This is the one I have. I really like it. Very easy to understand if Gygax is too verbose or not as clear as you would like. Very important rule tome to have.
Some of us older players prefer the old style of how this was played over more modern game sets....i have ordered my copy of OSRIC to add to my collection.
AD&D was fun and as teenagers we never had trouble playing it. I guess today's players are less hardy than us leathery grognards. 🤣 At 12 I started with OD&D and my God, we played the hell out of it and added everything we needed on the fly and loved it to death. Then watched Benny Hill, Monty Python and ended up falling asleep to The Ghoul after 1am here in the suburbs of Detroit. Good times. Good friends. Great adventures.
Yep it's a really clean product and very close to 1st ed. AD&D. There are differences to 1e throughout but they are subtle e.g. Halfling get a +3 with bow or sling etc.. I'm so happy with these rules that I'm writing a module that I intend to publish (Ludum Press). Also the free OSRIC rules come in 'A5 PDF' and 'epub' variants that some users may prefer.
Well done review Jeff! I just went down that third party avenue to procure not only the original AD&D core books. I also went ahead and snagged Hommlet, World of Greyhawk, and a few other modules and tools to help me step into the old school. And man, I spent 3+ hours today simply trying to make a level 1 human fighter (based on my ability score rolls and what was available to me. And it was rough. Even finding what race/class combo worked was unnecessarily convoluted as I had to reference the poorly designed race and class chart on top of the DMG just to get all the info I needed to generate a full character. It's now 12:43am and I still haven't finished my fighter. I'm hoping I can get some games going with OSRIC as the main book and the core books as the reference material.
Re: Gygax's obsession with polearms. His original Unearthed Arcana had SIX PAGES of polearms at the back. And yet he never figured out how to make them interesting.
I prefer OSRIC because it is organized much better than the original books. I like original books for the great advice they contain but using them to run games is rough.
Ah yeah the weapon stuff like polearms have to keep in mind that the game was designed with table top war gaming in mind that used heavy stats with weapons and how you would fight thats part of it. Myself i just ordered thisnon lulu and currently have the PDF version but i am doing a Shadowdark megadungeon meant for OSRIC they work so well together but i have pretty much mixed the two systems with my own homebrew rules for healing and recovery from fights (Shadowdark is to much with a long rest in terms of healing. But anyway its cool and its working really damn well very happy. Nice to have the OSRIC book to use without the need of my laptop. I convert the armour class system up oretty easily so it works well and easy very fast tbh done in seconds and changed the xp system to the OSRIC system since i like longer drawn out also since the megadungeon was meant for it overall it makes nore sense . Might make more changes overtime at this rate il be making my own system 🤣 but again most things move over to these systems very easily same for most OSR type games.
@@Thegaminggang thanks. Looks like softcover only, but it's also a smaller page size, I'm worried about my old eyes trying to read those tables in a small format. I may look into a print on demand option.
Have not been able to find the osric hard cover. The only links I ever find take you to a facebook page that hasn't seen any activity in a long while. I order the soft cover from lulu but the font is so small I can't read it. Super disappointed with that book that will no doubt find it's way to ebay. I've been looking for the hard cover for years but no dice. I think I'm over it now having been burnt by the lulu tiny book.
My understanding is the authors have been bouncing around Kickstarting a second edition. I will say DriveThruRPG has an OSRIC Player's Guide which is available as a print on demand. The book is supposed to contain the vast majority of the rules. It might be worth a peek. ~ Jeff
This the Black Blade Publishing hardcover or the Lulu hardcover? I just ordered (from their new 3rd printing due to be in late March 2023) the higher quality Black Blade Publishing hardcover.
This is the one I have. I really like it. Very easy to understand if Gygax is too verbose or not as clear as you would like. Very important rule tome to have.
Some of us older players prefer the old style of how this was played over more modern game sets....i have ordered my copy of OSRIC to add to my collection.
AD&D was fun and as teenagers we never had trouble playing it. I guess today's players are less hardy than us leathery grognards. 🤣
At 12 I started with OD&D and my God, we played the hell out of it and added everything we needed on the fly and loved it to death. Then watched Benny Hill, Monty Python and ended up falling asleep to The Ghoul after 1am here in the suburbs of Detroit. Good times.
Good friends.
Great adventures.
Yep it's a really clean product and very close to 1st ed. AD&D. There are differences to 1e throughout but they are subtle e.g. Halfling get a +3 with bow or sling etc.. I'm so happy with these rules that I'm writing a module that I intend to publish (Ludum Press). Also the free OSRIC rules come in 'A5 PDF' and 'epub' variants that some users may prefer.
Well done review Jeff! I just went down that third party avenue to procure not only the original AD&D core books. I also went ahead and snagged Hommlet, World of Greyhawk, and a few other modules and tools to help me step into the old school.
And man, I spent 3+ hours today simply trying to make a level 1 human fighter (based on my ability score rolls and what was available to me. And it was rough. Even finding what race/class combo worked was unnecessarily convoluted as I had to reference the poorly designed race and class chart on top of the DMG just to get all the info I needed to generate a full character.
It's now 12:43am and I still haven't finished my fighter. I'm hoping I can get some games going with OSRIC as the main book and the core books as the reference material.
Thank you kindly!
Play it hardcore! 3D6 in order and roll for Hit Points! Let every battle make the players afraid of loosing their characters every battle!
That's how i like to run my games. :)
Re: Gygax's obsession with polearms. His original Unearthed Arcana had SIX PAGES of polearms at the back. And yet he never figured out how to make them interesting.
TSR certainly tried though! :)
I prefer OSRIC because it is organized much better than the original books. I like original books for the great advice they contain but using them to run games is rough.
Great review! I hope I get to try OSRIC/AD&D someday
You should!
Ah yeah the weapon stuff like polearms have to keep in mind that the game was designed with table top war gaming in mind that used heavy stats with weapons and how you would fight thats part of it. Myself i just ordered thisnon lulu and currently have the PDF version but i am doing a Shadowdark megadungeon meant for OSRIC they work so well together but i have pretty much mixed the two systems with my own homebrew rules for healing and recovery from fights (Shadowdark is to much with a long rest in terms of healing. But anyway its cool and its working really damn well very happy. Nice to have the OSRIC book to use without the need of my laptop. I convert the armour class system up oretty easily so it works well and easy very fast tbh done in seconds and changed the xp system to the OSRIC system since i like longer drawn out also since the megadungeon was meant for it overall it makes nore sense . Might make more changes overtime at this rate il be making my own system 🤣 but again most things move over to these systems very easily same for most OSR type games.
Just one little, tiny correction: Displacer beasts are in OSRIC under their original name, the Coeurl. ;)
I have several of The First Edition Society PDF's. These are pre Osric.
I love the old-school play style, but wild horses couldn’t drag me away from d20, roll high, mechanics.
That's why so many people are enjoying Shadowdark. ~ Jeff
Any idea where I can pick up a hardcover copy? Seems like I can only find a softcover. I may be too late to get a hardcover.
I picked mine up on Lulu but I don't know if they still offer the hardcover. ~ Jeff
@@Thegaminggang thanks. Looks like softcover only, but it's also a smaller page size, I'm worried about my old eyes trying to read those tables in a small format. I may look into a print on demand option.
Have you done a review for "For Gold & Glory"?
I haven't yet. ~ Jeff
Thanks.
You're welcome!
Have not been able to find the osric hard cover. The only links I ever find take you to a facebook page that hasn't seen any activity in a long while. I order the soft cover from lulu but the font is so small I can't read it. Super disappointed with that book that will no doubt find it's way to ebay. I've been looking for the hard cover for years but no dice. I think I'm over it now having been burnt by the lulu tiny book.
My understanding is the authors have been bouncing around Kickstarting a second edition. I will say DriveThruRPG has an OSRIC Player's Guide which is available as a print on demand. The book is supposed to contain the vast majority of the rules. It might be worth a peek. ~ Jeff
This the Black Blade Publishing hardcover or the Lulu hardcover? I just ordered (from their new 3rd printing due to be in late March 2023) the higher quality Black Blade Publishing hardcover.
This is the LuLu hardcover.
Wonkyness of the Armor Class...lol
AD&D was a magical time, free of the woke garbage which infests the ‘new’ d&d.
I think the Old school renaissance has saved this hobby. Modern D&D is gheeeaay as hell, 5e is awful.