Відео

Old school player: player skill is more important than character skill. Young player: meta-gamer!

You failed to mention "Basic Fantasy RPG" which is completely free. Print versions are sold at cost. Its pretty much what would have happened if 3.0 D&D was presented as the "Advanced" version and had to have its own simplified version akin to "Basic" ie "B/X". That would have been Basic Fantasy RPG. It's d20 centric compared to Labyrinth Lord and uses an ascending armor class.

Shadowdark is hot.

My favorite thing about old-school play is how easy it is to drag and drop different rules, methods, monsters, and various other things from other games into your home game. I've been struggling for ages to figure out just what kind of game I want to run, because I like aspects of so many different games, and I think I've finally got a mix of rules I can use for a long-term campaign. What I plan on using is a Frankenstein Monster of Knave 2e, White Box, Blueholme, and a couple of things taken from Dragonbane and Survive This. The core is Knave's classless nature and exploration procedures mixed with roll-under checks from Blueholme and White Box's catch-all Saving Throw number, supplemented with Survive This' 4d4 Saving Throw generation. Leveling up uses gold for EXP and a d20 roll-over method for each stat and your saving throw. If you roll over your established score, the score goes up by 1 (2 if you roll a Nat 20) and each score (saving throw included) maxes out at 18. In testing thus far, it feels fairly balanced, and I can't wait to see what my group thinks. :)

All of these are great! Well explained. Well done.

I agree with you 100 percent! When I got displaced from my decade-long job, D&D was an anchor for me. I continued playing the same campaign with the same group all through that process and finding a new job and training in that new job. It did wonders for my mental health. It was also a creative outlet when I didn't have the mental resources for novel writing.

I am not calling that Kolos

16:01 I found the video I mentioned here - it was not by Matt Parker - Infinite Damage & Infinite Series: Exploding Dice in Dungeons & Dragons by CubingAdrian - ignoring missing on a 1, the damage works out on average to still be better each dice size you go up (e.g., d6 > d4) - there is a caveat that because smaller dice are more likely to explode, they may out perform large dice in small sample sizes - by implementing the miss on a 1, it should shrink the sample size required to achieve that

There's a fine line between a game that's run purely by character stats and one where the characters are little more than placeholders for the players themselves. Players must be able to play characters smarter, wiser, stronger, and braver than themselves, and a DM must be able to facilitate that. While this is obvious in some situations, e.g. having a player roll a STR check to pick up a boulder, it's too often discounted in others, such as solving puzzles or persuading NPCs, where players are expected to use their own ability instead of their character's. Any amateur DM can handle PCs stronger or more dextrous than their player, but it takes more skill for a DM to effectively assist a player in running a smarter or wiser PC.

Currently play 5e. Started in 1980, so…. Basic D&D and then AD&D. I use it all and everything in between! It’s all in your imagination.

It's very rare that I subscribe to a channel, based on one video, but that's what I just did.

The reason for the end of every edition of D&D (aside from the TSR office politics) can be summed up in three words: _too much crap._ Too many rules, too many systems, too many "optional" addons, that became a non-optional part of the mechanics of every adventure, and every campaign world. It started back in 2e, when proficiencies were introduced. Even though they were hardly used in the beginning, it spiraled out of control quickly. Today, both DMs and players believe everything should be determined by a roll. As a teenager playing AD&D, I could have probably counted the total number of ability checks I made on one hand. If players want the dice to decide every outcome, then just roll up 4 or 5 characters, and play by yourself. Make D&D into one long pen & paper game of BG3.

I've watched a lot of "what is OSR" videos, yours is my current favorite--well done! You explained the appeal well. As someone who has been gaming for 40 years, I returned home with OSR, specifically Shadowdark. No more 5e for me. I strongly encourage younger generations to try any of the many OSR options out there. Especially because WoTC is driving the whole thing online and digital, further changing the current incarnation of the game into something very different from its ancestors and, I think, inferior.

If WotC incorporated the older edition rules into their new VTT, they’d make some money for sure.

Nice video.

Great points and I really liked how you brought the points to life. I've noticed that the notion of player skill can be a bit intimidating. I think it might actually help to talk about player immersion like you did. I've also told to my players that there's no one way to do things including the fact that these games are often sandboxes so you don't have to get stuck if you miss something or can't figure out something. That's the difference to something like video games where you have to figure out a specific solution to a puzzle or the whole game gets stuck. I wonder what you think about the Dolmenwood system? I switched to it last year when the pre-published version were final enough to use and I absolutely love the small honings Gavin did to the OSE chassis.

Delving Deeper RPG! Party like it's 1974!

Baptism of Fire was the #1 OSR game for 8 weeks straight. Check it out.

I started with AD&D back in the 80’s and have also played 5e. I see them as very separate games. I miss when encumbrance is left out or the bag of holding shows up. Adventure doesn’t need shortcuts.

I played in 1981 then again in 2008 with my kid. 2nd edition was the hook for me. Throughout the years I stay up on some of the D&D updates. Bought some 5e just to read. Haven’t played since 2008. I still have the books and so many 2nd edition modules to go back in time

Several of my players came over from 5th Edition to play OSRIC, and also Dark Places & Demogorgons. We even play Swords and Wizardry and DCC

There's no school like the old school.

I tried doing a -2 penalty for ranged attacks in dim light (for 5E). My players about lost their minds, lol

I started with AD&D 1st edition. We had to draft our own maps using graph paper and mostly play abstractly compared to having battle maps at the ready these days. I kind of miss those days.

While I somewhat agree with you on the part about the answer is not on the character sheet, I really only apply that to the actual mechanics of the game. I allow the use (and sometimes consumption) of items in their inventory to bypass traps and such. But, when it comes to puzzles and such, people like me and the hundreds of players I've run for in the past decades couldn't solve a puzzle or riddle without the help of Google, lol. Since I didn't have regular access to the internet until about 2005 (started with basic set around 81 at recess), most of my gaming life has been without help from the internet, lol. When it comes to roleplay vs roll play (I believe I am thinking the same definitions you are) I prefer roll play as I feel roleplay relies too much on DM fiat. I also feel similarly about milestone leveling, except I feel that it is absolute garbage, lol.

A great OSR "Basic Fantasy RPG" PDFs are entirely free, and the print books are "at cost" (about $8. for full size books). Lots of supporting material and adventures. The only reason its not as popular as other newer OSR is because newer ones emulate closer. But the small changes in BFRPG are actually positives and its still 90% compatible with any old edition material!

This video was fantastic. You’ve distilled the reasons I love and referee OSE games instead of 5E. My players have finally put away their phones, and are laughing and strategizing like never before.

Good video. I like it.

I can't agree more. The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg is all about player skill over character skill. And yes, player choices have consequences. Griff

Dolmenwood is the best setting I've seen in like forever. I'm about to start a campaing next week. I'll be using shadowdark rules, coming from 3 years of 5e games, so I'm looking forward to it.

I'd really like to try proper OSR some day, but the idea of having to play some sort of find-the-pixel game with my GM to explore a room feels absolutely awful. I'm not going to be on the lookout for secret doors and passageways. I'm not going to be inspecting every drawer and barrel. And it sounds like I'm essentially going to be punished for that.

In the first iteration of DnD, 1 gold = 1 xp. You wound up with so much cash it was ridiculous. What did you do with it when there were only mundane items to buy? You built a fortress. You staffed it and equiped your army. Early DnD had a goal.

Your little trinity of UA-camrs live streaming is nice to see. Glad to see it's still going.

I like the way you structure your talk. That said, I like playing RPGs for roleplay, for the story. And from all people say about OSRs, I feel like it stands in the way of roleplay for two reasons you mentioned: 1) The deadliness. It makes no sense to create hooks for your DM in the backstory to allow for some character arc if most of the times, your character won't live long enough to even start solving that. I'm not here to send Bob the 23rd into the Pyramid of skeletal crocodiles five mins after Bob the 22nd got chewed on the same spot by a random skeletal crocodile (and hope - and metagame by player experience - that Bob the 23rd will see Bob the 22nd's remains and makes use of the warning this provides). The same way, I prefer building characters with traits and flaws that allow for character growth. So, let's say I want to play a character who needs to learn to control their recklessness. Under the oh-so-delightfully-tauted deadliness of OSR, such a character makes zero sense because there is no unconscious or similarly crippled situation that they survive and finally learn from. The just WILL die, not MAY die. End of story. 2) The emphasis on player skill. I prefer emphasis on player agency over skill. Because I want to play a character that DOESN'T know everything the player does. Such a character may do things that are suboptimal and tactically "wrong" for the sake of story. In old school, that makes, again, no sense. Because you can't think in the span of a character arc in such a game. The same also happens for the other side of the spectrum. If my character fantasy is in the neighborhood of Sherlock Holmes, but my player skill in logical induction and escape rooms is lacking, I just created a character that's only as stupid as me with zero way to at least soften that. "If you're not strong enough, don't play powerful barbarians" is an obvious bullshit. Why then "If you're not smart enough, don't play detective-type Rogue or Wizard" is considered a good thing? --- Is the old school this way more realistic? Yes. The same way as inexperienced soldiers die first and only those that don't have a chance to become veterans and reduce their chance of death significantly with their (player, in this case) experience. Is that more fun? For some people, sure. For me, I'm pretty sure it's not. Because I want to play my character with their quirks, NOT myself in the Pyramid of skeletal crocodiles, desperately trying not to die there.

Great video describing the differences and why Old School adds more immersion by relying creative thinking and less on dice mechanics. Switch to Shadowdark a year ago and my group loves it.

14:35 After 19+ years of American school programming where {mistakes==failure} it's no wonder why so many adults are afraid to try new things. Mistakes are the #1 way humans learn. Games and simulation are where the most mistakes can be made with the least amount of consequence of significance. If your character dies, make a new one and join the game.

Recently started following Stephanie - cool to watch in a different setting - I love aasimar and usually have them as a player option - they’re totally underrated - when mine cast light it glows from the angelic runes on their skin - giving players enough rope to hang themselves is a developable skill 😄 - “Im the DM; that’s why” reminds me of when my mom would say, “because I said so” - love when new players are excited to dive in, try things and bring ideas into the mix unhampered by adherence to the rules - playing the antagonist the players can overcome is a part of the DM I’ve been working on/exploring, because I don’t like to be perceived as against the players nor do I like being perceived as foolish or unintelligent or having lost some imaginary battle of wits - I used to always use a DM screen, but I haven’t used one for more than a year and just use my laptop to have the information I need - when I spent more time preparing for games, I would customize monster stat blocks and print them out as references and have them spread out in front of me behind the screen - less so now - I still like using the physical books for my research and planning tho - I give my new players dice, including a d10 inside a d10 which works as a great d100 - and DnD news videos can get very saturated when so many channels cover it - I too am a theatre of the mind person at heart - my players like maps, so we’ve compromised on a simple map that’s never to scale and just gives people a visual reference - we use close/near/far/too far ranges, so ignoring scale is fairly easy - more granular movement is tougher to do that way - I started in 2e but grew up on 3.5 and it is my truest love in the space, but these days, I want to play faster systems that don’t have as much potential for abuse/optimization - I am myself an optimizer/gamist/power gaming player but I only DM these days and don’t want to run power gamers - I have wanted to get into other systems for a while now, but my group won’t budge, so I’m just house ruling DnD out from under them 😄 and they’re surprisingly cool with that - even really enjoying it and not wanting to go back to vanilla - “they don’t know what’s happening” is very accurate - my players have no insight into the OGL crisis, DnD 5.5, other systems - sometimes I have to remind myself that it’s not their passion, and that’s OK - one shots with premade characters is a good way to get them to try out other systems - I used candy to represent monsters when I persuaded my friends to try out DnD in med school - slots helps make encumbrance more fun for me and my players - sounds like HP ranges are something you may be doing without calling it as such - monsters have a range in which a big hit or heroic attack can bring them down and a top end after which they just die - noncombat combat objectives are a top tier tool - literally - I have a playlist called TopTierRPG that includes several videos on the topic - thanks again 👋🏿

what is most amazing to me, is the OSR and specifically the 1e dmg and 1e wilderness survival an dungeon survival books describe so many words and aspects that help a DM describe environments. so good. 5e doesn't do this. in fact now we are suggested to subscribe to things like scribd lol

It's funny, I got back into D&D recently with 3.5 around covid, switched to 5e to get all my friends started, then I very recently picked up the core books for 1st Edition Adnd and haven't looked back.

Imagine D&D players that wasted their last 20 years with inferior experiences. New generations of players will be more lucky, maybe.

🥳🫂👍🏿

Great Stuff, you two!

Great video. I can't play 5E and only play OSR/NSR/FKR games for exactly the reasons you spelled out.

I got into the hobby before WotC made their version of D&D, but honestly the OSR is just not for me, just like D&D is not for me. I prefer different games, like Fiasco or the like. D&D and OSR is just catering to my interests. But I agree that there are plenty of different style that people can enjoy, and thus I would say that the OSR certainly seems to find its audience. I really like the approach of the answer is not on the sheet, but for me the OSR style is too flat. I want that sweet emotional content, not as a sandbox, but as a thematic frame. One could say that Braunstein did what I am looking for, a clear scenario and the characters have agendas they follow. Not that meaningless open world hex crawl that dominates the OSR, with just world simulation. Thus the exploration I want is into the human condition, not the fictional setting, and certainly not any resource management.

I prefer to say "Original Spirit of Roleplay" ;)

Thanks for having me on Ryan! This was such a blast! 😊

oh that is nice! 🧙‍♂🧙‍♂💜💜

As an Evil DM, I approve of this video, and I pull all of my D&D campaigns to ShadowDark TTRPG 🧙‍♂🧙‍♂💜💜

I don't think OSR is for everyone. It is certainly not for me. I started playing in the early 90s with the AD&D 2d Ed, and I won't lie, me and my group had a blast. But when 3e came out I left AD&D behind and never looked back. I prefer the new systems, and in fact, I didn't like 5e as it went back to many of the practices of that older era. I have read a couple of the OSR games and didn't click for me at all. I am just glad that the hobbie has grown to offer such varied options for everyone.

9:45 So the goblins know basic directions to Cragmaw Castle and that Gundren was sent there, what if they decide to go directly there to rescue Gundren? Any advice on that?