Let me get a couple of things out the way first. I know others have this before and probably better than me. I also know there’s some folks who have beef with LOTFP and anyone who dares talk about it. Sure, I’m still awaiting the mysterious Ref Book. And there’s a thing or two that have annoyed me but I’m not ready to break out the torches and pitchforks.

Time to beat the dead horse. Yes, it’s basically Basic D&D with a few rules tweaks here and there. Only fighters get better at combat. Turning Undead is spell not something that can be spammed all day long. No being brought back from the dead. No wizard artillery corps. But also there’s no fear or insanity mechanic for the characters. And here’s the core of LOTFP. Attitude and tone. I admit that there’s some really icky art but then there’s a tone of evocative art. Plus, just say that you’re running Lamentations of the Flame Princess and folks in the know will already have an idea of what to expect.

I’ll also admit that the official LOTPF adventures are all of the place. I personally like the earlier ones. But since it’s an old school game, you’ve got a bunch of options out there. And as far the rules go, well, you could just tweak another clone to your liking. Hell, I do that all the time. Throwing together various rules from various games into some weird Frankenstein monstrosity. But here’s the thing. Every time I do that I start with a specific game as the framework and then add or subtract various bits and let that core game carry most of the load.

So Lamentations can work as the core to build around and tailor a dark fantasy/horror game or it can act as source of inspiration to tack onto whatever rules that please use. It’s a good tool to throw in that game hacker toolbox.

And yes you can get the art-free version gratis.

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