OSRIC 2.0 Released today

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Just making sure I am telling people correctly when I send them to look at the new version that it is OGL for "1e" type of games. (der...of course you can't use that and neither did i )

You can say it!

The restriction is on me saying it.

 

[Thondor]

ART . . . and table of contents/indexs

ART

I recently started reading Pathfinder Beta . . . and the art drove me crazy. To much colour, disproportionate people (rare), unrealistic and nonsensical armour and outfits (extremely common), weapons so large it would be impossible to swing them,and an overall feeling impression of cartoony-manga-techyness ugg. This seems to have been the trend towards this sort of art ever since 3.0 was released, and its always put me off. I realized why it bothered me more then usual though, I'd been reading 1e and OSRIC.

OSRIC art is nothing like that. First of its all black-and-white (except the covers), and is better for it. Proportions of weapons, shields, armour and the look of clothing are realistic and (semi-)historic. Morover the art actually looks like it could have been done in a historic (medieval) period. The rougher pictures look much like something from historical tapestries. There are a few paintings that are both beautiful and realistic. Monsters look like sketches made by semi-artistic individuals who actually encountered the monsters or skilled artists renditions from vague description (not to say that the artist who actually made the art are not very skilled, but they did to create a gritty feel). Overall the art is simple, elegant and evoquative. Here is art that I can show to my players and say "there's a picture of a stone giant on the wall of the keep, it looks like this." That to me is useful, and fires the imagination far more, then showing of non-sensical, colour-mad art made to "wow that's so cool."

As a bonus it feels 'Old School' and is easy on the printers.

Tables of Contents, index and lists:

Wow. How easy it is to find everything. First of all the bookmarks in the PDF are userfriendly and comprehensive, its essentially the Table of Contents made interactive. The Table of Contents is detailed and informative. following the table of contents are three lists in alphabetical order: Spells, Monsters, and Magic items. These all make it easy to find any of the above if you know the name of what your looking for. Finally the index at the end of the work is quite exhaustive. (The best part of the index . . . it has art in it. Clearly an index that is meant to be used.)


Maybe one of these days I'll make a complete review. I may be a little biased though . . .
(For those curious souls . . . I'm 23, and ran my first 1e game last Wednesday. We mad characters in like . . . 20-30minutes, this with nubes, it was glorious! To bad I just got OSRIC 1 printed out . . . still useful of course, especially for players.)

 

[jgbrowning]

(For those curious souls . . . I'm 23, and ran my first 1e game last Wednesday. We mad characters in like . . . 20-30minutes, this with nubes, it was glorious! To bad I just got OSRIC 1 printed out . . . still useful of course, especially for players.)

Thondor, send me an e-mail and I'll send you a complementary PDF copy of a low-level (2-4) Advanced Adventure.

josephbrowning@gmail.com

joe b.

 

[TerraDave]

TerraDave: Give in to your anger. Oh yes. Come on over to the Gygaxian side. Just break out those old modules and run a session or two... and see if something in your head doesn't go "Bree-Yark!" and drag you back, kicking and screaming, into the 1980's when men were real men (often with sideburns), women were real women (often in dolphin shorts and much too much hairspray), and 10 ft poles were real 10 ft poles (and there were up to three of them in every adventuring group)!

But can't I have those things, and a universal resolution mechanic, a skill system, and low level casters that can cast more then 1 spell?






(runs away from thread as fast as he can)

 

[WheresMyD20]

But can't I have those things, and a universal resolution mechanic, a skill system, and low level casters that can cast more then 1 spell?

You can play the game any way you want, but there are a lot of old-schoolers who think that those things actually detract from the game rather than add to it.

 

[Raven Crowking]

But can't I have those things, and a universal resolution mechanic, a skill system, and low level casters that can cast more then 1 spell?

RCFG is being designed to specifically allow those things, without going overboard the way (IMHO) WotC-D&D does, so that you can have the best of both worlds......Or use modules from any edition with relatively simple conversion.

(OTOH, a universal resolution mechanic is only good where the mechanic does a good job at resolution; RCFG uses d6 initiative.)


RC

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

But can't I have those things, and a universal resolution mechanic, a skill system, and low level casters that can cast more then 1 spell?

No. I'm afraid you're only allowed those things if you're wearing your hat of d02.

 

[Uruk]

But can't I have those things, and a universal resolution mechanic, a skill system, and low level casters that can cast more then 1 spell?

Just to address your issues. There's already a universal resolution mechanic (maybe not quite what you mean), but everything can be broken down to a d100. The different dice add flavor, but Gary pretty much always puts a percentile number next to a die roll (e.g. 1-2 on a 1d6 (33.3%)).

There's a skill system in OA and if you want something like 2nd edition or you can use the secondary skill list out of the DM guide. However, the idea is that your character is your class by trade and you're proficient in doing whatever your class needs to do. Fighters can mend their own weapons and armor and clerics know about religion.

The one spell thing really only applies to magic-users though if you're using cantrips you can spread that out a bit more. The most common house rule I've seen is to apply bonus spells using integelligence. However, the original source material (the Jack Vance books) only had wizards knowing 3-4 spells max. I started playing 1st edition again a couple weeks ago and one sleep spell is all it takes to win a battle so if you put magic user spells in perspective they're awesome.

 

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

To all those that worked on putting OSRIC together...

THANK YOU!

One of my friends and I have been discussing the various issues that we keep encountering playing Third Edition and keep trying to houserule. When discussing it the other day, I listed off a large number of things from AD&D that AD&D handled adequately that we were trying to houserule into 3E. He said, "Why did we ever quit playing AD&D?" After all, it's easier to add things into AD&D than it is to strip them out of 3E, at least from our perspective.

He mentioned wanting to DM, too. That through a monkeywrench into things, for me. My AD&D books are so old and beat up that they should be under glass with a librarian that turns only one page a month under climate controlled conditions. So, loning them out is out of the question.

But, now, thanks to OSRIC and my local Half-Price Books stores, I've been able to put together a DMing package for him to use. For us, AD&D will live again through OSRIC and we will again tell stories of a time before the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the suns of Aries...

If OSRIC were onsale at my FLGS, I'd have bought three copies in hardback, today. Thankfully, some folks in town just sold off some very good looking copies of many of the different orange-spined AD&D books. Those, together with OSRIC will allow us to revive AD&D for us.

AD&D, to me, is the heart and soul of D&D. Thank you for OSRIC. Keep up the good work!

 

[Thondor]

Thondor, send me an e-mail and I'll send you a complementary PDF copy of a low-level (2-4) Advanced Adventure.

josephbrowning@gmail.com

joe b.

Sweet. Original and crammed with stuff . . . I was just going to say that 'they don't make them like they used to' but you did.

I'll have to give some feedback when I run it. (It could be quite some time. Only have 4 first level characters at this point.)