17 Mar 2009
I know that a number of MO regulars are or were tabletop role-playing gamers. Is anyone up on or into the recent “retro-clone” movement of old-school gaming like Labyrinth Lord (1981 Moldvay edition clone) or Swords & Wizardry (Original edition clone)?
March 18th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
My gaming group started looking at some of these retro-clones when 4E D&D came out (a lot of people in our group didn’t want to make the switch from 3.5, and some even wanted to go back to AD&Dfor old times sake). I’m pretty familiar with “old” D&D and its quirks (you get more XP for having high ability scores, dwarves and elves are separate classes, etc.), and it is a throwback to a simpler time.
You do sacrifice many years of combat balancing. For me, fights in old versions of D&D (Basic and its progeny) are tedious and boring (though they happen much faster without individual initiative sequencing). There are parts of old D&D that are more flavorful than new age D&D (I still kinda miss the thief tables instead of a one-size-fits-all Thievery skill check, for instance), but overall, we decided to stick with the relatively new stuff (4E and Pathfinder).
March 19th, 2009 at 9:36 am
It may not be your cup of tea if you are looking for wizards and such, but Advanced Squad Leader, the old Avalon Hill WWII tactical level game (now Habro-MMP) is alive and well.
March 19th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Dave: I’ve been into “wizards and such” a bit more lately, but I admit that my “old-school gaming” bug extends beyond fantasy RPGs. In fact, my son and I have been playing a little PanzerBlitz recently.
Of all, things, I’ve never played ASL. I’ve always sort of wanted to, and used to look the box over in the hobby store.