Old School Thoughts and Decisions to Make

Art by Erol Otus

It's been almost three weeks since I last ran my Heroes of Sandpoint campaign. Thanksgiving really screwed with the scheduling there and one of my players keeps wanting to change the date on me or canceling. Because of that, my mind has been elsewhere, thinking about other games that I could be running until the Pathfinder game gets back on schedule.

I have a few ideas for a Mutants & Masterminds game and Numenera could fix this science fantasy itch I've had for awhile. However, I really don't feel like dealing with M&M's crunch right now and I'm not sure if I can sell my player's on Numenera. So, after thinking long and hard, an idea popped into my head: Why not give a retroclone a try? 

I've been interested in running one of the clones for awhile now, but something has always held me back. This might be the perfect time to fix that. However, I should decide which clone do I want to use? While there are a lot of great clones out there, I think I've narrowed it down to two candidates: Sword & Wizardry or Lamentations of the Flame Princess. 

I love the simplicity of Sword & Wizardry, how it presents a few alternate rules that you can utilize within the rulebook (such as Ascending AC), and the rulebook is free to download. However, I love the weird elements present in Lamentations of the Flame Princess, how the rules handle the cleric class, and the d6 skill system. Also, it doesn't hurt that you can download a free copy of Rules & Magic as well (sadly, since its art free, it causes some of the page design to be weird). 

Most likely, I think I'll end up going with Sword & Wizardry in the end. While they are both great games, I think I prefer the overall rules in S&W a little bit better. If I go with S&W, I will most likely use the Ascending AC variant (along with "To Hit" Bonuses) due to my player's familiarity with newer editions of D&D. I think I'll also use the "Save or Die at 0 HP" house rule so the characters have a slightly better chance at survival. 

Now, I just need to create an adventure and see if my available players are interested. Wish me luck.