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Since LL can be downloaded for free, I’ve decided to keep talk of the mechanics themselves limited, since you can just read those yourself if this review perks your interest in the game enough to check it out.
What is Labyrinth Lord?
Labyrinth Lord (LL) is a fantasy role playing game from Goblinoid Games It can be downloaded for free or purchased through Lulu in several formats, including Hardcover. It is an entirely self contained rules-medium game system contained in 132 pages.
Retro-Clone
LL is a Retro-Clone game. Retro-Clone is both a movement and a product design. The product design is one that uses the OGL to produce a very similar copy of an existing, but out of print, game. This allows for the game to be sold legally and for new products to be made available once again for said (original) system. The movement is one that wishes to make old school OOP games once more available and viable for gamers of the new generation and to recapture the love of many gamers from the old generation.
LL is a Retro-Clone game based off of old Basic D&D (2nd edition edited by Tom Moldvay) and Expert D&D (edited by Dave Cook & Steve Marsh).
Retro-Clone games are NOT designed to replace the original work (although they conceivably can) but rather to provide a tool to legally create supplemental material for the original game once again.
Productions values & Appearance
You can download the game for free, so I’m pretty sure you get a good idea of how it looks and what it contains. However, it is much more attractive in printed form.
I purchased the Hardcover version from Lulu and I am very satisfied (although it took a long time to get, about 3 weeks). The book is very well put together and the binding seems very solid and the paper durable. It is a nice looking professional package.
The cover is full color (featuring a terribly amateur illustration, although this is apparently the type of image the author wanted) and the interior is black and white (with much nicer illustrations, unfortunately many of them are clip art and I’ve seen many of them before) two columns in a very readable print (probably a 10 pt font). Tables are easy to find, the organization is pretty good, and it has a good index and table of contents.
On its own Merits
The obvious question is how it compares to BD&D. This is a question I will attempt to answer…a bit later. To me, a more important question is how does it stand based on its own merits?
The author (Daniel Proctor) is very upfront about not taking credit for the system and very persistent that this is a retro-clone game designed to give people a tool to create BD&D games and supplements. This appropriately modest attitude is one of the things that makes this game attractive to me and has given me a lot of respect for Daniel. That said I think he deserves credit for his efforts and hard work in bringing this product to life anyway. I guarantee it took a lot of hard work and dedication to put this together and get the word out, and he certainly deserves credit for that.
Still, the fact remains that LL is in print and available and Basic D&D really isn’t (other than purchasing it second hand). So how does it stack up on its own, sitting on the table top with a group of people sitting around playing LL? The answer would be, very well. It is a very solid framework to hang your campaign on. It provides all the rules that a group needs and simple guidelines to handle covering all the things that aren’t specifically covered by a rule during the game.
LL is complete, concise, easy to use, and fun to read. It reminds me of all the reasons I used to love role playing more than I do now (Nostalgia aside). It provides a solid framework while leaving enough room to move around. It doesn’t give rules for every situation, but instead puts emphasis on role playing things out, narration, and just having fun. Things that have become “mechanical” in newer games (like, say, making a spot check to see something sitting in front of your face) are things that are handled through role playing and descriptively describing what your PC does (“ I look under the bed, do I see anything?”).
Compared to Basic D&D
If I had to try to give an actual percentage, I would say that LL is about 90% compatible with BD&D. Most of the actual rules changes are cosmetic. Things like the order things are given on tables are changed around or names are given a little change (the Dragon Breath save becomes Breath Attacks, for example).
Still, there are a few changes that, while not major, are different. For example there are rules for variable dice roll techniques for generating character stats (instead of simply rolling 3d6 in BD&D). Starting gold is 3D8 x 10 instead of 3d6 x 10. Clerics start with a spell at first level. Experience point awards for special abilities are based on loose guidelines rather than the specific asterisk system in BD&B. The weapons list is considerably longer. There are more, but as you can see, they are all pretty minor and don’t have a HUGE effect on the game or compatibility. The author does takes some minor liberties in including rules that he probably thinks are better, were in supplements of later books (like the RC), or should have been included in the original…but again, nothing major at all.
Probably one of the biggest differences is organization. After 28 years of looking at the old BD&D rulebooks I know where everything is…LL reorganizes and combines a bit. It’s not bad and wouldn’t affect a new player or someone less intimately attuned to BD&D, but it’s a change that takes some getting used to. LL tends to tuck away rules in blocks of text instead of making them stick out under sub-headings and I think this is a bit of a flaw, though not detrimental. For example, in Basic D&D there is a “Restrictions” and “Special Abilities” section under each character description while in LL these factors are simply rolled into the Class description. Things like MUs only being able to use a dagger are tucked away instead of right in your face.
Final Thoughts
I’m very happy with LL. The product is a good one and I wouldn’t hesitate recommending it to newbies just starting, experienced gamers looking for something that allows them more freedom, or those who want to remember what BD&D was like at its best.
Personally I’m hoping it catches on enough that we will start seeing products being put out under the OGL. Not only is this an opportunity for people to put out compatible BD&D products (finally), but it is also a chance to help expand on a “new” game…sort of a chance to go back in time and be there from the beginning and have an active role in how the game progresses.
Talk about it!
LL has a fledgling forum starting up. I’m hoping fans of the game, or BD&D come over and start talking it up (LL forum).
Side Note (shameless plug):
Since I originally wrote this review and posted it on the forums I have entered the publishing arena on Lulu myself with a setting for this very game. If you want to check it out go to my Lulu store. I guess the highest compliment a reviewer can give a game is to decide to write supplement material for it :)
David Bezio Presents… http://stores.lulu.com/beez1057
The Phoenix Barony™ is a high fantasy adventure setting for the Labyrinth Lord™ RPG or any Basic/Expert Fantasy Role Playing Game. It is a concise lighthearted setting covering an area 100 x 100 miles. In this book you will find details on the world the Phoenix Barony is set in, descriptions of all the major locations in the Barony, history, Religion, organizations, and NPCs that make the setting unique. If that isn’t enough you will also find the details of a smaller adventure area within the Phoenix Barony, hints of further adventures that take place there, and a complete 1st level adventure to get you started. (OSRIC friendly!) Also available in a saddle stitched print version or PDF.
