/osrg/ - Old School Renaissance General

Doesn't combat and tactics have mass combat?

I've had zero inspiration for the past two and a half weeks.

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Pick up a weird diet. Read weird porn. Play one of these. Meet new people.

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I think it does? I thought that was just a revised Battlesystem for 2e though.

What is everyone's favourite small to medium sized dungeon?

Paladin stacks with Wizard. Cleric doesn't.

Skerples!!

question about this post.
why are stat-based saves garbage?

Do any of you lads use the premade worlds such as Mystara? How should I go about using them? Is the Rules Cyclopedia info in the back enough?

Shoehorning effects under stats is screwy, it weights a high degree of survivability on something permanent and essentially static, and it risk giving saves (and especially saves at low levels) good enough to demonstrate that the designers have missed the whole point of saves.

tl,dr version: Stats aren't distributed fairly, they are not a class feature, they don't go up with level, and stat-based saves give you minmaxing targets.
Putting focus on stats instead of class features is the proverbial camel's nose inside the tent, if you let it in, it leads to a whole camel worth of problems in your tent before you know it.

what if I want to fuck the camel

that's probably easier than fucking spiders

unless you have a bathtub in your tent

Direct roll vs. abilities, or ability-modified save stats? Because while the latter can work fine, the first is all sorts of screwy.

Who says Paladin stacks with Wizard?
Just because it's not explicitly forbidden doesn't mean it's permissible. That'd be a weird fuckin character, I tell you what. Speak with the Authority's voice and all the spells flee your head in fear, probably.

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My DM has decided to run a Lotfp campaign. We usually run 5e, so I have no idea how to go about making a character. Are there any intro guides/need to know shit?

Yes, core book.

Confirmed not Australian.

>Who says Paladin stacks with Wizard?
You do.
>Otherwise, you generate and use Magic Dice (MD) as a Wizard.

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Have you tried Tomb of the Serpent King ?

Here.

Attached: TotSK_3.0(1).pdf (PDF, 3.59M)

I'm not sure, user. Basically all it does is plop a wargame system on top of the RPG, with little to no link between the two games.

Does nobody have the full "On the Non-Player Character" book? The thing on the trove seems to be some sort of quick-reference sheet.

Quick, you are DMing a game and you have absolutely nothing prepared! You have to generate the world using tables (NPCs, hexes, etc).

Which specific resources do you use?

Most definitely Red Tide / Scarlet Heroes.

I have played that one pretty recently, I am just struggling to find good dungeons like it to put in my world.

Small updates for the lesser trove:

- Heroic Fantasy Handbook for ACKS (Games)
- The Midderlands setting materials (Supplements)

Charisma modifies the sale price of treasure (but not experience earned). Same modifiers as the prime requisite experience adjustments table.

Thoughts?

Reposting from the very end of last thread

Is there a retroclone that lets me play a early bronze age civilization, say Sumer or Norte Chico ~3000 BC?

Please direct me to the nearest osr actual play
Getting fed up of mary suesques fan-art factories like critical role

youtube.com/watch?v=W7GaBs7x5LU

Blood & Bronze, possibly.

Party's about to reach name level and get to roll up some followers. But the followers tables I'm aware of, in AD&D and whatnot, are pretty boring and uninspired.

Are there any better tables around, with more variety and inspiration and gonzo bullshit?

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Neat, I remember someone begging for the heroic fantasy handbook months back

Anyone got a link for Frostbitten & Mutilated?

Like this?

Attached: 1519869394150.pdf (PDF, 733K)

So Cavegirl is like Scrap Princess, but without the penis?

No, that's just the hirelings you can grab any time you want. I mean the high level followers, like 40 zero-level infantry, a dozen 1st-level mounted knights, and some level 5 fighter in charge of them. Less individual personalities, more collective groups.

How do I get my new players from Pathfinder to stop comparing stat numbers before making any sort if attempt to do anything? They don't play characters they just play stat sheets apparently.

It's always the fucking Pathfinder people too.

I would pay good money to see her(his) penis

A: Go watch the weirdest porn you can find

B: Go watch this guys channel: youtube.com/user/Saintttimmy

C: Read weird shit you find on amazon books like Hillary Tail of the dog:
goodreads.com/book/show/17253860-hillary

D: Sit down and have a conversation with cavegirl

Yeah, same.

ACKS Quickstart, or do the thing where I scale everyone into groups of 10HD each.

*goodreads books
fuck

So, now that the heroic fantasy handbook has been redistributed to the masses, what does everyone think of the Base Healing Rate thing?

>However, in virtually every retro-clone (including ACKS), the elegant abstraction of hit points is marred by an asymmetry between damage and healing. Consider two characters, a normal man with 5 hp and an epic hero with 40 hp. When the normal man is dealt 4 points of damage by a sword, this is a grievous blow (80% of his hit points); when the epic hero is dealt the same 4 points of damage, this is merely a flesh wound (10% of his hp). This is exactly as it should be. Yet when the epic hero is treated with cure light wounds, he recovers 1d6+1 points of damage – enough to repair a light wound, as the spell suggests; while when the normal man is treated with cure light wounds, he is likely to recover from what we just said was a grievous blow that brought him near death. To fix this asymmetry, The Heroic Fantasy Handbook offers rules for proportional healing.
(pic related)

Attached: base healing rate.png (656x409, 121K)

Is this a meme or is Scrap Princess actually a dude?

The moathouse in Hommlet

Transwoman. sigh

Basing stats on saves implies they'll mostly stay the same for the character's full lifespan, which is totally contrary to good function. Saves should get easier to make as you level up, so that a name-level hero fighter has a solid chance to shake off a disintegration spell and that chance only improves as he and the inimical wizard rise in levels.

>How should I go about using them? Is the Rules Cyclopedia info in the back enough?
Personally I think this is the best way. Use the maps and short descriptions as a basis for a setting you make your own. Yeah, sure, you can get Gazetteers and read all you like, but will it make your game better to feel more beholden to a "canon"? I doubt it.

>I have no idea how to go about making a character.
How is this even an issue? Won't you roll them up when you get to the game? It takes like ten minutes.

It never bothered me enough to start making new rules for it, and I'll be unlikely to use this stuff either.

Enforce time limits. Say, "who's going to do this?" and then the second they start comparing stat sheets, start a countdown with your hand and then pick someone at random at the end of it.

>Is there a retroclone that lets me play a early bronze age civilization, say Sumer or Norte Chico ~3000 BC?
I think most D&Ds would let you do this, just baleet most armor and restrict weapon selection appropriately. Yeah, people will hit and get hit far more often on average, but that's appropriate; what's the point of using a different era if it feels the same?

Alternatively, for something like Early Mesopotamia you could give the shield back its appropriate GOAT position; standard D&D rules totally shaft the effectiveness of shields, so you could do something like a shield granting +5 AC, a helm +1 and leather (the only body armor) +2.

It could be done more elegantly. Like 'heal (your level in hp pr day (min. 1)' or something.

LotFP as written:

Roll 6x3d6 in order.
If your modifier total is less than 0 reroll.
You can also swap any two stats around.
Pick a class.
Roll for HP, some classes have minimums.
Roll for spells if a spellcaster
Pick an alignment
Roll for shekels.
Buy some gear.
Pick a name

That doesn't take much time at all.

>is Scrap Princess actually a dude?
Yes. Doesn't like to admit it, but yes.

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the dick makes it better

doesn't offset the absence of other bits making it worse

>have no idea how to go about making a character

Do you know how to read? Seriously dude, how the fuck did you read and understand 5e and not get LOtFP. Something is wrong with you. Anyways
The order of operation is

>Roll 3d6 down the line for stats
>If your total modifieres are less than 0 reroll
>You can swap any two stats if you want
>Pick a class.
>Roll for HP, some have minimum HP
>Roll for spells if a spellcaster or skill points for a specialist
>Pick an alignment (if you use it)
>Roll for silver
>Buy some equipment
>Pick a name

There's also a character sheet generator somewhere if you're that lazy

>running with almost 15 players

Nobody does this anymore, right?

Just use a Caller

you have pics?

Roll20 old school actual play

Or one of those shitty edition specifc podcasts (Save or Die, Roll for Initiative, THAC0's Hammer)

That's not the issue. There's zero advantage to running more than 6 players, and plenty of reasons not to.

I played in a group with fourteen players once. It was messy and chaotic but still a lot of fun.

For OSR stuff I could see having up to 8 players. After 8 though it's time to split into two parties and someone should nut up and be a DM.
I played a 15 man game when 3.0 had just come out. NEVER again.

>when reading the Cyclopedia Campaign Goals confuses you on what kind of game to run for your players and what you should and shouldn't do

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Okay but seriously how the hell does the 5e book NOT confuse you to hell and back? All the race and class descriptions are filled up with worthless flavor text, the pictures don't match their professions at all (the paladin just looks like some angry evil warrior dude), etc.

>I played a 3e game when 3.0 had just come out. NEVER again.
ftfy

There, there. Start with the dungeon. Three or four levels will do. Remember that you don't need elaborate keys, just a line per room and 15-20 of those to a regular sheet-size level is enough.

Next, draw the overland hexmap.

Welp, I'm off to read Zak's newest fuckhuge essay, wish me luck.

Well I mean if you know it's flavor text then you should know its mechanically irrelevant.
If you know its mechanically irrelevant then you shouldn't be confused by it.
Also the Race/Class art in 5e is ugly as fuck, especially the half-orc.

Thats how you know he's a real artist, because hes fucked up.

I find it's easier to enjoy things when you ignore background drama. Zak IS background drama.

Yeah, but they do try to advertise it as a newbie-friendly game, so you can't always assume that the new players would have any idea what an elf or a paladin or whatever might be.

The RC just makes it sound like I can have grand adventures, stories with multiple phases, but I guess I don't know how to do that with Basic since it seems like it doesn't play towards the strengths of the system. Although...I haven't dabbled in wilderness adventures yet, and those seem like the most dynamic part about the ruleset.

Can I have some feedback on this hex map? So far all I have for notes are the following:
04.02 -- Thunder Bay -- A mysterious bay over which lightning storms occur at least thrice a week, easily visible from shore.
05.12 -- The town of Koth
05.08 -- The Brinarrow Hills,
06.09 -- The great city of Morrowport. Here the blood moon
08.22 - Bugbear camp
08.20 - Small mining town
29.20 - The Blight -- Area of the elven forest overrun with corruption
23.18 - Northbright Citadel --
Mostly just placeholder names for the time being. I keep feeling like I'm not doing a hexcrawl "right" by doing it this way, and I'm also scared of having any major cities or towns at all because it will conflict with the players' ability to set up their own kingdoms, even though that's kind of stupid. I think as long as I keep things sparse enough it will be fine. I will use the Medieval demographics generator for the towns themselves but not the number of them.

I keep getting this urge to go back to pencil and paper for hexes but I keep changing my mind on what map to use and with these I can do coordinates more easily. I don't like the B&W hexographer tile set as much, hexkit is okay but doesn't have the freeform lines, I guess I'm just being impossible to please. I want hexcrawl exploration and kingdom/domain building and also a regular-ish campaign with some kind of plot, all at the same time. I figure the three are somewhat compatible but still. I have the decision paralysis of wanting this world to be one I can have forever, that will evolve over multiple campaigns, and I feel like the more I make up and create for it, the more of the mystery goes away.

Anyway, any feedback is appreciated.

Attached: world1.png (3880x3468, 2.05M)

>The RC just makes it sound like I can have grand adventures, stories with multiple phases
I would disregard those claims (and in fact, I did! I forgot they were even there). I'm pretty certain that those are artifacts of the book being written in 1991, a point when there were a ton of very new-school systems around affecting the views ot the writers about what was a good campaign. Dragonlance is almost ten years older, remember.

What you think of this B/X inspired D&D 5ed version?

drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kE7x7vySU21ahlehAt3ikBwc-2OnP3h3

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I cobbled this together out of parts stealed from many different sources.
It's scalable, simple, and maintains the normal game rules and power levels.

Attached: Even More Mass Combat.pdf (PDF, 172K)

>It's scalable, simple, and maintains the normal game rules and power levels.

Isn't that what Book of War does already?

I really fail to see how it's significantly different from 5e. It's just 5e with some old-school names and racial classes. It has the flaws of both systems and none of the benefits.

Stop.

Okay. You must realize that the future doesn't exist yet. Your campaign might fall apart next week, and yet you're planning to have this map for years.

Think small. Remember, a LOT fits in a 6 mile hex. It's possible, no, probable, that a party can pass multiple times through the same hex and find a different thing each time. Your map right now is enormous - you won't be able to fill it with enough interesting stuff. Remember you can always expand a map.

Also
>campaign with a plot
Be careful with those words 'round these parts. Many will shun you and call you a FOE.
What did you have planned?
My advice is to have the 'plot' come up dynamically. That is, you don't create a specific full adventure, you make up characters, locations, a few seeds or hooks, and the possible direction events could go. As the players progress through the world, you advance the plotlines that are relevant.

Check out An Echo Resounding btw.

But you can certainly have those adventures right? Maybe not like later editions stress, but it can be a nice backdrop for the players to have a goal inside the game, like "Find these group of people inside the wilderness that are stranded for X reasons"

so what do you guys think of the 5 room dungeon design principle?

Xp for gold, variant rules for atributes healing, combat and progression. And no backgrounds.

Explain

1d4chan.org/wiki/Five_Room_Dungeon

It's good if you need to throw something together really fast. But if you have time to prep, it sucks and you can do better.