TwoSix
"Diegetics", by L. Ron Gygax
Games featuring diegetic growth, especially ones like Into the Odd and Electric Bastionland, are my favorite part of the OSR.
D&D General Why is "OSR style" D&D Fun For You?
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
Hey! Well, would you look at that! A post of mine a few posts previous:
DEFCON 1 said:
Almost as though I was acknowledging having death on the table in the game was actually fine! Almost like it WASN'T BINARY!
Yes, it is NOT BINARY. The game is not "No death" or "Always death". There is everything in between. I freely acknowledge that, even if people don't want to take the time to go back prior to the last post they wished to respond to to see if I did.
This is why I love whitehack. It leaves a lot of room for the characters to define themselves within the specific world in which they are playing, rather than as generic classes that are supposed to fit in any world
Nikosandros
Golden Procrastinator
Personally, if you are writing a new adventure for MERP (or AD&D, B/X, etc.), I would call it OSR.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Fair enough. I apologize.Hey! Well, would you look at that! A post of mine a few posts previous:
Almost as though I was acknowledging having death on the table in the game was actually fine! Almost like it WASN'T BINARY!
Yes, it is NOT BINARY. The game is not "No death" or "Always death". There is everything in between. I freely acknowledge that, even if people don't want to take the time to go back prior to the last post they wished to respond to to see if I did.
OSMERP
Aldarc
Legend
This is something that I would be interested in seeing more,* not just for OSR style games but also other game types. Index Card RPG had it in its First Edition with its loot-based progression, but then it dials it back and leans more into non-loot feats/features as character progression.
There are some interesting things that you could even do with this sort of diagetic growth. Maybe you don't die (because reasons) but, instead, you resurrect at a holy shrine and may lose something that was part of your diagetic progression. (The Player can either pick 2 of their choice or roll to lose a random 1.) Just brainstorming here.
* But also more MOBA style class design: basic attack, passive ability, around three active abilities, and an ultimate.
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Indeed, and IME even though my/our games tend to be pretty lethal I've only ever DMed one TPK and (touch wood!) have yet to be a player in any.
All it takes is one survivor to keep a party's story afloat.
overgeeked
B/X Known World
And all it takes is a little creativity to keep a TPK from ending a campaign. Wake up 100 years later at newly free-willed undead. Wake up in the afterlife and fight or think or bargain your way out. Wake up in chains in a dungeon.
Shardstone
Hero
It's fun for the same reason white water rafting is fun for me — I feel like I might die at any second, and I feel like if I'm really skilled I can make it through the water, and the dopamine I get from the combination of these two things keeps me kickin' and resonates with the long atrophied hunter-explorer part of my human brain.
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