Yeah yeah. Everyone is wanting to design their own rpg, ttrpg, crpg, lmnoprpg blah blah blah. I get it.

Ok so, I hope you dont take me rude here. I am a veteran and game designer who dropped out of college in favor of self learning. Wasted tax dollars on a degree that doesn't really teach you. "Next week class we will be lecturing you on why only people with a certification should tweet on games." No. Im not kidding. Ands that was in Rules of Gameplay class. Of course this is all rather arbitrary. But I'll get to the point.

I have a lore I have been writing since I was a kid. In my small town TTRPGs was hardly a thing. Sure I got all the editions of dnd rules. But nobody played. The closest game to an RPG I played that wasnt a video game was Mage Knight Dungeons. This world went from a childhood outdoor imagination to a way for me to cope with what I experienced in war. yes I literally wrote my trauma in stories to cope with certain issues. Go ahead, joke around. Anyway I decided these stories wouild be best as an RPG to let others explore and play thier own setting. So I went to college as I stated and dropped out. I am a single parent and a medically retired veteran as stated. so I have alot of free time. Currently I managed to be able to play some dnd. not many sessions but I played 3.5 and 5e. I am able to pick up the mechanics in these games despite being a novice (Im playing a spellcaster in my current campaign). However back to my title.

I am creating an RPG. And only recently I have discovered RPG Pundit and the OSR part of TTRPG and my question is:

What makes an OSR an OSR? Is there some basis I can read up on in research?
And is there a template for writing TTRPG rules and modules?

Currently I am using DnD 2e, 3.5e, 5e, and Castles and crusades source books, the SRD, and the OGL to help translate my lore and idea into mechanics and adventures. Sure I got to playtest them and will but I do want to ensure I establish a good system and want to know if OSR is possibly what I am looking for. I am trying for a some what rules light, mechanics heavy system that allows open ended engagement of story within a world setting based on my lore. So I am wondering if OSR is more my speed in this context or more interesting and how I can learn more  in my research.

I feel it prudent to note that even as a kid during 2e, I have made solo play of source material, but I do not consider solo play of dnd a collaborative game and so playing 3.5e and 5e with people online I can say there is a huge difference and often I am corrected on misinterpretation of rules and mechanics. So in my mind, I am kind of a novice despite so many decades of solo play

Ok.

Thanks for reading and yes I have been at this for a while so I am very much aware of what I am getting myself into here.

Quote from: Pyrathas on December 27, 2023, 12:31:43 PM


What makes an OSR an OSR? Is there some basis I can read up on in research?
And is there a template for writing TTRPG rules and modules?

I recommend not asking this question, take this from someone who did, it's a fruitless question.

A better questions is "What makes a TSR era D&D game?" this is a better question as it narrows the scope to something useful and generally what people actually think of.

especially because this is a good starting point for any game design you do or if you decide to differ in some way.

Generally the core mechanics that make up an OSR game of this type is. Class/Level system, a simple modular core  resolution, XP incentive structure, Monster Hit Dice as a measure of threat and power.

every other mechanic can be tweaked or is generally optional and even within the listed ones that leaves a lot of room, Maze Rats is almost nothing like B/X D&D and yet both of them can run keep on the borderlands on the fly out of the box because they generally adhere to everything mentioned above.

This means you can tweak with skills, magic, classes, class abilities, money, procedures, etc, etc. The question is what do you want to do and how is it different than everything else?

Quote from: Pyrathas on December 27, 2023, 12:31:43 PM
What makes an OSR an OSR? Is there some basis I can read up on in research?
And is there a template for writing TTRPG rules and modules?"

Let me second that this is better asked as what are the TSR era design esthetics and what do I want to incorporate from them? Check out Rob Conley at Bat in the Attic. https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/ he has what I think are the best answers to those questions. He also posts tons of useful setting and rule materials.

Quote from: Pyrathas on December 27, 2023, 12:31:43 PM
Currently I am using DnD 2e, 3.5e, 5e, and Castles and crusades source books, the SRD, and the OGL to help translate my lore and idea into mechanics and adventures. Sure I got to playtest them and will but I do want to ensure I establish a good system and want to know if OSR is possibly what I am looking for. I am trying for a some what rules light, mechanics heavy system that allows open ended engagement of story within a world setting based on my lore. So I am wondering if OSR is more my speed in this context or more interesting and how I can learn more  in my research.

I am doing something very similar. See https://www.goatonthetrollbridge.com/downloads/ for the lot of it. It's all free and licensed under CC 4 BY. I have used other CC 4 BY and Public Domain sources for my franken fantasy heartbreaker. So fold, spindle, and mutilate if you find any of it useful.

Quote from: Pyrathas on December 27, 2023, 12:31:43 PM
Thanks for reading and yes I have been at this for a while so I am very much aware of what I am getting myself into here.

Good luck. This is an awesome era to be into rpg game design and content creation.

If you want to know more about the OSR, every few months, someone posts in general about what makes something an OSR. And the resulting discussion is usually illuminating, even though it doesn't, and can't, give you a definitive answer. But you will learn what's out there, and you will learn the names of what's out there.

Sometimes people are attuned to their own vision, they aren't interested in what else is out there. But you should familiarize yourself with what else is out there. Especially stuff close in spirit to what you want to do. There are games out there that, while playable, suffer in the writing department because the author quite clearly doesn't know anything about existing games in that genre, and the market in general.

If I was to use my own brain-dead opinion, OSR is anything RPG before Theatrix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatrix_(role-playing_game)
But, it seems the current consensus is RPGs from Braunstein up until 2E DnD (as long as Gygax, Arneson, and others wrote about it, otherwise it is an outlier - and no mention of D100, BRP, or Call Of Cthulhu because no one likes Sandy Peterson anymore).
So with that said, if you are creating an RPG, what is it going to do that's different from the rest? I mean, what general ideas are you going with? 

Quote from: consolcwby on January 25, 2024, 10:34:16 PM
If I was to use my own brain-dead opinion, OSR is anything RPG before Theatrix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatrix_(role-playing_game)
But, it seems the current consensus is RPGs from Braunstein up until 2E DnD (as long as Gygax, Arneson, and others wrote about it, otherwise it is an outlier - and no mention of D100, BRP, or Call Of Cthulhu because no one likes Sandy Peterson anymore).
So with that said, if you are creating an RPG, what is it going to do that's different from the rest? I mean, what general ideas are you going with? 

Another way of coming at it is to ask what don't you like about a particular system and what will it take to make it right for you. There is a certain point where the house rules morph into a sibling project. I chose to work with Knave 1E because it provided a classless approach to bx style games. Lots of people started adding class like features back in. My take on it is to say, I like character choice and embrace all the bits and pieces of older games I liked.

So I went with the following goals:

Character level as a limiter and definer of character power.

Class levels are optional but meaningful.

Simple, flexible rules.

I was surprised at how quickly I over wrote everything. So having someone else read your rules is helpful. But even better is play testing. My current mantra is "Simplify and play test". I have had twelve play test session so far. These have really helped winnowing out what I thought was a good idea and what sucks.

Sometimes I think, "I can put this in the player's guide expansion," and that gives me a reason not to put too much stuff in the book. Simplification is important, I 100% agree.

Quote from: Pyrathas on December 27, 2023, 12:31:43 PM
Yeah yeah. Everyone is wanting to design their own rpg, ttrpg, crpg, lmnoprpg blah blah blah. I get it.

Ok so, I hope you dont take me rude here. I am a veteran and game designer who dropped out of college in favor of self learning. Wasted tax dollars on a degree that doesn't really teach you. "Next week class we will be lecturing you on why only people with a certification should tweet on games." No. Im not kidding. Ands that was in Rules of Gameplay class. Of course this is all rather arbitrary. But I'll get to the point.

I have a lore I have been writing since I was a kid. In my small town TTRPGs was hardly a thing. Sure I got all the editions of dnd rules. But nobody played. The closest game to an RPG I played that wasnt a video game was Mage Knight Dungeons. This world went from a childhood outdoor imagination to a way for me to cope with what I experienced in war. yes I literally wrote my trauma in stories to cope with certain issues. Go ahead, joke around. Anyway I decided these stories wouild be best as an RPG to let others explore and play thier own setting. So I went to college as I stated and dropped out. I am a single parent and a medically retired veteran as stated. so I have alot of free time. Currently I managed to be able to play some dnd. not many sessions but I played 3.5 and 5e. I am able to pick up the mechanics in these games despite being a novice (Im playing a spellcaster in my current campaign). However back to my title.

I am creating an RPG. And only recently I have discovered RPG Pundit and the OSR part of TTRPG and my question is:

What makes an OSR an OSR? Is there some basis I can read up on in research?
And is there a template for writing TTRPG rules and modules?

Currently I am using DnD 2e, 3.5e, 5e, and Castles and crusades source books, the SRD, and the OGL to help translate my lore and idea into mechanics and adventures. Sure I got to playtest them and will but I do want to ensure I establish a good system and want to know if OSR is possibly what I am looking for. I am trying for a some what rules light, mechanics heavy system that allows open ended engagement of story within a world setting based on my lore. So I am wondering if OSR is more my speed in this context or more interesting and how I can learn more  in my research.

I feel it prudent to note that even as a kid during 2e, I have made solo play of source material, but I do not consider solo play of dnd a collaborative game and so playing 3.5e and 5e with people online I can say there is a huge difference and often I am corrected on misinterpretation of rules and mechanics. So in my mind, I am kind of a novice despite so many decades of solo play

Ok.

Thanks for reading and yes I have been at this for a while so I am very much aware of what I am getting myself into here.

Read "OSR" as traditional, old-school design.  However, the renaissance means you can take "TSR" era RPG mechanics and do something entirely new with them.  But if you do, those newfangled game mechanics should be in service towards promoting things like rulings over rules, player engagement, character agency, immersion, fiction over crunch. 

I'm going to recommend you read the PDF of a quick primer for old-school gaming:  https://friendorfoe.com/d/Old%20School%20Primer.pdf

Reading that will give you a leg or tentacle-up when discussing or designing for the OSR.

Good luck, hoss!