Sell Me on OSE

[Monayuris]

Question: I want to use my AD&D 2E Monstrous Manual for monster stats. What pitfalls should I look out for?

Should be doable. I’ve used AD&D monsters almost as written.

Use OSE for attack/to hit based on hit die.
Use OSE saves by class level (if it says Saves as F8 use saves for an OSE 8th level fighter)
Use d8 for all monster hit dice.
You might want to step down damage by a die size.l… I think PCs in 2e use AD&D class hit dice (d10 for fighter, d8 for cleric, d6 for thief, etc…)

Off the top of my head I don’t see any other things to worry about.

 

[Voadam]

Question: I want to use my AD&D 2E Monstrous Manual for monster stats. What pitfalls should I look out for?

1e MM is close to basic for monster stats.

2e bumped up the power (mostly HD) of dragons and giants so if you are running OSE modules then this might be an unintended power up in opposition.

 

[Nikosandros]

Another couple of considerations for monsters are morale (2e uses a different scale from B/X) and saving throws. In AD&D a monster normally saves as a fighter with a level equal to HD, while in Basic saves are alway explicit and are often at a lower level.

 

[Monayuris]

1e MM is close to basic for monster stats.

2e bumped up the power (mostly HD) of dragons and giants so if you are running OSE modules then this might be an unintended power up in opposition.

That’s good to know. Honestly, 2E is the edition I’m least familiar with.

But the saving grace is if you know the monster’s hit dice you can adjust the power level down.

Yeah maybe a quick comparison of AC and abilities with some existing similar OSE monsters may be a good idea.

 

[Reynard]

Here is the first draft of my intitial design doc for the campaign I want to run.
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The Point
The purpose of this campaign is to play an old school exploration based campaign with a defined end point (slay the dragon, obvs). PCs will begin the adventure/campaign without the personal power or resources to take on the dragon and will have to spend their time acquiring that power and those resources. How they go about doing so is entirely up to them. There is no quest line. The only thing certain is that the dragon sleeps in its lair from the time the PCs arrive at the Autumn Equinox until the following Summer Solstice (9 months), when it wakes and gorges itself on flock and shepherd alike.

The Land
The Barony of Falscorth is located in the hinterlands of the Kingdom of Hurdon. It is composed primarily of a river valley in the semi-arid highlands. The relatively flat land near the wide, shallow river is farmed and the rugged hillsides that border the valley are grazed. There are copses of dense, gnarled trees but no true forests The capital (called Falscorth) is located alongside a “lake” near the mouth (lower) end of the valley. Lake Falscorth is really little more than a slight widening and deepening of the river. Villages follow the river for a few leagues before the land becomes too rugged and there are a few herding settlements on the hillsides.
The most notable feature of the Barony is that is is littered with the barrows, cairns and tombs of a long dead and forgotten people. Certainly buried for millenia, these tombs housed kings, warriors, priests and sorcerers. Many are filled with grave goods. All are dangerous, haunted by fell spirits, strange monsters, or both. By decree, any such burial place that is found is property of the Lady Falscorth (along with its contents, of course). Most tombs re found by accident and not well explored when turned over to the Baroness, but a growing cottage industry of spelunkers and tomb robbers has begun to take root in Falscorth -- some of whom even report their findings to the Lady and her guards.

The Dragon
The dragon Baskrorix arrived in Falscorth five years ago. The monstrous red wyrm descended from the peaks north of the valley and tore into a hillside, revealing a cavernous tomb. It did not merely loot the treasures within and flee, however, as the then still living Lord Falscorth assured his subjects that it would. Instead it made the cairn its lair and from there it sortied into the valley. It devoured both flock and shepherd and incinerated farm and farmer alike. It attacked again and again for a full month before seeming to lay itself to rest. Lord Falscorth -- carrying the blessings of teh Nine, charms from his sorcerous vizier, and bearing ancient weapons looted from area tombs -- led his small but loyal army to destroy the beast. Baskrorix allowed a squire and a shield maiden to survive so as to tell the rest of the dragon’s “subjects” its name, then went to sleep.
It awoke on the following summer solstice and began its assault anew, as it has every year since. It attacks for a month, then slumbers again until the next year.
In the meantime, Lady Falscorth has alternately tried to appease it with sacrifices, bribe it into leaving and kill it with guile (a flock with bellies full of poison). None of her tactics have worked and every summer her lands are again under the terror of fire and claw.
Finally at a loss, Lady Falscorth has abandoned pride and put out the call: anyone, be it a single champion or an army of mercenaries, who kills or drives of Baskrorix will be granted all the wealth in the dragon’s lair and wherever among the victors is chosen to do so will wed her and become the new Lord Falscorth.

The PCs
Player characters in the campaign will be among those who have come to Falscorth Barony to slay Baskrorix and claim the reward. That is the only requirement. The presumption is that they will engage in activities to prepare themselves to attempt the task. How they do so is entirely up to the players, but likely activities include exploring the local dungeons for experience and treasure, finding henchmen and other allies, and making contact with the Baroness and other powers in the valley. It is known that Baskrorix wakes on the Summer Solstice and the PCs arrive in Falscorth on the Autumn Equinox. Player characters arrive in the Falscorth as 1st level adventurers. They are assumed to be members of a group that has agreed to try and take down Baskrorix together, and may want to put together a charter or group bylaws prior to beginning adventuring.


The Rules
The campaign is played using Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy rules. No house rules are planned, and all the usual rules from OSE are intended to be used, including random encounters, exploration procedures, reaction rolls, morale checks for enemies, random treasure generation, and so on.

 

[Cruentus]

Question: I want to use my AD&D 2E Monstrous Manual for monster stats. What pitfalls should I look out for?

Most of the above comments are solid and I agree completely.

With re: to monsters, I find that everything up to 1e is pretty straightforward to just port over, maybe keeping an eye on Morale for some of the monsters (I seemed to have noticed some creep). Don't be afraid to lower a monster's attack damage die or play with AC to bring it in line with where the players are. OSE does have some monsters in their rulebooks, so use those as a rough guide. Using 2e MM is fine as well, you again might want to adjust down as others have mentioned.

EDIT 2: I also simplify or remove abilities of some monsters, to keep aligned with how OSE and Basic DnD roll. Monsters over time have had a lot of abilities added to them, and many can be safely ignored, unless its the monster's key feature

The other thing generally I'd say is that OSE plays much slower than 5e, for example. And maybe its just our group, but we're not rushing through things at the table. Lots of discussion, more RP, but also less getting stuck on the character sheet for answers, lots of creative solutions to things in game. Don't worry if the game seems to "crawl", sometimes it will, particularly when being careful in dungeons, but then the action is fast and furious when it occurs.

Last thing is that OSE does have that undead level drain mechanic. I know that's fairly polarizing, and things that drain energy levels are not unheard of on random monster tables. Just something to consider (or avoid those undead until the party gets some levels under them).

Report back on how your games go!

*EDIT: after reading your write up, is the intention that the party will be in a position to slay the dragon after 9 months, or is that just a known fact of the realm? What happens if the wyrm wakes up and they're not ready? Does it attack again then go to sleep, or is the campaign over at that point? Just curious. Sounds like a fun campaign!

 

[Reynard]

*EDIT: after reading your write up, is the intention that the party will be in a position to slay the dragon after 9 months, or is that just a known fact of the realm? What happens if the wyrm wakes up and they're not ready? Does it attack again then go to sleep, or is the campaign over at that point? Just curious. Sounds like a fun campaign!

My thought is that they know when they arrive and they know when it wakes up so they have a deadline if they want to catch it unawares. Obviously, the could just hole up or even flee when it wakes, but I would kind of assume either of those things would be a "fail state." The depredations would be so bad this time that there isn't anything left to save, etc...

 

[Cruentus]

My thought is that they know when they arrive and they know when it wakes up so they have a deadline if they want to catch it unawares. Obviously, the could just hole up or even flee when it wakes, but I would kind of assume either of those things would be a "fail state." The depredations would be so bad this time that there isn't anything left to save, etc...

Cool. In that case, you have to be ready to hand out a lot of treasure in those barrows, and whatever else the players decide to pursue. As you can see in the Advanced materials, it takes a lot more XP to level up, and gold is the only way to do it (magic items don't, iirc, give Xps.).

Of course, they can get XP for bringing the treasure out, and it sounds like the Queen is going to take the treasures anyway until they chase off the dragon and claim its hoard, so you won't have to worry about them becoming too rich

And I'm sure you already know all this, so feel free to ignore my prattle

 

[Reynard]

Cool. In that case, you have to be ready to hand out a lot of treasure in those barrows, and whatever else the players decide to pursue. As you can see in the Advanced materials, it takes a lot more XP to level up, and gold is the only way to do it (magic items don't, iirc, give Xps.).

Of course, they can get XP for bringing the treasure out, and it sounds like the Queen is going to take the treasures anyway until they chase off the dragon and claim its hoard, so you won't have to worry about them becoming too rich

And I'm sure you already know all this, so feel free to ignore my prattle

I'm still in the planning stages so I can make adjustments. I might start them at 2nd or even 3rd level. Baskrorix might be less Smaug and more St George's dragon. It will all depend on how much time I think I have, the players, and so on. I appreciate your insight, tho!

 

[overgeeked]

The Rules
The campaign is played using Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy rules. No house rules are planned, and all the usual rules from OSE are intended to be used, including random encounters, exploration procedures, reaction rolls, morale checks for enemies, random treasure generation, and so on.

OSE also has a fair amount of optional rules. You might want to check out this page and grab the free PDF checklist. It might seem silly, but it does help.

Old-School Essentials Optional Rules Checklist

DOWNLOAD HERE The official optional rules checklist for the Old-School Essentials game. Lists all Classic Fantasy and Advanced Fantasy optional rules. Optional rules summaries for quick reference. A check box for each optional rule. A4 size. Form-fillable PDF.

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