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charisma was a dump stat in old D&D? followers and retainers man!!! need to make sure the loyalty stays up!

As a somewhat new player, this is extremely helpful!

Used to only run b/x. I'm switching over to od&d, to my surprise od&d was more fun for me. Yes, less is more🎉

This initiative method looks interesting, I might steal it for my next game. It will not be on line, but it could speed up decision making nonetheless.

Very cool! Brutally bad day for the magic user (oxen?).

I've been experimenting with White Box: FMAG myself and it's by far my favorite "edition" of D&D for how simple it is and also how easy it is to add/subtract/replace rules as needed. I'm trying to build a campaign using White Box that does rely a bit on the player characters being able to survive to the end, so I've ended up back-porting some super-simplified 5e stuff to White Box in order to facilitate that. I'm still trying to work out hit dice/hit points for combat; I may end up just house-ruling that any time someone reaches 0 hit points they don't die, but they're out of the fight until it's over unless someone heals them or the whole party wipes, in which case that is still a TPK and the campaign ends. I also homebrewed some super-simplified Rest rules as well that, in one test I did, didn't really take away from how dangerous the game could get despite how forgiving I made Resting.

I switched to this same kind of phased approach a few years ago and I really like the effect it has on the game.

Something to note as well is the Alternate Combat Sequence #2. This comes from the Holmes Edition of the game. Movement happens last so bows become even more powerful. There is no moving first and then attacking. On top of this there is no initiative roll. Everything happens according to DEX. You can quickly roll 3d6 for the monsters to determine their DEX. However since spells happen first then they're less likely to be interrupted unless you require a full round to prepare the spell first. It just says 'readied' spell are cast. Is the spell considered readied right at round 1 or does it take a round to ready the spell first? I like the latter personally.

If anyone hasn't seen, this is being expanded into Ashes Without Number as we speak. Moves everything in line with revised SWN, adds new mechanics and systems and allows different apocalypse types.

Good video John. My thing too is OD&D has a lot of quirkiness and nuance that I really enjoy using. I want to experience the rules as written as much as possible. Otherwise everything just seems to dissolve back into BX or something similar. Of course I realize everyone has their own biases on what rules they like and don't like. But your comment about spellcasters getting interrupted is spot on. This should happen frequently in my opinion. OSR spellcasters are very powerful especially at higher levels. So more opportunities to interrupt is a good thing since spells alone can alter the outcome of a fight.

Video on S&W combat Initiative ruclips.net/video/wWXwZFnKrs4/видео.html Another method i have used ruclips.net/video/G7WghVmbXvo/видео.html (more for live play)

Lots of great suggestions for how to run the game, thanks!

Great video!

had no idea you guys did this. great watch!

Great video - love the Swords and Wizardry rulebooks - I think the key with is that they are at the end of the day OPTIONAL it's the simple with extras if players at your table are interested. Probably didn't need these extra in prints options but they aren't ultimately necessary but I'm personally looking for a toolkit book to pick and choose from books/PDFs that can be shared at the table.

Less is more. I love Whitebox because I can do anything with it. I started playing back in the early 80's when house rules were a given. We house ruled everything to fit our needs depending on what type campaign we wanted to run. There are no extra rules to get in the way it's a nice tight little system that again I can house rule to fit my needs. Oh and it's pretty darned good for doing some solo gaming too! Love me some Whitebox.

thanks for video.. I played Top Secret game by TSR in the late 80s. I still have a good copy. This is a very simplistic game for beginners..

I have all of them. I have the OSE Rules Tome - All the rules in one book with the best layout of the bunch. Swords & Wizardry is very good but I like OSE better. I have ADD pretty bad so again that clean layout of OSE. B/X - Nope layout and type is so chaotic I don't even bother. (As a side note people around here are agog over mork borg, but for me the chaos between the covers is impossible to read.) White Box - Whitebox is sitting on my desk right now like it always does. Not quite as neat and tidy as OSE but far from horrible. There is something very comfortable about whitebox that I can't explain. I really love the idea of OSE but the fact is i gravitate toward whitebox every time. The print book is still under 5 bucks with free prime shipping , making it kinda obvious that the WhiteBox Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game is the cream of the crop. Just my less than humble opinion.

Why 2d6? Why not?... Why skill checks? Why not? Dice ONLY produce numerical randoms and the more dice, the more times you can roll duplicate results. a D20 offers 20 results. 2d6 only offers 11 results because you can't roll a 1. 3d6 removes 2 results. A d12 retains all 12 results. But single dice don't have bell curves. It's about the bell curves. As for skills, well every skill is matched with an attribute. You CAN just roll the attribute, but it doesn't allow for varied skill levels. Some want to allow for skill levels.

Would be interesting how (A)D&D characters from historical and modern editions, including Pathfinder would have fared, eg witch Weapon Mastery from BECMI Master and Weapon Specialization in 2e...

I feel this is the most logical way to run skill/ability checks, and the way I always homerule it. It makes your actual Ability Scores matter and become an actual mechanic.

My first love was B/X. I found the Moldvay set in a hobby store in 1981 and just the name "Dungeons & Dragons" had me---no idea what it was, but I spent 2 weeks worth of paper route money on it. I've been running it and AD&D since then. Not long ago, I stumbled across White Box on Amazon--for $5 I figured what-the-hell. I love it. It's really what OD&D should have been in 1974. Not the convoluted mess it was. White Box is essentially the same game made straight forward, easy to understand for newbs, and all contained in one book that fits in your glove box.

Another great session, keep up the good work! ⚔️

I accidently posted this twice... oops

Pulp cthulhu made me an obsessive time tracker since MP recovers at a rate of 1 point an hour, and my character was a telekinetic, so each point of MP was 1 attack some other tasks would take 1 or 2 points, so I was considering things like hey GM, we went from here to here which would be 45 min by taxi, then that convo was 10 min, and 6 more minutes to go to our room so I'm back from 9 to 10MP, or we spent 3 hours staking out the place, great, I'm back upt to 17 full again. The GM just trusted how that I as a player was tracking date and time for the game, to the point that since it was also in character it allowed us to crack 1 of the story mysteries. If your story takes place on a rotating planet orbiting a star it's easier to conceptualize and represent the passage of time, for unobstructed travel distance it's just that distance converted to your walk unit like meters and that's the seconds which becomes minutes or hours. combat time takes few seconds, looting will add on 1D20 minutes minus survival or investigate modifier or something. but it all depends on the setting. if you live in the dungeon day/night doesn't matter, you rest when injured, and it's 1hp/action for the ring be that unlocking a door, walking a hallway or looting a body if you have the regen ring. but if this is in a village, the black smith might only be open from noon til 5:30pm, or you might have an agreed meeting at midnight and suddenly time can be fun to track.

Tracking is contextual, what asthetic does a place have? if you're in a forest there's enough wood for normal arrows and you can nature check to make the weakest healing items each time you camp. if it's a dungeon that'd only take like a day to clear I just assume your torches are good but there's no wood to replenish arrows so you need to recycle from pulling off the dead, or in some cases even if you would realistically run out of a thing if it clashes the vibes I'd not track rations for some quests, but in other cases even if it's just a few days when you're in the desert every water bottle, each injury to your camel or how long you're spending in metal armor. 1 thing I do that's maybe cruel but it's fun is for 1 party they went under water and instead of potions they had air tanks, and these tanks had their own health and whenever someone was critically hit or in an AOE blast they could choose to take increased damage, or risk some ofthat being taken by the tank, and if it broke they'd have no air and start drowning.

Did anyone ever find out anything? I mean it seems to have been almost finished a year ago and .....Did it end up getting scrapped? Is it still coming out? Do we know anything more?

Having too much options can hinder player creativity. Yes... It's also overwhelming to understand all the subtle differences. But, I aslo like when a book as an advanced version, more options for a GM or a group that is ready for more. I can see why James wants to regroup all his work. If it was me, I would have a 3 small book. 1st a core rule book for players, 2nd a dm book and 3rd an advanced book with class options and more options. I have not bought White Star but I read the pdf. I was interested to get it and run Star Wars adventure (west-end game). I was checking the 1st version compared to the 2nd of WStar. I prefered the 1st: It was simple, clean and with Companion book seems to be good start. I didn't buy - not knowing if I will find a group to play. Even in solo, I'm not sure... We can always ignore all the extra classes and extra options... but there is something nice with a solid core rule book that let player and DM do small mofication. And it teaches them something: bend the rules, create something!

I fully agree. The beauty of White Box games is in the simplicity. The more specificity you add into the game in terms of multiple classes/skills, you start to have to tightly regiment what's possible for different characters to protect what each class is best at. In fact, I've scaled my OD&D White Box game down to one race (human) and two classes (fighters and magic-users). I've added a very light backgrounds system on top to give some thematic variance across the classes. Mechanically it works like a combination of WB:FMAG's thief skill progression mixed with the character type options from James Spahn's Untold Adventures/Unsung Heroes. Anyone can pick a lock with thieves' tools on a 1-in-6. High Dex? I'll give you a 2-in-6 chance. Someone with a thief background though gets a 2-in-6 out of the gate and will progress to a 3-in-6 chance the next time their combat and saving throws get better.

I am really looking forward to WB Cyclopedia. When it comes to the more classes, I am not sure what to think. I love the simplicity of cleric - fighter - magic user, but I can understand the desire of players for more variants. Omnibus has interesting options (and I prefer the Omnibus thief to the FMAG one). There are even some of the classes in OSE Advanced Fantasy I like. The main problem with additional classes would be compatibility.

heritages instead of races - that's enough right there to tell me that I won't be buying this

No it will not hinder creativity. It allows people to play a halfling thief, elven cleric, or dwarf bard.

The Thief should've been part of the OD&D from the beginning. Having a fast, lightly armored sneaky guy is its own niche. Of course all classes can try anything. But there should be someone who is better at it. Everyone can fighter but there should be a class that is better at it. And Fighters stealthing around in metal armor with huge weapons doesn't make any sense. I've heard of some DMs back then and today that require the Fighter be only wearing leather armor when attempting subterfuge. Well damn you're already half way to having a full blown Thief anyways.

Very interesting. I run S&W Complete, but would love to see this product arrive for comparison. But 273 pages? For White box? Hard to wrap my head around that.

The original 7 classes is the best: Fighter, Cleric, Magic-User, Thief, Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling. Your welcome.

Time is just as important a resource as any of the others you mentioned. You could try this: have a time tracking chart, and hand it to a player. Have him record time.

0th!

I use OSE time tracker and it works like a charm.

I only count time for spell effects. But I haven't run the kind of giant dungeons where the PCs could realistically run out of torches. It does seem cool and atmospheric. But I haven't actually done it.

Dungeon adventurers could use up a ton of clothing. Imagine climbing around in rough stone caves covered with dirt, mud, different kinds of slime, etc. Getting hit with a bade probably cuts your clothing. And/or you bleed on it. There's a splash when you disembowel an orc. And then maybe you take a bit of fire damage. Logically, PCs might have to repair or replace most of their clothing after every adventure.

I loved the old Infravision system that let you see ambient or radiating heat, but otherwise you're all equally blind in the dark. Ultravision was the only way to truly see in the dark. This, for me, makes it a whole lot more fun to play. Mystery is an amazing element in play, and you're really missing out if you drop it, and if you drop tracking/timing available light sources. Great video again, Smug!! 👊🤓

The Hazard System by Necropraxis seems a neat way to keep track with just a die roll

Noooooooooooooo!!!

Their benefit is they can multi-class with the Cleric class. So they can be a: Fighter/Cleric (particularly good) Magic-User/Cleric (particularly good) Cleric/Thief Fighter/Magic-User/Cleric (good but extremely slow leveling) Fighter/Cleric/Thief Magic-User/Cleric/Thief So demi-humans all have the ability to multiclass well except the halfling. But in 2e you really see the evolution of this advantage where even halflings can become Fighter/Thieves.

I want to play like this!

I approve of this video.

That Is NOT how magic or That spell works ! High fantasy magic, Cure wounds heals injuries like Marvel movie Wolverine. Create Food & water, pitch fills with clean pure water and a ready pot has gruel/ oatmeal made with water. Porridge is oatmeal cooked in milk. Low fantasy grit, .. Cure Wounds just gives PC extra bedrest recover Hp or an adrenaline rush to make it through combat or the rest of the day. Create Food & Water, party finds pack mule with water skins, the PC can eat the mule if they can get a fire going. It rains, the PCs can eat earth worms and drink from water mud puddles. Sleep, .. omg so many ways to use this spell for, " well that is close enough I guest." Guard on duty looks around then takes a deep drink, lend against the walk and starts snoring. To, " What on earth were you Think ? ! " Gnoll mauls murders peasant, wizard Barely cast spell with int modifier adjustment bonus. Gnoll eats the dead peasant leg thigh and snuggle on top of the corpus to nap with deep snoring. Jail guard who lock himself in with the other festival drunk tank cause some newbie set the gnoll lose says, " Well close enough I guest ?!" Needless to say from AD&D to WotC 3e wizards have been using Spellcraft for years and how it is used at the table is up on DM and players. Now for Chaos magic and random results rolled. Base skill check DC 15+ spell level. House rule if rolled higher than what was needed then the spell DC to resist and damage effects or increase. If failure to critical failure from 5 to 1 on a d20, well very bad things happen on a magic backlash. b.) Player party comes across a guard unit of five gnolls and seven orcs. New player to the shop mage player says, " I am going to cast Sleep get ready with your bows." Player rolls a crit 20 plus skill ranks, and when players roll a crit in either directs. The player flips a coin, heads roll 6d4. on tails 4d6. Exploding die mechanic is used. Normal regular players says, " ..if he rolls 1s .. we need to roll init to run for it fast." Other passing through player, " .. why .. ?" Needless to say, the gnolls went into full berserk shark/ lion feeding frenzy. Result was multiple exploding 6s. Only two gnolls remain with the others dead and feed on. Now the beasts with a full belly of raw meat sleeps. Two of the strongest remaining gnolls ate/killed the third injure weaker gnoll. .. ( ... visiting players to the shop ..) THAT IS NOT HOW SLEEP SPELL WORKS ! What the hell would have happen if the mage cirt failed his roll ? Well the adventuring party didn't have a good chance of getting out of this. i.) Larp, you are IN Character when you enter the shop, you are in character having a smoke out front on the sidewalk next to the bar waiting on your fries. You are in character at the table. In character means any time or any way you act or say is How your Character in game reacts. That being said roll Ravenloft horror/gore wisdom save or Call of Cthulhu madness effect. Now hand out to the shock laughing players the stats of the gnolls and orcs dying in the feeding frenzy brough on by the Sleep spell. Two of the players that draw the cards to n/PC the orc victims, crit failed their Will saves vs fear/terror drop their equipment and hug each other screaming like small children. The rest of the shop was laughing like a pack of hyenas/gnolls. The ranger/druid walk by the sleeping gnoll scratch one behind the ear rolled Diplomacy saying, " .. good boy." The regular shop group wizard, used special circumstance that the gnolls were well feed and battle joyed victory feast sleep. Casted Charm and Bestow Cures to recruit them as allies when they wake up. Also a few healing spells were cast on the sleeping two, .. for reasons.

Love these adventures John. Keep em’ going.

8:05 - A monster's saving throw is the same as a Fighter.

Iron Falcon kicks ass.