I’ve been having a lot of fun playing and reading up on roleplaying games. After a childhood spent playing D&D Basic/Expert, Gamma World, Top Secret, and Call of Cthulu, I left gaming for a long time once high school hit.
Since I largely missed all the editions of D&D after 1st, there’s been a lot to catch up on. And it’s an interesting time in the history of the game, with its current owners preparing to launch yet another edition, and various third parties launching their own versions and competing systems, massive tomes like Dungeon Crawl Classics and streamlined games like Swords and Wizardry, Basic Fantasy, and Labyrinth Lord that harken back to the orgins of the game. And Pathfinder, it seems, is the new industry juggernaut.
All of these systems, I think, can claim the same heritage and authenticy as the game that still bears the name Dungeons and Dragons. Enough of the classic game has been released and reworked under the Open Gaming License created by Wizards of the Coast to make the essense of the game, if not its name, legally accessable to any developer.
And that’s a great thing! Many people have their own opinions about how an ideal system might work, and what sort of world you would create with that game. Even as a kid I was always tweaking the rules. So as a writer, and somebody who loves stories, logic, and fantasy, it was almost inevitable that I started writing my own version of the game. No announcements yet, but its definitely grown into a full scale project. Stay tuned for more.
matthewlowes.com 
Come and join the simplednd project. I’d love to have you onboard!