 4 things I don't like about Moldvay Basic kelvingreen asked whether Dan Proctor's Labyrinth Lord fixes any of my nitpicks. Turns out that three out of four of my gripes are addressed. Points swapping is not mentioned. The default chargen in 3d6 in order, with a note that some DMs use other methods like 4d6 or roll multiple sets and pick one. I can't find any initiative penalty for two-handed weapons in either the equipment chapter or the combat section. Spellbooks are not given hard and fast rules about limits. Instead some options are discussed, none of which involve the limitations I was whining about in Moldvay. Oil still does d8, but that was the least of my complaints.
While I'm talking about Labyrinth Lord, I should mention that you can get print copies at Amazon now as well as Lulu. How long has LL had that sweet new purple cover? I got to get me one of those! The free download version is still available at Lulu and the LL homepage.
Chris Gonnerman's Basic Fantasy, the nifty not-quite-a-clone that combines some of the best aspects of Basic/Expert and Advanced, is due out for an updated edition soon. You can get a pre-release draft at the Basic Fantasy downloads section. Looks pretty dang cool.
I really need to get a hardcopy of both of those games as I'd play either at the drop of a hat.
Another retro-game I'd cheerfully play is the all-new Microlite74, an OD&D-flavored hack of the already-awesome Microlite20. If you're an old schooler that loves the Wilderlands of High Fantasy boxed set and want to get some use out of those d20 statblocks, you ought to check out the Microlite games.
Edit because I am an idiot: Issue #2 of Fight On!, the super-awesome magazine for old school fantasy gaming, is now for sale at Lulu. Features 88 pages of articles by all sorts of cool people and me.
"Ark Against Time" Submitted for DunDraCon #48
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[image: A colorful thing seems to be made of several elongated pods]
(Ark of Time)
*GM: Matt MorrisonType: RPGSystem: D&D/Arduin GrimoireEdition: 5...
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LL does have some rules on swapping character points, of the "take 2 from one stat to add 1 to another" ilk, but with more than a couple restrictions. I'm not sure how those compare against your favorite ruleset.
ReplyDelete(I am checking out LL after trying out my first 4E combat. I can't believe what a horrific clusterfrack of rules it (4e) was.)
Really? I must have missed them.
ReplyDeleteI really like the alternate red cover for Labyrinth Lord:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.htm
It's old school, but NEW old school... if you know what I mean.
Thanks for responding! I've only just come back to gaming, so this whole retro movement passed me by. When you said you were going to do some compare-and-contrasting, I felt I had to ask what you thought.
ReplyDeleteI’ve also read that you can order LL from your local brick-and-mortar B&N, which I keep meaning to do. I think there’d be something quite satisfying about ordering an old school game in an old school manner.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's right, Labyrinth Lord has gone into traditional distribution. I have to scrape up some money and try and order it into my local store, but there are so many cool new releases imminent.
ReplyDelete