Sell Me on OSE

[Reynard]

Alright, people really seem to love OSE as an alternative to B/X and other early versions of the game and retroclones. If you are one of those people, tell me what I should get OSE versus using my Rules Cyclopedia or my old B/X books? Also, tell me about the much lauded support for OSE, especially support in the weird fantasy/genre mashup space, if it exists.

Note that this isn't going to be the hardest sell in the world. I have some extra Christmas money, but I want to know why folks love it so much.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

If you're looking for a B/X experience with OSE, I think what sells it is that it takes the experience you remember and gives it to you, rather than what the B/X books actually were. It is smooth, streamlined, well-organized. Not saying ill of the B/X books, but OSE is a refinement in presentation and organization. Someone, I can't remember who, described OSE as being like a website with a good GUI/user experience, and that fits.

Also, it's got a solid binding and is not decades old, like the original books. And the art is gorgeous! The works by Pauliina Hannuniemi are particular favorites of mine:

 

[Retreater]

The Advanced Fantasy supplements add options not present in B/X - more classes, separate race from class, should that seem appealing to you.
The zine Planar Compass adds psionics and interplanar travel - so that might add to your weird fantasy mashup.
However, there is much more in the Rules Compendium: higher levels, more monsters, warfare, strongholds, a campaign setting, etc. OSE looks better, has better organization (building off modern layout technology). That said, OSE is basically the same game as B/X (only with rules for Ascending AC and the Advanced options I mentioned above). It's just been given a little more room to breathe with layout and art.

 

[darjr]

Nvr mind

 

[Monayuris]

The rules are broken down into succinct bullet points that makes referencing easy and quick. I think it is better organized than the original Basic/Expert books (which can have some quirks to finding stuff if you are used to modern games).

You can check out the basic rules for free, to get a clearer picture of the format, here: Old-School Essentials: Basic Rules - Necrotic Gnome | Old-School Essentials | DriveThruRPG.com

It is 100% faithful to B/X which is also nice, if I want to run from a hard copy I don't have to use my original B/X books.

The online SRD is also very useful: OSE SRD

Also online generators for treasure, encounters, spell books and magic items: OSE Generators

In general it gives me classic B/X rules with all the module and zine support that implies, along with a ton of additional online tools. B/X is my favorite version of D&D and Old School Essentials is the best modern presentation of those original rules.

 

[The Hierophant]

Which books do I need to get into OSE, the hard copies seem confusing.

 

[Yora]

Classic Fantasy Rules Tome is everything in one book, except for the Advanced Options.

 

[iPwnedMSCS]

And if you want the advanced options the easiest way is to get the Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome and Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome.

Those two will give you all the rules in the Classic Fantasy Rules Tome as well as the advanced material. If you'd rather start with the classic tome and add on the advanced stuff later, you can grab the four smaller advanced fantasy books without duplicating content.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Troika is also a good one. I'd say that Troika is better if you want a distinctly non-D&D, much weirder experience more indebted to Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun and Vance's Dying Earth beyond just the magic system. OSE provides a super-streamlined, clean experience, but it's (generally speaking) very much a D&D-like (or should that be "D&D-light?") experience.

Yea, I gotta try it. Was thinking of using Troika or Into the Odd for UVG but I see people using this.

 

[Mannahnin]

For the core books it's mostly just organization and presentation. The rules are identical to B/X (with the addition of ascending AC as an optional rule), but are laid out in really convenient single page or two-facing-pages format, where you virtually never have to flip multiple places to read the rules on a given concept. It's solid information design. The books have lovely new art and high production values.

I do also like what they did with new classes in the Advanced Fantasy rules, retro-fitting additional options from other editions (like Half Elves, Half Orcs, Gnomes, Knights, Assassins, Acrobats, and Druids) into a B/X race-as-class format. As well as offering other rules from AD&D (like M-U & Elf spell acquisition other than just from gaining a level) in clear, simple form.

If you prefer the original B/X art, PDFs are thankfully cheap as heck, but unfortunately those aren't sold print on demand yet, and used copies do tend to have some mileage on them. Thankfully they're common enough that prices for them aren't crazy yet. I picked up another copy of each book recently.