OSR Interested in dipping my toe into OSR but don’t know where to start. Any recommendations?

[Parmandur]

Yeah, I’m at an interesting crossroads, because the principles are what I’m interested in more than the specific mechanics and design quirks… But also I really like the aesthetic of D&D, and I feel like that often gets lost when focusing on principles over specific mechanics.

The OSR provides a bewildering array of aesthetic takes: DCC and OSE hire a lot of the early TSR artists, like Erol Otis, and goes for thst sort of vibe, but the scene is very diverse.

On Race as Class, a little off-putting with Dwarves and Halflings, but itnreally shows it's strength when they introduce Classes like Treant or Centaur, and don't need to worry about them interacting with other moving parts. Let's weird Races be really weird.

 

[Charlaquin]

5 Torches Deep does this. If you're human it has you roll 3d6 in order, but you can swap two. Demi-humans get a fixed above-average value for their main ability scores, and roll others on 2d6+3.

5TD definitely looks interesting, and has the benefit of being built on the 5e scaffolding, which could help ease my players, most of whom have only played (or only seriously played) 5e, into the wider world of OSR.

 

[Voadam]

If you're doing a one-shot with characters starting above 1st level in pre-WotC editions, you always want to specify the number of xp rather than the level for characters to be generated. If you specify 20,000, for example, your Magic Users will be 5th level, but your Elves will still be 4th.

But all modules (including competition ones) say things like for levels 4-7 and none give an xp range. System mastery from the beginning.

 

[Mannahnin]

5TD definitely looks interesting, and has the benefit of being built on the 5e scaffolding, which could help ease my players, most of whom have only played (or only seriously played) 5e, into the wider world of OSR.

That's definitely one thing I like about it. Frustratingly, though, it's a bit more of a toolkit than a full system. No bestiary or magic items, for example. The game I've been running for the past two years mashes it up with a lot of B/X rules on the DM side, especially dungeon procedural stuff.

 

[Mannahnin]

But all modules (including competition ones) say things like for levels 4-7 and none give an xp range. System mastery from the beginning.

Sure. But that guideline was aimed more at folks using existing characters. Part of system mastery for DMs was, of course, being aware of the xp charts, so if you WERE doing a one-shot, you'd tell the PCs how many xp they had, not what level to be. Or if designing pre-gens, you'd do the same thing. So your B/X elf in a one-shot would always be lower level than the Magic-User, to keep things more fair.

 

[Charlaquin]

That's definitely one thing I like about it. Frustratingly, though, it's a bit more of a toolkit than a full system. The game I've been running for the past two years mashes it up with a lot of B/X rules on the DM side, especially dungeon procedural stuff.

I take it this is a homebrew mashup rather than a system you can pick up a PDF for?

 

[payn]

5TD definitely looks interesting, and has the benefit of being built on the 5e scaffolding, which could help ease my players, most of whom have only played (or only seriously played) 5e, into the wider world of OSR.

I've had some luck doing intro one shots. I try and build an adventure that highlights all the prominent mechanics of a system. So, like a three room dungeon and a little exploration to go with it. Usually toss in pre-gens and go for it. See if the players bite and are interested. Thats system agnostic advice for getting players to try something new on for size.

 

[Mannahnin]

I take it this is a homebrew mashup rather than a system you can pick up a PDF for?

Correct. On the player side it's basically straight up 5TD with a few house rules. On my side of the screen/VTT it's a bit of a Frankenstein's monster.

But yes, 5TD does give 5E players a more accessible starting point. Still using the core d20 mechanic with ability and Prof modifiers for most things, for example. It also gives them some interesting advancement options as they level, basically making all the 5E classes except Monk into archetypes you pick up at 3rd level, on one of the 4 base classes.

 

[Charlaquin]

I've had some luck doing intro one shots. I try and build an adventure that highlights all the prominent mechanics of a system. So, like a three room dungeon and a little exploration to go with it. Usually toss in pre-gens and go for it. See if the players bite and are interested. Thats system agnostic advice for getting players to try something new on for size.

That’s a good approach, for sure.

 

[Greg K]

And that’s a fine assumption. The whole “my grandpa says he saw dwarves come through town once 50 years ago” thing I mentioned certainly has its appeal. But it isn’t the aspect of old-school play that intrigues me, personally. And it would make trying a more old-school system a much harder sell to my players.

In this case, I would recommend a couple of third party suppements designed for both Old School Essentials and B/X that I came across in my research:
1. B/X Options: Class Builder (Welsh Piper): It provides a balanced system for building your own classes. So, if you want non-human priests, you should be able to build them. It might even have some among the sample classes (but I am speculating and, maybe, someone else can confirm whether it does). If I recall, it also includes an optional d6 based skill resolution system.

2. Class Compendium by James Spahn (Gallant Knight Games/ Barrel Rider Games): Among the new classes provided are a few for dwarves, elves, and halflings. I don't recall if any were priests

Both are currently on sale at Drivethrurpg