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I use a different method. I expanded the efficacy of clerical spells at restoring lost levels (pp 5–6 of my house rules), but at the cost of rendering both the cleric and the healed target bedridden for a number of weeks. Given that my campaigns operate on the "1:1 time" and "PC stable" models...

I respectfully disagree; OSR games are fundamentally about procedure (counting dungeon turns, wandering monster checks, resource management, etc.) and calculated risk. Dispensing with all of that proceduralism and focusing in on the creative "MacGyver" solutions, the feeling of being in a...

So essentially, what I'm gathering from this thread, is that the GNS terminology isn't just mildly misleading, it's an outright detriment to understanding the theory. If I understand this correctly… 1. "Narrativism" has nothing to do with producing narratives and everything to do with putting...

OD&D1: This game is sparse enough that all of the supplements feel core, but The Strategic Review contains vital clarifications on combat and magic as well as three whole classes (rangers, bards, illusionists). I also consider the blue-cover Basic Set to be the indispensable introduction to this...

Pisonics.

I prefer to use all of the stats after the fashion of Str, Int, and Wis in LBB OD&D — they're mainly there just to give small adjustments to earned XP based on your chosen class, so that after you roll stats, you're gently nudged in the direction of picking a class that matches your abilities...

I have to say, it is mighty nice to be off the treadmill. I find the solid ground to be quite pleasant, especially where there's grass. I know. And so do you, and so does everyone else. There is no conceivable world where WotC abandons the PHB/DMG/MM model. It's tradition, it's nostalgia, it's...

If there's a game that should be regarded as the universal entry-point into the OSR, it's Basic Fantasy RPG, a B/X clone with a handful of key tweaks (ascending AC, no alignment, no race-classes, no level limits, and an XP system that isn't so stingy with awards that come from sources other than...

It may not work for everybody, but I can attest that managing my expectations worked wonders for me. Finally coming around to the notion that D&D campaigns don't need to be save-the-world fantasy epics and players don't need to be "always on" improv actors staved off a crisis for me and kept me...

Level 1 medieval fantasy RPGs are easy to DM. It's easy to handle players who have to scrape through mud before they can afford plate armor, and to handle wizards who can occasionally plink someone with a magic missile but can't hurl fireballs yet. Level 20 medieval fantasy RPGs are rather...

I enjoy running TSR D&D. I do not enjoy running WotC D&D. I have a few hypotheses for why this is so, but this isn't the time or the place to get into them. Suffice it to say, "nostalgia" does not make the list. The TSR editions are good games in their own right. They're just aimed at a...

Is "disneyfication" seriously a controversy here? Like, seriously? Sweet zombie Jesus on a pogo stick, that's sad. I'll take some lighthearted whimsy over the "ouch, I almost cut myself on all that edge!" gritty grim darkness that dominates the artpunk wing of the OSR these days. The only...

Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death, hands down.

Majored in English and physics, minored in anthropology and mathematics. Got my MA in English (focused on Old and Middle English), and I have some grad-level coursework in medical physics (but no degree beyond the BS).

I already had spell cards made up for all of the 1st level magic-user, cleric, and druid spells in BECMI. But now that two new players both rolled up artificers, I need device and gadget cards for my artificer class.

One rule I back-port from 3rd to 1st is casters being allowed to memorize lower-level spells in higher level slots. It just makes sense.

I don't fudge now because when I first started playing D&D, my first DM was an enthusiastic fudger and pantser, and frankly, it sucked not feeling like anything I did in the game actually mattered.

Fifteen years of OSR blogs… honestly, I haven't bothered keeping track of most of it. This article on freeform fighting maneuvers is a particular favorite though. Excellent house rule for any old-school game.

A solid, thorough list. I don't agree with every single point, but it does a good job big-picture of summing up how most grognards and retro-gamers describe the old-school and OSR play-styles. I'd personally draw the "old-school vs. modern" cutoff line much earlier than 2000 — the trad...

Well sure, but let's not forget that this is a piece of game-design put together by a wargamer who probably thought that 3 demihumans out of 5 player characters was 2½ demihumans too many (and who believed that everybody would want to play Conan because wanting to play Gandalf was weird and...