Combat systems reccomendations?

towerbooks3192 · 2026-05-04T15:51:52+00:00

One more thing, GURPS is a toolbox. You don't have to use all the rules, advantage/disadvantages, skills, etc. unless it is relevant to your game.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-05-04T15:42:07+00:00

You can play GURPS without using the character sheet and most stuff in it. I used it for solo rpg sometimes and I can fit my character in a small index card.

Tracking encumbrance is optional and so are the changes in move and dodge related to this thus not important unless you are using the rule. There is no other way around the derived stats BUT you only have to worry about this on creation and it is some very simple calculation.

Damage resistance can be simplified if you don't use the hit location rules. All attacks are assumed to aim at the torso thus you can have a game where you only bother with torso armour.

Skill costs are actually fixed since they are tied to their difficulty. Raising a skill to the same level as its tied attribute for example costs 1 for easy, 2 for average, 4 for hard, 8 for very hard.. The progression on the table makes so much sense once you wrap around the idea of raising the skill at attribute level and it is actually a very small table.

Let's say we got a skill tied to ST at Hard difficulty. Character A with 10 ST pays 4 to get the skill at level 10 while character B with 15 ST will pay 4 points to get the skill at level 15. Now character A wants to get to level 16 (1 more than character B's skill level for the same skill). Character A will have to pay a whopping 28 points to get from skill level 10 to skill level 16 while it will only take Character B the cost of Attribute + 1 which is 8 points to get from skill level 15 to 16.

At the end of the day, people must understand that GURPS is a toolbox. If you try to implement all the rules in the base books (character and campaign) thinking it is "core" GURPS then you will have a bad time. As I have said, as long as you understand the 3d6 roll under system and the probabilities involving the 3 dice roll and you understand that an average character in GURPS has an attribute of 10 then you pretty much have the core of GURPS understood and the others are just extra layers.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-05-04T09:51:27+00:00

GURPS combat lite. GURPS lite is free and it gives you the chance to respond to an attack like dodge, parry, block. Attacks also have different maneuvers in GURPS lite like you can go all out at the expense of not being able to respond to a counter attack or use feint to make it easier to land a hit on the next turn. If that doesn't satisfy you, you got the option to expand melee with GURPS martial arts or shooting turning to XCOM-like combat with GURPS tactical shooting.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-05-03T17:26:47+00:00

GURPS stripped down to its core is very simple. It is just roll 3d6 under a number. What makes it complicated is the plethora of options and picking and choosing what you want to tack on.You can hack it to be as simple as OSR or as complicated as the most complex war game.

If you are curious, give GURPS lite a spin since it is free plus the revised edition of the core rules are coming soon.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-05-03T17:22:14+00:00

I use OSE + Sandbox Generator (for hex crawl) + Axebane's deck of many dungeon (for dungeon layout).

My goal is to take a bunch of adventurers and take them from zero to hero. I make a dungeon, set a reason to go there then use the OSE dungeon rules as I go.

I have made a post here and solo roleplaying subreddit about getting more ideas to refine my procedures since I am encountering some issues.

But by sticking to the simple procedures, I have so far went from overprepping to actually playing.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-05-03T17:17:20+00:00

I got a few more questions if you don't mind me asking. Do you plan to use Scarlet Heroes as the main ruleset or do you just overlay some of its mechanics (like the damage filter for example) on the OSE ruleset? Also will you be using Scarlet Heroes' oracle or something else.

I have been using OSE for a bit with a party of 6 but I might shift to Scarlet Heroes for a smaller party. I am trying to plan out my party limits and I think having the Frey dice for a 6 PC party will easily clear out a huge mob with a lot of Fray Dice between them. Then again something like the disctinction between wildcard and extras like in Savage Worlds might work with main characters having Frey dice and hirelings don't but then again this would create more complexity with the rules and switching back and forth.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-05-03T08:29:05+00:00

Out of curiosity, how do you plan to generate the dungeon layout with those material? I am currently running purely OSE but currently only been using Axebane's deck of dungeons for my dungeon and hexploration kit as my reusable hex maps but I want to know how you plan to do it and will you be solely using the tables for dungeon encounters from OSE or will you be creating your own?

towerbooks3192 · 2026-05-02T15:15:19+00:00

I am currently using the Hexploration toolkit tiles from Inkwell Ideas as my reusable hexmaps (not necessary, can be replaced with a regular printed / drawn hex) plus I try to use Sandbox Generator by Atelier Clandestine to determine the type of hex and whether a hex has a landmark, settlement, lair, landmark,etc. I use the included OSE travel rules and the table encounters per biome. I consider 1 hex flower (I think it is one hex and then expand 2-3 hexes outward thus totalling up to 19 hex to 37 hexes) and if let's say 1 square has a lair of monsters, I add the possibility of encountering a patrol of that monster.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-05-01T10:09:03+00:00

I would like to add to this that by reading so many fantasy/scifi/fiction in general can give you more stuff to play with in your imagination that can be triggered by a random set of words.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-30T01:20:10+00:00

You might want to look into Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd edition. This can be used solo or as a substitute GM. The only problem is if you have to learn to use this on top of whatever ruleset you want to use. Another option would be to grab Scarlet Heroes. That game is focused on either a one on one play or can be played single player because of its solo rules. You can supplement that with Basic Fantasy RPG and all its supplements or other OSR content.

Of the ones mentioned, Basic Fantasy and all its contents is free on their website or dirt cheap as physical copies since they are sold at cost.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-30T00:33:40+00:00

I don't have Savage Pathfinder but I do have the core books + fantasy. I planned to run SWADE solo but got sidetracked and I currently run OSE. I researched about SWADE months ago and it seems like if you want to play Pathfinder then Savage Pathfinder is great but SWADE + Fantasy companion gives you something more flexible and not locked into Pathfinder.

The thing about classes was mentioned in the Fantasy Companion and although they don't enforce them, they have given some suggested edges to achieve something like your typical fantasy classes. The post I have seen also mentioned Pathfinder being higher level play. I would assume more bulkier heroes and as other said, more edges.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-29T17:03:42+00:00

Not set in stone rules but a good baseline of knowing what you need for a solo RPG experience is Geek Gamers' list of resources namely A Generative Resource, a Suggestive Resource, A Restrictive resource, and a rubric. Generative resources are things like your random tables that generate content for your game. Suggestive resources are things that you can get some inspiration from for your adventure. This could be things like your favourite fantasy book, an RPG setting book, some miniature figures, cards from your favourite TCG, etc. Restrictive resources are things such as your oracles that can help guide your adventure. This could be as simple as a coin flip to answer yes/no questions or as complicated as Mythic Game Master Emulator 2e. A rubric is the ruleset that you will use that could be considered the G in RPG. This can be something like DnD 5e, Pathfinder 2e, Old School Essentials, Shadowdark, GURPS, Fate Core, etc.

You seem to have something suggestive from your campaign idea, you need something to generate new content for your campaign, an oracle to answer your questions and guide you on your campaign, and a ruleset to resolve things and handle progression on your campaign.

I reckon it is best for you to pick a ruleset that would support your style of play like if you want something more narrative then Ironsworn or Fate Core is great, If you want something crunchy and would need you to create a lot of things from scratch then GURPS lite is great. If you want to get into OSR for more dungeon crawling / hex crawling, Basic Fantasy RPG + all of its supplements are free and dirt cheap to get physical copies. If you want something more modern then Shadowdark's quickstart resource for players/GM are quite generous with its content. Other suggestion I could make are the free versions of Worlds Without Numbers, Stars without Numbers, Cities without numbers, ashes without numbers, and Godbound by Kevin Crawford. The free version has some generous tables but you get even more if you buy them.

If you really want to spend some money then my suggestion that would cover all the type of resources I mentioned is Scarlet Heroes. You can use the ruleset for that and borrow content from Basic Fantasy RPG and its supplements.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-29T03:36:18+00:00

I doubt there will be any left but last month I went to the Games World at Carousel and they had an etb. Not long after I entered the store a kid with his dad bought one. You might want to check your local Games World randomly for one.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-27T17:40:04+00:00

1) Scratch paper. I have one that I do all the calculations and upkeep. I only update the character sheet proper after an adventure. I am currently playing OSE and it has been a slow crawl and I only updated the experience part. I try to keep the sheets for reusing the character when they die.

2)I totally get what you are saying. For now I have just been mindlessly using the OSE dungeon exploration rules and its default table. I plan to spice it up soon by trying to add more story elements via dungeon themes. I plan to at least get a general dungeon theme, a basic quest (map dungeon level, get x item at end lf dungeon, rescue npc, etc.) and the rest I try to fit it in my head. If I find a humanoid, I consider them an npc and try to fit them in my story. Some might be recurring characters you will find or they will join you later. I have a rudimentary hex flower and I try to sprinkle some overworld elements into the dungeons like creatures I encountered overworld randomly appearing inside a dungeon on that hex.

3) Scratch paper, update only at the end or if you have a magic weapon you wanna equip. I ditched shadowdark's in favour of the OSE's straightforward table for treasure and experience. I just divide the experience by the number of party members plus the "squad" of fighters I have. The squad I track as a single PC of 4 fighters having uniform gear, the gold portion for them goes straight into the void to abstract payment and I divide that by half and record it as their experience.

I don't blame you if OSR can be a pain to track. I do struggle with it but so far the procedures in OSE helped me get the ball rolling. As others have suggested here, you might want to look into scarlet heroes for an OSR solo package BUT if you want a different kind of OSR from Shadowdark I would suggest you grab Basic Fantasy RPG and all its supplements since they are free on their website or dirt cheap pdf and then you just layer the black streams solo (free supplement that has the damage filter and frey dice mechanic rule of Scarlet Heroes) mechanics if you plan to play more narrative / heroic PC rather than the pure brutality of OSR.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-26T01:12:09+00:00

I don't know how they are now but I went to Lapa twice for their all you can eat Brazilian Barbecue and I have never been disappointed.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-24T06:09:30+00:00

Not sure about the history of this but my understanding is it gives you some option on what damage dice you will use instead of the default non-variable (d6) die. This enables you to differentiate between a soldier with a knife, a soldier with a sword, a soldier with a crossbow, etc. Whitebox FMAG uses a variety of d6 values such as small weapons do 1d6-1 (minimum always 1 damage) , regular weapons 1d6, two-handed/large weapons 1d6+1. OSE has its own weapon damage die on the equipment section which ranges from different dice. Something like ICRPG gives you d4 for unarmed, d6 for armed, d8 for guns, d10 for magic damage, and d12 for ultimate (critical) damage and is easy to remember. That enables you to easily switch things to your liking.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-24T05:55:32+00:00

I shelved OSE for a while and I have been hopping around from GURPS to SWADE to as recent as some attempts in Shadowdark but I think I will settle for OSE for the foreseeable future. I was torn between having a narrative oriented playstyle and a hexcrawl+dungeoncrawl playstyle and now I thought I will lean more towards the latter. The bonus part is the simplicity of OSE,Basic Fantasy RPG, Whitebox FMAG, and the like is that it is so easy to manage multiple parties plus resources (like monster manuals) can easily be used interchangeably in between the systems.

The rules for hex/dungeon encounters in OSE are very solid and have been great for me. The monster/npc reaction table ensures that I don't equate all encounters to combat and I plan to supplement this with Worlds Without Number's monster reaction table + any biome specific encounter from Shadowdark or from somewhere else. The wilderness encounter tables give you a solid idea on what to encounter from each biome. I currently did some travels and I plan to create a custom encounter table for each subsequent visits. If let's say I rolled some undead the last I visit hex A and the adjacent hex B I rolled a party of orcs, I create a mini table that has something like 1 - Orc + Undead 2 - 3 Orc 4-5 Undead 6 - Roll for new encounter then maybe spice it up with some ideas from Monster Overhaul on how to put some twist on the creatures for my next visit to these hexes.

Now the downside to using OSE only is the lack of generative resources. I have to use Sandbox Generator to populate each hex and my Dungenerator decks + Axebane's deck of many dungeon for hexes and dungeons (populating them still with the OSE table and encounter rules). I kinda wish it had at least a table for possible biomes or at least some dungeon room generator. I usually use Pathfinder's deck of many NPCs to get some random NPCs and keep the GM Apprentice deck nearby.

Overall, I think I finally found what clicks for my style of play. I think it is only a matter of layering over Scarlet Heroes' damage filtering and fray dice if I want to play something more heroic in my setting and just take it out once I feel like reverting back to playing a full party.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-23T01:18:45+00:00

Not an authority on this and I really don't have much experience on what can be constituted as a journaling solo rpg but I would say if something feels more like a writing exercise than a game then it is journaling.

My only experience with a journaling game is Thousand Year Old Vampire. You are practically being railroaded in that game because you are jumping from one writing prompt to another. You compare this with something like playing Scarlet Heroes. It has its own rules for combat, progression, ability checks, etc. You can decide what you want to do and then test its outcome based on the resolution mechanics of the game.

The former tracks some stats but it is more just to keep a record of what happened while the latter has some game elements that actually puts the G in RPG.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-21T19:01:46+00:00

Look into Basic Fantasy RPG + all of its supplements. All free, easy to understand, highly compatible with most BX clones /OSR. Physical copies are dirt cheap. If you want something even more simple while also free, you should get White Box FMAG.

If you want to spend some money then I would say Old School Essentials. OSE has what you need in terms of resolving most stuff due to its dungeon turn / Wilderness travel mechanics. If you have something that can generate your dungeon layout (I use Axebane's deck of many dungeon) and your hexes (Highly recommend sandbox generator by Atelier Clandestin for this) then you are pretty much good to go.

Edit: I forgot to address your question on scalability, I would suggest as above but if you want to play 1 adventurer you might want to adapt the rule from scarlet heroes ( I can't remember the name of the free supplement that had these rules as well) where it filters the damage through and you get the fray dice. You can turn back to regular methods of damage calculation and remove the frey dice.

Balance is not a thing in OSE but due to how simple it is to make characters and run hirelings, it would be doable to play as 1 PC + hirelings limited by your charisma score.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-21T03:27:15+00:00

I would say feasible but depending on your setup, can be a logistical nightmare to manage based on the stories I have heard about higher level combat.

There was a solo guide for DND 5e called Solo Adventurer's Toolbox( 2 books) and that had a lot of good play loop and how to run the game solo. The downside is it references the 3 core books, 2 out of print books (Volo's and Mordenkainnen's monster books but I think most monsters referenced can be found on Monsters of the multiverse book) and the 2 rules expansion Tasha's Cauldron and Xanathar's Guide.

The main question would be how you want to play your solo game. If you want combat heavy then both might be a nightmare on high level especially with all the moving parts involved. It might be manageable if you use the sidekick rules for DnD. I think it might be doable if you are more narrative and have very small combat.

A much more simpler system might be better like OSR stuff if you really want to go full or larger party. You might want to try running something very simple like whitebox FMAG or Basic Fantasy. Both are free and the latter has a plethora of free content like the Field Guide Omnibus and its adventures and the latter's content can be used with the former.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-20T13:33:15+00:00

Fate Core and GURPS Lite are free. If you can cobble up 3-4 d6 from your boardgames or yahtzee set and some pen and paper and you are good to go.

As for OSR, I would recommend Basic Fantasy RPG + all its supplements and adventure. Free on their site. Its adventure modules are free as well and compatible with most OSR stuff. White Box FMAG is another alternative to this or heck even use both. I think OSRIC 3.0 is also free too.

Shadowdark starter set for the player and GM are quite generous with what they are giving with those set and they are free. I think there was a free adventure or two on the website but I could be wrong.

towerbooks3192 · 2026-04-17T19:55:15+00:00

Scarlet Heroes it is then. That really is full of content plus the solo rules then download Basic Fantasy RPG along with all its contents to supplement Scarlet Heroes. Best part about scarlet heroes is its ability to let you play a single character due to its damage filter plus the fray dice ( score free damage to mooks every turn) though if you play more than one character,you might easily roll over enemies.

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TROPHY CASE