OSR Stalwart James Spahn kickstarted White Box: Cyclopedia this summer and raised a whopping 50k. I missed it and have now paid 25 dollars for the pdf, when I could have paid 15 in the summer. It's a 290 page product and let me start by saying it's a ridiculous game. I mean this in the best possible way. The idea of a 290 page rulebook with "whitebox" appended is of course in itself a ridiculous notion - whitebox is D&D shaved to the bone, so what can a "Cyclopedia" edition of such a game possibly be if not the antithesis of whitebox? It's not though. What it is, is the OSR from its loveliest side. Not artpunk reinterpretations or pushing-the-limit [color] hacks on just how lite an RPG can be and still be an RPG. It's about loving the old games and applying your craft, experience and creativity to that; flexing your DM moves in a blog or forum post for others to +1 and say "stolen!". With the Whitebox Cyclopedia, James has flexed all  h...

tl;dr A giant-sized core ruleset that nonetheless offers the best take on an Advanced version of D&D you are likely to find. I never really looked at the Adventurer Conqueror King System, though I had heard good things about it, as an elaboration of classic D&D with a proper domain game. When the new Imperial Imprint (II, aka v2) came out, I decided to spin up my drivethrurpg account and plop for the pdf. Let's start by saying this is not classic D&D. It is evidently based  on BX/BE D&D, with its math and level progression advancing only to 14th level.  But the scope and detail of this game is far more ambitious than anything Classic and those who enjoy the restrained core of Classic D&D will find the wealth of options and systems overwhelming.  It is rather an alternate attempt at making an Advanced D&D, based on Classic D&D.  And it is epic/monstrous in scope. Let's look at word counts of core rulebooks (not including monster manuals): ...