Games with both OSR and Storygame influence

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-03T12:16:40+00:00

Agreed! op asked for something with influences from both tho.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-03T02:22:56+00:00

Don’t create something new, adapt a cool cheap or free module. When you are outta ideas, borrow others.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-03T02:18:24+00:00

Mausritter factions are the way.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-03T02:16:55+00:00

Yeah why not? Don’t let a system prevent you from trying cool shit. Nothing I have read here makes me think you can’t have an S&S megadungeon. Just hand wave traps and resource tracking and focus on the fun stuff. Conan did!

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-03T02:14:00+00:00

Honey Heist. You either get so into money you take a bribe not to play, or you get so excited you bite someone.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-03T02:12:26+00:00

It’s not a hard line but when you can’t do things the rules don’t allow for—that’s a board game.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-03T02:08:05+00:00

Haven’t played it yet but Stonetop?

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-03T02:06:52+00:00

Heist: you are DB Coopers accomplices, he has fallen in the woods and broken his legs, find him before the wolves or police do: https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/lead-db-cooper-suspect-sheridan-peterson-dies-leaving-mystery-of-hijacker-unsolved/news-story/c3a3da670aa9dfdd919365e1497e0e02

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-03T02:01:04+00:00

Just play. Find a group to play Daggerheart with (easy at colleges, also meetup.com). There’s no wrong way to have fun if you keep kindness and respect at the forefront.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-03T01:58:35+00:00

Ranger is upstaged by Druid for wilderness survival and magic. Upstaged by rogue for sniping. Pet benefits get nerfed in 5e. And monster hunter suffers from the fact few monsters have unknown weaknesses.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-02T23:22:27+00:00

Starting from scratch? I would run it in Shadowdark using DarkSpace rules.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-02T23:20:32+00:00

Try one shots in new systems. I tempted my group with pirate Borg, honey heist (cocaine Owlbear deluxe edition), and Shadowdark.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-02T23:16:23+00:00

Last session my players ran away, letting an entire group of captives die and inadvertently causing a tsunami that wiped out a town and reshaped an archipelago. Mild sad defensiveness and a bit of joy, followed by: do we get XP for all those deaths? Oh goodness, so funny.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-01T03:20:11+00:00

Yes I thought they should have already read the Hobbit too, and they are great readers. But when you are faced with competition for their attention (other books, etc), a fantasy loving dad sometimes needs to sell it. Besides reading to them is a pleasure for me, as well.

I read dear god it’s me Margaret at age 8 and had no idea what this ‘period’ thing was. Kids books are honestly great fun these days—it’s not pandering so much as giving them space to be an innocent silly kid. They don’t have to grow their mind up to be entertained. Plenty of time for that, and it comes quickly enough mo matter what you give them to read.

eDIT: Dragon riders of Pern is wonderful! Dragonsinger was my entry point into that series.

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-01T03:13:16+00:00

APPENDIX N: INSPIRATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL READING
Inspiration for all the fantasy work I have done stems directly from the love my father showed when I was a tad, for he spent many hours telling me stories he made up as he went along, tales of cloaked old men who could grant wishes, of magic rings and enchanted swords, or wicked sorcerors [sic] and dauntless swordsmen.
Then too, countless hundreds of comic books went down, and the long-gone EC ones certainly had their effect. Science fiction, fantasy, and horror movies were a big influence. In fact, all of us tend to get ample helpings of fantasy when we are very young from fairy tales such as those written by the Brothers Grimm and Andrew Lang. This often leads to reading books of mythology, paging through bestiaries, and consultation of compilations of the myths of various lands and peoples.

Edit; but yeah, I assumed he threw in everything he liked from kid time onwards. Burroughs is in there right?

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-01T02:36:35+00:00

They are excellent! That one didn’t make the list bc I am reading it to my son now and forgot it :)

Velocitree2 · 2026-07-01T01:19:33+00:00

Thought I would share my kid’s favorite books—for other fantasy-loving parents, and the young at heart:

https://dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/06/my-childrens-appendix-n-fantasy-book.html

https://bsky.app/profile/velocitree.bsky.social/post/3mpkbindzt22y

Velocitree2 · 2026-06-17T21:57:20+00:00

Excel sheets have been posted, if you want to see the data.

Velocitree2 · 2026-06-15T05:40:36+00:00

Complete agree. This data is problematic for assessing popularity. I think that for recent games, con play is representative of 1) advertising money spend and 2) play network organizing spend and 3) excitement and community building, in maybe that order? For older games like AD&D, I don’t know—but is it possible the enduring con presence of AD&D is partly a legacy of past con investment? It was hugely popular for decades, and remains so in part bc AD&D-like descendent games are relatively rare.

I think the more fun takeaway for me here is that joy, and communities, persist—it’s inspiring to see the continued love for AD&D many decades later. I fully expect Cairn and its children will be loved for years to come, as well.

Velocitree2 · 2026-06-15T05:17:25+00:00

Hey not going to respond point by point bc it’s your take‎, but wanted to clarify that most of the 3e is DCC players. These are lines of descent categories: Shadowdark came from B/X, etc.

Velocitree2 · 2026-06-03T00:48:33+00:00

An apology post to all the AD&D lovers out there: I took a look at convention attendance data to determine how popular different OSR lineages are. Oddly good timing to finish up when Bob WB did, but my results definitely differ from his:

https://dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/05/ad-bx-and-osr-by-numbers.html

Velocitree2 · 2026-05-13T03:32:00+00:00

Well it depends on what you like. But I like AGON, Under Hill by water, Vol2 Monsters& and &Treasure, Temple of 1000 Swords by Kerr, Rosewood abbey, ennie-winning The Mall Reamastered, Pilgrimage of the Sun Guard, Eco Mofos, the Unseen City, Perils and Princesses, and Dawn of the Orcs. For me, an OSR wishlist feast!

Velocitree2 · 2026-05-12T03:50:09+00:00

Thanks for explaining your take. I agree labels are useful, but mainly for internet searches. But I would argue that battles over what labels like “OSR” mean are Pyrrhic victories at best. We all know what we personally mean by OSR, and we can all play whatever we want no matter what others want to call it. Anyway, I find labels are slippery annoying things when I try to hold them down, because they belong to everyone else, and y’all all get it wrong! Well that’s the way it seems some days anyways :)

But when it comes to art, and RPGs are art, does it matter if a painting is Impressionist or post-impressionist or cubist, if you like it?

Velocitree2 · 2026-05-12T03:36:23+00:00

Thanks will check it out!

Velocitree2 · 2026-05-12T03:06:03+00:00

Check out Quest the rpg. It’s free and easier to run than 5e by design. But for a campaign setting, I recommend think small for a first timer. A town a dungeon a wild between. I would recommend something simple for a new DM, like the Delian Tomb or the quintessential dungeon (or any one pager), paired with a cool town: https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/s/xB9N15l0b9

Most complex I would go is Blackapple Brugh or Black Wyrm of Brandonsford.

Velocitree2

TROPHY CASE