Retro-clone roleplaying games (also known as retroclones or simulacra) are roleplaying games (RPGs) that emulate the rules of older, out-of-print RPGs. Game rules may not be copyrighted, only "artistic presentations" of those rules.[1] The authors of retro-clones take the underlying algorithms of the original games, write new descriptions, and publish them under new names. For legal reasons, retro-clones rarely explicitly state which rule set they emulate, instead alluding to the games' authors and publication dates.
Dungeons & Dragons
editDungeons & Dragons simulacrums are restatements of rule-sets no longer supported by Wizards of the Coast. They are made possible by the terms of the open game license and D20 system resource document, which allows the use of much of the proprietary terminology of Dungeons & Dragons that might otherwise collectively constitute an infringement. These "retroclones" were preceded by a number of other similar projects that made use of the D20 System, such as True20, Basic Fantasy, and Castles & Crusades, which each presented a different version of the D20 game rules. Matthew Finch was involved in the development of Castles & Crusades, serving as editor of the Player's Handbook, and was the initial author of OSRIC 1.0, which was afterwards taken up by Stuart Marshall and released to the public in 2006 as a simulacrum of the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1977-1989). This release was met with considerable on-line controversy, but nevertheless served to prompt Daniel Proctor to write and release Labyrinth Lord in 2007, a more complete simulacrum of Dungeons & Dragons B/X (1981-1982). The following year, Matthew Finch announced the release of Swords & Wizardry, ostensibly a simulacrum of the original Dungeons & Dragons game (1974-1977). OSRIC 2.0 was released to the public in early 2009, which presented a more complete version of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. A great many variants have appeared since the original release, as well as restatements of other editions of Dungeons & Dragons and other adventure role-playing games. The games are fostered and supported on-line by various forums and blogs, sometimes collectively referred to as the Old School Renaissance (OSR), but are also increasingly finding their way into brick and mortar game stores.
Old School Reference & Index Compilation (OSRIC)
editOSRIC, short for Old School Reference and Index Compilation, describes itself as "a compilation of rules for old school-style fantasy gaming...intended to reproduce underlying rules used in the late 1970s to early 1980s" [2]. It is a role-playing game. Although OSRIC never refers to this directly for legal reasons, it is intended to reproduce the rules of the first edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.
Labyrinth Lord
editLabyrinth Lord (LL) is a fantasy role-playing game written and edited by Daniel Proctor and published by Goblinoid Games. It emulates the rules and feel of classic era Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) using the Open Game License (OGL) from Wizards of the Coast. LL borrows its inspiration from the 1981 "red box" D&D rule set revision edited by Tom Moldvay.[3].
Swords & Wizardry
edit| Designers | Matthew Finch |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Mythmere Games via Black Blade Publishing and Brave Halfling Publishing |
| Publication | 2008 |
| Years active | 2008-present |
| Genres | Fantasy |
| Playing time | Varies |
| Chance | Dice rolling |
| Skills | Role-playing, improvisation, tactics, arithmetic |
| Website | http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/ |
Dark Dungeons
edit| Designers | "Blacky the Blackball" |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Self-published |
| Publication | 2010 |
| Years active | 2010-present |
| Genres | Fantasy |
| Playing time | Varies |
| Chance | Dice rolling |
| Skills | Role-playing, improvisation, tactics, arithmetic |
| Website | http://darkdungeonsblog.wordpress.com/ |
Dark Dungeons, like Labyrinth Lord, is a fantasy role-playing game that emulates the rules and feel of classic era D&D via the OGL, albeit a different edition from that era. The primary inspiration for Dark Dungeons is the 1991 Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia, with secondary inspiration (particularly for the cosmology of the default game setting) coming from the 1989 Spelljammer campaign setting. The name Dark Dungeons and the names of the sample characters (and their players) found in examples throughout the text are used in parody of the Chick Tract of the same name.
Compatibility
editBecause Dark Dungeons emulates the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia, which itself contains collected and edited rules from the basic, expert, companion, and master boxed sets published from 1983-1985, it is strongly compatible with most adventures and supplements designed for those sets. However, while Dark Dungeons does include rules for immortal level play, those rules are primarily inspired by the 1993 Wrath of the Immortals supplement to the Rules Cyclopedia and are therefore not readily compatible with adventures and supplements designed for the 1985 immortals boxed set.
Distribution
editDark Dungeons is released under a hybrid license. Although all original text found in the work has been placed in the Public Domain, it contains various terms and names that it uses under the terms of the OGL, and those terms and names can only be re-used under that same license. Dark Dungeons is available as a free PDF download at the author's web site, and hardcopy versions of the rules can be purchased from the Lulu print on demand service.
Periodicals
editThe following periodicals include OSRIC-Compatible content:
"Classic Fantasy Review" by Goblinoid Games
"Knockspell Magazine" by Swords & Wizardry
"Old-School Gazzette" by XRP
"Scribe of Orcus" by Goblinoid Games
"Zor Draxtau" by Usherwood Adventures
References
edit- ^ "US Copyright Office". Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "About OSRIC". Retrieved 2007-06-02.
- ^ Varney, Allen. "Retro-clones". The Escapist. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
External links
editSee also
editThere are a number of free role-playing products which similarly attempt to reproduce the rules and/or 'feel' of early game systems.
- Mazes and Minotaurs is presented as a re-imagining of early Dungeons and Dragons, but based on Greek mythology rather than northern European.
- Basic Fantasy is an old-school roleplaying game in the style of Tom Moldvay and Zeb Cook, editors of the 1981 D&D Basic and Expert sets.
- X-Plorers is a retro Science Fiction game in the old-school tradition.