Welcome to the Old School Renaissance General, the thread dedicated to TSR-era D&D, derived systems, and compatible content.Broadly, OSR games encourage a tonal and mechanical fidelity to Dungeons & Dragons as played in the game's first decade—less emphasis on linear adventures and overarching meta-plots and a greater emphasis on player agency.If you are new to the OSR, welcome! Ask us whatever you're curious about: we'll be happy to help you get started.>Troves, Resources, Blogs, etc:http://pastebin.com/9fzM6128>Need a starter dungeon? Here's a curated collection:https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/86342023/#q86358321>Previous thread:>>94314702>Thread Question:How do you determine, RAW or houserule, if a PC halfling is a hairfeet, tallfellow, stout, stoutish hairfeet, or stoutish tallfellow or rabbi?
Want to contribute to the thread but don't know where to start? Use this table.>1. Make a spell>2. Make a monster>3, Make a dungeon special>4 Make a wilderness location>5. Make an urban set piece>6. Make a magic item>7. Make a class, race, or race-as-class>8, Make a 4-10 room lair.>9. Make a trap>10. Roll 2D10 and combine.
So excited for tomorrow's session. The player characters are all about level 3 (give or take,) and there is a city about three days journey up the coast that they're going to travel to by boat. It's gonna be their first taste of oversea travel. Then, once they get to the city and do their business, they've got to make the trip back by land. (The area is currently being overrun with orcish raiders, so they're going to either fight their way through or try to quietly cross several hexes to get back.)
>>94361999When they're travelling on a predefined route do you use hexes or do you prep the routes?
I've been wondering something lately. One of the things that seems to define old school, or which a lot of old school players don't like about modern D&D, is characters that are Mary Sues or too special. I remember a lot of complaining about that on Grognardia back in the day. But did Gygax ever actually disparage Mary Sues at any point? I'm pretty sure he said you shouldn't have a character who gets power for nothing, and you shouldn't be so attached to your character that you become a bitch if they die, but I honestly don't think he ever spoke out against specialness itself.
I'm reading the section on intelligence in the PHB and this paragraph really confuses me. The rest of it makes it sound like you check every spell in the magic user's list of a given level, and you can check them any time you want, but if you can't learn them, that's it. But this makes it sound like you either get to try again if you find that spell somewhere, or you just automatically learn it (ambiguous). This is all the more confusing because in an earlier example it has a character checking whether they know a spell when they find it in a scroll, and failing.Is the intent that finding a spell gives you another chance? That's the only way I can make sense of this. And that also strong incentivizes checking all the spells ahead of time rather than when you find them, like in the example.
>>94363137Tomb of horror was a direct response to mechanically overpowered characters.
>>94363226You only get a new chance to comprehend a spell you failed to be able to learn when your magic-users intelligence score increases permanently.[Paraphrased]
I'm trying to get my hands on Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy and can't seem to easily find a copy, is it out of stock already?
Is there OST that's not about dungeon delving?
>>94363832What would you find more enjoyable than Dungeons in your OSR game?
>>94361833>Welcome to the Old School Renaissance General, the thread increasingly reducing the number of games that are "acceptable" due to an autistic purity spiralSo what's the latest one we can't talk about? I've been away for a week.
You could've just said "bump"
I want to print out a copy of b/x, I’ve seen a guy on dragonsfoot recommend printing out something called the omnibus edition that some guy on a Facebook group made. Supposed to be a high quality unified edition, anyone here heard of it? I want to make sure there are no content differences between it and the originals
>>94363684What do you think this is, Necrotic Gnome customer support? It's up in all of the usual places.
>>94363996Just print the originals.
>>94363996There's a B/X combined PDF up on Bytee's trove that is just the two books together, you could always print that. Or pirate OSE if you don't need explanatory text
>>94361407Resurrecting this - regarding "where does the sweep rule come from" - if the Pre&D draft released as part of the Freedom of Information Act on the Arneson lawsuit is to be believed, the Alternative Combat System (d20, THAC0, what have you) was intended as a replacement for Fantasy Combat; Man to Man was the idea for when characters fought armed and armored opponents. In Chainmail, Fantasy Combat throws dice once per round - but in normal combat, Heroes fight as four men: meaning they can attack normally four times if fighting on the M2M matrix, or once on the FC. This is likely where that rule comes from.Some OGs talk about how they "didn't use Chainmail combat resolution" in 1970 - which I believe: because they also talk about doing a lot of dungeon delving: where they are going to encounter monsters - thus, fight a lot of Fantasy Combat encounters. If you retire your character when the overland part starts so you can dungeon delve again, it makes sense that you could avoid the more obvious Chainmail: that is, where it can be used in PvP or mass battle. And it wouldn't surprise me if, seeing this, the designers just said, "sure" and coagulation around the ACS as simply D&D's CS. But thats another conversation. Hope that helps.>>94363684They run out of physical copy, I think, somewhat frequently: it's because Gavin wants to work on Dolmenwood system. The PDFs are out there though, and you might find one second hand.It's a bit ironic that I'm telling you to find an OSR game second hand to get a physical copy though when like five years ago the entire point of OSR games was because the originals required you to go second hand.
>>94361833Hey bros, does anyone know of an ACK-like system that's not actually ACK? No, I don't care what the guy did or didn't do but it's a hard sell for my friend group. I want that same kind of mix with adventuring and domain play though. Anything?
>>94364496Run BX with a bunch of houserules that fell off the back of the truck.
>>94364522I typed this flippantly but honestly I'm running Dolmenwood and just occasionally mention things about ACKS that interest me. I've implemented Heroic Funerals (but not reserve xp) and mentioned that fighters get to cleave once per level every round and they liked the sound of that. Use campaign activities when relevant and just have fun with it.Now my group are (for osr purposes) normies so they have no opinions about Macris but I think this is the strat.
>>94364522>>94364603Thanks fren.
>>94364608Happy to help Anon :D
>>94364496>ACK-like system that's not actually ACK?There's no such thing, sadly. Someone should do a "basic" version of ACKS and call it BCKS or something.
Can anyone recommend a procedural settlement generator that works like or is similar to Appendix A? The DMG mentions using dungeon movement in settlements using 1 minute turns and I was curious if anything has been done for this. The closest thing I can think of is some of the procedures in Vornheim or the old walled city geomorphs from way back when.
How exactly does the party ever surprise a monster with infravision when they don't have it and they're carrying a light source? I have a hard time describing this as a DM.
>>94361833The smol woman desires the big man’s rod
>>94363137If you read the AD&D DMG section on player character starting levels, monster PCs, etc. you can fairly easily extrapolate that excessively special characters were not a thing he was overly fond of or thought made for interesting gameplay. Especially if you add in the unearned or underserved aspect of a 'marry sue'.
>>94365106Related, I noticed that the PHB Ranger has an ability to surprise on 1-3. This is similar to the elf or halfling's ability to surprise on 1-4, which is explicitly only if they're separate from the party. Does this mean the ranger gets their surprise even when with the party by keeping the others stealthy somehow?
>>94364804There are a few village generators I've found but they tend to be geared towards a specific sort of village like the home town mixed character generation in Beyond the Wall or The Village & The Witch or Welcome To Scenic Wherever The Fuck. Forget the name but there's a map generator you could just make a dozen small places with, add the 10 important details, and pull them out at random. I tend to make a few details first like >Primary resource >Town feature >Ruling group>Contesting group>External problem if not already obvious from the map Stuff like that.
>>94365106By going through a door and either bashing it down at the first attempt, or picking its lock.(The monster could also be asleep.)
>>94365203>Does this mean the ranger gets their surprise even when with the party by keeping the others stealthy somehow?No. But it does mean that a human ranger wearing plate only reduces an elf companion's chances of surprise to 3-in-6 instead of 2-in-6.
I'm reading the dungeon turn procedure from Moldvay, and I was curious about something. Steps 5, 6 and 7 imply that when the monsters and PCs are willing to talk, you roll the monster reaction and initiative a second time (as necessary). Is it ever detailed when this is necessary and what the rolls are used to determine? The example of play makes this more confusing, because the DM doesn't make any initiative rolls while the players and monsters are talking, and also doesn't make a reaction roll before they start talking.
>>94365378The part in question
>>94365378>>94365381That order is written like shit, but it's hard to do better.The problem is that there's many situations in which you have to skip some of those checks and delay them until they actually need to come up. And there's times when you might have to check initiative and/or reactions a second time.For example, if the monsters are surprised, there's no need to roll initiative, and you only need to roll for the reaction if the party parley. But if the monsters react negatively, then you roll initiative. So you are checking reactions first and initiative second.If neither side is surprised, you only need to roll for reactions if the monsters win the initiative, or the party wins the initiative and parley. So in this case you roll initiative first and reactions second.In some cases you might have to roll twice for both initiative and reactions, e.g.- No surprise.- Initiative roll: Monsters win.- Roll monster reaction, result is "neutral", monsters parley.- Do some talking. A second reaction roll, modified by what PCs say/offer/threaten. This time it's negative.- Check initiative a second time, but this time combat definitely starts.Ultimately it's flexible, and different DMs run it differently. The only thing is that you should ALWAYS remember to:- check for surprise (when necessary)- check for encounter distance (when necessary)- check for initiative (when necessary)- check for reaction (when necessary)Last but not least, something most DMs miss, is to make a wandering monster check on turns in which the party enter a room with monsters. This removes the chance of a double encounter, which is a shame because double encounters are often the best encounters.
>>94365106The monster was gooning
>>94365485That makes sense, thanks.
>>94361843There is another supplement mentioned in this book, by the same author I assume, anyone has it?
>>94361833https://scholomance.substack.com/p/mongrel-banquet-club-the-harassmentIs it true /osrg/ bros? Is the OSR controlled by the mentally ill?
>>94365845>Inb4 it doesn't happen and it's okay that it does.
>>94364496Just pirate the game and tell them you didn't give him any money.
>>94365845Buy and add
>>94365845Oh ja. Has been for ages, at least mid g+ era but we should have known better when cavegreg was posting here for pitty editing from the public library. >>94366320Can't, MBC pulled their own products trying to dodge a dox.
>>94365815>another supplement mentioned These or something else?
>>94366553I think >>94365815 means the "Vancian Companion I" mentioned in a footnote in Shadrac MQ's spell section, but I could be wrong.(I don't have it myself, unfortunately)
>>94361999We did oversea (upriver) travel for the first time recently. The party encountered hill giants throwing rocks into the river, but far enough away that they just had to wait it out and an ambush by lizardmen. Now that party has made it to Innspa to investigate rumors of the long-derilect "Great Dwarf Road".
>>94363137This is something that has always struck me as alien, because I have absolutely no interest in running a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. The fun is in playing the character, not "winning the game". I have played my share of brash and reckless Paladins who met their fate refusing to back down from an unwinnable fight, opportunistic cowards and unprepared fools.
>>94363226I've asked this same question before and got a few different answers. Some roll down the list of spells in order of preference to see what they are able to comprehend and reroll on failed spells if the list is exhausted before reaching the minimum, and some make the comprehend roll only when attempting to learn a new spell.
>>94365845Excellent post. And an accurate take on Zak, who definitely did du sumfin, but not everything people say. And the MBC really are awful people.Blaise Pascal said "Men never do evil so cheerfully and completely as when they do it from religious conviction," and he was onto something.
>>94363886This one over here >>94353925 made me chuckle as there's a non-zero chance it's genuine.
>>94367916>non-zero chanceBullshit, it's practically a copypasta
>>94367916>>94367945There's this one specific Anon who appears at least once a thread to point his finger at people he believes are ESL, normally he's just ignored. I picture him waiting for months for that golden opportunity to post that rant.
>>94363996>omnibus editionIt's in Bytee's repo. There are some differences; seehttps://desuarchive.org/tg/thread/90835932/#90861207especially the last post in the chain near the very end of the thread.
>>94368161Poking fun at ESL people is practically a meme, there's no reason it has to be one guy. Even less reason to give "the one guy" attention for it. Relax and talk elfgames, my dude.
Owlbears surround the party during the night on the forest. The party wants to climb the trees and wait for the Owlbears to get tired. How you run that? Specially the "climbing on a hurry" part>>94363996pic related
>>94368884Type of tree? Moon phase?
>>94368884>How you run that? Specially the "climbing on a hurry" partLike pic related. Urban players huh?
>>94368884Climb trees to get away from (owl)bears? Pretty easy to rule: TPK, roll new characters.
Levels require each time more XP, but dungeons give more XP each level you go down there. Would you say that leveling speed is roughly the same at early than at later levels? Im a noob, party at level 2 ATM
>>94369198There's probably an anon who has a graph but its not a 1:1 ratio of xp for treasure distribution and monster xp across levels and generally it takes considerably longer to level up after level 3-5. Would be interesting to see a breakdown of treasure in modules designed for mid-level though.
>>94369198That depends on how you stock the dungeon and how much of the treasure the players are able to retrieve.Delta has done this analysis for OD&D:https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2014/02/dungeon-treasure-revisited.html
>>94369198>>94369309Hey it's an anon who has a graph.These are two characters that survived from the first session to the last one over the course of 30 or so sessions, so not the longest time frame. They ended up at level 6. I don't have the exact break points of when they hit each level (I only started recording that much later on) but you can get a rough idea of things.
>>94369521Neat. What can you tell me about the characters and how they managed to survive? Got any good stories from the campaign?
>>94369309i believe i have seen an analysis of the treasure breakdown from modules from dragonsfoot a while ago, if i recall they all had quite a bit more treasure than the suggested distribution. maybe a kind of p2w mechanic to make players have good memories of official modules over what their DM makes
I do make Mary Sue NPCs sometimes, but I always keep them at the equivalent power level of a 4th level fighter ("hero") so that they can be killed off if they get annoying.Sometimes their services are considered too valuable by the PCs though (like being the only Cleric in the vicinity / willing to be hired for a share of the treasure).Recently a long time surviving Mary Sue declared "best friendship" with a PC, because they bonded over being both female demi-human fighters and need to magically raise their strength to progress in levels.Can Mary Sues become more than what they were originallly made out to be (within an OSR/Gygaxian context)?t. plays AD&D
>>94371076well you could just let them take that npc on as a retainer, its the noble kind of thing to do afterall. unless the player isnt looking for it that way
>>94369198My personal experience (AD&D): in about 50 sessions I have seen a Magic-User reach level seven, 70'000 xp total (then he quit, bummer), all in a fresh, level 1 party.But then another Magic-User reached level six in 10-ish sessions, because she joined a party of other level six characters at level one.Placing treasure in big hoards/lairs as Gygax intended (adjusting actual treasure size to randomly determined monster number) might have something to do with it.
>>94365145I truly believe lelf is a role-reversed homage to the OP image.
>>94364496Take what you like and say its a homebrew. No one will care its origin if the section was good.
>>94361833Tight pussy.
I'll just leave this herehttps://smallpdf.com/file#s=07cbf150-1c60-4aed-8dc4-5090338c0dc2
>>94369991So the character represented by the blue wasn't actually the main character of that player. We're playing ACKS and he had a henchman who was a Beastmaster who just fucking killed everything with a sling. Arguably even he wasn't he main character because from the very beginning he bought a brown bear and wanted to train it to wear armor. Took like 6 months of game time. In the final delve we did for that group (not pictured in the graph but basically doubled the amount of XP of the characters) the bear was finally fully armored. They stuffed enough buffs on this thing to make it fucking stupid: Ogre Power, Giant's Strength, Flying, Necromantic Invulnerability. It was hitting for 25-30 damage, had 3 base attacks and 8 cleaves. Took down 11 Lesser Hell Hounds in a single round.The bear's name was of course just Dabear, he naturally got a share of the final haul.
I just finished a great session with my colleagues and it left me disappointed. I've been playing TTRPGs with the same group for over two decades. Scheduling has made it harder last years, but we still managed to get a session a month or so. Few years ago I started with 5e, then moved to PF 2e, then I discovered the OSR and wanted to start there. At the same time, I looked for people at work who wanted to try D&D and so on. So now I've done 3 sessions with a group of 5 beginners and 2 sessions with my group of experienced players. I'm running a modified version of the Tomb of the Serpent Kings. The experience has been day and night. The beginners are having a blast. They are enjoying describing their actions, discovering treasure, being on high alert for any potential encounters and so on. They are on the cautious side, afraid of losing their first PCs. Meanwhile, my group is bored. They can't function without rolling skills, they are going head in room by room and they are alive by pure miracle. Between sessions I tried to talk a bit about the philosophy of the game, but I think that it's too late. Too many years of 3.0, then 3.5, then 4th edition, then 5th, plus a lot of Rolemaster in between, has shaped them too much. I feel I have adapted better to OSR (I quite like it a lot more as a DM), but I'm disappointed that I won't be able to enjoy it with my group. Just ranting, but I wonder if someone has gone through similar and if they managed to turn it around.
>>94375148that sucks, its hard to come to realise when the people you like dont like the things you want to do even after giving them a good faith effort to try it outat least five beginners will do plenty to make a group
>>94375148I struggled with finding a regular group to play OSR games with for 10 years! For a decade, I would subject myself to playing in 5e games I wasn't interested in, and running one shots in an attempt to spark people's interest. I would sit and argue with newcomers to the hobby about the virtues of oldschool D&D and how things like "Character Builds", Podcasts, and 9 page long character backstories were all garbage. All waiting patiently for a chance to strike and say, "Would you guys be interested in playing older editions of D&D?" I would see the light fade from their eyes as they realized that I wasn't running the shiny theater kid game they saw Matt Mercer running on Critical Role. At one point for about a year I ran games for the public at a game store a couple of towns over. I would drive an hour to get there, and an hour back. I put a sign on their events board that said, "I will be here X day at Y time to run a campaign." And it was always random how many people would show. Sometimes nobody would show and I'd sit there reading my campaign notes. Other times, so many people would show up that I'd have to either turn people away or invoke "Tournament rules", (meaning if your character died, you had to give up your seat.) Most nights, I'd have about three players. But on the night when nobody showed, those were the hardest. A few of those happened in a row, and it became clear that I was wasting my time. The worst night was when a bunch of literal actual retarded drooling squealing kids showed up from a group home, and I was like, "Fuck this!"In many ways I felt defeated. Something just wasn't working. I lived by the mantra "No games is better than bad games."Then one day, out of the blue, this old man contacted me on social media. He claimed that he had built a clubhouse on the back of his property with the intent of starting a tabletop gaming club. He said that he was reaching out to people he'd heard of in the area that wanted to run games.
>>94375352Yeah, it's tough. To be fair, we've had this with other games in the past. Vampire, Cyberpunk, etc. But I was ok by going back to our old good fantasy games. But now I really don't want to DM any modern games. I hope the beginners stick around. The scheduling is much easier because we finish at similar times, so we can play either via Zoom or office after the shift. >>94375458That's definitely a victory for perseverance! I think I'd have quit long before that.>>94375148My post was a total mess now that I re-read it. Confusing information. Long day. My group are highschool friends. We started playing TTRPGs because one of them had played some Star Wars game with his friends and we got into it. Then someone overheard me talking with another classmate in a corridor, said that his father had gifted him a copy of some D&D manual and asked if I wanted it because he was not into it. That's how I got into D&D, with the AD&D 2e DM Guide. I bought Baldur's Gate so I could learn the player rules. Transcribed all the class stuff into paper to be able to give it to my players. Then came 3.0, then 3.5, then 4th, and then we took a few years break due to different issues, then I hopped into 5th edition, which felt like restarting in a way. We've played so many sessions, somehow I wanted to get into OSR with them. Ah well. Late hour ranting.
>>94375523Feed your old players into the new group now and then, only one at any time, and see if any catch the enthusiasm and learn to see the game with new eyes. Don't have more than one, lest they tilt the newbies' opinions.
>>94375537That's a good idea to consider, will think about it.
Why did Gavin Norman ruin the goatmen of dolmenwood? Why did he turn them from evil, baphomet-like goatmen who hide in the woods and enslave people into humans but with fur, hooves and horns? Seems weird for him to change a dark fairytale creature perfect for being the antagonist of a few adventures into a playable, cuddly goat people race
>>94375634Idk it's weird>moss dwarves: somewhat rooted in fairy tales, moreso to woodland fairies but they're not fairies>elves: rooted in fairy tales>grimalkin: rooted in fairy tales>woodgrues: rooted in fairy tales>breggles/goatmen: not rooted in fairy tales, but goat headed people...which is rooted in demonic/satanic imagery, thus they must be evil in the olde english fairytale setting, right??NOPE they're fucking cuddly furry goat people with none of the charm of the others. You can tell Gavin came up with a great idea and didn't know what to do with it after making them playable, because the original good idea was never designed to be playable
>>94375634>evil "kindred">slaveryHave you been living under a rock? He even removed the words "race" and "minstrel" because some idiots got triggered.
>>94375752He even censored the word "goatman" itself.>>94375744>You can tell Gavin came up with a great ideaWhat makes you think it was Gavin Norman and not Greg Gorgonmilk who came up with the goatmen?
>>94375769Because wormskin issue 2. Check the table of contents.
>>94375752What's weird is that the wormskin goatmen are pretty tame compared to stuff like Venger Satanis's shit, to the point that they don't even put their slaves to work, they just drug them and treat them as pets and entertainment. There's some implied rape involved but that's the worst it gets. No worse than your typical fantasy orcs. Weird as fuck that it was changed from something that evokes olde english folklore and superstitions surrounding goats and the christian relationship between animals and humans into generic fantasy slop
>>94375752"Minstrel" wasn't even from a guy being triggered, just some twitter dude idly speculated that maybe somebody somewhere might confuse it with blackface-performer and implied that maybe Gavin could like, y'know, think about it, like, dude. And Gavin was like "NO TIME TO THINK, A HYPOTHETICAL PERSON IS UPSET, GOTTA CHANGE THE TEXT NOW!" Like, come on, Gavin, grow a spine.Extra irony that in his rapid kneejerk reaction to avoid possibly doin' a heckin' racism, he did an /actual/ heckin' racism, by conflating "Bard" with "strolling musician and probably a thief too" hich is not what a Bard is, and yet is 100% in-line with imperialist British attempts to subjugate the Irish and trash their culture and history, including denigrating and dismissing Bardic history.
>>94376405Political correctness is so braindead.
>>94376405>bard is probably a thief>an /actual/ heckin racismYou are retarded.
>>94377011No, that's just ignorant. Bards were hugely important figures in Irish history, they were not traveling musicians or thieves, they were historians and poets and judges, keepers of Irish history and law, able to recite long histories from memory for hours on end without flaw. When Irish kings had a dispute, a bard would be invited to consult and advise them on how to settle it according to centuriies of history and precedent. "He's just some dude with a lute, and he probably picks pockets lol" is exactly the kind of bullshit the British did to slander the Irish, and if you think that had nothing to do with racism, then you're actually a retard.
>>94377196You are VERY retarded.
>>94377244>>94377011Great game discussion here!NGFG GYG
Did/is anyone here running Dolmenwood? There was a moderate amount of discussion but it doesn't seem to come up as a reference point for session reports or rules questions.
>>94377011>>94377714>bard is probably a thiefYeah, obviously. Otherwise it's just some guy who can play the lute.
>>94377847Running DW system in B2 at the moment. It's bx with some light house rules, interesting custom classes, and oozing with flavour even in the players book(every cleric spell has an in game name and lore attached).When if I have questions I consult bx.What were you wondering mate?
>>94377884Nothing specific about it, I liked some parts of the wormskin zines but overall found the setting too twee for my tastes. Mostly just hopeful people were actually using it. How many of the different demihumans for B2 did you end up changing out for more setting fitting monsters and factions?
>>94376163>Weird as fuck that it was changedNah, it's very in line with the times. Publishing an rpg setting with evil goatmen who own slaves would instantly turn everybody who reads it into a Republican and get Trump elected, but thanks to self-censoring folx like Gavin Norman that danger has been averted. Thanks, Norman!
Are oldschool magic-users tripping on acid?>Battlemage shoots 7x4 magic missiles at sergeants and captains over the course of the battle, practically eliminating the enemy's command and control>"Yeah, dude, you gotta, like, expand your mind, far out. Also, I only aim at THE MAN."
>>94377952None. I'm running the borderlands as a separate place with orcs and dwarves and all the usual suspects with the players being adventurers from Dolmenwood and are restricted to whats in the dpb. I added a shrine with Light in the keep. It's good fun.When they are done with the Caves we'll move over to Dolmenwood proper and get stuck into the hexcrawling.
>>94377847I was very much looking forward to it and wanted to run it, but was very disappointed by the tone of the finished book. It went from dark traditional fairytales to Disney, and while I can see myself running a couple of sessions of Disney D&D, definitely not a whole campaign.
>>94378451Agreed. It didn't stop me from running it but I silently morn what could nay should have been.
>>94376405>>94377196bardic history is not even uniquiely irish, they continued in wales, scotland, and even in england itself even for hundreds of years following the norman occupation, it just lasted longer in ireland
>>94378948Yes, the Brits who hated on the Irish were stupid. Racist assholes often are.
>>94378619It seems that GhostPostMixer has stopped working.
>>943793774chanX too. Wondering if it's a problem with the 4plebs archive or if the 4chan html has been altered so they can't access content anymore.Or maybe it's a problem with Chrome policies and cross-domain scripts?
>>94377742>>94378435Oh, they're back now.
DOES strong wind affect fly and feather fall spells?SHOULD it?
>>94379911i think there is a sidenote somewhere about hurricane and storm winds somewhere in the DMG, but i dont really know if there is a real effect of the "strong wind" category other than as a stop gap to the weather control spell
>>94378422The highlighted substances are a component of the ink, Anon.
I really like the core ideas of gully dwarfs but they're way too dumb and look too much like normal dwarfs. So my campaign has cave hippy dwarfs.Gutter DwarfsAKA Gobwi, Gob-Dwarfs, FurballsAC 5Hit Dice: 1-1Move: 60' (20')Attack 1-6 or as weaponNo Appearing: 2-8 (6-60)Save as: Dwarf 1Treasure Type: S (B), 10% chance each has some neat drugs or caveshine.Alignment: NeutralMorale: 7Small, pale humanoids with massive bushy beards topped by long noses, long unkempt hair, and shining eyes that reflect like gemstones. The crossbreed of a goblin and a dwarf, these creatures are disliked but tolerated by both. They have little ambition, and little intelligence, but a fierce pride in themselves. They have the infravision of a goblin. While they possess little of the craftsmanship of their lawful kin, they share a great lust for gems, gold, and other finery. Of course, they aren't good judges of value, so the horde of their communes include just as much shiny junk as actual treasure. Gutter dwarfs squat in all kinds of tunnels and caverns, where they are happy to trade gobwi caveshine and a wide array of undergrown narcotics for shiny things, surface booze, and well-made weapons. Groups of gutter dwarfs are typically led by a 2 HD shaman, who can cast a couple 1st level spells. A commune of gutter dwarfs is lead by an enlightened leader, who has 3 HD, a few 1st level spells, and one 2nd level spell.
>>94373492you didn't like my version of B/X omnibus /osrg/?
>>94380777I didn't read it (I distrust all omnibus edits), so I can't comment on it.
>>94380934I just extracted and combined Basic and Expert pdfs, didn't add anything myself, besides the index that other dude made for B/X, and I made the cover.
>>94380777i assumed you were just reposting something you found from elsewhere by the way you said it. didnt think you made it yourself or wanted feedback
Do you guys use roles like caller, mapper, quartermaster, etc.?
>>94382829They take turns mapping, one guy just fell into quartermaster because he’s the most organized. If we’re in a situation that needs a caller I’ll tell them to assign one. It doesn’t come up much with 3-4 players.
>>94382829What the fuck's a quartermaster.
I’ve never played an osr game beforeI want to try it out running one for my groupwhich system is best to start? od&d, b/x, ad&d?
>>94383876B/X. Read this guide.
>>94383876Play Moldvay cook B/X
>>94383463Hi, would you like me to put that into Google for you, or do you want to try it yourself, first?
>>94363137Early on Gygax seemed to encourage refluffing in this way, that you might make your cleric a withered Balor, or your wizard a baby dragon. But he soured on it later when it seemed people were actually having fun.
>>94382829Yes, also Leader, Sargeant, scribe.
>>94385426>having funAh, that old euphemism for "being a disruptive jackass"
>>94385426>But he soured on it later when it seemed people were actually having fun.By "having fun" you are likely referring to that guying.
>>94383934NTA. I know what a quartermaster is in the army, but I don't have any idea either what you're talking about in the context of D&D. It's not a role that exists, unlike mapper and caller.
>>94385738not him, but he probably refers to someone who keeps track of everyones encumbrance thresholds, torches collectively etcget one person with three digit IQ just to monitor the whole affair and it goes a lot quicker than all the duds complaining they cant do math
>>94385738>>94385821oh also i call it tracker, so it rhymes with mapper and caller
>>94361833Hello everyone, I want to run Carcosa, I've read some online by other people and gave a read to the original handbook (+ the new one). I've made this map that represents the locations of the various humans tribes. Enjoy.While we are at this, anyone cares to share their own experience in running Carcosa? Anyone reached name level (as if)? Casted an honest to Yog ritual?
>>94385821Yeah, that's what I meant. I learned about these roles when I played my first OSR campaign through Discord. The DM called it like that.
>>94386143By "the new one" you mean the 2011 one, I presume?
>>94382452I did it as the book advised, as if it were a three-ring binder
>>94386277Yeah the one from which I took the art for the map
>>94382829If they come up organically. Generally, I find it helpful if more than one player is mapping.>>94383463A newfangled thing where the kids these days are nominating one player to track rations, loot, and torches for them.>>94385821This.But to be honest, I've never understood the need for "quartermaster." The math isn't hard - and we usually re-tabulate encumbrance during the hourly rest rather than on the fly.
>>94386143If you didn't know, McKinney made 4 adventures for the setting with 1e rules. They were supposed to be 8 but he never finished. They were print-only and probably would have vanished into obscurity if not for Share Thread folks converting them to oef-quality pdfs. So thank or curse them. I personally think they're pretty cool for idea mining, filling out hexes and so forth like Carcosa itself. They're in bytee's Rchive.
>>94387081>wereI think you can still get them on Lulu. They were available last I checked.
>>94385304Ireland is one of the British Isles, so Irish people are British.
What's the draw of X1 besides nostalgia? It seems very aggressively generic and unimaginative. Do you think it would be received well if it were published today?
>>94389142A spooky lost-world island with curses, exotic monsters, dinosaurs, undead, a pirate cove, volcanoes, great ruins, sea monsters, and multiple factions to interact with, is generic and unimaginative to you? It's an early exploration toolkit module, so it needs some TLC to maximize its potential, but that's half of the fun for the dm, is making cool encounters. My group is having a blast so far.
>>94385830That's not a rhyme, it's assonance
DUNGEON CRAWL FRENS HEXCRAWL REPORT,SESSION #3OSE Advaced+X1 Isle of Dread Party size: 10+10 legionnaires Party level 1-10>>94334708Last session, the party encamped in their portable fortress a few miles from a ruined fortress, occupied by banderlogs, green skinned brown furred apemen. Dawn scouting by an invisible fliers revealed the surround territory to the west as nearly twenty miles of badlands, with twin volcanoes, one NW, one SW. The fortress had a moat surrounding it, and seventy apemen, 7 of which were leaders with max HP. In the center of the ruins was a six-foot diameter sphere of polished black stone, seemingly being worshipped. The party cast bless and haste, then advanced their treewalker near the drawbridge during the surprise round, and opened combat by having the melee fighters descend down and cross the bridge and up a ruined tower, archers and musketeers opened fire on the apemen clinging to the walls, and the mages unleashed destructive magics, all while the apemen camr after them, hooting and hollering, clambering over the tall walls. Round ls went by with the apes swarming the tower and flooding across the map, with some groups breaking morale. The MVP moment came when the half-orc wielding a +4 two-handed sword came in as rear guard, to hold the drawbridge against the surging tide of apemen by himself. He chopped several to bits, but was overwhelmed and had to dive for cover as a fireball took out the front lines. This unfortunately opened up a spot for the apes to finally approach the treewalker and it's vulnerable passengers. Musketeers devastated their line, but two made it through, lobbing coconut grenades upward, shaking the platform and vaporizing two musketeers in the process. Shortly after, the party finished off the apemen, with the gnome 'morphed into a Pegasus redirecting the fleeing survivors. Nursing their wounds, the party discovered the magical nature of the massive stone sphere. (1/X)
>>94389888>>94389888The sphere was revealed to be able to show the past of whatever was being reflected in its surface. Doing so could allow one to view up to 100 years into the past, if you rewind it for 100 minutes. This was quick scooped up by the animated tree for transportation, and the party, having recovered a large amount of valuable jewelry, began the return trip to the capital village. The return trip was the same path that they took inland, and was nearly two weeks of 12-hour travel days. They encountered a swarm of ghouls observing them at night, one of which was turned, and the others fled. They also met a carbuncle in the night, and promptly murdered it for being annoying. The returned safely, and then resurrected the two fallen legionnaires. Shortly after, the bard who remained back for resting informed the party that almost all labor in the village was performed by zombies! They began research and observation into the sphere.
>>94390089Forgot pic (again)!
>>94389546>A spooky lost-world island with curses, exotic monsters, dinosaurs, undead, a pirate cove, volcanoes, great ruins, sea monstersThose are all stock associations to "fantasy island".
>>94392589You forget "de plane"
>>94392589The truth is that every published module is inadequate because of page-count / readability / reader engagement issues.>stock associationsThey provide a decent base for improvement by individual DMs.>dinosaursThe island used to be a jurassic park type island, T-rex lairs in the gift shop. The (neutral evil) Ghost (monster) of John Hammond is delighted that more hapless fools have come to get eviscerated by his "historically" and "monumental" creations, just like back in the day...>pirate coveMake it a shameless "dude, where is my sailing ship" plot>undeadthe dead PCs from the last attempt have joined their ranks (they still wear their equipment/goodies)Get to writing/thinking, you're the DM
>>94387081I saw, pretty cool thanks
X1 map - colour coded for lairs and wandering monster areas
>>94395039>X1 map - colour coded for lairs and wandering monster areasSame PLUS KEY>>94366347lol
>>94395056>>94395039Cool, but do you actually play games with them?
>>94375148>picrelWhy are ttrpg girls never that cute?
>>94395179They are, you're just unpleasant and uncharismatic
>>94392589Only boring people get bored. If things like that aren't enough for you to have a good time, it's likely a skill issue due to a lack of rich inner imagination. I loathe to think what it must be like at your table, but I am going to surmise that you do not have any active games you play
>>94369521>don't have the exact break points of when they hit each levelI read off your graph and added lines as if those xp values were applied to BX fighters.
Saw these on a post from d4caltrops, and it reminds me of the emphasis on procedure in the OSR newbie guide posted here.
>>94361833any anons have a small printable version of BX i can take to lulu? something like an a5 booklet format would be nice so i could hand it out to players.
>>94398046Sounds like you want F.O.S.S.I.L.
What are the good B/X and OSE modules?I want to run OSE Advanced and was wondering what to popualte my setting with, bearing in mind each adventure will take up sessions of gameplay.
>>94402571>What are the good B/X and OSE modules?B1 + B2 + Mike's Dungeons + Mike's Wilderness is years worth of contentLL has multiple large dungeons including Stonehell and Barrowmaze>OSE AdvancedIt's not robust enough for long-term playTake the Advanced Labyrinth Lord pill if you're scared of AD&D
>>94403455What does ALL offer that OSE Advanced doesn't?
>>94403455>It's not robust enough for long-term playMy group of randomly met 4channelers is at almost two years of weekly play
>>94403475Starting ages, aging, real ability requirements so classes like assassins and paladins are rare, higher power level compatible with AD&D, a complete bestiary that isn't missing demons and devils, good examples of play, better art.>>94403500Then you're either playing wrong or you've heavily houseruled the system.
>>94403527Yes, d&d is meant to be heavily houseruled. How are your games going by the way? How many sessions are you at currently?
>>94403527I'm imagining the person who posted this as a seething nogaems basedjak
>>94403527amazin'
>>94403562>d&d is meant to be heavily houseruled'fraid no, only Kiddie D&D needs "heavy" houseruling.>How many sessions are you at currently?You tell me.>>94403568But enough about you.
>>94403562>d&d is meant to be heavily houseruled.This is an offboarder meme.
>>94403743How do you even respond to this without seeming mad?
>>94403743Why don't you tell us?
>>94403845I think you know
>>94403851Maybe on Planet Retard
>>94403859We don't post our planets here
>>94403862Fine speech
>>94403871'fraid so
>>94403527This is a correct assessment.Advanced Labyrinth Lord also has rules for poison, rules for detecting invisibility, humanoid spell casting, cosmology, random tables for traps, weather, room dressing, tavern encounters. It preserves the Assassin spying rules and augments them with outcomes of spying failure.Overall, the difference between Advanced Labyrinth Lord and OSE-Advanced is that ALL is based on an understanding of what the deep differences between AD&D and B/X are, and makes an effort to backport many of the DMG procedures to B/X — successfully, in my opinion.OSE-Advanced, on the other hand, is first and foremost a commercial product that focuses on what sells the most: Splatbook-style character options. Some of these are good, some okay, but others are, frankly, not that good and just a step in the direction of kitchen sink fantasy to entice the 5e crowd. It feels like it was written by someone who's either never played AD&D, never really enjoyed it, either didn't understand what is good about AD&D, or didn't care to try and reproduce it.
>>94402571OSE official brand name? Not many as 'good' in the sense that they're entirely contained and whatever on their own. Hideous Daylight is suppose to be pretty good. There was one with woods spirits and ripping off the 2-tone Games Omnivorous style I forget what it was called that looked not bad. Halls of the Blood King is just not quite right, but there's enough there I can work with it, mostly just making it a large area. The Hole in the Oak, Winter's Daughter and Incandescent Grottoes are widely well regarded. Haven't run them but didn't see anything obviously bad when I skimmed them. There have been a few anons here who have run them with positive reports. There was a collection of shorter ones with maybe a wyrven on the cover that looked like it had some good stuff in it as well, although more towards material for you to adapt rather than run as is. B3 Palace of the Silver Princess isn't well regarded, not really sure why. Its not special but didn't seem egregious. B4 The Lost City is one I like, there are some oddities that might make it less good for a beginner DM like how access to civilization or rest areas are handled but I don't think its a deal breaker or all the difficult to figure out. B8 Journey to the Rock isn't bad, its just not very interesting. Sounds dramatic as fuck though and I want to make it work at some point. B10 Night's Dark Terror, again, sounds fucking great based on the name. Sort of railroady as an adventure but the general ideas are neat with an iron age steeps sort of conflict, a siege, factions and vibe but is more controlled in terms of scope than many osr style players and dms tend to aim for. That being said, there's a fuckbunch of OSE formatted adventures, they basically tried to corner the market via D E S I G N but has resulted in the shovelware just adopting the D E S I G N so I'm not inclined to deeply read them at this point. There's DA & DDA series Blackmore/ Mystara stuff but its largely unknown.
>>94405854>ran out of charactersThe DA & DDA stuff isn't something I've seen discussed much here and I haven't read them in depth either. Its an interesting idea though and I'll shift them to the top of the procrastinate pile.
>>94403562I think this here is what you're looking for, Anon: >>94230384
>>94403743Fraid its in the ad&d dmg too.
>>94405969Ah, so you don't play games, you just complain about others playing them!How many sessions is your group at so far?>uhm, OSE isn't osrg anymore! Lols, lmao, tout tout!>>94405987 People are afraid of anybody playing games it seems, it doesn't matter what you play or how you play it, if you try to talk about it here, people will have an autistic meltdown and to tell you you're doing it wrong. It's a good thing that all forms of d&d were meant to be played however your group wants them to be!
>>94405969Hi jeffro, how's it going, claiming to be playing ad&d raw, but still needing plenty of adjucations, interventions, and dm fiat?(I don't actually think you are Jethro by the way, I think you are just salty and seizing at your own inability to effect the change you want to see in your gaming life)
>>94404380 It's too late, I spent $80 on ose, I'm not going to play some shitty broken grog game just just to make you happy. Isn't there a significantly more autistic thread you can go troll in?
>>94406545That's fine, but the moment you start introducing house rules, or not playing strictly by the book, you are playing wrong and should just be playing something else. Adding Homebrew and house rules is literally the worst thing you can do for any d&d game. It doesn't matter if it's not fun, play by the book and persevere through the suffering. I would invite you to my table, but alas the last two players left me to walk home from their house last weekend we haven't talked since
>>94406556Sorry but janitor applications are closed
>>94406556There's over twenty comments in the thread that are both trolling and off-topic, from two trolls going back and forth between one another or just one troll going back and forth with himself.Why doesn't the janitor do anything? Is it because he's a tranny, because he's a nigger, because the trolls are his own sockpuppet accounts? Answer: All of the above.
>>94406644It's because people don't report shit. I've seen people complain about jannies not doing their job for hours and then I report the posts people are bitching about and they're gone in like 5 minutes.
>>94406668I've been reporting those comments for hours.
>>94406644>>94406668>>94406685Apply to be a janitor next time it opens. Discussion here will never be good or valued. If you keep coming here for this, it's like hitting your dick with a hammer and wondering why it hurts. Either adapt to enjoy the scene, or go somewhere more your speed, like that other friend, or perhaps a nice subreddit
>>94404225>>94406556You fags post shit like this but never reply to play reports or real game discussion.
>>94361833>how to talk to short people
>>94406563> moment you start introducing house rules, or not playing strictly by the book, you are playing wrong and should just be playing something elseThis statement demonstrates how worthless your advice is. It’s quite succinct. You’ve offered a viewpoint so antithetical to how to play rpgs that the probability of you having anything valid to contribute is beneath microscopic.That is an impressive demonstration of measurable incompetence.
>>94407512That's a lot of words to say "I fell for the bait"
>>94408150I don’t believe it’s bait anymore. This general has been proven to be riddled with waterheaded fuckwits.
>>94408150Nice victim blaming.
>>94400706It only goes up to 10.
Hope everyone's week is off to a good start. My dad bought me picrel for my birthday a couple of days ago, and I have to say: they are so much easier to read than PDFs. Something about the font size... Anyway, it's pretty cool to have them. The PHB is the 6th printing (1980) and the DMG is the 7th printing (1981). Planning on getting a beater POD copy of the PHB to keep on the table - any recs on printing one myself on Lulu vs. getting one from DTRPG? Do you guys use the actual books, or just reference PDFs? thanks
>>94410821Printings don't matter, they're all the same.The WotC PDFs floating around have a bunch of typos, e.g. in tables, from running a crappy OSR and not checking it.
>>94410821>DTRPGI bought DMG, PHB, MM1, MM2, FF from there and they've been great.Ford's faeries and Muster are also excellent low cost additions to pick up for next to nothing.
>>94407456NTAYRT.Replying to play reports is an odd space. Its either >Yay good job anon upvote! or >wtf you did this wrong but honestly that doesn't even come up much. Its interesting to see other anon's play reports and is likely a good idea for general quality, but I'm not ever sure what I'm suppose to do with them.
What are your favorite OSR supplements for Thief activities?Playing ACKS 1st ed. with the Axioms article variation of Thief so I'm not looking for D6 fixes or such.Just looking for nice ways to bring Fafhrd and Grey Mouser / Gentlemen Bastards into the world.
I'm very new to the OSR space, and was looking at running B/X for my players.For some reason I had the preconception that Magic Users could learn spells and add them to their book with time and money. However, reading through B/X, do you just get a number of spells equal to your slots in that level, with no opportunity for growth through gameplay?I imagine the ability to learn new spells with gold and time is a common houserule, but I've never played a magic user like this. Do the limitations add to the game?
>>94411402Hey, if you're new it's best to just ignore such things and get on with playing.If you insist on going deeper:Copy the Magic-User out of the adnd 1e PHB and DMG instead. Reference Appendix N in the DMG for how they function. (Dying earth by Jack Vance + others).
>>94411422Reading authors like Vance is what motivated me to try B/X after running 5e, pathfinder, and a bunch of dumb narrative systems for years. That's why I was confused when presented with the rules as I understand them.I'm most interested in how this kind of spell selection affects the game. Does B/X's level-based spell selection add to the game as compared to being able to learn new spells with time and gold? ie., is there a reason I should keep it other than making the game easier to learn?
>>94411402B/X is like that, the rule that allows copying spells into spell books is from AD&D.The advantaged that the limitation brings is the increased simplicity. Also, there's some subtle game balance at work. With respect to AD&D, all classes are nerfed: Clerics only get spells at second level, Fighters don't get multiple attacks, Thief backstab multiplier doesn't increase, and so on. This is to keep power levels relatively reasonable and allow you to use relative simple monsters against players even at the mid levels.If you start adopting the AD&D power curve, you'll find that characters become able to take on relatively powerful monsters already at the mid levels, which means they can go to deeper dungeons, which means that the numbers encountered in the B/X tables don't work anymore, which means you'll find yourself needing to run with the AD&D monster tables, which means either handling tens of monsters (yes, even in dungeons) or handling monsters with lots of special abilities: Spell casters, and so on....I would recommend playing RAW for some time.
>>94411386Got this here ages ago. There's a fun rooftop running encounter table in the Corpathium stuff. Not a fan of all the various Infingrad stuff but some of its at least interesting.
>>94411884Thank you, great stuff, I didn't have anything for that.>>94411508I'd suggest you grab the level 5 ability from ACKS 1st edition to do magical research at level 5. It will be in the SRD document for free.
Question from a noob DM, what monsters can I use for a party of three/four level 1 characters that won't body them instantly? I found a lot of 1 HD insects but I think throwing a bunch of ants at my players won't make them want to play AD&D over 5e
What's the folder path that leads to the Rules Cyclopedia? Is it under AD&D?
>>94413359The ones that wander level 1 of the dungeon? If you pull your punches you set false expectations.
>>94413559Listen I need to boil my 5e froggie friends slowly and killing them the second they enter the dungeon is like throwing a blowtorch into the pot
>>94413643>>94413359Absolutely asinine question. Just look at the table of dungeon level one monsters, pick an entry, roll the number appearing
>>94413359Reskin the ants. You rarely have to change what a monster's stats are or do from the AD&D dmg, just make them into something that's more fitting to the dungeon. >Ants have human faces but with mandibles. >Goblins are humans with ant masks and green hell disposition Roll the monsters if you're making a dungeon. It'll be okay. Make sure you're using reaction rolls and telegraph monster intentions. Remind them they can run away. Have a few replacement characters handy. Remind them its a dangerous world and characters can die through bad choices or sometimes even bad luck. I get you don't want to scare them, makes sense. Hard to tell over this mystarian earth hollowing forum but ideally you have already introduced these concepts to them and will have to repeat yourself over time. If you don't think being clear and honest will work, doesn't really matter what monster you use you're fucked.
>>94413714>>94413774Fair enough
>>94413443I don't know off the top of my head, but Rules Cyclopedia is in the Basic line, not Advanced so it shouldn't be. Did you search the directory file?
>>94413808But seriously, don't pull punches with them. But also use procedure. If the encounter monsters, apply the reaction roll. Have the creatures appear at a rolled distance. Give players the option of running away, turning corners, dropping food, and dropping treasure are all useful tactics (don't forget that they can't map and can only pick directions when running).If they are still losing in fights that they want to win, then the survivors or new party, knows about such failures and goes back next time with henchmen, molotovs, and pole arms
>>94413999Woops, meant to use that image for this post! ACK-DUNGEON CRAWL FRENS HEXCRAWL PLAY REPORTX1 Isle of Dread Party size: 10+10 legionnairesParty level 2-10Session #4 (for this adventure)Previous report >>94389888A devastating session for the party's mercenaries! After returning to the safety of the village beyond the wall, the party took two weeks of downtime to recuperate, resupply, and research a new spell, one that would allow their treewalker to move at triple speed, greatly increasing their hex movement per day (they ended up going in seven days, almost the same distance as had taken sixteen days previously). One of the party images made use of a binary Oracle and a logic tree to determine the general location of the largest treasure, magic item and monsters, the party set off northwesterly from the wall, in an attempt to reach the western coast and travel down alongside searching for signs of the supposed largest treasure cache. On day two of resumed travel, the party came across two small swarms of giant hummingbirds, beautifully white with crimson edging. The birds were in fact stirges, which became blood crazed and readied to dive attack, but were blasted into withered husks by a mage with a shadow aoe. The specimens were collected for later study. On day three, during the night of rest in the instant fortress, the guards on watch were surprised, and could not alert the party as a dense and large swarm of normal jungle mosquitos flew in through the first floor arrow slits, completely engulfing the eleven characters sleeping. The damage was severe enough to kill all five legionnaires resting, leaving four and the sergeant alive upstairs. At the sound of alarm, the same mage as previously mentioned twice before, unstoppered in ever smoking bottle and flooded the entire tower, driving the mosquitoes off instantly.
>>94414017>>94414017On day five, party discovers a small step-pyramid topped with a twenty foot tall statue of a horned demon, and ringed by nearly thirty smaller similar statues around its base. All the statues had gold jewelry, and the pyramid had a basin of offerings as well. The same mage used her magic staff to summon an invisible stalker, with the agenda of having it climb the large statue and take its treasure. Once they noticed the treasure being stolen, the smaller statues all sprung to life, gargoyles! They made short work of the invisible stalker, and began to assault the distant party, flying in fast and heavy. Luckily the only serious damage was to another legionnaire, leaving only three and a sergeant. The gargoyles got dealt with, and the treasure in the basin was collected, most of it being low value trinkets, but also a scroll and a wand made of stone in the shape of an armbone. The bard inspects the scroll and alas, it is cursed! The blood written drawing of a skeleton turned into a bone golem surprising him, attacking with obsidian swords. Over two rounds he brought the bard down to two hit points, before collapsing into shards from many attacks. The jewelry was all together very valuable, and the wand was analyzed to be a wand of summon gargoyle! From there they finished their days travel, and on day seven, they were attacked by three giant slicer beetles! These creatures were quickly dealt with and the party harvested their mandibles as potential ingredients for creating swords of sharpness.
>>94411171I agree, but it doesn't have to be that way.>My party encountered a troll but didn't have a fire source to prevent it from regenerating, so they had to improvise.>Oh, that's wild. I remember when MY party encountered a troll this one time...Stuff like that would be nice to see in this general. I like hearing about people's games. Everyone who has played has stories worth telling.
>>94413643That's exactly the opposite of how D&D works. You need to disabuse yourself of the idea that whether the characters survive or not is your responsibility as the DM.Unlearn all the Hickmanfaggotry that's been shoved down your throat by WotC and Lorraine Williams.The DM doesn't balance encounters to the party, he creates a setting with an internal ecological coherence (monsters getting more dangerous and treasures richer in certain directions), and it's up to the players to find out how to survive and thrive in the setting.You are just a referee.
>>94413999Nice map, Anon. You got a version without the Xs?
>>94413643>>94414254Also, "boiling slowly" is a recipe for failure. The premise of D&D is so different from that of the "D&D" knock-offs that you can't go from one to the other through anything like a smooth transition. Just tell your friends it's a completely different game and to approach it with an open mind.
>>94414275Sure! It's a version of the "found map" from X1 that I found.
>>94414409It's really nice for flavour, thanks for sharing. We'll still need the hex one for actual play, though.
>>94410886>Printings don't matter, they're all the same.The first and second printings of the DMG had errors that were mostly corrected in the third so even if you ignore cover art and internal art they're not all the same.
New to OSR. What's the difference fOf AD&D and Basic D&D?
>>94415422Short Answer: Lots
>>94415422>tl:drGame complexity is lower in B/X, its for 10 year olds to be able to figure out more or less. This ends up missing some interactions or glossing over things that AD&D has detail break downs or rules for. Not a knock against, just that it was made for an introduction game and works perfectly well as that now. Shifting towards AD&D, various house rulings, etc. is normal over time.
>>94415422Both are fine games. I prefer AD&D. I recommend reading both rulebooks and seeing what you prefer. >>94415436>>94415526These guys are correct.
>>94415422Adding to what others said, I find B/X to be a great game for people who are new to RPGs or even new to the OSR. It's very easy to pick up and play, and you don't have to be a particularly good DM to run things smoothly.
>>94415422Basic is a great way to enter the game, and AD&D is full of stuff that are great to add once you get more experience. If you find you don't like race-as-class then AD&D has a fix for you, if ability scores are too basic AD&D has plenty of complexity, its spell-learning rules can be applied in different ways, it has added rules for hiring retainers/henchmen, tables galore, plenty to crib and plenty to ignore.The DMG is required reading in any case if you plan to be a DM.
>>94415422AD&D, aka Awesome D&D, has exceptional strength, psionics, Boot Hill conversion rules, more pole arms than you can shake a pole arm at, a universally acclaimed version of the bard class, and quite possibly even rules for initiative.
>>94416497>psionics, Boot Hill conversion rules, more pole arms than you can shake a pole arm at, a universally acclaimed version of the bard class, and quite possibly even rules for initiative.Well said, Fellow OSR Enthusiast!Get Yourself Gaming at your earliest convenience!If you have time, I'd like to hear from you how you implemented the splendid additions you mentioned above to Awesome D&D (AD&D) in your own game, and how your players interact with them in general.
>>94416497kek
there's only so many items to buy in B/X. what do you give your players as options to spend money on? of course building bases and amassing followers is a huge money sink, but I'm curious if it's game breaking to have weapon and armor upgrades other than just magical +1 and effects. for example, reinforcing armor to subtract 1 from blunt damage.
>>94415422Basic is Basic.Advanced is Advanced.The former is quick to get started with but you start hitting speed bumps relatively quickly and eventually around level 6 you need to pave the road yourself, usually by stealing from advanced, if you want to run a long-term campaign. The latter takes a bit more initial investment, like figuring out how to run combat smoothly, but has enough to it that you don't really need to be fiddling with the system much beyond ignoring parts that aren't relevant to your game and is very well suited for long-term high level play. It's mostly a matter of taste though. One think I will say is that Basic's first impresison from reading it is better but Advanced is great on the actual table.
>>94418948I don't think it would be game breaking, but would likely limit it to only one kind of specialized protection enhancement per suit of armour. Does B/X have anything for monthly or weekly costs of living based on level of characters? Not as familiar with it. Other things that encourage spending are having significant puzzles in the dungeon that require some sort of project to construct, build, etc. to extract, tunnel around, build over, etc. For mundane gear I printed out LotFP's equipment list and kept it around, it seemed to be inspiring enough to crate a few shopping sprees.
>>94418948>what do you give your players as options to spend money on?I graduate from kiddie D&D to AD&D and have my players pay training costs for new levels.
>>94419199I bet they have a lot of fun with that!
>>94414017>>94414105not your blog
Anyone have a pdf copy of the AD&D dmg has the page with 175 in it? The one I got skips from 174 to 176 so I miss the level I monster table and whatever else is there.
>>94420576Classic
>>94420576I have the information you seek, but what do you offer in return?
Hickmanoid here. Stocking my 1e sandbox with some adventure hooks and came up with this one as a "repay debt to cleric if you couldn't afford a resurrection" (the party can also opt to just pay the debt, but if they couldn't afford the res they'd probably be low enough level to where that could get difficult):Cleric needs you to kill his old apprentice who went crazy.Old apprentice found a baby al-mi'raj and raised it as a pet.One day it wandered into a hunter's trap and was killed instantly.Driven mad by grief, the apprentice made a pact with {evil forest god} to resurrect his pet in exchange for sacrifices.Now the apprentice and the al-mi'raj capture unsuspecting hunters and travelers and sacrifice them at a forest altar. Thinking of having the apprentice pretend to be a captured hunter and trying to lure the party into some traps. His pact grants him protection from his original god's divine punishment, and he'll probably be some kind of evil druid. To keep it 1e, are there any obvious contingencies I should plan? For example, if his pet isn't killed and somehow isn't in danger, he might try to run away. If the party opts to use a hunter (or someone dressed like one) as bait, pursuing him or tracking him to his altar is probably on the table, but I feel like I'm missing something else obvious.I don't want the party to feel like their riding my shitty plot railroad.
>>94420880*they're
>>94420880Let the druid offer rebirth from the "eevyl" Forest God to the characters, provided they get the "good" cleric off his back.
>>94419856Eat a dick, you massive homo. Actual play reports are welcome here.
Does anyone here have experience running a decently long campaign with OD&D? I'd be interested what would make such a campaign work, as well as what happens to the initial ruleset after a year or two of play. Does it become a mess of houserules? Does it just become AD&D? Or is the minimal ruleset of the LBBs sufficient to sustain a long-term campaign? Did you get into some meaningful domain play or was it just adventuring? And finally, do you have any tips for someone looking to start a 3LBB campaign? (I already know about Philotomy's Musings and the Implied Setting documents... what such documents don't tell me is how to manage a campaign and keep player interest/excitement high).
>>94421577I don't, but I know Daniel from Bandit's Keep has run a long LBB campaign. May be worth looking at some of his videos or poking into his trannycord for answers.
>>94420712A picture of my bullshit sandwich lunch today. Someone forgot to restock butter so the grilling of the cheese was suboptimal.
>>94419856found a nogames
>>94421577>Does it become a mess of houserules?Unless you already started out that way, yes. This is the edition working as intended. If you don't like creating half of the game yourself, just play Basic or AD&D. >Does it just become AD&D?That is exceedingly unlikely unless you choose to go there on purpose.>Or is the minimal ruleset of the LBBs sufficient to sustain a long-term campaign?I feel like this question is misposed. On the one hand, I think yes, actually it is, but on the other hand, the Greyhawk supplement contains material created by Gygax almost immediately upon starting to run his game, and in practice, what you'll almost certainly end up doing is creating your own Greyhawk-equivalent. To me, this *constitutes* sustaining a long-term campaign; there's no opposition. One of the worthwhile things to me about my OD&D game is the content I generated for it (although ultimately, I decided against a supplement format and did a total conversion of the LBBs to accomodate my shit).>And finally, do you have any tips for someone looking to start a 3LBB campaign?You don't have to use that Philotomy and implied-setting stuff, although it's both interesting and useful. Think of those mostly as inspiration, illustrative ways of how you can think about OD&D, unless you're immediately drawn to them and want to use them. I mean, it's literally called Philotomy's Musings because they're Philotomy musing on the additions, interpretations and adjudications that he made while running his LBB game (which incidentally lasted quite long, I believe).>what such documents don't tell me is how to manage a campaign and keep player interest/excitement highThis is the domain of art. No book can really tell you how to do this. It's like trying to explain to someone how to take a jazz solo in writing; any description will be like "blow rhythmically into the mouthpiece while pressing the appropriate keys at the apposite moments", which is correct but doesn't help.
>>94420576On my phone only, this is the best you can hope for.I now expect you to generate a 9-person NPC party using this page (DMG 175) and post it in this thread. Thanks in advance.
>>94420880>but I feel like I'm missing something else obvious.Make it a gang or even an entire cult. A serial murderer like that apprentice of yours isn't / shouldn't be stupid enough to take on an entire party of tough adventurers by himself, even when high level.No idea what a mar'jard is or whatever, but it better be dangerous if you insist on the guy being solo+pet.People I've played with wouldn't like weak serial killers (if he's weak, why hasn't rhe cleric or a ranger ally of his solved the problem) and neither would they appreciate dumb serial killers.
>>94364496your friends sound like tremendous pussies
>>94421577This guy ran S&W for like two years: this might be worth reading.https://mythicmountainsrpg.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-two-sandboxesI don't know what the definition of a "long" campaign is - I have run one that lasted 7 years, though it was not in 0e; but I know people who have been running the same campaign for decades: most with 1e.
>Gary's rule that single-classed demi-humans have their level limit increased by two.Never heard of this before, where's it from?
>>94423858>where's it from?Unearthed Arcana.
>>94423222>I now expect No you don't. But have about as much effort as you put in. More really. >https://www.mithrilandmages.com/utilities/ADD1ENPC.php
>>94422632>Philotomy and implied-setting stuffNta, but regarding to the implied setting of OD&D and BX (they are similar in this way) wouldn't it actually imply that humans are nearly exctinct? I mean how do you explain humans surviving these crazy high level monsters? How many high level adventurers are required for an actual medieval society (and demographic population) are required?
>>94424961>wouldn't it actually imply that humans are nearly extinct?If they were near extinct they wouldn't have a whole sub-table for wandering monsters to themselves and show up in every terrain type. Most non-humans are chaotic and thus prone to in-fighting or significantly less intelligent, and in LBB some creatures later classed as evil are sometimes neutral instead (orcs, ogres, giants)
>>94424614Oh, I see. So it sounds like he might be using the UA rule with the PHB level limits. Not too bad of a house rule I guess.
>>94424977Yeah that's true, I was more thinking on the lines of:given the power of humans (their level, population suggested by random encounters or medieval population)and given the number and power of chaotic monsters (well some become Neutral, but still)Would humans be able to survive? If yes, how many high level characters would be needed to thrive?It's more of a simulation question I had, even if normally don't really think along those lines I was curious, cause Philotomy analyzes stuff from the other side and I was curious.
>>94425152It depends on too many factors that are not modelled by OD&D: Reproduction rate, strategic organisation, economics, technology, physical economics (the capacity to do productive work), politics (the tendency of lawful creatures to collaborate vs the tendency of chaotic creatures to fight among themselves), ...You can't deduce much if anything conclusive based on OD&D alone.
>>94416497lol
>>94425152According to Greyhawk, there aren’t more than 20% of a population which is humanoid except in the wildest of places. And those divided humanoids are mostly 1 HD or less, the same as humans.This assumes Greyhawk as a baseline though.
>>94413443check the bottom of the image
>>94413443Ctrl+F the full file and folder list in the top folder. It's definitely not in the AD&D folder though, since the Rules Cyclopedia is not AD&D (and it's gay).
I'm so grateful someone uploaded a copy of this book... It's a fine collectible but I wouldn't have wanted to pay more than $10 for it.
>>94428232It's in the O-S-Rchive, I pirated it a few hours ago
>>94424961>the implied setting of OD&D and BXGygax be like>Welcome to my fantasy setting>there are no empires nor kingdoms>there are various medieval weapons but for the most part there is not a titch of feudalism anywhere, no laws surrounding inheritance or any of that>instead, basically what happens is there are ruins everywhere. these places are filled with monsters incapable of forming society larger than a tribe>said tribes are constantly warring, killing each other, getting meme'd into killing each other>they have enormous amounts of treasure just lying around, most of it coinage that's readily accepted at any human town>we're not done however>heroes killing all of the monsters and taking all of the gold means they build a base for themselves>this attracts settlers, which basically means you have people that cross a frontier that has a 5% chance every day of a dragon appearing and murdering you so they can be some dude's serf and work the land for him and pay taxes(?)>it's not so much a kingdom as it is an organized criminal "family" since there's usually a leader and a bunch of thugs who helped him get rich too>there's no trading networks, there's no diplomacy, you can control the nearest ten miles around your stronghold>the day you die, your kingdom and all of its riches will become another ruin for monsters to inhabit, and all of the treasures you gathered exist to be found by other adventuring parties so they can infinitely repeat the process
>>94429828Hard times create powerful adventurersPowerful adventurers create weak societiesWeak societies create hard times
>>94429828>it's not so much a kingdom as it is an organized criminal "family" since there's usually a leader and a bunch of thugs who helped him get rich tooWHERE DO YOU THINK KINGDOMS COME FROM?
>>94428463Thank you much anon, you satisfied my curiosity! It's a neat book.
>>94429828>this attracts settlers, which basically means you have people that cross a frontier that has a 5% chance every day of a dragon appearing and murdering you so they can be some dude's serf and work the land for him and pay taxes(?)Given the dude is able to slay said dragon, that would otherwise kill everybody in the village, it makes sense to want to move into the dude's domain.
>>94424961>>94429828My brothers in dice; I don't intend to be rude, but have you *read* the LBBs and Appendix N?> no laws for inheritance Yes there are - and rules for when your inheritor accidentally usurps you from when you're out on adventure too long.> 5% chance of serfs being killed dailyTo establish a barony, you must clear the area of monsters - at least a 5 mile hex - and keep it clear.And those are just two of the things that make me feel like I may be taking bait by replying. > wouldn't it actually imply that humans are nearly exctinct?Read Jack Vance's short story collection, The Dying Earth. All your questions will be answered. Then, we'll start you on the next Gygaxian influential literature. Be blessed, my brothers.
>>94430617Fair point, but on second reading my pasta implies that the future serf's actual problem is getting to the dragonslayer protected land in the first place, as he crosses land without such a protector.>people that cross a frontier that has a 5% chance every day of a dragon appearing and murdering you
>>94431444He's probably part of a group of refugees escaping from another dragon, or maybe the same one. Perhaps his former protector was slain by the dragon. Perhaps he was usurped by a tyrant necromancer. Or maybe they're from a secluded valley that was undiscovered by the forces of Chaos until recently.The possibilities are limitless, and there's no reason to assume a majority of them make must be able to make the journey alive for them to attempt it.
>>94431123>Then, we'll start you on the next Gygaxian influential literature.ntayrt but I read the Dying Earth recently and loved it. What do I read next?
>>94431746I am still, myself, working through the list: but of them all, my next top three suggestions to chase Vance would be the Poul Anderson titles.Conan is kino - Tower of the Elephant in particular is required reading - but Anderson, in my estimate, will have more direct connections to the game rules and concepts.
>>94431849>>94431746Apologies for the sideways picrel.I don't know why the 'chan did that.Don Greer as pennance.
