What RPG Do You Wish Had A Retroclone?

[GuardianLurker]

Mayfair's DC Heroes, cleaned up from the mess Pulsar left of it after they bought it from Mayfair. Though frankly, M&M3e/DC Heroes incorporates a lot of the neat ideas. It's just missing that exploding 2d10 mechanic.

Most of my other contenders have current editions, and I'm happy with the directions they went. OR, as in the case of the WhiteWolf catalog, have forked AND are current in both branches.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Shadowrun 2e. Not necessarily for availability (there's both enough books on the used market and a PDF with a scanned version on DriveThruRPG), but rather as a basis for people to evolve its rule set just like newer OSR titles emerged from the D&D retro clones. Would obviously require an open license, though, so it's probably just wishful thinking.

Closest thing you likely see to that is something like Sinless.

 

[darjr]

I wish AD&D 1 and 2 saw the kind of variety of design updates heaped upon B/X in the OSR community. There is basically one reprint of each (OSRIC, For Gold and Glory), but no real improvements or attempts to modernize either.

I think the 2025 OSRIC 3 Kickstarter has this very goal.

 

[dead]

3E D&D

 

[Reynard]

3E D&D

The SRD is out there. What would a retroclone accomplish?

 

[dead]

The SRD is out there. What would a retroclone accomplish?

An SRD isn't a retroclone, though. A retroclone is someone taking the rules and, while respecting what has come before, maybe giving it a bit of a polish with some modern sentiments for today's gamers. So respecting what it was but making it better.

 

[Reynard]

An SRD isn't a retroclone, though. A retroclone is someone taking the rules and, while respecting what has come before, maybe giving it a bit of a polish with some modern sentiments for today's gamers. So respecting what it was but making it better.

No. That's not true. A retroclone is a ruleset built to allow further support for a dead game. That's not the same thing as an OSR game, but that is what a retroclone is, by definition.

 

[dead]

No. That's not true. A retroclone is a ruleset built to allow further support for a dead game. That's not the same thing as an OSR game, but that is what a retroclone is, by definition.

I might be using the word wrong then. A lot of folk seem to use it like that. Is there a place I can go on the internet to find the definitive definition of retroclone?

 

[Reynard]

I might be using the word wrong then. A lot of folk seem to use it like that. Is there a place I can go on the internet to find the definitive definition of retroclone?

You can start here: Dungeons & Dragons retro-clones - Wikipedia

The real difference is that a retorclone like OSRIC or OSE means to acurately reproduce the rules of an older game, even if they present those rules in a more digestible or easily understood format.

Other games are "OSR" games that means they embrace the design ethos of early games in the hobby, but make changes to those rules for some purpose or another. DCC is a very well known OSR game: it embraces what older versions of D&D were like, but does a lot of things that old D&D never did.

 

[dead]

You can start here: Dungeons & Dragons retro-clones - Wikipedia

The real difference is that a retorclone like OSRIC or OSE means to acurately reproduce the rules of an older game, even if they present those rules in a more digestible or easily understood format.

Other games are "OSR" games that means they embrace the design ethos of early games in the hobby, but make changes to those rules for some purpose or another. DCC is a very well known OSR game: it embraces what older versions of D&D were like, but does a lot of things that old D&D never did.

OK, thanks. I'm a bit confused though as the wiki page seems to be using the term like I was using it. And then it goes on to mention a whole bunch of OSR games.