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Wednesday 3 April 2013

Swords and Wizardry

I backed this Kickstarter project last year.

Be a part of the old school renaissance! Back the award-winning roleplaying game. Original edition rules. Original edition feel.

Well... finally, it arrived!

Swords & Wizardry Complete Rules is a simulacrum of the original edition of the 1974 fantasy roleplaying game written by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Now everyone can play this ENnie award-winning re-creation of the original rules without paying hundreds of dollars for the original books.
Of course I already have enough original books but hey, I was impressed with the work of these fine folks at Frog God Games. Are they the only ones out there doing this? No. Are they creating products of the highest standard? Yes. Am I happy with the newest edition to my D&D book collection? Yes. Is it fair for me to call it D&D? Totally. They can't of course, because I expect that would get them in a legal battle with Hasbro (the latest owners of the D&D brand). As they state on the Kickstarter page:

FAQ
  • Is this is exact text of the 1974 rules?
    The Swords & Wizardry Rules are a restatement of those rules, but with newly-written text, and better organization (where the rules were spread across seven booklets).
Which pretty much sums it up, without mentioning the superb art and obvious attention to detail both in the design layout and content. Most excellent!

2 comments:

  1. I backed this one also. I jumped in big and everything I got was well worth it.

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  2. I didn't back this but got it through a trade - totally blown away! It might not be a perfect match for the game we played but the feel of the rules is very similar to the mish-mash of AD&D and B/X that my group played in the 80s.

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