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Tell me OSR
How do you like your fantasy; weird or traditional?
>>44339959
I like weird, but my players prefer traditional.
Replying to the guy who posted this in the last OSR thread:
Keep in mind that coins are different sizes and that standard coin sizes could have been deliberately engineered to give the 10 to 1 progression.
Also, judging by Roman coinage, if you're trying to be historically realistic about the value of metals, then the jump from copper to silver should be bigger than the jump between silver and gold, at least assuming the coins are all approximately the same size.
>Around the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Empire:
>1 gold aureus = 25 silver denarii = 400 copper asses
>1 silver denarius = 16 copper asses
>A denarius and an aureus were roughly the same size (about 2 cm in diameter), though the latter weighed more as gold is denser than silver. An as is significantly bigger (almost 3 cm in diameter) and weighs more than 3 times as much as a denarius, but is worth 16 times less.
>Taking into account silver's slightly greater density, I come up with silver being worth about 45 times as much as an equal volume of copper. So for coins the same size:
>1 gold coin = 25 silver coins = 1125 copper coins
>1 silver coin = 45 copper coins
>To simplify things a bit, if we make gold coins a bit smaller (about 1.8 cm in diameter as compared to 2 cm for silver coins, assuming both have the same thickness) and reduce copper coins by about half as much (to around 1.9 cm in diameter), then we get the following exchange rate:
>1 gold coin = 20 silver coins = 1000 copper coins
>1 silver coin = 50 copper coins
But again, you could just as easily make a gold coin about 74% the diameter and thickness of a silver coin to make it worth 10 silver coins. And you could make a copper coin about 171% the diameter and thickness of a silver coin to make it worth 1/10 a silver coin, thus giving you the standard D&D progression. (And, of course, you don't have to anchor the value of metals in your game to those during one historical period in one part of the world.)
>>44339959
To add on to this;
Do people like stuff with a more modern flair? Things like dungeon crawling through sewers or urban areas, guns being a possible (but rare) weapon?
I personally am enjoying the idea of it but I don't know how many games or people really do it, or if people would like it.
>>44340154
Thanks man! I appreciate your feedback.
I happen to really like that first example you gave, the roman one. The name 'copper asses' from whatever source you used was indeed how I came up with my name for 'Copper Asses' except mine actually had donkeys on them instead of being a latin word.
A 1 = 25 = 400 scale is something I quite like, especially if you consider a copper a day being a low level laborer meaning they'd need more then a year to afford a single gold coin, but such things are silly units of measurement.
>>44340154
I like complicated currency systems. Do you have any data on prices of iron or gems in relation to those?
>>44339901
What happened to trove guy? :(
>>44340195
>I happen to really like that first example you gave, the roman one.
It's worth noting that coin values tended to change over time. The silver content of the denarius, for example, was decreased more than tenfold over time, rendering it relatively worthless. So take that more as a snapshot than "this is the way the Romans always did it".
>especially if you consider a copper a day being a low level laborer meaning they'd need more then a year to afford a single gold coin
Supposedly, a (silver) denarius of the period we've been discussing--which apparently bought about $20 worth of bread, in modern terms--was worth about a day's unskilled labor,* which means that putting labor at a copper a day is undervaluing it a good deal, at least by those historical standards. Then again, I seem to recall that in Hellenistic Egypt, silver and gold coins tended to be effectively restricted to port trading hubs like Alexandria (and strictly controlled by the monarchy), while much of Egypt tended to rely on barter. So coinage could be almost alien to a great deal of the peasantry, making precise coin value of services a bit academic.
*Though apparently legionary pay was 112.5 denarii per year before Caesar doubled it, which is a bit less than a third that, if you count every day as a work day.
>>44340305
>Do you have any data on prices of iron or gems in relation to those?
Sorry, no. Most of this comes from poking around on the internet trying to find information specifically about coins, and I didn't come across anything about iron or gems.
>>44339959
Traditional, though its fucking bizarre to squish the takes on fantasy of Moorcock, Tolkien, George Martin, Gary Gygax, and Monte Cook together into one genre.
>>44340477
>Then again, I seem to recall that in Hellenistic Egypt, silver and gold coins tended to be effectively restricted to port trading hubs like Alexandria (and strictly controlled by the monarchy), while much of Egypt tended to rely on barter. So coinage could be almost alien to a great deal of the peasantry, making precise coin value of services a bit academic.
Oh yes, absolutely. When I saw 'one copper's worth a day' for general laborers I really do mean one a day in total value generated. It wouldn't make sense if they got a single coin every day, otherwise they'd have to somehow spend that one coin on all things they need to buy or purchase, or to save for taxes? It doesn't make sense that way, hence its much more variable and based on total value generated. Only if you were working for someone like a building company or an adventuring party would they give you an actual copper a day if you need cash instead of just food/water/a place to stay the night, etc.
>>44340160
I've ran virtually all my 2e AD&D games with about revolution war era guns. Never found them to be unbalancing or whatever.
The wandering, vague, nonlinear approach of OSR, in my opinion, fits better with sewers & urban areas.
>>44339901
I have a guy who likes killing elves I need some situation where Greyhawk setting Elves would want to kill random passer byes
>>44340512
But OSR has a lot of connotations with class based systems- how do you really do classes in a modern-fantasy style game? Or is it one of those things you try to work out as the game is in progress?
>>44340523
Humans encroaching on elven lands, slashing and burning forest for farmland have brought longstanding tensions to a boil. In response, elves starting harassing the new settlements, sabotaging farm equipment, and letting animals loose and slipping away before the humans could confront them. But humans got fed up too, and imperial soldiers allotted farmland as part of their reward for years of active service didn't take kindly to be driven off their land and took up the life of bandits, killing elven travellers and occasionally even raiding elven settlements. At this point, the elves are through playing nice and are picking off any human who comes anywhere near their forest.
>>44341093
>But OSR has a lot of connotations with class based systems- how do you really do classes in a modern-fantasy style game
The same? Or use different ones, doesn't matter. The general four classes may seem to fit a modern setting oddly, but they fit the genre just as poorly.
But honestly, I didn't know this was about modern stuff, the "guns are rare" thing made me think it was still the same genre.
The cleric class is a completely alien beast to the S&S genre however you look at it, but being a mix of Van Helsing and Christianity's Greatest Superheroes vaguely fits a modern or near modern setting better than the S&S genre.
For fighters and rogues, well, a division between fighty guy and skillful guy doesn't fit the S&S genre or the modern genre or anything. You may want different skills for a modern setting. Me personally, if you want a division between the two archetypes, I'd have more a soldier/mercenary type class (with attending skills) and some sort of investigator/spy type class.
The magic user fits fine.
For reference, the Gamma World 4e classes are vaguely similar, but more interesting; the Enforcer is fighting, riding, physical mutations, and appraising opponents, the Esper is mental mutations & defenses, the Examiner (?) is, well, technical skills & reading/writing, and the Scout, which is basically the rogue analog class and catch-all type.
>>44341235
Thanks!
The surviving members of my party have all just reached level 2, mainly because of the concentrated treasure share.
I feel like I have failed in my duty as a DM. I shall try harder next time, /osrg/.
>>44341463
>>44341093
Oh, I think I misunderstood, the post was about class based systems period, not which classes to use -- though my answer is very loosely the same. In the S&S genre pretty much every protagonist is some mesh of fighter and skillmonkey or fighter and magic user, sometimes all three. As a result modern isn't any more or less appropriate for class or classless systems.
But yeah, where I'd start is less "guy who can participate in fights" vs "guy who can participate in nonfight scenarios" and more "guy who uses cop/soldier/mercenary type skills and professional fighting techniques" vs "guy who uses dirty/unconventional fighting and a more robust but unconventional skill set."
Last thread: >>44211805
>>44341637
They deserve it, let them have it.
Does anyone have the pdf's of the recently released core rulebooks for AD&D 1E (PHB, DMG and MM)? I'm looking to use a print-on-demand service because the actual books are not for sale anymore but I can only seem to find shitty scans :/
>>44339901
¿Don't you hate it when a level 1 fighter rolls a 1 in his hit dice?, i also don't like the "you start at max hp" approach that 3.f does, i think players should roll their classes hit dice and a d8 and take the higher that doesn't surpass their classes hit dice.
>>44345036
Personally I just give the players the max result on the first hit dice, but that's because in my game your health points is just your Con + max hit dice of class at level 1 with very little advancement beyond that.
In fact, Fighters get +1 health per level as one of their useful advancements whenever they gain a level.
Can I get some recs on non fantasy OSR? I know of Gamma World & Mutant Future. Looking for more.
>>44339959
depends on my mood
>>44345165
Traveller/Stars Without Number for scifi. Top Secret by tsr for modern(80s) super spies. Marvel Super Heroes by tsr for, well, super heroes, and Boot Hill for cowboys.
Support LotFP: www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?products_id=83001&discount=90b452cd05
Weird New World on discount. I'd buy that for a dollar!
Tell me about your adventures in OS? What campaigns have you played what are some interesting quests or events that have transpired? What are you planning for the future?
>>44348111
This isn't helpful but I'm currently trying to make and run an OSR game, hence I have nothing to contribute to what I've already done, but I am planning to do.
Basically I want to run an /osr/ game in a modern-ish style setting called Night Garden. It's essentially this city in this lost pine forest that is always night time. The electrical grid is the saving grace of everyone, keeps the lights on and the industry running.
People eat racoons and domesticated bats; plus pigs as pigs have an easy time changing to be nocturnal a bit like humans do. Guns are rare but in circulation; they still have serial numbers but a pistol you find might have a serial number of 12 or something similarly small like that. Different races live together here from seemingly different dimensions or worlds, and some people have also learned some cult-like magical powers and super technology is hidden and scarce.
The entire campaign would take place in this one city. I'm not exactly sure how it would be done but the base concept is what I'm working on.
>>44345165
Star Frontiers is pioneers-y science fiction centered around exploring alien worlds. It's old school TSR, but it uses a markedly different system from the D&D family, being percentile based with (broad) skills, so depending on what you mean by OSR, it may or may not qualify.
So I was reading into the odd and I enjoyed the chart people roll on to see what their characters get.
I'd like to do something similar, but instead it's a list of your highest attributes vs lowest attribute. Anyone think this sounds cool?
>>44350664
Only somewhat related, but I was considering a system where your race determined the order of you attributes, highest to lowest. This would probably not include humans, at least not fully, and you'd still randomly roll an attribute to swap or move up or down or something, giving at least a little variation, but most of the stuff would be set. So, for instance, a dwarf's highest attribute would be constitution, followed by wisdom or strength (a choice? depends on subrace?), then intelligence, then dexterity or charisma.
>>44350664
So are you saying that just the top and bottom attribute would be determined, and you'd choose the rest? Is this intended to be some sort of compromise between straight-down-the-line and arrange-as-desired?
>>44345036
>i think players should roll their classes hit dice and a d8 and take the higher that doesn't surpass their classes hit dice.
Why not just take the better of two rolls? Or better yet, you get half max hit points if you roll below that number. Or are you specifically trying to make the squishy classes less squishy at 1st level?
>>44340458
A family emergency.
>>44349832
What about Space Opera? Flash Gordon and OT Star Wars like.
>>44351194
No, no. You get your starting equipment based on whatever your highest and lowest stat is.
For example;
>Strength Highest, Dexterity lowest
Start with a Sledgehammer, leg brace. You have two tickets to the local circus.
>Dexterity Highest, Con lowest
Two slim daggers, heart medication. You can squeeze into small spaces.
>Intellegence highest, Wisdom lowest
Several sticks of chalk, straight jacket. Anyone who you shoe your new equation to loses -1 Wisdom but gains +1 Intelligence.
Or it could include race in some way. This may make players feel restricted by their stats but it might be interesting to see what they come up with.
>>44351494
Im sorry, that's what im trying to say, make two rolls (hit dice and a d8) and take the higher roll that doesn't surpass the classes max hit roll
>>44352356
Isn't that a little peculiar? I mean, I get how a stronger person might be more likely to use a sledgehammer (having the brawn to effectively employ the thing), but I'm not sure that all attributes work so easily, and it's a bit strange that all folks with the same capabilities end up with the same equipment.
>>44352406
I was asking why not just take the higher of two hit dice rolls.
>>44352527
(He probably never came to this conclusion, before.I know I certainly haven't...)
My fellow Wizards of the wise and venerable /Ohwehsarr/,
I have come to share council with you, as I have an enquiry of great importance on a subject that I know little of.
A friend of mine lives on the other side of the country, and he was asking if I'd be interested in running a campaign online for him. I have been DMing for nearly 20 years now, but I have never done so over the internet. Whenever I can, I always prefer to have hard copies of all of my books and materials. I even go as far as to print PDF's out if I need them during play.
I would like to know if you have any thoughts on playing old school games online, how the experience differs, and if you have any suggestions on how to run it, or what to run it in. (I'm eager to try this Tabletop Simulator I got, a long time ago.)
>>44352512
Yeah its a bit weird but I thought it would be interesting to have as a way to make every character starting off pretty cool.
Obviously in this system you'd be rolling all your stats randomly, it's pretty unlikely that two characters will both have the same high and low stat, and if any do you could allow them to maybe roll on a strange alternate table or take the result for your highest and secomd lowest as the lowest instead.
>>44345036
I give them the option to reroll that 1, but remind them that even with 8, one hit could easily kill them, and I feel being the guy who knows that if he gets hit, he's a goner is fucking badass. I also have players reroll all hit dice when they level taking the new value, or the old one +1
>>44340160
I've really come around to adding in early firearms to my games. I just like the image of a traditional robe and pointy hat wizard with an arquebus, or a plate mail clad fighter wading into a horde of goblins with a pistol in each hand.
>>44354073
I am doing similar but guns were actually designed as an anti mage weapon. Can't use telekinesis to bat aside something too fast for you to see.
So I really want to include a 'grazing hits' or glancing blows style mechanic to an /osr/ game featuring guns and shit. Would using 2d10 as an attack roll instead fuck up the values too much?
>>44356952
2d10 doesn't have too steep of a curve (well, it's more of a pyramid than a curve, but whatever), but if need to roll over 15 or so to succeed, the difference becomes appreciable (and your chance to hit 17 or over is only half of what you'd have on a d20). So folks starting out with a 20 THAC0 and striking at a decently armored target may get a little screwed, but overall, you should probably be okay. Maybe mprove THAC0s by a point or two to begin with, if you want to hedge your bets.
Target # -- % chance on d20, % chance on 2d10
14 -- 35%, 28%
15 -- 30%, 21%
16 -- 25%, 15%
17 -- 20%, 10%
18 -- 15%, 6%
19 -- 10%, 3%
20 -- 5%, 1%
>>44356952
How are grazing hits going to be defined? 2d10 will concentrate rolling results around 11, low and high results on rolling will be less likely to occur.
Speaking of Into the Odd, has anyone here actually played it?
It seems interesting, but I really can't say I like having just 3 freakin stats.
>>44357752
It's...okay. When I went into it, I initially didn't like it because I was in the mindset of treating it like DnD at least vaguely. But its really not. If you can get a GM that can handle the weird, it's good. Its really more of a SF horror game.
>>44352512
It's sort of how Into the Odd does it, only they have three stats and cross reference with HP to give you a more varied set of starter packages. It also helps that they only have three stats.
>>44339959
Weird, post apocalyptic, with bits of high tech all over the place. Like something that you might see drawn by Simon Bisley.
>>44357752
Yeah, I played it. I like it, better than most OSR games anyway. It manages the idea of being a dead simple system for dungeon crawling really well.
can I get a good rec on anything Post-Apocalyptic that isn't Gamma World or Mutant Future?
>>44360863
Probably the same things that got recommended in the last two threads you made about it.
>>44360863
There's Other Dust, made as a companion system to Stars Without Number, and thus based on Moldvay Basic.
>>44339959
Weird, but more like in Howard's stories than the science-fantasy of some early D&D.
Hey, I'm only just beginning to poke through it, but do your saves not improve as you level in Machinations of the Space Princess?
early bump
Apparently this is how Arneson did saving "throws" during his latter years(see Fight On #2)
This sounds like a very nice method for convention games, one-shots and groups with a lot of (hopefully benign) rivalry, but I think my players would be a bit too much invested in the group succeeding, a bit too "loyal" towards each others' characters.
>>44364330
Sounds like it would spark arguments and drag the game on.
>>44365365
Thats roleplaying, this system would work in something like dungeon world or barbarians of lemuria.
>>44356952
>>44357552
Here's an idea.
Whenever you fire a gun at an enemy and miss; you roll your gun's damage die along with it and if it is equal to or higher then your missed roll you get a grazing hit.
>Example Pistol deals d6 damage
>Roll to hit, roll a 3 obvious miss
>Roll d6 damage die to see if you graze
This means that grazing blows are easier with guns with higher fire power which makes sense (rifle d8, shotguns may do d10, machine guns d12?) but how much damage should a grazing hit do? Equal to 1/2 the damage dice or maybe it always deal 1d4 damage or something?
>>44365651
Wouldn't it result in an Old Man Henderson scenario, where you'd just write a 200-page treatise on your character's background, and just give them amazing skills at avoiding everything?
>>44365701
Another solution is each bullet you fire gives you an extra graze dice, or you could just do the goblin punch rule that let's you add +1 to hit and damage for each extra bullet you fire past the first.
>>44366052
Probably good to limit the amount of time, like 30 seconds or so, and require it to be based on the character sheet's skills.
>>44365365
Presumably you'd be doing it in a game with people you can trust to be level-headed and mature about it.
In an effort to make Dexterity less powerful I had an idea to use it as a type of evasion HP.
When you get shot at by a gun you absorb your dexterity's worth of damage first, then you take health HP damage. Melee attacks bypass this.
This system wouldn't use attack rolls, a pure damage roll would work instead and armor would be subtracted instead like Into the Odd.
What do you think?
>>44368300
Is Dexterity too powerful compared to the other physical stats? A +2 Con mod increases the hit points of a d6 HD class by 57%. Meanwhile, a +2 Dex mod will reduce the damage you incur by less than half that in most cases (often far less than half that).
>>44368915
That's true, but dexterity in most rule sets also governs ranged damage, common saves against traps, AND initiative.
I don't claim I'm an expert on DnD though, I just enjoy thinking of new ways to do the stats.
>>44368300
I personally kind of like the to-hit / damage dichotomy, and with the high numbers involved in damage rolls high enough to still inflict injury after subtracting your dexterity from them, I'm not sure you'd be saving yourself much time. Also, I'm not sure how melee would work if dexterity doesn't apply to it (do you just automatically hit an unarmored target?), or why exactly dexterity helps you get out of the way of bullets but not swords.
>>44369312
I was going to make a Struggling mechanic with strength vs strength, perhaps with a die roll and whoever got more got to deal more damage, or you add your weapon damage to your strength and the lower target rakes that much damage, maybe.
The idea bring that you don't fuck with things up close that are way stronger then you, you shoot them. Obviously this us for a more modern setting.
>>44369203
Dexterity tends to have no effect on saving throws in most OSR systems, though I'll admit that I tend not to like the "arbitrary category" approach they use. I'll give you that in terms of attribute checks and the like, however, Dexterity is a very important stat. As far as initiative goes, well, that depends very much on the system, but some do things like group initiative. And missile weapons? Sure. But the percentage improvement in your chance to hit with them closely mirrors the percentage improvement in not being hit by enemy weapons (which is to say: less than half of the improvement Constitution gives you to hit points in most cases).
So in the end, Dexterity is a very useful stat, but I'm not sure that it's markedly better than Constitution or Strength. Now, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma are a different story...
>>44369423
I was more referring to the fact that a strength based fighter only get a bonus to hit and carrying capacity, where a Dex based fighter gets bonus to hit, AC, and initiative from their prime stat. They just get more bang for their buck in their focus.
>>44370129
If we're talking old school, then the only way a Dex fighter gets to add his prime stat to his to-hit is if he's using a ranged weapon, in which case his exemplary hit points and AC aren't fully coming into play (if the fighter isn't on the front line, then somebody else is taking the abuse). Also, if the edition you're playing doesn't do something wonky with missile weapons (like how AD&D gives bows two shots per round), you're probably at a significant disadvantage when it comes to damage. Let's take Moldvay Basic, for instance. We have one fighter with a +2 Str bonus and a two-handed sword vs. a fighter with a +2 Dex bonus and a longbow. The Strength Fighter does an average of 7.5 damage per hit vs. a mere 3.5 for the Dexterity Fighter--more than twice as much. Or, if you prefer, we can give the Strength Fighter a longsword and a shield, and he'll improve his AC and still do almost twice as much damage as his Dexterity-based peer.
>>44365701
So where does the rolling 2d10 instead of 1d20 come in..?
>>44370591
I wouldnt, or if I did it would be on a match.
With just two d10 your chance to graze is 10%, but if you add in another one and only need one pair it would be what, 30%?
Like first roll doesn't matter
Second has 10% chance to match, if it fails then
3rd dice has 20% chance to match either of the above.
Obviously you wouldn't add the 3rd dice to the attack roll, it's just a check to graze.
Don't die thread.
>>44372975
What else is there to talk about?
>>44373316
How about this;
Do people like fantasy or modern/sci-fi OSR better? Which sounds more interesting if you haven't played both?
>>44365701
I'd say 1 or 1d2 damage. That's a grazing hit after all. A bleeding gash across your chest isn't deadly, but it'll still wear you out.
>>44373601
Oh, and a little addition - shotguns could have higher grazing damage die, like 1d4. Since, well, pellets.
>>44373478
>Do people like fantasy or modern/sci-fi OSR better?
I would never lump modern and sci-fi together. I live in the modern world and don't find it very exciting. Plus, it's easier to fuck up modern day since we all have first-hand experience with it and when the GM does something that doesn't ring true, it can ruin our immersion (whereas, if something seems a bit off in a sci-fi or fantasy setting, it's easy to rationalize that society is a bit different or that there are other reasons why it's so).
Sci-fi is my setting of choice, but science and technology is a lot more demanding than fantasy (where it's magic; you ain't gotta explain shit). This is especially true where there is quick long-distance communication, mass media, readily-accessible super tech, and large and powerful organizations to contend with. That's one of the reasons I like future apocalypse. You get the cool tech, but you aren't as tied into the larger world, allowing you to go on quests much like in fantasy.
Is it just me, or is the RPGpundit the very essence of a dogmatic OSR fanboy?
>>44375426
In regards to what?
On the gun issue, DriveThruRPG has a free OSR supplement called Hack Firearms or something. It's worth checking out. Gives them exploding damage, so rolling a 6 on a d6 allows you to roll another d6 for additional damage, for example.
Alright, I'm using the Robot class for Dungeon Crawl Classics from mysticbull.
It's pretty solid, but what throws me out of the loop is that it uses spells. But I'm not sure how to handle spell corruption.
Does anyone have a table that could replace it?
>>44339901
Merry christmas
Outside of GURPS B&B, has there been any other games to replicate B&B?
Any recommendations on how to run this as a /osr/ lurker who's done some playing but barely any GMing? What struck me as weird about the module was that the entire caves of chaos bit just seems kind of like a bunker break in?
Not that much wandering around empty rooms, avoiding traps and making sure the torch is lit. It looks really dense and encounter intensive?
Has anyone ran any classic adventure modules using Scarlet Heroes?
I've got like one player who might be interested in a game, so SH seems like a good way to go, and I was wonder if it works well with premade adventures as advertised.
>>44380138
There's a narrative one called Lapins & Lairs.
>>44380597
Yeah, I've done it, and it works fine. SH can let a single hero go into one of those "4-7 player" adventures and MOW MOTHERFUCKERS DOWN. It's crazy fun, and really approaches that Conan feel.
All you have to do is follow the SH book's advice on damage and stuff, and you're good.
>>44380332
It's a very sandbox-y module, for one with pre-set dungeons, anyway. It's got some basic stuff, and you really have to use that as a springboard and flesh stuff out (to mix metaphors) if you want an interesting adventure. I personally never got into it that much.
>>44375426
No, it's not just you.
>>44375426
Nah, just an all-around condescending douchebag completely full of themselves.
>>44373478
I'd love to see a sci fi OSR that has stuff like clearing stronghold hexes, dominions, etc.
So here's a bit of an abstract design question.
Currently I'm making a game and I want to know; should people roll to see if they get unusual race options? Maybe every time they have lost a character this roll increases by +1 so they can play something weirder?
>>44385545
I've thought about a similar gating mechanic. The game I've been working on has a whole town building sidegame, and classes and races get unlocked as you contact other survivors and build the town up, but that means starting off there's hardly anything but "human fighter" or "human specialist" to start with. (Clerics are right out for the setting and mages are forbidden by the parent civilization and are therefore super rare to begin with.)
So to give things a little more zest I devised the "population die," where you roll before making a new character. Roll low, and you get the stock things that have been unlocked so far. Roll higher, and you get various other options, including some that are currently locked, like mages.
If you rolled high but just want to play a stock character, you can give your roll to another player who's making a character, or bank it for someone else to use at a future date.
Basically it's a table, and you can select anything that's at your d100 score or lower, with the first 60% currently being "nothing special". It includes a couple kinds of mages, dwarves, halflings, "a hometown hero" (roll 4d6, drop the lowest), a couple currently unnamed options that give you weird starting items, and a roll of exactly 100 is "name something and the DM will try to make it work."
>>44385708
Thanks, this is close to what I had in mind but I really didn't want to make stats too closely tied into the system, mostly because I didn't want to gimp starting characters too badly, so giving a bunch of racial results (plus you can always pick something lower if you wish) means that players can still choose but makes those more strange types of characters much more rare.
>>44385708
Personally I think halflings should always be available since they're as irrelevant and humble as it gets, perhaps moreso than humans. Dorfs, depending on whether you enforce movement rate, probably aren't too exotic either, I'd put them near the bottom.
>>44339959
depends on what you mean by Traditional, cause when you get down to it, Traditional D&D is actually pretty damn weird, all the way back to OD&D's Implied Setting
personally I like it "Traditional" but with some Weird blended in at the right spots
>>44345036
I just go with Max Hit Die Value+CON Bonus(if I'm being especially generous I might go Max HD Value+CON instead)
>>44345165
look up Hideouts & Hoodlums, it's a really good Golden Age Superheroes RPG that uses Swords & Wizardry White Box as the basis for it's rules
>>44385731
Well, they are near the bottom. They're also among the first races you can unlock as the town grows -- it starts out as a half built, almost shanty-town, but money thrown around will attract more people and cause the town to grow. The players can also do stuff to help that out.
Basically as soon as it's a reasonably promising place to live, somehobbitshalflings will show up to dig out basic holes, and once the town starts to need basements and larger hobbit holes dug, dwarves will show up to ensure the digging's done right and safely and no one cracks into the caverns and unleashes bad stuff into the town without knowledgeable dwarves to deal with it.
>>44386252
I like your justification! It's very fitting and makes a lot of sense.
But in my game it is a little more abstract, this is more generic adventurers going around and starting wherever the adventure starts, basically. So this just limits what class or character you can play based on a die roll.
>>44385545
>should people roll to see if they get unusual race options?
Why bother?
>>44385545
If your goal is to keep parties from being lousy with all kinds of zany races, maybe you could introduce a special exception that everybody gets. You could use this to buy into a strange race, to swap two ability scores, to do something funky with your class (like maybe a minor change in weapon proficiency), etc. So everybody can do something a little special with their character, but only one thing.
>>44386956
Hell, maybe you have to spend your special exception to be able to multiclass into a powerful combination, as these tend to outshine single-class options. (Of course, less optimal multi-class options would remain freely available.)
>>44386956
This was actually how I used to do my homebrew system before I switched to OSR style stuff.
Everyone got 4-6 points of QP or 'Quest Points' with which they can buy all their characters cool shit.
Stolen from the 'Adventure Point' system found on this blog;http://rememberdismove.blogspot.com/2015/05/adventure-points.html
What other useful things, either for starting characters or for long term, can the intelligence stat give characters?
I ask because I don't want it to become a dump stat for everyone but the caster.
>>44387029
I combined all the mental stats in my current game. Well, I combined intelligence and wisdom, anyway. Charisma I just sort of dropped as a stat, basing rolls on character concept/background and level.
I also had the combined stat modify the number of talent points you get, which you can spend to do stuff like getting the better of two rolls. And I still don't think the stat is overpowered.
So I'm writing up my rules PDF right now.
What should come first? Combat rule or all the character stuff? Putting all the character stuff right near the front so it's easy to use and reference makes sense, but that also means character creations mentions things before they appear in the rules.
>>44387657
Almost every RPG book ever puts character creation before combat.
>>44387120
That's what I do as well. Combining int and wis gets something useful enough to not dump stat. I use lots of hirelings and reaction rolls in my game so charisma is one of the more useful stats.
>>44387657
Put character creation first and if there's anything complicated or obscure in that section, then reference the later section where it's explained.
>>44387029
I'm using LotFP as a base, so it gives a bonus to saving throws vs. spells and other magic.
For my houserules: players can can make Intelligence checks(Roll Under, but I may turn it into one of those LotFP d6 skills starting out equal to your Int bonus for consistence) during combat to remember stuff about enemies. I guess BEAR LORE isn't very OSR, but I use weird monsters with unusual powers and weaknesses and players don't always have the time and henchmen morale to conduct experiments. It's also another thing dwarves are good in.
I was considering an XP bonus: Adjust the XP needed for any level by -5%*Intelligence-modificator-- but that would not be very tangible, and require a calculator during char gen.
I like the ideas Zak Smith posts about D&D, but he's written so damn many organizational tricks and random tables that it'll take an afternoon to read em all.
What do you think are his most useful posts?
This might not count as OSR, but it's in the OSR Handbook, so I have a question about Dungeon World:
Does the GM ever roll dice? The GM section says:
>Most damage is based on a die roll. When a player takes damage, tell them what to roll. You never need to touch the dice.
But other sections say things like:
>Roll the monster’s damage die plus any added dice to find the monster’s treasure
with results such as:
>1: A few coins, 2d8 or so
Granted, it's usually prep work stuff, but I feel like I've seen a few rules that imply the GM has to roll some dice during play.
>>44387029
My save system helps with this -- "Reflex" saves are tied to both your Dex and Int mods. If you're really nimble but very stupid, it evens out and you'll be about average at not getting hit by things, because thinking quick (and noticing dangerous things early) is just as important as moving quick after the trap is already in motion.
>>44391659
>I have a question about Dungeon World
It's fine, DW can't have its own generals on /tg/ due to shitposters, so you might as well ask here. I know the system pretty well.
>You never need to touch the dice
This means you could if you wanted to, but you don't have to.
The other things are just telling you what has to be rolled. You can roll it yourself or let players do it, it's all up to you.
>>44391814
Yeah, DW seems to attract its fair share of trolls and shitposters. I haven't ran it yet, but I plan to do a one-shot.
I prefer the idea of not rolling at all. "You take d8 damage" seems like it will be more fun for players than, "You take 5 damage."
It sounds like those lucky 1s and unfortunate 8s will be more meaningful if the player rolls them.
Is there any other situation where the GM would be rolling during play? Again, I feel like I've come across a few things, I just can't remember what those are.
I ran my D&D5Egroup through Death Frost Doom, they really enjoyed it.
What are some other good low-to-mid level dungeon crawl modules? Ideally ones that will only last a session or two. I had a look at DCC, but there's so many I don't know where to begin.
>>44339901
I'm looking for any books that include descriptions of outer planes.
>>44392772
In Search of the Unknown springs to mind. I recently read through a module called Grimmsgate (Swords and Wizardry, might be in the trove) that was short but engaging. From DCC, check out Ruins of Ramat. It's under the "New" folder in the DCC section of the trove.
Just finished my basic rules PDF. Please tell me if I'm forgetting anything obvious and simple. Hope at least one person enjoys.
>>44393430
You'll be wanting the various Planes Of... from the trove. https://mega.nz/#F!3FcAQaTZ!BkCA0bzsQGmA2GNRUZlxzg!6VVW3QLY
Unofficialwise, there's there's New Big Dragon Games' Planar Primer, but it's largely a warm-up to something bigger and better detailed coming up, which is why it's free: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/165469/PX2-Extra-Planar-Primer?src=newest
