OSR Taking the OSE Initiate Feat

[Mannahnin]

At some point, I will likely pick up the Advanced OSE set, as it sounds as though I will still get a lot of use out of that even with other things that I play.

I prefer the smaller booklet format, so I hope that's still an option for Advanced. I vaguely recall seeing a comment that it may not be for 2026.

I understand consolidating Basic and Advanced because it honestly was a little confusing to figure out what I needed to buy, but I find that I much prefer the boxrd format with the smaller booklets.

I have Classic in a single-volume A5 (digest sized) hardcover and Advanced in a two-volume (Players and DM) A5 hardcover set.

I hear you on the smaller booklets, but I don't know if they did a divided version into smaller books for Advanced.

I'm less interested in extra damage (in the way that modern damage does it) than I am in extra effects. I could try to incorporate either the DCC tables or something from one of the other games I play. Something to spice up rolling a 20 for some of the players that I have.

I getcha. Part of the appeal for most people with OSE is the simplicity, with a lot of folks being able to memorize quite a lot of the rules, so big tables of criticals and fumbles are not normally part of it.

You could absolutely incorporate stuff from DCC as house rules. That's part of the joy of OSE, that the base rules are simple and clean enough that it's easy to add in house rules for anything you want to flesh out more.

In keeping with the principle of simplicty, my own house rules for crits for OSE are:

Crits and fumbles:
20 to hit = +1 damage, OR you may declare a cool situational effect- disarming, knocking a foe back or prone, overbearing, etc. If the effect is particularly devastating, I may grant the victim a save vs poison/death to avoid.
I do not use fumbles on a 1 (it’s just an auto-miss), though I may narrate amusing fumbles for hapless bad guys.

On the weekends, there's a guy at one of the flea markets near me who has a bunch of old D&D stuff for sale. Honestly, most of it is in rough shape (so wouldn't be worth much of anything got collectors,) but it's still okay enough to be readable and usable. Honestly, I kinda like that they're a little beat up because that makes me feel less guilty if I need to highlight something or make a note in a margin.

Most recently, I bought N1 - Against the Cult of the Reptile God.

Sounds cool. I've picked up some nice old modules myself that way.