I appreciate all that Gavin Norman and Necrotic Gnome have done for the OSR TTRPG scene over the past few years, but I have to say each time I see a D&D-derivative system it makes me wish that other systems of the time—like Runequest, Tunnels & Trolls, or West End Games' d6 system beneath Ghostbusters (1985) and Star Wars (1987)—got even half the attention. Tom Moldvay and Dave Cook's Basic/Expert (1981) has been done to death at this point. For a nice historical lesson, look to Moldvay's later work on the Challenges Game System[0], which pares down the AD&D 1E Players Handbook (1978) into 8 pages suitable for running the game at the table.
I could rant for hours about the sacred cows of D&D deserving slaughter, but I'll refrain.
All this is to say, the Dolmenwood campaign book is great and I own it. It was originally a setting for Old-School Essentials published through a zine[1], and I think they could have stopped at just a campaign book, the one that the OP links to. I just don't think we need any more flavors of B/X!
I am sure those systems deserve a modern renovation, but as a general matter, I think the particulars of game systems matter less, overall, when it is not a mechanics heavy system like Pathfinder and DnD 5e...or Rolemaster. It mostly comes down to rulings over rules...which is why rules lite systems, e.g. Mausritter, Knave, Into the Odd, have play in the OSR/NSR scene.
I do not know where on the crunch spectrum the systems you mentioned fall,
I just picked up the books, after finishing playing in a short campaign. It's a great setting. The rules system is a bit bare bones, but you could easily run Dungeon World or pretty much any trad fantasy RPG there. Yes, 5e, sure. It would work great for Pendragon.
Woah... this is crazy to see here. The books are absolutely amazing. Everything is carefully crafted and filled with love. The modern OSR and modern TTRPGS are absolutely wonderful. This is the craft at its finest.
I could rant for hours about the sacred cows of D&D deserving slaughter, but I'll refrain.
All this is to say, the Dolmenwood campaign book is great and I own it. It was originally a setting for Old-School Essentials published through a zine[1], and I think they could have stopped at just a campaign book, the one that the OP links to. I just don't think we need any more flavors of B/X!
[0] https://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=14165
[1] https://necroticgnome.com/blogs/news/the-end-of-wormskin
I do not know where on the crunch spectrum the systems you mentioned fall,
Also this is my favorite t-shirt: https://necroticgnome.com/products/dolmenwood-goatlord-t-shi...
Also check out 3d6 Down the Line, an actual play worth listening to. https://youtu.be/xNWg_IcbHl8?is=54oqh6TbY5g6DP-B
[0] https://necroticgnome.com/products/dolmenwood-campaign-book
[1] https://ennie-awards.com/2026-nominees/
https://youtu.be/hL_YAarvB5U?is=SQGjmmBP0ignvSy4
Yeah, I'd expect HN to be more into Eclipse Phase or something.