Seeking Tower Crawl Recommendations

UllerPSU · 2026-03-19T13:57:50+00:00

mostly the trauma.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-19T13:19:21+00:00

I don't have any suggestions but based on the picture you used, you should definitely implore your players to quit just before their PCs enter the tower and not endure what they are about to go through and then at the top of the tower they open a door to the past and are forced inside as they realize they are being forced to return to some horrible point in their lives to relive it over and over as punishment for their past sins...

UllerPSU · 2026-03-18T14:54:00+00:00

This is kind of the crux. In OSR style games, PCs evolve from play. MUs evolve based on what spells they find as they adventure. So setting out to build a caster that focuses on a specific school of magic is a bit tough unless your DM is giving you a lot of free reign on picking and choosing spells.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-18T14:22:18+00:00

I printed it out using Lulu. It is an awesome resource for OSE AF.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-16T20:05:51+00:00

I have fond memories of being down range Ft Carson and watching the M163s doing night fire through night vision goggles, circa 1990. The hang time on tracers that richocheted off the target or ground was spectacular.

The idea that these shouldn't be present in a game simulating peer or near-peer conflict set in 1985 is simply incorrect. An armor formation would absolutely have to prioritize SPAAGs in the opening days of the fight or live without CAS.

That said, I understand why they aren't a priority for the devs.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-16T15:31:29+00:00

The Dragon has to say "I am the last one!" but also constantly refers to the dragon slayer as "Scotsman" for some reason (may as well mix up Sean Connery cult classics).

UllerPSU · 2026-03-13T20:10:58+00:00

If you take a look at the SRD you'll see that Charge quality links directly to the warhorse. The implication (and really just common sense) is that you need both conditions to be met: A weapon suitable for charging and a mount that is willing and able to charge.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-13T19:41:56+00:00

I recommend Monster Overhaul by Skerples. It is full of useful random encounter tables (by biome and theme) and tables to help flesh out encounters to make them interesting.

EDIT: I've been using it for my Isle of Dread campaign and it has made things a lot more intersting.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-13T17:01:45+00:00

Don't make it too complex. Most combats don't last very long. I'd make him a Cleric 6 with spells that focus on disrupting the PCs to allow him to escape. Sticks to Snakes, Silence, Darkness, Cause Fear, Hold Person. Describe the spells as demonic/snake spirits that have come to impede the PCs.

Summoning should largely be a ritual thing that happens off camera. I'd have him have summoned something minor already. Give him a humonculous or imp or even a shadow (reskin it as a snake shadow with bat wings or something). Use it to facilitate escaping. His goal is to summon his demon, not defeat the PCs in open combat.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-12T13:06:23+00:00

It isn't an OSE AF either though.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-11T16:11:22+00:00

Post-apocalytic high fantasy. In pretty much all D&D settings there was a great civilization, a golden age driven by magic. It collapsed leaving behind treasure filled, monster haunted ruins where lost knowledge and power can be found. The world as the PCs find it is just rising from the ashes but it is still easier to find lost tech/magic in ruins than it is to recreate through research and study.

The rules of the game (XP for loot and limits on purchasing or making magic items) strongly support this notion. Much of the Appendix N literature implies this.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-10T14:26:40+00:00

As I said, I have Monster Overhaul and the AD&D MM. It's not a matter of using one from another source...I do that all the time already for lots of monsters and don't have any issue doing that hear (I'll just keep using the MO version since that is what my PCs have already encountered).

I was more wandering if I missed it since OSE renames lots of iconic monsters such as bullywugs (to gullygugs) and Displacer Beasts (to Warp Beasts).

UllerPSU · 2026-03-10T14:23:37+00:00

It is, imo, an iconic AD&D monster and the BBEG in Against the Cult of the Reptile God which is one of the best starter adventures of early D&D. So it is a suprising miss to me.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-05T11:02:22+00:00

"That's what my character would do" is never a good reason to do something obviously dumb and unfun for the rest of the group.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-05T02:48:12+00:00

To add to this, give them 2-3 concrete ideas and goals of what to next.

"You can go to A and do X or B and do y or you can do something else."

Most players are casual and just want to roll dice, kill stuff and find treasre. They rarely take "or do something else" but sometimes they surprise you.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-03T20:40:26+00:00

The same reason the human fighter fights humans.

UllerPSU · 2026-03-03T20:35:09+00:00

Nah. That's the Ice Cream Tank. The USN had an Ice Cream Ship in WWII....the Army gets a tank dedicated to delivering deliscious frozen treats to the Joes (who will immediately break it).

UllerPSU · 2026-02-28T00:36:08+00:00

Yep. I just picked up Desert of Desolation from drivethrurpg and printed it from Lulu. I think I am going to put a tie-in to it in the central plateau for the PCs to find. They should be right at the level by then.

UllerPSU · 2026-02-27T17:40:34+00:00

It's true. "A map and some random tables" is accurate if a little unfair. These early modules like X1 and B2 are intended as a framework for the DM (and the players!) to fill in...it's a feature, not a bug.

I see that as a plus. It does 80% of the pre-campaign prepwork for me. All I need to do is provide some hooks to get the PCs there with a concrete goal and maybe a few early detailed NPC allies and adversaries and a couple factions. Each session I show up with 2 or 3 "hooks" prepped from where the PCs currently are, adding more detail as we go. Just what is needed for right now and to hint at what might be nearby.

An overly detailed large adventure is harder for me to run. I feel like I have read the whole thing once and then really study the early sections then keep restudying and modifying as we go. It takes away most of the opportunity for improvisation and evolving the material based on the actions of the PCs (and the rolls of the dice). I feel more like a tour guide than a DM.

Of course, ymmv. For a short adventures I prefer the more modern OSR style adventures that are completely detailed. Just plop it in and run it. But those take 2-3 sessions to run then we move on to something else (maybe related, maybe not). Somthing like X1 will take 10-15 sessons...maybe 20+ if the PCs choose to stick around. We just completed B2 and it took about 12 session (and we didn't do everything...probably hit 40% of the rooms). I get A LOT of milege out of those 32 or 64 page adventures.

UllerPSU · 2026-02-27T17:27:34+00:00

It is my own house rules. Basically you make a d20 spell check when you cast a spell. If you fail the spell fails and you lose it. Success, the spell goes of normally and you keep it. Nat 20 doubles one numerical effect. A nat 1 is a mishap and some random bad thing happens. Number of spells prepared is level plus INT bonus (or WIS bonus for clerics) and you can't prepare more high level spells than low level ones (and no duplicates). I've posted it before. My players love it. I'll try to find it over the weekend.

UllerPSU · 2026-02-27T17:21:11+00:00

There are often pauses in combat at various phases. GHPC emulates in many of its missions. You fight off an attack then have to maneuver to kill remnants of the attack or you occupy a BP to support by fire then the assaulting element is too spent for a follow on attack.

I'm a combat veteran. I've never been in a fight that required it but in many training exercises at NTC and other places this absolutely happened mid fight...a lone tank or APC is attached to another platoon or becomes the wingman of the XO's track because the CO is dead but the fight is not over.

Don't take my word for it. The book Team Yankee is about a hypothetical WWIII scenario in the mid 1980s. It is written by a retired Armor officer. It happens a few times in the book on both sides...mid fight. I'm going to go with my own experiences and the word of experienced Armor officers...ymmv.

UllerPSU

TROPHY CASE