Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 9541345" data-attributes="member: 5142">Not sure if I would call it "false advertising." I think like anything when talking about language, the meaning evolves and expands. Retro clones shifted to games designed along the developing principles of OSR or the perceived feel of these older games. However, I don't think it's necessarily about "creating D&D hard mode," though I don't deny that there is a contingent of the OSR community that views it that way, with elitist shades of "git g00d," snubbing their nose at WotC era D&D, and "XTREME HARDCORE MODE!"IMHO, there are a myriad of reasons why people play OSR that amount to more than boiling things down to shallow reductionist explanations. For example, there are some people who simply prefer lighter games, which a number of OSR games tend to be, though not always.Again, I think that they are less designed for lethality and more for notions of puzzle solving, skilled play, and shifting the game from combat as sport to combat as war. Unbalanced encounters can involve creative problem solving that involves more than just "facerolling the problem" directly with PC abilities.What do you mean by "the consistency of play"? Also not sure about games that actually play like D&D was played in the '80s. There's likely as much too varied experiences, selective memories, and rose-colored glasses with such attempts as there is with OSR.You can create more robust Heroic characters with the optional rules in the full version of <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/348791/worlds-without-number" target="_blank">Worlds Without Number</a> by Kevin Crawford. WWN reduces classes to three plus a hybrid class, but you can also take specialized classes, traditions, etc. It even has a Traveller inspired skill system, feats/talents, and a few other non-OSR like elements. There is also a free version you can find on DriveThruRPG, but I linked the full version.In <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/418106/dragonbane-core-set" target="_blank">Dragonbane</a> (it's more like a d20 BRP system), characters have more hit points; however, because there is a much flatter curve, character HP and mind points basically don't change. So you are a little tougher, but they barely improve except for raising their skills and getting new talents. So characters can die if they get over their heads with powerful monsters or mobbed by too many foes. It doesn't play like 5e because it's - as I alluded to earlier - more of a roll-under-skill system like CoC, but d20 based. However, it does describe itself and play as "mirth and mayhem!" as a sort of beer and pretzels game. I recommend the box set.I also recommend <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/366519/index-card-rpg-master-edition" target="_blank">Index Card RPG</a> by Runehammer Games. It started as a stripped down 5e, but became its own thing where it basically went classless, though 2e restores a quasi-class system. It's more about finding magic items.There is also <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/409630/bugbears-and-borderlands" target="_blank">Bugbears and Borderlands</a> by the one and only [USER=15700]@Sacrosanct[/USER]:I kinda think that 5e D&D is the Hickman Revolution OSR, which is why I think that it appeals to a lot of people who played 2e D&D.</blockquote>

Verification