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Author Topic: In case I've missed some - What OSR games have the best rules in your opinion?  (Read 7998 times)

The Exploited.

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My top picks so far are:

Beyond the Wall (overall vibe and slick rules).
Night Owl Workshop - The guys that did Freebooters (I've picked up their whole line!).
Other Dust (actually, I love all of SNP).
Dark Albion has to go in here - With Appendix P!
Sabres and Witchery.
Fantastic Heroes & Witchery
DCC.
C&C.
From the Vats - Their stuff that is basically D&D BX in a very small set of books.

ASSH2e (I love the vibe but I'm not mad on those old school minuscule increments that thieves have for their skills).
LoTFP (more for the supplements rather then the rules).

Anything I've missed or that are worth grabbing?

Thanks!
« Last Edit: October 12, 2017, 11:30:22 AM by The Exploited. »
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saskganesh

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BFRPG.

Ascending AC and AB, separate race/class, no alignment, tons of add-ons to tweak to taste (make it your own), many adventures. It's easier to add on than to take out I think. Everything is free.

ACKS. Integrated economy makes for a solid base for world building. You know how much a petty lord makes and you know who can afford to buy a dragon carcass. Useful shit like that.

The Exploited.

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Quote from: saskganesh;1000060
BFRPG.

Ascending AC and AB, separate race/class, no alignment, tons of add-ons to tweak to taste (make it your own), many adventures. It's easier to add on than to take out I think. Everything is free.

ACKS. Integrated economy makes for a solid base for world building. You know how much a petty lord makes and you know who can afford to buy a dragon carcass. Useful shit like that.

Cheers for those. I'll grab BFRP now (free is always nice!).

I've head good stuff about ACKS at it happens.

Ta'!
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AsenRG

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My favourites, in order of preference...well, technically I should start with Barbarians of Lemuria, but most people don't consider it part of the OSR, so I'll stick to what I know.

DCC/MCC
Low Fantasy RPG
Crimson Blades/Woodland Warriors
Five Ancient Kingdoms
Spellcraft and Swordplay
Maze Rats
Havenshield
Crypts and Things
Epees et Sorcellerie
Backswords and Bucklers
Scarlet Heroes
Dungeon Questing
Fantastic Heroes and Witchery
ACKS
The Nightmares Underneath

...and that's about it for me;).
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The Exploited.

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Quote from: AsenRG;1000075
My favourites, in order of preference...well, technically I should start with Barbarians of Lemuria, but most people don't consider it part of the OSR, so I'll stick to what I know.

DCC/MCC
Low Fantasy RPG
Crimson Blades/Woodland Warriors
Five Ancient Kingdoms
Spellcraft and Swordplay
Maze Rats
Havenshield
Crypts and Things
Epees et Sorcellerie
Backswords and Bucklers
Scarlet Heroes
Dungeon Questing
Fantastic Heroes and Witchery
ACKS
The Nightmares Underneath

...and that's about it for me;).

Great list! Thanks very much. That should keep me busy over the weekend. ;)
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Ulairi
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Swords & Wizadry more specifically: Hero's Journey from Barrel Rider Games.

Larsdangly

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There are a lot, that's for sure. Do people think the genre is saturated or is there space for more new systems of this type?

My personal preference is for systems that can be played directly with original materials. Meaning the AC, HP and to-hit scales all 'work' naturally with original D&D stat blocks and so forth. If a system requires conversion of original materials I wont really play it - I have a complete set of 1E, BD&D and OD&D materials and think they are fine. Stuff like to hit tables are an unimportant detail, so I'm not sold on a game just because it represents the same math as an ascending AC scale or something. An OSR variant has to offer something substantial AND be consistent with old materials to be worth while to me.

JeremyR

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Warriors of the Red Planet is basically the only OD&D based one that doesn't deliberately suck in order to be "Older School than Thou".

It uses ascending armor class, but it doesn't used the severely gimped attack bonuses as in other OD&D. Warriors go up +1 per level. Which makes sense, the game is based around a d20 and AC goes from 10 to -10 (or 10 to 30) and none of this AC9 BS.

Similarly, it has hit dice that are full, actual dice of varying size depending on class. None of the 1d6+2 HP crap.

Has a unified ability score table (from B/X)

And none of that single saving throw BS.  Too bad the other Night Owl Games go the Older School Than Thou route and thus suck. But they were designed by different people.

Spears of the Dawn also does all of that, it's more modern in other ways though, like having the Sine Nomine skill system (based more on Classic Traveller).

Crypts and Things 2.0 is also pretty good, probably the best sword & sorcery style OSR game. They replaced the single saving throw BS with a luck attribute from Fighting Fantasy which works pretty well.

Voros
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I'll second Asen on The Nightmares Underneath.

The single most impressive rule set based on D&D for me continues to be The White Hack, I think it has only been held back because the designer has made it available as hardcopy only via Lulu.

Obviously anything by Kevin Crawford is quality stuff, if you haven't checked out at least the free no-art version of Godbound yet you definitely should do so. The aforementioned single player/single DM system Scarlet Heroes is also excellent.

The Black Hack is cheap, fast and popular with lots of hack variations springing up every day. A stripped down D&D where the GM largely doesn't roll, it also has the advantage of pissing off Pundit who now also has a personal beef with David Black.

Simlasa

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In case I've missed some - What OSR games have the best rules in your opinion?
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2017, 05:25:02 PM »
Quote from: Voros;1000122
I'll second Asen on The Nightmares Underneath
Odd... I bought it, read it, thought it was cool... but I don't remember thinking it was much like D&D.
I was mostly interested in the setting though...

My favorites are DCC and LotFP.

Voros
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In case I've missed some - What OSR games have the best rules in your opinion?
« Reply #11 on: October 12, 2017, 05:32:40 PM »
Quote from: Simlasa;1000125
Odd... I bought it, read it, thought it was cool... but I don't remember thinking it was much like D&D.
I was mostly interested in the setting though...

My favorites are DCC and LotFP.

I believe he used Dungeon World as his base but changes it pretty significantly, like Jason Lutes' also very good Freebooters of the Frontiers.

His City of Poison supplement for Nightmares Underneath is also terrifically imaginative.

The Exploited.

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In case I've missed some - What OSR games have the best rules in your opinion?
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2017, 07:03:28 PM »
Quote from: estar;1000099
My Majestic Wilderlands along with the free Basic Rules I just released. Plus Swords & Wizardry.


Thanks mate. Majestic Widerlands is in the cart on Drivethru. Sounds like a lot of info crammed into 140 pages.
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The Exploited.

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In case I've missed some - What OSR games have the best rules in your opinion?
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2017, 07:06:33 PM »
Quote from: Ulairi;1000102
Swords & Wizadry more specifically: Hero's Journey from Barrel Rider Games.


Ta! I think I've heard of Hero's Journey at one point. So thanks for putting it on my radar, I'll have a look for it too (and S&W).
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The Exploited.

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In case I've missed some - What OSR games have the best rules in your opinion?
« Reply #14 on: October 12, 2017, 07:10:43 PM »
Quote from: JeremyR;1000120
Warriors of the Red Planet is basically the only OD&D based one that doesn't deliberately suck in order to be "Older School than Thou".

It uses ascending armor class, but it doesn't used the severely gimped attack bonuses as in other OD&D. Warriors go up +1 per level. Which makes sense, the game is based around a d20 and AC goes from 10 to -10 (or 10 to 30) and none of this AC9 BS.

Similarly, it has hit dice that are full, actual dice of varying size depending on class. None of the 1d6+2 HP crap.

Has a unified ability score table (from B/X)

And none of that single saving throw BS.  Too bad the other Night Owl Games go the Older School Than Thou route and thus suck. But they were designed by different people.

Spears of the Dawn also does all of that, it's more modern in other ways though, like having the Sine Nomine skill system (based more on Classic Traveller).

Crypts and Things 2.0 is also pretty good, probably the best sword & sorcery style OSR game. They replaced the single saving throw BS with a luck attribute from Fighting Fantasy which works pretty well.


Thanks for those. Actually, I forgot to put in my original list that I have just bought Crypts and Things 2 recently. It's good! :)

Warriors of the Red Planet is class. I really like all their stuff so far. :)

I've not checked out Spears of Dawn to be honest so I'll definitely check it out now. I like what SNP does with OSR (from the stuff I have).
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