Not really my work I just tweaked the formatting. Download from the Scribd page. Various version at my mediafire page.
Further downloads.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxUNSRn6CN88MXhxbkNNVlZFcDg/edit?usp=sharing
http://www.mediafire.com/?dise9bcwzal86
Monday, 19 September 2011
Sunday, 18 September 2011
RPG: Retro Clone Comparison Post
My list of retro clones and games of a similar nature.
Despite the name some of the games are not clones, they are reimaginings or creations of systems that almost were. I have tried to indicate this with the Inspired by / Clone headings. This is not helped by the fact that some of the games steal ideas from all edition of the most popular fantasy role playing game ever. Not all the games are free, but most allow you to download a section of their rules at least.
Games I missed out from the main list are at the bottom.
Further links of interest are also lurking in the deeps.
I am especially interested in any retro clones or remakes of systems that are not inspired by the greatest fantasy role playing game ever.
Last update 30 Mar '13.
Douglas
Homepage: http://www.goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html
Inspired By: Basic Dungeons and Dragons B/X (1981)
Clone: Yes. The Advanced Edition Companion brings in concepts from Advanced D&D in a way that is compatible with the core rules.
Free Download: Yes
Review: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13377.phtml
Despite the name some of the games are not clones, they are reimaginings or creations of systems that almost were. I have tried to indicate this with the Inspired by / Clone headings. This is not helped by the fact that some of the games steal ideas from all edition of the most popular fantasy role playing game ever. Not all the games are free, but most allow you to download a section of their rules at least.
Games I missed out from the main list are at the bottom.
Further links of interest are also lurking in the deeps.
I am especially interested in any retro clones or remakes of systems that are not inspired by the greatest fantasy role playing game ever.
Last update 30 Mar '13.
Douglas
Labyrinth Lord
 |
| Labyrinth Lord |
Homepage: http://www.goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html
Inspired By: Basic Dungeons and Dragons B/X (1981)
Clone: Yes. The Advanced Edition Companion brings in concepts from Advanced D&D in a way that is compatible with the core rules.
Free Download: Yes
Review: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13377.phtml
Saturday, 17 September 2011
RPG: Retro Clones, Interpretations
While I was writing my Return to RPGs series of posts I kept thinking about my old D&D gaming sessions through rose tinted memory filters. I have been looking for something to fill in the D&D shaped hole in my mind.
The D&D I originally played was the Basic game 1983 Revision red Box edition and it's following rule books (expert, companion etc). These books I now know tend to be referred to as Dungeons and Dragons BECMI as edited by Frank Mentzer. This was evidently a follow up to the Dungeon and Dragons B/X rule books by Tom Moldvay and David Cook.
Way back then I did have a look at 2 Edtion AD&D but felt there were too many tables and too much fluff :) Trying 4th Edtion AD&D was a bit of a shock. It is a fun game but I have missed far too many generations of the game to work out quite what has happened. I still spend time trying to work out my THAC0#. I saw mention of the huge change between 4th Edtion and 3.5 so had a look at Pathfinder.
Pathfinder is really nice. I like it a lot. But it still has far too many bells and whistles.
For me the best and purest system was the Mentzer D&D with the rules system from the Gazetteers.
Turned out on the wonderful world of the internet I was not the only person to have this itch to scratch. There was a whole world of stuff!
It turns out game rules can not be copyrighted:
At least in the U.S. I believe it is similar in Europe. This means some enterprising people with far too much wonderful time on their hands have recreated or reinterpreted old gaming systems. They are known by the collective title of retro clones. All seem to be very careful about avoiding naming the system they are inspired by and only concentrating on no longer commercially exploited versions. A few minutes of Googling will find much more complete lists than the one that follows. Most of the retro clones have made slight or significant tweaks to the core rules, often these are the more popular house rules that people used or additions from published supplements. Sometimes ideas from later versions are backported.
Best of all most of these games are free to download with print versions on offer from Print on Demand stores.
Here is my rough list of what I found and liked the look of..
The D&D I originally played was the Basic game 1983 Revision red Box edition and it's following rule books (expert, companion etc). These books I now know tend to be referred to as Dungeons and Dragons BECMI as edited by Frank Mentzer. This was evidently a follow up to the Dungeon and Dragons B/X rule books by Tom Moldvay and David Cook.
Way back then I did have a look at 2 Edtion AD&D but felt there were too many tables and too much fluff :) Trying 4th Edtion AD&D was a bit of a shock. It is a fun game but I have missed far too many generations of the game to work out quite what has happened. I still spend time trying to work out my THAC0#. I saw mention of the huge change between 4th Edtion and 3.5 so had a look at Pathfinder.
Pathfinder is really nice. I like it a lot. But it still has far too many bells and whistles.
For me the best and purest system was the Mentzer D&D with the rules system from the Gazetteers.
Turned out on the wonderful world of the internet I was not the only person to have this itch to scratch. There was a whole world of stuff!
It turns out game rules can not be copyrighted:
Copyright does not protect the idea for a game, its name or title, or the method or methods for playing it. Nor does copyright protect any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in developing, merchandising, or playing a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles. Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form.
At least in the U.S. I believe it is similar in Europe. This means some enterprising people with far too much wonderful time on their hands have recreated or reinterpreted old gaming systems. They are known by the collective title of retro clones. All seem to be very careful about avoiding naming the system they are inspired by and only concentrating on no longer commercially exploited versions. A few minutes of Googling will find much more complete lists than the one that follows. Most of the retro clones have made slight or significant tweaks to the core rules, often these are the more popular house rules that people used or additions from published supplements. Sometimes ideas from later versions are backported.
Best of all most of these games are free to download with print versions on offer from Print on Demand stores.
Here is my rough list of what I found and liked the look of..
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Metacreator: How To Create A New Savage World
I am not a rules lawyer :) Nor am I an expert with the Metacreator software (link), something I primarily got to help me make characters quickly and easily. Something it excels at. My experience is limited to using it with Savage Worlds (link).
Eventually I got to the stage where I needed to expand what was available. In the old days I would have just used endless reams of paper stolen from school. Today W.H. Smiths take a dim view of grown adults, probably kids too, nicking endless pads of paper. I need to create a new world. The help system is excellent:
But it did take me some time to get my head round it. Here is my attempt to help others as slow as myself. For the purposes of this example the world I create will be based on my unused campaign idea "The Hollow Apocalypse" when the entities lurking in the Hollow Earth invade the surface in the early twentieth century.
Eventually I got to the stage where I needed to expand what was available. In the old days I would have just used endless reams of paper stolen from school. Today W.H. Smiths take a dim view of grown adults, probably kids too, nicking endless pads of paper. I need to create a new world. The help system is excellent:
But it did take me some time to get my head round it. Here is my attempt to help others as slow as myself. For the purposes of this example the world I create will be based on my unused campaign idea "The Hollow Apocalypse" when the entities lurking in the Hollow Earth invade the surface in the early twentieth century.
Monday, 5 September 2011
Anno Dracula: Not A Review
Anno Dracula
It looks like the long awaited Johnny Alucard is about to see print. Which makes me very happy.
In 1993, I was a tender 21 years old, a book came out by an author called Kim Newman (whose work I knew from Interzone) which became one of my favourite books of all time. It still remains so, despite me losing my paperback copy many years ago and fearing I would never get to read it again.
[caption id="attachment_699" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Anno Dracula (1993)"]
[/caption]
Browsing round Waterstones I came across a new edition.
It looks like the long awaited Johnny Alucard is about to see print. Which makes me very happy.
In 1993, I was a tender 21 years old, a book came out by an author called Kim Newman (whose work I knew from Interzone) which became one of my favourite books of all time. It still remains so, despite me losing my paperback copy many years ago and fearing I would never get to read it again.
[caption id="attachment_699" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Anno Dracula (1993)"]
[/caption]Browsing round Waterstones I came across a new edition.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Public Domain: Old Newspapers at the Library of Congress
Here is my very rough guide about searching for newspapers at the Library of Congress. Everything used is either public domain (US) or for non-profit educational purposes. Rights may vary in other countries.
The Library of Congress
The American Library of Congress, online, is a wonderful place to be. The treasure contained within and freely shared are an example on how these things should be done, how they should be done right. Included in their treasures is a section called Chronicling America, which is a large collection of old scanned newspapers. From their own site:
This is akin to saying the Sistine Chapel is a bit of Dulux (tm) slapped on the ceiling.
The long way there is to go here: http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html"]
[/caption]
The Library of Congress
The American Library of Congress, online, is a wonderful place to be. The treasure contained within and freely shared are an example on how these things should be done, how they should be done right. Included in their treasures is a section called Chronicling America, which is a large collection of old scanned newspapers. From their own site:
Chronicling America is a Website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). NDNP, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC), is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages. Supported by NEH, this rich digital resource will be developed and permanently maintained at the Library of Congress. An NEH award program will fund the contribution of content from, eventually, all U.S. states and territories.
This is akin to saying the Sistine Chapel is a bit of Dulux (tm) slapped on the ceiling.
The long way there is to go here: http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html"]
[/caption]Saturday, 3 September 2011
Return to RPGs V: Optimistically Seeking Nerdvana
Real life I took over.
Despite my journeys up and down the country I never met anyone who said to me:
Playing About On The Internet
For some reason I never really used the Internet for RPGs. Most searches were limited to searching for solutions for Jap RPGs. By this time I had given up all hope of finding a gaming group in the backwoods of Scotland. Also many of the gaming clubs with presences on the internet seemed to be connected to Universities. Students in marge numbers did not appeal.
Despite my journeys up and down the country I never met anyone who said to me:
"Yes Doug I would like to hear more exciting tales about when you used to play roleplaying games. D&D sounds like so much fun."
Playing About On The Internet
For some reason I never really used the Internet for RPGs. Most searches were limited to searching for solutions for Jap RPGs. By this time I had given up all hope of finding a gaming group in the backwoods of Scotland. Also many of the gaming clubs with presences on the internet seemed to be connected to Universities. Students in marge numbers did not appeal.
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