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themattjon
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[Grey Book] OD&D Compiled
« Thread Started on Jun 6, 2010, 4:27pm »

Anyone seen this yet?
http://blog.retroroleplaying.com/2009/09/grey-book-od-compiled.html

« Last Edit: Jun 29, 2010, 8:21am by Finarvyn »

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Finarvyn
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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #1 on Jun 6, 2010, 4:52pm »

Seems kind of AD&D-ish to me, what with different types of HD by class, full nine-alignment system, price list in silvers and golds, XP and GP values for magic items, and so on.

On the other hand, it does use OD&D's AC system, so maybe it's more like the RC.

At 146 pages in length, it's not screaming "rules lite" to me.

I'd be interested in knowing what others think. Maybe I looked too quickly.

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #2 on Jun 6, 2010, 5:02pm »

That's the same one that's been floating around for a while now. It's often erroneously called the Holmes gray book (because of the cover I would guess, since it doesn't have much other connection to Holmes that I've been able to tell).

Great if you want all that stuff in one book, but it seems way too AD&D to me, also.

« Last Edit: Jun 6, 2010, 6:20pm by Finarvyn »

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #3 on Jun 6, 2010, 10:33pm »

It is an odd mix of AD&D and OD&D. Strangely enough the person behind it has an intense dislike of clones but created one. (I'll let you figure it out). I had thought that this would be an expanded Holmes but I was mistaken.

It's an Ok game but I prefer OD&D/S&W to AD&D these days.

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #4 on Jun 7, 2010, 8:28am »

Personally, I really dig the Gray book. I even mocked up a cover for it and had a hardcover copy made for myself on Lulu.

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #5 on Jun 7, 2010, 9:27am »

Interesting. To me it seemed decent enough, but not better than anything else. Any particular facet of the rules that grabs you more than any of the other games out there?

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #6 on Jun 7, 2010, 10:12am »

I wouldn't say MORE than, no. But I found it perfectly valid enough to deserve a place on the shelf next to all my other versions of D&D (which is something I can't say about 4e).

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #7 on Jun 22, 2010, 10:30am »

Jun 6, 2010, 4:52pm, Finarvyn wrote:

I'd be interested in knowing what others think. Maybe I looked too quickly.

It's pretty much OD&D with most of the material from the supplements and a few things from Holmes and a very few things from AD&D. Word for word in many cases, just arranged in a logical order.

Several of the players in my OD&D (with supplements) Wilderness of High Fantasy campaign used this as their copy of the rules and had no trouble. I was using my OD&D books/supplements to run the game.

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #8 on Jun 22, 2010, 1:30pm »

The author, who is indeed very bitter against the clone community, states in the book's intro that it is AD&D-lite. Having myself literally compiled the 3LBs into one reformatted volume I'm in a good position to compare and I reckon that label pretty well sums up the "Grey Book".

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #9 on Jun 22, 2010, 4:10pm »

greyharp, you say the author is bitter against the clone community? Why is that, and where'd you get that info? I'm not challenging you; I'm genuinely interested.

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #10 on Jun 22, 2010, 4:23pm »

I can answer that. The author was involved in the OSRIC/C&C 'war' that went on a few years ago. Ever since then he is bitterly against clones, the OSR and anything that resembles them. I find it Ironic that he made one himself.

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #11 on Jun 25, 2010, 10:05am »

I always found that war rather baffling...

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #12 on Jun 25, 2010, 10:18am »

I'd have to ask though -- is this one really a clone?

I mean, it just restates the rules from D&D, right down to including the Foreword verbatim. It could be considered a different edition, surely, but I don't think it's a clone.

It's D&D. He says it's D&D. So how is it a clone?

(I don't mean this to sound antagonistic, honestly. I'm really looking for an answer here.)

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #13 on Jun 25, 2010, 10:34am »

Jun 25, 2010, 10:05am, thegreyelf wrote:

I always found that war rather baffling...

I wasn't involved in the online community when that incident took place, but I don't really understand it, either.

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Re: OD&D Compiled
« Reply #14 on Jun 25, 2010, 11:41am »

I like the Gray Book enough to have had it printed out and coil bound at my local Kinkos. In the last year or two I've tended toward the OD&D-as-almost-AD&D approach so this works for me.

The book mostly draws on the LBBs+supplements, but it does include the Holmes Dex based initiative system. The money and equipment section it seems are for some reason drawn from 3E.

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