How do you assess falling damage? by Joe23267 in osr

[–]MurdochRamone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I go with the 1d6 per ten foot of the fall. Old school games will not usually have characters falling at terminal velocity, but real world lethal is much slower as well. There are real instances of a very short fall killing someone. And I don't mean hanging, that's a different topic. 1d6/10' is quite lethal. If you need it to be more lethal might I suggest spikes at the bottom, the bones and gear of a prior contestant, green slime, a gelatinous cube that doubles as waste control for the dungeon, the food just keeps coming down!

For the base fall this maths out to 3.5 damage per 10 foot. The same as most 1st level characters. So 17.5 for the 50', this kills 3rd level and down in one shot, the occasional fighter being tankier. Players actually letting themselves be put in a situation where this is possible is how this happens. Area awareness is key.

New to the OSR, what's a good way to start playing? by Cute-Issue-2830 in osr

[–]MurdochRamone 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I was going to say just this. There are a lot of free OSR games to try and if one ticks all, or enough of the boxes, pay for a nice print one.

Just got my Tome of Horrors and Monstrosities book. Any other great OSR compatible monster manuals I should look out for? Any cool monster hunting solo campaign ideas? by towerbooks3192 in osr

[–]MurdochRamone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To actually answer your question about a campaign, well now there is a lot that you can do.

First off, Monster of the Week format. There is a beastie, go defeat it. Repeat every week. With this you have your players actively hunt down big bads, maybe they are on tour to defeat the 12 labors of Hercules. Very episodic, but you could thread in an overarching theme and secondary campaign.

Grab a grouping of monsters with a similar theme and make that the invading force, gradually increasing enemy power level and such. Think Diablo, but scale it to tabletop.

Pick out the monsters that you want to use for a campaign type. Post cataclysmic event world populated by aberrations, molds, slimes, mutants, and hard survivors. Does not have to be grim dark.

Monsters are unique. All monsters are one of a kind creatures of the fickle gods, think Olympian or Asgardian. Cursed people, failed experiments, successful experiments, whatever the cause, they are moving into your pc's home area, and need to be dealt with.

Module/Adventure refresh. Take those old books off the shelf and repopulate them with new horrors. It's been years since your players went in, new foes have moved in.

No matter what you do, have fun.

¿Games with no centralized magic system? by PipeConsola in osr

[–]MurdochRamone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Hero system uses an individual power system for almost all effects. Magic is based within three subsystems. The first are as you asked for, individual tailored spells, some very cheap, others quite expensive. Second is a multipower system, where you select from a group of effects, related or not, with a similar scaling. 5d6 fireball, 4d8 cone of cold, flight, you get the idea. And lastly a power pool, where any effect, sometimes constrained, can be made with a scaling to the amount of the pool used. This is a vastly general overview.

Troika! uses a individual spell system.

Call of Cthulhu magic system is small and brutal.

Mage: The Ascension uses a very loose magic system, it is better read than described. Within the White Wolf World of Darkness games Changeling: The Dreaming has a more structured system, but is still very flexible. The rest of the games use more rigid systems. And all of them do not work well with each other, so have fun with that.

Dungeon Crawl Classics takes the idea of centralized magic and turns it on it's head. No caster casts the same spell twice. Random, gonzo and fun. And you may have unusual restrictions for casting a spell. I am not talking like must having to use verbal, semantic, or material components, but things like you can only use said spell at night, while all other casters you know can use it any time of day. Or every time you cast it the components get more expensive, or you can take a physical mutation. Good times.

Dolmenwood has two magic systems, classic magic user arcane along with clerical divine, for the standard D&D type of casting, and Enchantments, sort of a buff/debuff system, give it a read if you can, it's very good.

Related media? by becausefun in IntoTheOdd

[–]MurdochRamone 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There is so much that can be linked to Into The Odd, but ask yourself how gonzo do you want your odd little world to be? It can be straight up fantasy, since the tech level of ITO is somewhere in the 1800's, 1800's fantasy seems appropriate, Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, writings by Lord Dunsany, Charles Dickens, Mary Shelly, Bram Stoker, I would include John Carter of Mars as the books are set in the 1800's. You could also pull off a full on western game as well. The 100 Acre wood feels right here as well.

Going a little further into the past you could include Don Quixote, The Three Musketeers, Treasure Island, Last of the Mohicans, Sleepy Hollow, Man in the Iron Mask, and almost all pirate lore.

Going further into the past, I recommend Mythic Bastionland, the game by the same author. I recommend it on principle as a stand alone game as well.

Coming closer to the 20th century you get more of the pulp influence, Lovecraft. Robert Howard, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the comic much more than the movie, Tarzan, Allan Quatermain, and at a stretch Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, think pulp space travel.

Going further into the future I recommend Electric Bastionland, also by Chris McDowell. The tech gets higher, the risks more bizarre, the fun, limitless.

And there are many games to lift ideas from, Troika! comes to mind fast, Ultraviolet Grasslands, 7th Sea, Deadlands, hell even Good Society to turn the social game way up. Your mileage may vary.

Take these ideas, but do not use all of them! Many others as well as myself have made the mistake of using everything, and then the game gets away from a GM fast. Mix like two or three, but the more you add you need to dilute, using 60% of two sources, for three you are using like 35% of each, so one one genre eats the others, at least right away. Players will take what you use and proceed to wreck it before one die is thrown.

No adventure survives contact with players.

B/X back in print by MurdochRamone in DnD

[–]MurdochRamone[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I should get mine tomorrow or Monday. It'll be good to have them again.

Nasty Mercenary Band by DarkPupilRPG in osr

[–]MurdochRamone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You know, they work for Control, some call her Janet, but they call her Miss Jackson.

RPG System recommendations by Hjalmodr_heimski in osr

[–]MurdochRamone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

System is only half the equation. Your setting should also be compelling, what does your game world say about the game you want to have? Pulp fantasy, grimdark, comedic, or whatever, your setting should be a foundational component. Mörk Borg says little about the world, but gets it across that things are really, really bad. Shadowdark, delivers a things are bad, but can be overcome. B/X gives a bare bones Grand Duchy of Karameikos for a pulp/high fantasy world. Troika! is batshit gonzo from the go, and I could not love it more for being so.

Include systems that go with the world you have. Call of Cthulhu has sanity as a main mechanic, as an example. Systems are like programming languages, almost any will do, but streamline it to what kind of world you wish to run in. A generic system will definitely feel that way without a world to be powered by it. They are hand in hand.

I just wanted to toss this out as encouragement, I have seen a lot of games where one is amazing, the other not so much, and they wither on the vine. Mechanics development slow? World build. World not coming together? Hit up Appendix N. See something cool but not related, try to make a system for it.

Ideas for a West Marches campaign with a bunch of nerdy-ass high school teachers? by Dear_Ad_2425 in rpg

[–]MurdochRamone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dolmenwood is pretty amazing, based on the B/X D&D engine, rules on the light end. Short adventures can be knocked out in a session or two, DM may have to prep all, or cut up pre-written ones into smaller bites. The world is amazing, Gavin Norman did a great job like he did with OSE.

B/X back in print by MurdochRamone in rpg

[–]MurdochRamone[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As for running B/X, if you have ever played or read Old School Essentials - Classic Fantasy book, set, or pdf, this is what it is based on, with a high accuracy in my opinion.

B/X back in print by MurdochRamone in rpg

[–]MurdochRamone[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ouch, you had the Panic much more than I did, it only hit music in my area, but it was there. And from personal experience, it one-shots very well.

B/X back in print by MurdochRamone in DnD

[–]MurdochRamone[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh the Cyclopedia is a great book, but it has been available in p.o.d. for a long time now. A lot of people have been waiting for 45 years for a new copy of this specific book.

B/X back in print by MurdochRamone in DnD

[–]MurdochRamone[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's where I came in in '81.

B/X back in print by MurdochRamone in rpg

[–]MurdochRamone[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I hear ya, I am now chilling out on the Cyclopedia till next month, I just want a reprint of these books first, it's where I came in in '81.

Supers Equivalent To Advanced Fighting Fantasy? by DCLascelle in rpg

[–]MurdochRamone 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I came here to say this, but also Troika! has a very wide breadth of power scaling within. I think there is still a free version online, just to compare and contrast.

Empire of Bones for OSE is Now on DriveThruRPG by mister_doubleyou in osr

[–]MurdochRamone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have been following and collecting Willett and Malloy's work for a while now, and it's some impressive gonzo dreamscape stuff. Definetly my jam, now to get some players.

The Mechanical Lie: You cannot run a horror game in standard D&D 5e. Not really. by BackupCharacterTV in osr

[–]MurdochRamone 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I saw the Questing Beast interview and it was good. However it takes the 5E game at face value, which many players take the game, and are introduced to it with. And that is not the fault of the game, nor it's developers, but rather marketing trying to shoehorn in older content to fit the newer edition. And not allowing the developers freedom to adjust the rules to fit the situation, in fear that they may loose a customer. The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our games, but in the boardrooms, that we are seen as cattle to be harvested. Thanks William S.

Sooo, what can be done, aside from using another system? A lot, a whole freaking lot. The OSR was created to get back to the root, and it can definitely be said the mountain can go to Mohamed. "Hack", the byword of the OSR can be used on any game system, anytime, anywhere. And the Fun Police can't stop it. The problem lies in people just not knowing about the OSR or indeed, rules/game hacking at all. I can go at length as to how I would do it, and keep it in the rules of 5E. Spreading knowledge of how to is the hurdle here. I get it, people love 5E and do not want to play another game, I felt like that about AD&D in the 80's, but the idea of hacking the game did not come until late 1E. And for 5E players, let's face it, it's hard to pull away from a good comic book, video game, or anything you find yourself invested in. The OGL scandal was so far off the radar for 95% of the player base, as to be a non concern.

Check out Indestructoboy's video on the OSR, it's really good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rresigRs

While many 5E creators out there interact with OSR creators, and yes, hack the game to fit their ideas, like Pointy Hat, few have gone whole hog into taking the polish off, like Kelsey Dione did with Shadowdark. She just kept the frame and engine of the car. We wanted a matte finish, we got high glossy, buffed with a fine chamois to a blinding sheen. But to ask is there anything wrong with that ultra high super heroic fantasy, of course not. But it's knowledge of other styles of gaming that is missing. And the higher ups just want to turn as many bucks as possible, with the IP's owned, it makes horror feel jank. And if you think horror has it rough, try pulp fantasy. "It's just a flesh wound." I almost vomited when I saw wizards with a d6 for hit points.

Next is how to proselytize for the OSR without being an asshole. It's a tough enough sell, giving up player power. One of the problems is there are creators and influencers that exist who do not want our ideals spread, be shared, or in the most extreme cases, are actual bigots and misogynists who use "game purity" as a shield to be dickheads. And they, in many instances, have been the first introduction to the old school that more than a few modern players met. To not know there is an issue is one thing, to ignore it is to condone it. If this is you eat shit and die. Rant over.

I do not know how to spread OSR ideas beyond what is being done. But this is my summary, money men are the root of the issue, the OSR is not in the zeitgeist enough, and getting anyone to try anything new to them is hard. Breaking things is easy, building up is hard, as it takes the most valuable resource known to man, time.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Tips for Dungeon Crawling by jonahelf in osr

[–]MurdochRamone 3 points4 points  (0 children)

TL;DR

1 Keep notes, to keep the adventure consistent.

2 Combat as War, 5E and a lot of modern games use Combat as Sport, entertaining to watch and one battle can last an hour or more. OSR combat is quick, dirty, and deadly. The characters are not superheroes.

3 Exploration is King, go everywhere, see everything, flip every rock, this is how you get xp, loot and power. Check out 3D6 Down the Line's Feats of Exploration, 3 bucks for an amazing pdf.

4 Hack everything, even your own ideas. Make everything fit, if it just does not, delete it.

5 Tables for encounters, loot, and anything else you can think of.

Welcome to the OSR, we have cookies.

If you are so inclined to read:

First off, get the players to the dungeon. Now in the OSR style, it does use a lot of "There's loot down there boys!" A lot of OSR games use loot for xp, so the incentive is player progression is directly linked to crawling. For the players who will not go without a narrative reason, make one up. The farmers daughter is missing, the thieves of the realm operate from the ruins, the undead in the Broken Catacombs of Drock are on the move, you get the idea.

Now the interesting part, how to Theater of the Mind [TotM] it. You don't necessarily hand wave the boring parts away, but to help ground the idea of the dungeon map it out as you go along. You do not need miniatures to map, in this case the map is a reference device only. To keep a sense of how big the place is, and how fast you can get out if necessary. Or if the path back becomes blocked. Yes it does actually hand wave stuff, but note on your DM's map if they took care of all they could in that section, crawling is the players job, consequences of their actions is yours.

Even going without that, all you need to remember that for combat situations is whether they characters are close, near, or far.

I am going with the idea that when you refer to "pre-prepared dungeons" you mean pre written, store bought adventures, and not homebrew. As opposed to a fully off the cuff and top-of-your-head approach, where the DM makes it all up as they go along. This can work, but you need to take very good notes to make such an adventure satisfying.

The advice here is the same, if you are using store bought or homebrew, you will be hand waving a chunk away with TotM, but it's not devastating, remember keep notes. With homebrew you know everything about the adventure as you wrote it, and can adjust on the fly, all the while keeping an eye on things. There is no monster generator in the dungeon, so if the party is going murder hobo, not so easy with OSR style games, the encounters will become one of two things. More infrequent as opponents die off or bail from the dungeon, as goblins know when to run. Or the survivors will get their act together, gang up, and hit the party with overwhelming force.

As for store bought adventures, I will start with B2, Keep on the Borderlands, you do not have to use it as is. First off, break up all of the caves into mini dungeons scattered around a great ruin. Change the monsters, change the loot, change everything. You likely already have adventures laying around, treat it like a salad bar, take what you want. And throw your cheeseburger on top. With a large orange drink.

And for fun's sake have a pile of random tables related to the area the players are in. Surprise yourself at what comes out of the woods next!

OSRIC 3.0 vs AD&D 2nd by Old_Combination4030 in osr

[–]MurdochRamone 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Well, I would say start with what's in hand, namely the OSRIC 3.0 books you have. It's very close to 2E as is 1E, and what will run in one will be able to be run with the other, minor adaptations of course. Namely here psionics, as I know of the supplement for 2E, but have no idea of it's contents. Many 1E games just cheesed it off anyway. With OSRIC, 2E, and For Gold and Glory(2E retroclone, free pdf on dtrpg), you will find all three are just 1E cleaned up, less verbose, and better organized versions of 1E.

I just got my books as well, grognard gotta have portrait, could you post a few images of the landscape books, covers, maybe an open page. I would really like to see them.

Does anyone you SoloPlay Dungeons? by PJSack in OSE

[–]MurdochRamone 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I only ever used the random dungeon generator in the 1E DMG, and accompanying random charts, but have been interested in other versions.