OSR Trying Out Old School Essentials

[GothmogIV]

I am reading through the rule books right now, and setting it up on foundry.

 

[Jahydin]

I am flabbergasted by how different a 5e character is compared to an Advance OSE character. Holy smokes, I had forgotten how hard AD&D is. This is even more challenging than Castles&Crusades (re: player power).

That's one of the reasons C&C will always be a part of my collection - it's a great balance between old/new D&D power levels.

Because of OSE's power level, it lends itself perfectly to dangerous and whimsical campaigns (Gavin really leans into with his Dolmenwood setting). Player death isn't the end of the story you're telling, it's an important part of it.

To help with the sting of death and to add variety, I always let my players play 2-3 characters at the same time. Allows more random treasure to be useful too.

Can't wait to hear how your game goes!

 

[GothmogIV]

THACO, man. That takes me way back.

 

[Velderan]

I am reading through the rule books right now, and setting it up on foundry.

Using just the basic rules or did you get the advanced rules module?

 

[GothmogIV]

Advanced. I just finished reading through the Advanced Players' Book.

 

[overgeeked]

There’s an optional rules checklist on their site. Grab that and fill it out. Give each of your players a copy. It’ll make things dramatically easier.

 

[GothmogIV]

Update: I considered Shadowdark but ended up going with OSE in the end. Shadowdark is a bit too simple, and I'm finding that my crew doesn't love Castles&Crusades because of the siege engine, so OSE it is. I am wrapping up my C&C campaign and I'm hoping to start building out on an OSE campaign on Roll20. I have found Foundry to be too fiddly for my tastes. It's cool, but it's taking me too long to set stuff up. Too many touches per element, I guess, even as I love the integration of the rules and the characters sheets, the monsters, etc.
I am hoping to do a bit more sandboxy stuff than I have in the past. Seems like a good system for it.

 

[Thierry-Advent]

Update: I considered Shadowdark but ended up going with OSE in the end. Shadowdark is a bit too simple, and I'm finding that my crew doesn't love Castles&Crusades because of the siege engine, so OSE it is. I am wrapping up my C&C campaign and I'm hoping to start building out on an OSE campaign on Roll20. I have found Foundry to be too fiddly for my tastes. It's cool, but it's taking me too long to set stuff up. Too many touches per element, I guess, even as I love the integration of the rules and the characters sheets, the monsters, etc.
I am hoping to do a bit more sandboxy stuff than I have in the past. Seems like a good system for it.

It's a great system. All you need is a starting village, a god for the cleric and mystery that leads to a medium-short dungeon not too far from the village. Abandoned mines usually do the trick. To survive to the end, they need to back and forth from the dungeon, to heal and restock. Final advice: they really should hire henchmen to beef up their numbers. If you have 4 characters one per player will do.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There’s an optional rules checklist on their site. Grab that and fill it out. Give each of your players a copy. It’ll make things dramatically easier.

"You want to attack with a staff in combat, wizard? You disgusting munchkin! You will throw darts -- AND YOU WILL LIKE IT."

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

"You want to attack with a staff in combat, wizard? You disgusting munchkin! You will throw darts -- AND YOU WILL LIKE IT."