/osrg/ Old School Renaissance General

So far answers I've gotten:
- AD&D 2e
- DCC
- LBB D&D
~ LBB Traveller
- Stars Without Number
- Barbarians of Lemuria v1
- LotFP
- b/x
- BFRPG
- GLOG homebrew from that goblin blog guy

Why isn't ACKs™ on the list? I would also recommend Beyon the Wall

I want to try a hexcrawl game but as a GM I've rarely run a game where travel was a big deal and I struggle at describing travel and knowing when to just skip over things and when to let the players drive it.

Any tips?

> Any tips?
Supplements for generating things for the players to find are a big help. Pic related.

>By the book, house rules, or homebrew?
Yes

Been a while since I've posted there but
buzzclaw.blogspot.co.nz/

Heroes & Other Worlds

>Any tips?
Do a pointcrawl instead.

Lamentations of the flame princess is not old school. Plus its garbage

ur grbij

...

Could someone post a link of the trove for me? My ISP blocked Pastebin...

Don't fall for his lies, friends.

Seconding Beyond The Wall/ Further Afield. Your question is tied into the OP question too. Playing b/x, lbb, ad&d raw by the book is worth doing to see what its like and what's going on, but they and a bunch of osr stuff is made with the intention of homebrewing and house rules.

Wolf Packs & The Winter Snow has flesh/grit damage, cave paintings as spell books and tribes as domains. Its worth checking out. Its also from here.

Into The Odd is a a fun stripped down osr. Character generation, equipment and magic are streamlined in neat ways.

I don't think I'd ever run Carcosa as is, but I've been taking some of the rituals and putting them into weird/darkbad parts of the game too see if anyone tries to use them.

It's not a lie though, it already happened once two weeks ago

What is the best way to experience OD&D.

The original rules as written by Gygax?
A retro clone?
A basic D&D game?

Your own way

You want to elaborate on that?

You pick/create the rules you like and use them.

>Do a pointcrawl instead.
That does seem like a better idea, but I've still got the problem of description and player agency in travel.

Like what do you guys actually do when your players spend 6 hours on the road? You've got your random events and encounters, sure, but how do you drift over that time?

Which version of those rules is best in your opinion? That's what I'm asking.

>Heroes & Other Worlds
Does anyone have the pdf to share?

>- Barbarians of Lemuria v1
Is not what I'd consider OSR, though I do like BoL. Also, while v1 is nice and short and sweet, the rules aren't as good as they are later on. For instance, armor is an absolute mess, and you have to use the full range of polygonal dice for weapons when the rest of the system only uses d6s. If you're gonna use v1, I'd recommend at least snatching the armor and weapon rules from Mythic (pic related).

I'd say read through a lot of them and find the one(s) you like the most.

But if you just want a recommendation, I'd say B/X D&D. It's not really OD&D though, you'll have to interpret the LBB and supplement if you want that.

Isn't Holmes the closest to OD&D? How does B/X differ from the original in terms of actual rules (I know the presentation is a lot different).

And even then, you might want to consider simplifying and constraining armor a bit, to prevent death-by-a-thousand-cuts style combat between folks who are all armored up. Mythic does armor better than Legendary does armor better than v1, but it's still not perfect.

Holmes is a version of OD&D, but not everyone agrees that it's a good version. It was made to explain the OD&D rules to kids and new players.

B/X simplified the rules of OD&D and focused mostly on the dungeon-crawl aspect of the game. It's presented in kind of a boardgame style, while OD&D has this wargame-freeform thing going on.

I ask the party mid week between games what they're interested in. More urban, dungeons or wilderness, to give me an idea of what to prepare.

Then I tend to put together a rough idea of what the terrain is like in the direction they're going and what season it is (marshy and snowing, rough hills, ruins and fall, etc), think of a few features that would be in that (a frozen methane gas swamp with thin bubbles of trapped gas, a burnt watch tower with cages, etc.) and put them on an index card or two.

Every 3-6 hours of travel I pick or roll a feature and ask a player to add something to the scene/what they notice about the place, then roll for random encounter and incorporate their description into it. Gives us things to put on the map, ideas I wouldn't think of, they take turns so no one is too pressured. If there's no wilderness encounter its just terrain, I can always use it later for something or the players will start to think of it as a landmark.

There are a decent number of terrain generators and word webs to plunder. Appendix B in the ad&d dmg is a good start. Just google imaging things like 'old woods' can give you a few ideas. Also going outside and just looking at what's there.

I own it in dead tree form but the attached PDF should have quickstart rules.

Anything good you've picked up from the RPGnow sale? Stuff that's not in the trove but that you'd recommend?

How long has /osrg/ been going? I think I first noticed it about a year ago, but perhaps it is much older?

Thank you senpai.

hastebin.com/uxaxazojop.sql
Dropping it in the thread is a good way to get it taken down.

LotFP is Bx with houseruled encumberance and a variant Thief.
SWN is Bx with Random Tables IN SPAAAAAAACE! and good ref tips.
They're worth reading, but you can skim (or skip) most of their rules.
BFRPG might be Bx? Maybe it's AD&D? I can't recall.
ACKS is also Bx, though it adds a fair deal of rules.
Not a fan of any part of Carcossa, but these suggestions are otherwise on point.

Ass deep in houserules. Retroclones give a head start, but not necessarily in the correct direction.
And Gygax cribbed the rules from Arneson.

Thanks! And this Hastebin looks better than Pastebin, why isn't it used more often?

January 2nd, 2014

Because Pastebin is considerably older.

>And Gygax cribbed the rules from Arneson.
Who did the actual writing? Because the original three booklets are....not good.

Astonishing Sorcerers & Swordsmen of Hyperborea, Swords and Wizardry, Mazes and Minotaurs are also worth checking out.

>Who did the actual writing?
Both of them. Gygax was more than an editor, but Arneson did most of the rules text.

>Because the original three booklets are....not good.
The shitty editing was more a Gygax thing than an Arneson thing.
The unwritten rules was more an Arneson thing than a Gygax thing.

Good advice in this thread so far, but you also have to learn to read the room a little bit. Usually descriptions should be brief. When I first started GMing I sometimes made the mistake of going into reciting a description travelogue style (that of course I thought was very interesting), and people got bored.

A day's travel through an "empty hex" might look like this.
Players: We pack up camp and hit the road
>GM: "You spend another day marching across the chill, stony waste. Around noon you spy a wisp of smoke to the west."
Players: We note it on the map and keep heading north to the mountains
>GM: Alright, near sunset you arrive at a clear stream with a few scraggly trees where you might shelter for the night.
Players: make camp, with the usual watches

I make notes of features they discover on my map, in case the players want to find their way back to it, or I have an opportunity to use it in a future adventure.

If they're travelling a familiar civilized route, I might timeskip just to get them to the city or whatever they're headed for.

What's your favorite mutation system/table, Veeky Forums?
I like the DCC corruptions, but they're hardly one unified table, are they now?

I like to scavenge from WFRP Tome of Corruption.

>Read Chainmail, but don't use it for combat.
It's like you hate everything good.

strength18slash01.blogspot.com/

I use LotFP and DCC the most, depending on what flavor of game I want. I also have BFRPG and a buttload of supplements for it and would love to run it as-is someday.

Currently I'm running a '5e Style' homebrew of LotFP for my table. Less deadly and more story driven without bloated mechanics. It's coming along quite fun.

>AD&D 2e
why is adnd 2e an OSR game? It's dnd

Because it's a system that people use to play OSR-style campaigns.

Is there much to change for monsters from labyrinth lord to BX or should I be good to run it straight out. I'm trying to run Shadowbrook Manor, but it keeps referencing monsters not in BX and items found in the AEC which I don't use.

LL and B/X are nearly mirror images of one another. You'll be ok from the get-go.

Ah, that weird highlighting is because thinks you want to look at SQL snippets.
You can correct it by using

hastebin.com/uxaxazojop.txt
or
hastebin.com/raw/uxaxazojop

since about 2014 as notes, although we'd been having OSR oriented threads for a while before that

Anyone else Kickstart the MCC book? Should be out in PDF next month; I'm stoked.

Was it ever specified (or retconned) what campaign setting the original Ravenloft module was for?

Probably Greyhawk, as all adventures in those days.

...

This is the best of all the Primers I've seen.

What system has the best rules for a hexcrawl straight out of the box? Or why is your homebrew hexcrawl better?

Heroes & Other Worlds.
But better try the original, The Fantasy Trip

Not system, but module for LotFP: World of the Lost

>also recommending HOW

Are you LITERALLY me?

Probably ACKS. The downtime rules are superb as well.

HOW is not on the trove, does anyone have it?

If it's not in the Trove, they've probably sent us take-down notices.
Ask the file share thread.

>this one faggot who thinks The Fantasy Trip belongs in /osrg/, again
How many times must we tell you to go start your own fucking thread instead, moron? TFT is more on topic for GURPSgen, for fuck's sake.

Fuckin niiiiice. Thanks, user.

Rolled 3, 1, 1 = 5 (3d6)

HOW uses D&D Initiative. The splats add in D&D magic and D&D monsters. And it also fits Skerpeles' "broadly compatible" meme definition of OSR. Eat 3d6 shits

>HOW is not on the trove
>In some respects, TFT feels like Tunnels and Trolls for people who enjoy tactical board games. This might be the best insight into TFT for those who know old roleplaying games but haven't played this one.
>point buy
>protogurps
Doesn't really sounds like it fits. Also the troveguy has been mia for a long time.

Nice runt roll, retard. Even RNGsus knows you're full of it.

According to the Fortune Chart, you will die, and always wisely.

Which tells me virtually nothing except that I need to fix my chart a little.

This is a good chart.

invulnerablog.imperfekt-industrees.com/?p=925
monstermanualsewnfrompants.blogspot.ca/2011/12/1d100-table-of-mutations-and-wait.html
monstermanualsewnfrompants.blogspot.ca/2011/12/d30-mutation-table.html

I've yet to roll a coherent sentence on it.

I've still got to write them up, but Sessions 5 and 6 of Tomb of the Serpent Kings are done.

Session 5 was mostly uneventful, though the knight did buy an enchanted sword, and the thief banked her ill-gotten wealth (sensibly). However, the session ended in disaster. During further tomb exploration, Spackles the Ilusionist cast an untested spell and ended up mutating most of the party.

The Paladin escaped unharmed. Antonia now smells better (+2 CHA). Franklin can swim better (+2 to STR for swimming).

But Spackles grew 4 new eyes and 4 new mouths, and Thomas died when his own leg fell off and turned into a troll.

Session 6 didn't go much better. A new Summoner PC named Missy E turned up and was recruited for a 2% share. Though the party found more treasure, they also walked into a terrifying swinging blade trap. Missy E was wounded, but decided to press on. Sadly, she was killed by an immortal Skeleton Jelly just a few minutes later.

In a desperate attempt to save, her Spackles spread jelly on toast and fed it to the dying human. She rose... as another Skeleton Jelly! She swiftly crushed Spackle's head and turned on the party, who fled, towing the illusionist's torso on a rope.

Tell ex-Thomas to roll up a Garden Wizard or an Animist.

>Tell ex-Thomas to roll up a Garden Wizard or an Animist.

He's going Biomancer, and the ex-Spackles player is going for Wizard of the White Hand.

You're fucked again! :D

Also, the party is now listening at doors, and they have an actual strategy, which is new. It didn't /help/, mind you...

I have a a questions about ACKS.

Does the custom class making in the Player's Companion comprehensive to the point where you can use it to create the default classes? Would I be able to replace the class system entirely with it?

Yes, they even say that on the book, just read and you will see

Godbound

coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/05/osr-medieval-stalemate-simulator-or-six.html

The full Medieval Stalemate Simulator is up. Hooray!

If you generate a War (using that post, and the previous one in the series: coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/05/osr-dont-you-know-theres-war-on.html) feel free to post it here.

neat

Thanks.

...

Not enough sieges.

So... each year starts off with a minor defeat?

And two adjacent sieges. Bold move. Going to end up with a lot of sieges that way. And hrm, is that a dual weather disaster I see?

I'd love to hear your reasoning.

Every stalemate hex could read as "siege of some minor place or castle". The big blue sieges are for capital cities or really, really critical fortresses.

Sieges take forever, each year starts bad instead of having a high chance to immediately be terrible, and weather disaster is adjacent to magic disaster.

Also, if you guys give me 20 entries, I'll build a Gonzo War table for all your weird settings.

I like it.

A Minor War between the Holy Grand Duchy (actually none of those things) of Sternberg and Lioness County, over a band of flagellants who wandered over from Lioness into Sternberg and were killed by border guards on suspicion of black magic.
Stalemate -> Stalemate -> Weather Disaster -> Stalemate -> Stalemate -> Minor Victory -> Minor Victory -> Religious Strife (2, 2, 4, 1, 1, 6, 1, 6)
The war began as a stalemate, with Lioness' initial aggressive thrusts stymied by Sternberg's line of border forts, enlivened only by a sudden unseasonal hailstorm that injured many of the besiegers. However, the tides turned when one of the border forts was forced to give in when rot set into their grain supplies. This was followed shortly afterwards with the capture of another fort through a combination of bribery and charm spells on the gate guards.
Unfortunately, any exploitation of the gap in Sternberg's defences was stymied when the investigations of a travelling inquisitor revealed the flagellants may, in fact, have actually been practicing black magic. With the very cause of the war in question, the court of Lioness was thrown into uproar, paralyzing military operations until winter set in, and the opposing armies took to winter quarters.

Stalemate -> Minor Victory -> Changing Alliances -> Betrayal -> Minor Defeat -> Stalemate -> Minor Defeat -> Stalemate (4 5 1 5 1 1 4 6)

The beginning of the new campaign season saw Lioness still paralyzed by political infighting. Fortunately, the entry of a new player on the side of Lioness over outstanding land disputes, the Barony of Panthera, proved sufficient to propel the armies of Lioness back into action.

Unfortunately, the Baron proved staggeringly unreliable, with his forces immediately looting and plundering Lioness County as soon as his forces crossed the border. Although Lioness attempted to sustain the offensive regardless, this proved untenable, and they were forced to abandon their foothold in Sternberg in order to repel the Baron's forces.

Sadly, they were unable to do this either, and winter closed in with Sternberg re-occupying their border forts and Panthera still on Lioness soil.

>investigations of a travelling inquisitor revealed the flagellants may, in fact, have actually been practicing black magic.

Whoops!

>Unfortunately, the Baron proved staggeringly unreliable, with his forces immediately looting and plundering Lioness County

Sounds about right. Oh medieval wars. So silly.

Stalemate -> Stalemate -> Death of a Major Figure -> Magic Disaster -> Truce (1 year) -> Stalemate -> Minor Victory

The year began with nobody being able to make any headway. On the Lioness-Sternberg border, the situation was reversed from the very beginning of the war, with Sternberg forces unable to make headway against the long-standing border fortifications. However, the armies of Lioness were having no better luck against Panthera's cavalry, who were consistently able to outmaneuver Lioness' typical spear formations and continue raiding the countryside.

The situation got even worse when Baron Scarborough, a vassal of Lioness County, fell into a pit trap on a typical goblin-hunting expedition. His troops withdrew to from battle to return home and participate in the selection of a new Baron, leaving Lioness County in more dire straights than ever.

Then hell broke loose. Very nearly literally.

As it turned out, the lost flagellants were not only practicing black magic, they were part of a larger infernal cult that had been working on a vast ritual. Fortunately, the working of the ritual had been disrupted by the war, but there were still rains of blood and brimstone, wandering apparitions, the unhallowed dead rising from their shallow graves, etc. The war immediately ground to a halt.

After a hasty truce, Lioness turned its attention to rooting out the cult under the direction of the wandering Inquisitor Carrow. After the initial reorganization, several covens of the cult were eliminated before the onset of winter prevented further witch-hunting.

...

You're gonna love this one, then.

Goals of War Change -> Religious Strife -> Religious Strife -> Minor Defeat -> Stalemate -> Changing Alliances -> Betrayal -> Betrayal

The year began with Lioness County officially declaring war on the Illuminated Iris of the Black Eye, the cult that had so nearly recently destroyed the County. This was then immediately followed up by the court collapsing into recriminations and infighting, despite the best efforts of Inquisitor Carrow. Differences over points of doctrine exploded into street violence and assassinations as different sects blamed each other for the catastrophe currently unfolding. Surely god was punishing them for their wickedness! Only the death of the heretic would satisfy him!

The army of Lioness attempted to do their job despite chaos in the capital, but steadily lost ground as more and more covens crawled out of the woodwork and terrified peasants pledged themselves to the Illuminated Iris. The situation improved in the middle of the campaign season as Inquisitor Carrow managed to impose order on the aristocracy, then improved further when the new Baron Scarborough re-entered the fray.

Then, disaster. The Illuminated Iris had managed to worm its way into Scarborough as well, and the 'reinforcements' were for the enemy.

Then the Holy Grand Duchy of Sternberg declared that the rulers of Lioness County were clearly forsaken by God, and it fell to them to restore order and holiness to the land. Stripped to a skeleton crew, the border forts fell in the last week of the campaign season.

I must say, when I started I expected military disasters. I did not expect the total dissolution of an entire country.

>Goals of War Change -> Religious Strife -> Religious Strife -> Minor Defeat -> Stalemate -> Changing Alliances -> Betrayal -> Betrayal
ehehehehe
>mmediately followed up by the court collapsing into recriminations and infighting
Ah ha ha ha ha
>urely god was punishing them for their wickedness! Only the death of the heretic would satisfy him!
HEHEHEHEHE
>Then, disaster. The Illuminated Iris had managed to worm its way into Scarborough as well, and the 'reinforcements' were for the enemy.
OH HO HO HO HO!
> Stripped to a skeleton crew, the border forts fell in the last week of the campaign season.

Son, I think the war is offically over. Maybe start a Major War when the Pope declares a crusade against whatever left of the place.