Tenkar's Tavern: What to Play When One Steps Away From the OSR

Friday, November 18, 2011

What to Play When One Steps Away From the OSR

I'm looking for a system that is a bit more "episodic" then most of the rule sets in the OSR. By default, they assume campaign play, which is awesome overall, and my preferred way to play, but sometimes you need something made for easy swapping out of PCs between sessions, which is damn useful if you plan on using any typo of VTT.

I'm leaning towards Trail of Cthulhu, using the recently released Apocalypse Machine Sourcebook. Kind of a Fallout meets Cthulhu setting. I'm reading through the sourcebook now, and I think it would work well in the type of pick up game Constacon tends to run.

More when I've gotten further into reading the sourcebook.

3 comments:

BobNovember 18, 2011 at 9:02 PM
You could always keep it old school and go with something like Top Secret or James Bond. Play one-shot missions a la Mission Impossible and you're set.
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TenkarNovember 18, 2011 at 9:26 PM
If I was going to go Old School, I'd use Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes.

But i do like the whole Cthulhu Apocalypse angle - not sure I could convert it easily to MSPE ;)
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Ara KooserNovember 18, 2011 at 9:35 PM
Off the top of my head:

Dungeon World
http://www.dungeon-world.com/

Primetime Adventures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primetime_Adventures

High Quality Roleplaying Game
http://www.tao-games.com/?p=29

Classic Traveller works well where you swap out crew members each session at stations or dirt side

There are some others such as:
In a Wicked Age, Thousand and One Nights, Shock: Social Science Fiction, Remember Tomorrow, and 3:16 Among the Stars

Hope there is something useful and or inspiring among those.
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Friday, November 18, 2011

What to Play When One Steps Away From the OSR

3 comments:

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