Old School Rules for D&D 5th Edition
Speaking of tweaking 5e to add some classic sensibilities, I’ve been hitting the Googles to search for products that do something similar. I’ve found three of ‘em – let’s compare and contrast.
That this isn’t a review or in-depth exploration; I haven’t bought any of these (yet).
Dungeonesque
Price (pdf): $30
Release date: 2017
Funding: $3,305 USD by 315 backers on Indiegogo, and 214 backers pledged $12,564 on Kickstarter
The skinny
Dungeonesque is the fifth edition basic rules, but more concise, using a retro layout and styled after 70s and 80s boxed set games. From the FAQ: “We’re not changing any rules [..], we’re just having a very concise expression of those rules and adding some really cool tools and gaming aids.”
Taken at face value this sounds cool, but it seems that the lack of original content has gained Dungeonesque some internet ire and middling reviews.
Five Torches Deep
Price (pdf): $10 on Kickstarter, but not out yet
Release date: 2019 (not released yet)
Funding: 628 backers pledged $6,261 on Kickstarter
The lowdown
The publisher has a webpage, but it doesn’t mention FTD (yet?) and their blog just says “Welcome to WordPress”.
The pitch from Kickstarter is “Heavier than Knave or Into the Odd, more concrete than the Black Hack, less epic than 5e, more familiar than the White Hack, and less ‘edgy’ than LotFP. It hits the sweet spot between post-clone ultra-light rules and burdensome mechanics.“ I know some of those!
What’s cool about this one is that the authors have been involving the community and sharing early drafts. This is the latest shared version I could find: FTD 1.4 (source).
It looks like FTD does change a few things from vanilla fifth edition. Notable is that you’ll need to tweak monsters and treasure.
Into the Unknown
Price (pdf): $14
Release date: 2019
Funding: N/A
The straight dope
The author chose an unfortunate name for this product, as it clashes with 4e’s “Into the Unknown: the Dungeon Survival Handbook” which is hardly ancient with its 2012 release.
From the free introduction: “Into the Unknown is a simpler, easier, non-’advanced’ rendition of the 5th edition of the world’s most popular role-playing game, inspired by the 80s ‘Basic’ and ‘Expert’ rules of the game. [..] Into The Unknown seeks to be light enough to give the imagination a wide berth to let you play to the scene over playing to the rules.”
Into the Unknown seems to sit somewhere between the other two games in terms of its proximity to 5th edition. A regular 5e character can join an ItU game without alterations, and presumably all monsters and dungeons are cross-compatible, but there are changes to the underlying systems.
My Take
If I were to extend my “5e Lite” experiment I would probably use a lot of the same ideas as Five Torches Deep and Into the Unknown. The new thing that I would bring to the table is the “every spell is wish” mechanic, inspired by Nobilis’ miracles, and perhaps a more extreme focus on simplicity. I might add this system to the Dungeon of the Mad Mage expansion I’m tinkering on.
What’s interesting is that a product such as these can get some interest and funding from the community but probably not of the magnitude required to even properly pay the bills. Dungeonesque, for example, funded for 15k but after art, editing, layout, printing, shipping and dividing the profit amongst its four authors I’d be surprised if there was much left.