Hello,
I am an old 1e AD&D player (we played it until 1999 or so) and have been more recently playing 5e.
At times I miss the thrill of cheating death in the old days.
With that said, is there any advantage to using OSRIC over old dusty AD&D tomes? Is it clearer than AD&D? Apparently I slept through a lot of interesting stuff such as OSRIC.
Thanks for any opinion.
OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord (with Advanced Edition Companion, OS Essentials with Advanced options, these are all perfectly good options that are very well organized and easy to use with other sources with very little work.
I found it extremely bland. It's my understanding that it's purpose was to provide a common reference point that can be used by other material (adventures, settings etc ...) without need to reference TSR/WOTC trademarks, with the expectation that, at the table, people would be using the actual AD&D books.
It would mostly work as an actual rules reference for use in play, but I think it's mildly inferior to the actual 1e books.
Quote from: Warpiglet;1136375Hello,
I am an old 1e AD&D player (we played it until 1999 or so) and have been more recently playing 5e.
At times I miss the thrill of cheating death in the old days.
With that said, is there any advantage to using OSRIC over old dusty AD&D tomes? Is it clearer than AD&D? Apparently I slept through a lot of interesting stuff such as OSRIC.
Thanks for any opinion.
Based upon a couple of reviews I've watched; you get all 3 Core books' worth of encounter tables, to hit tables, treasure tables, game mechanics, spell lists, level progressions, monster stats, etc. without Gary Gygax's sage advise and colorful commentary......all in 1 Book. You can run AD&D out of 1 book. It's supposed to be easier to find stuff, because all of the fluff has been removed.
Some intellectual property has been left out.
Ex: Mind Flayers, Displacer Beasts, etc. Maybe Demogorgon too?
OSRIC exists so you can publish AD&D adventures and other AD&D stuff. It's written for clarity, not inspiration for adventure. It's basically the SRD for TSR's AD&D (minus a few trademarked bits, a couple things shifted, etc). It deserves much kudos for what it accomplished.
However, if you have the original books and you're happy with them, there's no reason to use OSRIC.
I like/use/play Swords & Wizardry: White Box because it's a cleaned up 0e with enough flavor for me. However, the OSR has been cranking out retroclones and retrowhatevers for almost two decades now so you have a phenomenal number of choices for "TSR(ish) flavored D&D"
If you like Greek myths via Hollywood via AD&D, I highly suggest MAZES & MINOTAURS. It's free.
http://mazesandminotaurs.free.fr/
There's a Valkyries & Vikings version too! But you gotta play Amon Amarth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edBYB1VCV0k) while reading the PDF or you won't generate enough runic protection and you'll be slain by ice trolls.
http://mazesandminotaurs.free.fr/VIK.html
Having a copy of OSRIC handy might be useful. It's really effective for looking things up both in print (I have the lay flat spiral bound version) and in PDF. Basically, can confirm Razor's point. I have 1e books as well, and find it's worth the shelf space to have both.
Quote from: Warpiglet;1136375Hello,
I am an old 1e AD&D player (we played it until 1999 or so) and have been more recently playing 5e.
At times I miss the thrill of cheating death in the old days.
With that said, is there any advantage to using OSRIC over old dusty AD&D tomes? Is it clearer than AD&D? Apparently I slept through a lot of interesting stuff such as OSRIC.
Thanks for any opinion.
I have the OSRIC pocket pdf on my laptop; it is excellently bookmarked and very very easy to reference. So far this morning running a battle in my OSRIC PBP I've referenced the Strength Spell, Strength chart, Animate Dead, Turn Undead chart, & Zombie (Monster) - yes they killed it. :D
I highly recommend OSRIC as a rules reference and something all players can have a free PDF copy of. It's massively better than the AD&D books for remote gaming IME. For Tabletop it's still a superior reference source.
The rules are almost identical; there are a few small tweaks eg bow specialisation gives the same bonus as melee weapon spec, unlike in UA there is no double damage. There are a few lacuna, notably no Monk class.
I appreciate the info! I guess ultimately I should grab the pdf and look, but wondered if it clarifies anything. There were some rules I am sure we had waved due to uncertainty. I am going to grab it and check out initiative for starters....
Quote from: Warpiglet;1136426I appreciate the info! I guess ultimately I should grab the pdf and look, but wondered if it clarifies anything. There were some rules I am sure we had waved due to uncertainty. I am going to grab it and check out initiative for starters....
The PDF is free. No risk except time.
As noted, there are a few omissions from AD&D. If you have AD&D, and have played it for years, you have those bits already and either know them well, or don't use them.
Quote from: RandyB;1136431The PDF is free. No risk except time.
As noted, there are a few omissions from AD&D. If you have AD&D, and have played it for years, you have those bits already and either know them well, or don't use them.
Nice. Yeah. Think I will grab it and check out the spots I am thinking of like initiative.
Now I am assuming there are "new" modules that were produced post AD&D as well....though I have tons of AD&D that was collected and never played so they are ripe for use...
Quote from: Warpiglet;1136426I appreciate the info! I guess ultimately I should grab the pdf and look, but wondered if it clarifies anything. There were some rules I am sure we had waved due to uncertainty. I am going to grab it and check out initiative for starters....
Yes initiative is much clearer in OSRIC. You declare actions, then roll d6s per side, the difference in the d6s determines the number of segments ahead the winning side's actions begin resolving. So eg to get a Fireball off in melee you'd want to win by 3 segments.
Quote from: Warpiglet;1136448Nice. Yeah. Think I will grab it and check out the spots I am thinking of like initiative.
Now I am assuming there are "new" modules that were produced post AD&D as well....though I have tons of AD&D that was collected and never played so they are ripe for use...
Yep. Most of them produced in the context of OSRIC. Poke around the Internet a bit and you'll find an active community around 1e and OSRIC.
Quote from: S'mon;1136449Yes initiative is much clearer in OSRIC. You declare actions, then roll d6s per side, the difference in the d6s determines the number of segments ahead the winning side's actions begin resolving. So eg to get a Fireball off in melee you'd want to win by 3 segments.
Cool! Much appreciated. I think we were doing it correctly. Seems like it got weird with drow or deep gnomes but I am going to take a fresh look.
I have not even proposed 1e/OSRIC to my pals. Will be interesting to see what they say!