One thing I loved about Holmes and Moldvay /Mentzer red boxes was having a set of rules that didn't overwhelm new players with lots of material that they won't need until later.

I know that most osr games are rules light enough that it isn't too much, but I was wondering if there are any systems out there that seperate out the 'basic' and 'expert / advanced' levels like that?

A particular peeve of mine is that spell descriptions seem so often to be presented alphabetical so that the 10 spells that might matter are lost in a bunch of pages. But even just class descriptions or saving throw tables that cover the whole range make level 1 look like a stepping stone, rather than a satisfying place to play many an adventure!

Any suggestions?

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/2157285

> Last night I ran a one-shot based on one of the scenarios from Kavlov's Sanctuary! Everybody had fun (at least that's what they told me so it must be true, right? 🤐 🤣) and it was nice to finally do a live play-- though I absolutely had some nervousness going on. If you're interested in any of the prep that I did, I streamed some of that earlier yesterday.

I created a simple stat roller for OSR/D&D with support for several different methods of dice rolling in Pico-8. It supports:

• 3d6
• 4d6 drop lowest
• 3d6 reroll 1s
• 4d4+2

Run it here! https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?uid=56330

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/1866866

> Been thinking about loot for xp this weekend.

If you aren't familiar with Pico 8, the programs code is embedded in the image. Just find a pico8 player and you are good to go!

7/19/2023 CHANGE LOG -Changed it so each tool will retain its values as you scroll through the tools. -Clearly defined text positioning to fix compatability with pico-8 players. -Made POI's more prevelant in hex generator -Added some error handling to the dungeon room generator. -Character stats are now only held when you press the button with the generator up. -Added a sound effect for holding the stats. -Added place holder page for NPC generator. -Added the navigation ball to make it less confusing to flip between tools.

I was shocked but PDF+POD book is 7.92. I was able to order one shipped for just under 12 bucks.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17010/Chainmail-Rules-for-Medieval-Miniatures-0e?manufacturers_id=44

It features very well written and designed PDFs for:

• Genre Rules
• Dungeon Master’s Guide
• Psionics and Magic
• Monster’s Manual
• Character Sheet

Cairn, by Yochai Gal, is getting a 2e and the playtest doc is linked in the announcement post. Among other changes, it contains some really cool new character backgrounds similar to Electric Bastionland. Check it out!

Personally I've played 1e and very much enjoyed it, but wished it had just a tiny more going on in character advancement and mechanics for running longer campaigns. Seems like I'm getting just what I want with this new version.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/1061234

> > Part of the charm (torture?) of old school D&D is gleaning at hints of play that appear in various nooks and crannies of rulebooks, supplements, and adventures. Here's one that I randomly ran into while reading module X1, "The Isle of Dread".

I'm trying to get back into blogs and rss feeds after a many year hiatus. But I'm finding it hard to find active rpg blogs, so if anyone's got any good recommendations please share! (tbh, doesn't even need to pure old-school, but I'd rather avoid a "WOTC awesome new dice set!" sites).

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/444494/The-Infinite-Dungeon?src=newest&filters=45582_0_0_0_0

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/444781/Age-of-Wonders?src=newest&filters=45582_0_0_0_0

I made this program for Pico8 a while back. If you arent familiar, the code is embedded in the image. Just grab a pico8 player and load the image.

Contains a dice roller, simple oracle, hex crawl terrain generator. (One hex at a time for solo crawling), dungeon room generator, pc stat generator, and a Norse rune picker for story telling purposes.

I’m currently running an open table with Advanced Old School Essentials. The campaign has been ongoing for about 2 years and I like the campaign and don’t want to lose progress made by starting a new campaign. I’ve recently been playing with Hyperborea in another game and I like it more than I do OSE Advanced. My core group of players in the open table are fine with the switch, and some prefer Hyperborea too.

However I know there are going to be complications. Hyperborea is all humans. Currently my advanced OSE is race as class.

I’ll have to figure out how to port over existing characters that aren’t human. Right now I plan to look at the existing characters and figure out what percentage to max level they are and them drop them into Hyperborea at that same percentage to max level.

I’ll try to port spells across as best I can or worst case just ask the player to pick a new spell.

Magic items seem compatible enough that I shouldn’t have any problems with a straight port across.

So now the reason for my post. Have you done something similar? What pit falls did you run into?

Any advice or suggestions on things I haven’t thought of?

Or is this just a terrible idea that should be scrapped? If so why?

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/443395/The-Moss-Mothers-Maze?affiliate_id=253473

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/443836/Snowbound--An-OSE-Pamphlet-Scenario

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/418485/Solitary-Depths?affiliate_id=253473

I got to say I have a real hard time with the "everything does 1d6 damage" mechanic. Gorgeous book though.

This (excellent) blog post came up in a 2h conversation with a friend with dyslexia so I spent an hour or so today recording it.

I'm playing a campaign that's LotFP plus slot based encumbrance house rules, and I've been disappointed in a lot of hexcrawling rulesets I've seen from the OSR. I particularly don't like Black Hack type usage dice / the Necropraxis overloaded encounter die, and that seems to be where thought has coalesced, with Errant being an example of a game that goes all in on that.

So I was delighted to discover that 1e AD&D has a supplement with workable mechanics for temperature (including wind chill!), foraging, hunting, etc. I need to massage it a little to fit into the LotFP skills system because it comes with its own but on the whole I'm excited that I have a way to go inside hexes and give players meaningful decisions about how they dress, where they camp, etc.

What about y'all, what material have you been reading recently?

I share four key resources that I think will help anyone who is trying to learn how to play along with the original three little brown books of Dungeons & Dragons as printed back in 1974.

My physical copy of Dark Dungeons just came in the mail. This was my first ever lulu purchase and my goodness this is a chonky boy. This book is thicker than any other manual I own with the exception of DCC, that book still holds the crown for fattest fatty.

If you aren't familiar Dark Dungeons is a clone of the Rules Cyclopedia and has been free in pdf form for ages.

Who's down?

The new version completely threw out the 80s game I loved and built a new game from scratch. I know its not exactly OSR but a clone of the OG car wars would be amazing.