Re: Labyrinth Lord (B/X clone) 2nd Edition Draft - What is your impression?

On 6/7/2024 1:14 AM, Maik Wagner wrote:

Hello everyone and greetings from Germany,
 I had a look at the goblinoidgames.com website to see what is happening
with "Labyrinth Lord" which I still enjoy and play from time to time.
 Apparently there is a 2nd Edition in development and a draft of the new
ruleset is available for download from their site.
 I never bothered about the "Advanced Labyrinth Lord" ruleset which is
also available and I am quite happy with the 2007 ruleset. Things like
"races" as classes are things I just accept and appreciate the simple
mechanics of the Labyrinth Lord ruleset.
 Still I am getting the impression that this upcoming edition is going to
"feel different" - apparently there are Cyclopses which can be played,
the "Thief class" seems to have become a "burglar" etc. which looks
strange to be and different to what I have been used to.
 What I do find interesting is that there is a mini-campaign that comes
with the book which looks interesting at first glance and that the map of
the "Known Lands" now looks way better than in the old ruleset.
 What is your impression of the renewed Labyrinth Lord ruleset? Are you
going to buy and play it?
 Personally I will probably stick to my 2007 edition and I have bought
many copies for to hand to my players at the table.
 Have a good day,
Maik
 

Well, it seems that Dan, after getting a response to shutting down Goblinoid Games, decided to react by making his own version of B/X instead of cloning the old rules.
And it makes a lot of sense, considering there are so much more options around than there were when LL originally came out. Most people if they need a well-layouted clone of B/X would go for Old School Essentials nowadays. And even if not that, why not Swords and Wizardry, or White Box, or etc. pp.
I do have a fondness for LL as well though, and I love the old books and their art, and it doesn't really bother me that some of the rules are not quite right for a straight up clone. It is what was thought possible back then.
So having a different LL instead of a straight off copy of DnD makes sense.
By the way the Advanced Labyrinth Lord book from a few years back was basically just the original LL and the Advanced Edition Companion under one cover, with I think only some errata in there. Not a completely new edition.