/osr/ - Old School Renaissance

>>55309444
>What have you been cooking up anon?

Entirely new homebrew ruleset (again). Includes combat system of entirely 'called shots'. Trying to balance classes and deciding if I just want 3 archetypal classes or not.

Finishing touches on my dungeon. Trying to think of new content to produce.

Improving my art.

2d6-based homebrew in which all characters are non-magical adventurers and they gain spells and such only through magic items, so the most powerful sorcerers are the guys who hoard magic items.

Dunno if that sucks. Also, an occasional stab at a d% version. Everything is hard and I'm a bad designer.

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>>55309444
>What have you been cooking up anon?

This.

>>55310410
You have my full attention, anon.

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>>55310410
>Illustration suggests Skyrim as the main inspiration

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>>55310485
>most unique setting gets the least attention
Morrowind was the only good TES game

>>55309444
Trying to lay the groundwork for an Alchemist class, but it's slow going.

>>55310655
>People living in mushrooms and giant dead crabs.
>Demon worship is the state religion.
>Remains of advanced magitek civilization everywhere.
>Every good family has their own necromancer to ask late uncle some contract questions.
>Living uncucked form the empires rule with as many slaves you can afford.
>Your gods are literally walking among you.

Fuck man, Morrowind is a fucking gem.

>>55310246
Are you doing success/success with cost/failure?

I have noticed that most adventure reviews on the internet don't actually review material that they actually played.

So I decided that I will start reviewing adventures after I have played them, and give advice on what people should do with the adventures.

However, I want the reviews to be concise. What type of things do ya'll like to see in a review? And what do you find most useful in a review?

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>>55310410
>>55310471

It's all bullshit, I just like making shit I enjoy look like old D&D books.

>>55311217

Superior gonzo post-apocalypse setting coming through.

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>>55311458
>>55311217
>>55310410

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>>55311458

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>>55311538
I like the look of this

>>55311458
You should try some MCC. I just ran it last night and it was the shit.

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>>55311538
>>55311217
>>55310410

I'm working on a homebrew campaign setting that I've been creating for nearly a year now... I originally was going to create my own system to play it as well, but decided instead on using a basic OSR model with custom races/classes.

It's inspired by TES, M:TG, Glorantha, human mythology, the D&D multiverse, and a number of other sources.

I'm avoiding standard RPG/fantasy races. There are enough dwarves, elves and halflings running around. I'm shooting for something more unique and engaging.

Also, the world itself is inspired by an apocalyptic short story I've been working on. So that's another thing, too.

>>55310410
I wish this was a real thing. :(

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>>55309444
> What have you been cooking up anon?

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>>55311761
Just add this to LotFP or B/X or whatever.

>>55309444
A d6 table of different origins of rust monsters. I'm stuck at 3 though.

>>55310655
>>55311021
Sadly we are just going have to deal with the fact Morrowind is the odd man out of the TES games.

>>55309444
Anyone here heard of whitehack? Anyone play it?

>>55311124
A summary/pro-con list near the start, plus whether or not you recommend it. Then go into detail.

>>55311763
Shit like always

>>55311124
What the group was, what you changed in the module/why, what your table notes were. How many sessions it took, what went well, what didn't, what went as planed/explained by the model, what didn't. What you would do differently next time, what could have been made better.

>>55311981
Oh neat. There was a blog that was trying to work in elder scrolls magic types recently. Might be workable.

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>>55309444
>What have you been cooking up anon?
Steal the Pope is in playtesting right now, so that's going pretty well. Otherwise, I'm slapping together a revised GLOG hack.
>>55310485
Bah. There are very stealable bits.

>>55311763
This dungeon is immensely silly but it's also an excellent use of the Sphinx. Good job.

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>>55311124
>What type of things do ya'll like to see in a review?
How much work is needed to go from adventure to play? Specifically, what do I need to print (unless the modules say what I need to do), an if that actually works.

And yeah, format should be something like
-What the module is (1-2 sentences) and who made it
-A short pro/con list (could be an actual list or 1-2 sentences)
-Your overall impression (1 sentence)

And then go wherever you want.

>>55311124
What I want out of a dungeon reviewer:
+Length of adventure
+How lethal
+Rating of the puzzles: Puzzle presence, difficulty, and points for cleverness
+Rating of story
+Rating of lore. (How well the dungeon presents any latent backstory that an NPC cannot explain to you, points awarded for subtlety)
+Rating of monsters and NPC backstories in the area
+Layout of the dungeon and how difficult it is to map
+Layout of the information of the dungeon and presentation overall.
+Insistence on playing the dungeon as-presented. No on the fly modifications or spot checks, run the adventure EXACTLY as is. There's no point in a recommendation if someone tells me they changed an aspect or two.
+Multiple play sessions with completely different parties, and possibly different DMs. Since every group is different, it would be nice to get averages, but this is the most "wishful thinking" want of them all

What I don't want:
-Ratings of the physical medium. I don't care how good quality the book is, just the info
-Ratings of the art work. Unless it's exceptionally superb or so bad it gets in the way of readability, it doesn't matter.
-Waxing philosophic about interpretations of the story or it's meanings
-Comments about something "problematic" or bad/laughable without proper explanations why
-Recountings of sessions with no proper reason. If you need to talk about how much of a mistake a design element is or how good it is, that's fine, but I don't wanna hear about your party or their story.
-A reviewer that has a million house rules to fix things. Again, no point in getting a recommendation if problems arise from standard play
-Unclear or clever rating systems. I should just be able to look and get a firm idea of what to expect, instead of trying to determine what "I give this game a PIRATE SKULL!" means

>>55311763
Why do all of your dungeons come off as a cross between a dungeon, subway, and shopping mall?

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OC

>>55311763
No "The gods exist because the cleric gets miracles when he prays to them"?

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>>55314690
I love the trombone. And the magic pillows seem like something they looted from a noble's house. Sir Cosby of the Holy Wood, maybe.

>>55311763
what software does one use to make maps and pages like this?

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>>55314703
Or any "because X exists arguments." I mean, someone had to make bananas.

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More session reports:

https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/09/osr-tomb-of-serpent-kings-session-8.html

In which the party invests money, avoids danger, and considers their future. The Paladin is also cheated out of a vast fortune.

So this mighy be a dumb question, but how do you use the custom maps (like the ones in TotSK) in your game? Do you just draw the whole thing out onto a game map? Or do you print it out or something?

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>>55315405
For TotSK, I describe the rooms and have one of the players draw the map. They get stuff slightly wrong, which adds to the charm. They can also add notes.

For some adventures where exploration is less important, I might hand out a blank map with unlabelled rooms, but most of the time, the players draw their own map as the game goes on.

I've got a printed copy for my own use, with note and extra marks (like where corpses are, what traps were discovered, etc.)

>>55315405
>The map is critically important to information about the game
Do what >>55315430 says. Describe the room, give measurements and direction, and let them draw it on their own. Do not correct them unless they make a painstakingly obvious error.

>Map isn't important, but players need a physical reference to remember rooms because players r dum
Sticky notes. Write down the name of the room, maybe draw the shape of them, and then slap them down on the table and move all the player pawns there.

Does anyone have any charts or tables for furniture prices? My adventurers start out living in a dingy tenement house as a home base and I want to give them incentives to spruce up the place.

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Do you use all demihumans, pick Judy one type and stick with it? I don't see why you'd need kobolds AND goblins for the weak crafty guys, then gnolls AND orcs for the barbarian humanoid guys when they could more or less fill the same role.

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>>55316043
I add them in on an as-needed basis.
Goblins are the generic default amorphous mass of low-level gits. There are weird cave cannibal goblins, militant goblins, goblins with cities, goblins with gunpowder, and goblins that have been mutated, altered, bent, stretched, and morphed to make better soliders or servants or whatever.

Kobolds are dragon-created fawning servants. Goblins are dumb but enthusiastic. Kobolds are smarter but neurotic.

Not sure if orcs or gnolls are in the setting yet. Probably not gnolls.

Basically, pick an ecological or sociological niche and chuck a race into it.

>>55309444
GLOG hack of my own because I love memes (and low HP games are my fetish). I've ran into an issue however:

How do I determine the Attack rating of a monster? Half their HD+11? I can't remember anywhere in the rules or on the blog that clarified this.

Also would like advice on how to run a no map/little map usage game. I'm a filthy plebian who got introduced into hobby via Roll20 with a bunch of eurofags long ago, so the concept of playing without a detailed map sitting in front of you is kinda alien to me. Namely how to adjudicate movement and such.

Alasy, trying to make a simple Death and Dismemberment rule. Suffering horrible fates from a table is all well and good (Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/etc were my shit) but I feel like it would slow down combat every time a character starts to get their shit pushed in. I'm feeling something like once a player is sent into the negatives they roll a d20. If they roll under their current number of negative hit points they die. If they pass they suffer an injury that lowers CON and another stat by one until the injury is healed. Negative HP players also reroll the d20 every round there after to see if they die or not. Injuries also raise the TN by 2 so a heavily crippled character may have to pass a TN check of 9 if they drop to -1.

If I wanted to make it more punishing I'd probably make it so this roll is just a straight CON check than a roll under, but I feel like CON is too essential as is in GLOG.

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>>55316118
>I can't remember anywhere in the rules or on the blog that clarified this.
I just eyeball it.


Some really shitty things have 8 or even 6.
Most stuff has 10.
Things that are competent fighters have 12.
Things that are scary as fuck fighters have 14.
Things that are scary, competent, and powerful have 15 or even 17.

>but I feel like it would slow down combat every time a character starts to get their shit pushed in
it doesn't. It also gives a "down" player something to do (rolling to remove Fatal Wound). It's really quick.

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>>55316043
>pick Judy one type

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>>55316307
Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a quay and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
It's rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
It's letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

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>>55316307

>>55316328
This literally caused me physical pain to read, I just want you to know that.

How does morale work? Is it 2d6 or 3d6?

>>55316043
Maybe it wouldn't matter so much if you didn't treat different races as one-dimensional caricatures. I bet you're white.

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Alright, I finally finished a dungeon. Once belonging to a cult of worshippers who followed a minor deity of the physical heart, who promised to preserve the followers heart for the afterlife.

Please rate.

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^ And the writeup.

I'm trying to write a setting from scratch, which I've never done before. What I'm having trouble with is figuring out how the government works. I want the towns and cities to be governed independently, sort of like a republic, I guess, and I want there to be a feeling of lawlessness outside of towns and cities, but I also want there to be a royal family that are descended from the original settlers that would be the main authority, but I don't want them to have absolute power, either. What kind of government does this sound like? How should I handle this?

>>55317454
Close enough to a republic that I doubt anyone will correct you.

Mabye have the nobles have knights or other mounted men that roam from town to town acting as the law? Dogs in the Vineyard style?

>>55315922

You might consult a book or two on building strongholds. It will give you a general guide on how much it costs to build one. Other than that be careful not getting bogged down in minutiae and turning the game into a RPG version of The Sims (TM).

>>55317454
Sounds a bit like a constitutional monarchy to me.

>>55311072
No, binary success/failure. I actually want the game to resemble old-school stuff. There is a hint of storygaming in it, but I'm trying to avoid the Dungeon World meme. I just like 2d6 because it condenses the bonuses and penalties.

>>55317359
benis in m2

>>55316043
In my game, goblins are essentially bobcats that developed opposable thumbs, bipedal locomotion, and basic tools. They're agile, have keen senses, and reproduce like rats, but aren't actually that bright.

Kobolds actually have a discernable culture with mythology and genealogical records and stuff, and, more relevant to players, are relatively intelligent and have some grasp of logic/tactics/engineering/etc. They're just as easy to manipulate, just not with the same approach as with goblins.

That said, I stick to hordes of lesser demons to fill the standard "kill the women and salt the fields" barbarian niche.

>>55317238
At least in B/X, it's supposed to be 2d6. 3d6 would produce encounter after encounter of spineless cowards.

>>55313455
> Shit like always
but no bathroom jokes in this one

>>55313978
> This dungeon is immensely silly
I wanted the spirituality that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier achieved

>>55314404
> a subway dungeon
good idea

>>55314703
> cleric gets miracles when he prays to them
and our sessions are invariably resolved by deus ex machina—also strong evidence I think

>>55314812
photoshop maybe I will upload a screencast

>>55319934
You also failed to account for "I talk to my god all the time. He's a pretty chill guy."

>>55319964
sphinx transports you to padded cell

>>55311763
is there a back catalogue of these saved somewhere? google drive/imgur album or something?

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>>55310246
I love this concept. I hope you'll post it here when it's ready.

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How would you make a Cyberpunk OSR work?

>>55316118
By Attack rating do you mean the penalty to a PC's defense roll? For a map lite game, are you running it in person or online? Ate you using a map or not not one at all?

>>55317359
Needs more loops! But honestly, it just seems small.

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>>55322225
This is a good start. It's d20 based but there are some solid basic concepts that can be OSRified.

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>>55322225
This is another basic conversion. At 7 pages it feels incomplete but it is OSR based.

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I'm running a Star Wars game using a modified version of BFRPG.
In a traditional 20-level system, what level would you put the following characters:
>Darth Vader
>Boba Fett
>Han Solo
>Chewbacca
>The Emperor
>ANH Luke Skywalker
>ESB Luke Skywalker
>RotJ Luke Skywalker
I'm ONLY using feats from the movies, so no FTL reaction speeds or anything silly like that from the comics and whatnot.

>>55323694
Oh, also, forgot to mention: I'm ignoring the prequels entirely, so Vader and the Emperor only have feats from the original trilogy.

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>>55323694
>>55323714
I'd be... very cautious about your approach. Star Wars is space opera. It operates under a very different set of assumptions compared to OSR games. BFRPG might not have all the tools you need to run this kind of game. I'd try something like Fate Core instead.

Giving Vader a "level" almost completely missed the point. He doesn't run on rules, he runs on plot.

>>55323955
>Giving Vader a "level" almost completely missed the point. He doesn't run on rules, he runs on plot.
Yeah I agree, I was trying to think of a way to make him unkillable while still not giving him the ability to simply wipe out all of the PCs in one round. High-level characters like him wouldn't come into play until way later in a campaign.
Boba Fett, Han Solo, Luke, etc., could work in an OSR system, I think, as long as they're used sparingly.
It's more of a challenge to the GM than the system, I think.

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>>55324037
>It's more of a challenge to the GM than the system, I think.
I think Fate gives you a lot more tools to manage this as a GM than BFRPG.

There's also a /swg/ where this sort of thing has been discussed to death, so that might be worth checking out
>>55295197

>>55324064
Thanks, I'll check Fate out.

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>>55324076
This might come in handy.

>>55324101
Thanks mate, I'll take a look!

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What artists have been inspiring you lately?

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>>55325432

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>>55325432
Kentaro Miura

>Player's PC gets brutally murdered by a monster
>Rolls up a new character and gets much better stats than his old PC.

That's a win-win situation really.
As DM I get to cackle maniacally and while the player is sad about dying he at least gets a consolation prize out of it.

So, Courtney Campbell's Treasure table looks really great and if someone asks for a treasure table, they get recommended to use that one. Understandably so --- it's got way more interesting stuff than a lot of other ones.

But...

How exactly are you supposed to use it? Like if I have a room which is supposed to have a treasure of approximately 35 gp in it or something, how do I generate what is in that treasure? Am I just missing something?

>Instead of adding HP per level, CON grants soak points
>In each combat encounter, you may absorb up to your Con modifier in damage points for free from any attack that hits you
>If you have a negative Con modifier, instead you take additional damage the first time you are hit, damage bonus equal to your Con's negative modifier.

How do you feel about this?

>>55326632
Haven't fucked it, even though I should. But this is how I'd do it.
>figure out if your campaign is low, medium or high treasure based on how you want characters to level
>make from that base average treasure unit either by party average level or monster HD
>for each treasure horde roll on the horde size, base value table
>roll types of treasure per unit
>roll for details of each unit
>divide total value between units based on details so it matches up intuitively enough

>>55314812
https://youtu.be/zlLKC-93vYQ

>>55326819
Do you still have base hp but it doesn't advance and Con as soak?

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>>55325432
Just found these bandits and I really like how patchwork they are.

>>55325513
>I put on my mspaint vision crystals
>everything is the same
nice

>>55326819
Interesting. I like it.

Though I'd probably make every hit take the additional damage from low Con, not just the first.

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>>55325646
Excellent taste.

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>>55325432
Random people on tumblr and DeviantArt

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Hey hrrr, if you still lurk these threads, do you have a more recent edit of B&X? All I have is a copy from late March.

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>>55327403

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>>55326632
It's cool but it's slooooow.
What
>>55326958
Said works. Or just steal bits and write a much faster version. Or eyeball values.

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https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/09/osr-caves-and-props.html

I made a thing about 3D caves.

I've been thinking of an alternate generation system for stats. Only focus on the modifiers.

Roll 3d6 as normal. Then count each roll of one as -1, each roll of 6 as +1, and everything else as zero. Cancel any negatives and positives out, and the final modifier is your stat by itself.

Same odds of getting a +3 or -3, but I'd imagine a plus and minus usually balancing out. What do you think?

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Hey guys. It's me. The 5E guy.
I just want you guys to know I've retired from my awful ways. I've seen the light. I actually do own BFRPG and I browse these threads everyday. I also have never played 5E. You guys have answered a lot of my questions with helpful information and I appreciate it a lot.
In my quest for self-improvement I've decided to spare you guys from my barrages. I will use that energy more productively and aim that negativity to other boards that deserve it like /tv/ because it's full of redditors.

>>55328941
Circle jerk shitposting is still shitposting.

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>>55328965
And a good evening to you, my friend. Hope you're doing well.

>>55328941
I mean, I'm relatively new to the threads and I have no idea what half of these people are talking about, but thank you.

So, my friends, a question to you. What draws you to the OSR? What first got you hooked into the old ways, and what do you like about it?

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>>55329789
The DIY nature, the simple rules, and the wide-open design space.

It's got fun problems to solve.

>>55329789
Like every other genre of tabletop, it's not the mechanics of the system or systems, but the community that keeps people here.

>>55329886
Is that supposed to be a specific monster? It looks neat.

>>55329789
Heroes not superheroes. Makes figuring out the capabilities of the PCs and the world much easier.

Living organic worlds. Dungeons aren't carefully designed to provide an "appropriate" challenge. Things happen because they make sense instead of "because the game requires it".

>>55330585
Purple Worm Beholder hybrid?

>>55309444
I got into a fist fight yesterday and broke a tooth in half so I was inspired to finish up my own death and dismemberment table!
http://melancholiesandmirth.blogspot.com/2017/09/perishing-and-perdition-table.html

>>55310246
Sounds very classical mythology/folktale! I would be interested how the magic items worked.

>>55326819
Why not simply apply soak to every attack?

>>55329789
How mechanically sound the systems are and how well they mechanically incentivize theme and tone.

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>>55330585
No idea.

Brings up a good point though. Do your players know what they are facing most of the time?

Sure, if the PCs grew up in an area with goblins, they know what goblins are. But if they encounter some weird underground monster thing, do they often know what they are fighting? Do you keep it vague or add twists (like the purple worm-beholder thing)?
>I got into a fist fight yesterday and broke a tooth in half
Jeeze, I knew people take GLOGposting seriously, but that seems a bit extreme.

>>55325432
Probably pretty much the same as you. Piranesi, Robert's caprices, Rembrandt, the floor plans of castles from various books, the Pre-Raphaelites' paintings of knights. Trampier's illustrations of greedy dungeoneers and Mignola's comic art of Lankhmar.

>>55330678
>M&M guy got into a fight
Somehow I'm not even a little surprised


>>55330775
>Do your players know what they are facing most of the time?

Imma run off with your post on a slight tangent

I think 'standard' monsters are a shitshow that makes people yawn. At the same time, pitting the players against randomly generated esoteric HP and power blobs in some nameless hole somewhere doesn't really work either. You gotta have hints clues, omens, portents as to what 'unknown' monsters are capable of or you end up with players just sorta goign 'well fuck it it's weird but lets try chopping it up' and then it dies or if it was TOO weird, they die.

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How can I replace the spell system in ACKs to revolve around staffs instead of spellbooks? I'm all for learning arcane arts and all through the acquisition of esoteric knowledge, but I just feel staffs fit the vibe I'm going for more than spellbooks.

>>55329789
>What draws you to the OSR? What first got you hooked into the old ways, and what do you like about it?
The game rules actually make sense and fit together to form a cohesive, self-reinforcing whole. Almost no roleplaying games actually do this. Also I like the style of that whole -- initially desperate, weak guys risking their lives every time they delve into a dungeon hunting for riches who can eventually become the heroic leaders of armies in miniature battles.

I like the sandbox play instead of having a plot and railroading it. I like the lethality level. I like never fudging the dice. I like the disregard of balance in challenges and to some extent rewards, while the PC classes are sufficiently balanced to not overshadow each other. I like race-as-class, saving throws that make sense, and Chainmail Man-To-Man combat.


Also, as a 3E refugree, I like that the rules are super simple and fast, and that nothing is connected with anything else, unified or streamlined but instead a collection of ad-hoc rule modules each of which does what it was crafted to do and was created because of the requirements of gameplay. It's about a million times more fun to homebrew in this environment, not to mention easier.

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>>55331108
>I think 'standard' monsters are a shitshow that makes people yawn.
I think it depends on presentation. A Beholder is some sort of god-tyrant-spellcaster from hell, with the appropriate omens.

But those omens can also obscure what the PCs are facing, in a way. Make it more than just a Monster Manual Entry.

>>55322650
Yes, and I'm probably going to be using R20, so map is there but I find that using a big ole detailed map slows the game to a crawl. Reading over some session summaries it seems like people get so much more shit done while using no map so I'm curious how it works.

>>55309444
One level dungeon to run over Fall Break. Was a little too Monty Haul in my summer campaign.

>>55329789
A mixture of the ethos behind it, the aesthetic, and the fact that I hated my players. I got sick of edgelords who disrespected me and the efforts I put in to run a fun game.

Does anyone have any recommendations for high level adventure modules? Plane hopping or domain focused, doesn't matter. Any edition is fine as well, since I'm converting everything to Godbound. I just need some idea inspiration and/or a rough event outline.

Anyone have a good suggestion for a space hulk dungeon crawl? Doubly good if it's full of art

Aside from the core fighter/m-u/thief/cleric/elf/dwarf/halfling, what classes/races are worth a damn to have in an oldschool, low fantasy or sword & sorcery campaign.

half-whatevers (esp. elves) are out. dark elves and anything similarly "edgy for 14 year olds" is out. bards are definitely out.

Anything that would be at home in say, Conan or Lankhmar

>>55335094
Honestly, for the real Conan/Lankhmar feel F/MU/T is probably all you need. It's hard to identify anything missing from that triad.

>>55335241
>It's hard to identify anything missing from that triad.
Conan sensibilities aside, players need the ability to erase their mistakes, and to help stave off the effects of the enemies. The only class that has any ability to do that is cleric.

>>55324037
I'd suggest not featuring canon characters at all, or only remotely (ie, getting a coded message from some shady rebel codenamed "solo"). They steal the show. The movies revolve around the Skywalker clan because they're literally the most crucial events going on in the universe.

Either that, or get comfortable with the idea of forking the universe. If they kill Luke, things will be different. Plot armor doesn't fly in RPG's.

Level 1 is someone with a spark of talent. Luke just as he leaves Tatooine.

Level 2-5 is an experienced vet. Han, Chewie or Leia. When faced with overwhelming odds (like a squad of storm troopers) they run away.

Level 8-12 is for the heavy hitters. Vader in Empire Strikes Back might be 12 or 13. This is the guy who ganked most of the Jedi Council, and the only guy we ever see shrug off blaster fire like it was nothing. More to the point, he has almost unlimited command of imperial resources. You won't even get on the same planet as him unless he wants to see you.

Palpatine is probably also level 10-12, with more tricky magic items. It takes someone like Vader to finish him off.

After level 15, I think the numbers start getting too high to be interesting (or depending on the system, there's very little progress after that).

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>>55335685
You could just go the way Beyond the Wall and a few other games do it, and roll some of the clerics utility into the mage. I honestly prefer it that way DESU.

>>55336596
Why not just make a new class that is the Magic-User with the Cleric spell list and call it a White Mage at that point?

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Any good OSR games for Mekton Zeta-style mecha combat?

>>55335685
Valid as it is, that's a game concern, though. I was responding entirely in the context of
>would be at home in say, Conan or Lankhmar
where there really isn't anything like a cleric.

>>55329789
Procedural generation, light rules, no grid combat grind, weird shit people come up with.

>>55337007
Well, that's why I prefaced "Conan sensibilities aside". I was just easily identifying something missing from the F/MU/T triad.

>>55333515
Warband! if you want 40k rogue trader era slaves to chaos sort of stuff. Hulks & Horrors if you want something more sedate. Stars Without Number probably has a decent table generator for space hulk like things, it has a decent table generator for pretty much everything scifi tropic.

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>>55336906
Alternatively, are there any more Heavy Gear-esque OSR games? Really just looking for a mecha fix in OSR form.

>>55337154

What needs to be OSR about it? The old rules work fine and there are a handful of more modern mech combat games that are decent.

>>55337570
I want something really simple and easy to pick up. That's what I love about OSR.

>>55329789

A mix of looking to move away from Pathfinder and find something similar, but simpler, and Patrick Stuart. Bought MoTBM and DCO on a whim and fell in love with the style, started collecting more stuff from him and then that led into reading LotFP stuff.

I'm collecting a sample of combat situations and their resolution to calibrate myself against.

A PC is fighting an orc. The orc wants to wrestle the PC to the ground, pull a knife and stab away. How do you solve it?

I would start with initiative. On the orcs turn, the orc lunges. If the PC fails his defense (orc hits), the PC gets wrestled to the ground. PC takes no damage but any larger weapons carried are useless and they are prone with a nasty orc on top of them. Both can draw knives as a free action.

But there are many ways to solve this: Combat maneuvers, PC gets a free attack as the orc lunges, PC automatically wins imitative next round. I guess KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is a good rule of thumb.

>>55338294
>A PC is fighting an orc. The orc wants to wrestle the PC to the ground, pull a knife and stab away. How do you solve it?
When the orc attempts to wrestle me, I attempt to wrestle back, and if I win, German suplex the beast.

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>>55326987

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>>55336890
Maybe they want a more generalist magic class. Maybe they're playing with only 3 people and want to cover all their bases without needing an NPC. Maybe the setting doesn't have clerical style magic. It's all personal preference and the goals of whoever's designing the game.

>>55337154
>>55336906
>>55337592

OSR games are generally based around exploration, even the sci-fi oriented ones like SWN. It's really not the best fit for a game built around mech combat. That's not even factoring what genre and size of mecha you'd be trying to emulate. The closest you'd get is a Stars Without Number campaign with a heavy focus on "real robot" style stuff. You're way better off with Heavy Gear, or maybe even FATE if you're more into the narrative and aesthetics and less about detailing the specs for your dream machine in exacting detail.

>>55338866
Yeah I was looking at Heavy Gear, do you know how crunchy it is vs something like BFRPG? I don't want the game to be bogged down by tons of rules.

>>55338888
Just to clarify, BFRPG is the only RPG I've actually played, which is why I'm asking for a comparison between the two in terms of complexity

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>>55336906
>>55337154
take a look at Skerples's Flame Promerium concept;

https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/osr-flame-pomerium-or-giant-mecha-fights.html

https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/osr-flame-pomerium-part-2-giant-mecha.html

https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/osr-flame-pomerium-part-3-giant-mecha.html

https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/osr-flame-pomerium-part-3-giant-mecha.html

https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/osr-flame-pomerium-how-to-run-giant.html

>>55339051
I've seen this tossed around before in these threads and it looks fucking awesome. It's a really alien concept to me but super interesting.
I was toying with the idea of a setting where humans exist but are some of the smallest living things on the planet, and most other things are dinosaur-sized, so humans create primitive mecha to do tasks that would normally be mundane like hunting and gathering.
Dungeons could also be massive, left over ruins from an ancient, long-dead civilization of giants.
So basically it'd have exploring and dungeon crawling like normal OSR but the PCs are in 20 meter tall mecha, and weapons and stuff would be relics left over by the ancient civilization of giants.
What do you guys think?

>>55338904
>>55338888
Both Heavy Gear and Mekton Zeta are way more crunchy than BFRPG. Heavy Gear is more oriented to VOTOMS style real robots, Mekton Zeta is more of a toolbox for building your own setting that can be anything from near future power armor to Gundam war stories or Giant Robo/Gigantor?GaoGaiGar Super Robots. But it also has way more moving parts making it more complicated than HG. Try the PDF Share thread and take a look at the books.

>>55338294
From The NIghtmares Underneath

The orc makes an attack. If successful, it deals damage to the PC's disposition(their HP) or, if they're out of disposition, directly to their Health(con) score. Assuming the PC survives, they probably succeed in kicking the orc off them and getting their big weapon back if they were wielding a 2 handed weapon, but if they're fine with normal 1-handed damage and continuing to attack the orc, maybe they're rolling around on the ground stabbing each other with knives still.

Basically any concerted attempt to kill or incapacitate your enemy with physical violence is an attack that deals damage to the enemy, then once they're at 0 disposition you can take them out as you please- maybe they're grappled, maybe they're dead. Your damage is based on what HD you roll, so warriors deal 1d10 damage or 1d12 with a 2handed weapon, or 1d8 bare handed, while wizards do 1d4. Specific weapons don't matter, being Sir Killsalot or Mr. Squishy matters.

It's a bit meta, but I like it a lot- doesn't complicate things and doesn't overcomplicate combat into a mini-wargame- reducing enemy HP to 0 is done by attacks, and grappling or pushing people into lava doesn't let you circumvent the conflict resolution system, but it's not saying 'fuck you just swing your sword,' it just assumes that creatures with high disposition are hard to defeat no matter how you try to defeat them.

>>55309444
>OP Image
>"Level 1 beer summoning spell can summon any beer... as long as it's PBR."
Man, being Level 1 is the worst.

>>55339472
It's to meta for me. With these rules, there's no difference between the orc wrestling and the orc attacking with his sword. I like the fcitional positioning. "You are pinned to the ground with an angry orc above you. What do you do?". And the wrestle might be important. What if theres a byg rotating scythe goin around? Or if someone has a magic bow that only hurts standing enemies? Or if the PC really just wants to run away? Pushing people into lava is smart strategy that would work reasonably well in real life. This should be reflected in the game. It feels very weird to decouple fiction and combat.

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>>55331132
Bump

>>55339148
could work, if you want to include firearms and other exotic weapons look up Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, it's got the best rules of that sort I've seen in the OSR(has some other great stuff as well)

>>55340242
I'll check it out mate, thanks.

>>55325646
Muh Man

>>55331132
That's an easy one. All spells need to be "bound" within a staff.

Done.

>>55340613
Nice, danke.

>>55328895
i thought the same thing a month ago. Didnt used it yet but looks perfect

>>55340230
replace every instance of spellbook with staff

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>>55335094
>>55335241
>>55335685
>>55336596
>>55336890
>>55338866

This is what I've been doing. I've removed the cleric and moved their abilities or something close to it to the MU's chasis. You are now the healslut support class, but you're pretty good at it. I've made sure to include ways to end curses (temporarily?), heal status effects, ward, and turn undead all at first level as part of the new magic system.

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>>55341297
Why don't you just play final fantasy then?

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>>55341465

Because I didn't want the black mage either?

Listen man, not trying to say my method is the only one that works, but it was a natural result when I started to really take a hard look at B/X and OSR games.

There are three elements to dungeon navigation. Fighting, Bypassing hazards, and Support. Fighting is self explanatory, Bypassing Hazards includes stealth, disarming traps, opening locked doors, jumping over pools of acid, etc. Finally Support is all about making sure the party has full health, light, food, is free from curses and negative status effects and so on.

So when you really boil it down, the three classes that fit the triangle the best are Fighter, Rogue, and White Mage/Sage as I call them.

I still like the image of a Wizard throwing fireballs and lightning bolts though, so I relegated these two magical staves/wands as weapons for the Sage to work. Which I think supports the fluff a little better, and makes the world easier to use if you can actually disarm them and they aren't just demigods running around all the time.

You may not come to this conclusion, but I have. Final Fantasy has nothing to do with it besides the picture I used.

>>55341833
You're looking at it far to mechanically. Are you autistic? Seriously.

>>55341833
I think your conclusion of dungeon navigation is mistaken, especially because Bypassing Hazards can completely nullify the need for Support and/or Fighting if done well enough. And don't give me that malarkey that you will eventually have to, or I'll have to post the article about the level 1 wizard surviving solo in a Gygaxian dungeon under Gygax himself.

Plus, your elements are mixing. Support and Bypassing Hazards mingle far, far too much conceptually for this to be a good separation of roles. Often times support items allow you to bypass hazards, and some things that let you fight well can help bypass hazards.

I think you need to go back to the drawing board. Your conclusion seems undercooked.

Assuming perfect play, how many characters should die per session?

>>55342098
How many are at your table?

>>55342098
None.

>>55342098
>Assuming perfect play

0, what else would perfect play mean?

>>55342098

At least 1.

You should always have at least 1 character die per session. If somebody has a character that hasn't died for a long time, target them before the others to keep the low level treadmill going. You're not allowed to actually use all that "name level" and "magic item creation" shit at the back of the book.

>>55342149
>>55342151
Consider that even if our perfectly spherical frictionless players make all the right choices to get through a dungeon made to Gygaxian standards, dice still have to be rolled.

>>55342280
>dice still have to be rolled
Theoretically no, if played perfectly.

>>55342206
Trap sprung, newschooler - there are no magic item creation rules for players. Go back to Starfinder and figure out your "optimal builds" there, since you obviously can't handle risk and resource management.

>>55342355
Does that mean that the GM rolling a wandering monster check is player failure?

>>55342385
A perfect play would have players doing every necessary action for there not to be a check in the first place, or for the wandering monsters never reaching them.

>>55342423
A strange game.

The only winning move is not to play.

>>55341833
You're being too earnest with the final fantasy bait. Sounds like your navigation breakdown is workable enough to play games and make classes for homebrew.

>>55342003
Doesn't seem fair to say the potential for elimination of a category in some cases invalidates the category in all cases. They're necessarily mixed elements, its a role playing game with reactive humans. Sounds like they were making a model to aid description/conceptualization and its handy enough for that. I'd probably distinguish between living hazards you can negotiate with and trap-like hazards that are fixed but require innovative navigation.

>>55342440
I'd say that the best winning move is to not make a move, but sure.

Is Veins of the Earth in the trove?

>>55342098
>Assuming perfect play
boooorrrrrring

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>>55339051
>>55339148
Thanks! If you give it a try, let me know how it goes.
>What do you guys think?
I think it`s a cool idea.

>>55340242
>Fantastic Heroes & Witchery
Good suggestion, I've got to check that out>

>>55342098
> Assuming perfect play, how many characters should die per session?
Zero.

But that's never going to happen, mostly because "perfect" is fairly meaningless in this context.

And also my players are dumb. Fun, but dumb.
>>55342280
Sorry,
> perfectly spherical frictionless players
You need to specify
> perfectly spherical uniform frictionless players
or else the density of player mass might vary from one side of the sphere to the other. That leads to wobbles.

>>55342644
I yield to your superior understanding of dorkbody physics.

>>55342455
>Doesn't seem fair to say the potential for elimination of a category in some cases invalidates the category in all cases.
Well sure it is. The entire point of categorization is to narrow down the elements of game design into something recognizable to build upon those blocks. If items are mixing, then the categorization has failed. We even use the word "element" in our discussion, and elements by nature are pure and separate building blocks of other elements. I mean, how can one say that they've narrowed down the fundamentals of dungeon crawling experiences if you can have one category systematically nullify the other categories? It's a premature conclusion is what it is.

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>>55342657
Thank you. Most of the players at my FLGS are uniform spherical frictionless players.
-ex-Mil, but not the interesting kind
-fat as fuck. Like pic related but gone to seed.
-socially awkward

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>>55342462
Check the Inbox folder.

>>55342673
Categories can overlap, not to exclusion. Its a model not the functioning system itself. Didn't seem like they were trying to make an analytic formula.

>>55342940
Thank you.

>>55343033
>Categories can overlap, not to exclusion
Only when categorizing things like genre where overlap is encouraged and expected. For the point of devising game rules, this winds up not being all too terribly helpful. You need to isolate the elements of a game in order to successfully build upon them without the clutter and junk.

>Its a model not the functioning system itself
That's rather my complaint. It's fine to have a model, and I encourage it, but models fall apart and are rebuilt. Part of the process.

>Didn't seem like they were trying to make an analytic formula.
What else is the point of trying to separate the dungeon exploring elements if not to analyze the experience?

>>55342462
As someone who found out about Veins and Fire on the Velvet Horizon through that interesting monster thread a week back and fell in love with them, are there other books that capture the feel of those two?

So /osr/, I've been reading accounts of WWI battles lately and it got me thinking. What about running a game set in that time period? Dungeons are complexes dug by monsters, which soldiers bump into as they dig trenches. The army (doesn't matter which one) sends their undesirables, loonies, and otherwise expendable troops (the PCs) to clear these nests to keep the trenches secure. Coincidentially, the gold in the dungeons fuels the war effort. As PCs get higher level they can clean out more dangerous complexes to help their army advance, possibly even using the dungeons to undermine the opposing trenches. Also, this lets me justify goblins getting a faceful of buckshot before getting the bayonet. Thoughts?

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I made an entire weird war setting before, and I think it's pretty cool. You can OSR pretty much anything.

I don't how you'd do magic in this game, or if you would at all, but it seems pretty interesting. Save vs mustard gas and save vs machine gun fire seem like givens. Just don't be that guy who makes the Austrians the Orcs, try to be creative.

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>>55343764
I have nothing to offer other than
1) fund it, and
2) /tg/ is already on it, except it was tiny fairies.

>>55343816
Did you use the actual world as the setting, or did you cook up your own fantasy world? My first thought would be just to use the real world, with the caveats of monsters and maybe magic being real things. That saves me the trouble of inventing a whole geopolitical landscape or renaming the real world geopolitical landscape to seem original.

Any OSR systems built for Fallout style settings?

>>55344788
Gamma World

>>55344957
Have you played it? I've found a few in my searching but they're obviously very niche so hard to find reviews.

>>55343215
If its about what different classes do and how players go through dungeons, its going to have overlap. That's an inherent necessity. Sounds like we have specifically different goals and ideas in regards to contextual systems and networks. Or that you're not really into network theory, more into something else with isolated systems. Hermeneutics?
The categories of games played by humans who on the spot improvise and change are going to inherently cross over, so I'd have the model reflect that rather than try to make isolated parts that only function in the model.

Agree on the rebuilding part though.

>looking into a new game
>looks fucking awesome
>descending AC
dropped

What systems are there for items which are made out of unconventional materials? Wood, stone, bronze, mithril, adamantine, orichalcum, silver...

>>55345217
You mean weapons and stuff? What are you looking to get out of it? I'd just give them modifiers.

>>55345291
I use BFRPG for fantasy stuff, I'm looking for post-apocalyptic stuff now, specifically Mutant Future. The game looks great but I really hate descending AC.

>>55345308
Y'know it's easy to convert to ascending, right?

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>>55345197

Try Tunnels & Trolls

>>55345325
Yeah but I don't understand why people still use descending. In fact, I don't understand why anybody ever used it.
At least include both, like White Star.

>>55345339
Because it's elegant, it's simple, it's blahblahblahblah look D&D did it that way, okay

>>55345236
Weapons and armour, looking to get effects of using them and prices.
>I'd just give them modifiers.
That's what I've been doing, but it feels unconvincing. Like is bronze mail really that much worse than steel? And swords?

>>55345339
Its intuitive enough to people who learned it that way. There might be something to differences in how math was taught when od&d came out to 3rd edition too, but not really sure how to sort that out.

>>55345359
Yeah this literally seems to be the reason. But why did D&D do it that way? I've heard Gygax just ripped it off from some other game at the time, but then the question just shifts over.
>>55345361
You could add durability but that seems like a chore. Maybe situational modifiers or something. Maybe make some materials resistant to magic damage or something, so say like superspellmetalsteel gets +1/-1 AC against spells? idk
>>55345391
>There might be something to differences in how math was taught when od&d came out to 3rd edition too
This is actually an interesting theory and I'd be interested if somebody were to write something up on it

>>55345424
IIRC, it came from naval wargames. AC1 is better than AC3 because AC1 is literally first-rate warship armor. And of course, warships don't change their armor as often as PCs.

>>55345518
This makes sense, thanks for bringing it to my attention

>>55345339
It's marginally easier to use with multiple combatants. You roll all the dice and then just roll damage for the ones that hit the target number, instead of having to add the bonus onto each roll individually.

That's the historical reason, anyway. Otherwise, it's fairly pointless.

>>55344788

I'm working on it. Based unironically on >>55311560 Stay Tuned.

>>55344685

I made a fantasy setting for itt. Can't offend anyone and makes a better explanation for magic, monsters, etc.

>>55343764
I'd advise reading accounts of tunnel-fighting in WWI as well as trench warfare, since it was a quite different environment despite being geographically in the same area.

Also, if there's money down there the PCs will want to keep some of it instead of turning it over. Plan ahead for that, turn it into another element of the game. Sneaking it past the officers, hiding it, etc.

>>55343270

Anything written by Patrick Stuart feels like its written by Patrick Stuart. To add to those two books look into Deep Carbon Observatory and Maze of the Blue Medusa.

>>55345062
>If its about what different classes do and how players go through dungeons, its going to have overlap. That's an inherent necessity.
No, that's a pretty demonstrably false statement. Classes provide radically different things and toolsets in regards to problem solving and each class can and already has been broken down into their core components by game devs for years. It's where the whole Tank-DPS-Healer trifecta comes from, and even outside of MMOs, you can break down the roles pretty succinctly. The idea that there WILL be overlap (beyond the most rudimentary of common human ability) is farcical.

>Sounds like we have specifically different goals and ideas in regards to contextual systems and networks. Or that you're not really into network theory, more into something else with isolated systems.
>Hermeneutics?
The fuck is with you throwing out these $6 words? Not only that, but it feels like it has little to do with the overall conversation other than "we appear to disagree on something" which is obvious from the outset. Why did you even bother typing this mess up. Talk like a human, not like you're in a performance review trying to upsell what it is you do at the company.

Not only that, but your completely off base here. You're bringing up networking theory and "contextual systems", but you're not even realizing that a large part of analysis is breaking down the system into it's core components and, ya'know, analyzing them. You're also presupposing that classes have to have overlap, and when pointed out they don't, it kind of crumbles down.

>The categories of games played by humans who on the spot improvise and change are going to inherently cross over
They'll have crossover in the sense that ideas will be reused, combined, and borrowed from each other, but ultimately class components can be broken down into their individual roles in a good game, and in bad games are generally a mess and trying to do too many things at once.

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More session writeups!

https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.ca/2017/09/osr-secret-of-steam-hill-session-5.html

In which the PCs fail to read the instructions, do some landscaping, buy a dubious wand, use a dubious wand, immediately regret using a dubious wand, panic, eat strange meat, and completely fail to be stealthy.

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I need ideas for a "weird fantasy" setting for an AD&D 1E game they I'm going to be running. Not really gonzo because I don't want there to be science fiction elements or anything, but I want it to have that same feeling and tone. I guess a more pulpy tone is what I'm after. What are some good resources for influence?

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>>55347284
You can't go wrong with Clark Ashton Smith and Jack Vance

>>55347319
Cool, I'll check them out. Thanks.

>>55333227
Just finished a Gogbound campaign. I used Lapis Observatory as a heaven shard. Qelong, Narcosa, A Red and Pleasant Land and Yoon-Suin as realms (Qelong is perfect for Godbound). Night Wolf Inn as a night road fortress. Vornheim for city adventures in the capital the players built with Dominion.
I think Deep Carbon Observatory would work as well as a Godbound module.

>>55347319
Is there any good online source for Vance's stuff? I've found all of one short story through... I think it was project gutenberg.

>>55347424
Not that I know of. Your best bet is to get a copy of the Dying Earth stories from your library or Amazon.

>>55347422
Thank you!

>>55338294
>The orc wants to wrestle the PC to the ground, pull a knife and stab away.
This is literally "a knife attack". If you've ever seen/practiced any knife or dagger fighting you know that you don't stay upright for too long and fencing just doesn't happen. Similarly, bullrushing some guy to grapple him even if he's armed is great way to get megastabbed. So the orc's hopes and dreams about guts don't really factor in, he's just attacking with his knife.

>>55344788
There's a work in (I think) progress by Anon called Ruinations of the Dust Princess.

>>55316307
True AD&D represent not talking about Judy hell God baby damn no to false editions

>>55344788
Other Dust by Kevin Crawford (author of Stars Without Number) is such a game. Sort of a sci-fi esque post-apocalypse, but given Fallout's laser weapons and the like, it fits exceptionally well into that style.

I'm running a campaign right now and it's excellent. Superb GM materials as usual for a sine nomine game. Should be in the trove; look in the stars without number folder.

>>55347284
>Weirdbook

What is this? I looked around and found that it's a magazine, but what does it contain and is it possible to get a hold of the old issues?

>>55347996
Oh mister Gygax the dice it come out of my bag!

>>55348387
It's a bunch of short stories (mostly influenced by Lovecraft, I think) with some illustrations. I found this one at a used bookstore while I was looking for old issues of Fangoria, so I don't how else to get them except for maybe eBay.

So, what funny new shit has LotFP been up to lately?

>>55349163
Got an email from their newsletter about a week ago. Looks like the referee book is up next. I'm going to guess that Zak's barbarian book or whatever will be delayed since he's working on that other urban mystery game.

>>55316890
Was it A GOOD PAIN?

>>55343816
Go full Tolkien. Once you're in the trench, you're an Orc.

>>55349239
Hasn't the referee book been out for years? And what's Zak's barbarian book? Or urban mystery game?

Jesus, I've been out of the loop it seems.

>>55349650
>Hasn't the referee book been out for years?
Not for the latest edition.

>And what's Zak's barbarian book?
A hexcrawl "but done well", according to him.

>Or urban mystery game?
Demon CIty, a Patreon was set up to fund it.

>>55349650
>Hasn't the referee book been out for years?
Yes, but he's making another, bigger one. It's a pretty huge project. He made a kickstarter for it a couple years back.

>And what's Zak's barbarian book?
Zak Smith's making a book about barbarians in the metal north or something. Not much is known.

>Or urban mystery game?
Something called Demon City which is kind of outside the OSR scene. Personally I have no interest in it so I don't know much.

>>55349650
>Hasn't the referee book been out for years?
No; it's been *missing* for years, and people have had to make do with PDFs of the old Referee book from the Grindhouse box set to go with their Rules & Magic hardbacks. The Referee hardback is way, way overdue -- maybe not in the technical sense since he controls his own publication timetable, but in terms of the need for the product in the catalog and waiting time for the crowdfund backers, definitely.

>what's Zak's barbarian book?
Metal Amazons of the Frozen North or something like that; it seems to be a basically Vornheim-style Weird Fantasy Viking/Frazetta-in-furs type setting with Zak's patented twist of everyone being mostly-naked hot bitches.

>>55349749
>Weird Fantasy Viking/Frazetta-in-furs type setting with Zak's patented twist of everyone being mostly-naked hot bitches
Isn't that just vanilla Frazetta?

>>55349718
I thought Demon City was OSR?

>>55349793
Stop right here, don't start the never-ending troll on what is and what is not OSR. Some say that only the purest D&D clones are OSR, others that everything that claims to be so is OSR. It is pointless.

>>55349793
It might be, I don't really care.

>>55349784
>Isn't that just vanilla Frazetta?
No, vanilla Frazetta has >50% mostly-naked oiled male barbarians.

>>55349793
It's not, and not because of some flamewar reason like >>55349812 is afraid of. It's an investigative horror game that seems to be informed by his hanging out with Ken Hite a lot and playing in his games; it's much more in the vein of his work for White Wolf on that Vampire phone game than the OSR. I'm pretty sure Zak himself would never identify it with DIY D&D since it hasn't got an ounce of D&D in it.

>>55345518
Everyone says this but I've never seen that actual naval war game rules

Also, the LBB has armor going from 9 to 2. Why 2?

>>55346211
>It's where the whole Tank-DPS-Healer trifecta comes from, and even outside of MMOs, you can break down the roles pretty succinctly. The idea that there WILL be overlap (beyond the most rudimentary of common human ability) is farcical.

but there is overlap between DPS and tanking.

>>55350204
Any way of getting our grabby paws on the playtest that doesn't involve 20 bucks a months?

Have any of you ever run a game in IRC? How do you handle dice rolls? All I've found are scripts that are on the user's end and seem to be dependent on the client. Is there a server with a dice bot or anything like that?

>>55350291
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=irc+dice+bot

>>55347422
How did that go by the way? I'm curious about how Godbounds's ridiculous high power levels will interact with lotfp adventure modules.

>>55350360
It differs a lot from the intended way to play those modules. The PCs have the means to solve permanently the issues blighting the commoners and put an end to their misery once and for all, instead of experiencing it first hand.
The unbeatable enemies one's meant to run from become manageable opponents. These are common in LotFP modules, and end up providing fitting challenges for godbounds.
In Qelong, they fought the entire column of myrmidons by themselves, then were tricked by the monks into completing their ritual, genociding the entire valley.
In ARaPL, they single-handedly defeated the Red King, but were nonetheless thwarted by the simplest weird-logic puzzles.
Vorheim was mostly court intrigue, so no power adjustment was needed. Any time they weren't subtle enough in using their divine gifts to rally important NPCs to their cause, they suffered backlash and made new enemies.
All in all, any module with a wide-enough focus can be used for Godbound, and pre-apocalyptic settings work best.

>>55350238
There is no overlap. DPS is about dealing damage, tanking about receiving damage. If you're talking about a fighter's abilities, then it does overlap DPS and tanking roles, but the Tank-DPS-Healer trifecta is not part of OSR design.

>>55350639
>tanking about receiving damage.

that's a byproduct, tanking is about directing enemy attention towards themselves and DPS is part of that.

>>55350639

It is sorta why I liked how 4e called it's defensive role, well, defenders. As they are not based around forcing the other guy to hit them in the face but for making attacking their allies a very unpleasant prospect (Like a swordmage throwing protective shields over his allies to blunt hits significantly against them).

Was a nice change from the mmo role of 'Hold aggro, tank hits, hope the healer is doing well enough to keep me alive'

>>55346211
If you can't see the overlap between it, I don't think we're going to be able to talk about it. You want closed systems. Roleplaying games with humans aren't closed systems. glhf.

>>55350753
>>55350788
It would be relevant if OSR games were about fighting, like 4e. OSR is not about fighting.

>>55350936
>wew looks like I was wrong better keep those goalposts on the move

>>55350936

I'm pretty sure that fighting is one of several things they are about. I mean, you have the Fighter for a pretty good reason.

>>55351430
It's a very '90s excuse. You are given a class whose main purpose is fighting, then told that the game isn't about fighting at all. Just needs a smug face going "what are you, a ROLLPLAYER"

>>55351748
You know, since a thing in OSR is how thieves shouldn't exist because "everyone is a thief," now I'm thinking of a variant where fighters don't exist because "everyone can fight." Unless there is one already?

>>55351794
Magic-users-only is the way to go.

Does Critkeeper not exist anymore? It's in the pastebin, but the link is dead and I can't find anything about it on Google.

>>55351794

Honestly, it wouldn't be a bad thing. Stats + Special Thing (That is something most people can't do. Like being a spellcaster) with people assumed to be Renaissance men who are good at most things a human can be good at.

>>55351813
You joke, but
>physical muscle wizard
>sneaky illusionist
>gallant white mage type
>dastardly sorceror
>primal shaman
>high-minded tech-arcanist
>and a fucking bard, of course

>>55351873
Chthonic Codex is a great way to play magi-users-only.

>>55351854

As an addendum to this: Disconnect stats from the special things. You wanna be a paladin? Make a high strength divine guy. Want to be a sorcerer? Make a charismatic arcane guy.

>>55351794
Just remove classes.

>>55350753
But that's not DPS's role and you know it. They're both interacting with a game mechanic but doing it in completely different ways. It's better to say that a generic game mechanics exists of Aggro, and only one class is designed to deal with it.

The reason your logic here doesn't work out is because what you're saying is "There is overlap in all roles because if any person has 0 HP they die". And you know what, you're right about it. There is that level of overlap. But you're not isolating game mechanics relevant to the discussion. Another example of why this is an insane amount of holistic you're applying to the situation, it would be like saying "There is overlap in character design because all characters exist on the same planet/dimension" or "All playable characters breath air". I mean, yeah, true, but you're no longer trying to define aspects of a class and isolate it down to it's elements, or isolating the separate functions of dungeon crawling. You're just making "true" statements which are pointless.

>>55350813
>If you can't see the overlap between it
Nigga, you've yet to mention a single, reasonable overlap. And what the fuck is this with "closed systems"? When the fuck did I ever say I wanted that? All I said is that your "elements" of dungeon crawl failed to meet standards that most reasonable people would have of trying to isolate the components of a dungeon crawl and I even gave you several arguments as to why. You've done NOTHING in this discussion to address that whatsoever other than throw out meaningless game design terms and suppose that there is overlap because reasons.

>>55351794
>>55351873
>>55352393
Careful anons. This line of thinking is how GURPs got started.

>>55352809
>Careful anons. This line of thinking is how GURPs got started.
"Everyone can cast spells" is also how Runequest got started. I'm not any of the participants in this slapfight, but I'm deebly goncerned.

>>55352809
>Careful anons. This line of thinking is how GURPs got started.
Well, that seems to be what he wants to play.

>>55352841

And Earthdawn. Where even the 'fighters' do it with magic tricks.

Please post all the charts and tables and books and stuff you use when making a hexcrawl or just an area in general.

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>>55353984

When playing on a grid, how big do you guys consider each square? I'm using miniatures, and if I go by the actual size compared to a 28mm scale mini, they seem to be about 5 feet each. But I've also heard of people abstracting it a bit and making each square 10 feet instead, which obviously would be better for larger areas.

>>55354162
2m

>>55354082
What kind of die is a terrain dR? And what do they mean with having the die be stepped down?

>>55354409
I assume that the dR is the risk die you chose in the first step.

It also seems like this uses The Black Hack's usage die system, where if you roll a 1 or a 2 the die size moves down to be on type smaller.

>>55354602
I see, that makes sense. Thank you.

>>55354602
It's actually Macchiato Monsters' risk die, where the die is stepped down on 1, 2 or 3, not just 1 and 2.

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>>55314962
>Hi there.

You know for a guy who kills people for a living, Death is pretty swell.

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exploding dice for martials: y/y?

>>55354710
I see, thanks. I'm gonna check the whole thing out too.

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>>55354987
Here is an example of use.

>>55354162
When playing on a grid for combat, each square is 5 feet, and that's pretty standard. The 10 foot measurement comes from the maps. The maps are laid out in 10' squares because then each square allowed the party to march two-by-two, and allows you to squeeze in more dungeon.

>>55355114
Honestly, what I really want is an example of play. That's what trips me up the most when thinking about Hexcrawls. But there are so few examples of it out there. At least to my knowledge, anyways.

>>55355350
I'm running a [s]5e[/s] hexcrawl right now. What exactly do you want to know about?

>>55355371
Fucking everything, my reddit friend. My general outdoors adventures tend to be run with points of interest, as in "You travel uneventfully and arrive at the interesting spot". The only thing I know about hex crawls is that they involve hexes and the idea of making wilderness adventures fun sounds...well, fun.

>>55355418
Alright. This will take a while to type up.

>>55355430
I'm also willing to accept a session transcript or someone's streamed hexcrawl session.

>>55350936
>fighting man
>detailed combat rules
>based on a wargame
>NOT ABOUT FIGHTING GUYS
Hush.

>>55355480
>based on a wargame
War isn't about skill at fighting...
it's about LOGISTICS!!!!

In that way, it actually does have a lot in common with OSR.

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>>55355350
Here you go, pic related is an example from Hot Springs Island.

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>>55355450
Looks like >>55355592 is exactly what you're looking for, but here goes.

>>55355562
Campaign for North Africa retroclone when

>>55355828
How about a Campaign IN North Africa? Like a fantasy version of Carthage or something

Should stats always be the first thing rolled in character creation, or if I'm using a game with backgrounds do you think they should be rolled first? Or does it matter?

Does anyone else here have experience running Morgansfort, the free BFRPG intro campaign? I introduced two brand new OSR players to it, and they basically died like bitches the entire time and never explored more than like 8 rooms. Reading through it, it doesn't feel particularly difficult, but it was just one after the other of dying. It was also my first time running an OSR game as well, but I don't think they should have gone through as many deaths as they did.

>>55355939
Did you remember to roll for reaction and morale?

>>55355976
I did. Honestly, some of the faults were on me, and I'm aware of them and how to correct them. For instance, I know for sure I ran the animals a little too aggressively, and I was using that optional rule to add in dex to your initiative in a retarded way that unfairly favored flying creatures. But there was just absolutely so much shit in the first couple of rooms that wound up killing them that I'm curious if the dungeon was more dangerous than it was supposed to be.

>>55356063
Try it again but let the players play more than one character or use retainers.

>>55355939
I ran four players through it, though I ended up coming up with a few changes on the fly. Mainly replacing the pit traps at the beginning with rickety bridges likely to collapse under too much weight, giving the kobold warren a reason to be near the giant bee nest (turns out, they really like honey), and adding carnivorous apes to the random encounter table that taunt the party and lure them into the ambush at 21.
Reaction rolls and morale are big factors in gameplay. Always remember that, barring a few exceptions, no monsters will mindlessly charge into combat and fight to the death. Players should also try their best to gather information and find a way to negotiate around encounters rather than blindly charging into dangerous rooms full of monsters that would gladly show them what their insides look like.

>>55356099
I made that offer to them far after the fact, but they turned it down. Frankly speaking, I don't like the idea of players running more than one character either.

>>55355976
>>55356121
Since both of you mentioned it so soon after another, could you give me some examples of reaction/morale rolls? I'm starting to doubt myself now.

>>55356305
Reaction rolls is when the player characters first meet a monster or a group of monsters (generally semi-intelligent or better), and a roll is made to see how they react. Sometimes interactions other than fighting can happen, like the monster being neutral or wanting to trade or whatever.

Morale rolls are done at the beginning of combat as well as sometime when the enemy has become halved in power, whether that be through hit points or group members. If the monster fails, they will attempt to run away, surrender or do something else to get out of dying.

>>55356305
I do reaction rolls when it's not obvious how a monster is going to react to the party. Even an immediately hostile result could just result in monsters defending their home and urging the intruders to back off.
Morale is usually checked twice, first when combat starts and again when the opposition is halved. If the players try something that looks like it could shake up enemies, such as setting the room ablaze or killing their leader, it's a good idea to force a morale check when things like that happen as well.

>>55356403
I was doing that for the most part. Out of curiosity, would you make a reaction role for something that couldn't communicate, like say wolves, rats, undead, or stirges?

>>55356555
I'd say that those don't need a roll, but if the characters have something they want then they might be able to get the monster to leave them alone. They could throw meat to wolves, for example.

Nice digits by the way.

>>55355743
On the subject of resting in hexcrawls, I can recommend only allowing players to regain spells if they rest somewhere a watch isn't needed. AKA, a town or village.

That's what I used in Qelong, and it turns the hex map into a dungeon of sorts - the players have to decide whether to use spells on random encounters, how far they can go before they have to return and finding a friendly settlement becomes a big deal, like finding a secret entrance to a megadungeon.

>>55356555
Personally, for animals I'd do a reaction roll. Some animals are going to attack right away (a mother wolf near her pups, for example) but others are more likely to run.

For undead I wouldn't, though. At least not unintelligent undead.

In general "animal intelligence" gets a roll, "unintelligent" doesn't.

Haven't figured out demons yet, though.

>>55354162
The squares are 5', but if possible I use minis without 1" bases, as the standard rule is to allow three men to rank up abreast in a 10' width unless they're using bulky weapons.

>>55356832
I like this idea. I might consider stealing it.

>>55355350
>>55355418
>>55355450

This is how I run my hex-crawls

Normal Overland Travel Procedures Per Hex:
1. PC's Decide which direction to travel
2. Scout Roll (Success allows faster travel)
3. Roll for Wilderness Encounter (1 in 6 chance of encountering a monster with the other values on the dice being the discovery of monster tracks/spoors/traces/ lairs)
4. Hidden Landmark/Hex Content Roll (1 in 6 chance of finding one)
5. Look-Out Roll (Failure incurs a 1 in 6 chance chance of monster encounter/terrain hindrance/shit weather)
6. Guide Roll (failure causes 1 in 6 chance of getting lost)

When you arrive in a new hex get the descriptions of the proximal hexes and possibly their contents (town or dungeon)

>>55356832
Interesting idea, do you also not allow players to regain spells in a dungeon?

>>55356305
Start them at a slightly higher level. And it seems they always turn down the prospect of having npc work for them. Maybe let them have a free-of-charge squire or a desperate bum to ease them into the concept.

What game would you guys use for a Dark Souls game? How would you handle unique weapon enchantments and dynamic fights?

Best place to buy hex grid paper that I can put in my gaming three ring binder? I usually go to Staples for grid paper, but they don't have hex paper.

>>55357665
DESU I think your best option is to print your own

New thread when?

>>55357362
In a normal campaign I would theoretically allow players to regain spells in a dungeon.

In practise though, it never happens. Because if the dungeon is empty or quiet enough to get a full night's sleep in the party might as well just leave and come back in the morning.

Are there any favorite homerules you guys use for ACKs?

>>55357799
Page 8 or 9.

>>55357630
4e.

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Hi guys, is Torchbearer osr? Do any of you have strong opinions on it? I have been getting into dungeon synth music recently and I'm looking for something that's grimy in that same way.

Basically, I'm looking for something that doesn't put trying to trick the rules front and center. Focus on exploration. Looking to make a choice between Torchbearer and Moldvay Basic or BFRPG

New thread!
>>55358767
>>55358767
>>55358767