As I’ve blogged before I’ve played roleplaying games off-and-on for the past ten years or so. As most people around my age I started out playing AD&D (2nd edition). Although AD&D 2nd edition was still released under the original TSR brand, the company had already been bought by Wizards of the Coast. And soon enough they released D&D 3rd edition (they dropped the Advanced moniker somewhere along the way). Their third edition was pretty good, a lot of stuff got fixed and clarified. The only thing that was still icky was the skill/ranks system. Somewhere a long the line they also released 3.5, which was just a revision of 3rd.
But then Wizards released 4th edition. Initially I was somewhat excited about the release, but that wore off pretty quickly after I got the books. The classes seemed to have gotten a bit more bland, since even a Fighter now can cast spells (they are just called different). Also the base books now cover up to level 30, which is a big deal, especially since the base books have only covered up to level 20 since ever. And when properly played it takes ages to get to level 20, most campaigns die long before players ever reach level 20, let alone 30. They also crufted the base books with paragon path bullshit. And as a personal pet-peeve the PHB‘s text has been terribly set, it’s font is set way to large and fatty, which makes it relatively hard to read. All-in-all I’m sure D&D 4th edition is still a decent game, but I can’t really be bothered to play it, unless motivated by others…
Some folks would say, why not just stick to 3.5? Well there’s a problem with that, and it’s a problem akin to vendor-lockin, since 3.5 books are quickly disappearing from the shelves. While I own a 3.5 PHB, I have no other books, and since Wizards stopped publishing 3.5 there is no easy way to get them any more. Yes I know ebay, etc. But that’s way too much effort. As time passes this problem will get worse, since new players won’t be able to get any 3.5 books anymore. So keeping 3.5 alive would be bothersome at best.
But where there’s a problem there’s a solution, funnily enough even in the pen-and-paper gaming industry that solution could be called open source. There are boatloads of projects who are trying to rebuild either the 1st editions of D&D or 1st edition AD&D, both originally designed by Gygax and Arneson. Each of those projects have a different take on how to go about this, but I’m going to cover the two that appeal most to me: Basic Fantasy RPG and OSRIC.
Basic Fantasy RPG
BFRPG tries to recreate the feel of the original D&D game, but with mostly modernized rules (ascending armor system). The rules are based on 3.5, but a lot of weight has been shed. The author has masterfully seperated the essential from the non-essential rules, leaving a very lean-and-mean game. And while the core rules are quite modern, the races, classes, monsters, etc. are very old school. Only the four classic races are included: Human, Halfling, Elf and Dwarf. The same goes for the classes, only Fighter, Magic-user, Thief and Cleric are included, as in the original D&D.
Everything considered BFRPG is very very easy to learn, and still interesting enough to play more than once or twice. If you’ve never roleplayed before this is probably a great way to start out.
OSRIC
The second more ambitious project would be OSRIC, it tries to be a near perfect clone of 1st edition AD&D, which is basically the last version of D&D to be written/compiled by Gygax and Arneson. Considering the OSRIC book is actually a combined Player’s HandBook, Monstrous Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide, it spans 400 pages of well written text. The game seems to offer as much depth as any current commercial version of D&D, while remaining faithful to the older traditions of D&D.
OSRIC has more races and classes available than BFRPG, and has more rules coverage, making a great refuge for more experienced players.
Concluding
Both games’ books can be purchased as dead-tree editions from Lulu at their respective storefronts. Both projects also offer free PDFs on reasonably liberal terms, so your not forced to pay a dime.
Since I’m quite partial to hardcover books, I already ordered a hardcover copy of both books (Lulu’s pricing is very competitive). I haven’t received them yet, nor did I actually play either of the two games though. I hope to soon though.