Pipes, Pints, and Polyhedrons

Now there is Against the Darkmaster (VsD for short). This game is clearly inspired by, and draws heavily on, MERP. But it’s not a retro-clone (i.e., it’s not the MERP version of OSRIC). Rather it’s what I would call a quasi-clone (a game that draws heavily on an earlier one, and retains broad compatibility with its predecessor, but also deviates from it in some important ways). VsD looks like it’s compatible with MERP, in the sense that it should not be difficult to use MERP material with the system. But VsD introduces some new elements. For instance, VsD separates “races” from “cultures”: both humans and halflings, for instance, can have the “pastoral” or “urban” backgrounds. These elements of characters were not distinguished in MERP.