There's been a wee bit of talk about doing up a retroclone of Tom Moldvay's crossgenre RPG Lords of Creation, though I'm not sure anyone has done any work on it. I'm not sure if there's actually an audience for such a thing. Quick show of hands: anybody reading this interested in playing LoC but can't find a copy cheap? Last time I checked reasonably priced boxed sets pop up on eBay fairly regularly.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that if such a project got off the ground then Princes of the Universe wouldn't be a terrible title for it.
Nowadays I laugh a little when Freddie says "bring on the girls!" When I was a kid I had no idea.
Anyway, I've been thinking about Lord of Creation the past few days because I've got the nugget of a campaign concept rolling around in my brain. Maybe I'll write more on that later.
Mince Pie Fest 2024: Morrisons The Best
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The Best? I'll be the judge of that. (I think I probably make the same joke
every year.) (I'm not sure what's happening in that last photo. Possibly
some s...
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You know he was bi, right? A lot of people seem not to.
ReplyDeleteIt would be an good title.
Freddie is my favourite guy with a funny moustache and superhuman charisma.
I'm not trying to pin any sort of label on Freddie the Mercurial here, I just find it slightly funny sometimes when his lyrics take a turn for the hetero.
DeleteIt's such an evocative title, and Lord of Creation looks like such an awesome game concept, the two seem like a natural fit.
ReplyDeleteI for one would hugely dig a retro-clone of LoC. I'd like to see what people could do with it - what adventures and encounters and house rules would start to turn up. (First item on my wishlist: advancement that is not so strictly linked to killing enemies - something to parallel the gold for xp in classic D&D. Some kind of interdimensional energy to be harvested? Perhaps something like "nexus crystals" that form when dimensions overlap?)
Perhaps not a strict retro-clone, but a... whatever the term is for Mutant Future. Because I noticed on the one lucky day I got to peruse the LoC rulebook, it seems to share a lot of DNA with B/X, and capitalizing on that could have potential. It could double as a stand-alone game or as planar campaign option for other retro-clones.
Yeah, whatever Mutant Future is makes for an interesting template. I can't help but read LoC's powers section and see behind it Tom Moldvay's Companion rules for BX D&D, repurposed as a standalone game.
DeleteI have Lords of Creation, but this is what I’d be interested in. A Mutant Future style adaption that makes it the “any genre” big brother of Labyrinth Lord. If I had the time and energy, I would’ve started that project myself.
DeleteAll day today, I found myself imagining a campaign that remixes aspects of Tom Baker-era Doctor Who, the classic Trek episode Assignment: Earth, Time Bandits, MythAdventures, Torg, Buckaroo Bonzai, Phantasm, and Big Trouble in Little China. Which I realize is an insane mixture of probably-incompatable elements... but isn't that kind of insane wishlist just how D&D got started?
DeleteWhen I read your article, it gave me a "Quickening." I was like "WHAAA...!?", then I was like "Damn, that was quick! I should really have a doctor treat that." Then I was like "A Lords of Creation retroclone?! That would kick ass!", then I thought "I wounder if such a project needs an artist?" =P
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun to me, Jeff :D
ReplyDeleteAllan.
I wholly endorse this blog post!
ReplyDeleteI've already got my own copy of LoC (and have had it since 1980-whatever), so a retro-clone isn't necessary for me. BUT! If more people had the game, then maybe I'd get a chance to play it. So, it needs to be done.
ReplyDeleteLoC was the first RPG I ever played. I don't remember much of it, but it hooked me nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteI am in total support of a retroclone myself, but then again, I've been puttting off getting a copy of these rules myself for way too long.
ReplyDeleteI always perk up a bit when I see a mention of LoC. I bought it new back when and I've managed to run it twice in the 28 or so years since then. As enthusiastic as I am about it, it's just never appealed to that many people in the circles I have traveled. That makes me question the amount of effort to be poured into a retroclone, but man if the inspiration strikes you I'd be happy to read/help/promote/playtest.
ReplyDeleteI think the best thing about it was the "anything" quality it held, especially for the DM. I still have my notes and maps from a session where a band of saurians armed with flintlocks was defending a stone wall from an attack by HG's - that was a lot of fun. The closest "current" game to that anything is possible spirit is Rifts, which could do with a mechanically sane retroclone as well
... and if you do push it forward that title gets two thumbs up here.
I am sadly uninformed about Lords of Creation. I'll have to rectify this!
ReplyDeleteI totally clicked in that title hoping for a Highlander RPG...
ReplyDeleteSorry, dude. Did they make one of those? I remember a knock-off sort of thing called, IIRC, Immortal. It premiered the first time I went to GenCon, in the early 90's. I bought Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth instead. I think that was a lose-lose situation I found myself in.
DeleteThere was another one actually: Legacy: War of Ages, authored by Brandon and Susan Blackmoor and published through Blackgate publishing. It's an unofficial and blatant take on the Highlander mythos. I picked it up in 1993, IIRC. Interestingly enough, the proceeds of sales were donated to a charity for a Native American Nation.
DeleteThe rules specifically reference immortals who can only be killed permanently by decapitation,, the life energy of said immortals pouring forth upon death with other immortals able to harness this force, an end time conflict where the immortals will rule the non-mortals, an organization that observe the immortals but don't interfere, etc... Its 'Techno Gothic' World featured Vampires, Witches, Dwimmerlaik(HPL style Eldritch Ambominations), Warlocks, the Winternet(spelled correctly, btw ;-) ), secret government agencies studying immortal beings, Megacorporations, trenchcoats, lotsa swordfights, Industrial music, black trenchcoats concealing bladed weapons, and the other trappings of a (then)'modern' RPG(point buy generation with advantages/disadvantages, fair number of skills, no classes, doesn't use a D20[it utilizes a D10], rambling 'genre' fiction interspersed throughout the book, quotes from 'alternative' musicians like 2 Non-blondes, Blue Oyster Cult, and Living Colour, etc...).
I thought it was a fascinating mishmash of prevailing pop culture, myself. Duncan Macleod, of the Clan Macleod, versus Nosferatu, Starspawn, Raytheon, *and* the CIA! What's not to like really? Other than that early 90's smell of techno-fetishism, avant-garde pretension(note especially the afterword about the van ride from Gen-Con! :-) ), and yet another vision of a bleak, crumbling society that Our Individualistic and Stoic Heroes must stand apart from and grimly and bloodily subsist in.
Bought it new years ago... as well as The Horn of Roland. I enjoyed it, but it was too different for my group then, and I think we only played one time. Unfortunately, the core mechanic was too different for me to use with the AD&D campaign world I'd spent so much time on... so it never got the play it deserved.
ReplyDeleteAn LoC retroclone is a GREAT idea! I've often pondered what the game would have looked like with 20+ years of development and genre. Plus all of the five level power powers that could 've been made. I had the idea for a Risus-powered tribute called "The Dukes of Anywhen" but my lazy ass never finished it. All I have is ideas scribbled here or there.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea!
ReplyDeleteI've been talking about making a LoC retroclone for years. Unfortunately, I've never actually done any work for it.
ReplyDeleteHmm, if someone wants to do it, great... but really? a LoC retroclone? I think a lot of the charm would be lost without the Moldvay "voice". Also as Jeff says, if you really want to play LoC, you can probably find a copy (of course, same goes with B/X retroclones like LL). I got a boxed LoC set a few years ago, with all the adventure modules too, and recently ran it for the first time. My regular (D&D) players enjoyed it, but man that Horn Of Roland adventure is a serious railroad! Weird/fun stuff though. Anyway, I could think of a few of other old out of print rpgs that need retroclones before LoC, such as Top Secret, TFT (Legends of the Ancient World doesn't really count), and even early edition Champions.
ReplyDelete