/osrg/ OSR General - Bad Egg Edition

>11-15 light goes out (lamps have 4 'hits')
Why would torches and lamps go out that quickly and often?

Woops noticed after posting. It should be:
11-13 light goes out (lamps have 4 'hits')
14+ nothing

>yfw against the giants isn't a disgustingly lethal meatgrinder anymore with like 50 giants at a time.

what are some solid modules for players completely new to the game?

The Jade Hare.

Which game?

B4 The Lost City.

Labyrinth Lord

I'll be 100% honest: your own.
First because you know your players, at least know their motivations to try D&D.
Second because 95% of TSR modules and 99% of DIY OSR modules suck way too much.
Third because you will run 300x better an adventure of your own making.
Fourth because it's A LOT more rewarding.

What are some guidelines for making a dungeon?
Where to start?
How do people think of so many crazy rooms and concepts?

>You enter a fiery cavern.
>There are [4d20] Fire Giants here.

Oh look, a new edition, guess we have to re-stat all the classics!
Wait, what do you mean we need original content? Why should we have to develop new material?!
Lol. You thought WOTC was a gaming company? No, no, no... we're a PUBLISHING company, we just need to print stiff so ppl buy it!

To be fair, they published 4 huge original adventure books before this compilation (contracted out to 3rd parties, but still).

>95% of TSR modules suck
I have to respectfully disagree with this, though I'll admit the number is probably 40%, and that 40% is solely in the later days of TSR.
FunFact: post Gary time of TSR is referred to T$R for a reason

Why must it be TSR?

Look at Judges' Guild adventures. Drop your party to the Tegel Manor. Have fun.

That's a fair point, to be sure.
Unlike most other oldfag grognards I don't shit all over anything that isn't 'muh BX/1e' genre.
I'm sure there's plenty of good adventures for all editions, and I'm really just glad ppl still get together to have fun

Going to throw in contesting some of the points here, if not the intent.

I've found modifying a module you find inspiring or evocative to be a good place to start. It lets you adjust to your players, keep the parts you like and ditch the parts you don't, gives you a good grasp of what all the moving parts are because you've read and changed them, and its also a very rewarding process to fill in ideas, use random tables, fuck around with a framework and then use it.

Also helps for when you're new to running a game. Gives you an idea of structure, how it works, what didn't, etc.

Other option is playing them by the book as written if you're into recreating experiences or authenticity or something. Not sure about that, has limited interest to me. ymmv.

Part 1, the most important, is ask your players what they want. Setting expectations and all that. Then:

Get a random dungeon map:
donjon.bin.sh
wizardawn.and-mag.com/tool_ultimate.php
They come with traps and monsters and everything. Refluff it / change bits with whatever you want.

Random dungs are boring so-
Puzzles:
goblinpunch.blogspot.com.es/2016/03/1d135-osr-style-challenges.html
Print this shit and cross them as you use them. Beware, most are stolen from old modules.

If you're lazy, there's also one-page-dungeon compilations in the trove, pick one and fluff/reskin/season to taste. They are generally bland or plain untested, so pick carefully.

Anything else?

>What's the worst module you've ever played?
Not OSR but I played in a Pathfinder game that the Adventure Path was called 'Iron Gods' and we only played like the first half of the first module before the GM flaked and quit. It had some 'Expedition of the Barrier Peaks' feel to it but it was not very good at it either, what with being Pathfinder and all.

Played a Barbarian who hated tech, so it was all 'smashy smash' since I guess the game would fall through anyway.

I think I tried that module too, barely got a few sessions in.

I feel like the only fan of sci-fi in fantasy and gunslingers and stuff was the GM.

>They are generally bland or plain untested
Untested - yes. Bland? NO. The one-page dungeon contest produced some outstanding, clever, unique and fun dungeons.

>I'm really just glad ppl still get together to have fun
I know I'm breaking all kinds of rules by quoting my own post, but whatever:

That's the major point of playing an rpg or any game really: have fun.
Who cares if it's the best adventure, or the coolest plot arc or any of that crap. I mean, of course you want those things but ultimately it's about having fun with your friends. Period.
Messed up that trap? So what
Fudged a die roll just for effect? Good
Threw out a rule you didn't like? Perfect
Everyone on Veeky Forums shits all over your idea, only to have fun playing it with friends? You just won

Pretty sure you want to reply to but imo, the main appeal of a module is running it as-is. Not for autenticity, just plain economy of brain juice.
You have no idea what to do, or no time, or no inspiration: grab a module and play.

As a learning experience, it could be. But times have changed a lot, and not every group has the time to grind 2 hours in empty corridors, fight monsters 5XP each until they reach their first 2000XP and roll a new hit point.
And lots of OSR adventures copy that same pattern.
On top of that, most TSR modules are 'balanced' for large parties (6-8), require hirelings/retainers (so, extra DM work). Better write your own wandering tables with toned down numbers.

Revamping modules is tricky. First because if they are good, you'll be butchering, most likely. If they are bad, you'd be better off stealing ideas into your own dungeon, rather than 'fixing' it.

True but-
>Fudged a die roll
Never. If you want something to happen, just say it. Why rolling otherwise?
Seriously, a lot of the fun in D&D is how swingy it is. If you want a more predictable game, there's conversions for playing with 2d6 instead of d20.

>Never. If you want something to happen, just say it. Why rolling otherwise?
I was leaning towards rolling for damage, pc would be dead, you so this:
>roll 12 damage
>PC has 11hp
You take ..... errrr.... 9 damage

I roll damage in the open, but most of the time there's still negative hit points or some other weird fudging that could keep them alive. Going below zero doesn't need to mean death.

That said, today a thief got brought to -11 by a lightning blast. He ded.

You have been rolling your morale, reactions and everything like a good boy. Players fuck up, they die. They learn a bit, become smarter.
You fudge rolls, players get a distorted idea of the real game, get confident, then die at some point shortly after you stop handholding them, lose a long-time character, get mad because 'unfair'. No-no.

>The orc attacks. It's aiming for your arm.
>It hits, you drop your weapon, or expose your arm and take damage?
>damage :)
>roll 3 damage in the open
>PC has 2 hp
>everybody in the table happy to see him die like he deserves

If you want a less lethal game, start at 2th level or houserule death.

I like this.

Point very well taken. Guess I'm a softy sometimes.

Question for OSR folks:
Do you find yourselves running from encounters a lot?
Given the lethality of OSR games and the lack of 75 bazillion safety nets of later editions, I run away a lot it seems...
So how about you guys (and I assume gals?)

I was addressing points 1-4 specifically, in how you can do those things by modifying rather than building from the ground up. Especially if you're new. The first bunch of B is designed for you to change them/fill them in. It gives you an idea of how to make your own from scratch later.

It seems like a weird thought process to me of running modules right out the box but it does seem like a thing people do and enjoy. What people find engaging and rewarding as a dm is going to vary quite a bit I'd think.

Revamping is for sure tricky for sure though. Sometimes the thing I changed worked out, sometimes its less cool. Stealing ideas, fixing, etc. gets into a funny area of defining when it shifts from 'their' dungeon to 'yours' and I don't think I'm qualified to even touch that. If there's a map I like, I use it, or parts of it, or mix maps together. If there's an encounter table, trap, description, etc. Most random tables, maps and encounters are easy enough to cut out, change a bit and plug in where you want.

Haven't had a problem with balancing encounters (lol). I just make them smaller if I have to, breaks into fractions easy enough. The group is into hirelings and the like. Who's fighting through corridors for xp?

My players have never run, nor ever needed to. They're pretty smart and lucky.

Occasionally they sneak or diplomance, but if a fight ends up being started they can usually finish it.

Does anyone have the Dyson’s Dodecahedron PDFs?

I'm smart enough, perhaps. Lucky though? Heh, no way

My players have run away a decent amount. Usually from anything really big or numerous. Sometimes it seems like a good idea from my end, sometimes they could have won but didn't realize. Less recently, they've levelled a bit and are getting cocky.

How good is Lairs & Encounters for non-ACKS games?

This is what I've actually been planning on doing. Was going to modify Keep on the Borderlands to the skeleton of the setting I have in mind.

Do Keep on the Borderlands of the Wilderlands.

they can just roll up a new one!

Any good cursed weapon properties?

Source?

I learned to love the classic, thanks to nethack: it wields to your hand

I thought they all already did that?

fugg, sauce please

Sauce, looks interesting

They do, if you play strictly btb. But who does? does people really roll egos for swords and all that?

>does people really roll egos for swords and all that?
Your fuckin a right I do.

Nethack a shit though. PTSD from nethack is why crawl devs delete ten features for every one feature they add.

I'll agree with both these gents
To be fair, most of their "original" material sucked pretty hard. And it's not like it's unexpected: 3e's core setting was Diet Greyhawk and 5e's is FR.

>post-Gary modules
>bad

lol

Somewhere in here.... rule34.xxx/index.php?page=post&s=list&tags=madeline_fenton&pid=210

nope, checked all of them, not there

what combat rules would you recommend porting to B/X over from Ad&d for players who occasionally enjoy hack and slash?

That's strange. Fine then, here you go: ibb.co/byM3vk

Thoughts on making two-handed weapons (namely, greatswords, while keeping long polearms and blunt weapons at 1d10) 2d6/1d12?
I think, combined with a cleave rule, it would really improve fighter's ability against hordes of low-hit die monsters.
Perhaps give ogres and other big things larger hit die to compensate for the bigger damage on smaller enemies?

None. Look at the Weapon Mastery rules from the Rules Cyclopedia and use those.

>Keep on the Borderlands.
Yeah, Keep is amazing for what it's designed to do, which is teach entirely new referees how to run wilderness and dungeon play, but that practically automatically makes it less than great if you already know how to do those things.

Not the guy who posted it, but it's either the Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets, or in the CSIO: that's definitely their typesetting and it's vintage JG design (namely "this shit is still suboptimal but kind of a consolation prize if you rolled shit stats").

How about this?

>Best module you ever played in/ran?

Pic related. Not OSR but fuck all it is good.

I've heard it was meh. What about it worked well for you?

It was just good, hard to explain. I mean, me and my party apparently went off rails hard according to the DM, but he ran with it and still managed to get us back on the story just fine.

Also, our fight with the Dragon was just plain awesome. We completely broke the module at that point in how we did it but it felt so, so good.

rule clarification for lotfp.

it looks like from the rule wording that if a wizard is attacked during a turn they cannot cast a spell, even if the attack happened before their turn comes up that round. or am I mistaken?

Yep, that's a standard D&D thing.

(It wouldn't be a very useful rule if spell interruption could only happen after you cast it.)

Speaking of dragons, which dragons do you like to use?

What's your favorite "obscure" (i.e. not chromatic, gem, or metallic) dragon?

What about non-OSR dragons?

let me clarify. i get that if the spell takes time to cast (example: if it activates at the end of the round) it will be canceled by smacking the wizard. but what if the wizard is hit before he even begins a spell?

Help user out:

Yes, if they're attacked in the round they declare they want to cast a spell, or anytime between then and when the spell is completed, the spell fizzles.

Some spells take effect on your turn; you declare you're casting at the start of the round, and the spell can be finished on your turn, but some spells will take longer.

When you enter a new round, everyone declares their actions. Those actions are locked into place, and then initiative is rolled.
If the wizard wins initiative, he can begin to cast and then cast the spell if it's a 1-round cast time. Any attacks that happen after don't affect the fact that the spell went off.
If the wizard loses initiative and he's hit, that means he started to cast, but was interrupted.

thanks for that. i hadn't realized everyone declares at start of round.

That's literally how I've always played it, even in 1e and 2e games... It's just simpler than trying to figure out what segment is what and who's doing shit, simultaneous attacks etc etc

i am one of those faggots who never played the real olschool stuff. Lamentations is the closest I've played similar to anything older than d&D 3.5

Giving myself a quick (You)

>have a tendency to avoid chromatics/metallics in favor of oddballs

>Forest Linnorms. More like MTG's wurms, will only eat "pretty" things. Likely to starve in a forest full of orcs/goblins/etc.

>3e's Obsidian dragons are a nice, edgy addition to the gem dragons. Also, PF's ghost-eating Umbral dragons.

I honestly digbthe quirkiness of 2e the best. The key is tossing out all the nonsense rules for rules same shit and keeping the core. The core is solid, and balanced out pretty well.
By balance I mean fighters are incredibly useful, as useful as a mage or rogue or cleric. None are really superior to the others, they all have drawbacks and bonuses.
There was a 2e thread yesterday I dumped some of my pdfs in... Just compilations of rules I use, spells, world of greyhawk (pre 3e) stuff like that, hopefully someone found them useful

Rules for rules sake shit*

Ever since my shit updated it's impossible to type anything... I hate nougat.
>inb4 phoneposter faggot
I'm in bed, and have no laptop, that's with the wife at the hospital

Sorry to hear your wife is in the hospital. May she recover quickly (or, if she is tending to a loved one, may they recover quickly).

Thanks user
She has severe adult onset epilepsy. She's in for a long stay in the EMU (epilepsy monitoring unit). Basically they glue 56 probes to her skull, take her off all her meds, sleep deprive her and force seizures. Sounds barbaric, but they can then pinpoint where the seizures start and then do brain surgery... Just cut out a few cells and bam, no more seizures, ever.

figure this article from Dragon Magazine will be useful

God I love medical tech nowadays. How about that new research that Harvard released where they state that, quite possibly, they could reverse many effects of ageing? Like, they did this treatment on some lab mice and could not differentiate old mice from young after just a few weeks of treatment.
>Soon we can be immortals, devoting decades to campaigns in the same way we devote months to them.

Does anyone love the "hi, I have no skill of measurable worth and I'm walking into a dungeon, welcome to Jackass" feeling of low-level play?

More than you could possibly imagine

I really just hope everything goes well with her stay and surgery. It's weird when you actually get to marry your best friend. Taught her 2e (her only rpg besides 3e, which she hated) and she loves it.
>tfw our current campaign is 3 years in and going strong

I like it as a referee.

I'm generally not a fan as a player, unless there's something crazy going on with the iteration time.

What this guy says.

The problem is I know too much about dungeons and being a GM to fully fit into that role. If my GM asked me too, I would agree to play a dumb character.

One things I actually like about OSR, as a slight aside, is because it's so lethal and character generation so fast and easy, it's actually somewhat fun to be the dumb fucking idiot that triggers the mummy's curse or whatever. I know it sounds counter productive in a game all about it being 'hard', but this also empowers you to be that guy. There is just something about being the greedy asshole who takes the amulet off the mummy's neck and then gets his ass turned into dust by its evil magic is great, because it's a bit like playing the bad guy, but instead you're playing the redshirt.

So yes, I like the idea of being the Jackass guy, but I have to roleplay it.

I'm endlessly pissed off Expedition to Barrier Peaks wasn't in it. I have few fonder childhood D&D memories than taking over the land with a suit of powered armor.

Same. I'd also love to see a 5e remake of D1-3.

I'm switching to a linear-curve reaction roll and really wish my players luck. What if I use JG's Woman Disposition table for my reaction rolls.

1. angry
2. jealous
3. pensive
4. tired
5. tender
6. excited
7. ardent
8. erotic

Sounds a lot better (as in more evocative) than the default 'hostile! immediate attack!' and you can always turn #8 into a mad scary encounter.

Does B/X or any of its derivatives have any rules for playing as a monster character anywhere, or is AD&D the only one with that sort of nonsense?

Because I have to admit I find the standard races either boring and overdone (elves, dwarves) or bloody stupid (gnomes, halflings).

Found it , it's Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets.
Repartee takes a full rounds, like a spell, and stops all melee/charhes within earshot for d6 rounds (secret roll). Success=d(cha+int)%
Repartees negate each other (even friendly ones).
Witicism makes everybody within earshot save (by rolling 3d6 under their Cha) or be "taken aback" for 2d4 rounds, paralyzed. If you saved, you only lose initiative to the Buffoon. Stealing from "taken aback" characters sobers them instantly.

I like this bard.

Yes. Take a Fighter and re-skin it.
The Dwarf already has XP table balanced for gaining infravision and other minor stuff, you can use it as a more accurate base.
As long as you keep it simple, it'll work.

Hobbits are the best, specially if your players like to RP - just poorly nerfed for no reason.

>just poorly nerfed for no reason

How's there no reason? Hobbits were pretty weak in the original text, too.

True, but having a character class that's objectively worse than all the others in nearly every way (especially without warning potential new players of it, like in the oldest editions) is a dick move.

Fair enough, though once again, if they've read the original text it should kind of be a given.

In this time and day they will certainly go to these older games knowing exactly what they're expecting: high lethality, sneaking around, thievery, and no heroism whatsoever. In that company, they'll surely expect their hobbit character to be weaker than the rest.

>high lethality, sneaking around, thievery, and no heroism whatsoever
Doesn't that basically just describe hobbits, though?