Adventures in the Green, Book I: Characters - DRAFT B available for comment

So I have been writing up my version of OD&D (the 3 LBB plus Supplement 1), taking what is there, reorganizing and reworking the text to be better organized.  I've added a few bits I like from other systems, notably the Spell Repertoire system from Adventurer, Conqueror, King System, but noted what the original text said for purists.

I chose "Adventures in the Green" as the name for my rules.  Book I: Characters contains everything you need to make a character and I now have a complete Draft B of those rules I'm willing to share as a PDF.  I've been working on it the last month to get it into shape instead of typing up session notes to post here, so I thought y'all should see what I've been up to.  The link above will take you to Mediafire and let you download the PDF.  I'd love to hear back what you think of it so far.

There are a few oddities in it that come from the original texts that were surprising to me, like no where do the rules for thieves state that humans can be thieves, like the rules do for Fighters, Magic-Users, and Clerics.  I ran with that.  I also renamed hobbits/halflings as Tolk, as a nod to where they were sourced from without their name feeling intrusive.

The artwork is all placeholder right now.  I'll probably go with public domain woodcut artwork when I go to final layout, but I want to do some playtesting of the rules as they are right now to see if I need to re-write or tweak anything.  The pages are A5-sized as I like the booklet format for rules now days as they take less room at the table.

BookII: Creatures is in an early Draft B stage and I'd like to have it done by the end of June, but that timetable depends on how busy work is and how things are going with my mother [long story that I'm not going into now other than she is now living with me part time and my sister the other half].

In the meantime, I'll get back to posting session notes for the Shattered Star AP.
[Narrator: He didn't.]


Later!


Adventures in the Green
Book II: Conflicts
Book III Campaigns

Currently (re)writing

Sorry for the delay in posts.  I'm currently focusing on Draft B of my version of the OD&D rules, Adventures in the Green.  

Draft A was taking what was in the original three rule books and reorganizing the text so that rules for various topics were together and not scattered around.  I've also brought in content from Strategic Review Vol. 1, No. 2, to clarify the combat rules and how magic spells are supposed to work (both surprisingly missing as explicit rules in the original publications).  This took some doing as OD&D was written as codified notes for someone who knew the entire system and not for easily learning the game.  As I worked on it I started to understand how things were actually organized and grouped.  I followed Greyharp's Single Volume Edition for initial organization and as a checklist to verify I incorporated everything.  I've also added some things from Supplement 1: Greyhawk.

Draft B is reorganizing some sections better now that I have sections labelled and can see everything that exists.  I'm also re-writing most of the text to be a bit more concise and clear.  Mr. Gygax could be flowery in his writing style and I'm aiming for something more direct and lean.  I'm about half way through Book 1: Characters, which includes everything you need to create a character and equip them.  I'll be posting it on DriveThruRPG when I'm done as Pay What You Want so folks can download it and try it out during the play-testing phase [and maybe send some pizza money my way].  This will provide easy distribution and give me an idea if there is interest in further development or not as I'll get reports on number of downloads.

Draft C will take feedback from the play-test campaign to tweak rules and clarify phrasing.  This is the where I'll also start finalizing layout and maybe commission some art for the cover.  Right now I plan on using public domain art for the interior to keep costs down.

That's it for now.  I just wanted to let y'all know what was going on and why session notes have been more sporadic than usual lately.  Stay healthy and safe!