OSR Trying Out Old School Essentials

[Whisper-Kitten]

I'm interested in playing the system, so I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.

 

[Xenolith234]

As much as I don’t like the darts, etc., I dislike the cantrip spam in 5e more because it takes away the magic from magic. OSE/OSR also doesn’t prioritize combat in the same way so it’s not an hour plus of a wizard feeling less than useful.

 

[cbwjm]

As much as I don’t like the darts, etc., I dislike the cantrip spam in 5e more because it takes away the magic from magic. OSE/OSR also doesn’t prioritize combat in the same way so it’s not an hour plus of a wizard feeling less than useful.

I quite like the cantrips of 5e, but I think a good compromise would be that wizards can use rechargeable wands or staffs that do something similar. Gives wizards some magical ammo, you can make it do d4 damage and it shouldn't be overpowered, effectively they're throwing a dagger in damage but using a magic implement to do it. Allow recharging using downtime.

 

[GothmogIV]

I do not like the offensive cantrips for wizards in 5e. It makes them too powerful. I do love non-offensive cantrips like prestidigitation or ghost voice, etc. because it gives the wizard agency and a chance to use magic creatively. (In fairness, the overpowering of characters in 5e in general is why I no longer play it, so it isn't just this issue).

 

[Xenolith234]

I do not like the offensive cantrips for wizards in 5e. It makes them too powerful. I do love non-offensive cantrips like prestidigitation or ghost voice, etc. because it gives the wizard agency and a chance to use magic creatively. (In fairness, the overpowering of characters in 5e in general is why I no longer play it, so it isn't just this issue).

Same. Prestidigitation has always been my favorite spell.

I quite like the cantrips of 5e, but I think a good compromise would be that wizards can use rechargeable wands or staffs that do something similar. Gives wizards some magical ammo, you can make it do d4 damage and it shouldn't be overpowered, effectively they're throwing a dagger in damage but using a magic implement to do it. Allow recharging using downtime.

I don’t think I’d mind a dart spell as much because it’s a simple d4 without any sort of rider effects or anything. But, Gandalf didn’t pew pew so I can also see only allowing more impactful magic.

 

[Xenolith234]

I’m running Dolmenwood, so not sure if we’ll quite count it as OSE, but I wouldn’t hesitate to supplement it with OSE. My main struggle the past couple sessions is their very unforgiving version of Death’s Door, which is a 2-in-6 chance of dying every round without any sort of stabilization allowed RAW. I think I may either allow stabilization or change it to AD&D 2e’s version of Death’s Door of -10 HP and bleed out 1HP per round.

 

[Retros_x]

2) Knowing what your monsters want so that even if the reaction goes well they aren't pushovers. The example I always use is that even an ogre that's positively disposed to the party will still think it deserves anything it wants from the PCs because it's an ogre and they are little, it will certainly try to charge them a toll (perhaps even demanding to eat one of the party members etc) - it'll just be friendly about it.

Thats really important. Too many new to OSR think that a friendly roll means "yay, new companion"

 

[Mannahnin]

I’m running Dolmenwood, so not sure if we’ll quite count it as OSE, but I wouldn’t hesitate to supplement it with OSE. My main struggle the past couple sessions is their very unforgiving version of Death’s Door, which is a 2-in-6 chance of dying every round without any sort of stabilization allowed RAW. I think I may either allow stabilization or change it to AD&D 2e’s version of Death’s Door of -10 HP and bleed out 1HP per round.

I do think some sort of house rule mitigating simple death at 0 is usually a nice thing to add to B/X aka OSE.

My hesitation with the 2E Death's Door optional rule is how it makes it impossible to ever just be straight-out killed from a hit doing less than 11 damage, if you're conscious and fighting.

I think the 1E version makes more sense- it gives a window where you're knocked unconscious- either if knocked to zero exactly, or, optionally, anywhere between 0 and -3. This is, I think, a reasonable cushion. If you're at 1hp and you keep fighting, a monster doing a d6 has a 1/3 chance of doing enough to kill you (assuming they hit)- otherwise you're down and bleeding.

 

[Sossij]

THACO, man. That takes me way back.

You kids and your modern tools.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Its pretty much a cleaned up presentation of B/X, with some stuff from AD&D added in a later expansion. I know they did a new printing and I'm not sure if Basic and Advanced are still separated though. Its my go to if I want to run a D&D type game without more gonzo elements you get in something like DCC.