Labyrinth Lord

Last updated
Labyrinth Lord
Labyrinth Lord Revised Edition Cover.gif
Labyrinth Lord Revised Edition
Designers Daniel Proctor
PublishersGoblinoid Games
Publication2007 (original); 2009 (Revised Edition)
Years active2007-present
Genres Fantasy
Playing timeVaries
Chance Dice rolling
SkillsRole-playing, improvisation, tactics, arithmetic
Website https://goblinoidgames.com

Labyrinth Lord (LL) is a fantasy role-playing game written and edited by Daniel Proctor and published by Goblinoid Games. It emulates the rules and feel of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) using the Open Game License (OGL) from Wizards of the Coast. LL is based on the 1981 D&D Basic Set edited by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by David "Zeb" Cook. [1]

Contents

Compatibility with classic Dungeons & Dragons

Any adventure intended to be played with classic D&D can be run using LL with little or no adjustment. However, there are a few differences between the two games. It extends the rules so characters can advance to 20th level (the 1981 Expert set only included levels up to 14). In addition, the cleric class in LL can cast spells at first level, unlike in the 1981 rules.

Distribution

Goblinoid Games was the first retro-clone publisher to both make most content open under the OGL and create a free trademark license with few restrictions. The material contained in the LL rules is available to others with few restrictions, allowing fans and other publishers alike to create their own derivative material for use with the system. [2]

Reception

Labyrinth Lord was a runner up in the Indie RPG Awards Best Free Game category in 2007, [3] and it received an Honorable Mention in the Best Game category of the 2010 ENnies. [4]

The Escapist recommended Labyrinth Lord in their 2009 Holiday Buyer's Guide. Comparing its tone to 4th Edition D&D's "zany, over-powered sensibility", they wrote, "Labyrinth Lord feels like a Vietnam War movie, where the dungeons are dark, wet, and terrifying, goblins murder all your friends with spiked-pit traps and crossbow bolts from the shadows, and you start to develop a thousand yard infravision stare from the spell shock." [5]

Labyrinth Lord has been translated in German, with the subtitle Herr der Labyrinthe under the original English title. [6] Bastian Ludwig made a positive review in Ringbote - das online Spielemagazin published by Pegasus spiele, [7] and also reviewed Labyrinth Lord material released in German, Die Larm-Chroniken (Moritz Mehlem, Mantikore-Verlag 2010). [8] An Italian translation, subtitled Il Signore dei Labirinti has been published in 2009 under the Goblinoid Games logo. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wizards of the Coast</span> American game publisher

Wizards of the Coast LLC is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidiary of Hasbro, which acquired the company in 1999. During a February 2021 reorganization at Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast became the lead part of the new "Wizards & Digital" division.

Open gaming is a movement within the tabletop role-playing game (RPG) industry with superficial similarities to the open source software movement. The key aspect is that copyright holders license their works under public copyright licenses that permit others to make copies or create derivative works of the game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owlbear</span> Fictional monster from Dungeons & Dragons

An owlbear is a fictional creature originally created for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. An owlbear is depicted as a cross between a bear and an owl, which "hugs" like a bear and attacks with its beak. Inspired by a plastic toy made in Hong Kong, Gary Gygax created the owlbear and introduced the creature to the game in the 1975 Greyhawk supplement; the creature has since appeared in every subsequent edition of the game. Owlbears, or similar beasts, also appear in several other fantasy role-playing games, video games and other media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCGen</span>

PCGen is a character creation and role-playing game playing aid program for d20 System-based games, such as Dungeons & Dragons.

Steve Kenson is a writer and designer of role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction.

The ENNIE Awards are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World in partnership with Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D Third Edition News. The ceremony has been hosted at Gen Con in Indianapolis since 2002. Since 2018, EN World is no longer associated with the awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodman Games</span> Tabletop role-playing game publisher

Goodman Games is an American game publisher best known for the Dungeon Crawl Classics series of adventure modules and role-playing game, the Dragonmech role-playing game, and the Etherscope role-playing games. The company produced licensed adventures for Wicked Fantasy Factory, Judges Guild, Xcrawl, Iron Heroes, Castles and Crusades, and Death Dealer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacesetter Ltd</span> Tabletop role-playing game publisher

Pacesetter Ltd was a game company based in Delavan, Wisconsin, founded in 1984. Company founders included CEO John Rickets, and Mark Acres, Andria Hayday, Gaye Goldsberry O'Keefe, Gali Sanchez, Garry Spiegle, Carl Smith, Stephen D. Sullivan and Michael Williams. Pacesetter produced both tabletop role-playing games and board games.

<i>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game</i> Tabletop role-playing game

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) that was published in 2009 by Paizo Publishing. The first edition extends and modifies the System Reference Document (SRD) based on the revised 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) published by Wizards of the Coast under the Open Game License (OGL) and is intended to be backward-compatible with that edition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert J. Schwalb</span> American game designer

Robert J. Schwalb is a writer in the role-playing game industry, and has worked as a game designer and developer for such games as Dungeons & Dragons, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and many other RPG supplements.

Owen K.C. Stephens is a game designer who has worked on a number of products for the Starfinder, Pathfinder and Star Wars Roleplaying Game and other games.

Dungeons & Dragons retro-clones are fantasy role-playing games that emulate earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) no longer supported by Wizards of the Coast. They are made possible by the release of later editions' rules in a System Reference Document under the terms of the Open Game License, which allow the use of much of the proprietary terminology of D&D that might otherwise collectively constitute copyright infringement. However, as per the license, these games lack the brand names Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, and all the other trademarks associated with those brands.

<i>Mutant Future</i> Tabletop post-apocalyptic role-playing game

Mutant Future is a post-apocalyptic, science fantasy role-playing game created by Daniel Proctor and Ryan Denison and published by Goblinoid Games. The game is compatible with Labyrinth Lord, which emulates the rules of classic era Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) using the Open Game License (OGL) from Wizards of the Coast. The game is thematically patterned after genre predecessors such as Metamorphosis Alpha and its more widely known and published follow-up, Gamma World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powered by the Apocalypse</span> Game system for tabletop role-playing game

Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other RPGs.

The Old School Renaissance, Old School Revival, or OSR, is a play style movement in tabletop role-playing games which draws inspiration from the earliest days of tabletop RPGs in the 1970s, especially Dungeons & Dragons. It consists of a loose network or community of gamers and game designers who share an interest in a certain style of play and set of game design principles.

<i>Eldritch Role-Playing System</i> Tabletop role-playing game

Eldritch Role-Playing System is a role-playing game published by Goodman Games in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gareth Hanrahan</span> Irish game designer and novelist

Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan is an Irish game designer and novelist who has worked primarily on role-playing games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kobold Press</span> Game publisher

Kobold Press, also known as Open Design, is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements.

<i>Firefly Role-Playing Game</i> Science fiction tabletop role-playing game

The Firefly Role-Playing Game is a science fiction role-playing game released in 2014, written by Monica Valentinelli and set in the universe of the Joss Whedon television show Firefly. It was produced by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd, and uses the "Cortex Action" variant of Margaret Weis Production's proprietary Cortex Plus game system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set</span> Role-playing game rule set

The Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set is a category of companion accessories across multiple editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. In general, the Starter Set is a boxed set that includes a set of instructions for basic play, a low level adventure module, pre-generated characters, and other tools to help new players get started.

References

  1. Varney, Allen (28 August 2009). "Retro-clones". The Escapist. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  2. Labyrinth Lord, Release #3 April 2008, Foreword
  3. "2007 Indie RPG Awards". Indie RPG Awards. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  4. "2010 ENnie Nominees". ENnie Awards. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  5. The Escapist Staff (8 December 2009). "The Escapist's Holiday Buyer's Guide". The Escapist. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  6. Herr der Labyrinthe staff. "Offizielle deutsche Seite zu "Labyrinth Lord"". Herr der Labyrinthe. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  7. Bastian Ludwig. "Herr der Labyrinthe". Ringbote - das online Spielemagazin. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  8. Bastian Ludwig. "Die Larm-Chroniken". Ringbote - das online Spielemagazin. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  9. Dan Proctor (2009), Labyrinth Lord. Il Signore del Labirinti. Goblinoid games. See also Il Signore dei Labirinti.