/osrg/ OSR General

>Robin Hood, Lv.7 Fighter (Bow specialization)
>13 Str, 10 Int, 15 Wis, 13 Con, 16 Dex, 11 Cha
Welcome to the Old School Roleplay/Renaissance/Revival!

In this thread, we discuss interchangeable rules-lite systems that emulate the "life is cheap" Swords and Sorcery aesthetic.

Trove (etc.): pastebin.com/QWyBuJxd
Here be TroveGuy: discord.gg/qaku8y9
Blogosphere: pastebin.com/ZwUBVq8L
In-browser tools: pastebin.com/KKeE3etp

Prior: >Thread Questions:
What level is Merlin?
Are Magic-Users a race?

Other urls found in this thread:

coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/search/label/session writeup
boards.fireden.net/tg/thread/52449385/#52458176
coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/03/osr-glog-review.html
youtu.be/2ueZo5i6GPg
occultesque.com/2017/04/portals-inter-dimensional-travel-made.html
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

How does a southern witch doctor find a voodoo doll and some monster skulls from the northern subarctic mountains?

>What level is Merlin?

About 13, give or take.

>Are Magic-Users a race?

According to Harry Potter, yes.

Imported.
Summoned.
"That's a good question."
Souvenir.
Migratory.

That image is retarded.

I have been reading over The GLOG that Arnold made over at goblinpunch and I am loving it. Has anyone actually used this to run games?

Would love to hear from people who use it. Specifically what you think about it, have you changed anything, and if you think it works well for long term campaigns.

Skerples has been running and brewing for it. He'll pipe his blog in a minute, but I've beat him to it:
>coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/search/label/session writeup

boards.fireden.net/tg/thread/52449385/#52458176

Well hello there!

coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/03/osr-glog-review.html

I like it. It works. It's disorganized as hell so be prepared to do a lot of copying and pasting and hacking, but it's really delightful, especially for new players.

I'm only 3 sessions in, so I can't comment on long-term staying power, but Arnold's game has been going on for ages.

> He'll pipe his blog in a minute, but I've beat him to it

Son of a bitch!

I was under the impression that voodoo dolls are just ragdolls with extra bits sown into them like hair, blood, skin, fingernails, etc. of the subject the doll is linked to. They could probably make one out of anything cloth like.

Monster skulls could drift down stream from ancient glaciers, wash ashore along the coast to bleach, emerge from tar pits, stitched to the face of the ogre chieftain, or just being inside monsters waiting for a foolish adventurer to try and relive them of it.

Thanks! And that OSR Summoner class is fucking sick

>Robin Hood statline
Would flip Wis and Cha (he's pretty reckless, but clearly good at gathering a band) and probably boost Int (wily) but that's a pretty good line otherwise.

Thank you. It's a neat one. Check out the Generic Cleric as well (Arnold hasn't written his version yet).

My wizards are also slightly different than his. There are a few tweaks I've made along the way.

I feel like any movie on Best of the Worst is a good candidate for OSR inspiration, especially the sci-fi and fantasy titles

Hey guys, I made a thread about it but it got no traction, so reposting here.

I'm currently in a Pathfinder game, and I've convinced the DM to let me run a B/X campaign next. I've been wanting to try the system out for a while, but I have a couple questions.

Firstly: AC and thac0. Should I keep them as is or should I change them up so that higher is better? If I changed it would we be missing an integral part of the experience?

Secondly: what kind of campaign should I run? I know old school has a reputation for being deadly (and I come from GURPS, so I'm totally fine with that), but I'm not sure how Pathfinder babbies will deal with it. What's the best way to kick off this rodeo in your opinion?

> What level is Merlin?
Started as archmage 18 LVL but lost levels as he got younger.

> ACKS arrives in mail yesterday
But it's not the endgame I was looking for, anons. Someone please write one.

And who asked for these classes: "blade dancer", "dwarven vault guard", and "elven night blade".

>Should I keep them as is or should I change them up so that higher is better?
They're about the same amount of effort to use,
Normally I'd say, "you shouldn't" but only because updating /everything/ is more work that using THAC0 forever.

That said, I would consider ascending AC for ease of transition for your "new" players.
THAC0 is really easy to wrap your head around, especially after using it two or three times, but some people set out not toe learn so...

>If I changed it would we be missing an integral part of the experience?
Ha. That's a joke, right? They play exactly the same.

>what kind of campaign should I run?
Establish expectations from square one. "Don't write a backstory, that's what your early levels are for" and all that.
Before they even generate characters, make sure they understand how fickle the dice will be.

>I know old school has a reputation for being deadly
Bear in mind, it's not deadly for the sake of being deadly. It's deadly for the sake of feeling risky.
If your players are doing everything right, they should only lose like out of every 10 characters per session (mostly from combat).

If your player DO NOT WANT a sense of risk to spicing up their rewards, DO NOT make it risky.
>What's the best way to kick off this rodeo in your opinion?
Sit them down together out of game, and talk about expectations. If they aren't picking up what you're laying down, start them at level 3.
Don't force them to like the things you like. If they can appreciate aspects of the system, they will latch on by themselves.

You forgot to describe B, cuntenheimer.

>dwarven vault guard is a class

You know, that sounds to me like a guy with a stable, honorable, respected, and most importantly, well-paying position within Dwarven society, and one of the last guys who would throw it all away to run around with a gang of human murderhobos.

>But it's not the endgame I was looking for, anons.
What kind of endgame were you looking for?

>thac0
Technically THAC0 doesn't exist in B/X

>Should I keep them as is or should I change them up so that higher is better?
If you're gonna do that why not save some work and Basic Fantasy RPG instead?

He likely wants it to be authentic, as strongly implied by his post. And why should he use your favorite retroclone over any of the dozens of others, anyway?
It's not like switching to ascending AC is hard to do.

>your favorite retroclone
Please, I have better taste than that.

>What level is Merlin?
36

>Are Magic-Users a race?
Yes

That is why I renamed them Dwarven Wanderers in my game, removed the Craftpriests, and kept the Delvers as is.

The label is /right next to/ the room.

There's nothing wrong with including a catfolk race in your games. If your players are good, you'll have no problems.

youtu.be/2ueZo5i6GPg
Away with you, furfaggot! Skerples has already filled our "toeing the line" quota."
How would you even stat it? Refluff dwarves?

>monstergirls
>furry
Don't make me break out the chart.

Anyways.
>+1 DEX -1 WIS (curiosity killed the cat!)
and some combination of
>falling damage reduction
>bonus unarmed damage
Maybe climb walls and move silently as a thief of X level (or a bonus if they're already thieves).

I'd rather have mice, otters, hares, and badgers as playable, though I feel like any Redwall game would require a random feast chart.

Go back to /pfg/

How do you old-school gentlemen feel about new players getting into OSR games?

But I don't like minmaxing.

Hide behind charts all you want, it won't fool anyone.

>What level is Merlin?
kinda depends on which version, some are barely magic-users at all(at least by D&D standards), while others would be pretty high
>Are Magic-Users a race?
depends on the setting

>And who asked for these classes: "blade dancer", "dwarven vault guard", and "elven night blade".
cause while ACKS recognizes the need for well defined core classes(Fighter, Mage, Cleric, and Thief), it also recognizes that not every character concept fits into those 4, thus classes like the Blade Dancer(which is basically a Specialty Priest in concept) and the Racial Classes(which strike a very good balance between how BX usually handles non-humans and how AD&D handles them)

they explain it in the Vault Guard's description, PC Vault Guards are ones who have been sent on a pilgrimage outside of the traditional Dwarven territories to bring back gold and glory to their homes

also I definitely really dislike this idea that's become more and more common in the OSR community that the only people who would take up adventuring would be insane homeless morons

agreed, I see no problem in allowing access to non-human races by the players, almost always any issues that come up involve specific players(often because they're idiots), so they're the problem to be solved not the race

>also I definitely really dislike this idea that's become more and more common in the OSR community that the only people who would take up adventuring would be insane homeless morons
BUT DUDE """"GRITTY"""" """"REALISM"""" LMAO

Anyone here running or have run a West Marches game? Looking for any advice I can get on it. From organization, prep, world building, player advice, even fun keyed locations. I'll take it all.

>Firstly: AC and thac0. Should I keep them as is or should I change them up so that higher is better?
It really doesn't matter. It's all just different ways of solving the exact same math problem. A fair number of retroclones have adopted ascending AC systems, and while people may prefer one or the other, few of them reject ascending AC as being poisonous to movement.

>I know old school has a reputation for being deadly (and I come from GURPS, so I'm totally fine with that), but I'm not sure how Pathfinder babbies will deal with it.
If you want to lower the death rate, don't make people die at 0 hit points. Give 'em until they reach -10 or something. Hell, even if you just let them get to a number of negative hit points equal to their level, that'll help out.

Feeling really good about that.

>toe
*to

>like out of
like *1 out of

>risk to spicing
risk *spicing

>+1 DEX -1 WIS

>depends on the setting
If vital context is missing, supply your own context or discuss the context-agnostic merits and demerits.

>+1 DEX -1 WIS (curiosity killed the cat!)
it should be +1 CHA -1 CON (Catgirls are slim and cute!)

ok thoughts...

64 pp softcover "Dungeons & Dragons Endgame Rules" to go with Moldvay and Cook. Henceforth B/X/E will be the /osrg/ approved™ rules set. Cover art by Otus with the warrior and the sorceress putting down the asshole wizard who was spying on them. The dragon was pissed too, so maybe he gets some of the action.

The D&D Endgame Rules allot 16 pp to each class. The fighter endgame is a boardgame like Risk but actually fun to play and none of the bullshit about drawing cards.

The magic user specializes in something like demonology or necromancy that will be the death of him in all likelihood.

The thief launders all of his stolen loot and goes legit and takes up honest trade. If he wants too. Most of the rules will still be about pimping prostitutes and smuggling drugs and shaking down shopkeepers.

The cleric learns some debased stuff about her religion. E.g. if she is a priestess of Athena, she learns there is no goddess Athena, and the sect is ruled by a medusa, and that all of the previous high priestesses have been turned to stone and stored in the inner sanctum, but they can be stone-to-fleshed if need be, or they can be consulted thanks to the talk-to-statues spell granted to all priestesses of the Medusa once a day.

At this point, the nature of the game has changed significantly. OSR rules sets, even turned into Risk, might not emulate the game and tone you want. Heck, RPGs might not even emulate it.

There's a reason it's called "retirement".

What about the demihumans?

What about the demihumans.

Don't elves just go wander off into the forest and sort of fade away into part it instead of just aging to death?

Cool, thanks guys. I think I'll just leave the rules as is for now.

I've settled on the idea of a West Marches style game since I think it'll let us bring more of our friend group in. On the one hand the guy who wrote the original specifically recommends against old school systems. On the other hand, old school systems seem perfectly tuned for a "get gold through the most expedient, possibly cowardly route possible" style of play.

Any thoughts or experience with this?

>wander off into the forest and sort of fade away
No. They hitch a boat (or hike?) to not!Aman.

>wander off into the forest and sort of fade away

No, they eventually accumulate enough ennui to metamorphose into Cosmic Boredom Butterflies, and flap off into the ether.

>Cosmic Boredom Butterflies
Stats or it didn't happen.

>psionics are because of a githyanki psi-nuke
>halfling invented magic and started a worldwide genocide campaign
>humans and half-elves get to turn into super special snowflake dragons

Dark Sun was a strange setting.

Also, follow up question: what's /osrg/'s stance on rolling stats? Obviously arrays are heresy, but what method do you guys prefer? 3d6 down the line, or something a little more... potent?

Yes?

I'm bad at this. Terrible paint drawing user is better.

Cosmic Boredom Butterfly
HD: number of hours the session has been going+1d6
Stats: standard Elf stats +2 in all categories
Movement: flight, but at walking speed
Size: big. Like the size of an unfurled tent. Most of the creature is wings.
Appearance: a huge butterfly with gossamer and silk wings (brightly coloured, rippling like the aurora) and a tiny withered torso, with a dozen folded-up finger-legs and an elf's shining face.
Wants: nothing
Abilities: Zone of Boredom (30' radius, Save any time you take an action or decide, nah, fuck it, why bother), Lay Elf Eggs
Eats: the remains of abandoned projects (ethereal proboscis, sucks them out of your head)
Appears. Alone, or in swarms of d20+5 or d100+10

Honestly? It's tamer than Wilderlands of High Fantasy.

Personal preference: 3d6 in order, reroll 1 stat based on your character's race.

3d6 straight down the line for OD&D/LBB.
4d6 drop lowest for 2e (it places more value on attributes).
3d6, possibly with some rearranging, for everything else.

Everyone gets a free 15 to assign wherever the fuck they want, then it is 3d6 in order for all the rest.

>Obviously arrays are heresy.
As long as everybody doesn't have the exact same numbers, just rearranged (which seems overly artificial to me: everybody's top stat is just as high, everybody's second highest stat is the same, etc.), I'm cool with it. Then again, I'm probably not in the mainstream for OSR when it comes to stat generation.

Enjoy 1d20 different realms, and 1d6 ways to make the trip to each one; purposeful or otherwise.

occultesque.com/2017/04/portals-inter-dimensional-travel-made.html

I do something similar but with a 14 instead.

...

Now for the real challenge: Find how many planeshifts can you induce simultaneously.

Still a fan of this oldie.

>Encounter. Two parties of druids working to build the Large Dolmen Collier, a huge track of logs and stone that will roll two Dolmen Gates through each other, smashing two planes together and creating a 1) paradise 2) catastrophe 3) gigantic forest of hypertrophic trees, expanding a mile per day 4) a new flood, druids love water too.

A wizard makes 19 simulacrums out of ruby and attempts to do them all at once.

By the time you've carved 19 simulacra though you'll be blind by ruby dust and addled by mercury fumes. Even if you could remember how to fuck you wouldn't know why.

Your eyeballs would be worth a fortune though. Ruby-tinted, red and shredded. Put them in alcohol to make a tincture that lets you seduce gemstones through rock.

"I sidle up to the hunk of tiger iron and say: Hey bby, want sum fuk?"
>She frowns disapprovingly
"cmon bby lemme smash"

>and addled by mercury fumes. Even if you could remember how to fuck you wouldn't know why.
I-is that... a Discworld reference?

>none of the planes are actually a spaceship
I can only give this a 19/20.

Nah man, you've got to seduce gemstones like a greasy hollywood producer. "Baby, I'm going to make you famous. Ever been to a coronation? I've got this princess who'd /love/ to meet you."

Maybe fuck a jeweler in front of the rock face, to get them in the mood.

In my campaign, the only spaceships are piloted by illithids. 25% of their fleet is in orbit,
the other 75% have all crashed and are now buried in the underdark.

It would be fun to planeshift to one of the planets they're previously terraformed, though. A giant, squishy, brainmass of a planet that floats through space projecting psionic radio waves.

>I-is that... a Discworld reference?

Oh shit, I've been found out!

lemme smash

I also know that you're Skerples.

Where do your illithids come from?

They are starspawn, birthed in the emerald waters of their living vessels that ply the unseen winds of space.

They're clones grown in vats of mind-goo.
They can't recall their home, but they know their mission is to terraform as many planets as possible into giant brains to join the illithid cluster-conscience.

>I also know that you're Skerples.

Big shock.

No Ron, your tailings are small

But Beryl, lemme smash

...

Favourite monster from Veins of the Earth?

I've got to say, the Archaeans (and their bees), the Fossil Vampires, the Olm, and the Pyroclastic Ghouls have really impressed me so far.

I've been rationing it as a reward for doing coursework so I haven't finished yet, but I like the idea of a roving horde of Cholerids fumbling around in the dark while the PCs are crammed into an overhead nook for safety while they sleep.

That's not really hard to do, Wilderlands has shit like candle shops run by powerful djinn.

I love the Alkalion.

What happens to ancient goblins?

They die and rot. Goblins never stop growing, but their physiology doesn't support a mass larger than, say, a compact car.

You can get a grotesque Goblin King for a while, unable to move, legs snapped like twigs, breathing by the effort of a dozen slaves. But someone always slips up. Or poisons them. Kingship is always a lifetime position.

But if somehow a goblin has food and power and isn't killed, possibly as the result of magic or a curse or accidental exposure to something weird, it can grow to be a hideous giant, tumour-riddled and blinded by rolls of fat. It can't even crawl. Other goblins will wall it away or burn it out of spite or cannibalize its flesh or roll it into a chasm.

>B: Restroom

Go wash that foul mouth of yours

After playing Fighting Fantasy: Robot Commando, I am now convinced a barbaric fantasy setting about loincloth clad swordfighters on a planet full of dinosaurs could be substantially improved if their culture also anachronistically allows them to build cities, computers, and most importantly giant mecha. Said giant mecha are used for everything from herding dinosaurs to fighting their alien enemies with missiles and lasers.

Which OSR game would be best for depicting barbarians in giant mecha fighting dinosaurs and aliens?

>sign directs you to bathroom
>bathroom door is hidden
Who's bright idea was this? /s

OD&D+CHAINMAIL

...

I like this

So 2nd edition AD&D made surprise and initiative rolls into d10s rather than d6s. Was this a good or a bad call, and why?

Vault Guards are literally the B/X Dwarf. Blade Dancer is an alternate Paladin for a more sword-and-sorcery world (or if you want to play Xena), and Night Blade is an alternate Elf.

ACKS gives multiple racial classes as a compromise solution between race-as-class and race+class. I honestly think it's a pretty good solution and you're free to keep things the same as B/X by only allowing the Elven Spellblade and Dwarven Vaultguard.

I can only imagine the increased amount of spells and combat options led to the choice to make initiative slightly more granular. It's plausible felt surprise and initiative, being so closely tied, should operate off the same die. Which would be odd given that the ad&d editions on the whole lived and died by subsystems.

I think it's a decent call. Feel like d6 allows for that spontaneous and simultaneous feeling, but sometimes spreading things out a HAIR helps when some drastically different options are happening. Sort of a compromise between 1-6 and 1-20. Been meaning to experiment with 1-12, myself.

I'm guessing conversion to Lichhood and other forms of corporeal undeath are common among the more magically inclined Goblin Kings(or ones who have a particularly potent magic user under their thrall)

>ACKS gives multiple racial classes as a compromise solution between race-as-class and race+class. I honestly think it's a pretty good solution and you're free to keep things the same as B/X by only allowing the Elven Spellblade and Dwarven Vaultguard.
exactly, one of the reasons ACKS is one of my favorite OSR systems

So, how do you play OD&D *without* Chainmail?
There's no initiative/turns, no missile ranges, no individual tactics or situational modifiers.
The idea of a super light system, but this sounds basically.. freeform.

I don't understand the point, all it is is that it's a race-and-class but pretending it's race-as-class. That's just wasted space instead of having the intuitive system that race-and-class and race-as-class has. It also makes it much more difficult to hack your own races and classes into it.

Don't. Just don't. It's a stupid ass fucking idea and you should feel bad for having had it. If you can't understand why, there's your problem.