About characters, so far
This is just a fraction of the index of the OSR Bible project, which includes what I collected so far about characters.Read more here if you want.Name your character --- includingthe Story Games Name...
View ArticleSaving Throws compared across rulesets
When we looked at the 3d6 in order as char-gen procedure, we compared five major rulesets:- B/X Essentials- Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox- Swords & Wizardry Core- Labyrinth Lord- Lamentations of...
View ArticleSaving Throws ideas
We've seen Saving Throws compared across rulesets and proposed a d6 Saving Throws for LotFP - which has the advantage to replicate the beloved (well, I am in love with it) d6 skills presentation.What...
View ArticleSaving Throw Effort
While re-reading the various posts and considering the various ideas about Saving Throws, I also had a thought... Saving Throws, with their original categories, are often the ultimate barrier between a...
View ArticleSome theory behind Saving Throws
After a month or so discussing Saving Throws, I promise this will be the last entry about this topic, at least for a while. In this post, I want to present some very interesting discussions and...
View ArticleSkills (part one)
Well, I guess this post should start with a quote of the first line of the first post I'm linking below:Skills. Mention them in relation to Old School games, and some grognards start to cringe. Skills...
View ArticleSkills (part two)
See part one here.We've seen already that Skills are a difficult topic to when it comes to OSR.On one hand, having skills system helps players mostly to judge chances and ensure a somehow consistent...
View ArticleEveryone is a Thief (a different approach to skills)
Well, let's consider this: everyone is a thief.Or better yet, every character is an adventurer, a tomb robber; they are out for silver and gold and nothing will stop them. So why not make everyone a...
View ArticleBlack Dogs zine - issue number 8
Gplus is going away today, and my last post on that platform was to advertise issue number 8 of my fanzine, the Black Dogs.https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/269308/Black-Dogs-zine--issue-8Issue 8...
View ArticleCombat: fight and die faster
One of the best products (in my opinion) of the OSR scene, is Into The Odd by Chris McDowall.Of course, get a pdf or better yet a printed copy, if you don't have one.Char-gen is a blast, the setting...
View ArticleCombat: Wounds
In the previous article, Combat: fight and die faster, we've seen how to make combat deadly and fast, with auto-hit or max damage or damage also on a miss.In general, the HP system is one of those most...
View ArticleCombat: Initiative
Initiative in combat is quite a topic. It often makes the difference between life and death, especially at lower levels. If both the character(s) and the adversary can sustain one or two hits before...
View ArticleCombat: initiative in your inventory
When looking at alternatives and suggestions about initiative in OSR combat, I found an interesting article which suggested treating initiative as a "real" object - something to carry around, something...
View ArticleCombat: bring the escalation die to the OSR
In the Combat rules of 13th Age there is a little neat paragraph called "Escalation Die".The rule goes more or less like this:- It starts at 0- In round 2, put a d6 on the table showing 1- Every round,...
View ArticleHow Abilities or Attributes define your character
As stated previously, the six core abilities are often one of the first elements in the game to be house-ruled somehow, whenever a GM feels like tinkering with the rules.See this previous post -...
View ArticleRetirement and Funerals
The inspiration for this article came from Funerals for the Fallen by James Young.It's just a simple, easy rule, with the potential for a tremendous impact on the game, in case of character's...
View ArticleEncounters: overload your encounter dice
If the standard encounter occurs on a roll of 1 on a d6 by rolling every two turns, you might as well roll a d12 every turn (the encounter still happens on a roll of 1). I don't recall where I've read...
View ArticleTraps - a first review
Almost every OSR ruleset contains a skill related to traps. It might be Find and Remove Traps, or some generic Search + generic Tinkering or similar, dividing the actions of finding and disarming or...
View ArticleTraps, part two: example traps
We gave a look at traps, here: Traps - a first review and this topic is definitely too big for a single post. So let's see a few additional points about the subject, but this time let's be very...
View ArticleHirelings: generators and lists
First of all, let's get to the useful tool.Who wants to generate hirelings "wasting" precious time at the table?So let's take advantage of this simple, fast and useful hireling generator: it allows you...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....