06Feb
Question for My Readers
I was looking at starting up an RPG campaign with a few friends. The modern D&D rules have gotten ridiculous and I hate Wizards of the Coast. I had heard some very good things about Basic Fantasy.
Then I looked at the writer, Chris Gonnerman’s Twitter feed.
I will not give this guy my money. That will not happen.
So, do any of you, know of any Eighties style Dungeons and Dragons RPG systems that aren’t Woke AF?
Comments (31)
Adventurer Conqueror King System (ACKS) — B/X based
Old School Essentials — B/X based
OSIRIC — AD&D 1e based
AD&D 1e itself, though you are giving some money to WotC this way unless you buy used
My apologies Raymond. I need to refine my question.
Do any of you know of any indy tabletop, old-school fantasy D&D style gaming systems out there, that are written by someone on our side of the street?
ACKS is by Alexander Macros, who worked on the abortive(?) stab at an AltHero RPG. That’s about as on-side as you can get. But he’s also one of the guys blogging political commentary that gets linked to Vox Popoli, and he works with Milo.
Plus, ACKS is a great system that lays out the three phases of play from dungeon delving to kingdom building.
There is a gent who is a friend of Cirsova. Cirsova, part of the pulp fiction revolution is definitely pros western civilization. How solid they are on Christianity or nationalism is unknown. But I like his style: https://mobile.twitter.com/ashofcreativity/status/1148052597640744960
Here’s one of his gaming projects which sits on top of the 5th ed D&D chassis.
Here’s his site (He has a cool kick starter I need to get in on. Love the art.: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/eyes-of-the-forest-issue-1–3/x/22319466#/)
There’s always GURPS
Sorry. Link did not transfer:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jstreissand/chill-mist-valley-a-5e-module
Raymond has a good list. His last suggestion is pretty good as AD&D 1E is pretty easily available used, if you aren’t too picky as to the print run and condition.
You can also pick up the OD&D rules as well, though those are pretty disjointed.
There is also Steve Jackson Games’ “The Fantasy Trip” which has recently been updated and re-released
Castles and Crusades feels old school but had simpler mechanics. Gary Gygax has worked on it. Nick Cole is working on Forgotten Ruin with James Ward. It’s in beta but there’s some rules out there.
I don’t know the Castles and Crusades guys politics but Nick Cole is good.
MYFAROG is the best imo if you just can disregard Varg´s very low opinion regarding Christianity that he screeches about on Twatter. It´s set in Thule and is basically a Northern Wiking style RPG. There is a post-apocalyptic version as well, I think.
ACKS by Macris. He has had his run-ins with SJWs. Nice rules, but not as well organized as Old School Essentials. Talanian seems a good guy and Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea rocks. Dungeon Crawl Classics produces too much stuff in China, but it is.a very good Appendix N game.
Have you heard of/tried Savage Worlds?
It’s the first system I ever used for ttrpg and I still prefer it over D&D (although I’m running more D&D now than Savage worlds).
There’s a module for it by Larry Correia and his Monster Hunter world.
Savage Worlds is great. I really like their innovative system, but they are rather woke.
A bunch of their designers ran an officially approved effort to bundle their products together to raise money for BLM.
Also, the Monster Hunter International Kickstarter was supported by Larry, not written by him. The Kickstarter ran in 2017, and they still seem active which is a good sign, but if you buy SW you’re not supporting our side.
FATE is a really dynamic system, but the guy who owns it is a piece of shit who had other projects removed from 3rd party platforms for wrong think.
I’ve heard good things from ACKS, and they work with Vox so they’re worth standing with.
Lion and Dragon/Dark Albion by Kasimir Urbanski might fit your needs. He has a website – The RPGPundit and on YouTube as Kasimir Urbanski – RPGPundit. I was drawn to him through his videos decrying the state of DnD and stayed for the Lion and Dragon content.
Lion and Dragon/Dark Albion by Kasimir Urbanski might fit your needs. He has a website – The RPGPundit and on YouTube as Kasimir Urbanski – RPGPundit. I was drawn to him through his videos decrying the state of DnD and stayed for the Lion and Dragon content.
Yes Herald, This RPGPundit does good work, he is a Lolbertarian Atheist but respects history and religion.
+1 for: Old School Essentials — B/X based
OR…. get the 5e OGL and don’t pay WOTC a dime.
It really is a shame that there is no alternative non-d20 system out there for tolkienesque fantasy gaming that is any good.
I thought Basic Fantasy was free? It was at least 4 years ago when I tried DMing a game.
https://www.october-surprise.com/
This is a list of designers to avoid. Interesting that very few OSR people participated in this mass rant.
Thanks for that link! A list like that is priceless. Kind of shocked I didn’t see Monte Cook on the list. I would have bet money he would be there but perhaps I missed it. He used to make fantastic content but any time I have read his essays, the guy oozes Gamma/SJW.
Labyrinth Lord is by all accounts reskinned old school D&D, with the Advanced Supplement bumping it up to 1e AD&D. It’s got a free .pdf download, but I don’t know anything about the ideology of the writers beyond a devotion to the source material. I’m reading through it with the intent to run a classic style game (it will be my first) and it looks like a lot of fun.
I usually recommend The Hero System, but it’s extremely crunchy for character creation, as it’s a point buy system, but combat is pretty smooth. Failing that go back to InThe Labyrinth also known as Advanced Melee / Advanced Wizard which is a simple but flexible game.
I have the first edition TSR AD&D books (DM’s guide, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual) from the late 70s / early 80s sitting on a shelf in the other room. Gygax et al were still a small, non-woke company at the time.
Those battered books and I have years of fond memories together.
I still have a set of the Original dice from the Boxed Basic D&D set which I started with.
Yes, the rules had some problems, but nothing a good set of players and DM can’t hash out. The “rule books” were always meant to merely be a starting place, which the players and DM can build from, rather than the gospel of how the game is played. But to stay on topic, there are some good suggestions up there in the earlier comments.
Swords and Wizardry works for us. It’s put out by Frog God Games. Unless things I have changed, I don’t think FGG is SJW. I believe they’ve weathered a few cancel culture assaults the past couple of years, simply for not parroting the groupthink. Not long after, they tried to #MeToo one of the owners but it didn’t work because it was so baseless.
So, last I knew, they hadn’t given in. They make a lot of good content too.
I believe ACKS’s designer (Alexander Macris) is on our side, due to his comments about the election that Vox Day would link, but I have never played it so can’t speak to the system’s merits. There had been a couple of attempts at cancelling Macris too, before the election.
Tenkar’s Tavern is a TTRPG site that focuses heavily on the old school D&D style. Every once in a while, an SJW rears their head in the comments and Tenkar (who is a retired NYPD Detective) slaps them down. Tenkar tries to keep the place neutral, and of course, the SJWs just can’t have that. (One time was after Tenkar gave a good review of ACKS and a couple SJWs ‘Reeeee’ed’ about it. And Tenkar is close with the guys at Frog God Games.
Oh I did forget and cause myself to fib.
OpenQuest d100 is rather good. A Fantasy BRP derived system that will soon have a 3rd edition.
Its a d100 roll under system derived from runequest.
And the author has zero about politics of any kind on his social media.
I’m familiar with the 2nd edition. (3rd will just be a bit cleaned up version) – and FWIW – there is nothing in the math of the system that would prevent you dividing everything by 5 and going with a d20 roll under mechanic instead with a little bit of effort.
I hate d20 systems. I find it gets bloated and overly complex far too easily.
Which of the systems people are referencing are non-d20?
FWIW The Fantasy Trip only uses d6.
I share your distaste of d20. I’m tempted to come up with a system that is “Anything but D20” using d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d14, and d16 dice (yes, the latter two do exist) just to be rid of d20
Steve Jackson Games are infested with SJWs now, and their stuff is primarily made in China. Awesome game. Loathsome politics.
Sadness. Not surprised, in hindsight – IIRC they are based in Austin, TX which is the libtard part of the state.
ACKS is good and the game is alright. I own it and modules.
Dark Dungeons has the best name
ACKS all the way.
Thank you all. Your suggestions and input were most appreciated.
It’s not D&D, and I’m not sure about the politics of the writers of the most recent edition. But 2nd edition Ars Magica might be worth taking a look at.