OSR OSR and compatibility?

[Weiley31]

So as much as I prefer 5E, lately I've seen a couple of OSR's that have picked my interest. I'm familiar with how the OSRs are completely different from later editions and how they follow an older school mindset with the rules at times.

But, how are they with compatibility with each other. Like what if I wanted to take say, the Alice class from a Lamentation of The Flame Princess supplement, and like add it in to Swords and Wizadry or Mork Bork? Or if I just wanted to kitbash some different ones together?

 

[Quickleaf]

I'm a big fan of Beyond the Wall, but while it's loosely AD&D, there are major differences to how magic works that make it a bit challenging to be cross-compatible.

However, there are several 5E-esque OSR games that might hit the right sweet spot for you...

Dragon Heresy - Introductory Set (Gaming Ballistic)
Dungeonesque (Rogue Comet)
Dungeons & Delvers - Red Book & Black Book (Awful Good Games; actually a blend of 5e + B/X)
First Five Fantasy Roleplaying (Grimm Aramil Publishing)
Five Torches Deep (Sigil Stone Publishing)
Into the Unknown (O5R Games)
Tales from the Sorcerer Under the Mountain (D101 Games)

You can find a master list of D&D adjacent games here:

 

[Monayuris]

So as much as I prefer 5E, lately I've seen a couple of OSR's that have picked my interest. I'm familiar with how the OSRs are completely different from later editions and how they follow an older school mindset with the rules at times.

But, how are they with compatibility with each other. Like what if I wanted to take say, the Alice class from a Lamentation of The Flame Princess supplement, and like add it in to Swords and Wizadry or Mork Bork? Or if I just wanted to kitbash some different ones together?

Super easy.

Most OSR games are based on the same OD& D and B/X chassis.

the biggest thing to look out for is hit dice. Swords & Wizardry whitebox uses d6 hit dice LotFP uses hit dice by class.

Just treat the Alice like a cleric and you should be good.

The beauty of OSR games is that it is easy to DIY what you need. They all work under the same basic assumptions and you can kit-bash stuff from different games with very little worry.

Some of the best OSR games you should look into include Basic Fantasy and Old School Essentials. I also recommend checking out GLOG.

Thesr games embrace hacking and DIY. They are practically interchangeable.

 

[MrZeddaPiras]

Super easy.

Most OSR games are based on the same OD& D and B/X chassis.

the biggest thing to look out for is hit dice. Swords & Wizardry whitebox uses d6 hit dice LotFP uses hit dice by class.

Just treat the Alice like a cleric and you should be good.

The beauty of OSR games is that it is easy to DIY what you need. They all work under the same basic assumptions and you can kit-bash stuff from different games with very little worry.

Some of the best OSR games you should look into include Basic Fantasy and Old School Essentials. I also recommend checking out GLOG.

Thesr games embrace hacking and DIY. They are practically interchangeable.

The other thing is that in games derived from basic/old D&D a first level character hits AC 0 with a 19 on the die, and an unarmored character has AC 9. In AD&D-derived games it's 20 and 10. So you might want to tweak that in the situation where it's relevant. Apart from that, I would say no other conversions are really needed. That's the old school way

 

[Weiley31]

Super easy.

Most OSR games are based on the same OD& D and B/X chassis.

the biggest thing to look out for is hit dice. Swords & Wizardry whitebox uses d6 hit dice LotFP uses hit dice by class.

Just treat the Alice like a cleric and you should be good.

I thought I would treat the Alice like the Thief. I would be using Swords and Wizadry Complete since that has all the classes. The Runic centric Gohdi class seems like it would be fun in certain OSR settings.

 

[JeffB]

Mostly very easy. There are certain OSR games that really stray, or utilize a different system than the OD&D baseline. But I'd say the vast majority adhere closely to OD&D, Moldvay Cook Marsh Basic and Expert sets, or Swords & Wizardry White Box. Some utilize AD&D/OSRIC.

It will still be easier doing some kind of conversion than trying to build a challenging encounter via the math in 3/5E or a high level NPC spellcaster with allotment of spells.

Because the systems are not so intricate, it's also easy to just change a number or make a correction.

Keep the dice rolling to a minimum. Keep the narrative interesting and recite the mantra "Rulings, Not Rules".

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

It's normally pretty easy to borrow from one OSR and use it in another. A few might require some hammering around the edges, but most blend fairly well together.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I'm a big fan of Beyond the Wall, but while it's loosely AD&D, there are major differences to how magic works that make it a bit challenging to be cross-compatible.

However, there are several 5E-esque OSR games that might hit the right sweet spot for you...

Dragon Heresy - Introductory Set (Gaming Ballistic)
Dungeonesque (Rogue Comet)
Dungeons & Delvers - Red Book & Black Book (Awful Good Games; actually a blend of 5e + B/X)
First Five Fantasy Roleplaying (Grimm Aramil Publishing)
Five Torches Deep (Sigil Stone Publishing)
Into the Unknown (O5R Games)
Tales from the Sorcerer Under the Mountain (D101 Games)

You can find a master list of D&D adjacent games here:

Hi - any possibility to link to the google sheet instead of the embedded sheet (which looks very useful)?

 

[Quickleaf]

Hi - any possibility to link to the google sheet instead of the embedded sheet (which looks very useful)?

Here is the link