A major challenge for people looking at the OSR is the overwhelming number of games that are considered to be part of Old School Renaissance. This is complicated by the fact that games with an OSR label on them can be extremely different in theme, motif and mechanics.

Some adventures are labelled “OSR” even though they were designed for 5E and were later converted to OSR rulesets to earn a little extra revenue. I do not call such adventures “old school.” They stray away from the pulp and mid-century sci-fi/fantasy paperback literary traditions that are foundational genres of classic adventure games. Such adventures are not designed with old school principles. They are transparently 5E products with an OSR veneer. The “OSR” label placed on such products confuses gamers new to the OSR even further.

I’ve played and run a wide variety of OSR games for more than a decade. I’ve played a variety of role-playing games in the sci-fi, horror, and other genres. My recommendation is based on that experience.

What is a retro-clone?

If you are getting started in OSR games and want to have the experience of classic fantasy adventure gaming, I suggest you start with a retro-clone.

Retro-clones are the rules of early versions of the “worlds greatest role-playing game” presented in a revised format. Around 2006, Chris Gonnerman, Matt Finch, Stuart McRobert and others theorized that if they used the Open Gaming License appended to the 3rd edition of “the game”, they could publish restatements of the original rules and modules for those games without running afoul of WotC’s lawyers.

They re-wrote the text, made minor alterations when they believed there was some question as to the copyright of a certain table or text, and published what we call retro-clone of the Original, Basic, Expert, and Advanced editions of D&D.

It was the retro-clones and their fans who propelled the Old School Renaissance from a gathering of hobbyists who enjoyed the old versions of the game into a living and constantly developing scene.

Why do I recommend starting with a retro-clone?

Retro-clones are inexpensive. All of the retro-clones I have listed below have a free PDF version and some have low cost print on demand versions. You don’t have to spent a lot of money, if you just want to dip your toe in to see if you like it or not.

You can buy the rule books and a few adventures if you want. For most retro-clones, the entire game is available in a single book that costs less than one of the three core books for 5E.

There is a plethora of adventures and supplemental material for all the retro-clones that is inexpensive or free.

The adventures and supplements are creative and inspired.

Don’t think that “free” also means “crap.” The creativity and skill of the hobbyists in the OSR outstrips that of the “pros” who work for the big publishers. WotC has to make products that appeal to the largest possible market. They are making a commodity game for a commodity market. Oatmeal. Instant coffee crystals. Whitey tighty underwear.

Many of the products published TSR also have this problem. In the 1980’s the Satanic Panic was a very real thing. Once D&D became a cultural phenomenon and started to sell in Sears, Toys R Us, and mall bookstores; the management created a code not unlike the Comics Code and the Hays Code used by movie studios. The adventures and products lost it’s edgy elements and became wholesome.

Much of the free OSR product is better designed than the very expensive print books published by the IP owner of the “world’s greatest role-playing game.” Many also include adult themes and art that won’t ever find it’s way into a Hasbro product. The OSR isn’t beholden to shareholders or Wall Street analysts like Hasbro/WotC.

Nearly all publishers of OSR adventures and supplements have day jobs, and create purely because they love creating. They can make things that are risky and creative in ways that WotC freelancers and designers cannot.

It’s hard to have creative courage when your job requires you to sell tens of thousands of copies on every book produced.

The layout and information design is much better than the original rule sets and most modern RPGs. The original 1974 game is notoriously opaque. One of the ways the OSR has made a vast improvement is in making the game books easier to understand and use in play.

You can pick up the original rule sets from DM’s Guild. That would be as “old school” as it gets. Those versions are harder to use at the table than the retro-clones, especially for someone unfamiliar with them.

The retro-clone publishers are well aware that the layouts in the original core rule sets is not good and have improved on them greatly. Many of the adventures and supplements for OSR games are setting a new standard for layout and graphic design.

The retro-clone Old School Essentials gets very high marks in this regard.

A puzzling reality is that the major publishers of supplements for 5E have not adopted the information design innovations of the OSR and other independently produced RPGs. I don’t know why that is but they have not done so.

Adventures and supplements for one retro-clone are compatible with another retro-clone.

The adventures and supplements for one OSR retro-clone are largely usable with another retro-clone. There are differences but they are not significant and can be done on the fly in most cases. In general, you won’t have a hard time running a classic adventure from 1980 using a retro-clone from 2006. Nor will you notice any significant difference while using the AD&D rule set but with an OSRIC adventure published today.

If you buy a retro-clone, you are supporting an independent publisher who loves OSR games. You can buy PDFs and POD copies of the early editions from the mega-corp that owns the IP. I’d rather support people who love the game over a corporate entity that only cares about the dollar value of the brand.

The retro-clone market is a tiny niche, of a niche, of a niche market. Retro-clones are not going to make anyone rich. The people making these games, make them because they love them. Yes, they charge for some of those products and they make a profit. That profit mostly goes back into the next project.

Why not play one of the other excellent OSR games?

There are many great OSR games which have modern game mechanisms which diverge from the original games.

I buy, collect, and play many of them. I even like some of them better than the retro-clones.

Why do I recommend starting with a retro-clone over something with a more familiar mechanism like advantage/disadvantage?

Retro-clones are undeniably “old school.”

One of the big areas of contention within the Old School Renaissance is the question of what the hell makes a game “old school.” It is a subject with many opinions.

Some games are out on the margins of what can be called “old school” and others are unquestionably “old school.” Retro-clones are definitely “old school.”

If you want an old school experience you are most certain to get it from a retro-clone.

Retro-clones give you a baseline.

If you run a retro-clone OSR game, you gain a foundation to understand what the designers are doing with the other games that fall into the OSR category. Having a first hand experience with the rules, procedures, and style of play will give you a better understanding of why a designer took their game in a different direction. Some things can only be learned through experience.

Which retro-clone?

There are only a handful of games mimicking a ruleset published by TSR. That makes the choice a lot easier.

My go to old school game is Swords & Wizardry: Complete. It’s what I run most. S&W: Complete is a clone the original game plus the early supplements as it existed just before AD&D was published. I wrote a complete blog post about why I like it so much.

OSRIC is a reto-clone of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and the first retro-clone that I played.

Though Gary’s Dungeon Master Guide is required reading for anyone wanting to run an AD&D game, OSRIC makes the job a lot easier. The lay out, index and structure of the book is superior to the original.

Basic Fantasy Roleplay Game is what I recommend if you are broke.

The platitude “you get what you pay for” does not apply here. This is a great game that is published on open source principles. PDF versions of the game are available, in multiple languages, for free. They are also available in the file format used by Open Office (.odt) if you want to alter the files for your house rules or player handouts. If you prefer a print version, they are also available at low cost via Lulu.

Old School Essentials is a retro-clone of the 1981 B/X ruleset and the shiny game of the moment. It gets a lot of attention on the message boards and socials. There is a enthusiastic fanbase putting out a lot of material for OSE. I’ve written some articles for an OSE zine called Gary’s Appendix. The Necrotic Gnome resource page has free character sheets, GM record sheets and more.

Two other retro-clones that I haven’t played and don’t know much about are…

Dark Dungeons

Blueholme

Classic Fantasy Adventure Gaming Variants

There are several games that are house ruled variants of the original rule-sets published by TSR. They maintain the aesthetic and feel of the original games with some minor rule changes that make them easier to play or clean up issues with the original game. Here are two of my favorites.

Majestic Fantasy RPG by Bat in the Attic games is a Swords & Wizardry variant by Rob Conley. Rob has some other old school material on his website that I recommend. I use his magic item creation rules and equipment lists for my S&W games. His Blackmarsh sandbox setting is a good setting for someone new to OSR games and sandbox play to get started..

Original Edition Delta by Dan Collins is a great simplification and clarification of the original rule set. Dan is a math professor and former video game developer. He has used his skills and experience to make the system about as simple as any version I’ve ever seen. I recommend a look at his blog too.

Just play

There are a massive number of OSR games and adventures available. You could spend years sorting through reviews, message boards, YouTube videos and never actually play. Pick a game and play it.

That’s the best advice I can give you.

Pick a game and play it. Do not belabor the decision too much.

Play. Play as much and as often as you can.

Getting Started with OSR Games Part 1: The Key Idea

Getting Started with OSR Games Part 3: Put Story In Its Proper Place

Getting Started with OSR Games Part 4: Is the OSR Anti-5E?

What Makes an OSR Game an OSR Game?