I'm not looking for a rules heavy system or anything like Pathfinder. I think OSE is great! But I sometimes wish there was a bit more systems in play. The freedom that OSR offers DMs is amazing, but sometimes I just want an example of a rule to use. I think I want something with a bit more clarity about its rulings and a few extra rules, but nothing that goes overboard.
Any ideas?
Playing OSE if it matters.
If we are going through a dungeon and face a random encounter then we can roll a reaction roll. But if we enter a room with a pre-made encounter or set of "enemies", are we expected to make a reaction roll there as well or are we expected to enter combat?
For those of you that play TSR games or their clones, like BX or OSE or Labyrinth Lord or ADnD, do you ever make your own homebrew classes? And if so, what is your process like in making these classes so that they don't feel to strong or weak?
Do you know of any games where combat is a meaningful part of the game, AND you can make characters focused on non-fighting abilities, AND these non-fighting characters still have fun in combat?
For example, imagine a knight and a bard (or a Witcher and a bard) where they travel together and encounter fights but the bard sucks at fighting, but still gets fun things to do in combat rules. Not like DnD 5e where the bard is very capable in a fight on their own. Or for example someone plays a trailblazer/mapper that is great at wilderness traversing and knowing which plants to eat and avoid, but sucks at fighting, BUT the game gives them something fun to do in combat.
I’ve played OSE (Old School Essentials) but not Shadowdark, and one difference is that Shadowdark uses real world timer for torches while OSE counts dungeon turns. In OSE you can move X feet per turn, roll for random encounters every Y number of turns, and get reduced speed when carrying treasure. I’m wondering how Shadowdark handles this.
How often do you roll for random encounters in Shadowdark?
How is it affected by carrying a lot of treasure (e.g. a big chest) causing characters to walk slower and less silently?
How are retries handled in Shadowdark? If you fail to bash open a door and want to retry it is very easy in OSE to just say ”Another turn passes” so torchlight is spent and risk more random encounters.
As far as I understand, BECMI had a bunch of Gazetteers and also some Dragon magazine with extra content and player options, along notes on the Mystara setting.
Is there some compiled source where I can read all of this? Like a webpage, single PDF, or some retroclone, etc.?
Are there rules in OSE or ADND or similar games for wearing armor without proficiency? Like what happens if a Thief puts on plate armor?
If there are no rules, how would you rule it?
For example, a magic user only gets proficiency with daggers and staves, which means their best damage is d4. This would mean that they are allowed to use any weapon they want but the damage die will never be higher than a d4. The same idea would apply to weapon ranges. This means that when Kandalf the Stray finds the magical old elven sword Slamdring he can use it, even if he isn't all that good.
From my understanding, the weapon restrictions are more about vibes and themes than balance, so reading some discussion on your thoughts and pros and cons would be cool.
I will soon start running Dyson’s Delve, a 12 level dungeon, and would benefit from some advice and guidelines on what happens after the party leaves a level.
Rules and ruling examples would help me a lot here. So something like ”After 1 week, roll on the random encounter table for the level. This encounter makes camp on the level.” This is to me a good mix of rules and freeform DM thinking. It can also be tips on competing parties or things that happen between dungeon delves.
I am primarily looking for rules and procedures for how the dungeon adventure can work.
When two adversaries both wear armor and are holding weapons then I am happy with the classic rules (roll to hit, then damage).
But in movies we often see the distress in characters when they lose their blade, because a sword helps both protect and attack. I think it would be cool if there was some house rule I could implement to help give this feeling.
Any ideas?
EDIT: What if you could forego your attacks on your next round to add the damage die of your weapon to AC for one attack? E.g +1d8 AC against one attack if holding a sword in OSE.
I see on the store that a bunch of quickstart softcovers can be bought, which could be good to have on hand at the table. Are the rules in the quickstart the same as in the full book (even if it does not contain all rules) or are there any rule differences?
The questions assume a system like OSE or ADnD.
I was thinking about a character throwing a spear with dexterity for the attack, thinking it would make sense to add strength to the damage roll. I know in my dad's ADnD game he uses dex for bow's to hit and str for bow's damage. But crossbows? Once reloaded str does not feel involved so maybe they should not get it, and it would mean crossbows become a decent weapon for characters with low strength. At the same time, maybe ranged combat should not be made any stronger with mods to damage. I don't know.
What do you guys think?
I'm running OSE and would like some tips on how to run the game if the players decide to set up camp in the middle of a dungeon. I think some adventures explicitly say some rooms are safe, but what if the room is not strictly safe?
Are there rules for this that I've missed? And regardless, what wisdom can you bestow onto me, regarding setting camp inside a dungeon, so that I may run my games in ways that feel true to the world and fun for players?
Do you flatten out the THAC0 and Saving Throw values across levels, so that e.g. a fighter’s THAC0 at level two is improved by 1 instead of waiting until level four for an improvement of 2?
Why do you think this is good to do or why do you think it is better to not do and let the rules be as they are?
I think Professor Dungeon Master's video on his combat zone system is really interesting and it looks very fun, yet I would like to know more about its pros and cons. I have played games like Genesys or Mutant: Year Zero where distances are more abstract (like melee, close, far) and I often feel like it causes confusion at the table with less experienced players. It is pretty manageable though, but the worst troublemaker is when enemies appear in different spots not close to each other.
The video talks about being in the fight or ranged or far away. Seems simple enough. But I wanna know more about how this works in practice and what players will enjoy this.
Something that I wonder about is how it affects the tacticians. It seems like the system in Professor Dungeon Master's video works well for groups that focus on the story as a whole and quick improvized rulings or fun descriptions of actions and also works well for people that focus on the logistics of overland travel or dungeoneering more than than combat itself. Because I've noticed that the OSE or BX rules for combat is actually pretty interesting for a tactics perspective. Always move first, enemies are "sticky" and require special actions to get away from, and can 5-foot-step (if playing BECMI). It may not seem much but on a grid it quickly leads to interesting thoughts and decisions, which tactical players seem to enjoy.
This post became very much of a ramble. What are the pros and cons for grid combat vs zone combat in your mind? And what kind of players do they serve the best?
What are your thoughts on letting spellcasters use their spells to do things adjacent to the spell but not rules-as-written?
For example, letting a mage expend a usage of burning hands to light a torch? Or use mirror image to appear in two places at once in a ballroom?
Or is the game ”better” or ”more fun” when treating spell descriptions very exactly?
If I’m running a big dungeon for a big group where the intention is to always start and end every session back in town, how can I quickly rule that characters run out of the dungeon if we as players run out of time?
E.g. we decided the session must end with everyone out of the dungeon because we don’t know which players will be present next session, and we realize we are deep in the dungeon without time in real life to exit properly, what are some good rulings for quickly exiting the dungeon?
And should access to a map affect the roll or rule?
I’m thinking of running a big dungeon for a big group of people. Little story, mostly dungeon crawl. Most likely OSE.
For how many players do you think it is fun to dungeon crawl?
Should every character get same amount of XP if all players are not present? Or should only present players/characters get XP? How does it impact fun when one fighter is level 4 and another level 3?
How should I best structure up a game like this in terms of leveling and number of players?
I haven’t played Shadowdark (yet!) so I don’t presume to know much about the game. Actually, that is why I am asking.
Many games give rules for movement or flanking or special abilities to give some tactical choices, but my cursory understanding of Shadowdark is that is more a survival horror “logistics” game and when it comes to combat there is not that much to do for fighters other than move a bit and attack (which is of course completely fine).
I want to know more about what I might be getting into. Have I understood things more or less ok above? And could you help me understand the tactics available to fighters and “fighter monsters” in combat?
The game looks really fun but I have not played it and am wondering a bit about how leveling and progression feels since it is handled a bit differently from what I am used to (not that I am complaining).
Many other games give bigger bonuses to attack rolls, especially for fighters, compared to what Shadowdark does, and they also give bonuses to damage rolls. In ADnD for example all classes get better bonus to attack rolls and fighters get the most at +1 per level if I recall correctly. Many of the other OSR games also give bonuses to HP for every level and bonus to damage rolls. Shadowdark works a bit differently, with Con only giving extra HP at first level and strength/dex not helping damage rolls, and classes don't have a strict bonus from leveling to attacks, and the benefit of leveling is random. Fighters to get to choose a weapon for half level bonuses but are then "stuck" with their choice for the rest of the game.
So to the people here that have actually played Shadowdark, how does the progression system feel? Does it work well with not getting a lot higher attack bonus or HP and how do stats of higher "level" enemies work? Does it work well with fighters being "unable" to get new loot that is not their chosen weapon?