OSRIC 3.0 was the first “retro-clone” of first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.* This release is geared toward the 20th anniversary next year. OSRIC was originally published in 2006, and has spawned thousands of adventures, sourcebooks, and zines — many of them distributed for free.
*Legal Note: Mythmere Games is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast (WotC) or HASBRO, the holders of the “Dungeons & Dragons” trademarks, including “D&D” and “AD&D.” These terms are used solely to identify the WotC/TSR products being referenced for similarity/compatibility. OSRIC redescribes the underlying rules of the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons using terms, concepts, and language released under the Creative Commons License by Wizards of the Coast, and under Fair Use doctrine under USA copyright law.
This new version of OSRIC:
• Is easier to learn, with more explanations and examples of play, focusing away from long paragraphs of text toward granular “bites” of the rules.
• Doesn’t use the Open Game License.
• Provides licenses for third-party publishers.
• Is closer to the original AD&D rules than OSRIC 2.0.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
Players Guide
The Players Guide contains all the rules for character generation and all the rules required for players. There are ten character classes: the assassin, cleric, druid, fighter, magic-user, illusionist, monk, ranger, paladin, and thief, together with rules for multi-classing and dual-classing. This is the book containing the combat rules, equipment lists, spell descriptions, and other resources for the player character. The physical book is a hardcover with pages about letter-sized (slightly smaller). It is smyth-sewn in signatures, and is wider than it is tall, so that it stays open to your page. The interior is black and white, and the pages are uncoated (not glossy).
GM Guide
The GM Guide contains encounter tables, monsters, and dungeon-design tips; everything you need to run OSRIC as the Game Master. Like the Players Guide this is a smyth-sewn hardcover with the same dimensions and specifications.
The Adventures
Curse of the Crooked Tower. A leaning tower outside the abandoned town of Finsburg once housed a Cult of Asmodeus. Now, something in the tower has reawakened, and the characters are tasked with investigating! This challenging adventure by Steve ("Zherbus") O’Connell is designed for 5-6 first-level adventurers run by veteran players. For inexperienced players, the adventure is best played with second level characters.
Whispers of the Death God. Ancient snake-people, an evil order of knighthood, and the sinister whisperings of a death god. This adventure is an assault on a mountain fortress that harbors a multitude of secrets. Written by Gábor Csomós, Whispers of the Death God is designed for 4-6 player characters, level 7-9.
Fortress Tomb of the Ice Lich. At Grathen Rift, the Ice Lich Vathudnar built a great fortress-tomb, populating the frozen ice-halls with his servants before sending his spirit out into the planes and strange dimensions beyond the material world. Thus far, no adventurers have dared to assault this legendary fortress ... until now. This epic adventure by G. Hawkins is recommended for groups of 5-8 characters of level 8-10, or 4-6 characters of levels 9-12.
The GM Screen
VTT Resources
Virtual Tabletops (VTTs) are used to host a tremendous number of roleplaying games, possibly more than are being played at real tabletops. One of our objectives for moving OSRIC into the next decade is to provide resources for these VTTs.
- Token Resources: The VTT package will include tokens for many of the monsters in OSRIC. These are still being prepared and we don’t have a total number estimated yet.
- Complete OSRIC 3.0 Implementation on Foundry. We chose Foundry as the platform because there’s already a fully-implemented version of OSRIC 2.0 on Foundry, so there’s less work involved to adapt that for OSRIC 3.0.
WHY A NEW VERSION?
OSRIC 2.0 was written primarily to preserve the rules (WotC didn’t even have a legal pdf), and to serve as a reference document for publishers. Now, in 2025, the original books are available for sale in print on demand, although the covers are a later version and there is a disclaimer which has caused a lot of discussion.
Supporting DIY and Third-Party Publishers. OSRIC’s mission to support third-party publishers is still as valid today as it was in 2005. There is no open license for use of the original books. The Creative Commons License is more flexible than the OGL in terms of mentioning the term “Advanced D&D” (now it’s just the regular trademark rules instead of a contract expressly forbidding the mention of trademarks), but most third-party publishers prefer to have a compatibility license if they’re referring to a trademark or a game system.
Affordability. The pdfs of the OSRIC rules will be distributed for free once they are finalized. That’s why our pdf tier contains “extra” resources; the rulebook pdfs themselves are free within all the pledge tiers. Even in terms of the books, the OSRIC rulebooks are less expensive and have higher-quality binding than the print on demand copies currently available. Obviously, they are MUCH less expensive than buying the actual original books, which are moving into the pricing zone of collectors’ items.
Print-on-demand copies of the original rulebooks with pdfs currently cost a total of $78.77, which is only slightly more than we’re charging in this Kickstarter, although the sewn binding we’re using is much higher quality than print-on-demand binding. OSRIC has certain advantages relative to the original books (more modern organization and presentation, the benefits of hindsight for avoiding ambiguities, and ease of learning), but the original books are written in some of the most flavorful language of any RPG, they cover somewhat more area than OSRIC (particularly for the GM), and they are the originals, which has a quality all of its own.
Since it was the first retro-clone ever written, we were excessively careful about copyright. Now that hundreds of retro-clones have been published, we can spot several places in OSRIC where we can adhere more closely to the original rules of the game without violating copyright.
Shipping
Shipping costs aren’t included in your pledge amount; we will charge shipping in the BackerKit survey. Although we do not expect it to happen (see below), orders from countries outside the USA may come with an additional tariff charge depending on when the packages ship and whether international trade has returned to normal.
Effect of Tariffs. Since we print in the USA and since books are generally exempted from tariffs, we don’t expect any DIRECT damage from trade tariffs, other than a longer time being required for the printing process. Customers outside the USA should expect the normal level of tariffs, pre-Trump, but as far as we can tell the USA is not raising tariffs on books, so our trade partners probably won’t react by raiding tariffs on books either. Since we don’t offer dice, miniatures, or other “extras,” we are currently in an area that’s not really part of the trade wars. Obviously we can’t guarantee that this will remain true, in which case there might be tariffs on the shipment. If that does happen, the risk is on the backer. We can’t absorb that risk without charging a lot more for the books, which we don’t want to do.
In terms of indirect effects, we may face a longer waiting time while the books are printed (affecting delivery date), and we will probably be paying higher prices for paper (we are absorbing that additional cost). Also, there may be some effect on total number of backers, since many customers outside the USA may choose not to purchase products from companies in the USA and many customers inside the USA may be conserving cash at this point.
In conclusion, we aren’t expecting any major tariff-related problems with this crowdfunding. There’s a risk, and this is certainly a scary time to be launching a major project, but we don’t anticipate any major problems, just a slightly lower profit margin and a longer turnaround time at the printer (because a lot of printing work is being done in the USA now rather than in China, which will slow down the system).
19 comments
Greetings,
I am just adding my voice to those commenting that the landscape format is a deal break for them. I as well find that format awkward to use especially if am going back and forth with traditional books or PDFs. Other then that, I am excited to see OSRIC moving forward.
The landscape format provides significantly less value as a physical book for me. I have a couple TTRPG books laid out this way and they are awkward to flip through quickly or carry with a stack of other books. Ironically, I can live with it in a PDF but I’m not nearly as interested in physical copies as I was before.
I’m excited for this, but I wouldn’t back it with a landscape layout
This sounds great. I love the idea of the landscape format. It’s make it stand out from the pack and work well on the table behind a DM screen. Excellent choice! If I can afford to I will back.
I am really eager about the new version of OSRIC. And I appreciate the new format of the book. 1e fans are some of the most conservative folks of the OSR. Nevertheless I am sure that they will learn to appreciate the advantages of the new format.