Old School Hack is a tribute to the original Red Box version of Basic Dungeons & Dragons, but is by no means a retro-clone of that game. Instead, for game mechanics Old School Hack is clearly inspired by the 4th Edition of D&D, as well as other modern games. Similar to the earlier version, character classes include fighter, magic-user, cleric, thief, elf, dwarf, and goblin (the author has something against halflings). However, for each class a player must choose from a set of talents akin to 4th Edition powers.

Other parts of the game include abstract but descriptive armor and encumbrance systems, a set of six attributes that are at the same time skills, action cards and a hex-based round tracker for combat, and creature tokens labeled “bad guy,” “some dude,” and “big ol’ monster.”

The game is also free and looks fantastic!