Quote from: Will;802752In an interest toward 'illustrative/good ideas,' any other editions you'd suggest?

Good ideas for what?

BX coveres quite a bit all on its own.

But if you want endgame and beyond level play then BECMI/Cyclopedia is a good suggestion as it has domain rules and how to become a god.

If you want more robust random dungeon and terrain gen then go with AD&D DMGs rules.

Quote from: Skyrock;802800How do these lifepath tables compare to, say, Classic Traveller, Mongoose-Traveller or Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0? Is it all mechanical, or does it also have background implications and adventure hooks?

I can't speak to how it compares with Traveller, as I've never read any versio of it. And to be honest I only have the dimmest memories of playing Cyberpunk 2020 in the mid 90s. I feel mostly-confident in saying that the tables in each playbook are shorter and more focused in BtW than they are in 2020.

The BtW playbooks definitely mix background implications and adventure hooks with the mechanical aspects of the character. For example, you might get an item as a result of one of your rolls that is left undefined...a DM could easily weave a plot around what that thing is and what it does.

QuoteCan the same tables be used for NPCs? Does it have random tables to flesh out wilderness, adventure sites, NPCs and so on?

You could use them for NPCs, but I'm not sure they be very efficient for that. There are tables for generating locations (like the starting village that all the characters are from), and for generating adventures (each adventure pack has random roll tables to customize the adventure).

Quote from: Herne's Son;802757Basic Fantasy is a great clone of B/X D&D, with a few modern tweaks (ascending AC, etc.). It's also free in PDF, and sold at cost on Amazon.

And then there's also OSRIC, for a similarly "free in PDF, cheap in hardcopy" take on AD&D 1e.

Basic Fantasy is a very good game, but it's not B/X. Most notably, it separates class and race.

Labyrinth Lord is the B/X clone.

I would reccomend B/X, or Labrynth Lord if you want it in one book. BECMI broke up the progression too much (the Thief abilities are broken up over 30+ levels). What I love about B/X is you have two books the size of modules that are the entire game.

Naturally, AD&D first is also a great read, and OD&D would be a good choice. Check out LotFP as well (the last edition is up on his site for free). Whitehack wasn't a bad microlite system either.

There's a Holmes clone called 'Blueholme' floating around the net somewhere as well (Vile had a thread on it in the Design & Development subforum).

Quote from: JeremyR;802834Basic Fantasy is a very good game, but it's not B/X. Most notably, it separates class and race.

Labyrinth Lord is the B/X clone.

Hence the "etc." after "modern tweaks".

Are you planning to run a campaign or three using the older systems?  I'm not sure that a read-through will give much depth of perception as to what their strengths are.

No. And if not, oh well.

I'll glean what I can.

Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;802840There's a Holmes clone called 'Blueholme' floating around the net somewhere as well (Vile had a thread on it in the Design & Development subforum).

Here it is: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3982/Dreamscape-Design

Lulu print-on-demand coming soon! ;-)

If you don't want to fork out money, Labyrinth Lord (for BX) and OSRIC (for AD&D) are about as close to the originals as retro-clones get.

Quote from: Will;802794I am a HUGE fan of lifepath systems. Intrigued.

I enjoyed that in Legendary Lives, not a clone - White Wolf magazine praised its innovative system design - but quite naively 'retro' in spirit before that was even a thing (late '80s - early '90s). The creators/owners have put the revised edition - a thick tome compared with the original two booklets, more page flipping to get a full picture - up for free in pdf (plus Lost Souls, a game about ghosts).

Tomorrow I have to take some time aside to follow up these great suggestions. Thanks.

If you wanna save some download time, Will, I have a bajillion pdfs of most retroclones. I will happily email them to you.