Review from Mephisto 69 Online Add-On (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/261389/Mephisto-69-Online-AddOn), translated from German (find orignal German review below)

Vagabonds of Dyfed is the roleplaying game that comes out when you combine the rules of Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) with Old School Roleplaying (OSR). Vagabonds of Dyfed modifies the concepts of PbtA a lot: The game offers no playbooks and only one move. The players describe their characters by a concept, six tags, their core flaws and different techniques. In addition there is the lineage, the origin, if the character is a human, an elf etc.. The techniques are typical OSR class skills. There you will find the possibility to work magic, to execute treacherous attacks or to heal by laying on hands. Instead of assigning these abilities to classes and levels, the player can individually craft his character. The core flaw, on the other hand, has the task of causing the player difficulties once per round.

As usual, the dice are rolled with two d6s and a bonus, the so-called aptitudes, which can modify the result by a total of +/-3 as positive or negative circumstances. Beside the character creation the usual topics like increase of the values, speed and load obstruction, monsters, hirelings etc. are also addressed. Some abstract rules for travel, weather, traps etc. are available.

Besides spells and magical items, the magic rules include the mysterious substance Azoth, which on the one hand explains magic in a basic way, on the other hand expands the background with corresponding mutations, etc..

Even though the combination of PbtA and OSR can already be found in Dungeon World, Vagabonds of Dyfed goes its own way, borrowing from City of Mist with the tags and enabling a freer character creation. The book provides the rules, but completely omits a background, because the idea is to play classic role-playing modules with Vagabonds of Dyfed. I liked the approach of Vagabonds of Dyfed very much and also the idea that there is a single-column edition beside the normal rule book PDF, which can be read without problems also on a Smartphone, is very praiseworthy.

Deutsche Version

Vagabonds of Dyfed ist das Rollenspiel, das herauskommt, wenn man die Regeln von Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) mit Old School Roleplaying (OSR) kombiniert. Dabei modifiziert Vagabonds of Dyfed die Konzepte von PbtA mitunter stark: Das Spiel bietet keine Playbooks und nur einen Move. Die Spieler beschreiben ihre Charaktere durch ein Konzept, sechs Tags, ihren Kernfehler und verschiedenen Techniken. Hinzu kommt noch die Lineage, also die Herkunft, ob der Charakter ein Mensch, ein Elf usw. ist. Die Techniken sind im Endeffekt typische OSR-Klassenfertigkeiten. So findet man dort die Möglichkeit, Magie zu wirken, hinterhältige Angriffe auszuführen oder per Hand auflegen heilen zu können. Anstatt diese Fähigkeiten Klassen und Stufen zuzuordnen, kann der Spieler seinen Charakter individuell zusammenbasteln. Der Kernfehler hingegen hat die Aufgabe, dem Spieler einmal pro Runde Schwierigkeiten zu bereiten.

Gewürfelt wird wie gehabt mit zwei W6 und einem Bonus, den sogenannten Aptitudes, die als positive oder negative Begleitumstände das Ergebnis um insgesamt +/-3 modifizieren können. Neben der Charaktererschaffung werden auch die üblichen Themen wie Steigerung der Werte, Geschwindigkeit und Lastbehinderung, Monster, Mietlinge usw. angesprochen. Auch abstrakte Regeln für Reisen, Wetter, Fallen etc. sind vorhanden.

Die Magieregeln umfassen neben Zauber und magischen Gegenständen die mysteriöse Substanz Azoth, die einerseits die Magie ansatzweise erklärt, andererseits mit entsprechenden Mutationen usw. den Hintergrund zusätzlich ausbaut.

Auch wenn die Kombination von PbtA mit OSR sich auch schon in Dungeon World findet, geht Vagabonds of Dyfed einen eigenen Weg, der sich mit den Tags Anleihen bei City of Mist nimmt und eine freiere Charaktererschaffung ermöglicht. Das Buch liefert die Regeln, verzichtet dafür völlig auf einen Hintergrund, denn die Idee ist, mit Vagabonds of Dyfed im Zweifelsfall klassische Rollenspielmodule zu spielen. Mir hat der Ansatz von Vagabonds of Dyfed sehr gut gefallen und auch die Idee, dass es neben dem normalen Regelbuch-PDF eine einspaltige Ausgabe gibt, die sich problemlos auch auf einem Smartphone lesen lässt, ist sehr lobenswert.

(Björn Lippold)

The product is really interesting. Some topics could be better explained (like downtime, magic or Azoth mutations) but all is clear enough to be enjoyable.

I wrote a review in Italian on my blog with some more info for all Italian speakers out there :)

Disappointed there is apparently no way to print out parts of the pdf as a booklet (as the page order comes out wrong). It seems the only way to print is on A4, which is inconvenient to say the least. With every other poduct I've bought here on DriveThruRPG this is possible.

Hi Sigil Stone,

in reply to your suggestion to print single column, it doesn't make a difference. If I had a pdf editor, I could probably reformat the thing, but I don't, and while I might simply print out the entire book, scan the bits I want as booklets (mainly to put on the table for players to consult during the game or character creation) and then print them out in the format I want, that's a lot of work...

There's no need for a refund, I think like the game in itself, but $10 for a pdf that lacks the flexibility & ease of use of just about every other pdf game product is disappointing. My suggestion is you take a good look at your pdf, and fix it so that it becomes print-friendly, and is not just a file to be read on electronic devices.

(there seems to be no way to reply to a reply, so I've edited my original comments)

TL/DR: Hippy love-child of OSR and PbtA game theories. Takes the deadly, simulationist aspects of OSR, as well as being somewhat compatible with OSR material (to some degree, tho not to my satisfaction, really). Marries that with the smooth, player-driven narrative and 2d6 mechanics of Apocalypse World Engine games.

Pros:

1. Very easy to memorize and implement game mechanics that allow a vast range of freedom for both the players and the GM while still retaining some semblance of simulationism reminiscent in old-school revival games.
2. Flexible character creation that should not take a very long time but allows flexibility for players to emulate many different fantasy tropes or mash ups of different tropes.
3. Conversion is pretty simple for OSR creature stats to VoD format. But not necessarily that easy for creatures with class levels.
4. Things like money, economy, encumbrance, resources, and even equipment are somewhat abstracted to speed up play.
5. At least moderately compatible with literally thousands of OSR adventures.
6. System lends itself well for "Adhoc" sandbox GMing style where little to no prep can still mean a fun time and meanigful story progress.

Cons:

1. Conversion of characters or NPCs with class levels from OSR material significantly more work than the monsters without too much guidance in rules so far.
2. Some things are glossed over while in reality can become sticky points in a simulationist style gameplay going for "harsh but fair" reality. These things can be proactively fixed by adding a little bit more details to the rules based on OSR examples.
3. The "speed" or initiative system uses negative numbers, seems as if this should have been scaled outward to simplify it by only positive numbers.
4. OSR magic items and spells will not directly translate over well to VoD, but they are so intrinsically important to the balance of a lot of OSR adventures, this will require the GM to prep more and either convert the spells and items ahead of time OR rework portions of the adventures that make use of them.
5. While there's a pretty good amount of special abilities for characters presented in the core rules, this is one area that could easily be expanded upon and provide some "advanced" abilities that are unavailable until higher levels. As a result, characters using the core rules only for advancement will tend to have more options and become better at more variety of things rather than getting better and better at whatever their core concepts are about. What you'll end up with is a party of Jack of All Trades instead of a party of specialists, which could make it harder for the GM to spotlight certain PC's for certain things.

Final Thoughts: When I heard about this Kickstarter for Vagabonds of Dyfed I was elated AND saddened. I had already started my own attempt to write a PbtA / OSR style game compatible with OSR material but using PbtA mechanics! So yeah, someone else was already doing my thing. Which is cool, because it saved me from having to do the work, I guess, but kind of sad because I realized I'd never be able to get my rules out before Vagabonds landed. :) However, they had some really great ideas and things I hadn't thought of, so this along with my own conversion ideas has allowed me to finally have a set of OSR style rules that get rid of the d20 in favor of the 2d6 and most importantly requires no-rolling for the DM, other than for random tables and such (but not in combat, fortunately). I feel like Vagabonds of Dyfed is a good "first attempt" at what ultimately will be perhaps the best fantasy RPG rules I could imagine playing. There's a lot of rough that still needs some polish, but I expect that the community for this game will iron out most of that and maybe in a few years we'll have a Vagabonds 2.0 that will include everything I would ever want.

Until then, BUY THIS, by all means, this is a superb mix of fast and player-oriented indie-gaming Apocalypse World Engine style that can still make use of all of those wonderful toys you've collected in your OSR library. Vagabonds of Dyfed is highly recommended for anyone who likes OSR and also likes Dungeon World, Blades in the Dark, or things like that. Or for anyone, really, looking for a solid yet rules-light fantasy RPG rules.

There are a couple of things that have always bugged me about PbtA games, and I don't consider myself a particularly good OSR referee. I'm not a huge WoDu fan. This seems to take much of what I like from both the indie rpg community and OSR, and mash them together.

However, what I like about VoD after reading the rules:

• PbtA dice rolling is something I like, especially as an improv-heavy GM
• The OSR philosophy (heavy on the "GM is the adjudicator" / rulings, not rules, brutal, zero to hero, player skill over character skill, etc)
• Not having attributes and instead just using trait tags (strong, brutal, magical adept etc) to add bonuses (aptitude) 
• Rolling once for an attack and its damage (you take the lowest die and add the aptitude)
• Building your own class/trope (which I know some OSR games do) seems super easy (though perhaps limited at the moment)
• XP for kills, social interactions, treasure
• Compatible (mostly) with OSR modules, if that's you're thing

TO PREFACE:

• The OSR community is often bustling, intriguing, and is constantly putting out great content to use for games new and old. A couple of shortcomings (in my opinion) with OSR games is that they typically focus solely on the player and never the character, and also, combat can get really swingy for groups that are less initiated.

• Apocalypse World has changed the face of tabletop RPGs for better or worse. Mixed success (while not necessarily invented by AW) is a fantastic mechanic that keeps play at the table compelling. Some of the shortcomings with most PbtA games (again, in my opinion) are that they rarely challenge the problem solving skills of the player, and also, events can move too quickly for players to feel truly immersed in the world. Finally, PbtA games aren't usually lethal, which can definitely be a good thing, but lethality brings out qualities in players that are rarely seen elsewhere.

• I love both of these communities greatly despite being near-polar opposites of each other. But just like Romeo and Juliet, forbidden love is always interesting. Vagabonds of Dyfed is the baby that PbtA and OSR had out of wedlock. Nobody asked for it (well, maybe some people did), yet I truly believe that it is the chosen one.

TO BEGIN:

The book is objectively well put together. It's a neat little 8.5" x 8.5" square clocking in at approximately 105ish pages. The page layout is among the finest of OSR games. Most elements or subheadings do not go beyond the page they start on, making it incredibly easy to read through the rules as well as reference them later when needed.

The artwork probably won't make your jaw drop, but it gets the job done. The pieces, like the rules, are concise as well as easy on the eyes. The star of the show is honestly the cover art which is well colored and does a good job at showing what the game's about. The old man looks like he has the lid of a coffin for a shield which makes me smile. And the tattoos on the face of the knife-holder are mysterious and intricate. Also, if you look closely, the characters are battle-damaged. A nice touch.

I would imagine that character creation could take a while for a brand new group as they carefully decide on their traits, but the examples provided in the book are helpful tools whether it's for use or inspiration. Lineages are cool and enticing depending on the player, and Techniques are fun little feats/abilities that can go a long way in an adventure. The equipment section is awesome and provides the GM with the skeletal framework of how to make more which is great.

I don't think I need to go over the mechanics too much because it's all so well laid out on the product page.

Overall, this game really shines from the Game Master perspective. All rolls are condensed into a single mechanic, so GMs can spend their time focusing on the important stuff: making traps, puzzles, magic items, adversaries, plot hooks, and a more believable world

TO CONCLUDE:

Vagabonds of Dyfed is simultaneously quick and dirty, and beautifully elegant. I have yet to test it out, but it looks more than capable for handling great adventures as well as stories with interesting characters. This game piqued my interest with its fusion of my two favorite RPG communities, held my attention with excellent mechanics and great page layout, and blew me away by changing the way I look at OSR. This is the first RPG book I have ever read cover to cover (and I've seen a LOT). Do yourself a favor and buy the PDF at least.