OSR OSR, Ascending AC or no?

[Aldarc]

There is also another method that hasn't been mentioned that doesn't fall into these options: roll under attribute.

The difficulty of monsters may affect the required TN of the attribute as well. You could even do the same for saving throws. You can see roll under with the OSR games such as Beyond the Wall & Other Adventures and Black Hack.

I’m not an OSR gal and I haven’t played any pre-3e editions of D&D (and accordingly, didn’t vote in the poll), but I will say this for THAC0: if you tell the players their target’s AC (I know, probably not something most OSR DMs are wont to do), it allows them to do the math first and figure out what number they need to roll to hit. This changes the process of rolling to hit from:

Letting the players know the Target Number is common practice for the Cypher System and Index Card RPG. ICRPG even just encourages a singular TN for difficulties in a room. So you may assign the room a TN (e.g., 13) and that is the AC of monsters and the difficulty of all checks in the room. You can further adjust this by making something in that room Easy (-3 TN) e.g., 10) or Hard (+3 TN: e.g., 16).

 

[Helldritch]

I voted for: "I don't really care either way".
One or the other, the result will be the same. You hit or you don't.
How you approach the matter is entirely a preference matter.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Game mechanics don't make a game OSR or not. Descending AC makes perfect sense and the only flaw is how bad people are at basic math.

I now have strange desire to play Fate Accelerated as an OSR game.

 

[Voadam]

I was excited by the introduction of ascending AC in 2e Dragon Fist and glad it became the standard of 3e onward. The descending AC calculations were always a mental speed bump in practice that I was happy to see reduced by ascending AC.

 

[Sacrosanct]

There is also another method that hasn't been mentioned that doesn't fall into these options: roll under attribute.

That's actually how I'm doing ability/skills checks (except rogues of course), as that's how we've always done it anyways going back to the early 80s. It's just easy, and also means every point of an attribute score matters if you have to roll d20 and get under the score in order to succeed.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

By the way, @Sacrosanct, keep us posted about the development of your game. Its seems to be something I would use at my table. I love the OSR games, but the ''git' gud'' and ''no true scotsman'' attitude of a part of the community makes it a hard sell to my players.

Your take with an eye toward inclusivity will be a breath of fresh air.

 

[TwoSix]

I now have strange desire to play Fate Accelerated as an OSR game.

Just always max your Careful approach.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I prefer descending AC, and voted for it.

But I don't think it matters. That's not a dealbreaker.

Saving throws tied to abilities? That is a dealbreaker.

 

[Ringtail]

I'm a recent OSR convert and a big fan in general of OSR style games and Retro-D&D in particular.

I started with 4th and 5th Edition however and in general I find ascending AC easier to do quickly at the table.

HOWEVER, I have noticed that many OSR games are adopting a "Roll-Under" System, like The Black Hack. And when you look at B/X D&D it even recommends that ability checks, when they are rolled, be roll under checks. When you consider it in context, I can see how Descending AC makes sense as you want a certain level of consistency in your dice rolling mechanics.

I still prefer ascending AC however, though I don't mind either way. I also heard/read somewhere, that Descending AC produces slightly different probabilities? Don't quote me on that, I've no source.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I must say, if the maths are done before the actual combat, and the ''to-hit'' table is made front and center, an integral part of the character sheet, with a ''to hit table'' for at least 3 weapons, I can see using descending AC, especially if there's not a bunch of possible modifiers. What I dont like is doing the THAC0 calculation at the table, every time.

That is, if you also use roll-under for skills. I'm a big fan of Beyond the Wall, but using different system for different actions made it confusing for my players at first.