I'll have to go with ACKS because it takes B/X plus fragments of other TSR D&D rulesets and refines them into an elaborate game engine that excels at what I feel has always been (to me) D&D's underlying theme — D&D, like the Aeneid, Westerns, samurai movies, Conan and Star Wars, is the foundational narrative of a civilization. It's about a world that's seen better days, and the men and women (and dwarves and lizard men etc.) that go out and kill the monsters and unearth ancient gold and forgotten wonders and build keeps and rage against the dying of the light to stitch a new order from the remains of the old one.

Of course, that's neither here nor there, but the thing about ACKS is how the carefully-thought, detailed mechanics converge to create this sort of world, and encourage players to get on the civilization-founding bandwagon. PCs can build a ship and set off as traders, or explorers, or pirates, or all three like the Northmen of old, in any edition of D&D — but ACKS has explicit rules for this.  They can build castles, and field armies, in any edition, but ACKS has explicit rules for this.

Hell, if you're a wizard, you can build a dungeon under your tower in any edition of D&D, but ACKS has rules for determining which monsters will come and nest inside it, and how you can farm them for parts, and there's a % that they'll crawl out of your dungeon and attack a neighboring community, like there's also a % that a bunch of feisty adventurers will show up and try and "clear" your monster farm.

Sure, the trusty old Companion set and the Rules Cyclopedia covered much of the same ground, and ACKS takes quite a few pointers from them. But the way everything is tied together, corner cases are covered, and other touches such as the level 14 cap, classic high-level spells as rituals, the class system laid bare for all to tinker with in the Players Companion and the kick-ass setting... I gotta say it's my favorite OSR thing. I love the zaniness of DCC, the Weird Tales verve of Hyperborea, the survival horror fantasy of LotFP, but ACKS feels like Ultimate Classic D&D to me.

The Domain Level of play in D&D was sadly neglected printwise, and I'm glad ACKS filled the gap.

Quote from: The Butcher;862327I love the zaniness of DCC, the Weird Tales verve of Hyperborea, the survival horror fantasy of LotFP, but ACKS feels like Ultimate Classic D&D to me.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;862333The Domain Level of play in D&D was sadly neglected printwise, and I'm glad ACKS filled the gap.

Hear, hear!

It boiled down the metric crap ton of 3.X nonsense into the essentials and helped me grok some of the system hacks that developers have been using for years to handwave new powers and skills.

It also gave me Stars Without Number which got me interested in Sandboxing again.

Quote from: Mostlyjoe;862580It boiled down the metric crap ton of 3.X nonsense into the essentials and helped me grok some of the system hacks that developers have been using for years to handwave new powers and skills.

This in an interesting choice and I don't think I've ever heard anyone else say it. But yeah: one of the great things about the OSR is that it made it really clear what were the salvageable parts of 3.x

On the top of my head:

The whole catalog of Sine Nomine Publishing
The basic fantasy rpg community
OSRIC
Qe-Long

If one presumes OSRIC was what prompted WotC to not release 4e under the OGL, it gave 3.x fans a lifeline by forcing Paizo's hand to create Pathfinder RPG.

Quote from: Caesar Slaad;863645If one presumes OSRIC was what prompted WotC to not release 4e under the OGL, it gave 3.x fans a lifeline by forcing Paizo's hand to create Pathfinder RPG.

I doubt OSRIC had anything to do with either decision. It wasn't until 2010 that the OSR was starting to be taken seriously beyond a core group of enthusiasts and not until 2012 when everything classic D&D started to really take off into its own niche.

OSRIC was negatively perceived as a bad rip-off of AD&D 1st soon to be a recipient of a cease & desist from Wizards of the Coast. There was a lot of shit being thrown at it along with a lesser amount at Basic Fantasy, Labyrinth Lord, and Swords & Wizardry.

My opinion that the OSR was going to grow regardless however it got a shot in the arm when the PDFs were taken down by Wizards and 4e turned out to be D&D in name only.

The 4e situation worked mostly to Paizo's benefit but the OSR (as well as Runequest and other fantasy RPGs) got a bit of the action as disgruntled 3.X gamers went looking for alternatives.

The loss of the PDFs meant the only readily available source for classic D&D rules and material was the OSR.

While I feel neither event was crucial to the OSR sustaining itself as a niche. The two events made it a near certainty.

And understand the OSR still remains a niche in a larger niche hobby.

Quote from: RPGPundit;862225I was kind of hoping for more concrete things...

Since I was first to post on this thread, but still missed the original intention...I'd clarify in saying that I love how the OSR reinstated the "declare" then "role" initiative sequence.  That was an elegant balance between self-determination and chaos.

Quote from: RPGPundit;863331This in an interesting choice and I don't think I've ever heard anyone else say it. But yeah: one of the great things about the OSR is that it made it really clear what were the salvageable parts of 3.x

I distinctly remember opening the 3E PHB when it first came out and having a good reaction that I would still agree with. Yes, the whole thing spun out of control quickly, and the art was obnoxious, and the creative spark was missing. But the basic structure of the game was solid. And it still is. It makes sense people pulled good stuff out of it.

The important contribution of the OSR has nothing whatsoever to do with core rules sets. All the popular OSR rules systems are basically equivalent to the various ways sensible people have been house ruling 1E or BD&D or OD&D for decades. The real value of the OSR is that it has re-animated the creative spark in settings and dungeons.

The main stream commercial adventures and settings for D&D have sucked in the worst possible way for a very long time, and they still do. That fucking conspiracy of dragons thing WoC put out last year was an absolute shit stain that stank up all the promise I saw in 5E. As soon as I read it I realized, 'oh crap, here we are again; a nice looking rules re-boot, followed by 10 years of slow motion train wreck'.

The beauty of the OSR is that it has people creating and sharing seriously cool stuff. The real heart of D&D is people creating unexpected things - characters, situations, jokes, fights, dungeons, monsters, spells, treasures, haunted forests... The real intent of the game was that EVERYONE playing it created those things THEMSELVES. It is nice to spice up your stack of game materials with some cool published dungeons and so forth, but the whole scene is supposed to involve everyone using their minds to make something that engages and inspires their buds at the table. That idea has been revived by all the groovy little OSR publications. I predict a lot of the small print run stuff being bought on Lulu now will be more appreciated and sought after 20 years from now than all the WoC products.

Quote from: Larsdangly;863705The beauty of the OSR is that it has people creating and sharing seriously cool stuff.

Well, I can't argue with that.

Turanil's rules limiting halflings and gnomes to 11 STR. That should have been in D&D since the beginning. Yes, the game has dragons blah blah blah, but halflings stronger than blacksmiths was always dumb.

Original D&D can't have rules limiting the strength of halflings.

It doesn't have halflings.  It has Hobbits.

:popcorn:

Quote from: Jason Coplen;864327Turanil's rules limiting halflings and gnomes to 11 STR. That should have been in D&D since the beginning. Yes, the game has dragons blah blah blah, but halflings stronger than blacksmiths was always dumb.

Interesting choice!