Quote from: Larsdangly;864202Given how easily one can 'copy/paste' items, spells and monsters among editions of D&D, there really isn't any reason for a newly published OSR rules set to have more than a couple dozen pages. Even that could include a lot - social interaction, mass combat, etc.

I agree, but this is a surprisingly rare thing thus far. I guess a lot of OSR designers feel they always have to have a full system in their game.

For me, it depends largely on just how much you need to actually modify the system.

But a lot of OSR guys still act like they're writing for people who don't already own a half-dozen old-school rulesets; and that just doesn't chart with reality in my experience.

Quote from: RPGPundit;864681I agree, but this is a surprisingly rare thing thus far. I guess a lot of OSR designers feel they always have to have a full system in their game.

For me, it depends largely on just how much you need to actually modify the system.

But a lot of OSR guys still act like they're writing for people who don't already own a half-dozen old-school rulesets; and that just doesn't chart with reality in my experience.

At the same time its more convenient to just use one book. As opposed to have two or three to get all the info you need.

It all seems pretty redundant doesn't it?

As I fiddle around with the next version of Dark Passages, I've largely decided against re-writing the D&D spells again.  I just have no interest in doing it.  Some of the more generic monsters sure, but not the spells.  I don't know, the drift level is getting to the point where it wouldn't be recognizable as a version of D&D any more, and I'm thinking about dropping armor affecting to hit rolls and instead I'm very tempted to cook the combat down to a straight attack die verses Hit Dice with fighter levels simply providing additional attack dice, no armor dropping the Hit Dice type one step and heavy armor boosting it one step.

It depends on whether the point is to make it a roleplaying game or a war game at this point.

I guess the OSR related point I'm trying to make is that there doesn't really seem to be any advantage left to tying my game to D&D.  The market is super saturated and people aren't looking for that any more.

Quote from: Larsdangly;864202Given how easily one can 'copy/paste' items, spells and monsters among editions of D&D, there really isn't any reason for a newly published OSR rules set to have more than a couple dozen pages. Even that could include a lot - social interaction, mass combat, etc.

Actually there is a good reason. I can't efficiently buy copies of Swords & Wizardry in quantity to sell alongside my Majestic Wilderlands. So I am creating my own combo book so I can offer a complete game to the stores where I physically stock my games (about a half dozen in my area).

Frog God and Matt Finch are great folks and I have dealt with them in the past with getting their books. But the way the products are distributed makes it not practical for my situation in the long run. And remember while Swords & Wizardry's text is open content, the art and layout of the books is most certainly not.

Now I will be offering it on-line as well and it may sell more than a few copies. But my goal is not to try to supplant Swords & Wizardry. Also for me, I was working on a series of Majestic Wilderlands II supplements collecting all the stuff I created since 2009. Originally I was going to make a fighter supplement, a magic-user supplement, etc. But now I am just going to take the rules and combine them into a single book with Swords & Wizardry rules.

Finally I know there are more than a few OSR rulesets out there and took that into account into the design of what I am doing. If I just put out a rulebook like Swords & Wizardry then it not likely I will make the money back I put in for art and stuff. So I have a few ideas that will set the Majestic Wilderlands RPG apart from similar offerings.

Quote from: David Johansen;864746It all seems pretty redundant doesn't it?

As I fiddle around with the next version of Dark Passages, I've largely decided against re-writing the D&D spells again.  I just have no interest in doing it.  Some of the more generic monsters sure, but not the spells.  I don't know, the drift level is getting to the point

(snip)
 
I guess the OSR related point I'm trying to make is that there doesn't really seem to be any advantage left to tying my game to D&D.  The market is super saturated and people aren't looking for that any more.

I agree there a point where a game becomes so unlike D&D that the OSR audience will not find it anymore appealing than any other random RPG. However I think you can still take advantage of the OSR. What you need to do is format your rulebook so that it is David Johansen take on D&D. In each section devote a bit of text to explain your choices and why they work the way they do.

While each section make work together form the Dark Passages RPG, try to format it to it is easy for buyer to use it to kit bash with other material. You might as well as that the default for the OSR anyway.

Think Hargrave's Arduin Grimoire. Not it's content but how it was initially presented. Dave's crazy ass rules for running D&D campaigns. Your tenor and tone may be different but I bet there is more than a few folks who want to your take on the subject of D&D campaigns.