Evolution By Design

How RetroQuest is Changing in the Writing

I’m really hammering away on RetroQuest these days and I’m absolutely loving it. I started writing a pretty straight forward B/X Clone, primarily because I love B/X and I wanted to fill the market gap that was being created by OSE no longer supporting their Basic Rules set. But my brain doesn’t work that way, apparently.

At first, it started with little flourishes and little tweaks. Making Thieves a bit more capable. Adding a Hero Token system to give the PCs a bit of “umph,” , using only Ascending AC, few monsters that blur the line between sci-fi and fantasy (like the old pulps used to do). My initial feedback when I announced RetroQuest ranged from “That sounds awesome!” to “Great… another B/X clone” and I think both observations are valid. Then, I showed the game to a few proofreaders and pre-readers and while by and large they liked it, most felt like it didn’t go hard enough into the pulp elements it flirted with. (Special shout out to Dave J.). So, over the past few weeks, I’ve decided to go all in and to make RetroQuest feel like more than just another B/X Clone.

It’s not the game you played. It’s the game you remember.

Clerics became Crusaders, more akin to righteous templars than mace wielding support characters. Thieves became Knaves, masters of shadow and deception. Magic-Users became Wizards, capable of casting spells like Wall of Electric Wizardry with spells that could achieve impossible effects via Arcanus Maximus or backfire in horrific ways via Arcane Paradox. Fighters became Warriors, throwing out multiple deadly blows in a single combat round. I turned up the volume - and the music was oh so metal.

Stranger, pulpier monsters showed up - like the blue-skinned, odorous porcine Hoglins, the dimensional ripping Blightspawn, and the chrome-scaled, laser-blasting Draconis Maximus. Traditional magic items got mingled with atom-driven Power Armor, Neon Shades that reflect a medusa’s gaze, and the fabled, digital-arcane Techno-Blade.

And while I was writing this, the music got louder. Especially the soundtrack to the 1986 Gen X-scarring film Transformers: The Movie. I’ve been listening to that soundtrack for 40 years and it’s still an absolute banger. It just oozes unashamed, cheesy heroism. And I am 100% here for it.

I guess that’s what I’m saying: I’m going all in on RetroQuest as the revisions continue. It’s not going to be just another B/X fantasy game. It is absolutely a B/X fantasy game - but it’s a B/X fantasy game where my “Appendix N” included the songs of Stan Bush, the original Masters of the Universe comics and cartoon, the Savage Sword of Conan, the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings animated film, and a helluva lot of hair metal. And I’m not going to ashamed of loving those things.

Oh, and Dinosaur Paladins. RetroQuest has Dinosaur Paladins - because hell yeah it has Dinosaur Paladins.