Shadowdark looks so good!

[schneeland]

You're conflating retroclones with OSR, even though you start off with a definition that in no way impacts any of your bullet points. (Also, there are unified resolution systems in old school games. Traveller had/has one. RuneQuest had/has one. I seem to recall hearing that Tunnels & Trolls has one.)

I don't think so. And old-school and OSR are not the same thing, the latter being something that originated specifically in a D&D context.
What I tried to imply, but maybe didn't get through: even in newer OSR titles like Cairn, Knave, Black Hack, etc. you find some typical design elements (in particular: focus on player not character skill) in a cleaner fashion that you do in Shadowdark.
Also, I thought I made it clear enough that nothing on the list implies that Shadowdark is a bad game. I just don't think, OSR is the right label for it.

 

[Enrahim2]

I don't think so. And old-school and OSR are not the same thing, the latter being something that originated specifically in a D&D context.
What I tried to imply, but maybe didn't get through: even in newer OSR titles like Cairn, Knave, Black Hack, etc. you find some typical design elements (in particular: focus on player not character skill) in a cleaner fashion that you do in Shadowdark.
Also, I thought I made it clear enough that nothing on the list implies that Shadowdark is a bad game. I just don't think, OSR is the right label for it.

I think it is fully appropriate to market this as OSR. While the game do not force the OSR style in the same way more pure OSR games does, it appear to allow for the playstyle with ease. Moreover if you look at the big 3 triangle of current bit RPG-trends: PbtA, WotC-D&D and OSR, it is beyond a shadow of a doubt that this game is a lot closer to the OSR trend than any of the other two.

And I for one welcome a game somewhat breaking the mold. I like rules light with high DM control, and strong compatibility with D&D material. But I am not very into heavy resource management, high lethality and time spent "pixel hunting". As such, I would really like more of the OSR-community come out and challenge some of those "truisms" about what OSR play should be. I really think there is a big fruitful design area around the current OSR games that remain unexplored, but that involve going a bit outside the standard thinking that I think now has already been very deeply examined and developed.

 

[schneeland]

I guess I still disagree, but I also don't want to turn this into a discussion of what constitutes OSR gaming, since fundamentally this thread is about Shadowdark and what people enjoy about it. Also, I double checked their Kickstarter page and it says "Old-School Gaming, New School Mechanics", which is fair enough as a description.

 

[Jahydin]

@schneeland
I think the term that's used is "NuSR", but most still consider those part of the OSR.

Without getting philosophical, I think it comes down to compatibility. If it can run B/X modules, it's probably safe to label it OSR right?

 

[schneeland]

@Jahydin : I see NSR used more often then NuSR, but yeah, I think for practical purposes, it's reasonable to say that if you can run B/X modules in a system with minor conversion effort, there's a high chance that it's part of the OSR space.

 

[Jahydin]

Some things to consider...

• Attributes follow the newer 3e/5e-style progression of modifiers, making attributes more important than in typical OSR games

This game doesn't use the modifiers at much as D&D. Con isn't added every level, Str isn't added to damage, etc.
Also, negative penalties sometimes don't apply. Like when determining encumbrance.

So stats are not that important.

• Characters gain multiple talents (one every two levels), shifting focus away from player skill and more towards character skill

Take another look at the Talents. Things like (+1 to attack) is what the Fighter would have gotten anyways, but now it's a random chance at every other level.

I don't think these are going to cause the players to ignore the fact they have about 5 hp, a diminishing torch, and are hopelessly lost in a labyrinth full of monster's that can one-shot 'em.

• There's a unified task resolution mechanism (D20 + modifier) instead of multiple mechanisms tailored towards different subsystems of the game.
• It incorporates a meta currency in the form of luck tokens that allows die re-rolls (similar to Savage Worlds' bennies)

These are all things I think are common in non-clones. Even Hackmaster, the groggy of them all, has both.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Today's backer bonus is more not-mind flayer variants, including a not-intellect devourer and a not-elder brain.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I was a Kelsey Dionne convert with her Skyhorn adventures and her terse presentation style. It's exactly what I want as a GM (not page after page of long-winded prose). I play to play Shadowdark, but I'm also just happy to support her.

 

[kenada]

This doesn’t look like something that’s for me, but I can appreciate that the Kickstarter went live with a finished game ready. Not everyone can be Kevin Crawford and actually deliver on the promised schedule, so more games should do that instead.

 

[niklinna]

This doesn’t look like something that’s for me, but I can appreciate that the Kickstarter went live with a finished game ready. Not everyone can be Kevin Crawford and actually deliver on the promised schedule, so more games should do that instead.

Pretty sure Level Up A5E was done when the kickstarter went live, and then delivered as soon as it was over.