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<blockquote data-quote="Monayuris" data-source="post: 8139721" data-attributes="member: 6859536">Absolutely not.&nbsp; Although, it may seem that way...Old school games tend towards the more deadly when you look at the character death and dying mechanics. And the OSR movement is an effort to play the games as written in the style of the original as it was played back in the day.Even then, OSR games are not nearly the meat-grinder death grinds as they tend to be treated. Especially, if you use the full rules of old school games (this is from a B/X point of view, which is my preferred OSR game... I'm not super familiar with Swords &amp; Wizardry).Reactions: Although the DM can always choose the reactions of monsters, most versions of old school D&amp;D provide some sort of Monster Reaction table that determines the monster outlook. In B/X, for example, the table is a 2d6 roll with 5 results. Only on a result of a 2 does a result of Immediate Attack occurs (less than 3% of the time). Every other result allows players to decide to avoid combat.Morale: Most versions of old school D&amp;D also have a Morale rule. In B/X (again my most familiar old school ruleset), Morale is tested on the first death of a combatant and when half the number are slain. Each creature has a Morale score and on a failure the monster will flee. This allows combat to not always be to the death. A player group has the opportunity to break their opponent's morale and possibly prevent a tpk.I think a lot of the deadliness of old school is attributed to DMs not using all the rules and making every dungeon a combat filled cage death match. Use the rules of the game, such as Reactions and Morale, and the game becomes not only dramatically less lethal but also dramatically more interesting.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Monayuris, post: 8139721, member: 6859536"] Absolutely not. Although, it may seem that way... Old school games tend towards the more deadly when you look at the character death and dying mechanics. And the OSR movement is an effort to play the games as written in the style of the original as it was played back in the day. Even then, OSR games are not nearly the meat-grinder death grinds as they tend to be treated. Especially, if you use the full rules of old school games (this is from a B/X point of view, which is my preferred OSR game... I'm not super familiar with Swords & Wizardry). Reactions: Although the DM can always choose the reactions of monsters, most versions of old school D&D provide some sort of Monster Reaction table that determines the monster outlook. In B/X, for example, the table is a 2d6 roll with 5 results. Only on a result of a 2 does a result of Immediate Attack occurs (less than 3% of the time). Every other result allows players to decide to avoid combat. Morale: Most versions of old school D&D also have a Morale rule. In B/X (again my most familiar old school ruleset), Morale is tested on the first death of a combatant and when half the number are slain. Each creature has a Morale score and on a failure the monster will flee. This allows combat to not always be to the death. A player group has the opportunity to break their opponent's morale and possibly prevent a tpk. I think a lot of the deadliness of old school is attributed to DMs not using all the rules and making every dungeon a combat filled cage death match. Use the rules of the game, such as Reactions and Morale, and the game becomes not only dramatically less lethal but also dramatically more interesting. [/QUOTE]

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