Woud love to see a more focused hexcrawl book with a full page for each hex and then some general information about the setting and more pages about a few interesting locations such as dungeons. Sort of something in the middle between a hexcrawl ad a focused module.

Quote from: Omega;923879Gamebooks are alive and kicking. Last year there was even one up on KS illustrated by the original Fighting Fantasy artist. Theres also a yh-groups mailing list dedicated to gamebooks.

Fabled Lands was allready mentioned and another is DestinyQuest.

There are also plenty of gamebooks available on tablets, with Inkle's new version of the Sorcery games from Inkle being the most notable. Many of them are just the same as a book, while the Inkle ones keep the basic ideas of a gamebook and expand the idea in ways that a book couldn't handle.

Quote from: TristramEvans;923871I want it to be gamebooks. I really wish someone would bring those back.

+1, but they are coming back, including new ones being written:).

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;923868I am not the best example of an OSR person, but I think adventure paths were what caused me to go back to stuff like Hexcrawls. I vividly remember getting so frustrated with the whole adventure path thing, I picked up the 1E DMG and grabbed a bunch of hex crawl modules because they were so opposite what was going on at the height of 3E. I imagine 'adventure path' would get a similar reaction from a lot of people.

Again I kind of have one foot in OSR and one foot in newer games, so I may not be the typical customer here, but I think if they found a way to do adventure paths that were not like the old 3E and Paizo adventure paths, then it might have some traction with me. But I'd be pretty skeptical of any product that said "Adventure Path" on the cover.

And +1 to that, except I'd probably reach for Mythras or Traveller instead:p.

Quote from: RunningLaser;923877You should check out the Fabled Lands gamebooks if you haven't already.  They are supposed to be open ended.

They're great, or at least the first one (the only one I've tried) was;).

Quote from: Omega;923891Have you looked at how BECMI's War Machine rules handled mass combat? The whole thing covers a mere 3 pages in plus 2 pages of optional rules C and a one or two more pages in M.

Yes but that a more verbal "ok the two armies meet here what happen" approach. I used GURPS Mass Combat in the same way when I ran GURPS campaigns. Mind you I know there more to it than that.

For classic D&D games I like to use miniatures and actually fight out the battle. Battlesystem 1e is highly effective at handling hundreds of combatants yet still use classic D&D stats 'as is'. Way better than Battlesystem 2e.


One Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty Orcs Slain
http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2013/08/one-thousand-four-hundred-and-fifty.html

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Quote from: Baulderstone;923894There are also plenty of gamebooks available on tablets, with Inkle's new version of the Sorcery games from Inkle being the most notable. Many of them are just the same as a book, while the Inkle ones keep the basic ideas of a gamebook and expand the idea in ways that a book couldn't handle.

Gamebooks on tablets are awesome. I played Warlock on Fire Mountain and it was pretty good. Kept track of stuff and everything well worth the $4 price (now $2)

Quote from: Daztur;923893Woud love to see a more focused hexcrawl book with a full page for each hex and then some general information about the setting and more pages about a few interesting locations such as dungeons. Sort of something in the middle between a hexcrawl ad a focused module.

That probably what my idea will turn out to be.

An uber rules heavy set with 162 races, 377 classes, weapon speed charts that rate out to decimal spaces, and massive, linked encounter maps, where the adventure path looks like a set of rail tracks.:-)


(I don't really see where the movement about what's behind can go ahead, except maybe what is already being presented here--scenario maps. And more electronic shit, apps, and so on).

Quote from: Daztur;923893Woud love to see a more focused hexcrawl book with a full page for each hex and then some general information about the setting and more pages about a few interesting locations such as dungeons. Sort of something in the middle between a hexcrawl ad a focused module.

I have wished for this as well.

The OSR haev seen its fair share of lovecraftian stuff, gonzo/weird, horror/gore, pulpy, pure retro etc. Something I really hope to see one day would be something that draws heavily from Birthright, Pendragon, Tolkien (but not necessarily LotR), Lord Dunsany and a bit of Martins GoT.

Quote from: Teodrik;923931The OSR haev seen its fair share of lovecraftian stuff, gonzo/weird, horror/gore, pulpy, pure retro etc. Something I really hope to see one day would be something that draws heavily from Birthright, Pendragon, Tolkien (but not necessarily LotR), Lord Dunsany and a bit of Martins GoT.

Not sure what you mean by Lord Dunsay in the context of the other authors you mentioned. But I always focused on the adventure caused by the clash of religion, politics and culture. You might want to check out my Majestic Wilderlands if you haven't yet.

Quote from: estar;923934Not sure what you mean by Lord Dunsay in the context of the other authors you mentioned. But I always focused on the adventure caused by the clash of religion, politics and culture. You might want to check out my Majestic Wilderlands if you haven't yet.

Nor was I, but more Dunsany inspired stuff would be cool.

Liked your map by the way. It looked very gameable.

Quote from: estar;923934Not sure what you mean by Lord Dunsay in the context of the other authors you mentioned.

Elements from stuff like The King of Elflands Daughter by Lord Dunsany would mesh quite well with stuff like Farmer Guiles of Ham and Lost Tales by Tolkien, and Mallory's The Death of Arthur. Now sprinkle with GRR Martin for some down-to-earth geopolitical grit(warring domains, courtly intruige, backstapping vs honour) of the mundane in contrast to the more dreamy long-ago-elf-land-chivalrious stuff. Along those lines was what I pictured in my head.

I would love to see some well thought out random encounter tables. I picked up "the mother of all.." but it's 3.x focused and somewhat... odd. I don't want random as in "look mom I fit all the monsters from all the books into it!" random. I want "this is a good mix of creatures and monsters you would find in this terrain, broken down by commonality and HD."

I'm going to be rolling my own for a mega-dungeon thing I'm setting up for Castles and Crusades, but it's some work ya know? I would pay good monies for one ready to rock for me. Yes I've seen the one in the Engineering Dungeons booklet, but I want more variety and themes (not just creatures but events, chance meetings, weather, etc.). Also, something Airhde specific would be fantastic!

I think well-detailed hexcrawl/sandbox "adventures" with ready-to-run encounters, plot-hooks and NPCs would do well. This kind of prep is time-consuming and I believe there is a big market for it.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;923868I am not the best example of an OSR person, but I think adventure paths were what caused me to go back to stuff like Hexcrawls. I vividly remember getting so frustrated with the whole adventure path thing, I picked up the 1E DMG and grabbed a bunch of hex crawl modules because they were so opposite what was going on at the height of 3E. I imagine 'adventure path' would get a similar reaction from a lot of people.

Again I kind of have one foot in OSR and one foot in newer games, so I may not be the typical customer here, but I think if they found a way to do adventure paths that were not like the old 3E and Paizo adventure paths, then it might have some traction with me. But I'd be pretty skeptical of any product that said "Adventure Path" on the cover. I've pretty much ignored Pathfinder because that seems to be their go-to model for adventures. My frustration with adventure paths was it basically felt like there was no reason for me to not just hand my players my notes at the start of the game instead of running it. I also associate adventure paths with some of the silliness of crafting adventures around CR and Encounter levels.

I'd be curious though what Estar had in mind here because I doubt he is saying they should just do what Paizo did.

I completely agree. Adventure paths turn me right off, because I dont want to be stuck in a pre-made story by someone else for the next 20 levels. I feel like they remove that freedom to wander/investigate what you like - that is the major advantage D&D style games have over other forms of entertainment. AP's put me off Pathfinder and now 5e too, because it's all wotc is releasing  (phandelver excepted - that was a good intro set - and dont get me wrong, there are some good third party 5e stand alone adventures). I personally think the future of OSR is in sandbox settings and GM material to support that style, but that woudl include some linked adventures - just not wholescale APs.

Quote from: trechriron;923944I think well-detailed hexcrawl/sandbox "adventures" with ready-to-run encounters, plot-hooks and NPCs would do well. This kind of prep is time-consuming and I believe there is a big market for it.

I am currently writing this kind of "sandbox setting" book for Low Fantasy Gaming. Hoping to release it end of this year, but it's a bit difficult to gauge time frames.