Common Threads

One of the common themes for games on this blog is that they have an old-school feel but don't "emulate too hard." Some OSR games I picked up have been near Xerox copies of a particular version, and while you can play them old school, what new thing do they bring to the table?

I love games like Old School Essentials, Labyrinth Lord, and Swords & Wizardry. They are excellent recreations of a version played at a particular time. Old School Essentials Advanced goes beyond that and expands the game to include new races and classes. It is a game in the spirit of this blog, old school in design, but it brings a lot of new things to the table. It does hold onto a lot of the old ways, and I find both Shadowdark and Dungeon Crawl Classics to go farther in terms of "gameplay design" and more substantial in a "theory of play" than OSE's "emulation plus."

OSE would fit well here with that "emulation plus" design. Where DCC and Shadowdark differ is that "fun" is an active consideration in the game, and they are not afraid to jettison a few unfun parts to enhance the experience. Both games add tables to reinforce the concept, and DCC goes the farthest in embracing randomness. Shadowdark has random-level award advancement. DCC has fixed advancement, but many aspects of gaining magic and casting are entirely randomized with some player control.

OSE is more on the Labrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardry side of randomness, which is less crucial than emulating the classic experience. OSE also doesn't jettison as many rules as DCC or Shadowdark in favor of fun and "feeling emulation." DCC and Shadowdark will abandon rules, rewrite the concepts of magic and light, and rebuild the unfun areas of the game to better embrace the old-school culture and playstyle than the emulation games.

I love my emulation games, Labyrinth Lord, OSE, and Swords & Wizardry, which are all permanently on my most-played shelves. This blog focuses more on the games that take the old-school concept further. The designs are built with classical mechanics but have a stronger sense of design than just emulation. They are built for fun, unafraid to eliminate the tedious parts, and will rewrite entire systems to enforce the theme. If a game rebuilds a whole pillar of the game to enhance feeling and gameplay over tradition, that is a crucial concept for being "like" the other games we cover here.

Darkness in Shadowdark covers everything from ancestries and in-game torch mechanics to time-tracking during live play. The game also rewrites the advancement game and randomizes level awards (which a few other OSR games have done before, and even the original Gamma World). So much of 5E has been rewritten, and every rebuilt part focuses on fun and the old-school feeling.

Shadowdark is more classic D&D than modern 5E ever will be. This is why 5E players are flocking to the game. This is the modern "D&D Basic" that Wizards refuses to ship or create.

DCC rewrites the entire magic system, which is a huge task. It abandons the "gear game" and does not come with exhaustive equipment or magic item lists. It reimagines the concepts of monsters, making each one unique. Every class is rewritten to embrace fun and Appendix N inspirations, even over old-school emulation. The game goes back to "negative 1" - the original inspirations of D&D - and rebuilds the base game along those inspirations. DCC also worships at the altar of the crazy dice, bringing in so many new shapes to jar you out of your standard polyhedral mindset.

OSE adds new races, and it rebuilds the encumbrance system. The organization is fantastic. The classes feel more traditional than either of these games, which holds it back some. The game was conceptualized as more of an old-school reference work, source code for building old-school games, which is incredible. The entire game is a "complete rewrite and clarification" of the original games.

In a way, OSE is a fantastic rebuild of the original game. In others, it feels more beholden to emulation of original systems than it does like the games I focus on here. If a set of game rules rebuilds the classic elements of fantasy gaming to enhance a particular style of play or fun, that is a "gonzo crawl" style game to me. Emulation gets you in the door. Rebuilding the game for fun and a style of play cements the game in the gonzo genre.