Our Games

We publish a number of games, most are pay what you want and are based on Microlite20, a trimmed down, sub-miniature version of the 3.x Primary Fantasy SRD rules which designed to be quick and easy to play. Most of our games are designed for "old school" play.


Microlite74 is a family of free old school tabletop roleplaying games produced by retroroleplaying.net. The goal of Microlite74 games is to recreate the style and feel of that very first (“0e”) fantasy roleplaying game published back in 1974 without giving up all of the clearer mechanics of modern D20-based versions. Microlite74 games are based on the original 1974 edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game filtered through the rules light Microlite20 version of the third edition of the rules system. Microlite74 games are not intended to be a clone of the 0e rules, but rather a conversion of them to a rules-lite D20-based system that encourages old-school play without strictly old-school rules.

There are three major versions of Microlite74: Basic which is similar to the original 3 little booklets in the 0e boxed set, Standard which is similar to the original 3 little booklets in the 0e boxed set plus most of the material from the supplements and "official" material published in the early magazine articles, and Extended which includes everything in Microlite74 Standard does and adds the 0e house rules the author was using in the late 1970s.

Microlite74 Companion volumes add optional rules and optional expansions to the Microlite74 system. There are currently five Companion volumes: Companion I: Optional Rules, Companion II: Treasure, Companion III: More Optional Rules, Companion IV: Bestiary of Monsters, and Companion V: First Edition Spells. These volumes provide many optional rules as well as more complete descriptions of treasure, monsters, and spells. Using Companions IV and V along with the Microlite74 Standard or Extended rules provides a "first edition"-like experience (instead of the original "0e" edition).

Finally, there are special versions of Microlite74 designed to provide a specific "feel" for specific types of campaigns. Currently, two special versions are available. Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery is Microlite74 Extended with many special rules designed for swords & sorcery style campaigns. Microlite74 Light vs Dark was designed for a specific campaign setting for a RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund contributor who graciously allowed us to make the rules available to everyone (stripped of specific information on his campaign world).

All Microlite74 material mentioned above is available for free download in PDF form from our Microlite74 page. Donations to the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund are encouraged, however.

Microlite75 Standard CoverMicrolite75 is a family of free old school tabletop roleplaying games produced by retroroleplaying.com. Microlite75 is somewhat of a New edition of Microlite74 for those who prefer the more standard experience and level advancement system from the Microlite81 games, bofy points and hits and the single save system. Like Microlite74 games, the goal of Microlite75 games is to recreate the style and feel of that very first (“0e”) fantasy roleplaying game published back in 1974 without giving up all of the clearer mechanics of modern D20-based versions. Microlite75 games are based on the original 1974 edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game filtered through the rules light Microlite20 version of the third edition of the rules system. Microlite74 games are not intended to be a clone of the 0e rules, but rather a conversion of them to a rules-lite D20-based system that encourages old-school play without strictly old-school rules.

There are three major versions of Microlite75: Basic which is similar to the original 3 little booklets in the 0e boxed set, Standard which is similar to the original 3 little booklets in the 0e boxed set plus most of the material from the supplements and "official" material published in the early magazine articles, and Extended which includes everything in Microlite75 Standard does and adds the 0e house rules the author was using in the late 1970s. Unlike Microlite74 games, all versions of include treasure lists and use the author's hit point/body point system. Optional rules in both Microlite75 Standard and Microlite75 Extended provide more traditional hits points, saving throws, and fire-and forget magic systems.


Microlite78 CoverMicrolite78: First Edition Lite is a trimmed-down miniature version of the Primary Fantasy SRD rules designed to be quick and easy to play, especially when compared to modern incarnations of the game. The goal of Microlite78: First Edition Lite is do for First Edition (1e) what Microlite74 did for the Original Edition (0e) to recreate the style and feel of the First Edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game published back in 1978 without giving up all of the clearer mechanics of modern D20-based versions.

The Microlite78: First Edition Lite rules are based on the 1978 1e edition of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game with, some of the house rules the author used in the 1970s, and selected ideas from other roleplaying games. These rules are not intended to be a clone of the 1e rules, but rather a conversion of them to a rules-lite D20-based system that encourages old-school play without strictly old-school rules.

Microlite78: First Edition Lite was created at the request of a RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund donor who asked me if I could piece together parts of Microlite74 to produce a complete single volume Microlite78: First Edition Lite and add a "few things" to make it more like the 1978 "First Edition" of the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game. It would have been simple to toss the rules from Microlite74 Extended with the descriptions from Companion II: Treasure, Companion IV: Bestiary of Monsters and Companion V: First Edition Spells together in one volume. However, the request is for a bit more: classes written up in more detail (as in Microlite81, including the more normal XP treatment) and some of the system altered a bit to make it more like 1e. This project is finally finished and while the resulting set of rules (at 150+ pages) does not really deserve the "mircolite" name, the rules are what was requested.

You can download a free copy of the Microlite78: First Edition Lite rules here.

Microlite78 Sponsors
The author would like to thank the following individuals who sponsored the production of Microlite78 and Microlite81 by making donations to the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund to help pay the huge cancer bills treating my wife’s Stage 3 Oral Cancer without insurance ran up.

Bronze Donors: Kenneth Bailey, Rob Baseel, Isaac Boekelheide, Jason Decker, Pascal Furlan, Nathan Harwell, Sean McKeon, Sandra Misse, Alex Muscar, Thomas Simmons
Copper Donors: August Beirmont, Stacey Conover, Silas Crowe, Dennis Davis, Chris Harvey, Tom Hayes, Michael Julius, J.E. Leems, Tom Lewis, Juan Lopez, Marianne Marlow, Brian Marstella, Chad Nal, Joseph Nelson, Keith Nelson, Brennan O'Brien, Peter Reynolds, Bertel Robbins, Ed Roberts, Brett Slocum, Harold Smith, Scott Sutherland, George Taylor, Lisann Towwer, Don Turner, Harald Wagener
Silver Donors: Gabriel Barrenechea, Chris Brandon, Timothy Brannan, Alistair Caunt, Marion Hill, John Lockard, Oliver Korpilla, John Lee, Olivier Lefebvre, Allan MacKenzie, Jonathan Mayo, Lloyd Rasmussen, John Seabury
Gold Donors: Penelope Anders, Sebastian Dietz, Brian Isikoff, Helen Perez, Nelson Singer, Steven Wales
Electrum Donors: Robert Gibson, Ralph Williams
Platinum Donors: Bill Morrison

And thirty-five additional donors who wish to remain anonymous.


Microlite81 CoverMicrolite81 is a Microlite20-based version of the B/X version of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game -- the two boxed sets (basic and Expert) that were published in 1981. Microlite81 does for B/X what Microlite74 did for 0e, produce a version of the original B/X based on the Microlite20 rules that recreates the style and feel of the B/X version of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game published back in 1981 without giving up all of the clearer mechanics of modern D20-based versions. Microlite81 games are based on the 1981 Basic/Expert edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game filtered through the rules light Microlite20 version of the third edition of the rules system. Microlite81 games are not intended to be a clone of the B/X rules, but rather a conversion of them to a rules-lite D20-based system that encourages old-school play without strictly old-school rules.

There are four different versions of Microlite81. All are pay what you want.

Microlite81: This is the standard version the game. It is intended to be fairly standard B/X converted to a Microlite20-based system. The final "Silver" version of Microlite81 is currently available for free download in the download area of our message board: Download Here.

Microlite81 Complete: This version is standard Microlite81 with more complete descriptions of spells, monsters, and magic items and a few extras like an example of play which will hopefully make the game more friendly to players with less experience with old school gaming. The final "Silver" version of Microlite81 Complete is currently available for free download in the download area of our message board: Download Here.

Microlite81 Extended: This version is Microlite81 with the author’s house rules from the 1977-1983 era. Most of the house rules used in Microlite74 Expanded will also be used in Microlite81 Expanded. They have been modified as needed to work with a system based on B/X instead of one based on 0e. A number of optional rules are also be included. The final "Silver" version of Microlite81 Extended is currently available for free download in the download area of our message board: Download Here.

Microlite81 Advanced: This version of Microlite81 uses the spell lists, monsters, and treasures from the 1e (Advanced) version of the world’s most popular fantasy RPG. There are a large number of optional rules: psionics, mutations, etc. The final "Silver" version of Microlite81 Advanced is currently available for free download in the download area of our message board: Download Here.

A few Microlite81 Companions or Supplements are certainly possible in the future, but none are currently being planned.

Microlite81 Sponsors
The author would like to thank the following individuals who sponsored the production of Microlite81 by making donations to the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund to help pay the huge cancer bills treating my wife’s Stage 3 Oral Cancer without insurance ran up.

Bronze Donors: Kenneth Bailey, Rob Baseel, Isaac Boekelheide, Jason Decker, Pascal Furlan, Nathan Harwell, Sean McKeon, Sandra Misse, Alex Muscar, Thomas Simmons
Copper Donors: August Beirmont, Stacey Conover, Silas Crowe, Dennis Davis, Chris Harvey, Tom Hayes, Michael Julius, J.E. Leems, Tom Lewis, Juan Lopez, Marianne Marlow, Brian Marstella, Chad Nal, Joseph Nelson, Keith Nelson, Brennan O'Brien, Peter Reynolds, Bertel Robbins, Ed Roberts, Brett Slocum, Harold Smith, Scott Sutherland, George Taylor, Lisann Towwer, Don Turner, Harald Wagener
Silver Donors: Gabriel Barrenechea, Chris Brandon, Timothy Brannan, Alistair Caunt, Marion Hill, John Lockard, Oliver Korpilla, John Lee, Olivier Lefebvre, Allan MacKenzie, Jonathan Mayo, Lloyd Rasmussen, John Seabury
Gold Donors: Penelope Anders, Sebastian Dietz, Brian Isikoff, Helen Perez, Nelson Singer, Steven Wales
Electrum Donors: Robert Gibson, Ralph Williams
Platinum Donors: Bill Morrison

And thirty-five additional donors who wish to remain anonymous.


Cover illoTarnhelm’s Terrible Tome is a set of house rules for the original 1974 (0e) version of the world’s most popular tabletop fantasy roleplaying game (and modern clones, like Swords & Wizardry). These house rules are modern renditions of the house rules the author used with his original edition games in the 1970s. Some of house rules included:

  • A simple “skills” system based on class and background instead of lists of skills
  • A Hit Point/Body Point system where Hit Points represent fatigue and Body Points represent actual wounds.
  • Ritual Magic
  • An alternate alignment system
  • Critical Hits and Critical misses
  • A class based weapon damage system that ends class weapon restrictions.
  • An optional Armor system that ends class restrictions on wearing armor
  • An optional class: the Mnemonic Mage
  • Optional Divine Intervention rules

This digest-sized edition of Tarnhelm’s Terrible Tome is designed to be printed double-sided using the booklet-printing feature of Adobe Acrobat, the pages can be folded and stapled to create a “0e” style digest-sized booklet. You can download your free copy here.


cover illoThe Microlite20 RPG Collection is a PDF compilation of Microlite20 based games. This collection is made available for free and is not to be sold. Each individual game is copyrighted separately, is based on the Open Game License (because the original, Microlite20, is OGL), and is available for free. Each game is a separate entity with its own copyright and license. The author of each individual game is solely responsible for his or his work. No editing of individual games has been done. The original edition was a single volume with around 600 pages. The current edition is two volumes with a total of over 1300 pages.

In addition to the standard Microlite20 rules (and a large number of optional systems and expanded rules, The Microlite20 RPG Collection (2012 Edition) includes the following Microlite20-based role-playing games: Microlite20 House Rules, MicroFantasy, Alter Microlite20, Ultramicrolite20 Revised, Ultramicrolite20 Revised II, Nanolite20, Microlite20 Modern, M20 Modern: Expert, Microlite20 Modern-Day, M20 Hard Core Rules, Swords against Sorcery, M20 Heroic, Iron Heartbreakers, Microlite11, WildWalker’s M20 4e, Microlite20 Variant 4e, Microlite 4E, Micro Action Fantasy, MULRAH, Lite20, Mini20, Realms of Renown, Microlite74: Basic, Microlite74: Standard, Microlite74: Extended, Microlite74: Companion I, Microlite77, Microlite20 OSS, Advanced Microlite20 OSS, Argo, M20 Hyborian Age, Microlite Conan, Prehistoric Microlite20, Microlite20 Bronze Age, Microlite Dark Sun, Omerian Tales, Beacon, WarEngine RPG, Yamato M20, Challenges & Champions, Microlite20 Elf Lords, Microlite20 Resident Evil, Microlite20 Cthulthu, Microlite20 Vampires, Microlite20 2012, SpyLite, Giant Bug Invasion, Cyberpunk, SuperLite, Microlite20 Costumes, Tumbleweed, Gunsmoke & Goblins, Owl Hoot Trail, Microlite Storytelling, TileHack, Dragoons, ZombiePocalypse, Relics & Ruins, OmegaLite20, RABID, Microlite20 Vermin, Where No Man Has Gone Before, Galactic Methuselah, FrontierLite, M20 Star Wars, Microlite20 Star Wars, Scions of a Primordial Planet, Micro MechWarrior, Stargate 1895, Blaster D20 Microlite, Pendragon D20 Microlite, Diabolical D20 Microlite, PathfinderLite20, Microlite20 Golden Edition, DungeonFinder Player’s Guide, DungeonFinder GM’s Guide, DungeonFinder Book of Monsters, Grimm Lite.

About RetroRoleplaying

RetroRoleplaying.com started out as a site devoted to out-of-print, unsupported, and/or out-of-style tabletop roleplaying games (and modern "retro-clones" of those games). While we have over one hundred pages devoted to this, as of 2010 we are probably better known as the publisher of free Microlite20 variant games designed to reproduce the feel and style of "old school" editions of the "worlds most popular tabletop RPG" including the popular (and free) games Microlite74, Microlite78, and Microlite81.

While it may surprise many people, the earlier editions of classic RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons sold many more copies than the newer D20, 4e, and 5e versions. These once very popular games are available in hardcopy via Amazon or eBay (and many are available in PDF)-- and are still being played today. Retroclones are much less expensive, however (often free in PDF form).

Many people prefer older tabletable roleplaying games because of their less complex, easier to modify rules and their "feel." While many 3.x and 4e games feel more like playing a computer game around a table with much emphasis on optimal character building and detailed tactical combat, pre-D20 games feel more being in a movie or novel -- the emphasis is what the characters do in the campaign world as opposed to what skills and feats are on their character sheet.