/osrg/ OSR General - Great Plains Edition

I'd sooner convert Castle Whiterock than run Barrowmaze.

Is it wrong to take the OSR style ruleset and general type of gameplay (ruling over rules, letting players dictate actions instead of rolling, etc.) into games that aren't actually OSR?

no

Absolutely. I've called the cops, expect a visit from the RPG police soon.

Maybe a boardgame that has very specific rules.

>I use Tophat to resist going to jail

But that could be fun too.

It's not *wrong*, but maybe you'll have a problem with conflicting design? What game are you planning to hack?

>inb4 3.pf

I don't have a system yet, I was going to run a more modern day investigation based kind of roleplay.

I was honestly considering just stealing the DnD core, minus perhaps the classes to use instead. But I felt without major focus on dungeon crawling it might be weird.

What's wrong with Barrowmaze?

>minus perhaps the classes to use instead.
So... just Fighting-Men? Just As GYGAX Intended!!

Is Castle Whiterrock any good btw?

Nice. Better than my effort.

Could be better, could be worse. Like all things, steal steal steal.
I've read over the Barrowmaze and, I dunno, it just seemed like a mess to me. I will say it's been a while since I've read it over, but I remember thinking 'I will never run this' when I first read it.l

I just had a chargen session for AD&D 1e with Unearthed Arcana. Do the bonuses from weapon specialization and double specialization stack or not? It's worded vaguely.

Inb4 pretending to be surprised that Gygax worded something weird

I'd join if this was on discord, not Skype.

CST: Free M/W 2pm - 12am; T/TH 7pm - 12am; F/Sa 1pm - 4pm; Su 1pm - 6pm

Help me out

>Cleric of Juusst (Chaotic god of greed and commerce)
>Good Thing: Buys things at 50% normal price
>Bad Thing: ???

>Cleric of Gwyn (Lawful god of the sun)
>Good Thing: Turns Undead as a Cleric of two higher levels
>Bad Thing: ???

>Cleric of Juusst
Don't receive spells from Juusst, buy them instead.

>Cleric of Gwyn
Glows as 5 torches. Draws lots of attention, especially in dungeons.

Any good post-apoc stuff in the OSR?

LBBs, Gamma World, that homebrew that's come up every other thread for the last fortnight (Ruinations?), etc...

Which Gamma World to check out?

I want to build a list for players, of tips for oldschool play.
Gimme your protips.
Keep it short and dot-pointy.

Some examples:

- Use retainers. They are cheap and disposable and invaluable in a fight. The more combatants on your side = the more attack rolls you get. They can also handle lots of menial shit like torch bearing.
- take animals. Like retainers but easier to abuse!
- take lots of lantern oil. Setting things on fire is often a viable and optimal solution.
- take lots of lard. Greasing shit up is an invaluable tactical move.

Maybe look at this for some broader suggestions: roll1d100.blogspot.co.nz/2016/08/osr-gaming-player-agendas.html

Do you mean do you get the bonuses from a Specialization and then the bonuses from a Double Specialization? That shit is ambiguous. I'd guess no, but that's just because it describes the first Specialization as replacing the melee attacks per round table so it makes me think Double Specialization would replace plain old Specialization.

Not grog enough to say very confidently though.

I'd just go with broad strokes, the specifics are fun for them to figure out
>retainers and animals can be soldiers, sherpas and stand-ins when you die
>common adventuring items are your tools for survival
>you need light to see

Aww yeah, loved that show as a kid.
Huh, wonder if that is what helped with my poofy hair and mermaid fetishes.

I gotta admit I didn't remember the animation being that good though.

Disney's no Hanna Barbera. They don't slack off on the animation quality.

>>Cleric of Juusst
>Don't receive spells from Juusst, buy them instead.
This is fucking gold.

Mostly wondering about the bonuses to hit and damage

Assuming I'm using the 6-mile Hex how big should my map be for a Hexcrawl.
I've been thinking about 75x50, 100x75, or more recently 50x30 because that's roughly the size in square miles people have suggested the Mount & Blade Warband map is.

Yeah, I wouldn't stack those. But that's just because it doesn't seem to fit with the wording to me, which seems counter intuitive if I break it down. Specialization takes 2 slots, Double takes an additional... 1 slot... damnit gary.

But Double Specializing would give +4 to-hit and +5 dmg if they stacked, which seems like a lot. +3/+3 is already a bunch.

BFRPG's JN1 The Chaotic Caves seems to be pretty directly inspired by B2 Keep on the Borderlands as well, and also details a pretty fleshed out town.

Make it as big as you need it. 50x30 is fine, 75x50 as well though 100x75 is pushing it a bit in my opinion but I don't know what you have planned with it.

The town isn't really fleshed out, there being basically no quests and no names whatsoever (the town isn't even named at all). If you do run it, that's something you'll want to do but yes, it is almost a complete rewrite of B2 and I actually prefer it to B2 but a lot of people want more classic modules and I had named Keep on the Borderland already so why give them what amounts to a (wonderful) rewrite?

Alright, I actually haven't done much more than skim through it so that's good to know.

Can anyone help me find Maze of the Blue Medusa? I thought for sure it was in the trove, but I've spent the last ten minutes combing through folders and my eyes are starting to glaze over.

Do any of the old White Wolf Magazine issues on rpgnow have D&D material in them?

Are these modules easy to use with other systems?

Most OSR systems are readily cross-compatible, though sometimes with a bit of adjustment. Here's LotFP's guide to converting AC between various systems -- but also consider that when TSR switched base AC from 9 to 10 after the first Monster Manual, nobody even noticed that ACs were "off" by one.

By and large yes. Biggest major difference is AC (some use ascending, others use descending, most start at 10 though others start at different numbers, etc.) but by and large you can grab a module for, say, OSRIC, steal things from ACKS and run it all in BFRPG with only a few minor changes.

>

c , It's all the same jazz.

Anyone ever run this, how'd it go?

>Biggest major difference is AC
Though it's easy to convert, and even if the chances to hit were off by 5%, that would hardly ruin the module. Remember that AD&D's Monster Manual was written before Gygax decided to change the armor scale from 9 down to 10 down, so the main monster book for AD&D is actually scaled wrong.

If you say so. It's just one large level and a bunch of smaller areas surrounding it. I had a tougher time parsing Dwimmermount.

It's more of an open world thing where I make a world and some fluff and just let the players loose.

I'll have plots and stuff develop over time but I want the PCs to take the plot where they want it.

Schrödinger's Setting Elements.

You only have so way set-pieces prepared, you only plot-points thought out.
You might have to tweaks few things, but on some level they're just picking the backdrop.
It's not really an open world. Unless you are an over preparing chump.

Call me an overpreparing chump, who's also decent at improv.

Look how great that animation is. Truly the essence of D&D.

>
Thank you so much, friend.

Hey /osrg/. I made a thing for you guys.

I'll call you a chump two fold.
You only need to be passable at improv if you over prepare.

>inb4 True user™ dumps a .pdf

No trouble, friendo. Mega's search feature is garbage.
Only knew where it was because I asked a while back.

Does that mean that all MM monsters have AC 1 lower than they should even in 2E, where their stats were brought forward to?

Looking back, what parts of B/X or even BECMI/RC:
A) work really well for oldschool style games
B) Don't hold up

>B
The weapons. "All weapons deal d6 damage" is a terrible rule but there doesn't need to that much detail about weapons either.

Thieves, level limits, funky saves.

>A
Everything else.

Fair enough chump I am.

But it's all in the service of the fun of others!

I'll read it, but the writing seems pretty superfluous.
Probably would have worked well on two pages.

1d100 Secret Doors is up. I'll post a jpg version in a short while.

occultesque.com/2017/02/1d100-secret-doors.html

For those who want to easily save and share or whatever.

I have no idea about 2e. I would expect that at least some of their ACs were revised, but that some might have been kept the same thanks to tradition, but that's just speculation as I'm not familiar with the contents of the Monstrous Whatchamacallit.

Rolled 12 (1d100)

What's the stupidest place you've ever put a hidden door?
For me, it was inside a (much, much larger) door, on the face of the flush with the wall by the hinges.
The door opened to a ladder inside the big door, which took you to a tunnel through the hinges.

>Thieves, level limits, funky saves.
If you're playing B/X, with its de facto maximum level of 14, only the level cap for halflings is an issue. A 12th level dwarf is probably about right compared to a 14th level fighter, and a 10th level elf is probably about right compared to a 14th level magic-user. If there's a problem, it's that they reach those levels too soon. 8th level for halflings is bullshit though.

>"All weapons deal d6 damage" is a terrible rule
In my experience, absolutely everybody uses the variable weapon damage "option", but I can actually see some merit to d6 damage across the board. It means you get to personalize your character the way you want and not be forced into rejecting a whole slew of weapons as inferior. Still, I can see the purpose for differentiation as well. I mean, if I've got a sword and you've got a dagger, in most situations that obviously gives me the advantage (though this is much more about reach than damage).

The most stupid place? I honestly don't know if I can pinpoint one, but I've put in plenty of strange, poorly-thought-out doors in my games before. I had a secret door once that was in the closet of a large bedroom in a castle. It was there because the owner wanted a way out, but while designing a crawl in the castle I put a breach in the wall right next to it, and the players ended up immediately noticing the conspicuously strange section of wall.

It was just strange dungeon design, more than anything, but I still felt rather dumb.

>"All weapons deal d6 damage" is a terrible rule
It's weird post CHAINMAIL man-to-man combat.

Originally it was handwaved into the combat abstraction.
'Weak' weapons got more hits in, or took more concentration, or whatever.

As an aside, White Wolf Adventures is up for free on RPGnow. It's a collection of some of their old modules for "fantasy games". The way they describe stats is pretty weird and they don't list HD but it's definitely D&D-compatible.

Not too familiar with how Mega works, but could someone add it to the Trove?

Only the account owner can add stuff, and TroveGuy's been missing for a bit. (Last I saw he was had the tin cup out for submissions for another Troll Gods.)

Digging the Minotaur. Maze was also kind-of neat.
Not sure why you went into so much detail about trash in the room, the referee can improv that.
Speaking of the trash, did you include the whole map a second time just to say where it all was?

I pretty much adapted my notes for when I ran the adventure last month into the module, made the maps a little less rough looking and whatnot.
Having the minimaps on the same page as the room is just a personal preference. Constantly flipping between an encounter key and the main map while running an adventure is a big pet peeve of mine. It slows things down a lot at the table. As well, a minimap allows more detail on the map. Which makes it more visual and less WORDS WORDS WORDS when describing a room. I offload a lot of room detail into maps when I run my own games.

>The gate is a 10ft monolith of stone which pivots on an axis. A fucking child can push it open.
kek'd.

you've got typos in the Arturio section re his name.

> Roll a 1d4. The first area of the maze has hallways in the shape of whatever number was rolled.
What?

Which TSR era D&D do you think works best for long term campaign play and why?

Which clone of that version improves on it and how?

Ah yeah, last paragraph of the section has a typo. Thanks for pointing it out.
The way the maze works is that say a 4 would generate this when the players reach the end of a maze hallway.

Maybe "hallways and intersections on the map in the shape" would sorta explain the concept better?

Forgot to ask:
Does the room with Daedalus look like 10?
Or do you go there INSTEAD of the 10 hallway?

?
I'm a little drunk, sorry. I'm sorta confused what you're asking.

>best for long term campaign play and why?
B/X, 14 is plenty. RC if 3.pf converts in your group get upset.
Not BECMI though. BECM if you want, but Immortals set is too much.

>improves on it and how?
Retroclones either try (read: fail) to do their own thing, or else only exist to publish modules for the *actual* system.
At the end of the day, they're all pretty much the same thing.
Once your own rulings and honebrew are added, you won't notice any differences.

If you roll 10, and end up meeting the Architect, is he in in a normal room or a room shaped like 10?

He's in a normal room. I see what you mean now. I'll edit it to be the "architects room". The room is featureless more or less aside from containing the architect.

Might be better to make the room a 10.
Players who go under the dungeon get more info about the maze that way.

Ah good point.
So what do you think of it overall? It's a little wordy but I think I struck a good balance of info and flavor.

It's the first module I've really "published" but with how much the hobby has given me in terms of adventures and ideas, I figure I almost owe it to the hobby to give back in a way. My players liked it and were all enthusiastic when I ran it so I figured I'd put it out there on the internet.

I worry though how most shitty modules on the internet were probably actually good at the table. It's just that the dm could run their adventures but couldn't write them well.

So, you're saying you'd take B/X and houserule it to your liking (eg. make your own personal retroclone) before using an established retroclone?

Has someone compiled a simplified bare bones B/X rules document? like the 3.5e SRD?

>before using an established retroclone?
I'm fine either way. I'll consider lifting bits from retroclones, but I'll start from and claim to play B/X.

The flavor is OK, but (Minotaur notwithstanding) I don't like the NPCs.
Maybe I'm missing something or maybe the module is, but they seem flat.

That all aside, it's weird for a dungeon, especially an all trap dungeon, to be Gotcha! traps the whole way through.
None are super dangerous and all are neat, so I'll excuse it. Weird though.

Ah yeah, traps have always been one of my weakpoints. In play, the players were able to explore freely. There's zero danger until the moment the players start looting treasure. I ran it for my cousins at first level so I didn't want it to be too dangerous.
The npc's aren't too crazy, yeah. The players liked the architect and kept calling the shrine goddess "crazy bitch".

Maybe one thing with the traps would be to emphasize how the rooms are immediately different when activated? When I ran it, I would instantly explain how the room was different when the players entered so they pretty much knew when danger was present.

As far as osr d&d, I don't think there's a need to use a specific ruleset. If you're comfortable enough, you don't even need a rulebook to run d&d. Just give some bonuses to certain classes, have them do roll under ability score rolls, etc. I added skills as "roll under ability roll but with advantage" as my one non-osr thing. It's not too hard to just bullshit some d&d together with people.

>you don't even need a rulebook to run d&d.
If my players forgot to write their spells on 3x5 cards, their character forgot to memorize spells.
The only other reason to check the books during play is monsters, and I put to the stat blocks in my notes.

The books should be handy, but having them open during the session just bogs things down.
Even for settling disputes, it's best to male a ruling, roll with it for the session, then check the book after.

Excellent post.

How would one go about removing gold-for-xp and possibly even xp entirely from B/X (or its clones) but maintain oldschool incentives (eg. loot dungeons for treasure).

Let's say we go absoloutely mental and want to demolish xp as a whole but retain levels and adventuring incentives.

- how do players level up?
By spending gold gained from adventuring? Either through "training" or investments. That is still essentially gold-for-xp, I think.
By clearing dungeons or completing X number of quests?
Very arbitrary. How do you know when you've "cleared" something sufficiently to have it count as gaining a level. What about non-dungeony adventures?
Training? Character goes out of action for x amount of time to reflect and train?
Would have to awkwardly shoehorn in explanations for how that happens. Player would have to play a different character in the meantime which might not be what they enjoy.

thoughts?

As far as incentives go, you could parabolically increase the costs of things and combine this with more of a stress on purchasables being vital. Maybe you need to purchase your spells, or to pay scribes to help you translate scrolls (or mystics to help you undrestand them), or donate money to your church before your god gifts them to you. Maybe your spells have expensive material components or you need to pay a lot of money for others to cast spells on your behalf (healing you, blessing you with certain protections, resurrecting party members, etc.). Maybe you have a greater ability to purchase magic items than is often typical in old school D&D (this doesn't necessarily have to take the form of a magic mart, if you don't like that aesthetic--you could pay wizards to enchant things, or use your thief's black market connections to track down collectors and traders who have particular magic items you are looking for, etc.). Maybe you need to bond with magic items, and you need to buy the help of mystics to accomplish this. And maybe some of your character's advancement is shifted to equipment.

Has Blood in the Chocolate for Lamentations of the Flame Princess ever been released to the wild? I recently read Broodmother Skyfortress and World of the Lost and I'm hyped as fuck.

Is there a method of doing classless OSR that isn't shit?

How do the skills in Beyond The Wall work?
The game seems intriguing, but I just hope the skill system isn't broken garbage.

Everyone Is An Adventurer? Or was that thing called

Into the Odd is better. It determines starting equipment based on stats in a fun way.

Alright, picked up LotFP, convinced group to try it. Everything's been gotten ready.

That said all of us are new to osr, any advice for getting everyone into the mindset?