OSR Need Help Introducing OSE to PF1 Group

[Retreater]

I have been invited to GM a guest game for my friend's regular PF1 group. After completing a 1-20 AP that ran 2.5 years, they are ready for something lighter and wanted to try a one-shot of Old School Essentials. Many of these players have played only PF1, and I'm concerned that the expectations of OSR play will be not that fun for them. (They do complain about character death a lot.)
I see a couple options, but maybe others can present more?
1) Run a published adventure as-is, but give them characters way over the recommended level range. (Like 5th level characters in a 1st level adventure.)
2) Write my own adventure with almost no combat. (I'm afraid they'll get bored if I do that.)

 

[Voadam]

Run a higher level module with higher level PCs. Something Expert set range would probably be decent and still be rules light compared to pathfinder.

BECMI weapon mastery sword deflection I remember being a huge defensive benefit for fighters.

Increasing across the board saving throws at higher OSR levels is a different experience than low level fail most every save.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I have been invited to GM a guest game for my friend's regular PF1 group. After completing a 1-20 AP that ran 2.5 years, they are ready for something lighter and wanted to try a one-shot of Old School Essentials. Many of these players have played only PF1, and I'm concerned that the expectations of OSR play will be not that fun for them. (They do complain about character death a lot.)
I see a couple options, but maybe others can present more?
1) Run a published adventure as-is, but give them characters way over the recommended level range. (Like 5th level characters in a 1st level adventure.)
2) Write my own adventure with almost no combat. (I'm afraid they'll get bored if I do that.)

Be upfront, use lvl 2 characters in a lvl 1 enviroment and give them slightly higher stats. And tell them that killing things is not the priority.

 

[Cadence]

In one lethal game I played I had all the players run two characters - a regular PC and a slightly nerfed red-shirt that they hired. Somehow one of them ended up with the redshirt being higher level than the (I'm guessing replacement) PC.

One help might be to warn them that spending a lot of time on character background might not be a wise use of their IRL time.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

There's was a superb adventure module written to show the basics of OSR-ish games. Its called Tomb of the Serpent King or something like this. Its not overly lethal, but each section of the dungeons shows one trope of old-school type games for players new to this kind of thing.

and its free: Tomb of the Serpent Kings - Deluxe Print Edition - Skerples | DriveThruRPG.com

 

[Jacob Lewis]

It's a one-shot? Don't overthink it. And don't make them work for it, either. They're just trying it out. Use pregens, if possible. Starter sets and introductory modules are your friends. Good luck!

 

[Monayuris]

You can start characters at 3rd level. I've had success with presenting OSR games to previous 3E/4E players that way.

But, I wouldn't go too far with trying to change the game to appeal to Pathfinder players. The challenge and lethality and simplicity of the rules of OSE is what makes it stand out as different and unique from Pathfinder and other modern games. If anything you want to stress those differences and show how they can create an exciting gaming experience.

I'd just set expectations that OSE does not have the same safety nets as PF and that more thought and care should be put into the game. Tomb of the Serpent Kings is a good introduction to that style of play. I'd go with that or maybe something from Necrotic Gnome, like Winter's Daughter.

When running, hold hands a little bit. If you see them taking an action that would result in certain death, intervene and ask for more detail or ask what their thought process is. They may be looking at the situation from a different point of view than you and you may need to better understand their assumptions (are they taking a risky action because they don't understand the danger?).

Use reaction rolls and morale. Not all encounters need to be a fight to the death. Show how reactions can result in new ways of dealing with encounters. When monsters fail morale and retreat, just take them off the board (don't just have that screw over the players later). If the players break enemy morale it should be a victory not a future defeat.

Let players develop their characters a little. In PF, you have feats, skills, and what not to customize your characters. OSE does not have that, but if a player wants their character to have some tracking skills, run with it. Ask if a character has a background and give them a chance to succeed at things.

 

[Volund]

Keep the lethality, but give them a cheat sheet reminding them that parley, evasion, and combat are all possible encounter outcomes, and include the OSE rules for evading pursuit - line of sight, dropping food, dropping treasure, dropping obstacles like flaming oil. For an adventure, you might use the beginning of B3 Palace of the Silver Princess. The opening gatehouse area is intended for an introductory game session. A house rule that might help is using what I've seen called Shields Shall be Splintered! Anyone with a shield can choose to absorb a hit with their shield, breaking it but probably saving their pathetic first level life. I like it because it reinforces the OSR principal of using up resources instead of hp to stay alive.

 

[Jack Daniel]

One thing that helps a lot (beyond just starting the group at 3rd level, which is probably a good idea): don't dice behind the screen. At least for the first two or three encounters, make sure the players get the gist of what's going on by rolling the dice in the open and explaining what the results mean. "Okay, so you've encountered monsters. First, I'll check for surprise, a 1 or 2 on either d6 here means that your group or the monsters are surprised. Once we know that, we can dice for encounter distance… Next, encounter initiative, which is different from combat initiative! It's going to tell us who takes the lead in deciding whether the encounter will be a fight, a parley, or something else. Okay, monsters won, so I'm going to make a reaction roll here, keep in mind that the monsters will only attack on sight if I roll snake-eyes, and anything 6 or higher means cautious, neutral, or even friendly if I get boxcars…" It really helps snap players out of the "kick in the door and murder everything" mindset.

 

[thirdkingdom]

I've expanded the OSE classes to make them more similar to 5e classes. I smoothed out the attack and saving throw progression, to avoid the "jump by two every x level" deal, added a skill system and feat-like Knacks that give increased options. The free preview version can be found here.