Welcome to the Old School Renaissance General, the thread dedicated to the first decade of 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:>>92699490>TQAstral and Ethereal travel: Have your players ever used them? When? How? What happened?
>TQAstral and Ethereal travel: Have your players ever used them? When? How? What happened?
I just ran my first OSR game with my regular group (we started on 3.5 and they've always of been buildfocused minmaxxing kind). There was much pissing and crying about the lack of builds and clunk, but once the session got going they were totally invested into it. They finished the first dungeon (Tomb of the Seprent Kings, which I was told is a teaching module for veteran players of other systems) and they immediately went back to town to plan how to invest the gold into ventures, hirelings and buying a house to use as base for future adventures. They turned a oneshot into a campaign.I can say I'm very surprised, pleasantly so. Is this the magic of OSR? I need more recommendations on good modules and how to plan for more wilderness adventures, since they want to set out exploring on the overland now. I'm looking into ACKS for when they have enough money to invest into small armies and warbands, but I guess that'll be in higher levels, provided they survive.
>>92724981>Is this the magic of OSR?Yes! You've done everything right, sounds like.>I need more recommendations on good modules 1. B2 Keep on the Borderlands.2. Stonehell, placing it in place of the Caves of Chaos in B2 Keep of the Borderlands (notice the shape is the same).3. Barrowmaze.4. Caverns of Thracia.But can't stress Stonehell enough, it is by far the best designed and best presented module of all times.>how to plan for more wilderness adventures, since they want to set out exploring on the overland now1. Watch GFC's videos on the topic. Actually watch all of them, they are very goodhttps://www.youtube.com/@gfcsdnd205/videos2. It is EXTREMELY important that you understand the wilderness evasion procedures, as well as the wilderness distance and surprise procedures, and how they interact with one another. Wilderness encounters seem deadly until you realise that they are for the most part very easily evaded for the price of wasting time and resources, which has caused the common misconception that wilderness exploration is only for mid-level characters. You can definitely set out in the wilderness at first level with a small group. Bigger groups make evasion more difficult, though, so players will have to discover the right balance.>I'm looking into ACKS for when they have enough money to invest into small armies and warbands, but I guess that'll be in higher levels, provided they survive.ACKS has useful subsystems to deploy, but unless you've already read the DMG, you're doing things in the wrong order. You don't have to use everything in the DMG, but over four decades of gaming for me it has been an endless source of inspiration. Many procedures that seemed wrong or silly have turned out to be extremely well designed after actually trying them out.
Repeating the question, anyone know of any good 3D STLs for old school-inspired minis?
>>92725034>check the DMG I'll have to check it asap, I've heard it recommended for some time but I started by dipping my toes into OSE because of formatting and ease of use. I see that I will need some more expanded subsystems for when the players want to engage in some more open play (commerce, travel and warbands)>BarrowmazeI was looking into Barrowmaze to drop near the starting town, I might do it with Stonehell instead. They seemed to get the gist of delving and getting out with treasure at regular intervals, instead of trying to "solve" the whole dungeon at once and murder everything like in later editions. They actually asked for less frequent magic items to have a more low-magic campaign, and have more meaningful item finds, which I really liked. I have to do a proper hex map of 24mi/hex for next sessions, I only did a very basic 6-mile sheet of the immediate surroundings. >wilderness evasionI will look into that for sure, I remember reading about the big dangerous encounters you can have in the wilderness, which might prove lethal at low levels. On another hand, all of the players tried to go with Infravision races to maintain surprise in the dark. It seemed to me that infravision really has no drawbacks and benefits Elves and Dwarves a lot (we play with separate race and class with race-as-class as an option, without demihuman level limits). Maybe this was my fault, but the fact that they didnt' want to make humans or halflings because Infravision is so good bothers me. Is Infravision usually houseruled if you remove level limits, or is it really that good?
Do you have any cool lore or stories about blink dogs? I feel that they are potentially awesome but don't know how to use them to make them shine>>92724981http://vilecultofshapes.blogspot.com/2022/12/hexcrawling-procedures-simple-guide.htmlabout the overland exploration, I am following this roughly, for now is going great. I rolled 1d6 for each hex with a 1 being (1,2: dungeon and 3,4,5,6: lair), all of them being secret but influencing the encounters of the 6 surrounding hexesSome of the lairs are actually human cities (human lairs) or just animal lairs.I am picking the monsters by hand because at random i keep receiving weird things.
>>92725210>They actually asked for less frequent magic items to have a more low-magic campaign, and have more meaningful item finds, which I really liked.Stonehell is notorious for being stingy with treasure and magic items in the upper levels, presumably because that level was partially looted by rival adventuring parties. You might like that.>It seemed to me that infravision really has no drawbacksLook into the DMG's treatment of infravision, it proposes several different approaches to choose from. In the less generous interpretation, "ordinary" infravision does not allow to see entrances and exits into a room, nor obstacles that are at room temperature. You could rule that demi-humans have "ordinary" infravision and monsters have the improved one.Notice that in OD&D no demi-humans had infravision, all monsters had it, and if you charmed a monster it lost infravision! Sometimes it's useful to look up how OD&D approached things too.
>>92725216It is worth pointing that they have treasure C in lair (1000 gp and 10% chance of magic item) which is strange for a pack of canines
>>92725210>>92725260>we play with separate race and class with race-as-class as an option, without demihuman level limitsI am sorry, but that was a decision you WILL come to regret. There is a series of interconnected limitations in the PHB, DMG and MM that Gavin Normal lifted in OSE-Advanced for purely commercial reasons: More player options sell. It's the cancer that destroyed OSR playing out again. Consider the following:1. Dwarves and Elves PCs cannot be Clerics in AD&D (only NPCs can)2. The undead are invisible to infravision.What do you get when you have a party of all-elves and all-dwarves going around in a dungeon using infravision, with undead that are invisible and that they cannot turn?
>>92725210>Infravision Read carefully the book, infravision doesn't mean having night vision googles, but being able to see some form of heat when to bright light is present in a room, you don't know the layout of a room, you can't see a trap etc.It is implied that monsters can do these things, this is a different design choice from 3.5+ games where monsters and players have the same rules, same feats etc, here instead the players follow certain rules and the monsters other rules.
>>92725260>stonehell being stingy with treasurethats' perfect, we started the campaign with the premise that there's a kingdom-wide spree of adventurers looking for a way to get rich by finding a way to prolong the dying king's lifespan, so there's enough reason for different parties going around and having conflict of interests. I will check Stonehell this evening and insert it into the hex map I worked on. >infravision does not allow to see obstacles oooh, I skipped over it, of course. They only see warmer things. Well, I have a way to restrict infravision a bit now, and allow for non-vision having races to have a part. Thanks for the help
>>92725277Well yeah they're average intelligence and lawful good lol they aint normal hounds
>>92725210>>92725287And level limitations are a good thing, why did you lift them??
>>92724887Alright lads let's see if this thread actually stays on the rails this time.So I'm running B2 right now and my players kept raiding the goblins. They then got forced back in a big fight. They then killed all the hobgoblins but didn't finish them off because most of the hobgoblin base is behind secret doors(that the players didn't look for even after I accidentally told them that there was a secret door in that room by accident). They are now dungeon bashing through the orc caves to the north.So my question is what do I do with the hobs and the gobs given that they are nominally allies (at least compared to the other groups in the cave) and that there are a bunch of them still alive including both chieftains. >option 1Combine them together and move all of them into one side of the cave.>Option 2Hobs use gobs as shit kickers. Knock off the gob chieftain and have the gobs be treated like shit.Pretty simple situation but I'm wondering what you fine gentlemen think about it
>>92725304I like option B, have the hobgoblins organize the normal goblins
>>92725287nta, but I think players should be allowed to have a clerical dwarf character, they are cool.And yes it is not "balanced" in the same sense and breaks the situation you proposed, but certainly cleric dwarfs exist, we know how a warrior dwarf works thus we can imagine how a clerical one works as well.
>>92725304Roll a reaction roll for the Hobgoblins. Positive reaction, they ally with the Goblins. Negative reaction, they enslave them.
>>92725314>they are coolThe cancer that ruined D&D.
>>92725327Death by a million "cool ideas", lol
>>92725301We're still at lvl 1, the fact that OSE gave humans some traits (and access to all classes, whilst maintaining restrictions on demihumans) seemed a good compromise. Dwarves and elves always benefit from their racial traits, whilst higher level caps seems like a fact that only enters into play after long campaigns, when humans can keep leveling up after the rest of the races cannot. I prefer that my players can keep leveling together and let humans have more choice instead of restricting everyone to their race-as-class, that's a personal preference for variety of PCs and NPCs.
>>92725327Don't be a dumb faggot. Reread the last page of 3LBB for me. Goofy ass acting like half the shit Gygax and co. created wasn't done so because "it's cool".
>>92725301>>92725378>>92725314I think the original line of thought was that dwarves and elves as PCs are adventures searching for their fortune far from civilized elfland and dwarven underground cities.When they made their pile, they fucked off back to their realms to do with their riches what they set out to do when they went for an adventure for treasure in barbaric human lands.
>>92725757I think you are mixing up mechanical reasons rules are in place with narratives that are made after the fact and retrofitted to provide an in-world rationalisation for the rule.
I suddenly want to see a 3H3L game run in OD&D.
>>92725815I'm digging through Appendix N now and Three Hearts Three Lions was an absolute blast. I had already read Tolkien, Lovecraft, and Howard when I was younger but everything else is new to me. So far I've read 3H3L, the first Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser story, A Princess of Mars, and the first Dying Earth book. I think Vance has actually been my favorite of the bunch so far, after Tolkien.I'm working on The Broken Sword now and I'm finding it to be a bit of a slog though, hard to put my finger on why but I'm about 2/3rds through and I have to force myself to keep going. I'm going to power through then maybe move on to the next Dying Earth book, or finish Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser.
>>92725304That sounds like remarkably effective player combat for the module. How are they that effective but also totally retarded about secret doors after you told them about secret doors?
How do I get my players to learn the rules? We have a bunch of sessions behind us and some will still ask what die to roll for attacks or saves. They won't add their modifiers to rolls despite having them spelled out on the sheet. Basically they will ask what to roll and then read the number out loud. I have explained how each of those rolls work to them multiple times. They are not dumb, all of them are engineers in various fields, and they actually play pretty well and strategize, it's literally just that they won't remember simple mechanical procedures that we do all the time. It was fine at first, I helped them manage and since first level characters are largely similar it was easy. Now that they are getting up in levels, they have magic items and various differences between classes, the adventures are starting to get more complex and I don't have the capacity to manage everything. Has anyone here encountered and solved this with his players?
Lately I'm really conflicted on deadlieness in dungeons. On one hand, it feels more realistic and more like a good game if it's easy to die, on the other hand many [women] players seem to really like having continous characters. I don't want to exclude our female players from our games.So what I've been struggling with is finding a neat middle ground. Some dungeons really seem to have these "gotcha" traps that can just kill you no matter what you do. For example, in Barrowmaze there was a mirror which if you looked at, you got transported into, and then you had to fight a mirrored version of yourself, essentially giving you a 50/50 chance of death. As a DM it seemed pretty unavoidable for one PC/henchman to just get sucked in there with no way for anyone else to help out. What's the benefit of these kind of traps? Save or die's can be similar.
>>92726286Just slowly stop helping them with things you think they should know. First say WHERE they can find the answer instead of saying the answer. A friend of mine had similar issues because he helped too much, it's like his players learned biking with training wheels and he forgot to take them off.
>>92726319>[women]AAAAAAAAH THIS HAS TO BE BAIT HELP ME GYGAX IM GOING INSANE AAAAAAAHOkay now to the actual reply: give them either more cannon fodder hirelings, or hirelings that are actually close associates (squires, apprentices). That way, there is either a lower chance for the PCs to die, or if they die they leave a lagacy behind.
>>92726377I'm sorry bro I kinda hate women players aswell, but I can't get rid of them from our friend groupSo we have two dms and I let players just yeet their hirelings as cannon fodder and it seems to work pretty well. The other DM wants to crack down on that too and now all our players are playing level 3 stonehell (sometimes level 2) with level 5 chars
>>92726286If everything else fails, play in the arnesonian style and just let them roleplay while you explain to them the results of their actions using the rules. Or don't, it would probably be a hassle to you if you are asking for advice
>>92726319Did you try having each player have a stable of characters? It's easier to come to terms with one character dying if you have more.Implementing some form of 1:1 time forces players to have more than one character.
>>92726158In their defence I let it slip at the end of a session and then we came back a week later, it's easy to forget in the interim.But the real culprit is probably that we've mostly played 3.5 with it's spot rolls and all that nonsense. I'm easing them off automatically discovering things via rolling high enough.I called out the MU by name and told him that the arrows(magical) were especially well made and only one of the three realised that it meant they should detect magic on them. They are doing alright overall and I'm resisting the urge to put big glowing lights on all the cool secrets I want them to see.
>>92725304How many in-game days have gone by? The module says losses are not replaced, but if a week or two has gone by undisturbed I think it'd be reasonable to shake up the room contents. Have some traps set up and maybe shift both gob groups deeper into more fortified rooms (think of the storage room with the secret door, etc.)I had one separate group of players clear the goblins out of the cave by allying with them due to chance, go on a mission to slay the hobgoblin leader, etc. while my Sunday group primarily poked around the Caves of Evil Chaos and never encountered the gobs. They recently finally explored that cave to discover it has been reoccupied by gnolls and zombies from the cult leader. Be creative.
>>92725034Anyone have a PDF of Stonehell they could share?
>>92727747It's in all of the usual places, Anon. Be sure to get Stonehell I, Stonehell II, Supplement 1, and Supplement 2. I like Supplement 0 but perhaps it's not for everyone.
I like separating races and classes and getting rid of level limits for demihumans. Been running a modified BFRPG for about a year now and my group is almost all human anyway except the dwarf cleric and the group has made it only to level 7 or so and there has been no complaint from them about the opening up of races and classes unlike our last game of 1e where the players were not happy being restricted in race-class choices and then the level limits. And two of these players are old neckbeards who have been playing since the red box released.
>>92727663Only been a couple of days since they visited the hobs but maybe almost 2 weeks since the gobs. I haven't put any traps in yet (there was one but it was deliberately easy to bypass). I'll definitely think about some to implement before next session.
>>92727900Level limits are cringe but some level of class restriction is generally for the best. I respect dwarf clerics but forbid dwarf MUs, elves being abominations against god cannot be clerics, orcs can only be fighters or rogues (and can never be lawful!). Meanwhile humans have access to all four base classes and the paladin, illusionist, druid, and even the bard.In addition I do have racial minimums and significantly lower maximums. Since I roll 4d6 down the line it’s more common that a character crashes against the racial maximums than that they fail to reach a minimim.
>>92727776I don't know what "the usual places" are. I already checked the OP trove >>92724887 doesn't have it, neither do 3 links from Da Archive in the sharethread, nor does /osrg on rebrandly.
>>92727987Maybe have the hobs move into the former goblin spaces. Keep note of the numbers. I've had great luck with traps that put the party in a sticky situation rather than just damage; one example was a wooden gate before the "we'd love to have you for dinner" door dropping down on a specific trigger that separated the group in two before monsters showed up after a turn response to the noise. Suddenly the squishy thief was trapped in the front line with a fighter face to face with baddies while the others were lifting the gate to allow someone to crawl through, etc.Give them a brief turn to panic and quickly drum up a simple plan. Don't allow them to talk much out of character and remind them of the situation/urgency
>>92728093It's there. Check the directory.
>>92726319>deadliness>"gotcha" traps>save or die>What's the benefit?Much to say about this topic (and indeed much has been said). I believe high-lethality works best with the assumptions that 1) you're playing the game often, 2) playing the game quickly (not recklessly, but actively, adventurously, making lots of moves, interacting with many objects), and 3) sometimes you get a big reward, e.g. a different magic mirror might give you a level's worth of experience, or a powerful magical item. It's high-stakes gambling with your character's life as the ante, but over many sessions, you get to roll a lot. It's no surprise that this style has fallen out of favor and there are a lot of blog posts with the stance "I hate losing progress because I'm an adult with responsibilities and I don't have much time to game, etc. etc."Tonally, I think that it's sometimes the stuff pulp adventures are made of. There are many stories about fortunes won and lost on a roll of the dice. The game lets you play as both the big winners and the losers who get eaten by a tiger at the start of the expedition. Similarly, no one wants to be the guy who drinks from the wrong Grail, but that's part of what makes the Grail a really big deal, you know? You don't get to just pick it up.If you really want to be a merciful DM you can give players a warning that they're making the gamble. Tell them the mirror has a mysterious pull and leave it up to them if they want to get closer. If you have good treasure often enough, they'll still take the chance sometimes.
>>92728022>roguesFOEGYG
>>92726319>What's the benefit of these kind of traps?Rewarding parties that bring along remedies against them. E.g. carrying antidotes*, taking a Paladin* along for diseases and parasites, feather fall* spells for very deep pits, and so on.Save or die is there for the players to be challenged by the game and have a learning curve.It's not your responsibility as a DM to remove challenges for your players, it's your players' responsibility to adapt to the challenges.It is, however, your responsibility as a DM to know that the countermeasures exist, so you don't come up with bad ideas such as removing challenges. First-decade D&D was an extremely heavily playtested RPG. You need to trust the Gygax.*inb4 "but I play B/X". B/X is not a complete game. When these things come up, and players express the desire to get a spell that protects them against falls or an antidote against poisons, is when you loot the DMG for ideas or come up with your own. But, again, ideas that reward good play on the part of the players rather than making the game stupid easy.
>>92726319>>92728616Also, it sounds like you might need to learn the fine art of dropping subtle hints about dangerous traps.
alignment system is pretty retarded isn't it
Does LFG belong here? I know its not OSR by time created, just wondering where to ask about it, thanks.
>>92728676I've tried talking about Tales of Argosa a bit here but it gets no one so it's presumably too different, which is pretty understandable I suppose. I don't know what LFG1e is like in comparison but I'd say ToA is definitely leaving the OSR space, just not by a whole lot.
>>92728666Only when thought of as a set of ideologies that every creature strictly adheres to, as opposed to a sense of direction for PC and NPC behaviors.
>>92728666No, it's a system of factions to provide baseline groups of alliances, for all monsters and creature fromthe mundane to the planar, directly affecting mechanics like loyalty, morale, and recruitment of armies.(Alignment languages are retarded.)
>>92728666it's fine, especially when it's just law-neutral-chaos, but I ditch it because my world shares more tonal fidelity with the hyborean age than it does with D&D
is there a spell that combines invisibility and mirror image? if there isn't, would you stat it as level 3 or 4? the purpose of this spell is, obviously, to pretend to teleport
>>92728713I just got LFG 3e deluxe, I'm new to this exact product so idk exactly how divergent it is. Tales of Argosa was just the name for LFG 2e right? or did it have a setting baked in too?
>>92728666>alignment system is pretty retarded isn't itnot in my setting =)
>>92728565Oh damn I did call them rogues. I’ve only recently broken myself of that term; my own ruleset calls them thieves and I had to edit out all mention of rogues.
Whats the biggest changes from 1e to 2e, that separates it from oldschool? Mechanical changes, ofc.
>>92729073It's been discussed in most if not all of the past threads for the past few months. Search the 4plebs archive.
>>92729169From the prev response (now deleted), I see its1) exploration rules worse/gutted2) xp rules are wrong3) lots of stuff was removed, like psionicstho, doesnt make clear to me, how its now more "superhero" stuff ? Was HP /Damage values changed?
>>92728871I don't think there is a Low Fantasy Gaming 3e so I don't know what you're talkin aboutTales of Argosa is just 2e yeah. I'm not entirely sure why they went with the name, though. from the playtest book the setting is all implied semi-pulpy swords and sorcery. I want to use the system for an all-pulpy swords and sorcery setting though so I'm culling nonhumans, artificer and monk. both thematically and mechanically they don't fit into what I want. mechanically they're kind of a fucking disaster in my opinionlooking around 1e has a setting book called the Midlands Low Magic Setting, but I don't know much of anything about it
>>92728961Old habits die hard.
>>92729227>I don't think there is a Low Fantasy Gaming 3e so I don't know what you're talkin aboutHmm maybe I don't either, but the pdf I got from their website is titled "low-fantasy-gaming-deluxe-edition-3-pdf"As for artificer and monk, 100% agree on artificer. The inclusion of one singular alchemy flavored ability was also a mistake. As for monk, flavorwise it may not fit pulpy S&S but why do you think its a disaster? I haven't inspected it closely so any insight might help me avoid issues since one player in my group loves to play monks but then complains when they are underpowered (As they almost always are in any rpg I've played yet).
>tfw you wanna tell these guys to FOEGYG but you're not actually sure what the fuck this obscure game they're talking about isStill, "Artificer class" suggests to me that it's not actually an OSR system and you guys should take it somewhere else.
>>92729410They just get all this shit that turns off large parts of the game. Preparation for one, though ToA's fighter also does that. Loads of second chance style abilities. And they're just better at detecting magic than a magic-user.I'm a monkhater though so I may be biased.>>92729436Yes yes, this is b/xgen, I know.This guy that /osrg/ seems to like did a favorable flipthrough of it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NV1eFE1ccg
>>92726319Lmao I had a female player fall into that exact trap in Barrowmaze. She killed her evil doppelganger and returned to the "real" world with a story to tell. Here's another story: a different time in a different dungeon a different female player triggered a trap by slapping a Greek statue's ass and immediately failed her save vs. death. She laughed her ass off and we still joke about it to this day. My point is, don't stress about this sort of thing and just play the game. You'll find your pace.
>>92728666Only the AD&D two-axis alignment system.
>>92729577>this is b/xgenLol, no need to get all butthurt, anon. If Bandit's Keep is cool with it, then it's fine
>>92729194It's not mechanically more superhero at all in core: in fact it's worse, since it gives 3D6 down the line as standard, unlike first ed.The superhero idea comes from two things: the idea in general that the game is about heroic storytelling--which is subtle but there in core, but really comes through in the supplemental materials--and the endless sea of class options that were released in the form of the Complete X Handbooks and the later Player's Option series.The disconnect between what the game wants you to do (be heroes instead of dungeon crawlers) and the tools it provides you to do so (weaken base ability scores, remove most of the dungeon crawling advice, and then just call it a day) is just one more part of why 2nd ed is not particularly well designed.
>>92727900Basically this. I'm running 1e and got rid of the same race/class and level restrictions. I just offset it by mandating humans get first pick of loot and get to roll 4d6 drop lowest while demihumans come second for loot and roll 3d6. So far I have 2 human fighters, a halfling cleric, elf magic-user and a half-orc rogue. The half-orc player was going to roll a dwarf but decided to try half-orc for the first time in like 20 years.
>>92728666God Tier>LNCFine Tier>LG G U C CETrash Tier>LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CEWTF are you doing tier>The above + TN
>>92729691>my players are ok with it so yours will be tooahhh good old OSR attitude, what could go wrong with women involved]/spoiler]
>>92729436All game systems out of production for more than 10 years are OSR, gyg
Little observation, but I find it so interesting that the hatching has been there since the beginning, I thought that was way newer.
OSRIC hardcover costs a fortune to get delivered outside the US, what are my alternatives?
>>92731137how much does the Black Blade Publishing hardcover cost compared to the lulu hardcover?
>>92731190Black blade on is $26.Far superior because you get a cloth stitched binding.
>>927311371. Download it illegally.2. Buy the real thing instead, AD&D.
Don’t pay for TSR products. Fuck WotC. Fuck corporate D&D.
>>92731612Is it fine to print your own?
>>92731575It's free on Osricrpg dot com,no need to download illegally. I want a hardback to reference.
>>92731664Damn right it is
>>92731575>2. Buy the real thing instead, AD&D.Only if you buy it used. Give WotC no money.
>>92731664That version you have there... I have seen that in pdf form, but never read it. How is it different from the individual Basic and Expert books?
>>92731137How about this as an alternative?
>>92727077Yes, I'm aware of this option, and when I play myself I prefer this approach, but my players are different and want to have these personal characters that they really like. I'm aware that this may conflict with OSR gameplay a bit, but hey, not everyone is as autistic as I am.
Given a system where all weapons for PC weapons for Medium creatures do 1d6 damage, is it a good idea or a bad idea to standardize monster weapons to do 1d6 at Medium, 2d6 at Large (ettins, trolls, some giants, etc), and 3d6 for fuckhuge Large (the bigger races of giants, adult dragons, etc)? Why?
>>92728521Thank you for the long answer, I didn't expect this much effort to be put into these responses.I really like your philosophy of making these things kind of gambly, and giving the players a choice to gamble or not. I think I'll try to go the merciful dm route and try to, as another anon said, learn the art of subtly indicating risk, or indeed gambles.
>>92731918BECMI is an excellent ruleset (caveat given below). You will find some anons that disagree with me, but they're mostly wrong.Caveat: If you use BECMI/the Rules Cyclopedia, USE THE THIEF SKILLS PROGRESSIONS GIVEN IN THE B/X BOOKS INSTEAD. This cannot be stressed enough. In B/X (including Labyrinth Lord and OSE and probably all the other B/X clones), thief skills are scaled for 14 levels of progression, which makes them much more useful to the vast majority of groups. In BECMI/the Rules Cyclopedia, the same progression is spread over 36 levels, making thieves suck more dick than OP has ever even imagined.
>>92728616>It's not your responsibility as a DM to remove challenges for your players, it's your players' responsibility to adapt to the challenges.I've heard this often, but at the end of the day, I'm sitting down with friends and we're just playing a difficult version of make believe. I think having a world that is fun to play is a reasonable goal, Maybe I'm wrong in my philosophy in how to get there though!My thinking is, that the dangers and challenges I want to have aren't necessarily death, since PC (and sometimes henchmen) death really diminishes my (especially female) friends enjoyment.I agree on the countermeasures part though. I'll definitely try to think about it more and make them obtainable (even if difficult to obtain)
>>92729691Man your friends seem pretty chill.For some reason everyone (not literally) I play with becomes super enamoured with their stupid Fighter level 2 and cries when they die. My GF still is sad about the char she lost in that damn mirror 4 months ago, and it's not just her.It seems like you guys approach it more like a game and less like a damn opera. I'll try to take things chill
>>92732073I mean, it is a gameattachment happens but also it's just elfgameswe'll pour one out for a homie but that's about itI've been a player in modern games and lost characters and other players have freaked out about it more than me. including the DM. full on "that shouldn't have happened I shouldn't have done that" when I 100% got my character in over her head and there just wasn't a way out. she slid down a chute trap into the murder hotel's basement that had a slime pit, lost most of her hp in the process, and got eaten by ochre oozes. one of the other PCs went in and tried to save her for some goddamn reason and died too. I said "nice. that's sick" and was sittin there laughing about it and the others were incensed that the module dare have such a trap. lethality, in a game with a dying state. unthinkable!weirdest damn thing to me. I had four rolls I coulda passed or I coulda just played better. probably the least egregiously shitty thing about that campaign honestly
>>92732141I'm starting to think I'm just playing the wrong kind of game for the wrong type of player.Maybe I'll just try to tone down the deadlieness of my games to a level where I still enjoy it, but my players don't cry about their characters.
>>92732202I think the key to those kinds of tables is to still have a volatile game but just when a PC would die have some other shit happen to them. teleportation and other displacement, rough curses or diseases, the loss of a magic item they like that leads into a whole thing about getting it back. maybe even combine some of those things. I'd recommend maiming but your players seem like the type to be upset about that too. unfortunately "your punishment is hijinx" definitely defangs a game, but sometimes you have to make some concessions to keep a table you like togetherobviously you can still just murder hirelings and NPCs. go through modules or whatever content you're using and just replace like "save or die" traps with "save vs breath or fall into the chute that ferries you down a couple levels." adding more failure chances before killing a PC tends to soften things and make things feel "more fair" to players more used to modern games
>>92732202Death is actually quite boring if they're not high level.Proper resurrection rules ages the character 3 years,drains gold and requires that there be a body.Also you get a lot more mileage out of a dismemberment table.The recovery time can cause them to miss out on important time based events as they heal.
>>92732259Those definitely sound like possible fixes. I'll have to think about them.>>92732250The strange thing is, that these players aren't used to modern games either usually, they just expect to have a character they like not die in a dangerous dungeon. Maybe it's videogame brainrot, maybe they just are women.I think having death be a fourth, or a tenth as common might work, I think I'll primarily eliminate death causes that feel uncontrollable as a player, and have those remain that they have more control over.
>>92732400You'll want to go back to 3D6 stats and then let the dice decide what their characters are.If they realize they are playing a temporary character they'll understand that the game is how you interact,not how the character acts over X sessions.
>>92732400>primarily eliminate death causes that feel uncontrollable as a player, and have those remain that they have more control over.Actually that's resmarted.Players have all the control over dying.No 10 foot pole? Fall into pit, die.You're actually talking storygame shit.
>>92732427I AM PLAYING 3D6 DOWN THE LINEThey still fall in love with Bob the level 2 fighter. Maybe there still is some issue with my communication, but I'm think it's more likely to be an issue with the type of game my players enjoy.>>92732447I wasn't saying I would eliminate pits. My players have figured the 10 foot pole (pike) out by now. I meant more things like the mirror from Barrowmaze. Another example would be blood grubs that were hidden in an alcove where you usually search like 100 at a time. I found it pretty difficult to signal the danger there, when alcoves usually just meant a tradeoff of time/random encounters for loot.
>>92732502>I found it pretty difficult to signal the danger there, when alcoves usually just meant a tradeoff of time/random encounters for loot.You don't need to signal danger if they experience danger from it once.Messing with an alcove is risky, done, player skill.You sound like such a nanny.
>>92732522My whole point is that my players are women who really don't like having their chars die. I'm asking how to handle it. If you don't see the issue you're probably trolling
>>92732619"stop playing with women"
>>92732619>Stacy F., 2nd Level Fighter>Was expecting a fun adventure evening with my besties, got barrows and mazes instead. And don't even get me started on the blood grubs. 0/5 would not delve againAnon why are you running Barrowmaze for players who don't want to die. Why don't you pitch them something more friendly like Death Frost Doom.
>>92732700AaaaaYea I think you're right, it's probably wrong game wrong players.>>92732686Yup
I kind of want dragons to be asexual in my world, for lore reasons having to do with fire and magic and all that. Thoughts? Does this cause any problems with anything?
>>92732738None that I can see, except that Johnnias Dragonraper might be thrown for a second. (Not that that would stop him)
What are some "peaceful" monsters? Monsters that almost never attack unless provoked or in self-defense.
>>92732619Start them at a higher level? Emphasize avoidance of combat?
>>92732832Myconids are the first that popped into my head. Monster Manual 2 has this to say:>In general, the myconids are a peaceful race, desiring only to work and meld in peace. In combat, they will avoid killing, if they can, as violence adversely affects their meld hallucinations. However, accord has never been reached between fungoid and humanoid; each views the other as a disgusting threat, and population pressures in the limited underworld inevitably cause conflicts.>tfw you will never get invited to the myconid meld orgy
>>92732878
>>92732400If you really have to lower the lethality don't let these lads talk you out of it. It's good advice they have but you are the one at the table. I replaced dying at 0hp with a dismemberment table that is quite frankly doesn't kill people enough but it does cause temporary and permanent wounds. Knocked one of the players con bonus down to zero and almost took the leg of another. Real consequences in the form of killing and maiming PC should exist as it improves the game but you can always telegraph harder. Lay it on thick with the ominous descriptions, have fortune tellers give cryptic clues, put the bodies of rival parties around the place.
>>92732832Honestly any intelligent monsters. You need to remember that number one goal of any NPC is to survive.>>92732844The game already does this by nature of reactions and how deadly combat is
>>92733015nta but non-fatal consequences, while they might take some contrivance, can be good. you want failure to hurt your characters without ruining the investment players have made. if your players haven't learnt to invest in the OSR mindset of gambling with their lives, killing valuable NPCs or wasting treasure or opportunities that would've helped them seem 'softer' but still genuinely harmful deterrents
>>92732832Unicorns are traditionally peaceful (as long as you are lawful).Good fucking question. I need to start including more benign and benifitial events in my random tables.>>92732792Good to finally see a dragon under the effect of a fear aura.
>>92733106>I need to start including more benign and benifitial events in my random tables.This is why I really like how ACKS divides areas into civilized/borderlands/outlands/unsettled and then that type of terrain (with or without a road) modifies the kind of encounter you'll have. So you have 5 tables of Civilized Encounters, Monster Encounters, Valuable Terrain, Dangerous Terrain, and Unique Terrain. So random encounters on a road in a civilized or borderlands area is generally gonna be chill.
>>92725988You are me, except that I absolutely love The Broken Sword. I like the way elves are portrayed and use that as my baseline for NPC elves IMC. I love the insane female troll captive. I love the vengeance of the elves on the evil witch. I have Poul's The High Crusade on my bookshelf now in line to be read soon.
>>92730247>>The above + TNIsn't True Neutral just a way of specifying that it's neutral on both axes? Neutral Neutral, in effect?
>>92731664>>92731713Beauties
>>92728666>alignment system is pretty retarded isn't itComing from a war game perspective, as an indicator of factions, it's okay-ish, I guess, but I've never been very fond of it, particularly when you bring alignment languages into the equation. That's some real stupidity. And the AD&D two-axis alignment system gets confusing on the Lawful/Chaotic axis, as everybody disagrees about exactly what it means, and you end up with some conundrums, like where to put criminals who have no respect for societal norms but who abide by a thieves code or something like that. Mostly, I make do with holy and unholy, and don't bother with alignments for nonsupernatural beings.
>>92729907>I just offset it by mandating humans get first pick of lootThat's weirdly meta-gamey. How do you justify that in-universe, or do you just pretend not to notice it?
>>92727900Level limits are a stupid method of balancing things, but Basic Fantasy's +10% XP for humans is inadequate to balance them. At bare minimum, humans should be getting +20%, and +30% might not be unreasonable.
>>92733473No, I'm talking about true neutral as a 10th alignment, dedicated to radical neutrality. Too many good things happening lately? Better burn down a village to restore balance.
>>92733779That just sounds like lawful but you're a dick about it
I bought Electric Bastionland a while ago because the art was really cool. I didn't really know anything about OSR at the time, but as I've learned about it I've grown interested in the design philosophies behind it. EB especially seems to have a lot of really cool tips to help design engaging content.Really looking forward to conjuring up my own boroughs and doing some real OSR shit. I hate traditional dungeon crawls though so I might just focus on the sandbox.
>>92734465>Electric Bastionland
>>92728737>>92733519>alignment language le bad!Ditch the "passwords" and "hand signals" keep the "body motions" Alignment language as body language works best.Keep messages simple. You can't send someone a complete thought in your own words with alignment language. For example. >danger>trust me >I'm under duress>I'm [BLANK] Alignment That last one can be very helpful (or harmful, even when the alignment language isn't know the monsters recognize the alignment as not their's) in an encounter to communicate your alignment and it's the one most used in my experience.The way the game was designed PC, NPCs and monsters have the ability to communicate their alignment to like aligned characters with 100% certainty that the character knows they're the same alignment. At the very least, you must persevere that aspect of alignment language in order to stay TRVE KVLT.Sure you could do that with words but in some cases that is not ideal and alignment language should be used instead.
>>92728737>>92733519>>92734765[Continued]And by design a character shouldn't be able to lie and convince a high level cleric that they're Lawful when they're not. The cleric may use alignment language and if they do not get a response in the same alignment language the cleric KNOWS the PC is lying. There's a reason for alignment language even if it's seldom used. Don't ditch it completely.
>>92734765You can hotfix it all you like but it's still retarded
>>92734904Alignment language has a purpose. Without alignment language you're altering the way the game is supposed to be played and you might as well ditch the traditional alignment system altogether for "good guys" and "bad guys" Characters are supposed have ways of communicating their alignment with others see the example here>>92734856
>>92735047It's clunky, contrived, obtuse, and above all is unclear how to use. You may have figured it all out in your world but at the end of the day there is no reason a character of any alignment shouldn't be able to learn any alignment language.You can't square that circle.
>good>neutral >chaotic evil>lawful evilthese are the available alignments
>>92735182>It's clunky, contrived, obtuse, and above all is unclear how to useI just explained how it's used and it's really very simple. It can mostly be left unsaidsee what I did theirAt the very least characters should have the ability to recognize like aligned characters using SOMETHING otherwise you're not even remotely using alignment properly and you should put on the FOE hat and sit in the FOE corner pondering your gaming decisions. People look at alignment languages, can't make sense of it because they put in zero thought and throw it out. Then they wonder why alignments feel meaningless. >there is no reason a character of any alignment shouldn't be able to learn any alignment language.You can't square that circleIt's the cosmic powers of law and chaos. I don't have to explain shit. It's also a game and knowing multiple alignment languages would abuse the system.Your not supposed to be able to hide your "lying eyes" when it comes down to alignment. That's how the game was designed. I'm just making the case for alignment language. Do whatever you want but know that you're making alignments meaningless and you've strayed from the path of the TOE.
>>92735257Law = accordance with the transcendentChaos = material depravityLE makes no sense
>>92735182And there's no reason a cleric shouldn't be able to learn to read MU scrolls or visa versa but that's how scolls work because it's a game. It's magic (or the God's) I don't have to explain shit.
>>92728616the DMG guy! I am actually struggling quite a bit on the antidote thing. I've settled on how they are made, but im not sure if EVERY single poison should be able to be antidoted. This is not how it works on real life.Would you decide pre-emptivelly for each poisinous monster if an antidote is possible? also, if its instantaneous or has a margin of error?Should there be one catch-all for antidotes, such as "antidote for spider and snake venom", another for yellow mold infection and another for eating acid?I have already decided, however, that undead shit like mummy rot or ghoul poisoning has no antidotes, only clerical stuff.>>92734465>I bought Electric Bastionland a while ago because the art was really cool.this is bait right? the art specifically is a waste. Also Into the Odd does EB slightly better. Im not one to be picky on this, but this is probably not the thread for either.
>>92735047>>92735257>good>evilwhat does it even mean
>>92735442Good is radiance, life affirmation, love, GodEvil is vacuum, life refutation, hatred, Devil
>>92735182>>92735331[Continued]Allow me to square that circle for you. The source of alignments come from the outer plains as described in the PHB. Law and Chaos (Good, Evil and Neutrality) are forces within the "fantastic multiverse".These forces are flowing into the prime material plane from the outer planes. now here's my theory craftshitThe force of Law (or Chaos or whatever) recognizes itself within the multiverse no matter it's form. For intelligent beings on the prime material plane this recognition manifests itself in alignment languages. By the rules you cannot be two alignments at once. If you become Chaotic the force of Law will no longer recognize itself in you.Therefore you cannot communicate with Lawful entities in the mysterious alignment language of Lawful and you "forget" how to use that alignment language.
>>92732844Naaah, it's fun to start low, and combat deaths have rarely really been an issue. They feel more justified, heroic and less painful.>>92733015I'll think about getting one of those tables. Right now the dungeon "instadeath" things that aren't very predictable for a new player seem more an issue.
>>92735567>>92735500>>92735356I like these. alignments are super flavorful, though they're a bit nonsensical imo at times and work better in some settings than others.I like the anon who said they just do holy/unholy too. feel like that's right to the point; they're diametrically opposed supernatural forces, you can interpret what exactly they represent.
>>92732619>If you don't see the issue you're probably trollingJust watch a movie with them if they don't like losing.
>>92735331>The cosmic forces of law and chaos conspire to stop me rolling my R's correctly.I didn't say you can't justify it. I said that the reasons would be contrived.>>92735357There's no reason you can't read academic papers on quantum physics. Having the skill to understand and apply it in any meaningful way it what we call having the appropriate class.
>>92735357>visa versaIt's easier for a Cleric to read Magic-User scrolls than for an Ameritard to write in his own first language.
>>92736300Vice Versa is fucking Latin you retard.
>>92728666>alignment system is pretty retarded isn't itRead Moorcock's Eternal Champion saga to get an idea of what's really supposed to mean.There's no good or evil, just Law and Chaos.>>92728737>(Alignment languages are retarded.)Yes, it is.I mitigate that by assuming creatures of Chaos/Law can communicate more easily with beings attuned to it.>>92732202>I'm starting to think I'm just playing the wrong kind of game for the wrong type of player.DING DING DING>>92732619How do your male players react to this.Also, I totally get your problem.Had a female fellow player that got attached to her PCs like they were extensions of her, she threw a tantrum TWICE when her disposable cardboard PCs got almost killed during a PVP situation, while testing a homebrew a friend made.She screamed hysterically both of those times, couldn't calm her down no matter what.I solved the problem by stopping playing with her ever again.
>>927363221. You don't capitalise "vice versa", since it's not somebody's fucking name, genius.2. If "vice versa" is not English because it's Latin, then the following words are also not English: Medium, media, data, agenda, alibi, status, bonus, index, versus, virus, maximum, minimum. I guess you're excused from being able to spell those correctly as well, genius?
>>92736322>>92736498Oh and "genius" too, genius.
>>92725311>>92725317>>92727663>>92728096Cheers for the help lads. This will definitely make the game more interesting.
>>92736473>How do your male players react to thisSo, I've had 4 over time, most were guests, two play regularily. My cousin immediately stopped playing after his first char got consumed by a gray slime. Another had fun but didn't join again. The two permanents are more accustomed to OSR gameplay and didn't mind seeing their first chars die.
>>92724981>we started on 3.5 and they've always of been buildfocused minmaxxing kindThis is half of my group, the other half hates the minmaxers. Also running 3.5. Maybe I should try running some OSR game.
>>92737973Do give AD&D or B/X a shot. If you're lucky, the minmaxers will find something more interesting to put their competitive minds to than building characters. Worst that can happen is you go back to playing 3.5e.>>92738120Rules-lite games are not OSR. The lightest you can find in OSR is B/X.
>>92738120If you don't want to do OD&D, use B/X. The wider community's fetish for "rules-lite OSR" is bullshit, B/X was written for 9-year-olds and is simple enough for kids to play. You don't need to go any simpler than that. If you do, you're just gonna end up having to replace the missing bits yourself anyway.
>>92735773>There's no reason you can't read academic papers on quantum physics. Having the skill to understand and apply it in any meaningful way it what we call having the appropriate class.Cleric scrolls are written in the common tongue. MU cannot use them because they do not have the same connections with the God's. Is that contrived?>>92736300RENT FREE
>IMPASSABLE (mountain) HEXESIt's always irked me how in OD&D, AD&D, and B/X by default all mountain hexes can be traversed no problem, you just "paying" a few extra miles and you're good to go.Where I live, around the Alps, the geography is strongly influenced by mountain ranges that are not passable during the winter, if not year-round unless one wants go on a mountaineering expedition, something you can't take hundreds of pouds of gear on.Does anybody use additional mountain hexes that are impassable? Or any other kind of terrain that one is forced to walk around?
>>92738536>you just "paying" a few extra miles
>>92738120Just find fujos or femautist players.
>>92738120I don't know a single woman besides my immediate familymy male friends stumble over random rules all the time even just in b/x. which is bizarre because they all come from 5e and pf2e and the like. but stuff like "roll under your stat" is oddly an alien idea.I've considered d20+ability score modifier vs static DC10 for ability score checks instead but I've already made so many concessions
>>92738536Dude. The hex rules are just a broad, basic framework. Of course you can have impassable terrain. Or special rules for ice climbing or whatever.
>>92738120As a DM, I only accept male players. As a player, I only accept female DMs. Sorted.
>>92738773Ice climbers confirmed for B/X
>>92739362I'm furious about this. I don't mind them doing whatever the fuck they want with modern D$D, but this is just blasphemous. Larry Elmore deserved better.
>>92739448Tourist.
>>92739448There is irrefutable evidence to the contrary including a statement by the artist himself. We have not always been at war with Eastasia.
>>92739291>so OSR is about specific systems instead of set of playstyle features?
>>92734629>>92735441oh my bad. mind telling me what you guys don't like about eb? just curious
>>92739604Now you're moving goalposts
>>92739603It's not even a game, just a coffee table book.
>>92739291The specific OSR systems (in the game's first decade) ARE the "playstyle"
>>92731311NTA, but the issue is shipping. It costs almost 100$ to get it shipped to europe (no idea why). I'm considering getting it shipped to someone I know in the states and then eventually get it somehow.Question for the room: I'm about to DM my first game tomorrow with a bunch of friends with BX. Not my first rodeo as a DM, but my first time with BX. What does work better, TOTM or Battlemat with BX specifically? I usually use battlemats, but we'll be playing at a pub and I'm not carrying my big ass battlemat there. How much frustrating does the combat get with just TOTM? With crunch games like PF2 I can see it being a nightmare, but I hope BX will be ok given how streamlined the combat is? What is your experience?
>>92739596This is why you are the laughing stock of the OSR community outside of this piss-soaked intellectually incestuous corner.
>>92739665Dumbass bait eater
>>92739726Nah, he's rightfully infuriated by corporations lying about history. You're just buttblasted someone isn't licking your corporate overlord's boots.
>>92739700OD&D's playstyle is not compatible with 1E's playstyle, which is incompatible with BX's play style. And you will lie to me about how story wasn't a core focus of Gary's games even when we know he was running romantic comedies on mars for one of his campaigns.
>>92739777>OD&D's playstyle is not compatible with 1E's playstyle, which is incompatible with BX's play styleNo. All three are the same core "game" with different rules. Handling combat differently doesn't make the over all "playstyle" incompatible.
>>92725034>1. Watch GFC's videos on the topic. Actually watch all of them, they are very good>https://www.youtube.com/@gfcsdnd205/videosI second this. His videos are no frills, no marketing, just actually helpful, good advice from someone who's clearly been at this awhile.
>>92739777>OD&D's playstyle is not compatible with 1E's playstyle, which is incompatible with BX's play style.Wrong. The systems are modular and compatible with one another, and what they have in common is what defines the essence of the OSR playstyle: - The sources of XP, -The rules for exploration, time keeping, wandering monsters, reaction rolls, evasion, pursuit, resource depletion, and so on.The differences between them are considered minor in this regard. Some here strongly prefer one of the three to the other two, but those differences are considered minor enough in OSR that all three can be discussed in the same thread with no difficulty whatsoever. The majority of DMs adopt a few rules from eiter or both of the other systems and effectively play a hybrid.
I'm with Gygax on women in D&DIn my experience women don't get the same satisfaction out of the game as guys. That's not to say they can't play and enjoy D&D it's just most of them don't care for it. This has changed with the modern edition, it's name I will not speak here. most groups I've been in have included at least one grill btw at some point
>>92740123For what I've seen women enjoy VtM and narrative games instead of wargaming like we do
>>92726286Stop helping them and have a conversation about what is expected. Tell them everyone at the table shares responsibility for playing the game and they need to know the rules that apply to them or at least know where to look them up quickly.If it gets really over the top and you want to use the nuclear option, you could just ask them to make a roll and when they ask how to do it just be silent. Don't make a face--don't look upset/annoyed/frustrated/smug/etc. Just have a completely neutral poker face and don't respond. I wouldn't even look at the player. Either they should get the hint and look it up or some other player should help them (which will, if they are a normal person, make them feel like they are letting the group down and motivate them to catch up to everyone else's level).Another option: if it takes more than 60 seconds for someone to figure out what they are going to do (because they have to look it up or don't know the rules), skip them and move on to the next person and then come back to them. If they still aren't ready they lose their action for that round. However, I wouldn't implement this rule out of the blue. I would make sure your players know that going forward this is how you will rule for players that aren't prepared and give them advice on how to prepare. That way they have a heads up and can prepare adequately in advance and not feel "gotcha'd."
>>92740145Exactly. What bothers me is when faggots call Gygax a misogynist or claim that women in TTRPGs in current year "proves him wrong" when Gygax was speaking from his experience gaming during a completely different era and playstyle.
>>92740280Are you just dissing Gygax or do you disagree with his observation?
>>92740435Just trolling
>>92740256>gaming during a completely different era and playstyle.Essentially yes, he was a wargamer first and foremost, the D&D he played was basically OD&D when he was not trying to sell you AD&D, girls don't like that, they like the social aspect of modern D&D where you talk a lot , express your feeling and play a role in depth, there is nothing wrong with these things, but as Gary said, they like those things we tend to like organizing a war effort against the orcs.
>>92740493>Both. What's your beef with this observation of women in old school D&D?The game and women have changed since the 70s and now modern D&D is 40% female. Much higher than in the 70s.These are facts.
>>92740574post tits or gtfo
>>92740574>what you are repeating is crap claimed by Gygax without anything to back it up>Dragon #22 (April 1979) “at least 10% of the players are female!”>(2020) WotC "40% of players are female" Gygax is speaking from his experience gaming in the 70s and 80s. There were fewer women (cold hard fact) and myself and Gygax seem to think that most women do not enjoy old school gaming as much as men (although gygax didnt have the luxury of living long enough to make this particular observation in comparison to nuskool). I believe that the modern playstyle (away from wargaming) has helped increase women's interest in playing D&D. Why does this make your ass hurt?
>>927385361e DMG p.58:>Note: You must determine for yourself which terrain areas are impassable to mounted movement or any normal travel. Generally large swamps and high mountains fall into this category.
>>92740574>>92740749>you don't have anything to back that up!!!1*backs it up* >y-you're soOoo retarded >:[ Doesn't sound like you have much of an argument there, sweaty.
>>92740870I would ask you to try putting your shit takes into words to refute my point but you genuinely seem incapable.
>>92740992I'm actually starting to get more annoyed with you than him, for repeatedly replying to such a boring lazy troll. You're making the thread worse for everyone else by encouraging this sort of behavior.
>>92741046I'm sorry but ledditor tourists must be BTFO'd >>92741070Pic related Keep in mind the era of gaming Gygax is talking about and the fact that he never lived to see the modern edition and 40% female participation. D&D went from 10% female participation to 40%. What changed? Women changed, the "NERD culture" changed and the game itself changed.
>>92740782Good catch, Anon! All these years and I never noticed that passage, for some reason. Interestingly, it doesn't seem it was ever used officially, though. I can't remember any impassable mountain or swamp hexes in Greyhawk or the Known World, right?
>>92741177Gygax played old school games with women. In his experience they didn't enjoy them as much as men. I've played old school and nuskool games with women. In my experience women enjoy nuskool more. The statics on female participation in D&D correlate with these observations. Problem?
>>92741179>It's dueling retardsBold of you to assume it's two different people instead of just one talking to xersylf
>>92739735Yes, that's what I started the entire discussion with.>>92731137>OSRIC hardcover costs a fortune to get delivered outside the US
>>92727335Most every edition (and a lot of supplements) of early D&D explain that the Referee needs to balance difficulty to the experience level of the players. It's okay to make things very obvious at first. With time, make traps or tricks slightly harder until after many dungeons and perhaps a year or more of playing you can really put the characters through the ringer because they will expect it and know how to interact with the world to discover what they are meant to.When you start with a new group every trap should have a very obvious tell. The pre-made adventures may not have this explicitly stated, but you must add them in as the Referee.
>>92741377Sorry, didn't see the entire conversation chain. I'm in your same boat. The only way I can think of is splitting the shipping cost with someone (you can get up to 4 copies for basically the same shipping cost as 1, at least this is what it is for the UK).I'm thinking of either getting a copy and shipping it to a friend of mine in the states, with the hope of picking it up at some point in the future, or finding someone to split the shipping with. Maybe a work colleague? No idea atm.
>>92741377Also, the alternative is the A5 POD version, but you might already know this one. The print is good, but softcover and small.
>>92732400>Maybe it's videogame brainrotVideogame brainrot along with the reinforcement it gets in PF2e, 4e, 5eIt's taken effort to force my players out of the video game mentality.
>>92741602>has no argument against the fact that women did not enjoy old school games as much as men>can't argue with the stastics that back this up either >resorts to name calling >y-you can't handle someone not being a /pol/tard faggotYou have to go back.
>>92739735>TOTM or BattlematI suggest a cheapo middle way: some basic tokens (like coins or chess pieces) to show relative positioning, like "these guys are by the door" and "the archers are back here", and blank paper to do a quick room sketch if needed (not to 1" scale and not to put the tokens on, just a doodle on the side so people don't forget the basic room/hallway shape and where the doors are and stuff).
>>92739735>How much frustrating does the combat get with just TOTM?It's easier than other games but it depends on how much experience you have running TOTM and how many players/combatants you're running. When you keep getting questions about where or how far something is then you know you've reached your groups limit on TOTM and you should think about using visual representation. Sounds like you have more experience with battlements and figures but where you won't have your battlemat I say convert feet into inches on the table, ditch the grid and play with anything that's available >these salt shakers are the corners of the room. >each pawn is two goblins Have your players set their marching order on the table with figures and shift the dungeon and "build" the rooms or hallways around the figures when an encounter happens.Return to marching order after each encounter before moving.
>>92738511>MU cannot use them because they do not have the same connections with the God's.No it's not contrived. Magic isn't real, therefore you can make up as much of you want about it.Languages are real. We know how they work. If I have hammers in my game and I tell the players that "hammers can't be brought into volcanoes (not a specific volcano, any volcano) and my response is 'hammers just work like that because the forces of law and chaos conspire for it to be like that" then it's weird and clunky.>rentfreeIdk man learn what words are words what's just you hallucinating meaning into nonsense terms. Africans without a secondary education understand better english than you do. It's embarrassing.>inb4 you could 'care less'
>>92741857NTA, but magic languages are not real, and thus it's not "contrived."
>>92741857>Magic isn't real, therefore you can make up as much of you want about it.Alignment languages aren't real either. Alignments are forces from beyond the prime material plane (like magic or the gods/deities) therefore I can make up as much as I want about them.
>>92741730I do this. We are playing totm and the players are drawing out the map in Owlbear Rodeo. They put tokens on the map to communicate to me and each other where each of them are. In combat I'll put bad guy tokens in the blank space but won't explain the room size in detail till they return to exploration speed.In short I run it as totm and it's players responsibility to handle mapping as long as you have a small (ungridded even)battle map for combat it should work fine
>>92741801>these salt shakers are the corners of the roombased. a whole new meaning to "pubcrawl".
>>92741907>>92741923>Alignment hammer aren't real I should be able to make them do whatever I wantIdk man. Feels kinda contrived to me.Refer back to>>92735773>The cosmic forces of law and chaos conspire to stop me rolling my R's correctly
>>92741427UK has a huge war gaming scene though,.you'll be sure to find someone.Hang a poster at the local game store.I lived in Devon (clotted creams and Oggy Oggy) and then in North Yorkshire (parmos),Sorry to see what your country has become.
>>92742055>>Alignment hammer aren't real I should be able to make them do whatever I wantWhy not? You seem to be okay with that for magic and alignment comes from a similar outside source (the outer planes)MU can't read both scroll types>but that's a class feature and it's magic And not being able to speak two alignment languages at the same time is a feature of alignment (another outer planer force)Recognition and communication between like aligned creatures in a secret alignment language is a staple of the alignment system.
>>92741923Alignment languages *are* real. Historically, Lingua Franca and Latin were used by merchants and the Catholic church (and those associated with those two groups) to speak to others of their group when traveling abroad. People who traveled for a living but weren't a priest or merchant would tend to learn one or both of these languages as a way to communicate with others as they traveled. This is almost identical to the idea of the Lawful language.The Chaotic language can be thought of in the same way except among those planar creatures and intelligent, sapient, literate creatures of Chaotic (anti-human/civilization) alignment.
How to prevent falling into bring/kill/escort rumors/quests cliches in hexcrawl? I don't want it to feel like they're playing elder scrolls
>>92742187So what's the equivalent of the Neutral language?
>>92742187>Alignment languages *are* real.IRL? Of courseDMG; Alignment languages are "not unjustifiable in real terms" >thieves cant>Secret organizations and societies did and do have certain recognition signs, signals, and recognition phrasesThe issue anon seems to have is that alignment languages are not remembered when you switch alignment and you cannot know more than one at a time. So alignment languages in D&D do not function the same as IRL. But they don't have to because, like magic, alignment (and by extension alignment language) is a less than explained outer planer force within the "fantastic multiverse"
>>92742187>Alignment languages *are* real.There are no languages that are intuitively known by all beings that are tied to a given supernatural force.>This is almost identical to the idea of the Lawful language.Lingua Franca is almost identical in concept to Common, and both are pidgin languages. Ecclesiastical Latin is what was used by the Catholic church, used for specific purposes in the Church requiring years of study to learn, and not some supernaturally imparted bullshit.
>>92740011>The rules for exploration, time keeping, wandering monsters, reaction rolls, evasion, pursuit, resource depletion, and so on.The rules are all wildly different, as different as 2E is.
>>92739291Ignore the shitposter, OSR is about values and basic adventuring concepts. NSR games, by definition, OSR games and are all attempts to do classic D&D but with different ground up mechanics and most work.Conceptually, you could run 3.5 OSR or 5e OSR, you'd just have to tear out a lot of the skills and character abilities and changing the way rules arbitrate, it would make it a new game but it wouldn't make it 0e, BX or AD&D.
>>92742187>latin is a real world alignment languageYou mean that language that anyone of any disposition can learn?>>92742187>The cosmic forces of law and chaos conspire to stop me rolling my R's correctlyWhat part of this is confusing to you? Do whatever you want in your world but it feels ridiculous and breaks down if your players try to interact with it in any but the most surface level of ways.
OSR covers all of BECMI and AD&D
Why was movement speed cut in half going from OD&D to AD&D? Ive been running OD&D for a little bit but I want to run a side game but my players are gonna be like wtf if I suddenly say they don't get two moves per turn.
>>92742462NSR is usually whatever the system designer thinks osr is (most of the time they are partially correct)with extra dm fiat tacked on. A lot of them are cool systems but they are still off topic.>3.5 OSR/5e OSRI am a firm believer that you can run any game with any system. I also know 5e and 3.5e well enough to know that would be an uphill battle. Don't do such a thing and it's poor form to suggest such a thing.
>>92742330Where do you think the elder scrolls took those ideas from bro? The difference between TES and D&D is that video games cannot make procedural content feel interesting.
>>92742330Have you grown bored of these things or are you worried about becoming bored with them?
Why are there no good dungeon mapping softwares?
>>92742678Absolutely right. What I really, really do not understand is the insistence on taking a different game and trying to morph it into an old game that already exists. Just play the old game! People expend so much time and effort trying to recreate something that was figured out decades ago.If you want to play D&D in a post-Dragonlance way, then play 5e. If you want to play highly lethal hexcrawls that are about sandboxes and player agency, then that's something that is already available too and replete with free content and tons of information. I've been researching OSR and information on DMing OSR for weeks now and the amount of available *free* information is astounding. I think there's more than I could read in the remainder of my lifetime.
>>92742330Er, add all the other stuff in the game? Ruins, lairs, dungeons, magical forests, crystal caves, places that are actually cool and interesting. Dynamic world events and factions, other adventuring parties, caravans, weird weather, getting lost, wizard antics and other mystical shit, treasure maps, invasions, kidnapping, dream visions, goddamn alien spaceships if you want, stuff that makes for ADVENTURES not to-do lists.
Mike Mornard recalls (https://odd74.proboards.com/thread/10607/alignment-od?page=3&scrollTo=155804) Gygax allowing players to pick up the other alignment languages as their Bonus Languages for high Int.
>>92742921I always liked that the AD&D assassin could learn other alignment languages. It gave some clout to them acting as spies and reinforced their disguise ability.I can give or take alignments and alignment languages but I think they can be a good tool to give a setting some personality. The problem with the relationship between the two is that alignment implies a mystical or spiritual imperative and having something as mundane as a language be tied to it creates an immediate disconnect. Particularly when it comes to an alignment change or the fact it is something that can't be learned conventionally. In AD&D with 9-point alignment I usually had Lawful, Chaotic, Good, and Evil as the alignment tongues but they were name something else, probably something goofy I can't remember. PCs started with one language and they could learn one more depending on their alignment. Most people never use them anyway.
This is perhaps a longshot, but would anyone be able to commit time weekly to a game of Swords & Wizardry in central London? You can use email to express interest and I'll get in touch.
>>92743148Disregard that, I'm a retard who doesn't realize email in options doesn't do anything.
>>927423862efag cope
>>92742921>mfw the cosmic forces of law and chaos don't conspire to stop me rolling my R's >mfw it's literally just latin and anyone can learn it
>>92742333Lawful: LatinChaotic: ArabicNeutral: Greek
>>92742865Based
>>92742865It's probably just a hammer/nail problem. Playing more games is important for the hobby even if only to understand the limitations of your home system.
>>92739362They could just use the alternate art that didn't end up getting approved that has both manlets and women on it. >b-but I have to ruin a classicFucking faggots.
>>92739735Yep shipping went nuts.AS&SH/Hyperborea's 3-volume bundle is $100 to buy and around $110 to ship. Pretty sure shipping used to be like $15.
>>92740501>the D&D he played was basically OD&DWell it was OD&D with the Greyhawk supplement and stuff that basically makes it stripped down AD&D.
>>92744294too bad greggle espy's dungeons just aren't that greathighfell was a real heartbreaker. so purely mechanical and dull
>Managed to get a pair of basilisks through some lucky rolls>Fucking 30ft cloud doing 6d6 damage plus paralysis on the survivorsI'm going to have to teach these fuckers to just do the paralysis so I can take prisoner-slaves, because boy oh boy are they going to be useful going forward.
>>92744317That's a fair criticism, and one I agree with. I still like Barrowmaze for the most part, but the following three were all a big disappointment for me.But to put things in perspective, Gillespie's worse dungeon is still better than anything any of his *political* detractors have ever published.
>>92740256>>92740729My own experience has been that women are about 15% - since '95 or so. Some of them enjoy the fantasy adventure aspect - most of them actively recoiled from D&D as a thing. >>92740550>>92741140> 40% "female"ftfy>>92740614I can't! I'm at a D&D table!
>>92742804Mapping to create maps, or mapping to use while in play?For the former, try Dungeon Scrawl or GIMP; for the latter, also GIMP, a whiteboard app, or even MS Excel or Google Spreadsheet will do.But nothing beats graph paper and pencil. Better to use that then upload a picture, imo.
>>92742921Isn't this why Gary *disallowed* it in the rules? Because the players *always and immediately* picked alignment language as their bonus?
>>92744474He started disallowing it at some point.
>>92744317I downloaded one of his dungeons randomly and shit had no treasure baka
>>92744478Tons of weird stuff in AD&D can be explained by "Gary had to nerf this because munchkins were abusing it hard." I'd suppose that anytime you see something in the DMG and you wonder "what was he thinking?" there's a good 75% or so chance it was that.
>>92742017>>92741801>>92741730Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up printing 4 sheets of half inch graph paper and sleeved them. I'll use those at the table as a makeshift battlemap. I think I'd be comfortable with TOTM as a GM, but I have some players that are completely new to the hobby, and I hope a visual representation of what happens during the battle will help them. Will play it by ear.>pubcrawlthis made my day, thank you anon.
>>92740123I noticed that autistic women are an exception. But women are also much less prone to be autistic than men, so this probably means d&d is made for autists
>>92740280Based
>>92744506I guess that answers this >>92742676 lol
>>92733546I just say that's how things are done and my party didn't complain.
>>92744810Maybe the real treasure is the players we found along the way
>>92739362Larry Elmore is still aliveThey could just fucking ask him if he drew a dude or not
>>92745520Yeah but they already know the answer and don't like it, thus why they'll never ask.
>>92739469>>92745520Ha ha ha oh wow
>>92742330"Quests" reward gold but not XP in my game. That way doing favors builds connections with NPCs with their own goals but doesn't turn into MMO storylines.
>>92742187Moronic.
>>92745604Ye, what is common for 100 Larry.>>92739469Outrage is so lame, just ignore it.
>>92743989I disagree. I don't think WotC are good actors (definitely not Hasbro) and buying/playing 5e just to turn around and make it 1e is fucking stupid.
>>92745585isn't XP=gold?
>>92745738Almost everyone house rules XP in some way, but in B/X it is "treasure you find and successfully retrieve from dungeons" is XP.
>>92745738It's common for people to exclude quest gold from granting xp. Stops players pestering you for story hooks(at least I think that is why).
>>92745731>turn 5e into 1eElaborate. I don't know what you are talking about.
>>92745820There are people that literally hack 5e to pieces and add OSR elements and try to play a hexcrawl sandbox in it. They could've just played one of the OSR games and had exactly what they wanted instead.If you want a very prominent example, 5 Torches Deep is literally (in the creator's own words) taking 5e, stripping away most of it, and adding in old school concepts.
>>92745585gold for quests is fine. they dont turn into mmo bullshit by the dm uhhh just not doing that
>>92745853I don't see anything wrong with this. They offer different gameplay and character advancement and stuff. Right now I'm literally prepping a sandbox area for 4e that pulls from arbiter of worlds design principles and my experience running ose. OSR is definitely good at a lot of stuff but if your players want tactical combat and boardgaming then that's something that isn't really offered by the systems. Old school games tend to have problem solving combat where you get more people, or change the conditions of the fights, or avoid the fights, etc. 5e and 4e offer min-maxing action economy combat puzzles. The exploration and adventure in a sandbox can be a good format for offering places to use those tools.
>>92746227You play the way you want to but I find it promotes exploration and stops players from looking for "quests".
Three Hearts Three Lions is an Isekai
>>92746250>5e and 4e offer min-maxing action economy combat puzzles.Yawn.
>>92745520He posted saying it was a male on his Twitter
>>92746250So you realize that by changing the rules you get a different game, but you ALSO claim that you can change the rules to be playing something else (min-maxing economy combat) and yet be playing the same game (osr)?
i should say that in my experience playing 5e straight as a hex/dungeon crawler with all the limited survival, timekeeping and resource rules there are even if they are easily trivialised does make it considerably more fun than the shitty two-encounters-per-day "plot" driven railroads that essentialise modern d&d, but of course, it does not fix the core problem: you are still playing 5e instead of a good system
If you remove hirelings is the game still OSR? I've always hated having random people with me and the rest of the party.
>>92725988Which Broken Sword did you read, the 50s one or the 70s one? Anderson rewrote it in the 70s and I think it loses a lot of its charmYou can buy the original text from Gollancz I think, shame their covers are ugly (or just get it from libgen)
>>92747744Hirelings are a resource so it changes the game inasmuch as you don’t have access to that resource. Is it still OSR if you don’t allow spellcasters of either sort? Sure but it does change how the game plays to some extent.When I played AD&D we hardly ever used hirelings and it was fine. I encourage my players to use them just for the extra carrying capacity but it’s hardly a requirement.
>>92747744>random people with me and the rest of the party.You know you are not your character, right, storyfag?
>>92747744How big is your party? IMO if your numbers are too small and you are the resistant to the idea of any kind of command/management other than "I control my guy", you will compromise the game, have to make adjustments or wonder why various encounters feel busted, and limit the sort of adventures you can have. At the least I think you ought to entertain the basic idea of bringing folks to watch your camp, and if you don't see the value of a torchbearer/porter I suspect you're handwaving light sources, encumbrance, or things that need two hands like shields and bows. Also I think it's weird that you phrased your opposition like you don't want strangers hanging out with your friends rather than not wanting to deal with them mechanically.
>>92747744i think there's only so far you can go before you've got no reason not to consider vassals and hirelings, even if it's just to carry shit or guard places for you
>>92744263I got Hyperborea from Sphaerenmeisters-spiele in Germany. They are currently out of stock so keep watch. 120 eurobucks for the core books and atlas plus shipping depending on your location is pricy but still less expensive than getting it shipped from the states.>>92731137I have the hardcover from Lulu. It's pretty good as far as POD goes, definitely a better alternative than paying 100$ for shipping. It's glued but seems pretty sturdy so far and while the paper isn't anything to write home about, it's thick enough so that there is no bleedthrough. Might as well get some Huso modules to go with it.>>92739735With TotM you get lots of misunderstandings about who is where, some players get annoyed that they don't have 100% exact picture of everything happening at all times but to me, that's part of combat, you lose track of things easily and it's much faster, players make decisions because they can't count out every possible square they can get to, especially for simple encounters I go TotM even if we have a mat so we don't get bogged down with stupid 6 goblins. Most of my players prefer a mat, I prefer TotM so we switch it up and usually go with what's expedient, in online play we use TotM, in live play if we have a large enough table I'll bring a mat. We also play at a pub, I just bought the smaller chessex mat for it which it fits on most tables, if you draw out just what you need for an encounter it's enough, exploration doesn't need a mat. The most important thing to speed up play on a mat is to declare general actions before initiative ("keep fighting with that orc", "charge the zombies under the candelabra", "move towards doors and set spears against a charge"), it prevents players going too into detail and then you move all the minis around as is appropriate with players only doing minor corrections. Side based initiative speeds this process up significantly as well.
>>92739753Whats wrong about the infographic?Not trying to argue, I'd legit like to learn.
>>92744333>basilisk>cloud Wait what?
>>92748442ntaThe greater basilisk (MM2) has a cloud breath weapon that will just kill you.Homebrew I guess…
>>92748442ACKS II has 2 types of basilisk; Noxious & Petrifying.Pic related
How often and how should I check for the status of hireling-guarded camps? My players are getting used to leave many of them (rations are not a problem since hunting is expexted)
>>92747744They don't have to be just random stat blocks. I find just giving them a name and a random quirk to start makes a world of difference. I mean it works without them but they are fun. Castle Xyntillan has an excellent table of quirks.
>>92748539jfc how horrifying.Doesn't really seem like it could do just the paralysis part though.
>>92747744Hirelings weren't really much of a thing at higher levels in old D&D from what i've read of the old campaigns. The only ones that comes to mind having been mentioned at levels 6+ were Sir Robilar forcing a retinue of Orcs to act as trapfinders for the entrance room of the Tomb of Horrors.They stop being all that useful for most parties at some point and it's not like you can use them as meatshields without making further recruitment near-impossible so I see zero issue with nixing for outside game reasons or ingame reasons if they're not your thing.
I want to run some OD&D (houseruled, obviously) for my group for the first time. They're somewhat familiar with old-school style play, but haven't done a really hardcore dungeon crawl or any kind of hex crawl.Are there any modules you'd recommend?
The unhelpful but true answer is "situationally". If the players are noobs and exploring the relatively tame goblin caves I think it's fine to have the camp be essentially a safe zone as long as they take basic precautions. If the players decide to pitch a tent by the Stairs to Hell and say "eh, one torchbearer is enough" perhaps some rolls are in order. Or if they retrieve a mysterious orb and leave it in camp, perhaps someone comes looking. Try to make it part of the adventure planning and player choices not just random attacks on the base every X hours.
>>92748630Yeah it's brutal, as for not being able to hold back, I'm going to ask the DM on that one since he does allow 'pulling your blows'So them blowing out a lower concentration of gas might be an option.For now though, hahahah, time to do the whole village with war crime gas.
>>92748681>zero issueA major issue is party size. I have not read reports by OG players but the modules certainly recommend larger party sizes than the number of players in most groups today. In fact I would say this is THE issue.
>>92748694Not OD&D specific but there's a bunch of good ones in here. Add to it Through Ultan's Door and Tomb Robbers on the Crystal Frontier, both interesting and decently put together intro modules. Semi related, has anyone actually ran Palace of the Vampire Queen?
>>92748698>tfw now imagining gasmasked lancers riding basilisks coming out of the hellsmoke Pretty cool anon, thanks for the idea.
>>92747931>You know you are not your character, right, storyfag?Yes I am, bite me cuck.>>92747935>IMO if your numbers are too small and you are the resistant to the idea of any kind of command/management other than "I control my guy", you will compromise the gameI just have no interest in managing groups of people. I find the fantasy of being a knight with a retinue of people following me to be the most boring thing ever. I like OSR style of gameplay but this has always been the roadblock stopping me from really wanting to get into it.
>>92748751Fuck, now that's got to be on my to-do list.Our party are a pack of Reptile cultists, so laying out a horrific squadron of reptile cavalry could very well be on the to-do list.
>>92748573>How often and how should I check for the status of hireling-guarded camps?Every day like a wilderness turn. Make an encounter check based on the hex they're in. You could consider ticking down the X in 6 chance of an encounter due to the hirelings not moving. >>92748573>rations are not a problem since hunting is expected IMO hunting and foraging is to save a day or two of food during a journey. You can't rely on hunting to heavily. Leaving the hirelings behind with little to no rations and expecting them to fend themselves while they wait for you should piss them off.
>>92748694B1, B2, Maybe B4, L1.Arguably some of the JG stuff like Illhiedrin.Caveat that the B-series assume you're willing to put in some work and fill out the adventure yourself.
>>92748696meant for>>92748573
>>92748754How big is your party? It's certainly doable and many people play that way. I'm just saying there are implications. Consider: "I want our party to travel but I don't want to deal with horses, mules, carts, wagon, ships, or anything like that." Many players feel exactly that way but it's worth giving a little thought.
>>92748358You won't learn anything from shitposting trolls
>>92748754Well, it doesn't have to be a retinue, it could just be Bob the Bodyguard or your trusty servant Patsy. Would you be similarly opposed to controlling two PCs during combat?
how do you guys name gods? I can put together a pantheon without too much trouble, but giving them compelling names always stumps me
>>92751016I don't
>>92751016currently doing my own setting pantheon, incidentallyI am a piece of shit primarily using real life gods and gods from media (conan, other campaign settings) with a handful of my own.for the original ones, I just go for on-the-nose (lunastra, goddess of the twin moons, guidance, peaceful rest, fortune, and divination) or a mutator of a name from the culture the god was spawned (ashra, desert snake goddess of fertility, birth, indulgence, and dark sorcery)I'm stopping at a dozen gods even though I want to do some more and like five of them are absolutely dark and chaotic gods
>>92751016How are you for titles? Maybe just use those in place of names. (Lord of the Seas, King of heaven, ect.)
and here I ask this of ye OSR.What is the real comparison between 1e and 2e?other then I hear that 2e has a lot of barely playtested stuffs.
two is a bigger number than one
>>92751113Please don't. We just had the jannies clean the thread.
>>92725216>blink dogsIt bears noting that blink dogs are large enough for small humanoids (e.g. goblins) to use them as mounts. A small cavalry of teleporting makeshift-plate-armored lance-wielding gnomes would make many parties shit their pants.
>>92751169I was just genuinely curious!I ment no harm!
>>92751113
>>92751016Translate their core concept into Estonian and you will get an instant cool god name.Bravery = VaprusMarket = TurulBeauty = IluMurder = MorvSnakes = MaduImagine a horde of snake cultists wearing snakeskin robes with fanged hoods, wavy bladed knives drawn, chanting "Madu! Madu! Madu!"
>>92751186OD&D has all the same rules as 1E and AD&D, just formatted different and with...more of them, but honestly Gygax got a whole lot right on the first try.2e is a true sequel in the sense that it has a whole lot of extra systems, expanded character options and 'rebalancing' of the AD&D base mechanics. They are only slightly incompatible with one another, forcing them to be compatible largely involves just taking things out of 2e, though the characters will still end up vastly more powerful.I think the big difference is in tone, 0/1e D&D has the tone baked into the mechanics, just a giant pattern expanding outward from the singular experience of having a spider fall on you and bite your head off in the first turn of combat because you didn't look up when entering the room covered in cobwebs. The sequence of rolling in 2e isn't that much different, but you can get away with so much more (except in weird ways you're hampered, take the movement rules) and xp for gold was labeled optional, but they're still, in the casual sense, the same game versus the jumps between any of the other, later editions.
>>92751347Give them spikey shields too, for the pun.
>>92724887this shit is about to die but I don't know where to ask so here it goes.I am thinking about making a bestiary card deck for a game and I have a few questions. Is it common for people to replace miniatures with cards? Also should I have the beast information in the front and an empty back? (only GM knows all the info, saw a few online)A photo of the beast in the front and some info? (GM and player know stuff like base stats, look and there's some extra info in the back like extra effects) or the photo of the creature in the front and all info in the back? (player knows what the creature looks like, but only GM knows the stats)I feel like the last one is the best case since the player gets some visual help, but only the GM has all the details to keep control of the game. Any other details I might have missed?
>>92752017Not your personal game design team >GM and player know stuff like base statsPlayers do not know the "base stats" of monsters in OSR unless they extrapolated that information themselves from a previous encounter and recorded it.
>>92751016Random name generator app and references to existing mythology.Also Petty Gods. It’s fucking dope.
> ALL ABOARD THE NEW THREAD> HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA>>92752403>>92752403>>92752403>>92752403
Going to try and run this as a first time DM. I've only got two people who are going to be playing though. My background is from playing 1e and the players have only played 3.5 and 5e. I'm going to be running it with the B/X ruleset since it seemed easy to pick up.. The module says it's recommended for no fewer than 4 players so I was planning on having them each control 2 PCs. From what I've heard it can be pretty challenging in terms of the encounters so obviously they'll need hirelings/retainers. Is there a certain sweet spot in terms of how many npcs they'll need without it becoming unmanageable, or would it be a good idea to reduce the number of monsters they encounter to scale it to the party size? I know pcs are expected to die but I think it would demoralize these guys if there was a TPK on our first module so I want to give as fair a shot as possible the first go around. Is there a general rule for scaling as such? Any advice appreciated
>>92752416Let them each control 2 characters and add 2 - 4 hirelings. BX says 6 - 8 characters is the ideal party size.If things get too tough and TPK is imminent running away is always an option.
>>92724887is Dungeon Crawl Classics an OSR ?
>>92752914No
>>92752914More serious answer: No.
>>92752043>Not your personal game design teamThis is one of the stupidest posts in this thread. Impressive all things considered.
>>92748921> Bob the BodyguardCan we guard him? Yes we can!
>>92755145
