#retroclone

Holmes 77, one of many D&D retroclones compiled at:

Some PDFs are hosted at that site, and others are linked, with some older links now broken.

Another list of retroclones, OSR games, and OSR-like rules is hosted at the ynasmidgard blog, with a link to a googledoc in the first sentence of this post:

“Trapper Keeper” © Kenzer and Co, by Brian and Brendon Fraim

[I feel like a pun opportunity was missed here. Shouldn’t this be a trapper creeper? Anyway, the statistics below are based more on the art than on the mechanics in Rustlers of the Night. As written, this creature has one giant blossom, like an Audrey II, that it swallows creatures in and imprisons them to be collected by slavers later. I like the little toothy rose mouths too much to ignore them.]

Vampire Rose CR 4 N Plant What appears to be an ordinary rosebush becomes horribly mobile. Its branches wave around like thorny tentacles, and in its flowers are small toothy mouths.

Vampire roses, like the name suggests, are blood drinking flowering plants. They are believed to be created by magical manipulation—their flowers more closely resemble those of cultivated roses than any wild variety. They are often used as security measures by those with a taste for the macabre—as long as they are regularly fed blood, they are content to remain in the same place for months at a time.

The mouths of a vampire rose, although toothy, are not suited for piercing armor or flesh—they are used instead to sip blood from the wounds inflicted by their stems. Creatures trapped in the tendrils of a vampire rose are torn to ribbons, and even attempting to escape from their grasp causes the prickles on their vines to dig deeper and more painfully in.

Vampire roses are naturally sterile, and only reproduce through cuttings. An adventurer slaying a vampire rose may inadvertently allow it to reproduce in this fashion, unless the remains are destroyed with fire or acid. The blossoms of a vampire rose change color over time—they are white when the creature hasn’t fed recently, pink when feeding is regular but sparse, and a vivid red when the creature is gorged on blood.

Star Wars: Classic Adventures

Beyond the Wall is another retro-clone, this one configured to play with little to no prep, a task it accomplishes quite well, in part by limiting classes to fighter, rogue and mage. In addition to the streamlined OD&D system, there are luck points and character playbooks that lift ideas from Apocalypse World, keeping everything modular and easy to use. A reworked magic system includes rules for True Names and rituals, making magic powerful, mysterious and a bit more high-risk than you might expect. While there are no real surprises here in terms of system, Beyond the Wall feels a bit like an outgrowth of years of OSR, an evolution of sorts, rather than straight up OSR.

Theme is where Beyond the Wall excels. The game takes books series like Earthsea, The Dark is Rising and The Prydain Chronicles as its inspiration, so the game focuses on coming of age stories. The characters are kids, making their way in the world for the first time. To cement this vibe there are random tables to establish the details of their earlier childhoods. In something borrowed from storytelling games, the players collaborate to create the details of their village, the environs of which will be the setting of their explorations.

The vibe is strong (I admit, I picked this up on a whim because the back cover name-checked the Prydain Chronicles). It is actually a bit odd, I think, that D&D was always so focused on murder-hobos and never chased the kid adventure angle (especially considering that’s basically what the 80s cartoon was about). It is certainly a well-ploughed field in fantasy literature.

I find the illustrations particularly effective in this regard. They’re long on atmosphere over action, some veering into a kind of abstract, multi-hued style that feels very storybook while also channeling the vibes of the otherworld of the fae that is so integral to the wild strain of ancient European folklore of the setting.  

Early editions of D&D and retro-clone games and adventures (published in the spirit of the “ Old School Renaissance”)  are now at reduced prices until mid-June (2017).  

OSR Extravaganza http://bit.ly/DTRPGsales 

Featured promotions (including 1e DnD / AD&D core books bundle) http://bit.ly/OSRdtrpgpromo

Possibly one of the most understated, yet unmissable, sales this year. :) 

“Spore-laden Cavern Beetle” © Kenzer and Co., by Brian and Brendom Fraim.

[As a retroclone, Hackmaster was written relatively recently, with Rustlers of the Night coming out in 2008. Which makes me wonder. Was someone associated with this book familiar with Pokemon? ]

Spore Beetle CR 2 N Aberration This creature looks like an oversized stag beetle the size of a small dog, with a mottled grey and brown carapace. Lichen-like growths cover its body and seep into the cracks in its exoskeleton.

Spore beetles are a subterranean fusion of animal and fungal life. The association is a mutualistic one—neither partner can survive long without the other. They are grisly gardeners, as their preferred food is fungal and bacterial colonies that grow on well rotted animal and plant tissue. These repulsive-smelling galleries attract curious Darklands creatures, which are often killed and fed into the garden. The preferred attack strategy of a spore beetle is from ambush, releasing a cloud of toxic spores that cause unconsciousness. The insensate victims are then killed with the beetles’ mandibles before they can rouse and defend themselves. Creatures that to not succumb are driven away by jets of acid, produced by glands in the spore beetle’s throat.

Spore beetles are typically social, and a group of up to eight will cooperate to build a fungal garden. Eggs are laid nestled deep within the fungal structure, ensuring that the larva are saturated with spores and grows into a proper hybrid creature. Each generation, some of the juveniles disperse in search of new territory, carrying a load of fungal hyphae with them.

A spore beetle is about three feet long.

I read a lot, and new books frequently act as sources for monsters. For example, I based a string of creatures off of Mysterious America, which was about 19th Century “paranormal” reporting. I’m lucky enough to have access to a university library for access to primary and reliable secondary sources. A book like Giants, Monsters and Dragons is a good starting point, but it has a lot of gaps and weird interpretations, as do most “monster encyclopedias” on the market. I much prefer to make my own weird interpretations, thank you.A lot of my monsters come from other editions of D&D and its offshoots, like Hackmaster. If you want a few good websites for monsters, may I recommend:

@abookofcreatures‘ website, A Book of Creatures, does an excellent job of finding obscure critters and including primary sources

@arcanebeastsandcritters updates frequently, and the art is fantastic. She also has a way of finding obscure sources.

I haven’t played Basic Fantasy RPG or most other clones, since I still have my old books when I want an old school game.  I have read BF and it is essentially a retroclone of Basic D&D {cleaned-up OD&D) with a few upgrades.  You can download it free from Dragonsfoot, along with many campaign and adventure supplements, and supplements that add elements from AD&D.