Quote from: Socratic-DM on April 16, 2025, 01:20:12 PMI think a solid test/threshold we could devise is "Can this play Keep On the Borderlands out of the box without need of conversion?" with the exception of ascending/descending AC.  I think most sane people would consider that good litmus test.

I think that this is actually quite brilliant. (bolded part done by me)

I started running OD&D in the mid-1970's, and over the decades I have run campaigns with a number of variant options that "violate" the traditional OD&D rulebooks. One campaign might use "Chainmail" combat in stead of the "alternate" table. Another might try spell points instead of the traditional Vancian magic system from the rulebooks. My point is that taking OD&D and tweaking the rules here and there has been a staple of my campaigns for a long time, and I have always felt like my games are very much in the OSR spirit.

Having said all of that, the "how far" question is an important one. My campaigns usually have a small adjustment or two here and there, but otherwise they highly resemble traditional D&D. I think that taking away levels is perhaps too far, as those are a significant part of how I see D&D, but switching AC from descending to ascending doesn't bother me one bit. In my brain there are a few things that define D&D but changing other things is still okay. I'm not sure how I feel about a wound track instead of hit points, but if that is the only significant change and the rest of the game feels like D&D then it's a fun experiment and probably not "too far."