redbeardsravings.blogspot.com
Redbeard's Ravings: March 2014
http://redbeardsravings.blogspot.com/2014_03_01_archive.html
Friday, March 28, 2014. RIP DAT - and FYI. The world and the gaming community has lost. Another gem, one which might have been returning to us. Many others have posted wonderful recollections of his work, including this rare picture. I've never seen that one before. Thank you. I feel forced to add what is in part conjecture. If bringing up other topics into your gaming offends you, I won't apologize. I think this story shows how your different worlds are connected. We lose other artists whose work we nev...
dailyosr.blogspot.com
Daily OSR fix: Repost: Heroic achievements
http://dailyosr.blogspot.com/2014/05/repost-heroic-achievements.html
OSR, classic roleplaying and old school Dungeons and Dragons. Sunday, 4 May 2014. Today's post is a repost since I have a pretty busy schedule lined up today. What follows is an extremely simple system for "stunts" in OSR games. This is very similar to the "heroic abilities" system I have previously presented here and the two can be used together or individually. Any time a character uses a class related ability, he may attempt to be heroic. This succeeds on a 1 in 6 chance. Warrior types (and based on D...
dailyosr.blogspot.com
Daily OSR fix: May 2013
http://dailyosr.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html
OSR, classic roleplaying and old school Dungeons and Dragons. Tuesday, 28 May 2013. It's been pretty quiet here, since I've been neckdeep in trying to write Metal Rogue. A game revolving around random tables is hard work, as it turns out. Here's an excerpt that is totally useful in any OSR game though. Roll up 4-6 events to establish a timeline. The events are pretty broad, and very open to interpretation. 5-8 Age of prosperity. 41-44 Gods among men. 45-48 Realignment of land mass. 89-92 Rifts in reality.
dailyosr.blogspot.com
Daily OSR fix: Are OSR gamers conservative?
http://dailyosr.blogspot.com/2014/05/are-osr-gamers-conservative.html
OSR, classic roleplaying and old school Dungeons and Dragons. Saturday, 3 May 2014. Are OSR gamers conservative? There's a general feeling in some of the larger RPG community that OSR and retro D&D gamers are "conservatives", stuck in the past. (And I should clarify that I don't mean conservative in a political sense, I've met OSR gamers that are conservatives, libertarians, progressives, anarchists and socialists). Both the "EXTREME OSR" post and the Spell Stealer class did very well in that regard.
dailyosr.blogspot.com
Daily OSR fix: EXTREME OSR
http://dailyosr.blogspot.com/2014/05/extreme-osr.html
OSR, classic roleplaying and old school Dungeons and Dragons. Thursday, 1 May 2014. Being a teenager in the 90's, I remember when everything was EXTREME. So with that in mind, here's a few somewhat light hearted suggestions for making your OSR and retro D&D games EXTREME. Use with caution (or with characters that aren't meant for a long, serious campaign). If the new target is also killed, another attack is triggered. Any character scoring a natural 20 on an attack roll or saving throw, or a 1-5 on a thi...
dailyosr.blogspot.com
Daily OSR fix: February 2013
http://dailyosr.blogspot.com/2013_02_01_archive.html
OSR, classic roleplaying and old school Dungeons and Dragons. Thursday, 28 February 2013. The Investigator. LL compatible class. Weapons permitted: As thief. Magical items permitted: Any permitted to thieves. There was only really one conclusion to be drawn, and it had been obvious all along. He reached for the scroll to write down his findings about the church of the Evening Star, and their cult activities. As per the spell once per day, increasing to twice at level 5, and three at level 10. Their skill...
dailyosr.blogspot.com
Daily OSR fix: April 2014
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OSR, classic roleplaying and old school Dungeons and Dragons. Wednesday, 30 April 2014. Rolling in the open or behind the screen? Conventional wisdom in roleplaying games is that the GM should always roll behind the screen. This way you can conceal information from the players about how easy or hard a time the enemy is having at hitting them and so forth. It also goes that by concealing the rolls, you can fudge them easier if you need. I find that it creates far more tension in the game as they'll watch ...
dailyosr.blogspot.com
Daily OSR fix: Rolling in the open or behind the screen?
http://dailyosr.blogspot.com/2014/04/rolling-in-open-or-behind-screen.html
OSR, classic roleplaying and old school Dungeons and Dragons. Wednesday, 30 April 2014. Rolling in the open or behind the screen? Conventional wisdom in roleplaying games is that the GM should always roll behind the screen. This way you can conceal information from the players about how easy or hard a time the enemy is having at hitting them and so forth. It also goes that by concealing the rolls, you can fudge them easier if you need. I find that it creates far more tension in the game as they'll watch ...
dailyosr.blogspot.com
Daily OSR fix: November 2013
http://dailyosr.blogspot.com/2013_11_01_archive.html
OSR, classic roleplaying and old school Dungeons and Dragons. Saturday, 30 November 2013. While more relevant to OSR By Night, this could be applied to a more horror styled fantasy game as well. These rules are intended to mainly affect the current situation, and are less gruesome than the effects in some popular horror role playing games. Racial bonuses do not apply, unless, again, the GM determines they should. Depending on the monsters level, three different effects may occur:. If the monster is 4 lev...
dailyosr.blogspot.com
Daily OSR fix: March 2013
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OSR, classic roleplaying and old school Dungeons and Dragons. Sunday, 31 March 2013. Percentile systems. Part 2. For a simpler resolution mechanic, the following can be used with minimal fuss:. The DM sets a base chance, based on his best judgement. For simplicity give the odds as intervals of 10. A tough action might be 30 percent while a specialty of a character might be 60. Links to this post. Saturday, 30 March 2013. Champion. A LL compatible class. When facing followers of a hostile or opposing deit...