Wildly creative, insightful, fun. I've been using this as a resource to run Dungeon of the Mad Mage as an open-table megadungeon, and frankly it as critical a resource as the original book.

Great jus what I needed to give my 5e game an Old School feel! I wish it was POD I would pick it up.

The D&D Lite rules are very clean and smart. Good design all around.

There are so many good things to say about this title...

First of all, I'll admit, I haven't run Dungeon of the Mad Mage. A megadungeon felt really out of place within the framework of 5e so I often passed it over in favor of more narratively driven content. Here, with this book, I now totally want to run it!

The Old School Guide gives us a different way to approach the adventure, and in truth, 5e itself. It expertly recreates mechanics and incentive structures from B/X D&D. From XP for gold to followers, everything you would need to twist 5e into a B/X style game is here. Most notably for me is the Open Table section, which allows for a West Marches style game. This is helpful in itself but there was also obvious weaving of that mechanic into the others. Giving players several reasons to favor this style of play apart from the difficulty of scheduling.

Also very noteworthy is the D&D Lite section, which when combined with some cited rules from the DMG, create an altogether new and singularly impressive game! As someone who just bought the 3rd edition of White Hack I found these familiar and more accessible. Frankly, D&D Lite is worth the price of admission and could (read should) be used outside of Dungeon of the Mad Mage. It seems like a great way to tempt 5e players (especially those who like to focus on RP or creative problem solving) into the OSR.

Finally, the layout and fonts are all straight out of Moldvay and Cooks 1981 texts. The art is original but feels as if it could have filled those long ago published pages. I love this nostalgic silliness! (Though, I am somewhat biased as I greatly dislike the 5e layout design, so take that as you will)

Overall, you should pay money for this. It's clear a great deal of design thought has been put into it and that alone deserves to be supported.