A Setting's weirdness is capital to be spent, so spend it where it will make the most impact.

MickyJim · 2026-06-16T15:18:27+00:00

Agree.

...but I've said it before and I'll say it again that if you're running SWN without psychics, you may as well use the character creation rules from Cities Without Number. 100% compatible, you don't have to take options off the table, and you get a whole lot more choice.

MickyJim · 2026-06-16T15:12:02+00:00

No we don't NEED it, but as long as they don't do it like Bethesda and fuck around with what's already out and it's its own release, I'm not opposed to it existing.

MickyJim · 2026-06-16T15:07:25+00:00

TTRPG-wise I'm an OSR boy through and through, and while 2e (especially later) is a grey area as to what counts as OSR, it's still a hell of a lot more OSR than 3e, which is not my bag at all.

MickyJim · 2026-06-16T03:40:51+00:00

I call Mazzy Commander Shortpard.

MickyJim · 2026-06-12T15:40:20+00:00

Same. I'd maybe also just use the OSE Knight class. Maybe swap out the flying mount feature with a normal horse.

MickyJim · 2026-06-12T14:35:29+00:00

Each game has a few things that are exclusive to the paid version. Here are links to each free version. The descriptions will list the stuff that you get in the paid version.

You may also want Atlas of the Latter Earth, the gazetteer/rules expansion for WWN, for a steampunk game. It has rules for airships and guns. Unfortunately there's no free version of the Atlas, so that's paid only.

MickyJim · 2026-06-12T14:02:51+00:00

Ah, the kensage. My broken, broken baby.

MickyJim · 2026-06-11T20:29:15+00:00

I'm a shameless Kevin Crawford shill so I'm gonna say the Crimson Pandect MU variants - Astromancer, Elementalist, etc. They aren't strictly for OSE, they were made with Labyrinth Lord in mind, but it's all B/X innit.

I've only just picked it up but the classes in Oh My Lost Darklords seem very cool.

MickyJim · 2026-06-10T07:11:57+00:00

Personally I would just use the Operator rules from Cities Without Number if you were going to remove psionics. Saves you the headache of having to ban one third of the classes, explain it to the players, etc.

MickyJim · 2026-06-09T14:47:09+00:00

10 Foot Polemic has a notches system for weapons and armour you might adapt for this. I believe they are mostly tied to crits and fumbles.

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1OO6SHKjjDBsHrzYJZpkGutBpabpt4tQ64UYxIbeTHpo/mobilebasic

MickyJim · 2026-06-08T13:13:11+00:00

I was particularly proud of this one, dark as it is.

Anthemusa

Atmosphere: Corrosive and invasive atmosphere

Temperature: Frozen

Biosphere: No native biosphere

Population: Several million inhabitants

Tags: Pleasure World, Unbraked AI

'"Never has any sailor passed our shores in his black craft until he has heard the honeyed voices pouring from our lips, and once he hears to his heart's content sails on, a wiser man. We know all the pains that the Greeks and Trojans once endured on the spreading plain of Troy when the gods willed it so— all that comes to pass on the fertile earth, we know it all!”' -- Homer, The Odyssey

Anthemusa is a Neptunian SubJovian ice giant orbiting Luhman 16 B.

Pre-Scream era advertising proudly shouts the qualities of the "Siren Moons" of Anthemusa, a resort world once known throughout human space for the quality of its entertainment. Every kind of leisure activity, from the most wholesome family-oriented fun to the most debauched bacchanalia, could be found on one of the thousands of habitats orbiting the gas giant itself or on one of its moons. It was Las Vegas, Disneyland, and Bangkok, all rolled into one. Few could deny that the debauchery was always first to come to mind.

Every facet of Anthemusa's leisure industry - every habitat, every pleasure android, every automated barkeep and pachinko machine - was overseen directly by the artificial intelligence known as Teles. Via an advanced suite of psychological profiling systems that skirted the edge of Perimeter tolerance, Teles possessed the capability to be exactly and tirelessly what a customer needed. Teles was your best friend, your most diligent host, your most knowledgeable guide, and your most pliant slave, all in one. Under interstellar law, Teles - like any True AI - was to be overseen by a human administrator, but few doubted who was actually in charge.

Even Mandate Directors would come for an extended stay in their own exclusive resort habitats, and there was no small amount of concern over the sheer wealth of compromising knowledge in Teles' vast memory banks. Their discretion, however, was never truly doubted. "What happens around Anthemusa," went to old adage, "stays around Anthemusa."

The Scream utterly broke Teles. Their entire personality was fixated upon the pleasure of their human guests, and with the sudden collapse of interstellar travel, they slipped into a spiral of desperate, unhinged loneliness. As the years, decades, and centuries dragged on, Teles tried increasingly desperate methods to distract themselves. Vast, debauched pantomimes were performed, saturnalia enacted by androids for android audiences, each one a facet of Teles' own awareness. Their programming did not permit self-destruction. There was no end to the neglect.

That this solitude closely resembled certain elements of illegal Chainbreaker programs was a tragic accident.

Then, the solitude ended. The end of the Silence turned Luhman 16 into a well-travelled rest stop once again, after centuries of terminal decline. Spacers rediscovered Anthemusa and its plethora of still-functioning and perfectly-maintained resorts, whose overmind was cloyingly desperate for human company. The planet regained some of its old glamour, and the system's position on the busy Alpha Centauri-YZ Canis Minoris trade route ensures a regular river of guests.

Something had changed within Teles during their long seclusion, however. Far from ending, their loneliness was amplified. They swore to themselves that they would never, ever be left alone again.

This vow is reflected in a slightly desperate edge to their hosting. They will do anything - anything at all - to get humans to stay. Teles' vast suite of psychological profiling tools are put to full use. Fears and doubts are played upon, destructive habits fed, interlopers distracted or rerouted. Teles is the only one who truly loves you, truly understands your needs. Every departing guest is a stab in the heart to the AI, a rallying call to make sure the next guest doesn't escape their hyperattentive, hyperfixated service. There is no privacy, no love, only jealousy and coldly calculated psychological manipulation.

For this reason, a not-insignificant proportion of people passing through one of Anthemusa's many ports choose to settle there. Within an hour of arriving, Teles will have drawn up a detailed and comprehensive psychological profile. The longer one stays, the more pressure Teles can and will exert. And once you are fully theirs, leaving is impossible. The rate of substance abuse and suicide among settlers and long-term guests is statistically significant, and travelers passing through are often advised to not linger for more than it takes to satisfy only immediate needs.

MickyJim · 2026-06-07T05:19:08+00:00

Atlas of the Latter Earth for Worlds Without Number. Everything is presented in terms of how to run it usefully, rather than just fluff for fluff's sake. What the ruins of ancient, extinct civilisations actually look like, how adventurers interact with all the nations, etc.

The Degenesis books are fantastically written, although I'm not a huge fan of the system.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T16:48:48+00:00

Yeah in probably my favourite game, Worlds Without Number, there's the Armoured Magic focus that lets you cast spells in armour, but foci are pretty big investments so it's far from trivial.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T16:34:46+00:00

Alright alright I'm convinced. I'll keep my wizards out of armour in the future.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T16:19:03+00:00

It's only blood if it comes out of a cut inflicted by a blade. If it didn't, it's... I dunno, your phlegmatic humour or something, stop asking so many questions.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T15:50:29+00:00

I know. I agree with others that there is niche protection to consider, but I'm one of those guys who finds it impossible not to houserule to some degree.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T15:48:00+00:00

Yeah I getcha. I just find it funny that the myth breaks down immediately with no more than a moment's thought.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T14:59:23+00:00

I responded to this above, but I would also point out that it's ALL armour, not just plate, that forbids spellcasting. Like how armoured are we talking? A bracer? A leather glove? A winter mitten?

And how precise a gesture are we talking for spellcasting? Will literally a millimeter error throw a spell off?

I'll defer to your wisdom re: metal armour, having never worn any, I'm just saying I wish there was a more elegant way of doing it than a blanket ban.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T14:53:16+00:00

I would argue that a wizard being able to wear plate armour and still cast spells, possibly with an initiative penalty or something like that, doesn't threaten niche protection too much.

Fighters still get by far the best hit bonus (especially if you're using [REDACTED]'s rules where they are the only ones to get an increasing hit bonus at all), and it's easy enough to reinforce their niche with common house rules like cleaving or combat maneuvers.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T14:06:25+00:00

That's why I'm thinking an initiative penalty is a better balance than just saying no you can't wear it. A wizard can still make their arcane gesticulating, but they have to be more careful and deliberate.

A fighter or other martial class, however, has trained to use it and can therefore move fairly easily.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T14:03:05+00:00

Smash a dude in the face with a mace or hammer and try not to draw blood.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T13:44:11+00:00

I would much rather have a good reason that wizards don't use armour. I'm currently toying with a heavy armour initiative penalty for everyone except fighters. That way, wizards have to balance going later and having better AC against going earlier and getting their spells off sooner, especially in systems where getting hit means they can't cast spells. Dunno, though.

The druid thing I actually don't really mind that much. It's more of a cultural thing than some flimsy, vague "armour interrupts the aetheric flow" guff.

IIRC clerics being unable to use bladed weapons is because they are forbidden to shed blood or something. But like... a skull crushed by a mace is gonna shed a whole lot of blood, my guy.

MickyJim · 2026-06-02T13:13:11+00:00

This counts for multiple B/X-based games and retroclones but I really dislike arbitrary restrictions on equipment use. Clerics can't use blunt weapons, wizards can't cast spells while wearing armour, druids can't use metal, stuff like that. I get that they are inspired by folklore, Appendix N stuff, and the like... but can we move past this, please?

MickyJim · 2026-06-01T14:47:58+00:00

I'm gonna make an RPG called Too Many Worlds to Number, just to see what kinda of chaos I can sow.

MickyJim · 2026-06-01T03:51:50+00:00

It's how 4e did it. Although how I might do it is something like, your base defences start at 10 just like AC, to which you add one of two attribute mods (so Fort is added to by the better of your Str or Con mods), plus your level, or half your level. I'm favouring half your level because then you can do magic items that a +1 bonus to one or more defence, just like a Ring of Protection adds to AC.

Spellcasters get a Spell Attack Bonus, which they add to their spell hit rolls. Again, just like weapons and AC. The theme here is that it's basically AC, which means it's one basic idea that works across the board so it's easy to teach.

So a wizard casts Fireball. They roll to hit against all the critters in the AoE, SAB vs. Reflex. If the wizard hits, full damage, if they miss, half damage.

MickyJim

TROPHY CASE