Greetings Everyone,

So I received my Old School Essentials Rules Tome core book in the mail and I have to say, I am happy with the purchase.

I am trying to get away from 5e and more towards OSR style games.  I read the quick start and I liked what I saw so I bought the core book.

The book is digest size (which is OK), hardcover (which is very cool) and even has two ribbon bookmarks (which is awesome).

It's based on the B/X rules which I think are cool and the simplicity of the rules over something like 5e is really refreshing.   That fact that there are not only OSE supplements but B/X supplements work with OSE as well means there is plenty of good material for years of play.  Also, no money goes to WOTC.

I am going to be spending the next few days reading it and from what I have already seen, I am looking forward to running this.

This is the first game core book I have bought in awhile and I think it is 100% worth the money.

I presume you mean Tome, not Tomb.  But yeah, it's pretty usable, even more so if you already know the B/X rules.  And I love the handy digest-size.

Quote from: Persimmon on March 29, 2023, 04:59:14 PM
I presume you mean Tome, not Tomb.  But yeah, it's pretty usable, even more so if you already know the B/X rules.  And I love the handy digest-size.

Yes I did.  Went back and corrected it.   Typo on my part.

Yeah I am loving what I am seeing and the book is beautiful so I think it's going to be a lot of fun to run.

I eventually bought the PDFs as well. I now get why it's so popular.

My only caveat was that I was able to get Basic Fantasy RPG for just $5.  That's hard to beat as well.

So naturally I had to go find even more OSR games to compare.  Now I'm probably the owner of damn near all of them that I'm not sure which one to recommend, but it still seems like a race between those two games.  OSE for content, and BFRPG for being free. 

If you want some comparisons between similar systems, here is mine.

https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-glance-at-basic-d-bx-and-some-clones.html

I think my favorite rules might be LotFP (other than my own of course).

I agree OSE gets great grades in organization and looks, BFRPG for price.

DCC probably has the best adventures, and while the rules and looks are great, there are too many tables for me.

But I'm glad OSE got so popular, putting B/X near the top, where it should be.

As far as we're concerned, BFRPG is free for a reason.  It's so dull that even the $5 price tag for physical products seems excessive at times.  Not sure this counts as a compliment, but their often Monty Haul style adventures do feel like they were written by 14 year olds in 1984.  Some might like that. 

As for DCC, I feel much like Eric.  I like the tone & feel and enjoy reading the adventures, but all the tables just bog it down too much in play.  And I just hate the 3e saving throw categories.  Either give me the classic five or trim it to one like S&W.  I also dislike Luck mechanics/stats in general.  To me luck is a built-in feature of the dice.  We saw this over the weekend when our party had a very rough night resulting in 4 of the 9 PCs being unconscious at one point. Somehow they all survived, but by the end only 1 PC (mostly 3rd-4th level) still had over 10 HP so it was close to a TPK.

Quote from: weirdguy564 on March 29, 2023, 06:46:17 PM
I eventually bought the PDFs as well. I now get why it's so popular.

My only caveat was that I was able to get Basic Fantasy RPG for just $5.  That's hard to beat as well.

So naturally I had to go find even more OSR games to compare.  Now I'm probably the owner of damn near all of them that I'm not sure which one to recommend, but it still seems like a race between those two games.  OSE for content, and BFRPG for being free.

S&W White Box and it's offspring White Box FMAG and descendants are also free on PDF, a much better game IMHO than BFRPG.

As for my favourite OSR ruleset, I would go with WBFMAG, followed by Dark Fantasy (for the classic fantasy), Arrows of Indra, L&D for a different take, Owl Workshop Games great products for other genres.

Quote from: weirdguy564 on March 29, 2023, 06:46:17 PM
I eventually bought the PDFs as well. I now get why it's so popular.

Yes, I am very happy with my purchase.

Quote from: weirdguy564 on March 29, 2023, 06:46:17 PMMy only caveat was that I was able to get Basic Fantasy RPG for just $5.  That's hard to beat as well.

There is the old saying, you get what you pay for.  Glad it works for you though.

Quote from: weirdguy564 on March 29, 2023, 06:46:17 PMSo naturally I had to go find even more OSR games to compare.  Now I'm probably the owner of damn near all of them that I'm not sure which one to recommend, but it still seems like a race between those two games.  OSE for content, and BFRPG for being free.

I have looked at a lot of OSR games and so far OSE is the one I like best.

Quote from: Persimmon on March 29, 2023, 09:17:13 PM
As far as we're concerned, BFRPG is free for a reason.  It's so dull that even the $5 price tag for physical products seems excessive at times.  Not sure this counts as a compliment, but their often Monty Haul style adventures do feel like they were written by 14 year olds in 1984.  Some might like that.

I have to agree. I played in a BFRPG game and it did feel like that and the rules were really too bare bones for me.  But again, you get what you pay for.

Quote from: Persimmon on March 29, 2023, 09:17:13 PMAs for DCC, I feel much like Eric.  I like the tone & feel and enjoy reading the adventures, but all the tables just bog it down too much in play.  And I just hate the 3e saving throw categories.  Either give me the classic five or trim it to one like S&W.  I also dislike Luck mechanics/stats in general.  To me luck is a built-in feature of the dice.  We saw this over the weekend when our party had a very rough night resulting in 4 of the 9 PCs being unconscious at one point. Somehow they all survived, but by the end only 1 PC (mostly 3rd-4th level) still had over 10 HP so it was close to a TPK.

I played in a DCC game for awhile and there were just a few things that bothered me about it.  Once the game ended I sold the book never to look back.  Its just not ther game for me.  And I think the whole level 0 funnel is just kind of stupid.

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 29, 2023, 08:40:21 PM
If you want some comparisons between similar systems, here is mine.

https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-glance-at-basic-d-bx-and-some-clones.html

I will take a look at this.

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 29, 2023, 08:40:21 PMI think my favorite rules might be LotFP (other than my own of course).

LOTFP seems a bit weird for me.  But if it works for you.

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 29, 2023, 08:40:21 PMI agree OSE gets great grades in organization and looks

I am pleased with my purchase

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 29, 2023, 08:40:21 PMDCC probably has the best adventures, and while the rules and looks are great, there are too many tables for me.

Agreed

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 29, 2023, 08:40:21 PMBut I'm glad OSE got so popular, putting B/X near the top, where it should be.

Yeah I like it.  OSE has the options for ascending to use to replace Descending AC but I think I will try the descending AC first to see how it goes.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on March 30, 2023, 01:43:47 AM
S&W White Box and it's offspring White Box FMAG and descendants are also free on PDF, a much better game IMHO than BFRPG.

Sounds interesting

Quote from: GeekyBugle on March 30, 2023, 01:43:47 AMAs for my favourite OSR ruleset, I would go with WBFMAG, followed by Dark Fantasy (for the classic fantasy), Arrows of Indra, L&D for a different take, Owl Workshop Games great products for other genres.

Interesting.  You listed a couple I have never heard of.  I will check them out.

I find people having strong opinions about different B/X based dungeon fantasy games to be a bit like people having strong opinions about burger king vs macdonalds.

This latest Shadowdark thing for example. It is as if Macdonalds raised a billion dollars in crowdfunding for a Big Mac with a slightly different kind of mustard.

Quote from: Marchand on March 30, 2023, 11:05:18 AM
I find people having strong opinions about different B/X based dungeon fantasy games to be a bit like people having strong opinions about burger king vs macdonalds.

This latest Shadowdark thing for example. It is as if Macdonalds raised a billion dollars in crowdfunding for a Big Mac with a slightly different kind of mustard.

That's very true.

For me it has everything to do with it not doing anything what I have already can't do.  I dont care that the designer is a women, gay or any of that.  For me, I just dont need it.

I have OSE and I am really happy with what I have.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on March 30, 2023, 01:43:47 AM

Quote from: weirdguy564 on March 29, 2023, 06:46:17 PM
I eventually bought the PDFs as well. I now get why it's so popular.

My only caveat was that I was able to get Basic Fantasy RPG for just $5.  That's hard to beat as well.

So naturally I had to go find even more OSR games to compare.  Now I'm probably the owner of damn near all of them that I'm not sure which one to recommend, but it still seems like a race between those two games.  OSE for content, and BFRPG for being free.

S&W White Box and it's offspring White Box FMAG and descendants are also free on PDF, a much better game IMHO than BFRPG.

As for my favourite OSR ruleset, I would go with WBFMAG, followed by Dark Fantasy (for the classic fantasy), Arrows of Indra, L&D for a different take, Owl Workshop Games great products for other genres.

Wait, are you referring to Dark Fantasy Basic? I hope so, it made my day. 

Well, even if you weren't, I'll be glad to discover a new OSR game...

In any case, if anyone else is curious, here is DFB, my B/X homage/neoclone:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/229046/Dark-Fantasy-Basic--Players-Guide?src=newest_recent&coverSizeTestPhase2=true&word-variants=true

Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 30, 2023, 12:03:07 PM

Quote from: GeekyBugle on March 30, 2023, 01:43:47 AM

Quote from: weirdguy564 on March 29, 2023, 06:46:17 PM
I eventually bought the PDFs as well. I now get why it's so popular.

My only caveat was that I was able to get Basic Fantasy RPG for just $5.  That's hard to beat as well.

So naturally I had to go find even more OSR games to compare.  Now I'm probably the owner of damn near all of them that I'm not sure which one to recommend, but it still seems like a race between those two games.  OSE for content, and BFRPG for being free.

S&W White Box and it's offspring White Box FMAG and descendants are also free on PDF, a much better game IMHO than BFRPG.

As for my favourite OSR ruleset, I would go with WBFMAG, followed by Dark Fantasy (for the classic fantasy), Arrows of Indra, L&D for a different take, Owl Workshop Games great products for other genres.

Wait, are you referring to Dark Fantasy Basic? I hope so, it made my day. 

Well, even if you weren't, I'll be glad to discover a new OSR game...

In any case, if anyone else is curious, here is DFB, my B/X homage/neoclone:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/229046/Dark-Fantasy-Basic--Players-Guide?src=newest_recent&coverSizeTestPhase2=true&word-variants=true

Yep, Dark Fantasy Basic, forgot the full name, sorry.

There's also For Gold & Glory but I forget what edition it's a retroclone off.