Welcome to the Remodeled RetroRoleplaying.com!

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As you can see we are still remodeling the site. However, enough is complete that we can reopen. A lot of the ancient cruft that has accumulated over the years has been removed — most will not be back. New material will be coming to replace it.

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), started when my wife had oral cancer to give me something else to think about. Then came Microlite74. Within a couple of years the focus of my blog and this site turned from information and discussion about old school style games in general to Microlite74 and the various other Microlite20-based versions of TSR versions of D&D I was creating. This was partially because creating games is time-consuming and because I eventually starting creating these games as was way to get money to pay all the cancer-related bills. For the last 11or 12 years, everything else fell by the wayside.

I turn 65 this year and I’ve retired. The cancer bills are paid. While my wife was diagnosed with MS a few years ago, she has insurance that covers most costs (thanks to the fact that advanced MS is as close to an automatic disability qualification as you can get). So I intend to return the focus of this site to old school and OSR gaming in general again. As I love designing games, I probably will not stop releasing new games. However, the emphasis will not be on selling these games as I am not longer under pressure to make extra money to pay medical debts. Most new games will be free (or perhaps Pay What You Want).

I have a number of plans for this web site, but I haven’t quite decided exactly which of these plans I will go with. The first step in any of those plans, however, is remodeling this site. The fact that I’m far enough long to reopen the site after less than a week is a good sign, I think.

Here are the changes so far:

  • New Look – It’s nothing special as I’m still not a visually oriented person, let alone a graphics designer, but it is an updated look. Be warned that I’m still tweaking it.
  • Blog moved back to its original home  (blog.retroroleplaying.com on blogger). I’ve cleaned it up to remove all the out-of-date cancer fund drive footers and post solely related to said fund drives.  There’s a lot interesting material there, especially in the early years 2008-2012. Note that most pictures are missing as they were stored on tinypic.
    Update (7 March 2022): I moved the cleaned up blog back to this site from blogger to cut back on Google tracking of blog readers.
  • Reviews are gone. This was a silly attempt to link to old school game reviews on other sites in an attempt to provide a centralized list of reviews. I doubt I updated it since 2008 or so. It may have been a semi-decent idea when I started this site, but even if it was its time has long passed.
  • Articles — Some ancient and generally outdated or pointless articles have been removed. For the time-being the short game system articles remain, however, they may eventually go as well as they really aren’t that good.

Some of the features I’m considering adding:

  • Memberships — The web site will allow people to join so they can participate in some of these features I’m thinking about.
  • OSR News — News postings of new games, supplements, adventures, settings, kickstarters, etc. Members producing such things will be able to post such news items directly to this news section.
  • Reviews — Actual reviews of old school, OSR, and other interesting rules light games in stead of links to reviews elsewhere. Any I write will probably be short reviews (similar to the “capsule reviews” in the The Space Gamer magazine in the 1980s), but the review section will be open to RetroRoleplaying site members who wish to write reviews.
  • Downloads — A download area where free games can be downloaded. Site membership will probably not be required.
  • Forum — The forum will use bbpress upgraded with all the nice Dev4Press addons to turn it into a powerful and much more usable modern message board. The prime rules will be no personal attacks and no real world politics of any type.
  • Special Interest Groups — Members will be able to create their own SIGs with a forum, document storage, and more. These can be used to discuss specific games, run play by post games, etc.
  • Wiki — An easy way to extend the site without having to master complex software.

Naturally, as this site is currently a one-person show, most of these ideas will not turn into reality overnight. Some may not actually happen as not everything I consider a neat idea turns out to be practical or truly useful.

Stay turned for future developments.

Lots of Microlite20/74/5e Goodness

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I have recently discovered Brian Mathers’ blog, The Gnomish Embassy. Brain’s blog has a large number of posts for Microlite20 in general although his Microlite20 seems to focus on Microlite74 and Microlite5e. Here is a small sample of his Microlite20/74/5e posts:

The Gnomish Embassy also features well-developed characters and monsters for these (and many other games). It is one of the most interesting and useful blogs I’ve discovered this year. I don’t know how I’ve missed it before.

Dealing With Player Death

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I’ve been playing and gamemastering tabletop roleplaying games since 1975 and I have dealt with a lot of character deaths, both my own characters and characters of players in the games I’m running. I’ve even had a few former players die over the years — long after they had left my game. However, I’ve never had a player currently in my game die — until last week that is. 

 James texted me Monday evening asking if he could drop by on his way home from work Tuesday to drop off a couple of books he had borrowed and grab a couple more. Tuesday afternoon, when he didn’t show up, I called him. His wife answered the phone and told me James had had a mild heart attack in the early hours of the morning and that he was in the hospital, but doing well. I spoke to him briefly and said I’d come by during visiting hours Wednesday and see him. 
I arrived at the hospital a little after noon on Wednesday to find James in surgery and Robin very worried. James had a second heart attack that morning and his doctors had decided to do emergency bypass surgery. I stayed with his wife until their son arrived from Akron but then I had to head home to take care of my wife. I got a call from Robin a few hours later telling me that James had come through surgery (a quadruple bypass and the insertion of two stents) and was in guarded condition. His doctors had told her if he could make it through the next 36 hours without any major issues, his prognosis would be excellent. We did not talk long as she had a lot of calls to make to friends and relatives. Sadly, James never regained consciousness and passed away about 7 Thursday morning.
The funeral was Sunday afternoon — about the time my Sunday game would start. Needless to say, there was no game as all of us were at the funeral. To be honest, we are all a little lost. It’s one thing to lose a longtime player from your game because they had to move or because their work hours changed. It’s apparently a very different thing to have a player die. We aren’t sure what we are going to do with the campaign. The campaign will continue, but we are unsure exactly how to continue it — starting with the obvious question of what to do with James’ characters. Should we retire them? Use them as NPCs? Something else? It’s not like we can just ask James what he wants done with them. We have some time to decide how we want to proceed as we have cancelled this week’s game which means will not play again until the 19th (as the 12th is Mother’s Day). 
 I had only known James a few years. He was my first local gaming contact when we moved to Youngstown from Texas in late 2016. He and his family have become good friends. James as a good person.He was retired from the navy and worked with a local non-profit to bring jobs to Youngstown. His characters were as enthusiastic about their game lives as James was about real life. If there is gaming in heaven, James will be rolling his dice. Perhaps he’ll get his wish and can play in Arduin with Dave Hargrave as GM. All I know for sure is that I will miss him.

Second Edition of Microlite78 First Edition Lite Now Available

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Interested in the First Edition of the world’s most popular tabletop fantasy roleplaying game, but put off by its seemingly random mechanics and design elements? Interested in trying some of the best known First Edition adventures with old school play but want to use the “better designed” D20-style mechanics you already know. The second edition of Microlite78 First Edition Lite is the game for you. These rules take the First Edition rules and filter them though the D20-based Microlite20 system to produce a conversion of the First Edition rules to a rules-lite D20-based system that encourages old-school play without strictly old-school rules.

The second edition of Microlite78 first Edition Lite is available on RPGNow/DriveThruRPG in PDF for $7.50 — click here to go to the Microlite78 First edition Lite page on RPGNow (Or click here for DrivethruRPG). There will be a Pay-what-You-Want/Free version of these rules (without art) available in the near future.

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.

This 236 page pdf contains the complete rules for the second edition of Microlite78 First Edition Lite, including:

* Simple Character Creation Rules: Roll 4 attributes and select a race, class, alignment and a background.
* Basic Classes: Fighter, Magic-User, Cleric, Druid, and Thief.
* Additional (Optional) Classes: Assassin, Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Illusionist, Paladin, and Ranger.
* Races: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Halfling.
* Simple and fast-playing combat system that tracks physical damage (aka body points) separately from luck/skill/fatigue (aka hit point) damage. Combat is BAB-based: no to-hit tables or THAC0.
* Hit points recover with a night’s rest. Spells cost hit points to cast. Actual wounds recover more slowly.
* Rules for hirelings, monster reactions (not every monster wants to fight), morale (not every monster fights to the death), and more.
* Many optional rules (Advantages and Disadvantages, Psionics, Action Points, Sanity, more traditional magic and saving rolls, etc.): use none, some, or all.
* A complete information on spells, monsters and treasure.
* Gamemaster section with setting design information, and advice.
* Rules for PC-ruled dominions.
* Compatible with most other 1e based games and adventures — as well as many designed for 0e, B/X, BECMI, and 2e.

The rules needed to create characters and actually play are short and sweet. Character creation rules (including race, class, alignment, and background descriptions) are 11 pages. Core rules (skills, saving throws, magic, combat, experience and level advancement) are 8 pages. They are written in fairly normal English, not “High Gygaxian”. The rules assume that the GM understands the basic concepts of roleplaying games, but provides information for both the GM and the players on the various “old school” styles of play. Microlite78 First Edition Lite games can easily use adventures and material from early editions of the world’s most popular tabletop fantasy roleplaying game or modern clones.

This is the second edition of Microlite78 First Edition Lite. Changes from the first edition:

* The Barbarian and Bard classes added.
* The method of determining the number of experience points needed to advance no longer requires recalculating entire experience point advancement charts if optional rules are used.
* The treasure section is more like the first edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game which makes the game easier to use with published adventures.
* Rules for character-ruled dominions are included.
* Gamemaster section with advice for creating and running campaigns added.
* Some artwork is in color.

Labor Day sale (40% Off) and September RetroRoleplaying.com Project News

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Labor Day Sale — 40% Off

Celebrate Labor day with 40% off all RetroRoleplaying.com games, including BX Advanced, Microlite81 Expanded Edition, and Microlite74 Ultimate Edition. This sale ends sometime on September 4th.

* BX Advanced $9.95 — Sale Price: $5.97
* Dungeon Delving Undying Light Edition $3.99 — Sale Price: $2.39
* Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition $7.50 — Sale Price: $4.50
* Microlite74 Basic Digest/Epub $1.99 — Sale Price: $1.19
* Microlite74 Extended Digest/Epub $3.99 — Sale Price: $2.39
* Microlite74 Standard Digest/Epub $2.99 — Sale Price: $1.79
* Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery 2e Digest/Epub $6.99 — Sale Price: $4.19
* Microlite74 Ultimate Edition Digest/Epub $9.95 — Sale Price: $5.97
* Microlite78 First Edition Lite $4.95 — Sale Price: $2.97
* Microlite81 Advanced Expanded Edition (Digest/Ebook)— Sale Price: $9.95 $5.97
* Microlite81 Complete Digest/Epub $7.50 — Sale Price: $4.50

Project News

* The full-sized “condensed type” version of the second edition of Microlite78 First Edition Lite should be out next week. The major changes in revision includes the barbarian and Bard classes, a treasure list more like 1e than BECMI, a revised method for determining XP needed to advance (recalculating experience tables by hand if using optional rules that slow advancement is no longer needed), rules for dominions, and a chapter of GM advice. This will make the game more like 1st edition and less like Oe with first edition spells and monsters. Estimated Price: $3 to $5 (A free “low art” version will be available later in the month).

* The digest-sized “Expanded” version of the second edition of Microlite78 First Edition Lite should be out later in September or in early October. This will include all the changes listed for the “condensed type” version, plus even more character classes, expanded spell lists and treasure lists, over 100 additional monsters, and more. All in a digest-sized book designed for easy use on tablets. Estimated Price: $9 to $12.

* Work and playtesting continues on the BX Advanced Adamantine Edition. Mutations are (hopefully) finally finished. Current work is on technology rules and tech items. Estimated Completion is winter or spring of 2019.

* Print editions: I’m still having no luck learning enough Indesign to make printed editions possible. I know many people would like printed copies, so I haven’t given up. But progress is painfully slow. I just do not think in the way one needs to use layout software based on the “Pagemaker paradigm” — like Indesign. I miss the long dead Ventura Publisher which worked the way I think.

* Blog Move: Moving the blog to WordPress is low priority, but some work is being done — occasionally.

FREE Version of Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition Now Available

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The Pay What You Want/Free (no art) version of the Microlite20 Comphrensive Edition is now available.

Microlite20 is a tiny version of 3.x designed to allow use of 3.x supplements and adventures without all of the complex 3.x rules. In its raw form, Microlite20 and its more important optional and supplemental sections are a hodge-podge of short pdfs produced by different people and formatted however the producer of that section wanted. The Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition takes all this material and combines it in one document — all formatted the same and somewhat reorganized in places to make it easier to use. This Pay What You Want/Free “no art” version is 60 pages.

The actual rules include the following sections: Basic Rules, Basic Rule Examples, Expert Rules, Equipment, Spell Lists (Magi, Cleric, Illusionist, Druid), Monster List, Gamemaster’s Guide, Designer’s Notes (explaining the hows and whys of Microlite20’s design), Appendix A: Minor Rules Expansions, Appendix B: Microlite20 Martial Arts, Appendix C: Microlite20 Psionics, Appendix D: Rune Magic, Appendix E: Microlite20 Mass Combat, Appendix F: Microlite20 Mecha and Starships, Appendix G: Microlite20 Old School Style, and (of course) a copy of the OGL.

Get your copy of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition (No Art) at RPGNow.

Get your copy of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition (No Art) at DriveThruRPG.

The Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition is Now Available

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The paid version of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition is now available. The free version will be out early next week.

If you buy the paid version of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition you will receive the following:

  • a pdf of the single-column digest-sized version — 164 pages, with art
  • a pdf of the two-column letter-sized version — 68 pages, with art
  • a pdf of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition Player’s Guide — 10 pages, no art: has all the player-facing rules (plus equipment and spell lists) and is designed to be printed and given to players.
  • epub and mobi ebook versions of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition
  • epub and mobi ebook versions of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition Player’s Guide

The free version will only include a copy of the two-column letter-sized version — without art version. In either case, you will get all the rules: Basic Rules, Basic Rule Examples, Expert Rules, Equipment, Spell Lists (Magi, Cleric, Illusionist, Druid), Monster List, Gamemaster’s Guide, Designer’s Notes (explaining the hows and whys of Microlite20’s design), Appendix A: Minor Rules Expanions, Appendix B: Microlite20 Martial Arts, Appendix C: Microlite20 Psionics, Appendix D: Rune Magic, Appendix E: Microlite20 Mass Combat, Appendix F: Microlite20 Mecha and Starships, Appendix G: Microlite20 Old School Style, and (of course) a copy of the OGL.

You can find the paid version on RPGNow and DriveThruRPG for $7.50:

Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition on RPGNow
Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition on DriveThruRPG

 

Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition Available Next Week

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Coming next week: the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition. As I mentioned about a week ago, I discovered a copy of a game I was working on in 2015 on my drive. I have finished it up and will be releasing it next week. The price for the paid version will probably be $7.50.

What is the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition?

In its raw form, Microlite20 and its more important optional and supplemental sections are a hodge-podge of pdfs produced by different people and formated however the producer of that section wanted. The Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition takes all this material and combines it in one document — all formated the same and somewhat reorganized in places to make it easier to use. The end result is either a 68 page two-column letter sized pdf or a 164 page digest-sized pdf. Both formats are included in the paid version. Both are full of artwork.

What Do You Get?

If you buy the paid version of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition you will receive the following:

  • a pdf of the single-column digest-sized version — 164 pages, with art
  • a pdf of the two-column letter-sized version — 68 pages, with art
  • a pdf of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition Player’s Guide — 10 pages, no art: has all the player-facing rules (plus equipment and spell lists) and is designed to be printed and given to players.
  • epub and mobi ebook versions of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition
  • epub and mobi ebook versions of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition Player’s Guide

The actual rules include the following sections: Basic Rules, Basic Rule Examples, Expert Rules, Equipment, Spell Lists (Magi, Cleric, Illusionist, Druid), Monster List, Gamemaster’s Guide, Designer’s Notes (explaining the hows and whys of Microlite20’s design), Appendix A: Minor Rules Expanions, Appendix B: Microlite20 Martial Arts, Appendix C: Microlite20 Psionics, Appendix D: Rune Magic, Appendix E: Microlite20 Mass Combat, Appendix F: Microlite20 Mecha and Starships, Appendix G: Microlite20 Old School Style, and (of course) a copy of the OGL.

Is There a Free Version?
Of course, there is. Or there will be within a week or so after the release of the paid version. The PWYW/free version of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition will not have art and will probably have slightly smaller type. The PWYW/free version will only come in one format (letter-sized two column pdf) and will not include the player’s guide or ebook versions.

What is Microlite20?

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably know. However, if those who do not know: Microlite20 is an OGL role-playing game containing character generation, combat and rules for magic, monsters and level advancement. It ripped the guts out of d20 leaving just the essence of the game. Skills are much simplified, there are no feats and combat is as simple as it gets. Microlite20 is a trimmed-down, subminiature version of the Primary Fantasy Tabletop RPG SRD rules that has been designed to be quick and easy to play. The goal was to create a simpler game, but one where all of the resources of Primary Fantasy SRD (monsters, spells, adventures and equipment) could be used without conversion. It was designed for the 3.5 SRD but will work with the 3.0 SRD or even the PF SRD. The original rules for character generation, combat, magic and level advancement took up a single sheet of paper (of very fine print), making it great for introducing role-playing to new players, gaming one-shot adventures or tailoring into your own game system. Of course, the Microlite20 quickly grew breyond the original (extremely basic) rules with a number of optional systems and supplemental modules (e.g. lists of equipment and spells) designed to make the game playable without needing to constantly refer to a copy of the SRD. Microlite20 is also the basis for a large number of independent variant games in many genres — the current (2017) edition of the Microlite20 RPG Collection has just over 2000 pages of Microlite20 based RPGs.

Cover of the Single Column Digest Version

Cover of the Letter-Sized Two Column Version

First Page of the Player’s Guide Handout

The Forgotten Game: Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition

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Queue the Twilight Zone theme song. I was cleaning up the projects area of my hard drive this morning. I found a game, Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition, that I apparently worked on and finished in 2015. I somehow forgot about it. All it needs is layout. How could I have forgotten an entire game? I know we were dealing with a lot of doctor visits for my wife that year, but still, how could a complete game have slipped my mind? I vaguely remember putting it together for players in my old Waco group who wanted a version of Microlite20 that incorporated a lot of the early extensions and additions. I’ve just ask on the Waco group mailing list if I ever gave anyone a copy or if it has sat uselessly on my drive for 3 years.

A Second Edition of Microlite78 First Edition Lite?

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Microlite78 fan Robert has been at it again. While he was happy to see the digest/ebook version of Microlite78 First Edition Lite, he pointed out that i could do a version much closer to 1e now that I have more than the Microlite74 material to work with.

He’s right. The original mandate for Microlite78 was to combine the Microlite74 Extended rules with Microlite74 Companions II (Treasure), IV (Bestiary of Monsters), and V (First Edition Spells) into a single volume that could be used to play 1e style games — and to use the more standard XP and advancement system I was developing for Microlite81. The idea was that I could toss this together in a month or so. I agreed to do this a few days before my wife’s mother past away unexpectedly (and our move to Dallas), so my one month project ended up taking about a year.

Robert has convinced me to look at doing a second edition of Microlite78 First Edition Lite. In fact, I already have a fairly compete draft version available to RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund donors (usual place, usual password — direct links: Draft 1 and now Draft 2). While there are not a lot of major changes, the changes made are significant:

  • The math heavy system for recalculating advancement tables if certain optional rules (like psionics) are used have been replaced with the Experience Rank system I’ve developed for the BX Advanced games. Some granularity is lost, but dealing with advancement adjustments from optional rules is reduced to simple addition and subtraction of small numbers.
  • The treasure section is more like that of 1e. Many 1e magic items were not included in the Microlite74 Companion II rules (and therefore were not in the first edition of Microlite78). The majority of them are present now.
  • The first edition rules — like the Microlite74 games they were based on — did not include much information on how to run the game for the GM. More recent RetroRoleplaying releases have added section of GM Lore with helpful GM advice and procedures. This material is included in the second edition.
  • While high level characters received strongholds, little information on handling player-controlled areas was included in the game. There was really nothing beyond the costs of building a stronghold. The second edition includes rules for running player-controlled dominions.
  • There are a number of minor additions: a few more optional rules, sample wilderness and dungeon encounter tables, etc.
  • The contents have been reorganized.

The basic version of this game will be “pay what you want” and will not have a lot of art. There will be an Extended Version with more art and more monsters, treasure, etc for sale. The aim is to get these out by the end of summer — at the latest. Fingers crossed for no medical or family emergencies.