Another great OSR. Clearly laid out and wonderully simple. I'm a big fan of retro clones and old school games and this one didn't disappoint.

Great work!

Asolutely love this. Whilst being a tome that ties in nicely with the Old School Essentials set, this is usable with most B/X (or even later Mentzer/Cyclopedia) versions of Basic D&D. It introduces race & class as distinct whilst keeping the flavour of osr gaming (you have the option to keep race-as-class, and it includes many new additions for this style if you prefer it).

I particularly liked the feel of old-style classes (Acrobat, Assassin, Ranger etc.) in the context of the Basic set-up. Also includes 'advanced rules' (two-weapon fighting, parrying, multi-classing, skills, weapon proficiency), yet somehow manages to 'feel' like its own thing, i.e not just a compromise with AD&D rules tacked-on.

I find the rules herein far more intuitive than the weapon rules offered in the Cyclopedia version of basic D&D (which add more complexity than AD&D in many ways, albeit adding great depth).

OSE keeps to the design principle of 'rules-light' and intuitive, whilst serving up something very evocative of what I had been looking for whenever I went back to try the 'basic' version of the 'Original Game' and found it missing something. This volume is an incredibly good answer to that feeling of what was missing. Great work, all!

Like many in the early 80s, I moved from the B/X version of the World's Greatest Game to the Advanced version. But also like many, I never forgot my "Basic" roots and thought for all it's "Advancements" there was still something special about the Basic game.

Well OSE hears you. The modular design of OSE makes adding material that is considered "Advanced" to be quite easy. Granted this is not the first Retro-Clone to do this, but this one does it in such an elegant fashion.

Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules adds new classes and new races. For new races we get drow, duergar, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, and svirfneblin (yes deep gnomes!) Also true to the advanced rules this book pulls race and class apart. In truth this was one of the major benefits of the Advanced game and that is true here as well. For new classes, we get acrobat, assassin, barbarian, bard, druid, illusionist, knight, paladin, and ranger. There is also rules for multi-classing, something I always want to add to my basic games. Some additional rules on poison and magic are also included.

A fantastic addition to the Core Rules.

if you want to play a Svirfneblin race-as-class, I believe this book is your only option. Highly recommended.

This is another OSE (formerly BX Essentials) helpful book. It is designed to bring the ADnD 1e classes (with Unearthed Arcanna classes and races) into the Basic/Expert game (instead of making BX play more like ADnD). As such, race as class is still the default, but there are options for spitting the two. You do need the companion Druid and Illusionist Spells to get the most out of this volume. The Druid, Bard, and Ranger make use of Druid spells; the Illusionist and Gnome make use of Illusionist spell. NB there is no Monk. I have players using the Barbarian and gnome currently. They blend nicely with the other classes and no one feels overshadowed or nerfed. The fact that the classes are complete on a two page spread is really nice, no flipping back and forth. Also, it makes it easy to print out a class for a new player to use. The layout is helpful throughout and the art is wonderfully inspiring.

This is wonderful resource for adding a lot of depth tor a B/X game. Always nice to have class options in a style that feels yearningly like early AD&D.

And, as always, presented in that effecient, clear and stylish Necrotic Gnome manner.

Must have!