Didn't get the reissue box set and not keen on downloading the pdfs that are scattered about the web.  That pretty much leaves the clones.  Which ones out there would give the closest experience to the 3 books that came in the original box set?

Thanks!

Delving Deeper
S&W White Box

And you will want Philotomy's Musing as some ambiguities in OD&D will require you to make some decision on how to play it. Philotomy has a lot of good commentary and useful ideas.

It's worth reading the original.

Quote from: estar;864251Delving Deeper
S&W White Box

Delving Deeper is as close as you'll get to the original thing, though even there they made some changes (added a thief class for one).

Quote from: estar;864251Delving Deeper
S&W White Box

And you will want Philotomy's Musing as some ambiguities in OD&D will require you to make some decision on how to play it. Philotomy has a lot of good commentary and useful ideas.

I didn't really find Philotomy's stuff pertinent to 1st Printing White Box. I found looking at the other printings for anything extra more than enough.

3rd Printing http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/WhiteBox3p.pdf

Core http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/62346/Swords--Wizardry-Core-Rules

Complete http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/86546/Swords-and-Wizardry-Complete-Rule-Book

Quote from: RunningLaser;864246Didn't get the reissue box set and not keen on downloading the pdfs that are scattered about the web.  That pretty much leaves the clones.  Which ones out there would give the closest experience to the 3 books that came in the original box set?

Thanks!

This seems a little odd.

You are not ok with just downloading scanned PDFs of OD&D.

But are ok with downloading or buying what could amount to someone copying the game near whole cloth and just slapping a new name on it?

Aside from likely better organization. What is the point in not getting the original as scans?

Quote from: Omega;864354Aside from likely better organization.

As if this is somehow insignificant.

Quote from: Omega;864354This seems a little odd.

You are not ok with just downloading scanned PDFs of OD&D.

But are ok with downloading or buying what could amount to someone copying the game near whole cloth and just slapping a new name on it?

Aside from likely better organization. What is the point in not getting the original as scans?

When WoTC decides to sell it as a legal pdf, I'll get it.  Until then....

Quote from: Omega;864354This seems a little odd.

You are not ok with just downloading scanned PDFs of OD&D.

But are ok with downloading or buying what could amount to someone copying the game near whole cloth and just slapping a new name on it?

Aside from likely better organization. What is the point in not getting the original as scans?

Legality is relevant here. Downloading scans of a copyrighted work is illegal, games published with identical mechanics under the OGL or independently, while respecting copyright, are legal.

You could argue that it's odd to refuse to sell someone liquor 24 hours before they reach legal drinking age, too.

Perhaps partly because OD&D is the old familiar to me, I don't place as much importance on fine details as the 'scholarly' enthusiasts in the OSR.

The main thing as I see it is grasping the larger form and how one should approach it. Perhaps worth getting if you can are Chainmail by Gygax and Perrin (TSR Hobbies), Best of the Dragon Vol. I (TSR), Ready Ref Sheets (Judges Guild) and Arneson's The First Fantasy Campaign (Judges Guild).

While you might pick up some rules from these, I wish to emphasize that copying someone else's formal rules is not what it's about. "The rules" are piddling trivia compared with the creative energies that go into a good campaign.

Swords & Wizardry is not so much a rigorous clone as a free adaptation to suit the author's preference, very intentionally a "house rules" set. (Rather oddly, some spell names got changed for the "White Box" edition, as I recall, but maybe that has been fixed.)  Whether on balance it is actually closer to OD&D than the alternatives is I reckon highly debatable (and I don't see anyone winning that contest). That's not a point against it, certainly.

There are some things that changed right away with D&D Supplement I, including some real oddities that I don't recall anyone using. There are various subtle differences in 1st ed. AD&D vs the whole of OD&D, but I'd say that "going retro" is mainly a matter of dropping stuff that's included (more or less depending on how far back you want to turn).

While there was certainly revision, the first four books of AD&D were primarily a compilation of most of the material from the original boxed set, supplement volumes and magazine articles.

OSRIC is as faithful a clone of 1E AD&D as you're likely to find.

However, I would urge the acquisition above all of Gygax's actual Dungeon Masters Guide. The most important parts, the advice in his own voice, are text that perhaps theoretically could be represented in new composition without violating copyright, but it may be doubted whether anyone is presently equipped to do so.

The 1981 edition of D&D ('BX') has less stuff added, but leaves some bits out; generally the tendency is to simplification. On balance, it 'feels' to me very close to OD&D with Greyhawk (mainly less the bigger spell lists and more powerful magic weapons and armor).

Labyrinth Lord is the earnest clone here, while Basic Fantasy is a freer interpretation.

The Holmes edition was pretty close to the original set so far as it went (which was not into the details of wilderness, naval or aerial expeditions, or higher levels).

At first glance, Mazes & Perils looks like a promising elaboration on Holmes. I'm not well enough acquainted either with it or with Delving Deeper to make a comparison, though.

Considering the ease in finding the actual OD&D pdfs online, everyone can see what the hoopla was about. What I found notable about reading OD&D word for word after decades of playing "my OD&D" (an amalgam of 0e, 1e, Red book, whatever) was how different OD&D RAW was compared to any OD&D I played back in the day with various DMs.

Personally, I find S&W: White Box to be the most playable of the OD&D clones, but even there I hit with a hammer to make it my OD&D (but that's kinda the point of S&W though).

However, I haven't tried Delving Deeper at the table yet. I am not sure there's enough there to get me excited enough to run it. Maybe I am missing something in DD.

Quote from: Spinachcat;864477However, I haven't tried Delving Deeper at the table yet. I am not sure there's enough there to get me excited enough to run it. Maybe I am missing something in DD.

Here's what Simon Bull, the main man behind DD, has to say about it:

Quote from: Simon BullGiven that scenario, DD is one of a number of 0e-style games "out there." So why choose DD?

    Probably most importantly (and in contrast to the original) DD is current and available. It's easy to find and price is no barrier to entry--the reference rules and hypertext editions are free, and even the POD soft copy is dirt cheap. So there's really nothing stopping anyone from checking out what all the 0e "fuss" is about.

    That aside DD is, to my knowledge, at least as representative of the original material as is any other 0e game. I would say "more so" but of course I'm biased Even allowing for bias, it's my view that DD stands alone among the 0e-style games in terms of its faithfulness to the language and unique features of the original game. If you haven't played the original game, I'd say DD is a pretty good representation of it.

    DD is also a "reasonably" mature product in micro publishing terms. There have now been four versions of the DD Reference Rules with each version being tighter and "better" than the last. Quality-wise (in terms of writing, editing, production, attention to detail) I reckon DD is as good as anything else out there--certainly in the "freeware" space.

    So, if you're curious about Original D&D but don't have $200 for a collector's white box set, why wouldn't you check out DD for free?

Here's the link to the interview from which that was taken:
http://www.kickassistan.net/2014/10/delving-deeper-week-day-one-wtf-is.html

Quote from: RunningLaser;864246Didn't get the reissue box set and not keen on downloading the pdfs that are scattered about the web.  That pretty much leaves the clones.  Which ones out there would give the closest experience to the 3 books that came in the original box set?

None of them.

What makes OD&D worth looking at are the ambiguities of the text as the ur-RPG. The process of figuring out those ambiguities and answering the questions they create is an essential aspect of the experience created by the original box set.

All of the clones, pretty much by necessity, take all of the interesting questions raised by the original books and answer them for you. They're books of crossword puzzles where all the answers have been filled in by somebody else.

It's also easy to buy 0D&D books, even now the original white 1974 bookset in good condition can be found for less than $100...

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