OSR Minimum Requirements for OSR?

[GMMichael]

I'm working on an OSR mashup of games, but my old-school experience goes back only as far as AD&D 2e. I'm using a modified THAC0, theatre-of-mind (no grid), classes and races, memorized spells, a thieving table, maybe roll-under skills...(don't worry - it's just for fun)

What am I missing? What makes a game OSR to you (that isn't the actual book by TSR)?

 

[ccs]

Sorry that was your first experience. For the vast majority I know It was not the case, more like excitement and wonder. If course YMMV.

To be fair though we were several 9-just turned 11 year Olds starting completely cold a few days after opening the Basic box on Christmas.
Since it was "my" game it was my job to read the books - and then teach the others.
Our first several sessions were the virtually blind leading the completely blind rules-wise.
And while (for some reason) we were all excited to keep playing, it was definitely lacking the sence of wonder I got from reading the book/module.

We seem to have sorted it out though.

 

[mhd]

This is an interesting thread to read. It seems a lot of the answers are about the "old-school experience", where the "renaissance" part is bringing that back to live. Quite like the start of it all, where the old books were brought out of storage again or 1:1 "retroclones" were made.

For me the "R" part is the most exciting. Where it's like the real Renaissance, where you didn't just imitated the classics, but improved upon them with new paints and methods. Where the "old school" is more a thread tying things together, rather than a check list of things. I mean, there's a lot of Traveller/2d6 based OSR, too, or is that something different entirely?

So I'd say "artistic passion" is my true yardstick. Homebrews. One writer doing most of the heavy lifting. No corporations.

 

[GMMichael]

Envision the feeling you got the very first time you played an RPG. Then attempt to recapture that wonder and suspense each and every time thereafter.

I wasn't confused, but it was a pretty strange concept to be able to do something with my character besides run, jump, and grab (turtle shells). I think we (as OSR seekers?) are much more likely to find high lethality, mysterious dungeons than we are to find high word-count, mysterious rule-sets.

Because attributes shouldn't be that impactful in old-school games, and rolling under a randomly-generated attribute is a truly terrible task-resolution mechanic.

Care to explain? I won't say it's the best "mechanic," which is why it's the tertiary option in my plan. But OSR has two pillars, if I'm not mistaken: Combat and Exploration. In exploration, the idea is to have fun figuring stuff out, hence "let the player do it." Roll under is decently suited to let the player do it too, while adding an element, if small, of risk.

Also, I've let my writing wander, and now I have a system in which characters gain attribute points instead of skill points, so over the course of character levels, characters get better at rolling under their primary attribute scores. The result is that PCs who get past the "let her" and "what's your score?" hurdles have a good chance of success, but the stakes get higher as well to keep the excitement up. For example, a level 15, 18 Dex thief tries to walk a tightrope. There's no "balance" class feature in the thief table (yet), and the GM isn't sure if the thief could pull it off - because the tightrope is 200 feet in the air. The thief could pretty easily make the roll (under 18), but the possible consequence of falling 200 feet makes it an exciting roll, anyway...

*Do not read this as I'm trying to kill PCs. I'm not. I'm just really good at it after 40 years of xp, pull no punches, and roll in the open.

ROLL IN THE OPEN!?!? That's not OSR (but maybe you weren't suggesting that)! But running a lethal game is, so congrats on that

 

[ccs]

ROLL IN THE OPEN!?!? That's not OSR (but maybe you weren't suggesting that)! But running a lethal game is, so congrats on that

Not only do I roll in the open but I also use bright yellow dice with easy to read black #s!
I'm not concerned about the players seeing the rolls. Afterall, I'm the DM. I can apply whatever modifiers I like regardless of a screen. And I've got infinite monsters - so I can always try again.
Seriously though, I've always found a screen to just be in my own way.

 

[Ibn Khaldun]

I recorded a video on this subject a bit ago. My takeaway was: the OSR emphasizes procedural mechanics over what I term as interactive mechanics (actions, their interactions, and synergies).