OSR Guide for the Now-Less-Perplexed (or So We Hope...)

OSR Guide for the Now-Less-Perplexed (or So We Hope...)

 

OSR logo by Stuart Robertson

I tweaked Zak's original questions a bit (see below if you want to reuse my wording):

1. One article or blog entry that exemplifies the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:   This one's a toss-up for me, since I love both 1) timrod's excellent and inter-related series of blog posts on the maps and environs for B2 Keep on the Borderlands, T1 Village of Hommlet, and the Sample Dungeon from the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide, as well as 2) Zach "Zenopus Archives" Howard's page-by-page analysis of John Eric Holmes' original manuscript for the Holmes Basic set - Both of these exemplify close reading of texts in conjunction with creative approaches to leveraging that information in game play at the table!


2. My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice:  "Megadungeon Tactics: Mission-Based Adventuring" by Matt Finch, published in Knockspell #4 (Spring 2010) - This is an excellent resource for old-school dungeon-exploring players in general, and helps players to effectively deploy in play the concepts outlined in Matt's Old School Primer. 


3. Best OSR module/supplement:  Scot "Kellri" Hoover's Classic Dungeon Designer's Netbook #4 - Old School Encounters Reference.pdf - Perhaps the best free OSR resource ever published!:  an essential guide to adventure/encounter design, and while written with 1e AD&D/OSRIC in mind, it's very useful for anyone running any fantasy campaign, regardless of RPG and/or D&D edition.


4. My favorite house rule (by someone else):  I have no recollection who came up with this concept anymore (and if you remember, please let me know!), but I love the idea that when PCs sell gems, jewelry, magic items, and other loot, that their payouts are influenced positively and negatively by the negotiating PC's Charisma reaction adjustments (to which I also add racial preferences modifiers, too).  This goes back to the old Amber Diceless RPG adage that each-and-every stat on your character sheet is the most-important stat (in some situation). 


5. How I found out about the OSR:  The OSR coalesced, named, and formalized itself around the online mailing lists, web sites, boards/forums, and gaming conventions where I've hung out, discussed and shared AD&D- and Greyhawk content over the past 15-20 years.  I've met, gamed with, and become friends with many old-school gamers who I wouldn't otherwise have ever known except through the OSR communities where we've come together to talk shop around our favorite games.


6. My favorite OSR online resource/toy:  Jason Zavoda's Index Greyhawkiana, a compiled index of references within World of Greyhawk products published from the 1970s through August 2003 (the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was its last update) - Jason's index is something I use practically every day, and is an indispensable tool for a fan of the World of Greyhawk setting.  Other key reference tools I use nearly-daily include the Dragondex index of Dragon Magazine articles, and the D&D publishing history web sites The Acaeum, Adrian Newman's TSR Archive, and the Tome of Treasures.


7. Best place to talk to other OSR gamers:  In-person at GaryCon (every year in March, in Lake Geneva, WI; ~2500 attendees) and the North Texas RPG Convention (every year in June in Dallas, TX; ~400 attendees) - These conventions have been a wonderful way to put-faces-to-names from discussion boards, to deepen friendships begun online, and to game with like-minded old-schoolers.  If you've never carved out the time and/or budget to attend one or the other, it's well-worth planning to do so.  If you dig around there's probably an old-school convention in your neighborhood, too.


8. Other places I might be found hanging out talking games:  The Knights & Knaves Alehouse, Dragonsfoot, ODD74, Canonfire!, and various other Greyhawk and/or old-school, general RPG, etc. groups on Facebook, Google+, and most-recently, MeWe.  Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to chat---I'm "grodog" on all of these platforms.


9. My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody appreciates enough:  Mapping as a player is fun, useful in-game, and makes the game easier to play!  I know, I know---you don't believe me, but I wrote an article in The Twisting Stair #3 that details three different ways to approach mapping as a player, and when to use one method vs. the other two.  It's worth checking out :D


10. My favorite non-OSR RPGs:  Amber Diceless, Ars Magica, Blue Planet, Call of Cthulhu, Coriolis: the Third Horizon, Eclipse Phase, Kult, Upwind, Vampire the Masquerade, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.  Of those, Call of Cthulhu most-often ends up atop the list after AD&D. 


11. Why I like OSR stuff:  I love the fun and creative collaboration when people come together to play games and to enjoy discussing, playing, designing, and publishing the adventures, settings, sourcebooks, and rules for the games and settings that I love to play. Hand-in-hand with that spirit of collaboration is the important idea of designing, sharing, and publishing tools that make games easier to play, in addition to sharing out cool ideas, adventures, and settings.  To paraphrase Trent Foster---designing good "creativity aids, not creativity replacements” is an important aspect that drives the DIY work-ethic and work-product of the OSR. 


12. Two other cool OSR things you should know about that I haven’t named yet:  1) David A. Hill's Eldritch Avremier, fourth of five old-school supplements from his Mothshade Concepts imprint, which publishes his OD&D-based Avremier campaign setting, and 2) Jeff Talanian's Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea old-school game - I'm a sucker for good settings, and both David's and Jeff's works offer richly-evocative campaign settings immersed in old-school play styles. 


13. If I could read but one RPG blog on my desert island, it would be:  Gabor "Melan" Lux's Beyond Fomalhaut and associated Echoes from Fomalhaut zine - Gabor's work couples the essence of Wilderlands of High Fantasy gaming with excellent design, useful-at-the-table gameplay detail, and a wonderful imaginative vision that always inspires me to design better, to try harder!


14. A game thing I made that I like quite a lot is:  Tales of Peril: The Complete Boinger and Zereth Stories of John Eric Holmes, published in June 2017 by Black Blade Publishing and I'm adding a second since this one's free---The Hyqueous Vaults written the Hyqueous Vaults Creation Team and published by Guy Fullerton (two different links there) in December 2017 (the adventure somewhat-belatedly celebrates the 10th anniversary of the publication of OSRIC, the original AD&D retro-clone)


15. I'm currently running/playing:   running and/or playing in four AD&D 1e campaigns, playing an Ars Magica 5e saga, and planning to run a Delta Green and/or Call of Cthulhu 5th edition Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign


16. I don't care whether you use ascending or descending AC because...:  ...I have DM Screen to look up the proper numbers, of course---and I use it because repeating 20s are difficult to memorize!


17. The OSRest picture I could post on short notice:  Ian Baggley's "Battle with the Dagonites" which we used as Tales of Peril's back cover artwork:

    

    Ian Baggley's "Battle with the Dagonites"

    
    
    

And here's my tweaked list of the questions, for easy cut/pasting:

1. One article or blog entry that exemplifies the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:  
2. My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice:  
3. Best OSR module/supplement:  
4. My favorite house rule (by someone else):
5. How I found out about the OSR:
6. My favorite OSR online resource/toy:
7. Best place to talk to other OSR gamers:
8. Other places I might be found hanging out talking games:  
9. My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody appreciates enough:
10. My favorite non-OSR RPGs:
11. Why I like OSR stuff:
12. Two other cool OSR things you should know about that I haven’t named yet:
13. If I could read but one RPG blog on my desert island, it would be:  
14. A game thing I made that I like quite a lot is:
15. I'm currently running/playing:
16. I don't care whether you use ascending or descending AC because...:
17. The OSRest picture I could post on short notice: