Old School Essentials: Still Solid

Old School Essentials is still solid. Two small books and infinite possibilities. What I love about this game is that it encompasses everything found in shelves of 5E books, plus more, in two small tomes (for Advanced, Basic is one book). This is a "bug out" game, one you could take with you on a trip, camping, or toss in your backpack for fun wherever you go. Shadowdark is similar, but this has far more in terms of levels, classes, races, spells, treasures, monsters, and campaign scope.

Games do not have to be bigger to be fun.

So many games are horribly overwritten these days, with page after page of meaningless filler, likely AI-generated text filling the pages, saying nothing. Most of the 2024 D&D DMG is like this: two to four pages rambling on, and in the end, they tell you to "make something up yourself."

Do you have any clear ideas on what I'm supposed to do to run your game, or are you just stalling and filling up the word count?

OSE is the opposite. Every page spread is designed with super-tight spacing, leaving ample whitespace and good space between lines, making it readable. Bullet points and charts are used to convey information, and the design and layout remain clean and legible at a glance, ensuring that the information you need is readily available.

I can see how some see this game as the "smallest with the most" and ignore every new game that comes on the market for this beautiful pair of books. For a game that uses your imagination, it stays out of the way, inspires with art, and gives you what you need to play. Everything else you make up yourself.

Less is more.

DCC: Monster Hide Edition

 

https://goodman-games.com/store/product/dcc-rpg-dungeon-crawl-classics-core-rulebook-demon-skull-monster-hide-edition/

Dungeon Crawl Classics has some nice special editions, like the Monster Hide core rulebook. I love these special editions, and they're great to display on my shelf.

And I still love DCC, this is the best version of D&D 3.5E or Pathfinder 1e ever written. I loved Pathfinder 1e, and it was my go-to dungeon game for over 10 years. The insane spell charts, make-it-fun class mechanics, and over-the-top adventures all make one of the best tabletop experiences in a 3.5E framework.

The negativity surrounding DCC will be short-lived. This is a strange mix of people upset about City State of the Invincible Overlord on one side and old-school gamers on the other, both looking to take down a game due to a mistake and attract more players to their favorite systems. I swear, the fans of tabletop games spend more time acting like Xbox or PS5 fans, yelling at each other online instead of playing. That's what you do when the standard edition of video games costs $80 and the only new games are remasters of things you've already played.

Once City State ships, people will be on to the next thing.

And I saw the product release video featuring the furry costume and those with the strange masks. I don't care. The game is supposed to be fun. Let people dress up to do those. If I got mad over every silly thing a publisher did or put in a book, I would not play any game. There's stuff in my games stranger than that; come on. If I don't get mad about this, then the other side needs to cut some slack on chainmail bikinis and bare-chested Frazetta Conan art.

There are a few things, however, that are beyond the pale, such as D&D 2024 sanitizing the monster list and what Wizards attempted to do with the OGL. I will never buy those D&D 2024 books, and I support Tales of the Valiant instead. Those actions are hurtful to the hobby; silly costumes, cheesecake art, and masks are not.

And DCC replaced Pathfinder 1e for me, a game I loved for nearly 15 years. I like that 3.5E framework, but I've always wanted something more over-the-top and extreme, with fewer rules and more fun. But the rules mess that all the 3.5E games turned into was a constant sore point, which led us down the road of D&D 4 and 5E. DCC is rules-light 3.5E, and that is an excellent sweet spot to hit, just like Shadowdark being rules-light 5E.

I look at the old covers for my Pathfinder 1e books, and those sing DCC to me. That isn't Pathfinder 2, nor is it 5E. That is not the OSR either, since the casters would never get that close. This isn't Shadowdark either; it is too bright.

The only game that does that is DCC.

Castles & Crusades

Castles & Crusades is a fantastic game. Many are switching to this as a 5E replacement, and it seamlessly integrates into campaigns, playing like the game you are used to. Everything works. The characters feel like Basic D&D. I can run them from 4x6" notecards and have more space than I need.

This is a "sell your 5E books" sort of game, where you can forget the past 10 years ever happened and play the game you love, telling the stories you want to share together.

The remastered edition is even better, with no OGL and no SRD content, and finally standing on its own as an independent game. The game seamlessly integrates with any classic or OSR adventure, making conversion a trivial task.

The SIEGE Engine, which runs the game's internals, is the best single-mechanic d20 resolution system in gaming. This is even better than Swords & Wizardry's "one save" mechanic, which is already genius.

You can not go wrong with this game.

Compared to other games, such as Old School Essentials, C&C offers more content, including classic classes, a higher power level, and additional options. The characters feel more capable and competent. The game has more "stuff," and the save and skill system is more modern and streamlined. There are no unusual save categories, such as "Save versus Wands." While OSE is the best old-school game ever written, C&C feels more modern but retains the old-school charm.

OSE is still one of the best-organized and presented books in gaming, and has influenced a generation of games since its release with its clean, two-page spread design, bulleted format, and clearly presented information. If all you want is an entire world in one or two small books, and that will be your gaming library forever, OSE is the clear winner.

This is a game that can sit in a backpack with a bag of dice and provide a lifetime of fun.

Versus Swords & Wizardry? S&W is a simplified version of AD&D, and it plays like a rules-light first edition. C&C still feels like it has more "meat on the bones" as S&W will lean back into that "basic dungeon" model of play, with no frills. The SIEGE Engine makes the difference here again, with that system providing the tools for a bard's smooth-talking skills, whereas in older games, how that is done either is just made up on the spot, or roleplayed with no dice rolls.

The SIEGE Engine gives C&C a fallback point where, if something needs a mechanic, you can use that, and the game feels like it has a full skill and ability check system. These other games do not have that, and rely more on the "old school method of play where if you roleplay it well, or are smart and figure out the trap, the referee just says, "you do it," and play moves on without a roll.

With C&C, players accustomed to making "search checks" and "persuasion checks" have a system to fall back on. Check "athletics?" In C&C, that is a DEX or STR save. There are no skills, only professions and classes. The SIEGE Engine is elegant and expressive, allowing for both the old-school "talk it out" method and a clean system to roll against in a pinch.

C&C is the better game for 5E players, as it utilizes a framework they are accustomed to, but it is only employed when necessary. This is even easier than Shadowdark, since we have more direction and clarity on how SIEGE checks are made, and there is more to the game than a handful of classes and levels to advance in.

Shadowdark, like OSE, is small and compact. Shadowdark wins on the random tables and world creation in the books, and those tables are also very useful in OSE. The options in OSE, especially the Advanced rules, far outdo Shadowdark. OSE also has the stronghold, followers, and dominion endgame, water travel, and many other game rules that a dungeon-focused game omits.

Shadowdark wins for being more like a board game, and also emphasizing time management and teamwork. This also uses a rules-light version of 5E rules. It somewhat limits its handling of things beyond the dungeons, and using it for a lengthy, epic campaign is not as straightforward as in other games.

C&C and OSE will play that epic game much easier.

When I play C&C, my first reaction is, "Why do I need 5E? This is doing all it does but much easier, with fewer books, and no computer software needed to manage characters." Then, my 5E books are put in storage, and C&C handles everything for much less cost and hassle. I get guilty when Tales of the Valiant books come out, and 5E goes on the shelf again.

But, honestly, if I were to keep one and not the other?

It would be Castles & Crusades all the way.

Dungeon Crawl Classics: Pool-Based Improvement

We have a new optional rule for Dungeon Crawl Classics today, and I added this as a page to the blog to collect them together. This also works for MCC or any other game based on this system. Today, it is Pool-Based Improvement! Enjoy!

Pool-Based Improvement

Take 90, and subtract the total of all your ability scores from this value.

Example: If all our scores were 11, the math would look like this: 90 - 66 = 24.

Write this number on your character's ability score sheet as their improvement pool. If this number is below zero, ignore the rest of this rule; this means your ability scores are too high to benefit from this improvement, and you rolled fortunate!

Example: We would write 24 on our sheet as our improvement pool.

Now, divide this number by 8 and drop all fractions, do not round up!

Example: In the above case, this would be 24 / 8 = 3, with no fractions.

Write this number on your character sheet as your bonus value.

Example: We would write 3 on our sheet as our bonus value.

At levels 2 through 9, add the bonus value to your ability scores. You can add them all to one, or one to three, or two to one & one to another. Any combination works. Make sure to adjust your modifiers accordingly. These can be used to replenish permanent ability score decreases. Every time we level, subtract the bonus value from our pool.

Example: Every time our character levels, we would add 3 to our ability scores. We would also subtract 3 from our pool, so when our character reaches the second level, our pool would be 24 - 3 = 21. At level 3, we would add another 3 points to our ability scores, and our pool would drop to 21 - 3 = 18.

At level ten, add the remaining number in your pool to your ability scores.

Example: At level ten, we would have zero left in our pool (I did the math), so we would not add anything to our ability scores.

What does this do? This ensures all level ten characters have a minimum average score of 15 in every ability. No matter how horrible scores you roll at level one, you will slowly improve your ability scores to heroic values as you level. You do not need to set them all to 15, and this may allow some characters to go to values above 18, so you may want to put a cap on how high a score may go, such as 18.

Example: If you were the person who rolled all threes for all six ability scores, you would increase by 9 points per level from levels two through nine, and have no increase at level ten.

If you find the 15 average score at level 10 to be too high, you can adjust the 90 value to your liking, as  15 x 6 = 90. This is simple math, and the pool mechanic accounts for all remaining fractional points at level 10. For example, if you felt an average level 10 ability score of 13 was better, replace 90 with 13 x 6 = 78.

You will still suffer at low levels with terrible scores, but these will slowly improve to heroic levels. You can use this pool value as a suggested amount of points to reward as a GM each level, or just let the players freely add them. If you roll terribly at character creation, do not worry! This system will ensure you eventually become a hero as you adventure, building up your scores with each level.

Coming Soon: Castle Whiterock

 

https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/5642027b-7207-40e9-ae27-72ebc8318a3f/landing

Here is another cool project to track: the classic Castle Whiterock is being remade for DCC and 5E, and it's expected to arrive in about three months. This is a five-book set, comprising over 700 pages of adventure. You can visit the site above to be notified when it launches.

I choose DCC for these, since that game is a lot easier than 5E and gives me the old-school vibe that I crave. I have enough 5E books, and those are being focused more on Tales of the Valiant to support Open 5E. DCC is my Pathfinder 1e replacement game, and it does a fantastic job at that.

You know what I would also love to see? Some of the classic Tunnels & Trolls adventures rewritten for 5E and DCC, like Naked Doom and others. These are solo adventures in T&T, but a guided path through each dungeon could be recreated from the entries, and this could be presented as a solo adventure in a book in the set, or the full version could support party-based classic exploration play. This I would be all over, and Goodman Games has worked with the Flying Buffalo IP before with Grimtooth's Traps.

There are numerous options available, and they help raise awareness of T&T while also introducing these classics to a new audience. This is nostalgia-fueled greatness for gamers like me, and brings back memories of seeing them on hobby shop shelves.

Please make this happen!

Dungeon Crawl Classics as a 3.5E Replacement?

I am finally putting my beloved Pathfinder 1e books in storage. I don't have the time for the system anymore, and the world of Golarion has moved on without me, becoming a faux-modern steampunk world with guns, technology, and constructs. The world feels safe and modern. It no longer feels like classic 1e Golarion in Pathfinder 2. I've cooled on the setting a lot since I saw where it went, and I'm a bit heartbroken over losing everything that made it cool.

This was my favorite 3.5E game, and it still holds up well today. An option for playing in this world is always the excellent Savage Pathfinder system, which I may still do now that my 3.5E books are being put away. I may look at this one again, since it exists in an alternate universe where Pathfinder 2's world changes won't happen, and I can keep going on with the "savage" version of the world I fell in love with. You look at the 1e art, vibe, and feeling, and it is entirely different than 2E, so much so that 2E feels like a different world, much softer and happier, almost as if Wizards crafted it for Paizo.

Yes, Pathfinder 2E on the tabletop is anything but safe, but the art and look of the world is so far gone from what it was that the entire game does not hold my interest. I feel no excitement when I look at it. The art of 1e? That is what I want to be. That looks like fantasy gaming to me. It has edge and style. This is the game they promised us with D&D 4E, but never could deliver.

They have a second printing of the first four core books, which might be something I'm interested in. They have also done Bestiary 2 and Advanced Player's Guide 2 this year, so the system is still supported. They are continuing this effort, which is encouraging to see as a long-term commitment.

If I ever start another blog, it will be for Savage Worlds, another all-time favorite system of mine.

But for me, my 3.5E game is Dungeon Crawl Classics. This has the 3.5E framework in place, including saves, rough hit point totals, deadliness, balance (and unbalance), and each class brings something fun to the table. A lot of the 3.5E crunch and complexity is gone, and the characters are very streamlined and straightforward. 

Yet, they still can do a lot of the cool stuff you could do in 3.5E, just differently. The warriors and their Might Deeds of Arms are stunting all over the place, and this takes the place of all the special, fiddly, feat-specific attacks in 3.5E like entangle, trip, push, and so on. Now, it's all on one die, and you roll a 3 or higher, and you do it. You don't need 101 specific special attack types with rules like in Pathfinder 2, while it is nice to have Advanced Squad Leader's level of rules depth, so people can't shove a house-sized dragon, logic tells me that, and I don't need rules to spell that out for me.

It is as if a generation of gamers has lost their ability to think and make decisions on the fly, and rules are needed for every tiny, specific, and detailed situation.

In DCC, we have a referee for that. Make a ruling right then and there, and keep the game moving. No rule in the book will help you. Just call it as you see it. This is why we have a referee.

Life is not a computer game.

Honestly, I blame D&D 3.5E for this situation, as that game started us down the road to "rules for every little thing." The skill system in 3.5E was flawed, leading to skill-heavy classes. I had players tell me they hated leveling up. They could not acquire the skills they wanted because they were afraid that if they did not "keep up with the Joneses," their core skills would fall behind and they would be ineffective in their core class function. I had fighters prioritizing INT just to have those few extra precious skill points every level.

We need those combat adjacent skills! Our class does not provide us with that training. Why have a class, then? What good is it? You saw what good it was by 5E, as a framework to hang special powers off a level chart.

Really? All right 3.5E, I give up, let me play GURPS where I can spend my points where I want and not be gimped by a low INT in my combat skills.

DCC throws all that out, and creates a rules-medium version of 3.5E that hits the action and adventure notes that I liked about Pathfinder 1e (and its art), but kills the crunch. Most of DCC is rules-light, a bare-bones version of 3.5E, and only around casters and the spell charts do you delve into a slightly more in-depth area.

I can have an INT of 3 in DCC and still have one of the best warriors in the game. Sure, he won't be smart, will fail most of his INT-based skill checks, but that has no effect on his Mighty Deeds die and how much he can kick tail in a battle.

"Outside of the skills required for combat, thievery, and magic, your character knows the skills dictated by the occupation they had before choosing a life of adventure." - Dungeon Crawl Classics, page 64.

And yes, there are skills in DCC, and they have a whole chapter dedicated to them in the book. They are based on professions. You could give a character a new skill if they spend the gold and time to train in it, if they find a trainer, no problem. You could grant a character a skill if they spend most of an adventure trying to make untrained checks against all odds, and learn it by experience. Nothing in the rules says you can't.

I have a very loose view of ability scores, character stats, and skills in the system. Any and all of these can be changed during an adventure for any reason. This is not like 5E, where you reward a character with a +1 STR during an adventure, you break the whole system and disadvantage all the other players at the table. 5E has this internal consistent balance it needs to maintain, and it is a false idol since the CR system is broken anyway. 

Two games do character design right: GURPS and Savage Worlds.

With DCC, you are back in 1975 with games like Tunnels & Trolls. Everything is adjustable on the fly. Watch me replace a character's Lucky Roll and Luck ability score in the middle of an adventure, just because something strange happened! Watch me reward a character with +2 DEX because of a dangerous tightrope walk over lava, failure on certain death, zero Luck remaining, and a critical success. Want to bargain with Death and survive this inevitable fate? Take a critical injury and lose a few ability score points.

Everything is on the table.

Don't play DCC like 5E. The 5E game can't hurt you here. I know 5E is a controlling system that never lets you be you, never respects your feelings, strictly controls your actions, never gives you anything nice, and wants to control your future life, but you don't have to live like that anymore.

Yes, I run a 5E blog. But even I need to cut free and breathe every so often. 5E's biggest flaw is that it wants to control your life, and the only way to break free is by breaking the game with multiclassing. It is a stuffy, controlling, and over-written set of rules. It is fun at times, but very strict in advancement and granting any power.

DCC is an excellent replacement for D&D 3.5E. It plays the same, has fewer rules, and goes gonzo in the places where I want it to. I look back at what I wanted from 3.5E, and it is fast combat, increasing character power, corruption systems, unpredictable magic, customization, a lightweight skill system, less crunch, and characters who bring fun to the table.

DCC has all that.

Tunnels & Trolls

Tunnels & Trolls is the first RPG, and the oldest of the old school. The IP has been passed around to a few companies, which is unfortunate, and the hardcover Deluxe Edition is now out of print; however, it is still available in PDF format on DriveThruRPG.

I wish they would make this available via POD.

And I wish I knew what was happening around the new version. If one is created, I hope it stays true to the spirit and design of the original game, since that is where this system's charm originates.

If you can get the PDF printed and bound, that is a good second choice to an actual hardcover. It is not like the game is all that complicated that you need a hardcover, as most of the time you are just using the book to reference spells.

There have been rumors of a new version, and we have not heard much, though the game's creator has forked the system with the Monsters! Monsters! Game. There is also The Lair of the Leopard Empresses RPG (TLLE), which is a M!M! variant that continues the original sword & sorcery rules in a new setting. TLLE contains numerous rule clarifications for all systems and serves as a comprehensive reference for Deluxe and later editions. The overpainted AI art is sometimes strange, but it works. The savage, Conan-style Mayan meets savage lands-style setting is unique.

Monsters! Monsters! is like a reverse T & T where you play as Monsters. They have an updated 2.7 Edition on DTRPG, but you can't get a physical copy of this version (only an earlier one). I like this game, and I would either like it in print or a 3.0 version.

M!M! is a fun game, especially if you play adventurous parties of monsters who must overcome their weaknesses and solve problems creatively. How does a blob, a skeleton, a giant slug, and a yeti free a captured princess from a town? Do they dress up as humans? Sneak in at night? Especially when the city is filled with bored adventurers who would kill any monster on sight? The RP is often hilarious when combined with players trying to use their monster abilities creatively against self-important and egotistical adventurer types.

There is no open license around any of these systems, and the rights to use them must be granted by the publisher. I hope that any future version of these rules and games is released under an open license.

Humans! Humans! is the other side of the coin from Monsters! Monsters! You play as humans against the monsters. This is also not available in print. If this all confuses you, I don't blame you for sticking with T&T. They need to combine both games into one book and clean up the rules and presentation.

Yes, part of that image is the ADAD cover. I like it on both books.

TLLE is the most serious game with the hardest hitting setting, while M!M! and H!H! are a bit more tongue-in-cheek, but that matches the original T&T style. If you fall more on the silly side, go with the M!M! and H!H! games. More on the serious side with rules clarifications? Go with TLLE.

How did we get to covering four games? Ah, we are talking Tunnels & Trolls. This is a beer & pretzels RPG where you have characters and monsters throwing a bucketful of six-sided dice to determine the results of a combat round. The more you have and the higher your modifiers, the more damage you do. Spells take from a wizardry score (like mana). You can stunt and make saving rolls from your abilities. All of the games listed use a similar system, with TLLE being the closest to epic fantasy.

The system is elegant, unbalanced, fast, crazy, and fun. Some fights are not fair, while others are blowouts. Your ability scores and level are always edging upward, and no ability score is fixed; they can change at any time during an adventure due to "stuff happening."

We stuck with T&T (the 5.5 version) as a system throughout the 1980s and 1990s; it is solid, fun, and supports a crazily unbalanced level of high-level play. There are also many classic T&T solo-play adventures written for the 5.5 system (and that is still available in PDF). Party combat is easy; everyone combines their rolls and compares them to the enemy side's total.

Learn how to add six-sided dice quickly is all I have to say, or use a die roller.

I still like T&T, and TLLE looks like a worthy successor if we never see another printed version of the game. This is a solid game, old-school to the max, and a worthy play if you are into classic dungeon gaming.

Caverns of Tharcia Shipping Update

Goodman Games says 61% of the Caverns of Tharcia have shipped, and I am in that last 39%. I am still waiting for this, and the PDFs are amazing. I love these old modules updated, and Dungeon Crawl Classics is a fantastic game with all sorts of crazy, gonzo, insane things going on in it.

DCC is also amazingly rules-light, and a stripped-down 3.5E that replaces Pathfinder 1e for me. The game plays fast and is fun, even for spellcasters. You never know what will happen! Where Pathfinder 1e had that high drama, deep exploration, hard-hitting magic, and powerful characters, DCC does all that as well, and even better. I can run these characters without computer software. Each class brings something amazing to the table. The game is built around the concept of 'everyone has fun at the table.'

I love the Zocchi dice, too. The dice chain is ingenious, and collecting them is also great fun.

Limitations are fun, too. If a character starts off terrible, nothing says the referee can't reward you with special bonuses if you quest for them. Want an extra point of strength? Find a powerful entity and quest for it. Do something amazing? The referee may just reward you with anything.

Drinking from a magic pool may change an ability score. Nothing says you can't do this, and nothing in the game says ability scores must be static and never change. Tunnels & Trolls is infamous for changing a character's ability scores multiple times per adventure. If a character compliments a statue of Aphrodite, and the goddess is flattered, she may just reward the character then and there with a +2 PER change, permanently. If someone else complains about it being unfair, apply a -2 PER change to the vain one, permanently. This only happens once.

Don't ever put yourself in that "D&D mind trap" of feeling nothing changes, ability scores always stay the same, and everything must be balanced and fair. Stuff happens! Ability scores can be given as quest rewards, gifted, changed because of fantastic rolls, changed by magic, trained higher for gold and time, granted by the referee's whim, or reduced due to misfortune or injury.

Ability scores are starting values, not numbers etched into a gravestone.

These are your books. This is your game. Play it how you want.

That is what I love about Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Fantasy Gaming and the Fall of D&D

On the 5E side of the world, I play Tales of the Valiant, just to have a 5E game that isn't from Wizards. But the 5E side of the hobby is horrible right now, and I get the feeling the game is like watching passengers flee to the lifeboats. More of the D&D team is leaving, Daggerheart is taking a considerable portion of the D&D storytelling community away, Shadowdark is taking the old-school 5E crowd, and Draw Steel (MCDM RPG) is hitting PDF very shortly to draw in the game mechanics fans.

The "modern gaming world" is a mess, and I can see why people are quitting and moving on to other hobbies. Daggerheart is more about keeping people in the hobby than it is about taking them away from D&D. I have a feeling that most of them would have left for other pursuits.

The world is better over in OSR-land, trust me.

We have games. They work. They don't change. They are fun. And they don't need a website to figure out a character sheet. There are no fights with them. People don't need to patch broken classes. Nobody is telling you which version to play.

The OSR is 100% more sane than the 5E world.

It is calm and stable. Quiet, almost, but people play everything, so it is a fantastic place.

Old School Essentials (OSE) is our Shadowdark. This game and Shadowdark are equally impressive, with OSE being just as fun, with many more options, monsters, spells, and rules for an authentic old school experience. This isn't 5E, but it doesn't matter. This is more of a traditional RPG than Shadowdark, since it can be played turn-by-turn, but it is not as tightly linked to a map or movement. OSE also scales to a higher power level, with dominion play, which is very fun.

Many shift between Shadowdark and OSE, and the games complement each other well.

Just like Shadowdark, I can play this without worrying about builds, drama, version wars, finding a character sheet builder, or any other modern corporate-inflicted inconvenience. How many dollars a month am I paying to support ToV character sheets in Shard? I sigh and shake my head. The 5E market can feel like one massive scam on gamers.

And Shadowdark is our Shadowdark.

Shadowdark is enormous, even first-time Kickstarter projects are raking in tens of thousands of dollars. This is a well-crafted third-party scene, featuring a unique style and look that aligns with the books, a focus on simplicity, and a bare-bones presentation that meets old-school sensibilities with 5E rules that strike a sweet spot for many players. Shadowdark belongs in the OSR, and it is the gateway game into our world for many 5E players.

This is a fantastic game, full of the best advice for playing and running the game, filled with content generation tables, and it boils down the essence of old-school gaming to its purest form.

Swords & Wizardry is so good. This is just a classic system, a true, "one and done" set of rules. This is like a classic, pre-first edition set of rules, as easy as B/X, but full of AD&D goodness. The fighters in this game are some of the best in the OSR, and the game is not afraid to pare back those ability score bonuses. Every +1 matters. The saving throw system is genius, and you are never saving versus oddly specific and obscure categories of minutia. Save versus wands? Isn't that a magic save?

One save system, with special modifiers, and you can even use ability score modifiers if you feel they apply. How do you roll ability checks? Old-school gaming was more "the referee decides" on everything. You can "just say pass/fail" or "roll a d20 or under." A STR 18 fighter and a standard indoor door? No roll needed, it shatters into splinters. Why? Because it would.

Whatever the check is or isn't, it is.

Another game that's so good it hurts is Castles & Crusades. This game kills all interest in 5E for me. This is the mythical 2.5E we never got, sort of a "What if Wizards never bought D&D", ruleset that advances the art, yet feels exactly like its AD&D inspirations.

This game is even more rules-light than Daggerheart, and it does not need all the narrative scaffolding since, in the old days, we did all that ourselves with our minds. It is highly expressive, though, with a save and skill system equally as genius as Swords & Wizardry.

This game is worthy of running any mid-1990s D&D setting perfectly, from Dragonlance to the Forgotten Realms. Ravenloft. Dark Sun. It does stories as well as dungeon crawls.

This game can be modded to be as super heroic as 5E, or as deadly as old-school D&D. The range and variety of character types blow my mind, and multiclassing in this game is way better than 5E.

This is also the last game that Gary Gygax was involved with in his life. That is a seal of approval that holds value.

Dungeon Crawl Classics is fun. The game has piles of dice, some of the most inspirational and amazing art ever put in a book, and it worships at the golden altar of Appendix N as if it were some lost god of an ancient world lost to time. It is equal parts deadly and insane, fast-playing, with humor and terror in equal parts, where death can lurk around any corner, but magic can crack the earth and forge canyons that shall last a million years.

Some in the old-school community view this as a game written to appeal to the audience, but not one that truly holds old-school values in high regard. This is not an exploitative cash grab for the old-school crowd; it is a wake-up call to share the old-school feeling and culture with the current generation. Yes, this is a tribute band to 70s and 80s rock, a more modern 3.5E-style ruleset, but damn are they good at what they do.

This is the scream at the beginning of the Judas Priest song, Screaming for Vengeance. It is a piercing shriek, a spear in the heart of the modern day, and a callback to the hippie van, bong-smoking, and neon felt poster crowd of the late 1970s. Like Mork Borg, this game serves as a wake-up call to a hobby that has lost its way and forgotten the true spirit in which the hobby was born.

DCC is not a plush gold-tasseled theater game or silly-voiced anthropomorphic cosplay.

It is a sweat-covered, boot-in-the-face, dagger in the back, and lightning through my enemy's heart grab for glory.

And dying is a part of the legend.

When you roll 3d6 down the line, you accept that your character shall someday die. Add a checkbox to the character sheet that indicates this, and have everyone mark it to begin play. Now, how shall you live that life? Shall you grab victory from the heart of death? Will you embrace darkness for the promise of power? Shall you guard the weak and raise your holy sword high to become the beacon of light to all of civilization? Or shall you be the conqueror to sit upon a throne of your enemy's skulls?

Sudden and shocking instant death, climbing to the heights of glory, and standing on top of a pterodactyl with a laser rifle, slaying the devil-worshipping orcish hordes as you fly into the demon-filled volcano, with Megadeath, Iron Maiden, and Manowar playing at maximum volume.

Adventures Dark and Deep is the pinnacle of first-edition gaming. Swords & Wizardry comes close, but this game has all the arcane tables with strange percentages and modifiers, which you record in a character sheet that looks like a spreadsheet filled with arcane die roll modifiers for all sorts of situations. This does the first-edition initiative right, with weapon speeds and casting times in phases. The monster book is voluminous, with all the greats.

This is the only game that could ever do Greyhawk justice. You cannot play Greyhawk as it was back in the day with 5E. Even the Forgotten Realms was originally a first-edition world, more serious and low-magic, with death at every turn. Wizards' D&D turned everyone into superheroes who do not die. That makes modern rules incompatible with the original settings.

The new settings are a science-fictional and contemporary reimagining of the classic settings in the classic books. It comes across as if putting starships and blaster rifles in The Lord of the Rings, and forcing everyone to accept that as how the books were originally intended.

To paraphrase Will Smith, "Get your modern crap out of my classic games!"

There are plenty of modern games that do that. People who wish to return to the classics should have the freedom to read and interpret them as they were, from the original words and source material. If modern writers keep reinterpreting this source material, and we lose access to the originals, how are we supposed to create something new, inspired by the original works? We should have the same rights and freedoms as the current writers had to play the original settings, with the original rules, to find our own truths about them.

OSRIC is a strong alternative to AD&D, and a third edition is forthcoming, without the OGL and with free-to-publish content rights for all time. This is equally worthy, and just as classic and iconic.

The argument to play first edition is not "wanting to play an old game," but it is more "we have the right to not live in George Orwell's 1984, where we must accept the socially-approved reinterpretation." This is about preserving history and having the freedom to read and interpret it as we see fit. To have the same rights and liberties as today's writers do, before they are taken away by corporate revisionism.

Be careful about giving up all your rights to the collective; you will regret it someday.

From the frozen north comes the roar of Dragonbane. This is a revived game from the 1980s, D&D as played in Sweden, a local classic brought back to life in the modern day. Everything about this game is a classic, from the art to the design, it soars instead of flying, and is one of the best solo experiences in old-school gaming. Many have walked away from 5E and ended up here, and are swinging swords and casting spells against the backdrop of a war between demons and dragons.

Dragonbane is awesome.

Even 5E has spawned complete clones of the system within the Open 5E framework, immune from the OGL and forever protected from threats and license revocations. D&D could be sold to a totalitarian country, and the 5E rules would still be alive and well. The OGL Crisis was both a tragedy, but it also spawned a wave of freedom that we still benefit from today. Also in the modern framework, Pathfinder 2 deserves mention as a game that is now protected, open, and free from threat.

D&D hasn't died, but it is not in a great place. Time will tell if things get better. The game has spawned hundreds of alternatives, much like the blooming of flowers in a field, seeded with the blood of a game that started it all.

Is Dragonbane Old-School?

Is Dragonbane an old-school game?

The history of the game dates back to the "Scandinavian D&D" of 1982, and it has endured multiple editions and variations to the present day. It finally went global with Dragonbane when Free League acquired the rights to the game.

The Free League presentation feels modern and slick, and the mechanics have a "new game" feeling to them. The art is fantastic, and the game still keeps its old-school sensibilities while embracing the high adventure and "high fantasy action gaming" feeling of modern games.

Dragonbane feels more modern in its play. Where in Shadowdark you are creeping around corners and prodding with a 10-foot pole, in Dragonbane, you charge into a fight, because fights are fun. The same is true about DCC, but DCC also rewards careful play. Dragonbane feels more like an action game, in the modern D&D style. Skill-based play is also strongly supported, leading to a more substantial roleplaying experience than D&D, along with a more organic levelling experience.

Dragonbane does solo play far better than most of the old-school games, which is a massive plus for those of us who don't have regular groups, or our regular group is flaky enough that they always talk about playing but never get together to play.

Sorry, group! But we already knew that, and I am partially to blame.

Dragonbane seems to exist in its own alternate universe, free from the TSR & Wizards influence of fantasy gaming that the rest of the world has had over the last 50 years. It is also free from the influence of Games Workshop and Warhammer Fantasy, yet it still retains that distinctly European feel. It is such a breath of fresh air breaking free from those influences, like you are reading a fantasy book from an author with a completely different perspective and style of world, and you feel everything is new and fresh again.

Mind Flayers, the Great Wheel, Skaven, Chaos, Beholders, the Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, Drow, and all the other tropes are just gone. The monsters are strange, new, and exciting. They have bizarre, terrifying attacks and habitats. I can set aside all that I know and just explore new things, new worlds, and live in a new one.

D&D leans on its nostalgia way too hard, and it holds the game back. Yes, this is a part of the fun, but there is a point where the game is mostly nostalgia, and mostly things I have already seen.

Also, while Dragonbane is definitely Western in view, it is not too modern, one-world, and blindly political, where there are no meaningful differences between kin. While there are no ability score adjustments, there are essential differences, and different races have different abilities.

The conflicts in the game are also diverse, featuring dragons, demons, undead, night kin, giants, trolls, and other major monster types, each serving as a faction in the world's story and plots. The sides fight, and characters can get caught up in the mess. The fight between dragons and demons shapes the world.

"The hostility between dragons and demons has brought death and ruin upon their ancient civilizations. It seems almost like a fundamental law of nature – that anything created by dragons alone is corrupted by demons, and that anything born of demonic will is burned to ashes by dragonfire." - Dragonbane Rulebook, page 5.

There are no "demonic dragons" like there are with D&D, and the sides here are clearly delimited and stand in direct opposition. Demons are a corrupting force that affects all of the living, but this is not the default for some races, like it is in old-school AD&D. Orcs are not all demon worshippers by default, and they must be corrupted first, just like humans and any other living thing.

Be careful of your default "D&D assumptions" because they are mostly incorrect, and the world of Dragonbane is vastly different. You can have factions of powerful orc tribes that are a significant threat, with no demonic influences anywhere to be found. Dragons are loners, survivors of a lost age and broken world, and are not a "default force of good" like you would assume. Many have turned to selfishness and wrath. The individual motivations matter!

This can also be applied to all kin and factions in the game. Motivation and history matter. Corruption matters, but it is not gamified and remains a recurring theme in stories. What you do matters, and your choices will shape the narrative as guided by the game master. You don't need gamified systems to track story things, beyond what is contained in the rules. In that sense, it is very OSR, involving work with evil factions and committing heinous acts, and it is up to the game master to decide what the effects and consequences of that are. This story-based approach is similar to an Old School Essentials and Basic D&D model.

Your actions matter. They will have consequences, both good and bad. How good or bad it depends on what was done. This is all up to the referee. If you are playing solo, roll an oracle die.

The answer to the question is yes, Dragonbane is an old-school game at its heart. There are a few new-school concepts and mechanics in the game, but for the most part, the sensibilities and design are very old-school.

Welcome aboard!

DCC: Advanced Labyrinth Lord as the +1 Game

Dungeon Crawl Classics always needs an "extra game" to pull from, which I call my "+1 Game." Why do we need a +1 Game for DCC? Well, DCC leaves a lot up to you, such as:

• Equipment Lists
• Vehicles
• Horses
• Wagons
• Boats & Ships
• Wilderness Rules
• Monsters
• Retainers
• Specialists
• Treasure
• Treasure Tables
• Magic Items
• Stronghold Construction

Advanced Labyrinth Lord has it all, even ship combat rules. Since Mutant Future is my +1 game for Mutant Crawl Classics, these two books complement the MCC and DCC rules nicely. And I am not using these books for an active game, so if I use them as reference books, that is fine.

You will not use the spells, which is a large portion of the book, but that isn't a problem. You will also use the DCC armor AC values and weapon damage.

AC is descending from 9, so DCC AC = 19 - LL AC. An unarmored AC of 9 in LL would be 10 in DCC. An AC of 2 in LL would be 17 in DCC.

Hit dice need to be increased by 1/3 or 33% from LL to DCC, using the giant types as a baseline. Also, use the larger hit die sizes like DCC does for larger creatures. Damage is about the same. Mostly, the monsters work well as-is, and you can throw a few special or extra attacks in as needed.

The magic item selection is excellent, and you can customize these with as many special and different properties as you like. Remember, in a DCC world, every magic item is unique! You could always tag a random LL spell (and the spell lists are numbered like random charts) to every magic weapon and armor, and give it one to three uses per day, and be fine. This way, the spells get used and are not rolling on the DCC charts; they are just spells for item properties.

If you have LL and are not using it, place it with your DCC collection and use it as your monster, gear, and treasure book. This book has it all, is easy to use, and works very well as an expansion to the game.

Dungeon Crawl Classics

It is hip to trash DCC these days, but I still love this game. A lot has been made about a controversial Kickstarter project. Still, assurances were given that this was only to complete the project, preserve history, and repay those who backed the original project. 

Goodman dropped the ball a few times. A huge mistake was made when the campaign started, as it failed to communicate these goals and what was happening, so everyone assumed the worst. They also ended up apologizing ad nauseam, and one would have been enough.

A few newsletters acted horribly, resorting to full clickbait tactics to elicit anger. I won't be dealing with them anymore, or the games they publish. Similarly, a few YouTube channels have also done this, and they are being unsubscribed from.

I hate the gaming market and content creation space these days, which is why I stick to writing.

A lot can be learned from this, but I don't have much hope, as the industry is in a downturn, content creator channels are not being recommended by YouTube, and everyone is struggling for attention in a rapidly declining tabletop gaming market. The entire landscape of gaming has turned cutthroat, so whenever a mistake is made or bad news comes out, expect everyone to jump on it and look for blood.

Those who act with ethics and in the best interest of the community, while staying positive and not getting into fights, shall earn my support.

A few have lost my support over this.

Goodman Games still has it.