Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Attack of the Retro-Clones

I wanted to compile a list of retroclones and what they seek to emulate. Perhaps later I will add links to reviews and the source websites -- so consider this a work in progress! Please feel free to chime in with comments if I've left something out or if you have more information/links to add!

Here's a link to a similar page: http://www.retroroleplaying.com/content/retro-clones

With no further ado:

"CLASSIC" D&D CLONES

Swords & Wizardry White Box (S&W WB)

Swords & Wizardy Core Rules (S&W)


Labyrinth Lord (LL)


BASIC FANTASY RPG (BFRPG)


Microlite 74


OTHER CLONES


Open Source Reference & Index Compilation (OSRIC)

Project 74

Microlite20

Mutant Future

ZeFRS (Zeb's Fantasy Roleplaying System)

Original Edition Delta

Generic Old-School Roleplaying Engine (GORE)


REIMAGININGS (What if...?)

Long Live the Magic Users and Fighting Men!

Castles & Crusades

Spellcraft and Swordplay

Epées & Sorcellerie

Mazes & Minotaurs

Wayfarers

Elegia


NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
These aren't What Ifs, they aren't clones, but they are in the vein of older works. Its arbitrary, I know, but this is an index, not a review, and I aim to be as inclusive as possible.

Tunnels and Trolls

The Barbarians of Lemuria

Fantasy Sagas


Legendary Lives

Dragon Warriors

Realms of Wonder

Legends of the Ancient World

Dungeon Squad

Dungeon Slayers

6 comments:

Ragnorakk said...

there is Epées & Sorcellerie
http://sites.google.com/site/wizardinabottle/

I'm really looking forward to this
once it's translated (hoping it is)

Vedron said...

Got it, thanks! I hope it is translated, myself.

Mallius Vane said...

I added a few more to your DF thread...

Wayfarers, Barbarians of Lemuria, Dungeon Slayers & Dragon Warriors.

Zachary Houghton said...

I had a positive review of C&C that I did a while back. That'd give you 2 and 2:

http://www.rpgblog2.com/2008/10/case-for-castles-crusades.html

Tremendous, tremendous work. Well done.

Vedron said...

Zack,

I've added your review. I agree especially with the part about the nature of TLGs; I am in the military myself and really appreciate their discounts and support. The Trolls aren't always the most professional in quality (a common issue for small businesses) but they certainly do have their hearts in the right place, and I know every year or so they get $50-100 from me (largely because of their style/attitude, as well as the quality of their creative work!).

masque said...

Tunnels & Trolls isn't really a D&D spinoff, it's a game unto itself. While true that Ken St. Andre created it after seeing D&D and deciding to create his own simpler game, there's no actual connection to D&D. Spinoff implies a line of descent, Like CSI begat CSI: Miami, which begat CSI: NY, that kind of thing.