What is OSR? Retro RPGs keeping old-school D&D alive
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2024
- If you’re in the RPG space you’ve likely come across OSR. But you might be wondering what that even stands for, what OSR games are, or why people are playing them. Maddie is here with some history of the Old School Renaissance movement so you can understand what these games are trying to achieve, and maybe even convince you to check a couple out. From the early discussions in forums to a thriving industry, this video is the perfect introduction into the world of OSR. And if you’re already a big fan of Old School games, let us know in the comments all your favourites that newcomers and veterans alike should try!
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What was your first experience of OSR games?
Old Dragon, a Brazilian "retro-golem" (it combines rules from Basic D&D with ones from Advanced D&D).
1981, with the Moldvay boxed set. I'd never experienced anything like it, and I was hooked (still am!).
@@samdoorley6101 Same.
Basic Fantasy and OSRIC. I also found the PDFs for the AD&D 1e books and I've been messin around with those
The 1981 Moldvay set. It changed my life. It’s still my go-to version of D&D to this day.
OSR plays like the Hobbit reads. Bilbo didn't kill all of the spiders in Mirkwood, he taunted and provoked them away from the dwarves. They didn't kill the trolls, Gandalf tricked them into bickering with one another until morning. Sure these things can be done in modern games, but the system actively encourages the fighting approach, and it isn't just the XP system.
I have moved away from XP for kills or treasure a long time ago. I'm all in for milestone lvl-ups. I have a world, my players (or rather their PCs) have wishes or desires and we're here to connect those two via some interesting story that require some conflict to create tension. 🙂
@@mortisCZ Milestones don't really work with old school D&D or games based on it because part of the balance between classes involved different XP requirement to level up -- leveling up everyone together thus break this and is unfair to some classes. This has led me to dislike the idea of mile stones. There is an OSR alternative, though, introduced in the mid 80s, in which a pre-determined amount of XP is given for completing quest objective in situation where monetary rewards would not provide enough XP. (Something similar was the also the standard for original Torg in the 1990s where Possibilities were awarded for completing Acts and Adventures).
@@BlackJar72 It's kinda sad that Old-School DnD style progression conflicts with milestones, since milestones are great. Then again, giving set exp rewards solves that.
I guess such conflicts are exactly why modern systems lean towards more equal progression.
Tbh, i think that milestones is probably the best way to run a game, although perhaps a bit too based on dm fiat. Then again, it being so based on dm fiat means that one dm can run a movie-like campaign, in which characters improve by five or ten levels in a month or even a few weeks, while other can run a long-long campaign, in which each level takes a few in-game months to gain.
@@Alex-cq1zr modern rpgs seem to have done away with level drains too
Really?
I remember boring dungeon crawls filled with little but combat and searching for traps.
Just gm’d Mausritter for the first time on Friday and my 5e players loved it. It really felt like it rewarded creativity over good rolls.
Just got Mausritter this past weekend and am looking forward to trying it out!!
@@johnathanrhoades7751 it’s so good! It’s kind of the perfect RPG to pick up and play.
Mausritter looks so fucking good. When I have more disposable income I will definitely be picking it up.
My housemate kept hearing “OSR” from the other room and asked me, “I’ve never heard of an OSR, what period did it live?”
“Oh yeah, the owesaur lived in the Triassic period and other dinosaurs played with it. It died out but made a revival in the Cretaceous period.”
He just shook his head.
So happy to see Mazes & Minotaurs getting a mention!
I am so chuffed Maddie is bringing up the jewels of the RPG world: OSRs, FitD and PbtA games. Keep up the great work!
PbtA🤮🤮🤮
I've played a bunch of OSR systems but there are three I go back to:
1. Basic Fantasy RPG. One of the best B/X clones with a few important improvements. Also, it's completely free.
2. Swords and Wizardry Complete: Not my favorite system but so well supported. Monstrosities is THE monster manual for the OSR.
3. Castles and Crusades: A fusion of AD&D and 3E with an OSR sensibility. Very easy to learn and play, and it has good depth.
I prefer Old School REVOLUTION! Vive la revolution! 😁 There are so many retroclones now, that anyone wanting an old school game is not wanting for options. I don't mind 5th edition, but there are some cues it could take from OSR style games to enhance it.
Funnily enough, Wizards worked with a lot of the bigger people in the OSR-sphere at the time when they were designing 5e
Like not adding features that allow players to do things they would otherwise already be able to do. Getting a penalty to the roll in order to get a bonus to the damage? That shouldn't require a feat, I would let any of my players do that.
@@elizabethjones9581 one of the more notable guys is RPGPundit. I watch him quite a bit and even own a few of his products.
Cairn was my first experience with OSR. Great community, great game. Based off Knave and Into the Odd. The roll under system mixed with simple items and magic allow for a lot of creative uses. Minimalist presentation makes referencing a breeze!
Cairn for the win!
Awwww shucks
Thank you Maddie. This was like a breath of fresh air. Played since basic dnd up to 5e and the feeling was off. I really hoped that Dndone would chamge for the better but it seems it wont. Would love to play at your table!
OSR is such a fun style of play, and there’s a great variety of OSR-games. Not just lots of DnD retro-clones but games like the minimalistic and weird Into the Odd. There's also games like Troika! with rules that build on a completely different legacy, namely the Fighting Fantasy books.
I actually ran Mausritter not too long ago, it's been our little side game when we want an off week and it feels so-so refreshing after playing 5e for several years. I like how the OSR respect's the player and GM's time by not making mountains of text to read or giving the GM useful and straightforward tools to run the game, which after running Shadowrun as my first game, is very appreciated.
This video was exactly what I needed to start understanding OSR. Thanks a million.
I stopped playing AD&D 1E IN 1983, migrated to other games when I needed a break from historical miniature games (where D&D started), Started playing D&D again in 2018; ignoring the last 4 editions, and carried on with AD&D 1E. I was apprehensive about running what had almost turned into a 'kiddies' game, however characters were rolled up at the end of a historical game and the following week five foolhardy souls set forth at dusk.... (and nobody had a 10 foot pole!)
I started DnD in 1983, for me at 13 turning 14 a month later, it was just part of my scy- fy life.
Im not sure I'd say "kiddies game" but the 5e game sort of feels like playing a video game on "recruit" level and often feels like you also toggled "invincibility".
@@nemooh my reference to kiddies game was really in reference to my local games group, at the time. Those kiddies that stayed with the hobby are now playing historical games as much as me. Also the older games still have the element of "the unknown" about them, there are just so many thing that can go wrong....
I recently started a new D&D game and we went with 2e because I got tired of 5e. It's a great edition and it's fun to play, but it didn't quite scratch that itch a lighter rules set gives me. The lack of a central dice mechanic quickly became bothersome so I did my own OSR hack by removing the little subsystems of AD&D with the core mechanic from 5e and the game is a blast to play now
Great summary of the tone differences of an OSR game!
"I played Old-School essentials once and I liked it" to "I must know everything about OSR" 3-month pipeline
I started with B/X. I joined the OSR in 2006 before it was OSR. The idea was to get people playing older games, not just TSR games instead of talking about them. In 2009 I started an OSR blog that I cannot stop writing (my handle is its title) and in 45 minutes I will be running Iron Falcon for a group ranging in age from 18 to 53. The OSR is a DIY niche with no leaders, do your own thing.
Thank you, Maddie! Although I do give this a wry glance. I played these games when I was a kid and now they are called "Old School". Kinda like songs from the 80s are retro. I feel old somedays. :D
Started playing Moldvay Basic D&D in 1982. Played every edition since. Used Knave to write Gamma-K and now running White Box.
We used to play the hell out of AD&D 2nd and 3/3.5. Really miss those books. Sadly I don’t have them any longer
This was great. You really did a lot of research and your energy is very engaging :)
Thank you for this! (from someone who started playing in 1977 as an 11 year old, with the Holmes Basic boxed set)
I hope you continued your enjoyment and exploration of RPG'ing as it was played back then, and even consider trying out some of the games that inspired D&D, some of the older wargames and the like.
OSE is based off B/X D&D, not 2nd edition.
Wow, that was a video to share to a few places. I'm an old grognard so naturally I like the OSR stuff (Goodman Games stuff MCC/DCC). My daughter's cousin plays D&D, plus through friends and work I know a few folks in their 20s who play 5e too. I think that 5e is all that they have been exposed to.
So had to share this to my FB page and tag some friends, then hit up a few OSR pages.
You did a nice job explaining the differences. I know I couldn't have done as good of a job. Way cool video, and thank you. I may have to d/l this video and and use it in a session 0.
Forbidden lands is another great example of an OSR adjacent game that emulates the feel of old-style gaming without the fiddly d20 rules set.
I will always stan Forbidden lands.
Is that by the Beyond the Wall designers?
@@kylegraywolf No, you're probably thinking of Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures - Forbidden Lands is by Free League and runs on their Year Zero system
@@arturb.. 100%, you are right. Thanks!
I’m dying to play Forbidden Lands
Thanks for a fair, open and encouraging overview of my favorite period / style of D&D!
As someone who starting playing with 2nd edition AD&D I really miss the speed of combat when you only have your movement and 1 action.
I'm a big of Basic Fantasy RPG which uses modern simplified saving throw and attack rolls with the combat structure and loose feel of old school games. Best of both worlds
Love that system. Best deal in gaming!
You get XP for killing monsters too. It's just usually less than from treasure.
Yes, thank you!
Depends on exactly what version it's based on. OD&D, AD&D, or the many slightly different versions of B/X depending on the publisher.
The Algorithm offered up your video at “random.” The attractive face and beaming smile in the preview image made my decision to watch for me. Impressive! Your research was spot on and your presentation was as good as any professional UK TV presenter. Well done.
Mork Borg is aesthetically awesome, but holy crap is it LETHAL! I died in the first room of my first game to a single dog bite!
mork borg is not OSR
its a pseudo intellectual glotified artbook, filled with corporatized punk.
My players accidentally blew up the party before going inside the dungeon. Ahh Mork Borg😂
Hey everyone report those crypto/investment bots btw, fuck that shit, I don't want it clogging up the comment section.
Also, woohoo, dicebreaker is talking about the osr!
Great work, Maddie!
This content is relevant to my interests.
Great video, wonderfully written and presented, I just hope that the lighting choice is not soon repeated. Humans are drawn to eyes and when they are constantly obscured it makes drive some (Me, I mean me) crazy.
This channel is so underrated!
One thing that wasn't mentioned in the video that was essential to old-school RPGs was that Homebrew rules were nearly always used. Partly this was due to the point in the video that those AD&D did not cover many elements, so if a GM wanted to run an underwater adventure they would create their own ruleset, and then use those rules every time underwater stuff happened going forward. This led to more variations including new classes, spells, abilities etc.
Also it was early in the RPG genre and everyone and their dog was trying to publish alternate rule systems. D&D was the most popular but there were still tons of alternative systems and most DMs joined in creating their own rules starting by tweaking D&D.
If you really want the old-school experience, your DM should be throwing in their own rules (which may or may not be completely unbalanced lol)
I love your videos on the OSR, I'm happy to see it get all this attention!
I play D&D on a weekly basis and have for years now, but I genuinely thought this video was about old school RuneScape
An excellent brief on the OSR. It's great to see someone show the finer points of old school gaming with understanding and enthusiasm.
I like older versions because ever since 3.5, you're playing as borderline superheroes as opposed to adventurers.
Dicebreaker crew plays/reviews "Dungeon Crawl Classics" 😎🍿🤞
Jorphfan's Jocular Junction reviews Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland!!! 😎😎😎
My first was going through the Choose Your Own Adventure portion of the Mentzer Basic Rules as a wee lad.
When we played the “real” game, I had to brothers as friends who would always argue with each other, eventually attack each other and then eventually attack each other IRL xD We were probably a little too young at the time.
You outline everything I loved about decades of playing AD&D.
This video is so much more relevant today than it was 6 months ago.
Mazes and Minotaurs looks fun! All free, too. Very nice.
A great one I just found is called Mazes by 9th Level Games. The dice used are d4-d10 and each player only uses the one dice associated with their role, but it has a great OSR feel.
'Not referring to rules all the time' is well-supported by GURPS cos the riles are consistent and intuitive and make sense--make a ruling on the fly commonly will end up using the written rule. And it's lethal enough to push you to non-combat solutions all the time, and you can't level past a threat as you can in d20.
Turns out Ive been running my 5e campaign really similar to old school play lol. I am pretty fast and lose with the rules. I dont really believe in limiting play if what they want to do if it makes sense and I regularly throw out or tweak things if I feel the raw rules are unnecessarily restrictive. I honestly think its kinda boring that so many people online seem really married to raw play.
I don't play 5th ed, but I DM'd a 1 shot of it one time, and whenever I didn't know the rules for it, I subbed in the rules for 3.5 ed which I basically have memorized after ~20 years of DMing it.
The players who have played my BS version of 5th ed as well as normal 5th ed have said that they actually preferred how I did it.
Now, I just DM OSR / old school D&D and I still just make shit up as I go sometimes, but that's kind of part of the playstyle. I just hate slowing down play to spend 10 mins debating about how to grapple a troll.
the are free vesion of the osr games in pdf.
I would like to see you do a review of Dungeon Crawl Classics. 🧙♂️
I'm pretty sure that 3e gave xp for "overcoming challenges", which can include stealth, persuasion, or trickery.
D&D 3.5 was it's peak. The artdesign of the books alone makes this the most compelling edition, but its the complexity and depth that makes it shine compared to the streamlined and watered down mainstream-serviceable crap that the newer editions are.
3.5 was fantastic, I DM'd it for almost 20 years, but it's still a completely different play style than B/X, BECMI and 1st Ed (and 2nd Ed too, but the power creep began with the splatbooks for that system) which makes a comparison difficult.
I tried The Black Hack and The Mecha Hack, inspired by OSR. I like the approach of it, less bookeeping.
Yeah the hacks are always good!
Well, I started in the late '80s with some old, used D&D books, namely Modvey's Basic and the AD&D DMG and MM books. Making D&D work with a basic book was not easy.
As for the OSR movement? Well, in the early 2000s, I found some pics of the pages of the original D&D booklets and I fell in love with the quint school notebook styled artwork. I joined some OD&D forums to find out more and learned a lot about the history of D&D, and while there I discovered "Retro-clones" -- OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, et al. While there, I discovered someone was making a spiritual successor to Gamma World, called Mutant Future, so I volunteered to do some of the art for it. I find that the OSR community is the second best place to get great art commissions, with the Furrie community being #1.
The OSR community is a great place to find a lot of odd-beat and unusual supplements, with Mörk Borg being a prime example. As neat a ruleset as 5e is, the art does not appeal to me, and the adventure books get a little too thick with lore or their own novels. All and all, it feels a little too family friendly where I want pulp. Not to mention price. Goddamn the price tag!
'Into the Wyrd and Wild' is a phenomenal OSR setting book for those interested. Spooky nordic horror forest.
If you want to go OSR PLUS the good, streamlined parts of 5e (increasing AC instead of the tHAC0, advantage/disadvantage instead of much of the math etc), Five Torches Deep or Shadowdark are the bomb.
Index Card RPG Master Edition is kind of an OSR but is also probably one of the best DMs guide and random generators around.
Frankly, there isn't much fun in balanced encounters where level 1 characters are basically old D&D level 3-5 characters. Risk of death or at least catastrophic encounters are very real in OSR/Grimdark.
Love a lot of the stuff coming out of the OSR scene, though adventures and supplements are more likely to be rather R rated in ways that not every group will appreciate, so discretion is advised.
Been lurking and reading rules and adventures in this scene for a year or so now and am looking to finally try OSE and Mausritter with my group in the very near future! (We just finished up a 5e game and are looking to experiment with new systems.)
For me, osr always stood for OH SHlT, RUN!
There's a movie called "Gamers II: Dorkness Rising" where one of the characters is named Sir Osric. Now, with the viewing of THIS video, I can finally get the joke, lol.
I got a 5e conversion of temple of elemental… but in another-shop the owner said some customers were not doing the old 5e conversions and just wanted new stuff - but i like the old also.
Have you played more OSR games since this video? I'd love to hear any thoughts you have on them and which games or adventures or supplements you think are particularly good.
8:32 Dungeon World is not OSR. Its simplified system of a limited menu of Moves is not at all like the heavily number-based, multiple-choice OSR RPGs of the 70s and 80s.
It did come out of the OSR community thought. A spinoff of sorts, maybe.
OSR is king in gaming.
I always wondered what OSR really meant for those systems and this is a good explanation of them. I can respect a bunch of the philosophy of it and even kind of agree in some of it. That said, this stuff does not sound like my cup of tea, especially the whole you're as clever in game as you are out of game thing.
To your point about cleverness, from my experience, it’s more of not relying on a list of skills listed on a character. It theoretically gives the freedom today anything without the constraints of what you have written down. Said another way, it can force players to think more openly instead of looking at their sheet for their only options.
Your mileage may very though.
It’s pretty easy to check out though, as you can pick up several systems for little, or free, and do a one shot to see if it works for your group.
I think they could have pointed out the large amount of quality content available due to the community embracing the open license and DIY aesthetic. I’ve got more small scenarios and full modules than I can hope to ever run that didn’t cost much at all (individually).
Actually this is video is a terrible explanation of OSR and the philosophy behind it. Search around there are better videos.
It's more like... in most OSR games, rolling is something you're afraid of. Your first choice should usually be to find a way of avoiding it. Make things certain because uncertainty is bad.
Thumbnail is kind of misleading; OSE basic replicates B/X, not 1E. So really it should either show the advanced tome for OSE on the right OR the B/X rules on the left. No bigs.
I'd like to add another non-OGL, OSR-flavoured game for consideration, if I may.
Gold & Glory: 7 Deadly Dungeons is a supplement for the Savage Worlds RPG (my current favourite system), and is nothing short of a love song for the OSR written for Savage Worlds.
Maybe that is a reddit kindo of question, but here it goes: Does any of you have played a long term campaign using OSE rules or any other retroclone? You guys rather play a sandbox style game or with character arcs and all that good stuff from 5e games? Since everything is super lethal, seems a little harder to have character driven campaigns. If any of you have done it, what did you learn that could be helpful, what would you advise a fellow dm coming from a 5e style game?
My first OSR experience was also my first D&D experience, with the basic red book.
I'm not gonna lie though, there's alot of OSR stuff that kinda sticks in my craw. I think what I'd prefer is to somehow "OSR-ify" 5e becuase I do like the foundations of 5e even if I dont like the walls and roof.
What a great video I would love you to take a look at Bloat Games OSE Dark Places & Demogorgons setting it is Stranger Things Meets Stephen King .The game is made in two versions one uses the Survive This system mechanic the other uses OSE. Again nicely done video enjoyed it. Hope to see more on the OSR from your channel great job.
Experience points ARE given for monsters slain or overcome. It's just that a party's experience reward is greater from treasure. One more note: Balance IS KEY when it comes to running AD&D. The difference is that it is up to the DM to understand this. Experience/treasure is a mark of this. The DM should not give too much treasure or magic relative to the challenge. In AD&D one won't find "challenge ratings" that are codified in rules which implies that an encounter is wrong, or unfair, if the monster(s) is too dangerous. Maddie is correct when she says that knowing when to avoid an encounter is a part of adventuring. The exploration and hauling loot IS the goal. Monsters and traps get in the way. Also, for newbies and comers; note the art in various new games. It reflects the difference of playing (building) Super-heroes out of the gate, to becoming heroic by pressing forward and allocating resources as the adventure continues. Old editions also requiring reading. Yes, reading a lot of text. The rewards, here, too, are commensurate with your efforts. "High Gygaxian" as it is called, takes work. AD&D is NOT COMPLICATED. It is "elegant." The system works, because balance is its goal, and the golden rule was that it is the DMs game and the DM adjudicates what is best for the game. The dice are NOT the final arbiter. The DM is. One knows this by reading the text. And then by reading more. And then by reading again. Maddie makes another true statement: a player doesn't make one d20 attribute check and know all about the PCs environment. Skills, feats, and challenge ratings are complicated and LIMITING. With everyone casting and healing, and NO limits on race/class, one has NO REAL CHOICE. Don't fool yourselves. Choice requires limitation. One makes a choice because the thing has more value or utility over another thing. There is no balance possible without differences. One can enjoy D&D or this new fantasy game by WOTC called "5e." The design conception, its presentation, and its mechanics are different. Some want to pursue what D&D offers, and others have found and enjoy what "5e" offers. Just look at the art. A picture is worth a thousand words. Good job Maddie.
When someone thinks Gary Gygax was a good writer and emulates is style...
(I think AD&D is a very smart game too, but goddamn does Gary ramble)
why are people playing old editions when 5th edition is available? because you have it backwards; why would i play 5th edition when i have real editions already?
The following is an opinion stated as fact. I acknowledge everyone should play as they wish.
3rd edition sucked for roleplaying because they basically tried to make every class just as powerful as the last. I loved AD&D because no class could really ever get as powerful as a high level wizard and that's how it SHOULD be. Rogues never really got powerful in combat at all. THAT'S HOW IT WOULD BE IN A FANTASY WORLD. There's no way that even the best rogue or warrior could beat a master wizard or high priest in head-on combat. Magic in 3rd and beyond has lost all of its "aw" power. Powerful magic users are supposed to be leaps and bounds more powerful than an unmagical person; no matter the level of the warrior.
She is 100% correct. D&D has turned into "Super Heroes in a Fantasy Setting" ™. That removes so many avenues for rugged and, what I would call, very HUMAN story telling. I mean, D&D already DID have player characters more powerful than they actually could ever be. No man, no matter his skill, could ever beat a 20 foot tall Giant. It's just not possible. That was already exaggeration enough, but new D&D is downright ridiculous.
Great video! Love the historical context. The one thing I have noticed about the over-indulgence of OSR games today is the overwhelming sameness lately. Everything is "bleak, dark, despair". Every new game is "metal, death, die". So many games are just copying Mork Borg and Forbidden Lands it seems. Also, every game just seems to be random tables now. Yeah, we had random tables back in AD&D land. Random tables have been in EVERY game iteration (and not just D&D). But OSR games just seem to make a big deal out of "OH! Look! We have SO MANY RANDOM TABLES! Just like OSR!!"
Also, this notion that OSR is all about avoiding killing is just not true. My players have always been murder hobos. You'll always have murder hobos in every game.
Also, most players are also power seekers. They are constantly thinking of the "next level" or "next power/ability" to make them stronger (for those that don't have "levels.") That was very true of AD&D and every game. DO newer iterations of D&D have more powerful lower level characters? Absolutely. It's why many hate 4e (myself included). But that doesn't mean players didn't WANT to be powerful fighters/wizards/clerics/thieves in AD&D. That power was just different rule sets.
So, I find a lot of these OSR claims of how ALL old school games were played a little...stretching of the truth? :)
IMOHO of course. ;)
"perfectly good 5th edition"
Debatable.
I began playing D&D around 1982. It became my life and then I faded from it in the late 80s playing other RPGS. The bloat was happening around that time and I lost interest. 5e came out when my kids were just becoming teenagers and it was a revelation for me. I believe this is the game it was always meant to be. The clunkiness is gone and it has a simplicity that allows for imaginative play. In the 80s there was a drive for realism which created some real number-crunchy games. It didn't work for the most part. Her description of the elements of OSR play is just good roleplaying in any system.
Very well done.
Where can i get the magazines?
Have you tried Lavender Hack, EZD6, or Mork Borg? The OSR is just asking the questions of the Perrin Convention all over again. Speaking of I still enjoy running and playing a game of Little Brown Books with Alexandria aka Justin's House Rules.
Lavender Hack is such a Gem
Wow. Didn't expect to see two people bring up Lavender Hack. I'm not sure it's my desired flavor of OSR, but the fact that it was so obviously that of its creator makes me want to try it.
Into the Odd and Electric Bastionland!
Lamentations of the Flame Princess is a great tweaked B/X Game with simple, logical rules. The adventures run the gamut, but focus on weird fantasy and horror.
5e isn't D&D. I always ask one question to anyone who are into multiple editions.
How many editions of chess we have? ;)
I dont get why there are so many OSR rulesystems. Creat ONE GOOD version and the release adventures and szenario sets without splitting the fanbase up so much.
I was playing AD&D back in 1978 - hated the THACO rolls, so I'm glad 3.0 and on changed that, but there's still too much crunch involved in a lot of games (HARN, GURP, and the like), and not enough focus on "role-playing." I much prefer rules-lite games that have a lot of flavor (Mork Borg!!).
HARN?! Harniac hears Harn, ears perk up. Agree THAC0 was silly. Lots of Old School games like GURPS, HarnMaster, RuneQuest, RoleMaster, etc all burdened the players and the GM with lots of rules and charts to cover nearly every situation, these 'simulationist' games are also rejected by OSR players who want to return to B/X D&D with simpler rules and simpler play. Best new game is EZD6, not OSR, but has a great free form feel.
To me O.S.R stands for oh s#%t run!
Because if you don't know when to your character will die.
That's pretty accurate.
OSR is basically actual D&D as its meant to be played. The rest of you are all doing it wrong. Fite me. :P
Because 5th edition is far from "perfectly good" and is getting worse with each new book released...
Be advised, even the writer of the Old School Primer, Matt Finch, sees it as out-of-date and a poor introduction to the OSR now. Much better is Principia Apocrypa by Ben Milton, Steven Lumpkin, and Dave Perry.
I definitely found the Old School Primer really helpful when starting out but Principia Apocrypha is a great suggestion so thank you for sharing! - Maddie
As a long time D&D player, to me, 3.5 is the best version, and I have the 1977 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons book, the Basic, Expert and Companion sets from 1983, AD&D 2nd Ed from 1995 and the 3.0 and 3.5 books.
I've ran campaigns in all those rules sets and played in a 4th edition campaign and 3.5 is definitely my favorite.
"Why do people play older versions of D&D when there is a perfectly good 5th edition available?" Because AD&D 3rd edition does well over 90% better than 5E.
There are OSR games which are not even set in a fantasy setting. *STARS WITHOUT NUMBER* (Sine Nomine Publishing) is an excellent science-fiction adaptation of OSR d20 rules. *WHITE LIES* (DWD Studios) is an outgrowth of the White Box fantasy OSR which draws inspiration from the earliest "white box" edition of D&D in 1974, but White Lies is actually about espionage, giving you a choice of 5 possible classes of spy and special ops characters who can progress to Level 10.
To be an OSR, it has to have a d20 system drawn from one of the earliest editions of D&D, it has to have a situation where the GM is in full control and can adjudicate rules on the spot as they see fit, and it has to have a feel where the characters are not all-powerful and will not necessarily survive because they are the stars of the movie. The world has forces which are orders of magnitude more powerful than the PCs: a fearsome dragon, a lava pit, and the rules have numerical information about dealing out damage which truly reflects this and encourages the PCs to avoid such dangers. This is gaming without a safety net or Investigate rolls, so you must actually think and watch out.
The OSR will satisfy people who see disadvantages in the modern D&D edition. For example, what the hell are Advantage and Disadvantage rolls good for? Rather than weighing the benefits of each tactical advantage or disadvantage and giving it a number modifier, the current edition mulls through it, has the DM declare an Advantage, and the players don't even have to do arithmetic any more, they just roll 2 d20's and pick the highest one. What the hell is that for? Don't lose the feel of the old military wargames. Figure out actual effects of each factor: range, weapon speed, equipment quality, cover, movement, and add some dice modifiers one by one rather than simplifying things.
Tbh I like advantage/disadvantage. Basically +5/-5 respectively. I use it in my hacks whenever I gm. That's about the only thing I use from 5e in my stuff.
Idgaf about testing my players' ability to master the system. It's more fun for me when they're thinking outside the box.
Knew there were going to be a plethora of, "Uh actually..." comments here 🤦♂ Guess what? No one cares.
She did a fine job covering the OSR, enough to at least possibly spark some interest from newer players. All the, "Uh actually" comments do is make those players think we're a bunch of gatekeeping grognards, and unfortunately that's a pretty popular view of the OSR right now. It tends to get a bad rep for numerous reasons, this being just one of them.
We can educate without being assholes. None of us are Gygax or Arneson and know a lot less than we think we do.
The more the merrier. If you're new to D&D or coming back after a long hiatus, welcome!
We were always allowed to do that.
Sad that you presume many concepts about a generation of players you weren't a part of...
Mörk Borg is pronounced murk borry. I'm not sure why nobody knows this, but there it is.
advanced Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks
No mention of LOTFP ? Arguably the game that put the Renaissance in OSR.
The absolute best! 💜
@@VhaidraSaga yes it is.
@@scottruddy9188 the rule tweaks are perfect and there are so many different kinds of adventures!
@@VhaidraSaga encumbrance is one of the best tweaks. The adventures are outstanding. They port beautifully into a sandbox campaign. I’ve been running mine for over two years now with great success. Started with Better Than Any Man and have been able to port several others in as well. Monolith From Beyond Space & Time, DFD, God That Crawls as well as several others.
@@scottruddy9188very nice! I love the tweaks to the elf and specialist too. Just a great system with so many adventures that can easily be put into a campaign. So far I've run the following as a campaign:
Tower of the Stargazer
People of Pembroktonshire & the Three Brides
Better Than Any Man
Hammers of the Gods
Weird New World
The Lapis Observatory
Vornheim
Maze of the Blue Medusa.
After Maze, the plan is for them to go to the following adventure locations:
A Red & Pleasant Land
Frostbitten & Mutilated
Deep Carbon Observatory
Veins of the Earth
Moldvay basic, from the 70s... B60 (basic page 60), everything is balanced.
"The DM should try to maintain the "balance of play". The treasures should be balanced by the dangers. Some groups prefer adventures where advancement between levels is swift. In such a case, since the treasures are generally greater, the monsters should be "tougher". Other groups prefer adventures where character development is more important, and advancement is slower. If the monsters are too tough, and if the parties are reduced by many deaths, then few characters will ever reach higher levels. "
OSE is not a clone of ad&d. It’s a clone of the 1981 red box set
I don't think this video explained well. I don't have a reference of what "old school TRPG" is.
OSR > 5E