PnP RPG: Swords & Wizardry & Retro Clones

[Nathan]

For no obvious reason, I've had a hankering to get together with some local friends and play an old RPG. I discovered the retroclone "movement" of producing games that are compatible with D&D without actually being D&D, and that would be pretty handy as far as making sure everyone has a copy of the rulebook and such.

The one I'm considering running right now is Swords & Wizardry White Box (http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/?page_id=6). Does anyone here have any experience with it?

[HFL99]

I've never played, but I have a copy of the regular S&W rules (not the White Box clone), and like them. The impression I have is that many folks that are more into the OD&D/retro-clone revival stuff also think they're pretty solid. Have you taken a look at the PDF yet?

[Nathan]

Yeah, I got the pdf and I generally like what I see. I never tried to actually run D&D though, so I'm a little confused about the way dice scale between "Basic D&D" and the white-book stuff. Seems like most monsters in Whitebook do 1d6 damage, so I'm a bit baffled as to how it runs in practice and how to scale published modules on the fly. I'm guessing I'll figure something out.

[BigWeather]

A few other retro-clones to consider:

Labyrinth Lord (http://www.goblinoidgames.com/labyrinthlord.html) from Goblinoid Games is a OGL implementation of B/X D&D.
OSRIC (http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/) is a OGL implementation of 1ed AD&D.
Castles & Crusades (http://www.trolllord.com/cnc/index.html) from Troll Lord Games is a re-imagining of D&D with 3e mechanics.