/osr/

Is ASE 2&3 somewhere on the trove? I can only find the first part.

No, but it's on scribd. You need an account and a random file upload.

Download it but buy it on Lulu too. It is 100% awesome. Pat needs to continue this stuff.

I buy most thinks I like (since dming from pdfs is a pain on the ass), but I like to confirm I actually like the thing first. Though seeing how good is ASE 1, I might just buy it if you tell me 2&3 is as good.

Hey, is coinsandscrollsguy here?

I wanted to say thank you for your dope Serpent Kings dungeon. I ran it a while ago and never reported back, it was received very positively. We got basically one corner away from the shield boss. I don't think there's ever going to be a second session but I really wanted this to go down and it did. Thanks for your hard work.

I can post it later if no one else does, but it will take awhile since I'm on college right now

>Serpent Kings dungeon

Now that it's in PDF form, someone should send it to Bryce at tenfootpole. I'd be interested to hear what he thinks.

Lichdom is something you can achieve by messing with your soul. It's like becoming a vampire, except you can't do it spontaneously. It's like upgraded mummyhood. You basically alter you soul so that it can run your body without all that tedious biology stuff interfering.

>Apropos of nothing, are any Foreign Parts outside Creation?
Nope. Creation is everything. There are no other planes or dimensions, although there is some argument that the Mirror Realms might quality.

Thank you! I'm glad to hear it!

That might not be a bad idea but it'd be weird to do it myself.

Neat!

Since nobody on the surface knows much about the Counterarchpriests, and the Countercardinals are awfully lawful, there's not much chance of an Anticounterarchpriest.

Antiarchpriests are reasonably common.

Close enough to people. I've put them down as "Tastes like pork. Cures acne and dandruff."

Rocs are pretty normal. They're just big fuck-off birds.
>giant Snake (or at least make it medicinal).
Ooh, good point.
>What if you eat them alive? Or tie their bodies down with magic?
Then you have gone to a lot of trouble just to cause more trouble.

>Harpy
They're just bird-ladies. Not sufficiently magical to not be made of meat.
>Ixitxachitl
Fish-people, again, made of meat.
>Nixie
Fish
>Pixie
Tastes like candy but isn't sufficiently magical to get an entire table.
>Sahuagin
More fish
>Sprite
More candy
>Kobold
Made of meat and not magical at all.
>Slyph
Made of meat and guuuuuuilt. So much guilt.

What are these neat images from?

Looks like Don Kenn.

But even if it's not, check out Don Kenn.

John Kenn Mortensen.

If the components from Fantastical Beasts granted the magic user stronger powers, what parts would grant what, and which do you think would be the most sought after? Eyes? Teeth? Claws? Skin? Fur? Scales? Feathers? Saliva? Urine? Blood? Other miscellaneous fluids?
Personally I always thought that the eyes from a powerful magic beast would be used for scrying, clairvoyance, or illusions.

>Personally I always thought that the eyes from a powerful magic beast would be used for scrying, clairvoyance, or illusions.
In the comic Donjon, (the items they use as) crystal balls are literally the plucked out eyeballs of giants.

If you eat a fairy, it should seriously fuck you up.

And what happens if you eat a wizard?

So a while back, someone posted retiredadventurer.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-procedure-for-wandering-monsters.html detailing the addition of traces, tracks, lairs. and spoors to wandering monster rolls. I started doing this and it took a massive amount of time and I began hating myself for not figuring out how to describe a person's foot prints.

Here's a write up of a bunch of monsters for the GLOG system and the marks their lairs, tracks, spoors, and traces so you don't have to write your own.

melancholiesandmirth.blogspot.com/2017/06/polite-lands-bestiary-monster.html

See, here's the weird thing. Pixies come across as mostly biological. They've got some cool active defense magic, but overall, eating them just doesn't seem like it would do much to the soul.

They do taste like candy and they make you stoned, so that's probably good enough.

>And what happens if you eat a wizard?
Nothing much. Their cantrips were attached to their soul and, being mortal and all, their soul is probably gone or detached from their meat. The spells they had in their brain are stuck and etch themselves onto the inside of the wizard's skull. The rest is just Normal Meat (see Table 1.)

This is very good and very useful. Thanks! And I like the "Authors Note" boxes. Very nice formatting.

party of two PCs have gotten captured by a smallish snake cult. What weird shit should I put in their their snake hideout?

So if I'm getting the rules right, in D&D and OSR style stuff at least Fighters are good at both ranged and close range combat, correct?

Has anyone actually had fighters sit in the backline and spend most of their time using bows or crossbows instead of getting up close and tanking as their high hit points and good armor would imply?

Tentative first draft of melee fighters and ranged rogue rules. Still keeping the fighters better, but wanting to give the rogues and option.

Not really- being able to make monsters 'waste' actions missing against that high AC and HP is really valuable.

>Sacred prisoner who has been implanted with a live snake in their guts. Cultists whisper secrets into the prisoner's ears as the snake works its way out. The serpent ascended becomes an oracle.
>Somatic contortionists who curl and twist themselves into the divine coil.
>An underground serpent that if properly handled can be shot like an arrow, poisoned for revenge and spite.

mega.nz/#!V01xBaxZ!0w2j6aM61owR3qUTvvZ-KrMzIw654jXgMqpkib_mT5Y

So for real if I made my own OSR blog what would I put on it?

Your fantasy heartbreaker

Close enough.

Give me another 50 things list to make.

>wolfman rogue
But those are bunny ears

50 reasons why the peasants are revolting.

I tend to like gameable content that's easy to port/modify. Hex maps, locations, tables, stuff like that. I also find it helpful/interesting when the blogger links art, music and books they've been using for inspiration. Gives me more stuff to look up.

I find custom classes almost always uninteresting, but people seem to love that shit.

>50 reasons why the peasants are revolting.
1) Bad dental hygiene

I'd be fine with a 50/50 ratio of blue blooded jokes about filthy peasants/reasons filthy peasants are burning it all down.

Zing!

Hrm, let me see if I can give you a few more...

“Tell me, Lord, if you please, by what right or title does a villein eat beef?… And goose, of which they have plenty? And this troubles God. God suffers from it and I too. For they are a sorry lot, these villeins who eat fat goose! Should they eat fish? Rather let them eat thistles and briars, thorns and straw and hay on Sunday and pea-pods on weekdays. They should keep watch without sleep and have trouble always; that is how villeins should live. Yet each day they are full and drunk on the best wines, and in fine clothes. The great expenditures of villeins comes at a high cost, for it is this that destroys and ruins the world. It is they who spoil the common welfare. From the villein comes all unhappiness. Should they eat meat? Rather should they chew grass on the heath with the horned cattle and go naked on all fours.…”

Yo, here are 50 reasons why the peasants are revolting!

Dungeons obviously.

in theory yes, but if your fighter isn't on the front line, who is? Your wizard or thief?
You can do this and it works nicely, but only if a) there's something else acting as a barrier to keep the enemy from engaging more vulnerable party members (such as terrain or spells) or b) the cleric steps up and acts as a tank.

Alternatively, dragons.

But more seriously, just write posts that answer questions you see people ask a lot.

Archery really comes into play during actual ranged exchanges; in situations where sides cannot close with each other for whatever reason; or alternately out in the wilderness where closing can take a really long time.

In the confines of a dungeon you rarely get more than a few shots off before battle is joined, and most rulesets feature steep penalties for shooting into a melee.

Is there anything out there for basic fantasy meant to make the fighter more interesting?

coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/06/osr-three-estates.html
coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/06/osr-class-fighters.html
These might or might not help.

The first looks like a fluff fix at first glance, which means it wont help and frankly, I've always found the titles and land management thing to be one of the most uninteresting parts of OSR gaming. Achilles didn't settle down to manage land, so why should I?

The second looks like a straight up buff, which might be needed (the basic fantasy fighter is particularly barebones, even by OSR standards) but not what I'm after.

I appreciate it all the same.

Nice shilling.

When I make a blog I'm gonna shit all over your lazy medieval fantasy worldbuilding with my far better one.

>which means it wont help
You might be surprised, but fair.

>Achilles didn't settle down to manage land, so why should I?
If I was asked to run a mythic Trojan War game, OSR is not where I would turn. Achilles also didn't fight for gold.

>The second looks like a straight up buff
I'd say it's more of an evaluation of the mechanics that make fighters and fighting interesting, plus some neat background tables. Fighters also get Camp Followers, and Camp Followers are surprisingly useful.

Let them take trophies. Their trophy is the highest level HD monster they personally have slain. They can use a trophey to reroll a failed saving throw, automatically hit on an attack and deal +trophy HD's damage, or attract a level 1 fighter hireling seeking glory. It has a number of uses equal to its HD and you can only replace it with as higher HD trophy.

Please do! I'm looking forward to it. Got a specific time period in mind?

There are a lot of really good systems out there though, so make sure you also shit on them. Falling in the ditch between "lazy quick-and-dirty feudalism designed for immediate play" and "Pendragon" won't be fun.

I'd like more reviews. Grognardia is long dead and Bryce Lynch is the only person reviewing goddamn everything (if you find an OSR product on RPG.net and there's only one review, it's him).

You can join the cool kid club and copy mighty deed of arms from dcc

>Other miscellaneous fluids

Not that guy, but doesn't it seem weird you kept in this huge emphasis on the first estate, but don't even have clerics in the game? In medieval circles the estates were those who fight, those who labor, and those who think and learn. Seems like you should work in a Wizard faction instead of religion.

>Not that guy, but doesn't it seem weird you kept in this huge emphasis on the first estate, but don't even have clerics in the game?
Not the user you're replying to either, but this seems like confusing class with profession. I don't know how GLOG works, but in standard D&D most people don't even have classes and levels; they're just Normal Men. Similarly his rules encompass stuff like Fighting-Men and Thieves being part of the First Estate, so the absence of Clerics doesn't really screw anything up.

I mean, if you want to be the guy about it, the real medieval period didn't have many clerics with miraculous powers in the Church.

What does "fantasy heartbreaker" mean?

It's the only useful piece of terminology or theory Ron Edwards ever came up with. Relevant quote from his essay about it:
>some 1990s games I'm calling "fantasy heartbreakers," which are truly impressive in terms of the drive, commitment, and personal joy that's evident in both their existence and in their details - yet they are also teeth-grindingly frustrating, in that, like their counterparts from the late 70s, they represent but a single creative step from their source: old-style D&D. And unlike those other games, as such, they were doomed from the start.

>the real medieval period didn't have many clerics with miraculous powers in the Church.

Say that to me in the face of battle villein not online see what happens.

Think about it this way: your character class is your role in the dungeon. Your Estate is your role in society.

>who fight, those who labor, and those who think and learn
I'm sorry, that's just not correct. "Thinking and learning" are, as things you do, very un-medieval in a way.

What are you on your days off? A Thief? Reeeeeally?

>I mean, if you want to be the guy about it, the real medieval period didn't have many clerics with miraculous powers in the Church.

*Gregory of Tours kicks down the door*
HEARD YOU WERE TALKING SHIT ABOUT SAINT MARTIN

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO PEOPLE WHO TALK SHIT ABOUT SAINT MARTIN?

I HAVE TEN COUNTEM TEN BOOKS LISTING ALL THE WAYS PEOPLE DIED HORRIBLY BECAUSE THEY FUCKED WITH SAINT MARTIN!

Oh shit, I gotta read whatever books those are now. St. Martin's my homeboy, even took him as patron saint at my confirmation.

Has anyone tried to use vancian magic together with DCC magic? I have some players who love the DCC magic and some who don't, so I'm thinking of adding both of them as "safe magic" and "unsafe magic". The DCC spells have higher potential power, but can also backfire because of a bad roll. Classic spells always work although they can only be cast a set amount of times. What do you think?

>roll 26, not enough rain, starving, fuck shit up
>later roll 27, too much rain, drowning, fuck shit up
I like it.

None of the clergy are Clerics because they're all super corrupt.

>Clergy
>Not Clerics

I get that it's the name of a class, but the implication is that the class is broad enough to be pulled from clergy of any type.

Just like how to be a "fighting-man" you don't need to specifically be a soldier.

I read the previous exchange and realized that the point your making is that you have no clerics at all in you game. Disregard previous comment.

>but the implication is that the class is broad enough to be pulled from clergy of any type.
That's a nice implication, but not a fair one.
The Cleric class is exclusive to church-militants and vampire-hunters.

Can I run an OSR game with 5e?

Not well.

Why do you want to?

You'd need to make significant changes to the system, enough that it's probably not going to be worth it.

>Tomb of the Snake Kings v. 1
I don't think this is a good module for an OSR newcomer DM.
Instead of writing all the Lessons, you should have used that space to flesh out stuff.
Where's the hook?
What damage does the hammer trap do? It's funny how the text after the trap said "Lesson: the traps are deadly".
You think it's important to let the DM redraw the map? Come on. The maps look like no work went into them. This just sounds lazy.
In what system is 200 gold enough to level a PC? (Honestly curious here)
I can see several grave spelling mistakes and I'm not even a natural speaker.
The lessons sometimes are of the type "the players should have done this and that and then this". Not even pros would be able to think of all that shit.
No monster stats.
"Lessons: some rooms look more threatening than they
are. Keep looking under statues for secret passages."
Are you talking to the players here? Should the DM read this loud? lol

TotSG does a much better job actually holding the DM's hand.

I like the module. Really do. I just think it's not a very good tutorial.

If you're still undeterred:

blogofholding.com/?p=7222

You're welcome to think that.
Lessons blurbs show what to emphasize describing. What wasn't fleshed out enough?
Depends on your settings. "You stumble on a cave" is a decent go-to.
It kills you dead. If that doesn't float your boat, pick a number.
That bit about redrawing the maps *did* feel masturbatory.
You reach lv.2 at 2000cp (20gp) in [Goblins Law of Gaming]. Adjust the treasure if need be.
He can't fix what he doesn't see. List them. From his blog: "If you notice errors, post a comment."
>wtfisapro.webm
"System agnostic"
Everything in that module is directed at the referee, Kek

It's not meant to hold the ref's hand, it's meant to hold the player's.
If you want your hand held as a new ref, pick up [B1 - In Search of the Unknown].

>Instead of writing all the Lessons, you should have used that space to flesh out stuff.

I like them. They're useful and interesting in the same way the sidebars in Tower of the Stargazer are. I think they could be better formatted (gray background?).

>Where's the hook?
>What damage does the hammer trap do?
>No monster stats.

These are fine. It's a location you can pop into any campaign and system you choose. A lot of the monsters are explained in terms of others ("as crawling claws, but..." and "goblins, but...").

>You think it's important to let the DM redraw the map? Come on. The maps look like no work went into them. This just sounds lazy.

This I agree with. A decent map is part of the reason people use published products. Asking every DM to do the same busywork doesn't accomplish anything. In the blog comments someone asked if the corridors are 5' or 10', Skerples said he went for 5'. Just put a grid on there with "one square = 5 feet". There's no point keeping it ambiguous if people are just starting out.

There is also this
youtube.com/watch?v=fEhlxQGgHkw
and that
plus.google.com/communities/109886975214721228437/stream/305ca30d-d514-4ebe-9ecb-580c5962253c

>It's not meant to hold the ref's hand, it's meant to hold the player's.
For that it makes sense.

BUT

An experienced DM can do this with any other module too, can't he?
Give more hints, etc.

i pray for your players for whatever shitty campaign you're putting them through if you can't fill in the blanks on a two-story dungeon.

tosk was my first time DMing and neither me nor my players had trouble with it. you gotta know how to improvise anyway. it teaches you that. my players got grabbed up by a snake cult that revered the tomb after they beat the guy in the arena.

don't be mad because you're bad

I don't think it's made for beginner DMs, but for teaching players. There are definitely some editing problems though, and a lot more stuff that has to be prepared by the DM than what I initially though.

t. person who's going to DM the dungeon for four groups in the coming months

>i pray for your players for whatever shitty campaign you're putting them through if you can't fill in the blanks on a two-story dungeon.
If you misread everything like my post, perhaps you played another module?
I DMed my first homebrew 15 years ago. I have no problem sucking shit out of my hands. A new DM should see how to do it well, before he can improvise that shit. Else why call it a tutorial?

Quit biting.

And just to reiterate. The module is fine. I don't want to shit on it. The thing is, when I play with new players, who never played OSR before I just tell them about the play style before we begin.
You might disagree, but this works and I prefer it to the learning by doing as in "bam- you're fucking dead again. Hope you learned a new lesson this time. Start again at the beginning."

so fudge the roll so they don't die instantly lmao

what is wrong with you

I don't think anyone is trolling. Everyone seems reasonable.

>cheating
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>fudge the roll
Get the fuck out of here.

I'm not a fan, but you two need to chill.

>fudge the roll

How does /osr/ feel about cantrips?

Only non-damaging things though, most useful effect is probably a light dimmer then a candle.

What if it was tied to a required item, like wand, that could be broken or stolen and cost money?

There's a pretty great houserule in the first or second Fight On! magazine, that allows the wizards to do little cantrip versions of spells they've memorized. It's pretty good.

I know about that. I think it's pretty flavorful, but I'd like something a little more freeform.

I like them. The whole Vancian idea that wizards cast one or two spells and then stop being wizards for the rest of the day really doesn't jive with any flavor of fantasy I like, anyway.

Then again, I've been toying with removing hard spell-per-day limits altogether and implementing a soft cap instead, where exceeding your number of "prepared" spell slots just means increased chances of terrible magical mishaps. Putting more risk/reward options squarely in the players' hands is how I like my /osr/.

Magic-User
>Witches, Wizards, Mages, Sorcerers, Diabolicists, Enchanters, Incanters and Magicians of all ilk.

Fighting-Man
>Soldiers, Barbarians, Knights, Bandits, Champions, Bodyguards, Hired Killers and anyone else who makes their living or their enjoyment through violence.

Cleric
>Literally only church-militants and vampire-hunters.

>Not priests, friars, hermits, wandering holy-men, mystics, prophets, mninisters, oracles, pontiffs, shamans, hierophants and messiahs.

I dunno man. I understand that turning mechanic and a lot of the specific spells were influenced by Van-Helsing and the Bible, respectively, but it seems to me that once it was slotted into the class system, it was intended to cover any and all clergy who cast spells.

The fighting-militant thing seems to me like an outgrowth of the kind of clerics who are likely to go-aventurin' in the same way you would be less likely to find a studious, book-learnin, tutor style mage out in a dungeon.

I'm DMing ASE1 right now and I have never run such an awesome dungeon and setting. The detail and flavor of it. Mind boggling.
Thank you Bryce0Lynch! You ARE the authority for module reviews!
And Pat Wetmore, go and fucking write 4+ right now!

Here's how I'm planning on doing it. This is an alternate version of Vancian magic that still gels with dungeon crawling and resource management, but is more lenient.

>No spell levels
>Reduced spell slots (I give one at level 1, one more at level 2, and one every even level after (4, 6, 8, etc)
>No daily limits; once cast spells can be prepared again if wished
>Spells take 1 exploration turn (10 minutes) to prepare. Preparing spells is basically hard studying from your tome or written aid, and would add towards a wandering monster check

Obviously because of the way this is set up, spells are a bit weaker but can be used more often. So you'll have to rewrite most of your spells and make sure no spells can be spammed, so no healing spells.

As for cantrips; I think a cool idea is to just make it be whatever the player wants but make it required to be cast with a wand. I like this a lot, especially if you're into Harry Potter style cantrip stuff, because it actually gives a reason for Wizards to carry wands around and can be stolen, disarmed, customized to fit the character, etc.

*preparing 1 spell takes a turn. It's a turn per spell.

You forgot sneakym'n, like assassins, pickpockets, swindlers, spies, burglars, tomb raiders and archeologists.

Also, by your breakdown shouldn't Xaolin monks be clerics?