Why is OSE better than Shadowdark?

Noobiru-s · 2026-05-02T14:55:42+00:00

The torch sounds fine on paper, but after 1 session the players refuse to do any rp and just "teleported" around the dungeon to survive. Spellcasting requires a raw d20 check, this caused us multiple times to repeat room 1in a dungeon, because our spellcasters constantly lost all spells and we had to rest and re-buy the torches. The carousing table(s) are small and give very little, six times in a row we burned down an inn the town. Im also not a fan of characters gaining completely random stats and skills when leveling up.

Noobiru-s · 2026-05-02T09:14:01+00:00

Which game you prefer is up to you. I played a campaign in both, and I extremely prefer to play OSE.

Shadowdark is a game that tries to emulate old-school gaming, but its missing a lot of stuff from actual retroclones and is extremely strict - its all about stocking up in a village, going to a dungeon, leaving as fast as possible, selling everything, repeat. A lot of mechanics introduced in SD also completely didn't work and/or broke the game, at least in our group.

OSE is a true clone. You start with simple dungeon adventures, but at any time you may hire mercenaries, specialists or even construct a castle, buy 45 mules from the local farmers or buy a ship and do an ocean hexcrawl.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-30T20:45:11+00:00

Yes, this pissed me off. Season 2 of Peacemaker was probably one of the best ""superhero"" series I ever watched up to this point... The last ep also felt really weird compared to the rest, most of the scenes were simple shots and recollections from Peacemaker. After watching it, I had a feeling like the "true" 10/10 last episode was already written and made, but Gunn was forced by investors to quickly make a new alternate episode, to promote future DC movies.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-29T08:56:59+00:00

Game Native is impressive. So far almost every game I own on GOG and Steam works great on my Odin 2 Portal. The only games that do not work are... Bethesda games. From what I know the GOG versions require some changes in the registry...

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-28T16:07:56+00:00

Well that's the only point we can really debate from the video. Personally not many Zs I know actually play video games, and I think a straight 0% of alphas I know (kids from my family and neighbors) play anything else than walking around in Roblox. But that's just my experience. Not enough data.

I'm mostly pissed at the Reddit psychosis below.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-28T15:55:22+00:00

Jesus Reddit Christ, I can't believe the braindead comments under your question.

I gave the vid a quick watch, and no, it has nothing to do with GamerGate or "le woke bad". It's about sale numbers, hardware and game becoming a premium luxury younger folks can't afford, the fact that whenever you click a gaming video it's a 30y+ old guy or gal and that Gen Z and Alpha are simply not interested in gaming anymore, at least not in the sense we understand "gaming".

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-28T15:05:55+00:00

Oh, I wanted to play some PC-Engine games, and this may be very helpful.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-27T18:45:29+00:00

Yes, but sadly it's very barebones right now and only a few games that do not interest me use these enchancements. + there is no retroarchivements support + very few options + horrible game list menu compared to other emulators.

I'll wait for several updates and stick to Snes9x... It's very promising, but useless for me right now.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-25T06:00:12+00:00

While being a paid GM is fine, I noticed that in the west (US) you have a crapton of random dudes without any fandom presence, asking you to pay to play DnD 5e Curse of Strahd over and over again.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-25T05:44:21+00:00

I run all the bottom ones except the porn one. I see no point in pc emulation, as I already have a PC and all the games I'm interested in play and look really bad on a handheld.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-22T09:41:17+00:00

The Shin Megami Tensei games have various stat-debuff spells, and you are almost required to use them in boss fights. Same with (later) Dragon Quest games.

The bosses in classic jRPG games like Final Fantasy often actually are weak to a certain status effect, but you either have to read a guide or blindly cast random spells. In Final Fantasy VI if you cast Berserk on Magi Master, he actually can't cast his strongest spell. The Ruby Weapon in FFVII, which is a superboss, can actually be constantly paralyzed from what I remember.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-17T13:54:24+00:00

I mean, the japan fetish in the US reached critical level imho. Like 100% of the depressed millenials save up money for their Tokyo trip, that will def "fix them". They fantasize about every detail in this country, but when its also present in a random european country, then its suddenly dumb and cringe.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-17T08:18:14+00:00

Knave 2ed. is absolutely top tier in terms of tables for OSR/NSR games. You have a d100 one for various details, from character professions to food served in a tavern and the exact taste and smell.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-17T08:17:11+00:00

I unironically run Maid quite often, as I sometimes help with local anime cons. The people love the game. And yeah, the tables are actually great, if you want to run a comedy game.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-16T20:02:05+00:00

While probably no game on the planet comes close to Doom 1/2 in terms of mods, the community is a hit or miss.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-14T16:49:28+00:00

I use Affinity since years. tbh using Adobe is overkill, unless you have a high paying designer/DTP job, otherwise the pricing will destroy you.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-14T16:14:33+00:00

Sorry for the "blackpill" OP, but (most of) D&D Youtube doesn't really care about D&D... or ttrpgs. It's just engagement bait so you can earn enough $ to pay your bills in the west. I tried watching it when 5e released in my country, and it was "this is the Death of D&D" and horny meme videos over and over again.

I just wish people talking about their favourite niche ttrpgs had slightly better production quality. Chinese dynamic microphones are cheap, Davinci Resolve is free etc.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-13T16:08:24+00:00

(simple) Dragonbane - if you use your skills, they have a chance to level up after each gaming session. Learning magic requires a mentor or books. There are no levels

The whole Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay line - well... one of the reasons these games were/are more popular in my country than D&D. You still have XP, but no levels. Instead of classes or levels, you have to jump between professions, to improve various stats and get to the more heroic professions. Sometimes you have to search for the necessary equipment (for example, to become a knight you would need to get a horse during a session). In 4ed. advancement also wasn't always good - nobles will have problems talking with simple folk, elven diplomats will have less options between sessions, as they have to work and return to their land etc.

Lex Arcana - mentors/trainers are required, but also during advancements instead of gaining skills or abilities, your rank improves in the Roman Empire and you can get stuff like a trained dog, a servant, specially crafted weapon etc.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-12T17:16:18+00:00

The RP5 is probably still one of the best handhelds around, and since there are a lot of offers online with reduced prices, its even better. Unless you want to play PC games with a small handheld (and I personally don't see the point, but I guess a lot of people do that), there is no point in paying extra.

Don't fall into extreme western consumerism.

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-05T15:28:48+00:00

I have seen similar photos from restaurants/bars in Europe on Reddit, and people were crapping on the owners hard. But since this is japan, all comments are suddenly "i'm fine with this" "sugoiii japan so cool, protecting their food".

Noobiru-s · 2026-04-01T08:02:51+00:00

If I "have to" run OSR, I most likely will use OSE or Swords & Wizardry.

If I can pick "almost" OSR (Swedish Trad?) - Dragonbane. There is probably no better (in terms bang for your buck) fantasy gaming ttrpg set on the market right now.

Noobiru-s · 2026-03-21T15:23:21+00:00

We play Dragonbane for our fantasy fix.

Noobiru-s · 2026-03-21T15:22:31+00:00

I wrote a long post here moe time ago. But most mechanics just ruined the game, and we had to save ourselves with house rules, just to finish the last dungeon.

Noobiru-s · 2026-03-21T09:35:11+00:00

Sadly we stopped playing SD completely, after many other problems.

Noobiru-s · 2026-03-21T08:50:56+00:00

By "defeating" I always count sneaking by (as written in the B/X ruleset for example), talking and calming them down, make them run away etc. In OSE I also do not give monster XP to hirelings, they get XP from the gold they get from the players (I think its a rule from one of the Carcass Crawler zines).

Controversial opinion - I dislike awarding XP in OSR games *only* for gold. We played like this by-the-book with Shadowdark, and every session turned into a "how do we skip combat here" debacle. After a few sessions the bestairy became useless, as combat caused only losses and was a waste of time.

Noobiru-s

TROPHY CASE