deganawida
Legend
What’s the crunch level?
Hyperborea — Thoughts?
- Thread starter deganawida
- Start date
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
Slightly less complex than AD&D 1e, mostly due to better organization and tighter writing.
Jahydin
Hero
In between OSE and AD&D. I'd say close to 2e AD&D.
It retains that "archaic rule" feel while also still being really streamlined.
A good compromise IMO.
deganawida
Legend
I can handle 2e complexity.
Jahydin
Hero
I think now it just comes down to setting. If you're okay with no demi-humans, weird sci-fi elements, and mature themes, then I'd say give it a shot.
Thankfully the entry cost makes it easy to resist making an impulse buy- and nowadays I have to consider Foundry/other VTT inclusion 
I already have so many games that I'm not running cuz I'm stuff on the 5e treadmill.
The books look super nice though. They'd absolutely be worth it if I picked them up...
I already have so many games that I'm not running cuz I'm stuff on the 5e treadmill.
The books look super nice though. They'd absolutely be worth it if I picked them up...
I picked up the 3rd Edition after reading about it during Thanksgiving. Been playing in a game in it for a few months now. It reminds me a lot of my early D&D game play. The rules themselves are like a house ruled version somewhere between Basic D&D and AD&D 1st imo. Overall I enjoy it a lot and it has quickly become my favorite OSR game. From a rule standpoint some of the stand out unique takes which some will like and others may not ...
The stock setting I find very interesting. Much much in the flavor of Robert E. Howard's writing. I can see "The Tower of the Elephant" coming alive with this setting and rule set. The setting is an optional part of it imo. The current game I am playing in the DM has their own world and it works well. Generally would expect the rule set would works well with anything going for that non-heroic early D&D flavor of games. Adventuring on the edge of civilization. Poison is super deadly. Combat is risky. The world is filled with unknowns.
It's quickly put a dent in my wallet and I am happy with everything I have purchased. While the game may not be everyone's cup of tea, if you have even the slightest interest in an OSR/Conan game with Lovecraftian flavor and a bit more crunch than generic OSR I would give it a try. If you find yourself still on the fence pick up one of the modules as a cheaper entry point. It's all OSR compatible so even if you don't go for the books you can still use the adventure.
- No multiclassing. I forgot how much these oD&D rules bugged me until we started playing OSE. There are plenty of full classes that take the place of multi-class flavors and then some.
- Assumption that all PCs are human so everyone has the same issues with illumination, movement and levels.
- Some nice optional combat rules. I enjoy some of the rules that make various weapons/tactics more useful in different scenarios. This is where the house rule nature of the base game really can shine or be ignored as the table desires.
The stock setting I find very interesting. Much much in the flavor of Robert E. Howard's writing. I can see "The Tower of the Elephant" coming alive with this setting and rule set. The setting is an optional part of it imo. The current game I am playing in the DM has their own world and it works well. Generally would expect the rule set would works well with anything going for that non-heroic early D&D flavor of games. Adventuring on the edge of civilization. Poison is super deadly. Combat is risky. The world is filled with unknowns.
It's quickly put a dent in my wallet and I am happy with everything I have purchased. While the game may not be everyone's cup of tea, if you have even the slightest interest in an OSR/Conan game with Lovecraftian flavor and a bit more crunch than generic OSR I would give it a try. If you find yourself still on the fence pick up one of the modules as a cheaper entry point. It's all OSR compatible so even if you don't go for the books you can still use the adventure.
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