OSR OSRIC Versions?

[DM_Wannabe]

I'm sure others will know better than I do, although they might not answer this one. The organization of the rules is a dramatic advantage: the ability to find all the rules you might be looking for, if you don't know them, is what makes a game an actually playable game. Also, a lot of the contradictions and confusing rules have been cleared up. Even if you have the old books, it's worth having it just to figure out some of the details.

I'd like to ring in on this one. I also use the OSRIC rules to help understand some of the more ambiguous rules in the 1e books. Gary can be extremely verbose. Having the OSRIC rule book handy has come in handy several times when trying to translate the "High Gygaxian" from the original 1e books.

 

[Ron]

I find OSRIC much superior as a rules set than AD&D. I still enjoy reading Gygax's prose in the original but the rules are much better laid down in OSRIC. The only thing I would like to see included was an option for ascending AC, as we can find inSwords & Wizardry and a few other OSR's product. Nostalgia is good but so it is recognising some improvements to the game.

 

[Weather Report]

(e.g. the AD&D dinosaurs are based on science that was dodgy even in the 1970s, so I completely rewrote them for an audience that's seen Jurassic Park).

Ha, totally, I remember reading a Dinosaur book back in the day theorising that Brontosaurus' have two brains, an extra one in their tail...I mean...yeah...

Even now the film Jurassic Park is way off, T-Rex looked nothing like that animatronic thing in that Spielberg film, but more like a giant chicken.

 

[winemaker81]

I find OSRIC much superior as a rules set than AD&D. I still enjoy reading Gygax's prose in the original but the rules are much better laid down in OSRIC. The only thing I would like to see included was an option for ascending AC, as we can find inSwords & Wizardry and a few other OSR's product. Nostalgia is good but so it is recognising some improvements to the game.

Why wait for someone else to do it? If you know what an ascending AC system should look like, write it. I have no idea what the OSRIC crew plans for supplements (if any), but you could submit it to them for inclusion in any that may be in the works. If none are planned? Enough people sending in good material might spur an OSRIC supplement.

 

[teitan]

I find OSRIC much superior as a rules set than AD&D. I still enjoy reading Gygax's prose in the original but the rules are much better laid down in OSRIC. The only thing I would like to see included was an option for ascending AC, as we can find inSwords & Wizardry and a few other OSR's product. Nostalgia is good but so it is recognising some improvements to the game.

While I acknowledge that the math for ascending v. Descending armor class is the same, in essence, using ascending AC is very different as the number in theory can extend into infinity while descending AC moves in increments of 5% and is very different as a result.

 

[howandwhy99]

AD&D is a "bounded system" too. So while increasing Armor Class is possible, it results in Players needing lower d20 die results to hit.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

While I acknowledge that the math for ascending v. Descending armor class is the same, in essence, using ascending AC is very different as the number in theory can extend into infinity while descending AC moves in increments of 5% and is very different as a result.

The fact that a number descends doesn't stop it extending into infinity.

 

[teitan]

The fact that a number descends doesn't stop it extending into infinity.

Very true but in this case it stops at -10.

 

[Ron]

Very true but in this case it stops at -10.

The best AC in AD&D is -10, which is translated to 30 in the ascending AC system. These systems are equivalent, as long as the rules they present are the same. As such, there is no difference in using one or another other than the ascending one is much more simple as it does no require a table.

 

[Ron]

Why wait for someone else to do it? If you know what an ascending AC system should look like, write it. I have no idea what the OSRIC crew plans for supplements (if any), but you could submit it to them for inclusion in any that may be in the works. If none are planned? Enough people sending in good material might spur an OSRIC supplement.

A supplement will not help much as the math is pretty obvious and the real advantage is having the alternative numbers in the monsters' descriptions on the core book.