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Leyline Press Blog — osr

A Comparative Exploration of OSR RPG Systems - Labyrinth Lord

Posted by Panayiotis Lines on

A Comparative Exploration of OSR RPG Systems - Labyrinth Lord

Labyrinth Lord by Goblinoid Games was one of the earliest old school D&D retro clones, released on 2007. Early retroclones such as Labyrinth Lord birthed out of a realisation that the Open Gaming License set out by Wizard's of the Coast could be used to effectively reprint the original editions of Dungeons and Dragons. This was a means to keep these rules sets alive and be able to produce new compatible adventures and content for them. Users on forums such as Dragonsfoot were some of the first to discuss these ideas and this led to systems such as Labyrinth Lord being conceived.  As the foreword of Labyrinth Lord states." This...

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A Comparative Exploration of OSR RPG Systems - Quarrel & Fable

Posted by Panayiotis Lines on

A Comparative Exploration of OSR RPG Systems - Quarrel & Fable

In this series of blogs we're exploring the various OSR RPG systems in the community and how they compare to one another and the original D&D rules.   This week we're looking at Quarrel & Fable by Sean F Smith. (@seanFsmith) Quarrel & Fable by Sean F Smith is a Maze Rats hack intended to capture the feel of the Fighting Fantasy and choose your own adventure books much in the same way that Troika does. It’s lightweight at a mere dozen pages or so and uses a similar core 2d6 system to Maze Rats where you’re attempting to score 9 or higher on 2d6....

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A Comparative Exploration of OSR RPG Systems - Into the Odd

Posted by Panayiotis Lines on

A Comparative Exploration of OSR RPG Systems - Into the Odd
Into the Odd by Chris McDowall is about the exploration of a bizarre, wondrous and horrific world that is too large to map. Characters take on the role of an explorer within that world out in search of riches, knowledge and power. The setting itself is split into the safety of the Bastion where folk live and work and ‘The Underground’ an ‘odd world’ comprised of twisting tunnels, ancient caverns and strange beings beyond the imagination.

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A comparative exploration of OSR RPG Systems - White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game

Posted by Panayiotis Lines on

A comparative exploration of OSR RPG Systems - White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game
White Box:  Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game by Seattle Hill Games is a retroclone of Original D&D. The name implies this, harkening back to the original 'White Box' that the OD&D rules came in.  White Box is further based on Swords and Wizardry another retroclone of Original D&D. It comes in one volume that runs about 143 pages and as with many retroclones contains everything you need to run and play a game including character creation, equipment lists, monsters, magic, treasures and procedures for combat, dungeon and wilderness exploration.

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A comparative exploration of OSR RPG Systems - The Mecha Hack

Posted by Panayiotis Lines on

A comparative exploration of OSR RPG Systems - The Mecha Hack

The Mecha Hack by Absolute Tabletop is a roleplaying game of titanic warmachines with The Black Hack.

As a system it demonstrates how you can take the core chassis (excuse the pun) of an OSR game ostensibly made for fantasy and port it to a wildly different genre with excellent results. In much the same way as Mothership did for Sci-Fi Horror. 

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