/osrg/ OSR General

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Recommend me a short (3-4 hours) dungeon crawl module. Any system works, but ideally LL or DCC. Feel free to share the story of how you ran it

>>50544981
>The best parts of AD&D?
The DMG, easily.

For a more specific part, I'm somewhat fond of the disease tables. No other edition got close, I feel.

The random dungeon generator is also neat, albeit not as original - it's pretty much just an expanded version of the one from The Strategic Review #1, and I don't really like it as much since the added detail makes it more clunky.

Oh, and it's a really small thing but I really like that there's a level after Patriarch, High Priest, which helps level out the freakish name-level advancement the OD&D Cleric got. (It also lets you have Good High Priests to combat the EHPs, which is a nice symmetry that was pretty badly needed with the expanded alignments.)

what other system/games feature the dangerous combat OSR haves?

>>50544981
>>50544981
>The best parts of AD&D?

DMG crazyness and some now classic art.

>>50545175
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1e / 2e (possibly 3rd too, not familiar with it), Shadow of the Demon Lord, GURPS (depending on what you do with it but the default is strategic and gritty).

There's a lot of those really.

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Posting the rules for Lamentations of the Prom Queen again, in case anyone wants to make suggestions or try them out in their home games! Also tell me if this is spam, and I'll actually cook up a .pdf

Rules Mods:
All characters start as Specialists
Architecture becomes Pop Culture/Genre Savvy- Knowledge of horror/sci-fi tropes, gives a general sense of how to deal with various monsters
Buschcraft becomes Science- Basic science knowledge, chemistry/physics, doesn't replace tinkering

d12 Backgrounds for Lamentations of the Prom Queen:

1. Cheerleader- +1 Melee AB, starts with Dad's Revolver + 6 Rounds Pistol Ammunition
2. Punk- Starts with switchblade, +1 to sneak attack base, +1 Sleight of Hand
3. Jock- Starts with baseball bat, +2 Melee AB
4. Amateur Photographer- +1 to Stealth, +1 to Tinker, starts with Camera
5. Grade "A" Student- +2 to Science, Starts with Textbook (Player's Choice)
6. A/V Club Member- +1 to Pop Culture, +1 to Science or Tinkering, Starts with Monster Manual
7. Band Geek- +1 Tinkering, +1 Melee AB, starts with Instrument (Player's Choice)
8. Metalhead- +1 Tinkering, Pop Culture, Starts with Jean Jacket (AC +2)
9. Youth Group Member- +2 vs Undead, Starts with Bible and Crucifix
10. Redneck- +1 Tinkering, +1 Ranged AB, starts with Toolbox
11. JROTC Kid- +2 Ranged AB, Starts with Practice Rifle
12. Blank Slate- +4 Skill Points at First Level, +$20

Equipment List:

Flashlight- $15
Batteries (Pack of 5) $7
Backpack- $12
Toolkit- $25
Crowbar- $15 (d6)
50ft. Rope- $10
Lighter- $2
Lighter Fluid- $5/16oz
Shovel- $10 (d6)
Duct Tape- $4 (180ft)
Baseball Bat- $10 (Two-handed, d8, flammable)
Switchblade- $15 (Concealable, d6)
Knife- $8 (d6)

Re-posting this:

Do you favor limiting the amount of spells an MU can learn? I'm kinda torn because I like the idea of MUs finding spells during adventures and learning them, but on the other hand limiting the amount of spells allowed to be known by a single MU leads to specialized MUs, which are awesome flavor wise (having to seek out that one high level MU NPCs because your party needs a spell that the party MU can't cast, and he is at his spell cap).

On a related note, relating to the cantrips thing; how about granting the MU a prestidigitation class ability; allowing them to do minor magical effects x times per day.

And one more thing! I need a random table with random town encounters (1 check will be made per day in town), any ideas?

>>50545435

you should cook up a PDF, I really want to run this all of a sudden, but I might have trouble finding willing players

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>>50545435

This is just me, but I would suggest starting PCs as 0 level humans, rather than Specialists. The backgrounds would then function as a pseudoclass/character history. If you wanted to give them additional skills (like a 1st level Specialist) that would be fine, and I don't think it would break the game.

>>50545493

>cantrips

Basic Fantasy RPG has a cantrip optional rules. Included in this post.

>>50545493
I think it's limited sufficiently by the material costs.

Copying spells into your spellbook costs money and time, and depending on your adventures, you may not be able to take them all on any given expedition.

Once you have a small library of grimoires, you can't burn down the town and flee on horseback unless you want to abandon all that investment.

You can carry all your stuff around in a gypsy wagon, but at some point, a secluded, guarded base makes more sense.

And it takes time and gold to back up a spellbook.

>>50545705

Additionally, there's this excerpt from Tarnhelm's Terrible Tome (last I checked it was pay what you want on DriveThru - would post mine, but I'm not sure if it has a watermark or not).

My personal suggestion is to alter them to taste. My personal changes are:

>Wand uses: 1d6+1 character level (recharges on rest)
>Can be used with zero charges, but risks breakage on 1-in-6
>Breakage causes backlash damage
>Charges are used in lieu of the HP system, and casters can use the wand's charges to cast cantrips (BFRPG 0-level spells) beyond their normal daily allowance
>This replaces the minor magic ability of wands
>Optionally, when the charges run dry, the caster may cast with HP instead (at the DM's discretion) to avoid the risk of beakage

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>>50545786

Would help if I posted the excerpt...

>captcha

That's not an airplane. That's a glider you befuddled, infernal piece of software.

Anything good OSR wise on Amazon?

Is Harn and Harnmaster OSR?

>>50546242
Probably not, I don't think? I know fuck-all about Harn (I think it's spelled Hârn?), but I've kind of gotten the impression that it doesn't really have much if anything to do with the old-school D&D playstyle that the OSR echoes.

Like, just being an old game doesn't make you OSR. Teenagers from Outer Space isn't OSR. Shadowrun isn't OSR. GURPS isn't OSR.
(All those games, and Hârnmaster, are from the same time period - the late eighties.)

Is there any way to implement a system to handle both armor and evasion as viable ways of avoiding damage that doesn't include armor soak?

>>50547395
Armor-as-DR, armor-as-hit-points, Shields Must Be Splintered, dodging-as-saving-throws, armor-as-saving-throw...

What exactly are you after?

>>50547395
Sure, it's called AC. Dexterity represents evasion and armor represents well, armor. You can probably clarify a bit.

>>50545075
For LL: The Inn of Lost Heroes is a great one-shot but I missed my chance to run it at Halloween.

>>50527449
>NGR is rarely spoken of, and I'm curious if there's worth to it

I'll comment on it briefly a bit later. Still not sure what my final opinion is, if any.

>>50547690
>Sure, it's called AC. Dexterity represents evasion and armor represents well, armor. You can probably clarify a bit.
Right. Dex only gives up to +2 bonus, making evasion AC at best base+/-2. This is not a lot, and in effect makes best possible dodging equivalent to second cheapest armor choice. I'm wondering if a heartbreaker wouldn't be improved by offering a viable evasion/dodge mechanic, as an alternate path to armor, but the simplest solution - turn dodge into AC and make armor soak up damage, doesn't feel right to me.
>>50547681
>Armor-as-DR,
that's soak for each hit, right? I'd rather avoid it
>armor-as-hit-points,
soak with limited amount of HP?
>Shields Must Be Splintered,
shields breaking in lieu of hp loss?
>dodging-as-saving-throws, armor-as-saving-throw...
Those seem straightforward and interesting. I'm putting them on the list.

>>50545493
>On a related note, relating to the cantrips thing; how about granting the MU a prestidigitation class ability; allowing them to do minor magical effects x times per day.
I see no reason to restrict the amount of times such a minor ability could be used, but then I'm the sort who prefers their Magic-Users to be as magical as possible from the very beginning(the concept of a Level 1 MU having just one spell a day and then being completely useless afterwards from a mechanical aspect has always been one of those "Sacred Cows" D&D has that I've despised and found nonsensical, same with all the restrictions and limits non-humans have in TSR D&D/AD&D)

>>50545705
BFRPG's Cantrips aren't bad, but are still too weak overall in my opinion

>>50546084
BFRPG and several of it's supplements/adventures, also Fantastic Heroes & Witchery

>>50545705
I was thinking about that originally, but looking at it, I thinking starting the characters at first level gives them a semblance of that horror movie "invulnerable until they make a horrible blunder or need to be killed to teach a moral lesson" vibe.
I see your point, though, and it's definitely gonna take more tinkering to get the whole thing down perfectly.

>>50548177
>that's soak for each hit, right? I'd rather avoid it
Armor reduces a certain amount of damage per hit, yeah. It's the big popular alternative, but it's got some weird little verisimilitude issues.

>soak with limited amount of HP?
Armor just straight-up gives you bonus hit points, yeah.

>shields breaking in lieu of hp loss?
The typical houserule is that you can have your shield be destroyed to negate an attack, yeah - I don't like it, personally, but it's somewhat popular. I think it's supposed to be an attempt at making shields more useful? I've seen variants for helms and whatnot as well.

>Those seem straightforward and interesting. I'm putting them on the list.
If you don't want things to stack up TOO much, you could just have a separate armor and dodge save. This lets you get more individual bonuses or whatever without just stacking everything onto one roll that balloons out of control.


Also, IIRC B/X gives up to +3 AC from Dexterity and Greyhawk/AD&D gives +4AC (meaning that leather is equal to plate, but twice as fast), so I'm not entirely sure where the +2 number comes from. Are you looking at the initiative bonus, or is this a different system?

>>50548591
>If you don't want things to stack up TOO much, you could just have a separate armor and dodge save. This lets you get more individual bonuses or whatever without just stacking everything onto one roll that balloons out of control.
That was something I considered, but rolling twice in addition to the attack seems inconvenient in actual rel life tabletop
>Also, IIRC B/X gives up to +3 AC from Dexterity and Greyhawk/AD&D gives +4AC (meaning that leather is equal to plate, but twice as fast), so I'm not entirely sure where the +2 number comes from. Are you looking at the initiative bonus, or is this a different system?
I actually forgot that in D&D dex bonus stacks with armor, which is something I'm having some trouble with; jumping around dodging hits while at the same time wearing a ton of metal to take the hit in case you miss, which is where my whole conundrum stems from: I'd like to split the two approaches into different paths from a certain armor weight on.
Then again, maybe the most elegant solution would be to not fuck with it, take dex bonus to AC as written and maybe make armor that thieves can't wear negate the dex bonus?

I got the +2 number from LL I think. I'd been looking at LL and DCC for the base of /my heartbreaker/

>>50548790
>maybe make armor that thieves can't wear negate the dex bonus?
This is what modern D&D does. Medium armor limits dex bonus to +2 and heavy armor doesn't benefit from dex at all.

>>50548946
Looks like I reinvented the wheel. Time to call it a night

Which Encumbrance System is better? ACKS or LOTFP?

>>50545269
something more fantasy?

>>50549214
Instructions unclear. If the game needs to cross some sort of fantasy threshold for you to think of it as fantasy, I can't help you.

>>50549178
LotFP

>>50546242
No, Hârn is turbo new school with rabies. It takes the assumption of "realism as the desired product of rules" seen in early new-school games like Chivalry & Sorcery and Runequest to the bizarre extreme of actually succeeding at it fairly well (in most games of that ilk, Runequest itself being a great example, the attempt is a total failure and just leads to a different kind of preposterous, I know a guy who calls it "SoCal realistic"). However, like those (and indeed almost all new-school games before storygames -- maybe we should start calling them Type I and Type II games or some shit) it totally lacks any meaningful structures, incentives or systems to make it inherently compelling or anything but aimless as a game -- the DM is called upon to effectively construct or substitute himself for a large portion of the, uh, OD&D-equivalent system? That is if we define a "complete" system to cover everything early D&D covers, there's a big hole in these games and Hârnmaster is no exception in that regard.

Effectively the reason is that the creators didn't know there was anything missing, because they themselves had already learned to play and had certain root assumptions about roleplaying deeply ingrained. An odd thing about old-school D&D is that it seems to have produced tons of these sorts of players, players who did on some level understand the incentive cycle but didn't grasp it intellectually AT ALL, to the point of being unaware that it even existed, and who then went off to write other games where it did not exist and get frustrated when people complained about the absence, because "it's obvious how to play it". It's weird and from my point of view I can't really understand how people could read D&D, learn D&D, and completely miss this existing, let alone its importance. But they obviously did.

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Been looking for an OSR game or material that allows for continuous procedural dungeon generation with great detail and elements that go beyond a mere monster encounter or treasure.

Donjon's generator is decent, but I'd prefer something with more entertaining stuff, such as rooms with inverted gravity, talking animals, random shops, etc.

I want to try something like that because I need to learn how to improvise, so this could be a fun exercise to do with my players.

>>50551661

Your best bet is to probably compile all of your favorite ideas on a 1d100 or more table and roll them whenever you need to.

I'm guessing you also want something like dungeon 'themes', so you may roll an area and get 'egyptian' theme, so the enemy table becomes mummies and anibus guys and the traps become sun-reflecting burn mirrors?

>>50551661

There is a non-OSR book from the 80s or 90s called Central Casting: Dungeons. It's a random dungeon generator that's likely more fully featured than the one in the 1e DMG. I'm not sure how successful it is however.

I couldn't find it on drivethrurpg, and it's fairly expensive on Amazon for the physical book, but it has been out of print for several decades at least.

Alright /osrg/, I'm gonna do a 1d100 chart.

The first reply to this post determines the topic of the chart.

>>50552414

Late night city encounters. If someone comes up with a better topic, feel free to dump this one.

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Modern fantasy OSR updated again- added in Psionic powers and mechanics. I haven't touched up gun design much though I am considered adding in an 'ammo type' category and keeping receivers unrelated to ammo type to make guns even more creative and customizable.

>>50552353
I found it on scribd, let me see if I can rip it off and post it here

>>50552495
1/4 of the way done. This should be a fun list.

>>50552609

Don't go to too much trouble -- I've got a PDF here. Uploading now.

>>50552885
>25 encounters in 20 minutes
Unironically what
That's goddamn fast, son!

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>>50552910
Here's a preview. I hope you weren't expecting anything super detailed.

>>50552353
>>50552609
>>50552898

And here we go.

Central Casting: Dungeons
https://mega.nz/#!5Edl2LSA!b1tghyIpWHQL1zymyKW-kkKfhbI9EvVgr5a5uxnjlYU

>>50552942
I'm not even the guy who requested it, I have no expectations at all in that regard. I just expected the creative part to take longer, even for short points like that you have to come up with the ideas, so...

>>50552965
danke based anon

>>50548591
>I think it's supposed to be an attempt at making shields more useful?
Perhaps, though one could (and probably should) just increase the bonus that shields give you. A shield should really make a much bigger difference. Of course "shields will be splintered" is also dramatic, and can make the game more colorful. Still, it is a bit meta on the part of the player, so I can understand why people--old schoolers in particular--would be a bit iffy about it. I'm semi-iffy about it, myself.

>Armor reduces a certain amount of damage per hit, yeah. It's the big popular alternative, but it's got some weird little verisimilitude issues.
Does it? You have to be careful or you'll fuck things up mechanically, making it almost impossible to hurt heavily armored targets with light weapons, but that's just a matter of getting the numbers right. What are the issues with verisimilitude?

>>50548790
>I actually forgot that in D&D dex bonus stacks with armor, which is something I'm having some trouble with; jumping around dodging hits while at the same time wearing a ton of metal to take the hit in case you miss
People in plate armor can still run, even if they've got a bit more inertia. And even if they couldn't jump back at all (which is obviously not the case), they could still turn their bodies and guard themselves with their weapon. Realistically speaking, it seems like the effectiveness of dexterity should be reduced by some percentage when wearing heavy armor. Maybe each point of dexterity is worth half a point or something. But I think it's clear that having an 18 dexterity is still going to give you an advantage over a guy with a 10 dexterity. Of course, reducing your Dex bonus by percentages is obnoxiously mathy, and so probably not ideal play-wise. So maybe something like >>50548946 is a necessary simplification.

>I got the +2 number from LL I think.
Labyrinth Lord goes to +3

Best/easiest way to run an OSR game as a play by post?

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Thanks for the topic suggestion, anon. Enjoy.

>>50554185
r-r-r-rolling

>>50554311
>"An entire city block has disappeared"
Plot hook suggested and a whole campaign idea appeared in my mind. Good job

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>>50554185

>These encounters

Fantastic job Anon

Rolled 39 (1d100)

>>50554185

For the armour/ AC talk I know of a easily portable substitute. Its from a system called Dragonwarriors. Basically weapons deal set damage, and have a penetration die. Armour is valued at 1-5 and the die rolled after a hit have to exceed the armour value. If the roll doesn't exceed you deal no damage.

>>50554644
I dislike rolling for armor because it doesn't represent your character actually doing anything. Rolling for weapon to-hit and damage? "How skillful and powerful was your attack?" Rolling for armor? There's really nothing that isn't a big stretch.

>>50552586

Oh and I'm looking for more psychic powers, if anyone has ideas. Besides mind reading, I'm still working on that one.

>>50544981
>The best parts of AD&D?

New monsters. I was tempted to say the separation of race from class, but Gygax botched that by setting level-limits too low (or just not coming up with a more elegant way to handle what he was going for there).

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Progress so far on the naval warfare expansion.

>>50554185
This is great stuff.

>>50556311
>>50554364
>>50554335
Thanks, I appreciate it. I enjoy making stuff.

>>50549371
more like generic fantasy haha

>>50556672
Well if you insist, Runequest 6 / Mythras + Classic Fantasy supplement to emulate the most generic things about D&D is probably what you seek.

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>>50555798
>Gygax botched that by setting level-limits too low (or just not coming up with a more elegant way to handle what he was going for there).
Speaking of that, what do you guys do about the power of demihumans and/or multiclassing in whatever edition of D&D you play (whether Basic or AD&D)? Are you satisfied with level limits? Do you ignore level limits, and if you do, do you compensate for removing this limiting factor in some way? Do you have some better way of balancing out demihumans / multiclassing?

>>50557378

I'd like to ignore level limits, but humans need a leg up to compete with demihumans (specifically to compete with elves). I'm not satisfied with BFRPGs 10% XP bonus. It's not enough, and is moot when PCs are the same level in one-shots or at max level.

I'll let /osrg/ known when my thinking cap has produced an answer I'm okay with sharing.

>>50557378
I'm the guy you responded to, and demihumans have always left a very foul taste in my mouth mechanically speaking. I honestly prefer to ignore them as an option, having always found them to be rather tacked on to the system and kinda out of place for a sword and sorcery feel.

>>50557425
>but humans need a leg up to compete with demihumans
completely unnecessary, seriously it's ridiculous how much people overthink when it comes to humans being dominant despite other races getting better stuff, just DM fiat it to be the case and be done with it, no one is going to notice or care, and if they do then they're probably the sort of overthinking tool who's no fun to play with in the first place

we really need to keep in mind the MST3K Mantra when it comes to fictional settings more often, it'd reduce these pointless and idiotic arguments by a lot

>>50557481
>kinda out of place for a sword and sorcery feel.
eh I'd say that subgenre of fantasy has never really been a good fit for D&D anyways, not to mention most S&S settings I've seen are mindbogglingly boring in most respects, many of them are so lacking in actual fantastical elements you might as well just go full non-fantasy historical setting and be done with it

>>50557769
>many of them are so lacking in actual fantastical elements
Would you like to tell us what you consider fantastical?

>>50557769

Hmm. It's really more of an issue of incentives. If there are no level limits, then there's no incentive to play humans, since they inherently get nothing, and have the shortest lifespan of the B/X races.

Alternatively, I suppose you could take away dark/infravision, listening bonuses, attribute bonuses, and other skill bonuses and then race would simply be appearance and (possibly) a lifespan difference.

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>>50557769
>eh I'd say that subgenre of fantasy has never really been a good fit for D&D anyways

Good God or Nature, are you bloody shitting me. Sword and Sorcery was a considerably bigger influence on D&D than Tolkien ever was. Howard's and Lieber's stories especially.

>>50557769
> most S&S settings I've seen are mindbogglingly boring in most respects
What are you reading? The most popular of that genre (Conan, F&GM, Vance's stuff) are crazy fantastic.

>>50558348
I think he means that they're lacking in dudes with pointy ears running around.

Can anyone identify the Tentacled Eye from the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion? It's not the beholder.bI suspect that it's another renamed monster.

>>50558878
Just a custom rendition, I reckon, although I'm not an AD&D sage by all means.

What is the best "OSR" way to deal with abstract ranges?

I'm making a RPG Maker game and can only work with rows. Default are 3: front, middle and back, for PC and NPC.

My idea is to make reach weapon something viable not only for the fighter but also for the rogue and enemies without neglecting front row sword and board combat.

>>50560137
Are we talking missile weapons here, or exclusively melee?

>>50560166
Everything. I thought:
Front row: Melee, reach and close spells.
Middle: reach, ranged and spells.
Far: ranged and spells.

But I don't know if reach at front row should allow attacks on the enemy middle row or not. Default requires the front most row to be defeated before (melee) attacking the others.

>>50560211
It seems like reach weapons are more typically fighter than thief weapons. You don't often see thieves depicted with pikes or halberds. And since you probably want your fighters on the front line owing to their durability, it doesn't seem like reach weapons will see much use unless they can be used to circumvent the enemy's front row.

Honestly, given that setup, I'd probably forgo reach weapons and give different ranges for spells, thrown weapons and bows with ranges something like:

melee -- 1 row
thrown weapons -- 2-3 rows
spells and bows -- 2-5 rows

I might even make spells only go up to 4 rows so as bows have a special place.

With reach weapons, maybe I'd do something like this:

standard melee -- 1 row
reach melee -- 2 rows*
thrown weapons -- 2-3 rows
spells and bows -- 2-5 rows

*makeshift attacks at 1 row? (reduced damage and/or to-hit?)

>>50560303
Quite interesting. Will look further into. Thank you.

>>50557769
What the hell are you talking about. How are Vance and Moorcock a "subgenre of fantasy has never really been a good fit for D&D anyways"?


>just DM fiat it to be the case and be done with it, no one is going to notice or care, and if they do then they're probably the sort of overthinking tool who's no fun to play with in the first place

In a good game, the rules delineate the setting. Read that document on the "implied setting" for original D&D written by Initiative One.

"The rules say X, but the setting is Y. Don't think too much about it" is counterintuitive, because if the rules say X and yet the setting assumes Y, you HAVE to think about it. So if your rules say "demihumans are dominant" but your setting fluff says "humans are dominant", you can't just brush it off with a "don't think too much about it."

Good games are the ones where fluff and crunch go hand in hand, or, better yet, where the crunch implies fluff.

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I've been cooking up my own OSR game and I've got to ask which is better;

Create a BUNCH of really interesting though somewhat specific classes
OR
Create VERY FEW select and very branching or customizable classes?

>>50560826
Either is okay. It depends on the execution, really. I would just not go overboard with either the number of classes or the number of customized branches.

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>>50560874

What's the sweat spot for you then?

>>50561004
Sorry to give a noncommittal answer, but it really depends on the way the game is put together. The important thing, I think, is that everything is easily graspable and folks aren't lost in a sea of details. One advantage when it comes to OSR is that a lot of the concepts are already familiar--everybody knows what a fighter, thief, wizard, and so forth are--so you can probably get away with a bit more complexity than otherwise. On the other hand, the OSR approach tends to favor a relative simplicity when it comes to character building, so it's probably a wash.

For what it's worth, my homebrew retroclone has 13 classes, including fighters, barbarians, rangers, thieves, wizards, druids, clerics, and race-as-class elves, half-elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings and half-orcs (paladins and assassins are potentially in the works) with some pretty limited customization within each. I'm toying around with giving a variant of many of those classes that are basically a footnote below them to tweak X, Y and Z to get the variant (wood elves are like high elves but have lighter armor and more druidy spells). Beyond that, I could see maybe adding a half dozen classes on top of that if I had something in mind, but not a whole lot past that. I don't want things to be too difficult to sift through. I'd like people to be able to glance over the list, absorb everything, and have a pretty good idea what everything's about just from reading the names.

>>50560826
Fighter, Magic-User, Cleric, and Thief as archetypes with plenty of customization or subclasses is my choice.

>>50560826
Right now i'm experimenting with a bunch of very specific classes. Race-as-class seems to be the best for this, but haven't decided yet. So the idea is to take specific mechanics of some modern edition class and distill its essense into something laser-focused like LotFP class. Basically the approach of Goblin Punch, he seems to design classes around certain gimmicks he was inspired by, although I'm not half as good as he is. Trying hard to avoid class bloat and limit myself to 10-12 options some of which are going to be discovered in play so this is my setting-building exercise too.

I'm very fond of archetypes for broad classes, 5e really shines in that regard, even though the base classes get pretty redundant from the OSR point of view.

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Repeating my request for Peaks and Valleys: Among the Dwarves. I wasn't able to pick it up back when it was PWYW.

>>50558348
I'll admit I wasn't talking about actual S&S fiction, just S&S RPG settings

>>50561004
I still want to see an OSR game(or supplement for an existing one) some day that has a similar array of classes

actually come to think of it, one could use ACKS' class creation system from the Player's Companion(especially if we add in the extra content from Axioms Issue 1) to do that pretty easily

Speaking of settings, is there any good Appendix N inspired setting book?

>>50562793
Appendix N is kind of ridiculously broad, y'know? It's just a list of books that Gygax liked and found useful for inspiration and whatnot.

But, well, you've got Conan rubbing shoulders with Amber and Bilbo. Three Hearts and Three Lions alongside Stormbringer. The High Crusade alongside Sign of Labrys, The Dying Earth, and Hiero's Journey.

Also, well, by its very nature I suppose Greyhawk is Appendix N-inspired? The original set, that is, back when Gygax was writing it.
And, of course, stuff like the Lankhmar setting books.

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Opinions on Mazes & Minotaurs?

>>50563257
It worth playing just for one of the modules.

>>50563257

I don't know, but I"m having flashbacks to that Oglaf strip.

>Heh. Snake tits.

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>>50563493
Best Snek coming though.

(Seriously, she be a baddass boot hill person.)

On the topic of S&S RPG settings, what would make a settng primer interesting for you OSR enthusiasts to read?

I don't imagine many people would just play in a setting that I write out, but I enjoy reading stuff for inspiration. If it had, say, a few interesting NPCs and areas, a decent hand-drawn map and a few interesting factions, would anyone read it? 5 pages max, no giant tome.

>>50564183
If it only 5 pages, it will be read at least.

I'm thinking about converting my Beyond the Wall campaign to a grittier system, since combat isn't really explained in BtW. Any recommendations, and how would I go about it?

>>50564380
after the rolls, discribe the battle
if anyone is major wounded, roll for infections and other issues. even if it infected wounds won't heal.

Lower the magic level.

>>50564897
For example, here a simple infection wound table I am building for a low magic grim setting.

If after the battle the PC is at 50% or less of their starting hit points (and allow for immediate post battle magical healing, by potion or spell), they make a infection roll.

Infection roll is the following.

Roll vs. Con, if the roll fails, the would becomes infected.

A infected wound means that without medical attention (Herb lore or magic) the wound will not heal. At the end of 24 hours or at the next time the party rests (whichever is sooner.) have the player roll again vs. Con.

If it passes, the infection is removed and the wound can begin healing. If it fails, it becomes Seriously infected. and the PC loses 1 HP a day while seriously infected.

On rest/24 hours check it is rolled again. If passed, it goes to "Infected"

If failed, it becomes "Gangrene" unless medical help is attended to in 24 hours the PC will die.

Cure disease will remove infection.

what are the best Forgotten Realms modules?

>>50566100
Ruins of Undermountain is probably the most impressive, at least.

>>50566100
Undermountian as a module.
The original box set for product.

Has anyone tried using pointcrawls inside of hexcrawls?
I thought about it for the first time reading Misty Isles of the Eld when I noticed it would probably fight nicely in a normal 6 mile hex.

>>50566370
That's pretty much the point, I think. An exploration mechanic for small regions packed with content in your hexcrawl.

Does anyone have any good complete scans of the Undermountain maps? The ones in the PDF I've got are all single pages (i.e. eight to a full level map), and the scan's not aligned properly so it's hard to stitch 'em together.

>>50566622
Ah okay.
I always thought it was an either/or thing and so I never made pointcrawls. I'll have to start using them more often.

Has anyone grabbed Blood in the Chocolate or Broodmother Skyfortress yet? Any verdict on those?

I did the 1d100 chart over at
>>50554185
last night, and I feel like doing another.

First reply to this post determines the topic. Last time it took a little under 2 hours to write, format and post.

I just stumbled across Microlite81 looking for ye olde basic feeling. Before I read it, does anyone have any opinions on it?

>>50568225
Unsettling situations to happen in your house/safehouse between investigations

>>50568518
Sounds like fun. I'll report back in a few hours.

>>50568448
it's pretty good, although I prefer Microlite 74 as it has more content available for it and thus covers more ground

>>50568561
I'm really looking forward to it!

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>>50568518
>>50568750
Here ya' go. Thanks for the inspiration.

>>50569985
This.... will make pauses from dungeon delving quite interesting, I freaking love this. Thanks a lot!

>>50561004
>What's the sweat spot

...Under the armpits, usually?

So I read through the Labyrinth Lord Bestiary for the first time and I saw multiple save or die effects and level draining. Goddamn.

How do players deal with that?

>>50569985

I think this would also be useful for a "the party decides to sleep in the dungeon" thing if the DM wants to drive home the point of the "sleeping in the dungeon is dangerous" thing. Or sleeping anywhere the DM deems dangerous

>>50570333

git gud

>>50570333
Negotiation and running away.

>>50570333
they die a lot

How do you handle undead level draining?
Taking away the level itself sounds rather painful to keep track of, so I was wondering if there are more convenient ways one could use.

>>50570333
>>50570493

Here's some blogs/forum posts you can read to sift for alternatives or even see if one blog's defense is convinces you otherwise:

>http://www.autarch.co/forum/energy-drain-alternative-0
>http://nerdwerds.blogspot.com/2015/07/i-think-level-drain-is-stupid.html
>https://micahblackburn.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/in-defense-of-level-drain/

>>50570333
>>50570493
I'd probably just have it be temporary(like have it go away after a night's rest or something), also I'd probably limit the things the level drain actually effects while it's active(like maybe it just effects Health or something)

What's the most comprehensive Monster Manual that I could use to really get a feeling of how these creatures are supposed to look and feel?
Possibly something by a retroclone, instead of ADnD's Monster Manual

Rolled 19 (1d100)

>>50569985
roll

>>50570493
I take away Con. They recover 1 point of con by restoration, or a level gain till they get back to where they where.

>>50570493
You could go with some sort of penalty that's similar to what you get upon losing a level: -1 to-hit, -1 saving throws, -3 hit points*. Then write down a number that's equal to half the total XP you've earned so far (or maybe half the amount of XP you needed to reach your current level).** All future XP you earn will not be added to your character's total but will instead be written under that number until they equal up, at which point you can erase your penalties and resume normal character progression.

If all that's too much of a hassle to keep track of, instead of imposing a penalty to three things, maybe you could impose a larger penalty to one random thing. Roll a d6: 1-2 = -2 to-hit, 3-4 = -2 to saves, 5-6 = reduce hit points by a maximum die roll.

*Or an average hit die roll, rounded down, if you prefer. So if your class has d8 hit dice, you'd lose 4 hit points (6 if you have a +2 constitution bonus, etc.). I mean, you could also roll to see how many you'd lose, but if you go for a set amount, you don't have to make sure to record it correctly.

**If you get two levels drained, then it's 3/4 your XP. If three, then it's 7/8. Then 15/16. So each time, the amount by which your increase your XP deficit gets halved (first it's 1/2 your XP, then you increase that by 1/2 that, or 1/2 * 1/2 = 1/4. Then it's 1/2 that, or 1/2 * 1/4 = 1/8. So for three levels drained, you'd have to earn back 1/2 your XP + 1/4 your XP + 1/8 your XP = 7/8 your XP).

Or is all of this still too much hassle for you?

>>50570830
Oh, and I forgot about spells. -1 spell per day to your highest level of spells.

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We have a .pdf! It's probably pretty okay!
If anyone's got any critiques or anything, hit me up! Feel free to experiment as you do, and if anyone can think of anything else for the Appendix N, I'm sure I missed pretty much everything.

>>50571496
SIDE NOTE:
Does anyone make minis that would fit the implied LotPQ setting? I bet there's some HorrorClix out there that'd work, but outside of that, I dunno if I've heard of anything.

>>50571496
Where is the school shooter background?

>>50571670
That one's entirely up to the players themselves.

>>50571670

I don't think he's gonna touch that one

What's some other stuff that's like ASE1 or Blue Medusa? Gonzo and surreal and not necessarily naturalist?

>>50571670
JROTC with a shotgun instead of a rifle.

Also, school shooter works better as an antagonist.

>>50572260
Not gonna dive into the issue here, but from a rules standpoint the Practice Rifle is exclusively a melee weapon.
Went in and fixed that just now.

>>50572315
>Not gonna dive into the issue here, but from a rules standpoint the Practice Rifle is exclusively a melee weapon.
seems kinda pointless to include it then

>>50572705
I guess he meant that the JROTC kid does not have any ammo listed in his equipment.
Unlike cheerleader with her fully-loaded six-shooter.

>>50572705
>>50572726
I've never known a JROTC program that gave their kids actually functioning rifles. Growing up in Northern VA, they were only for drill practice.

You guys are right that there should be other backgrounds with easy access to firearms, though. It's just weird balance-wise and also the school shooter overtones are something I'm trying to avoid in favor of almost-cartoonish Reagan-era picturesque teens.

>>50572867
>I've never known a JROTC program that gave their kids actually functioning rifles.
What's the fucking point of a PRACTICE rifle if you cannot PRACTICE with it the only thing that rifle does?
...well, I guess assembling-disassembling & cleaning are a thing.

>>50572867
>>50572940
We gave the JROTC kids ammo in Southern VA.
Don't know what's wrong with your school districts.

>>50563482
Which one?

>>50572867
North AR here, we got to use real rifles, but only when we were at an off campus shooting range. On campus it was strictly practice rifles, although ours would actually cycle a fake shell.

>>50572867
Might want to do research on 70s/80s campuses to find that one out.

When are the monster rules coming out?

>>50573364

I know they didn't give you ammunition on campus in the early 90s in California.

>>50573475
That was after Reagan gave amnesty and completely fucked California forever for the Republican party.

>>50554185
>>50569985
Have you considered submitting these for the /tg/ zine? They're great, just needs some art and formatting.

>>50573573
I submitted an article to it way back when it started up and the guy running it said he'd love to include it and then I never heard back, so I kinda dropped that.

Hello Anons. I was wondering if I could get some simple advice. I'm fairly new to OSR games, i've never really played them before but had them recommended for a great DnD style experience (my group usually plays 5e). I opened up the mega and saw Adventure Conquer King near the top and downloaded it. I've been giving it a skim and it looks cool. The things i tend to like in tabletops are lots of class options, varied thematic powers, a power journey from "scrounging in the streets" to slaying mighty dragons and saving kingdoms, and story focus in the game. Is this system worth looking at if i'm a fan of those things? Thanks.

>>50575620
I'd believe so. Plenty of its book add classes and its main focus is kingdom building in the late game

>>50575620
I'll be honest, OSR games tend not to have the same level of character options as systems like 5e. You'll want to tune down your expectations there. 5e has FAR fewer character options than 3.5 or PF though, so if you're used to 5e, then it's not going to be a drastic switch.

ACKs is a good system though, and it's got more classes than most OSR games, so you'll probably find it to your liking.

>>50570684
It doesn't exist. Most monster manuals just skip over that, assuming you're familiar with the source

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Been playing S&W for a while now, what game would be a nice step up in terms of rules and content?

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>>50570684
Hackmaster's Hacklopedia is actually very descriptive, though admittedly a bit on the edgy side at times. However, the actual mechanics (being, you know, Hackmaster mechanics) are overly complicated garbage, so I really won't recommend the book for anything other than fluff / inspiration.

>>50577373
>Been playing S&W for a while now
White Box, Core or Complete?

>what game would be a nice step up in terms of rules and content?
A step up in complexity or quality?

>>50577436
My bad. I've been playing S&W Complete.
Step up in complexity and content mostly, but I'm interested in hearing what would you suggest in the case of quality as well.

>>50577446
Maybe look at Dungeon Crawl Classics? While I think it has some pretty cool ideas, I personally think the game is too crunchy and reference-heavy to make for a good OSR game, but if you're specifically looking for a step up from S&W Complete, that might not bother you. I'm always reluctant to suggest that people play Castles & Crusades, even though I quite like a lot of what they do in the game, because it has a few wonky things (mostly just the SIEGE engine), but I definitely think it's worth at least looking over.

For an interesting step sideways (rather than up), you might want to check out Labyrinth Lord's Advanced Edition Companion, as S&W Complete and LL AEC are essentially different ways of coming at AD&D (LL AEC through Basic, and S&W Complete through the expanded OD&D that AD&D was founded on). Also, Lamentations of the Flame Princess has some interesting rules and is worth a perusal, though it's definitely not a step up in complexity. Hmm... maybe I'm not the best person to talk to about this, as I tend to prefer the lighter end of the spectrum.

>>50572867
>>50572940
>>50573008
>>50573194
>>50573364

Sorry for the late responses here, just woke up.

But yeah, that close to DC and growing up post-9/11 and the Beltway Sniper, schools really tightened things up.
Like I said, though, it's a work in progress, so I'll work it up this evening and pop out a new .pdf.

>When are the monster rules coming out?

I've been entirely using the monsters from BFRPG's rulebook for now since it's got the closest scaling and I'm colossally lazy right now due to finals and such.
There'll be more playtesting after college is done for the semester since I've got a whole month off.

Thanks for the input, everyone! This is my first foray into actual game design of any sort so hopefully it'll continue to be this fun!

>>50577868
Also, note about Firearms rules:
I'm just gonna assign damage values and let referees figure it out themselves. It hasn't come up yet in any of my games, so I haven't really worked it up yet, but if I come up with an especially good system, I'll let you guys know.

Until then, whatever works best for any given group is how it is.

>>50577406
Seems intriguing, Anon.
Would you know where one could download the pdf's?

>>50577735
Hmm... DCC could be an interesting thing to check out, the same for LL AEC since I never quite picked it up before.
Thanks for the suggestions, anon!

>>50577373
I assume you mean player-faced content, that is, classes and stuff. I also assume official content only, because while homebrew and third party materials are the heart and soul of the OSR, I think it's a good call to look at the game on its own merits at first.

ACKS is definitely interesting and crunchier. Personally I don't care much for proficiency systems which easily get redundant, but from what I've seen (not played), it manages them right enough. Still, it's a big mish-mash of combat and non-combat skills. Interesting take on racial classes as per B/X.

DCC has the standard B/X class array but beefs everyone up with crunch of various complexity. Certainly a good choice, although introducing new spells would be very complicated due to the sheer fat of crunch covering magic.

At last, Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, options are its main shtick. d20-based but distinctly OSR, lots of classes. You can easily play sci-fi campaign with it too, all kinds of stuff is there.

Once upon a time there was an anon who made encounter tables based on suggestions from the thread. One of those was "things in a wizard-controlled forest"

Does anyone have that or anybody that anons work? I remember he made quite a few tables.

File: Within a Dark Forest OSR encounters.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>50578143

Just for you.

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>>50545493
>>50545705
>>50545786
>>50545803
>>50548186

>Be working on Cantrips-only MUs
>All this
Sweet, thanks guys.

>>50578172
Thank you!

>>50577978
Here's a link that includes the Hacklopedia of Beasts, the 5e PHB (which you can print out and burn!) and the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting book (which I know nothing about). It's 163 MB, but it downloads quickly.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ugow0902o11gkkp/5+E.rar

>>50577446
Just go full 1E AD&D.

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>>50578143
I have a few, let me dig them up. 1/4

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>>50578480
2/4

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>>50578499
3/4

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>>50578512
4/4
There might be more floating around but thats what I've got besides the forest one.

>>50577446
>>50578434
Don't do that. LL AEC makes 1E usable by strapping it onto B/X. 1E is just a massive headache.

>>50578519
What about OSRIC?

>>50578519
If he's used to S&W Complete and to the OSR I pretty much trust him to disregard whatever he considers stupid or excessive, and that DMG can't be beat.

>>50578480
>>50578499
>>50578512
>>50578518

Thanks a lot anon!

>>50578480
>>50578499
>>50578512
>>50578518
>>50578605

Creator here, appreciate you posting them for me.

Also not posting to brag, but instead I am always open for new suggestions for Encounter lists, and I've been meaning to get back to making them.

>>50578434
This is the worst idea ever and I'm not even joking.

>>50578300
Thanks a bunch, Anon. This is damn cool material. I do wish it had some more entries, as it's missing some same-y monsters I always was unsure how to differentiate (mostly undead), but it's a great starting point.

>>50578434
I'm conflicted on this one. On one hand, AD&D has historic significance, and there's some good stuff in there. On the other hand, it's cluttered with needless restrictions and obnoxious fiddly bits. I'm not a fan of the idea of trying to play it strictly by the book, but somebody who already has some knowledge of OSR might be able to make good use of it. For a "hit the ground running" experience though, I'd definitely suggest something that tidies it up, like the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion.

>>50578630
Appreciate your work anon. They see use at the table. How about Fantasy Vietnam Jungle or Demon Haunted Mountains?

>>50578605
No problem!

>>50578630
Thanks for making them! If you have a blog or something, that might be a good place to post them, or a pastebin or something.

Also suggestion since I'm running a Star Wars OSR campaign: how bout an abandoned droid/clone trooper production facility? That's also gonzo enough to stick somewhere underground in the middle of nowhere in a more traditional OSR setting, but it might be a bit too close to your Derelict Ship list.

>>50578544
I've never actually played using OSRIC, but my impression was that it was pretty close to straight-up AD&D, albeit with some significant differences in presentation / formatting.

>>50578544
Never played it either, but the general consensus seems to be that it's even more jumbled and exists mostly as a way of publishing AD&D stuff without infringing copyrights.

>>50578699
I was starting to work on better differentiating the humanoids a ways back, before I got distracted by other matters. One thing I dislike is the way that higher hit dice humanoids tend to be better in every way. They're bigger, stronger, tougher, etc. It would be more interesting if you had some smaller humanoids that were tougher customers. But leaving that aside, I was trying to pin down certain factors about the humanoids like how well they work together (how organized they are, and how cutthroat they are with each other), how brave they are, how cunning they are, how cruel they are, how lazy they are, what their social organization is like, and how well (and in what arrangement) they work with other humanoids.

>>50578888
It does put more of a class's information together, so that your saving throws and to-hit tables are right in their with your XP progression and spells per day.

>>50578712
>They see use at the table

You're shitting me. Elaborate.

>>50573016
Tomb of the Bull King

>>50577446
LL -> LL AEC

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Hello /osrg/, I'm coming back after a long hiatus (moved, health issues, etc) but I'm trying to work on a game that hearkens to OSR sensibilities but also draws a bit from other games. DCC and 5e are big inspirations for the game and such (archetypes for some classes, races have their own classes, etc). Thing is, I'm a little stuck. Each demihuman race has three classes and I'm hitting a little snag when it comes to the dwarf priest. I want them to stand out form the human priest (a race/class that focuses on healing and later on turning/controlling undead OR being able to summon a spirit animal). The only thing I can think of is to make it so their healing is good for dwarves but not for the other races.

Any suggestions?

>>50579091
Some ideas
>Dwarf clerics can cast extra spells, at the cost of X amount of gold on their person turning to lead.


>Dwarf clerics turn goblins/orcs, not undead

>Dwarf clerics can use axes and battleaxes, but the only spells they can cast are bless/prayer, but they can cast them a lot.

>>50578630
Encounters in the Fungal Stacks.

>>50579091
Maybe they focus more on protection spells than healing? Or maybe their healing just works differently. Instead of healing an amount set by the spell (like 1d6), maybe it heals a person by an amount equal to their hit dice (which would tend to benefit dwarves, because dwarves are generally tough). You could also change whether things require touch to take effect or not. Hell, dwarven clerics might have to draw/trace runes/glyphs/sigils on people for some shit.

>>50578919
I'm playing Godbound and one of the regions there have wizard-controlled forests. I roll an encounter on the forest table every time my player moves between villages.

She encountered Facesmash the Ogre, and being a demigod of Death she figured out how the victims died, wasted for the Ogre to come back and killed him by turning its previous victims into Undead.

It was a nice interlude and my sessions need a lot more of those. I lost the file though and I requested it here again.

>>50579091
Look up the latest 5e Unearthed Arcana for Cleric, Forge Domain should provide some inspiration. Also utilize runes.

>>50579242

Well damn, that just gives me all kinds of warm-fuzzies! Thanks for sharing.

>>50575620
Seconding the Adventurer, Conqueror, King recommendation.

>>50578919
I've used the Demon Tainted Waters table. Ended up with the 10,000 fishhooks encounter. The ichtians make flesh-wiers to lure in land meat. It was cool.

>>50579278
>>50579227
>>50579185
All interesting ideas. Decided to focus on runes of protection and wrath, the wrath also granting a special boon against orcs and goblins.

Yo what # printing is the DCC copy in the Mega?

>>50578630
I'd like to see some for a Labyrinthine Library, since you're taking requests.

I was introduced to tabletop RPGs when I was eight years old, in 1995 or so, by my grandfather, who had run D&D campaigns for my dad and his friends when they were teenagers.

He had me play OD&D and helped me with the rules if I had any difficulty. Most of my adventuring was straight dungeon crawling and adventuring, with occasional friendly or hostile interactions with NPCs. I was the only player, controlling a party of five characters, and I remember at least once having the PCs argue with each other about what to do in a situation because I was conflicted. It was a blast.

I played a few more times as a teenager, mostly 3.5e, but didn't really play heavily again (still 3.5) until I was in college.

It was only more recently (say 3-4 years ago) that I started GMing, tried other systems, and so on.

As someone who is looking to introduce some adult friends (mostly fellow students in my grad program) to tabletop RPGs, what are the pros and cons of starting off with OSR (in particular, S&W but with ascending AC)?

>>50581754
easy to understand rules
quick combat
even if you don't like roleplaying, its a good game of Risk vs. getting the gold.

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>>50578712

Just finished this now; Fantasy Vietnam for you.

>>50582486
>>50569985
RIP.

>>50581754

Pros: what >>50582061 said

Cons: since you're introducing newbies, most of those don't apply and are actually seen as pros in the community.

1. The lack of character building minigame and shitton of mechanical options for those who are coming from modern D&D.
2. The emphasis on the on-the-spot rulings and trust in your DM.
3. Players' wits and clever ideas are the meat of the game.

>>50560493
Not that guy but can you link it here? It seems interesting but I can't find it.

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>>50581754
I would suggest either Basic Fantasy RPG with some extra material that you're able to find on the website. Ascending AC but stong connection to old school mechanics overall.

Barring that, Adventurer Conquerer King is also good.

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>>50583309

I believe this is what he's talking about.

>>50582156
Thanks!

>>50583425
>Outdoor Survival Setting.pdf

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Can someone help me find out the name of an obscure AD&D monster?

I remember reading a monster entry about some monster that is an aberration with a roundish body and several tentacles with what look like dragon heads. It was supposedly the beholder's natural predator and had immunity to a majority of the beholder's eye stock powers.

I planned to have the party try and capture some of them to release into a hive mother's lair to scare off some of the followers while they handle the hive mother.

Any help would be appreciated.

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>>50583442

That's what the map is from.

>>50582156
This is dope, thanks.

>>50582156
This is amazing work, anon. What is your secret? If I could have you make a few of those, I'd be able to start a campaign in days!

>>50583419
I can second the BFRPG, shit is free, easy to pick up and even if you want the printed versions you can get three copies of the core rules and one copy of everything else (beastiary, adventures, etc) for around $25. Cheap and quick.

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anybody here ever run Ruins of Adventure?

Anyone here have any experience publishing stuff through DriveThruRPG and related services?

I sent them an adventure module I and a friend wrote on the 30th and there's still no sign of life. Is this normal? Should I be worried?

is there a guideline for creating OSR games?

>>50585523
I guess the only reasonable answer is "play existing OSR games, read existing OSR books and modules, then come up with something interesting in that vein"?

How do I calculate thac0 without having to check the numbers in a table?

>>50585628
1d20 + BAB + target AC + other mods >/= 20 = Hit

20 - THAC0 = BAB

>>50585700
Thanks anon

>>50585628

Answer 1: there's nothing wrong with using a table. Print a small table on every character sheet. Each player will roll his attack roll, check his own table, and tell you "I hit AC 3!" instead of the clumsier "I rolled a 13, my sword is +1, and I have THAC0 17!"

Answer 2: There are a myriad of ways to compute THAC0 in your head and I'm sure the thread will supply you with a lot of them. Everyone seems to have their own, and as long as it works, it doesn't matter what you use.

Personally, my favourite is to think "AC is a penalty to your attacking skill", and subtract it (because it's a penalty) to the attacker's THAC0 (which is the attacking skill).

So: With THAC0 19 vs AC 0, you need a 19 to hit. 19-0=19
With THAC0 17 vs AC 6, you need a 11 to hit. 17-6=11
With THAC0 13 vs AC 3, you need a 10 to hit. 13-3=10
With THAC0 11 vs AC -2, you need a 13 to hit. 11+2=13
With THAC0 9 vs AC -2, you need a 11 to hit. 9+2=11

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>>50583501
Never mind, I found them.

They were called Thagars or beholder eaters. They were in "lost ships" from the spelljammer setting.

File: descending to ascending AC tables.png (47KB, 1306x605px)

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>>50585628
You don't calculate THAC0. You're given THAC0 and calculate whether you hit using it. Is that what you're talking about?
>THAC0 - AC = the number you need to roll (or higher) to hit.

Or, if you prefer to do it a different way...
>THAC0 - your attack roll = the AC (or worse/higher) you score a hit against.

>>50585618
First Commoner
Second Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Thief
????

>>50587514
Er, what?

Did the anon planning on fixing the Caverns of Thracia treasure ever manage to do it?

>>50584183

>Find high concept; (Ie; fantasy vietnam, giant maze library, etc)
>Extrapolate every possible general or generic idea from that concept (ie; jungle has cannibal pygmy people, forest traps like vietnam, dangerous wild animals)
>Add magic and fantasy elements to enhance or subvert the original
>Link different encounter points together so they feel more like a cohesive world
>???
>Profit

>>50587952
That anon here. I didn't have time to do all of it, only did first level. Had other projects on my hands.

>>50588006
That's fine, Anon, thank you for your hard work and good luck with the other projects as well.

>>50588121
Thank you. Incidentally, let me write down here what I modified, so you can use that at least.

General: All skull-shaped pendants the cultists of Thanatos wear are worth 100gp instead.

3: Alcove of the Bats
Fallen statue of Athena wore a 2000gp gold necklace w/ 5 sapphires, now lost in the muck. Traces of necklace are still visible on neck. Eyes of statue are 100gp Alexandrites.

4: Centipede Chapel
Statue of Nike has golden laurel crown (500gp), looks like stone because is covered in dust, in one hand. Other hand holds a single +3 arrow.

10F: Not-So-Empty Crypt
Box contains 1000gp gold medallion depicting the original profile of the temple in its full splendor.

11: Perfectly Preserved Curate
Locked chest contains 800gp and 200sp instead.

20: Ritual Hall of Purification
Eyes of evil paralysis statue are 500gp citrines.

23: Sacrificial Altar of the Dark One
On the altar rests a life-sized replica of a human skull in amber (1000gp)

25: Vault of the Cermonial Treasures
The five gems are worth 50gp each instead.

27b: The Burial Crypt of the Cult of the Dark One
Box also contains 550gp, 350sp.

This, plus some extra cash in the monsters' pockets (they seem pretty civilized, so why not) should kick the treasure level up to something less punishingly low.

For you what is the thing that makes OSR games... well OSR

for me is this vanilla feel you start your character from zero and can do whatever you want

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>>50589566

The focus and feeling of dungeon-crawling and resource management.

>this vanilla feel you start your character from zero and can do whatever you want

To be fair, that's something you can do in a lot of RPGs, OSR is just one of them with its own unique stuff.

>>50589566
Intercompatibility. I can and do combine things from different retroclones and blogs. That's why I love OSR games that do different genres. I can jam them into D&D with a minimum of fuss.

>>50589566
Less of a focus on character builds. A heavier focus on DM interpretation over simulationist rules, the odd exception notwithstanding. Oftentimes OSR games tend to lean towards a lower power level than RPGs in a post-3.5 climate. S&S, my favorite genre, tends to have a lower level of magic, magical items, etc. and that fits well into OSR games.

Alright lads. Let's do one more of these 1d100 charts. First response gets to pick tonight's topic.

>>50589983
Do we already have an abyssal depths one? Or a flying islands one?

>>50590055
Nope! I've done "late-night city encounters" and "unsettling events to have happen in your safehouse"

File: Gonzo Droid production facility.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>50578716
>Star Wars OSR campaign: how bout an abandoned droid/clone trooper production facility?

Well sadly I didn't follow the 'star wars' setting thing perfectly, though I did throw in a thing about jedi in there somewhere. Enjoy, and hope it's useful to you anyway.

>>50590055
I'm gonna do 'things found in the abyssal depths' but I gotta ask first: underwater Abyss or nine-hells abyss? They aren't mutually exclusive, but..

>>50590297
>>50590055
Nine hells Abyss it is. I might do the other two as well, though. Maybe do a quick d20 chart for the flying islands and the depths of the ocean.

>>50590171
Jesus, short of a map, there's enough stuff here to have a pretty nice 10ish session mini-campaign.

>>50589566
The way that it's DIY down to the core beliefs. Everything can be stolen, changed and fixed for your game and it is encouraged by the community. It gives a sense that everyone's OSR game is a unique experience tailored by the DM, and I've found that to not be the case as much with other systems.
Also the focus on very fast character creation and simple rules make it very easy for beginners and more casual players to just hop in and learn how to play RPGs, and I find that to be pretty important nowadays.

With Lamentations of the Flame Princess which core book is the best one to use? Is it the Grindhouse edition or the Rules and Magic Full? in this case i'm largely referring to whats in the trove but a cursory internet search didn't really help.

>>50592888
Rules & Magic is the latest version, so you want that. "Full" means that it also includes the art.
The new referee book still isn't out yet but you should check out the Grindhouse version of it for a couple clarifications to the rules and just general help with the system

What are some good historical conspiracy theories (or modern conspiracy theories about history) regarding the 17th century and further back that can be turned into interesting plot hooks?

>>50593177
Anything Da Vinci

File: Labyrinth Library Encounters.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>50580608

Done. I added an extra mechanic here called Wrath, which basically makes everything harder the more of it you get, but if you don't like it you can just ignore it.

>>50582156
>>50590171
>>50594514
Droid factory requester, thanks! These are fantastic!

>>50593177
Rosicrucians, the Popish Plot, uh... basically there *were* a fuckload of conspiracies and secret societies in the 30 Years' War era so bizarre theories are kind of moot, but you can get a ton of mileage out of "occultism", "weird Christian splinter sects" and "decades-long universal war" in various combinations.

>>50594514
Not only is this great, but I think the Wrath mechanic is an excellent example of ways to make a dungeon/megadungeon level stick out, and have a feeling of its own. Love it.

So my favorite classes, in all of D&D, are 3.5's Binder and Truenamer. Yes, I know Truenamer is literally nonfunctional and completely terrible, but I mean conceptually, not mechanically.

How would you capture the Binder or the Truenamer's flavor in the OSR? I have some ideas, but where would you draw the line between "just too much variety/complication for one class to have" and "too simple to feel like the Binder or the Truenamer?"

I guess you could just fluff Magic-User as a Truenamer, though that seems awkward to me. What about Binder, though?

>>50584925
That cross promotion with poll of radiance

Nice

>>50596251

>truenamers

My recommendation for Truenamers is to copy their "spell" list, and make Truespeak a class specific skill (I prefer LotFP's skills, but you don't have to use them if you don't like them):

Truenaming: 1-in-6, plus an additional 1 every, say, 4 or 5 levels. Modified by Int or Wis (your choice). Higher level "spells" impose a penalty on the check, -1, -2, -3, etc.

I would also remove most of their class features, or provide variations of them at first or 9th level.

Saves vs. utterances would probably be the ones appropriate for the effect: effects that turn one to stone or paralyze you would be vs. the petrification save, anything that would kill you outright is vs. death, most effects would be vs. spell.

>binders

Binders are trickier, but the binding check could be kept intact, or you can make it into a skill instead, and impose penalties to alter the difficulty appropriately. Most of the class features would probably get dumped in favor of just allowing Binders to try to bind multiple vestiges, and try to get more powers during the binding in favor of higher difficulty, and dire consequences for failure.

Vestige stats would have to be reworked, and likely they would lose some stats because they don't work well for OSR. Most of the vestiges that affect metamagic would need reworking, anything that alters ability scores would need to be tweaked, and in general, you'd need to keep in mind that vestiges are really high power for an OSR game.

Acererak, for example, grants Speak with Dead, Detect Undead, Hide from Undead, Healing from Negative Energy (which is something you'd have to adapt to OSR somehow or drop), a Paralyzing Touch, and immunity to cold and electricity damage.

Acererak can potentially be summoned by 10th level, and that's quite a lot of abilities for an OSR character. It's rather like a near permanent group of spells cast on you, or a bunch of magic items that don't take up body slots.

>>50596539

I like Sine Nomine's skills, mostly, since I frequently run Sine Nomine games, though I've been poking at ACKS a lot, too.


>Truenamer

That seems more or less what I was thinking.


>Binder

If I jacked up the dangers of Binding, and maybe treated it like an ACKS proficiency check rather than a skill check, could I get away with minimal tweaking? I'm not sure if it'd still be too powerful.

Also, I'd probably invent my own vestiges. Since I like Sine Nomine, I'd probably use Binder with Silent Legions' "roll up cosmic horrors" system. It feels like it could be kind of cool to roll up, say, a Vestige's Portfolio, then Modes, then name, so you wind up with something like "Yurzhkhan the Sixfold Incarnadine", a corpse-god with the mode "Seer", then give anybody who binds it Detect Undead at the base level and offer them ways to increase power by doing things it wants them to do - and those powers deal with Divination spells specifically tailored to find the Undead.

>>50594514
This is fantastic work. I also want to thank you once again - I once asked you for the gonzo spaceship encounters, and they are still getting used on the table. Glad to see you doing more of these.

>>50596676

I'd go with rolling up your own vestiges (also, I don't know anything about Sine Nomine or Silent Legions, but they sound fucking great!). Not only would it have more relevance to your own campaigns, but would likely tone the power down.

I like the idea of doing things to please the vestige to get more powers. That is definitely a compromise I could live with. You may want to bolt on a system like morale to keep track of how "pleased" the vestige is. Player does something to appease it? +1. Player doesn't do what it wants? -1.

Say, 2-12:

12 = +2 on binding check/rolls to get more powers
11-10 = +1
9-5 = +0
4-3 = -1
2 = -2

File: OSRBinder.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>50596850

So I did a thing.

Thoughts? Ideas? Is Influence too punishing, or is it just right? Would people like me to roll up some cool example Vestiges?

I left "attack bonus" blank because it depends heavily on the game but Binders should probably have the same attack bonus as the middle-of-the-road class in a given game - the Rogue or Cleric-type, basically. Some Vestiges might boost that with various spells.

>>50597246

Also, because I forgot to put it in the PDF proper: GMs should absolutely modify the difficulty of the Proficiency throw for Binding up or down, depending on the player's attitude, prior actions, existing Binds, and the power of the thing they're trying to lash onto.

I haven't figured out a good mechanical system for appeasement, so I figure getting rid of Influence is a GM call.

>>50597246

The OSR module I've written is finally up on RpgNOW. It's finally done!

I'd like to thank you all, anons of /osr/, for the suggestions and support.

>>50597246

>A Binder may bind up to (Wisdom Modifier +1 Vestigaes)

Oh, so if I play a character with a -1 to Vestiges I just get a useless class then?

Seriously this bit is terrible, WAY to much emphasis but on the stat. Seriously why is this not a level based thing?

>>50597246
>>50597272

Samefagging, but I also forgot to note that a Binder who screws his Vestige over during an Influence check is basically going to be a target for other entities of the same type/aligned with that one, so it's really dangerous to decide "nah I don't wanna follow your agenda, Angel, I'd rather do what I wanna do" if you fail that check at that dramatic moment.

It's a good way to make power blocs of intelligent, powerful, extraplanar beings angry at you.

>>50597305

You'd get a base of 1 Vestige. I'll clarify that. You don't need to be hostile about it.

I wasn't sure if I should go with the attribute or just "1, 3, 5."

Which one do people feel is better? A scaling one based on your mental ability to hold onto, or just "your level"?

>>50597344

Maybe level+wis, divided by 2?

>>50597344
This definitely feels like it should scale with level. Maybe not evenly, and maybe also have WIS factoring in, but it's definitely a thing that should be level-dependant.

>>50596251
>Yes, I know Truenamer is literally nonfunctional and completely terrible,
Hey, it's perfectly functional! If you optimize the fuck out of it. And it's still mostly worse than a Warlock optimized half as much.

>How would you capture the Binder or the Truenamer's flavor in the OSR?
The flavor's not really a problem, to be honest - what you need to worry about is the mechanics.

The Truenamer, if kept skill-based, would basically be 2E Psionics less the point costs. Perhaps take the Thief as your major inspiration, and give it some level-based percentages? Who knows how many utterances you want to make, though. I think keeping the various Laws might be more worth it in a game as logistical as OSR. Maybe.

As for the Binder, just do the thing where they get to choose between a number of ability sets each day and get access to better ones at higher levels. It's probably easier to convert, to be honest.

>>50597246

Quick and dirty. But I think it's on a good track, just not the way I would do it (I may end up writing my version and then shilling my blog).

>>50597272

I have some thoughts on appeasement and and whatnot. I think I'll just do my own version, and then anyone who wants can crib/alter my version to taste.

>>50597344

He is right though. I would personally suggest that binders can bind up to 5 at the start, but it becomes progressively more difficult, and the vestiges should each track their appeasement, and have their own "ego" if you will that can influence the binder

Possibly even pooling their efforts together if the binder has really upset them.

File: OSRBinder (2).pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>50597404

Here's take two. I removed the cap on Vestige-binding at all; instead, the more you try to Bind, the higher the success check climbs. At 7th level you essentially get two extra Bindings before the penalty kicks in.

If you're really stupid you can just keep failing Binding checks and bind a theoretically unlimited number of horrible things, but at that point the GM should absolutely feel free to screw you to the wall with impossible taboos and ridiculous contracts. You're the one stupid enough to overreach; you get blasted for it.

>>50597860

I skimmed through. I like the Form Follows Soul ability. I'm currently writing down thoughts for how I want to tackle my version.

>screwed for overreaching

This is definitely the right direction. Taking small bits of power and some circumscribed behavior is fine. Taking a bit more and risking conflicting behaviors and goals from vestiges is also fine. Reaching too far and falling? Perfect. Exactly the sort of theme the Binder should have.

5 saving throws, 3 saving throws, or single saving throw?

I like the idea of saving throws as a mechanic to resolve situations that you react to as opposed to situations where you have all the agency. From that point of view it also makes sense to increase saving throw through levels; it shows experience with similar situations and honed instincts.

>>50597971

I didn't include this by default, but I also like the idea that there are Vestiges you simply *can't* bind without taking Influence, because the check necessary is obnoxiously high. This would be things like big-ass outer gods, terrifying ancient ghosts, pit fiends and demon lords, or high-ranking angels: things that simply refuse to bind to you unless you accept Influence and a bunch of stringent rules, but give you extremely powerful abilities (which also, probably, cost Influence to use).

I imagine, like, Dr. Faustus binding Mephistopheles, and there was no way he could successfully do it, so Mephistopheles allowed him to accept some conditions and gave him some exceptionally thematic powers as a result, but each power bought his soul more.

And each time the angel showed up to try and convince Faustus to stop being dumb was an Influence check being failed and Faustus deciding to follow Mephistopheles's dictations.

>>50598142
I like 5 and 3. I think one is too few, three is just right, and five is probably too many but I can make a case for it.

I'm also a fan of Attribute checks instead of Saving Throws.

>>50598142

I have no nostalgia for the five saving throws (I started playing D&D with 3rd edition), however, I like how specific, evocative, and potentially broad they can be with interpretation.

Traps which affect an area can call for a breath saving throw. Extreme fear could call for a paralysis save. Most magical/supernatural/mysterious effects can call for the spell save.

I like that. It give the saves a modality that static and explicitly defined saves (like the 3) don't have. The single saving throw is actually closer in spirit to the 5 than the 3 because it applies to all situations.

>>50598253

I like the idea of powerful vestiges that require submission by the binder, but the powers they grant are the greater for it. I'll put it into my notes for when I'm ready to start writing this all up.

>>50598323

I also like the idea of Binders needing to actually learn about/the names of/the rituals for powerful Vestiges.

Like, when you become a Binder there's a little list of Vestiges you get from the GM on a scrap of paper, things you've scrabbled and clawed for in books, and then there's the really scary shit that you can go find and try and bind, and sometimes it'll join you and sometimes it'll enslave you.

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>>50598142
>>50598253

I use a three saving throw system with stats that add on to it, but not enough to make stats too important like roll under attribute checks some people use.

Add that to the class based system in which you gain saving throws and I have a system I enjoy.

>Three Saving Throws
>Might, Wits, Will
>Might add your Strength + Con modifiers
>Wits add your Dex + Int modifiers
>Will add your Wisdom + Cha modifiers
>All saves start at base 5 + above

Then each class gets a bonus to one specific save every even level, then gets a different save bonus to a situation where a save comes up.

So using this;
>Warriors get +1 Might save every even level, and +1 to all in-combat saves every odd level
>Experts get +1 Wits save every even level, and +1 to all hazard saves every odd level
>Magicians get +1 Will save every even level, and +1 to all saves vs magic every odd level

Bam, perfect for the three class archetype.

>>50598359

My thoughts exactly. I will add a note for the GM to write in a list of known vestiges at character creation, and that other vestiges should be found in witch tomes and witch hunter codices.

>>50598368
That is cool, I am assuming you roll under on a d20?

So a level 3 fighter with 16 strength and for the rest average would be:

Might: 8 (10 in combat)
Wits: 5 (7 in combat)
Will: 5 (7 in combat)

>>50598451

Yep, exactly like that.

I do have a house rule that saves cannot be improved above 18 though, but none of my players have gotten that high level yet.

I'm also considering for high level play that there could be a silly 'roll over' system of saves; where instead of rolling a 20 being an automatic-failure you instead roll again with all remaining save 'points' over 19 being your last ditch chance. This way it remains a linear progression.

Example; you have 24 in a save after you add in your magic items, modifiers, stat and class bonuses. You roll a 20, so now you take your remainder above 19 (because 19 or less would have succeeded) as your next save again, this time with much worse odds obviously but a less ditch attempt at safety. Even in this scenario you would have 5 to your next save, still a cool 20% chance of success as your high level dude.

Obviously this is just hypothetical so far, haven't tried the rule out in game.

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Here's that 1d100 chart from last night, had some net issues and just got back to upload it today.

You guys enjoy these? I kinda like making them, but I might switch over to doing some work on hex stuff for a private project if there's not much interest in seeing more.

>>50599193
These are very nice good, but don't feel required to create ideas for us.

>>50599193

I enjoy them very much. Thank you for making the late night city encounters. Is there any way you'd be willing to compile your tables into a PDF or similar document?

>>50599249

And seconding this. Don't feel like you have to appease us. Do what you enjoy.

>>50599249
>>50599269
Well, they're pretty fun to make, and take around 1 hour of writing. It's a nice break from my usual writing, so it's just a nice distraction at the moment. As for a PDF, I probably could.

File: OSRTruenamer.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

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>>50597398
>>50597860

So I decided to take a shot at Truenamer while I was in the mood. I went with something that's a little bit Skyrim and a little bit classic Truenamer, drawing mechanics from my own Binder class for the basics of how Words work (you can add as many utterances as you want but if you keep stacking them you will fuck up the pronunciation and when you're playing with the words of creation that causes Bad Things to happen).

I also was a bit lazy and said GMs should make up their own Utterances, just like I did with Vestiges, because I think it's more suitable to a campaign. I know that makes the power harder to gauge but I think a good way to look at it is:

An Eldspeaker can, with effort, accomplish very difficult tasks by speaking words. He can probably routinely get a +2-+4 bonus on checks whose Utterances he knows. He can probably routinely do 2d6 to 2d10 damage without an attribute bonus. He can, with difficulty, do something like 3d10 damage. He can, as a great gamble, do 4d10 damage, but he has a very good chance of getting backlash, at which point the GM can invent horrible shit that happens when he mispronounces "Stone" into "Fire" or something.

>>50599500

Also, it's only sort of explicit, but I think the fun of a class like this is seeing how players will combine things like "Sneak" and "Stone" for effects like "opening a hole through a wall," and there's really no good way of capturing all that variety. If you want to increase the difficulty, you can just apply penalties for doing things like that; maybe they need two additions of Stone to pass through a really thick wall, increasing the Proficiency difficulty.

>>50598142
I use a single save system, which I just coined luck, that uses attribute modifiers and a class-dependant bonus on top of it.
The Luck can also be expended for rerolls and bonuses, which can potentially save someone, but take a while to refresh.

>>50597294
Congrats. Is it called "Arsenal of the Warrior Princess", by chance? Seems to be the newest OSR product.

>>50598142
I switched to 1 save recently, mostly to cut anything remotely fiddly for very casual players. I do like 1 save and 5 saves for the same reasons >>50598323 outlined. Also saves work best as a reward so I like the steady improvement with stats barely affecting them. Experimenting a bit with Wisdom being the only stat affecting saves and also initiative, which reflects its purpose as awareness (I don't have active search / perception)

>>50599193
You're a gentleman and a scholar. Keep 'em coming, if it doesn't distract you much.

What's a good system for a group that is mostly going to be new to tabletop in general? Something really easy to pick up. Any module recs would be welcome to. I've been DMing various modern systems here and there the past year, but last week played in a 1e AD&D game and it was my first time playing an old school game. Had such a blast that I really want to look into running something for some friends.

>>50601234
OD&D's LBBs, keep most of the stuff on your side of the DM screen and try to keep the rolls to a minimum.

Or, if you want something that's a bit easier to grok on short notice, just grab a copy of Moldvay's Basic set and use the simplest rules options whenever possible - 1d6 damage, group initiative, etc. Ignore the bit about only thieves being able to detect traps, that was editorial meddling that's literally only on one page and contradicted in the rest of the books.

>>50601234

In general, my recommendation is Basic Fantasy RPG. It doesn't do everything I'd like, or even better than other OSR clones, but it's free, simple, and has race separate from class.

There's also free expansions to the rules and modules on their website.

>http://basicfantasy.org/downloads.html

>>50601234
Any B/X or OD&D variant will do. I think LotFP is the slickest B/X version and use it all the time, but the aesthetics put some people off. Of course, that's assuming your players read the rulebook and they really don't have to, you can just present that as D&D and that's it. Art-free version of the rules is there, too.

Obligatory introductory modules:
* Tower of the Stagazer - top-notch rift on the classic trope of the wizard tower. Lazer-focused on the exploration and dangerous stuff to play with, lacks monsters. Found it perfect.

* Tomb of the Iron God - flavourful dungeon with a more classic approach, quite big (2 levels and about 60 rooms I think), wandering monsters, the whole thing. Gives you a nice base to expand and tweak upon.

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Hey /osrg/. I've been muddling around writing up a 1st-level adventure for my group of first-timers. The room descriptions are about halfway done. Anyone mind giving feedback?

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>>50601630

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>>50601630
The players start off with no items, but can grab class-sets a-la dark souls mid-way through the dungeon.

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I'm always hesitant to ask, since I get a lot of hate for wanting to do dungeon crawls in systems that aren't "OSR approved", but how would you run a Dark Souls inspired game? There's a lot of overlap in world design, although a more storygamish system (or something full spreadsheet) seems more appropriate.

>>50601704
>a-la dark souls
Oh, hah. Coincidence. Guess Dark Souls has come up in these threads before.

>>50601965

Lethally, but with the revival system. I'd make it so that players can't die, but each time they do, they lose some money. I'd also make it so that money spent = XP, like in certain OSR versions.

Then I'd probably remove classes and instead make progression based on weapons, and draw class abilities from the Talent system Sine Nomine uses, or maybe Proficiencies from ACKS, rather than actual classes - something light and not locked by level. Since money is now tied to both forms of progression, that tax for dying is scary enough to make players wary, but won't end the game prematurely.

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>>50601965
Check out the stuff coming from Necropraxis lately.He's writing up some exceptional mechanics to reinforce a Dark Souls themed game. http://www.necropraxis.com/

>>50601965

I'd focus on the locations, items, and monsters. Each one should be a piece of the overall story of the land the PCs are in. If it's necessary that they have the ability to rebound from death, then you need to come up with a thematically appropriate way for them to do that.

The biggest issue though, is that Dark Souls is Murder Hobo - the Game. The biggest and most reliable way to advance is to kill everything, farming them even, if you're intent on having every advantage you can get.

Gear is also super important to the game, and this clashes a bit with OSR. Certainly some magic items are expected by high level (and I mean 10+ by that), but nothing like Dark Souls unique weapons with specific move sets and different enchantment paths.

Rather than getting bogged down with the mechanics, I would focus on the bits that make Dark Souls great: storytelling through non-traditional means.

Which means a lot of work, and you're going to have to write your butt off, and your players may not even be interested in your lore.

>>50602078
I had the idea of XP used as currency and a sort of system similar to Humanity in WoD, but based on setbacks and dying. You reach zero and you're a mindless Hollow. Though I have been reading a Dungeon World game where you permanently lose level up options and your relationships.

Tell me more about these class abilities and weapon based progression. You can post >>50592733 if you'd prefer, it's the thread I made this morning.

>>50602158
>The biggest issue though, is that Dark Souls is Murder Hobo - the Game. The biggest and most reliable way to advance is to kill everything, farming them even, if you're intent on having every advantage you can get.

>Killing the NPCs in a Dark Souls game
You're a monster.

I'm also not planning on getting bogged down by the mechanics, other than a few for reinforcing theme (like Hollowing and reviving). Mostly I want to think of a way to replicate that feel of...

I don't know, in a review/rant of Dark Souls 2 one Youtuber said something like "Miyazaki created a world and then left some of it out, while Dark Souls 2's team mistook that for making things unfinished".

I've seen a few suggestions for how to do it. Cold Ruins of Lastlife has you ask players about the world, and lets them determine what things were like before the Fall, and on their Move they're correct if they succeed and if they succeed less well (I'm not 100% sure how Dungeon World works) they misremembered part of it.

>>50602280

The real trouble I have with making a Dark Souls game is that feeling of isolation. In Dark Souls, you're alone. You get passing friends and allies, but you're alone. At the end of the day it's You against The World.

A party removes that. A party is banter, friends, or at the very least, people who share your goal.

That's...rough to replicate.

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>>50602307
But in Dark Souls you're never really alone. This is especially true in 2 and 3, where the number of summons is increased. Sure, for much of the game you're on your own, but even then the ground is littered with ̶u̶s̶e̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶m̶e̶s̶ guidance markers, and there's almost always a Soapstone sign before the toughest encounters. Those people you meet and talk to on your journey are there to lend you a hand.

I think that something a lot of people (like the DaS2 team) forget, or even fail to realize, is that Dark Souls is not a story of hopelessness. It's a story of hope. Your friends and allies are what keep you from going Hollow. They're why you prepare to cry. It's also worth noting that while most of the NPCs do eventually lose their way ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶C̶h̶o̶s̶e̶n̶ ̶U̶n̶d̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶s̶o̶l̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶l̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶e̶l̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶l̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ they also mostly seem to care about you and want you to do well. If there's one reason to repeat Gwyn's sin and unnaturally extend the Age of Fire by kindling the First Flame, it's to keep their sacrifices from being in vain, and to free them from their torment.

>Don't you dare go hollow.

>>50598142
Five throws. I've never seen a single-throw system that doesn't involve situational bonuses and penalties such that when you write them down, in practice you more or less have a five-throw system. They don't seem to save any time or mental space, just force you to do an addition sometimes when a five-throw system just has you look at the paper.

As for a three-throw system they all seem to be influenced by the dire 3E one where the saves are based on the method of resistance and not the thing being resisted, as well as also being more or less implicitly tied to specific stats. Both those things suck.

Newbie here. In a game outside of LotFP, like B/X or BFRPG, if a character besides a Thief wants to pick-pocket or something similar (Sleight of Hand) how do you resolve it? Just a flat 1-in-6? Is it officially covered and I am missing it?

>>50602280

>cartoon violence = real violence

Stop with this. Even if you're kidding.

>the matter at hand

One of the difficulties of replicating Dark Souls' feel is that there's an absolute ton of environmental storytelling. That's hard to do in a game where everyone is filling in the blanks with their own imagination - so that means you need to have a good grasp of how the world locations fit together, how they look, and what sort of mood you intend them to evoke.

Monsters should have reasons for why they inhabit a place, since their presence implies something about the setting. It's not necessary for them to behave like real creatures, since it's pretty clear that the monsters in Dark Souls are not a part of an ecology. They're cursed rejects/survivors of a heroic age teetering on the edge of oblivion.

Items too have to inform the players of this world. After all, where did they come from? Who made them? But more importantly, how will the players obtain or infer this information? You can't exactly give the PCs 3x5 cards with "These swords were used by the Dragon Knights of Yfalahn to murder to Fire Priestesses of the Far Towers. The steel is badly charred, stained with sin." How would they know any of that with any accuracy?

I suppose you could ignore that and just roll with it. Who knows what memories or things the PCs experienced before they became whatever living dead/cursed immortals that they are?

>>50602307

This too.

>>50602542
Depends on the system?

>>50601653
I like most of this, but how in the fuck is the water pressure working? That water column up to the pool is some crazy shit, if you have even slightly engineering-minded players they'll start wondering about it and possibly wasting a bunch of time trying to work it out.

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>>50602555
>>cartoon violence = real violence
>Stop with this. Even if you're kidding.
Are you really getting mad at people for chastizing what you yourself called murder hobo behavior? The games are rich with storytelling and have likeable characters, why would you kill them and take their stuff for often unnecessary bonuses? ̶T̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶s̶a̶i̶d̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶k̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶C̶i̶a̶r̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶l̶o̶t̶h̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶s̶a̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶y̶e̶a̶r̶s̶ ̶a̶g̶o̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶g̶r̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶u̶n̶t̶i̶l̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶a̶d̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶w̶a̶y̶.̶

>You can't exactly give the PCs 3x5 cards with "These swords were used by the Dragon Knights of Yfalahn to murder to Fire Priestesses of the Far Towers. The steel is badly charred, stained with sin." How would they know any of that with any accuracy?
Actually, that's more or less exactly what I was going to do. After all, how does the Chosen Undead know
>The Princess of Sunlight Gwynevere left Anor Londo along many other deities, and later became wife to Flame God Flann.
when she just handed the very ring with that on the tag?

>>50602581
Yeah.

How about the two I referenced?

>>50600396
It is! It's a small OSR expert-level dungeon that I wrote because... I mostly wanted to see if I could do it. Prove something to myself and all that.

Now I intend to continue with other adventures, try and see if I can keep the gig going.

>>50602664
My reading comprehension is shot. I thought it was
>In a game outside of LotFP, B/X or BFRPG

Anyways, for B/X I always did 2 in 6. That's just off the top of my head, though.

>>50602542
To a great extent I'd say it depends on the skill. I just wouldn't allow a non-Thief to use some of them, like lockpicking (the equivalent for other classes is busting the door down and making a ton of noise; basically, the tradeoff without a Thief isn't normally "the door is locked and you can't pass" but "you must kick up a racket alerting local monsters to pass this door"). I'd say the same for pickpocketing, actually.

Depending on the system, I'd also outlaw Hide in Shadows (if run Mornard-style, that ability is quasi-supernatural and lets the Thief hide invisibly in a literal shadow, which I don't think needs to be extended to anybody else), Move Silently (same) and Climb Walls (arguably refers to climbing sheer walls without handholds or tools, i.e. somewhat unnatural again).

For hearing noises there's an established roll, and disarming traps can be done via roleplaying, as normal (e.g. "I cut this string" or "okay, I jam a wedge into the crack between the flagstones, hopefully that'll hold the trap door shut") rather than any roll at all. Naturally all characters can hide behind crates or doors, climb rough walls or ropes and so on; these are best simply adjudicated by the DM as a binary situation. Does the fighter's shit protrude from behind the crate? Less dependent on a roll than on whether he brought a halberd down with him, or wears a helmet with a ridiculous plume. As for ordinary sneaking, that's actually covered by the movement rate and surprise rules by default; if you surprise the enemy in an encounter, it's down to your careful movement in the dungeon and constant vigilance, i.e. your sneaking.

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>>50602653

I'm just tired of these sorts of discussions, because the people who chastise other people for "murdering" art assets are perpetrating a form of intellectual dishonesty I find distasteful because it cheapens and debases our understanding of actual violence.

I am not going to entertain replying to this anymore.

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>>50602595
I was figuring having something like pic related, but didn't bother to draw it in the map

>>50601965
>I'm always hesitant to ask, since I get a lot of hate for wanting to do dungeon crawls in systems that aren't "OSR approved", but how would you run a Dark Souls inspired game?
I think I must be misreading this severely because to me it looks like you're saying you come into /osrg/ to ask how to run a Dark Souls game in an explicitly not OSR system, and you're bemused and surprised to find yourself getting stick for it? No offense dude, I think you should play however and whatever you like, but if you don't like our way, why ask here? The thread does have a topic.

>>50602885
You'll notice that the water level on both sides is the same, in that diagram.

>>50602824
It's not intellectually dishonest. I think that you're being disingenuous about people's arguments. If anything it has nothing to do with devaluing violence, it has to do with you devaluing the work that people put into things. Also, it's honestly kind of childish to act like caring about "art assets" is somehow silly. I'd argue that not caring about fictional characters is more of a fault.

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>>50602963
*hand-waves it as magical*

>>50603062
Hey, a new alternative array of six basic stats!

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I need a good post-apocalyptic module. No zombies. I'm looking for more Fallout/Mad Max style. Anything worth a shit?

>>50602963

I thought the river WAS at the same level -- look at the compass rose. The entrances to 1 and 5 aren't chimneys going up, they're roads coming in from the west.
At least that's what I got from it.

>>50603122
Uh, if that map isn't a vertical cutaway I'm much more confused than I thought.

>>50603199

Yeah, I dunno, but I think it's supposed to be an orthogonal projection, like cheapjack perspective?
'Cause otherwise you have to rappel down a chimney to get in, and the door at 2 is halfway up the wall. But I dunno. It's weird, and could use some clarification.

>>50603292
>otherwise you have to rappel down a chimney to get in
That's exactly how I parsed it (with a slope or stairs up to the door at 2, as indicated by the dotted line). I've made use of the "rappel into a hole" dungeon entrance many times myself, so that part didn't seem weird at all. I've even done the thing where there's water at the direct bottom (in that case, with it being a well and the dungeon entrance being above the water table).

>>50603199
It's a vertical cutaway. I have
>>50603292
Im just going to literally throw my player down a the hole into area 1.
Im going to post the top-down view of level 1 to clear up the confustion

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>>50603383
Here it is. I hope it's at least somewhat readable

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>>50601653
Here's a spiced-up version

>>50602687
That's pretty cool, congratulations on that.

>>50604086
Thank you!

>>50603108
not quite what you're looking for, but Deep Carbon Observatory might work with a little tweaking

also we need a new thread