S&W vs. OSE: Character Options

Swords & Wizardry and Old School Essentials are two excellent games. They are nearly the same game, but S&W is a zero-edition game, offering a more authentic experience of the original 1974 game and a proto-AD&D game with some of the same features, albeit with far less complexity. Old School Essentials is reminiscent of the early 1980s D&D game, stripped down, simplified, and incredibly simple to run.

S&W has the core race options, but it does not encompass all of OSE's variety and character options. OSE is very 5E-like, especially in the Advanced version and Carcass Crawler zines, and you can have race-as-class Dragonborn and Tieflings running about. These are B/X-style designs, but the variety of character types is there. With S&W, you get the basic human, elf, and dwarf options, and a limited expansion in the options book, but the game does not go crazy in presenting every fantasy race under the sun.

If you want the variety of races that 5E has, and that modern-style world where you have a lot of options, go with Old School Essentials: Advanced Fantasy, and pick up the Carcass Crawler zines. This will provide you with the baseline options you are accustomed to, the standard mix that originated in D&D 4E, specifically in the Nerrath campaign setting.

I would use OSE to run a Nerrath game these days, and that says a lot about this game. This would be my first choice since it preserves a high level of character power compared to D&D 4E, where a magic user's fireball spell can vaporize almost every creature in the blast radius below 4 hit dice. This does not happen in any version of the game that Wizards made.

You do not have the "shooty cantrips" in this game that 4E had, but to counter that, I would be much more generous on supplying magic wands, rods, and staves to the party, in crafting, finding, and being able to trade or buy for them. If you want "shooty casters," then give them the tools to do that. Don't go crazy, and remember that finding other magic items the party can't use makes them tradable items, so a caster could trade an expended wand for a full one, with an extra item to pay for the charged-up wand. All it takes is you as a referee to toss an additional item or two in there for the trade, and even rare gems and valuable items work for this sort of bartering.

As an alternative, create things in the adventure that can recharge wands, staves, and rods when they are touched to them, such as ley lines, magic crystals, or divine fountains. Draining a magical power source like this will temporarily discharge it, and it will replenish over time. 5E will go out of its way to tell you these things are not possible, and that you must recharge magic items in a specific way by the rules. In old-school gaming, how you want things to work is how they work.

Many problems in 5E were created for the game so the designers could solve them. We had this all figured out back in the day. Don't be stingy on treasure, and give characters reasons to use gold. It is a simple fix, and casters do not need free, infinite-shot laser pistols in their fingers, as it makes magic too ordinary and commonplace. Also, since hit points are not scaled, magic missiles hit way harder in OSE than in 5E, and the spell gets lethal at higher levels.

Swords & Wizardry offers a set of options closer to the original game, including humans, dwarves, elves, half-elves, and halflings. The book of options only offers two more: gnomes and stygian. You do not get Drow, Tiefling, Dragonborn, or any of the other modern race choices. You could port them in from OSE, if you want, using the standalone race options, but we are comparing games here.

The only other central point is that S&W classes are more in-depth in terms of gaining new abilities as they level, whereas OSE classes tend to be flatter and more straightforward. This is the AD&D versus D&D split again, where the basic D&D type classes always were cleaner designs, and AD&D went into a deeper design for each.

If you are interested in having a variety of race and class options, OSE will be the best game for you. OSE is the best choice for those wanting a more modern set of options in a classic game wrapper.

If you want fewer race and class options, and each choice to have more to it, then S&W will be the game that makes you the happiest. S&W is the perfect "AD&D-lite" style of play, cutting closest to the source material while giving you deeper class options and abilities.

Personally? I would use Swords & Wizardry for Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms games. Either this or the equally excellent Adventures Dark & Deep game, but S&W will be the easier choice since it is closer to a rules-light game. If I am pulling out ADAD, I am committing to a year-long campaign or more. S&W will be better for faster play, lighter characters, and newer players.

Bother are great games that look at classic gaming through different lenses, yet provide nearly identical gameplay experiences.

Swords & Wizardry

Swords & Wizardry is becoming one of my favorite gonzo old-school games. It hits many correct notes, and it is careful about doling out ability score modifiers to everyone. Only fighters get the STR damage and to-hit bonuses! The DEX bonus also stacks with the STR bonus for fighters and missile weapon to-hits, making fighters highly desirable and valuable as both melee and ranged weapon damage dealers.

S&W is also a small game that borders on rules-light compared to many other games. Still, it delivers a complete experience with many classic elements. The game is comparable to an AD&D-type experience, but with far fewer rules and much more room to modify and adapt it to your liking.

Bards, barbarians, warlocks, necromancers, and many other classes exist in the Swords & Wizardry Book of Options, putting the more modern character classes into the game. This book elevates the experience to a higher level and puts the entire system on par with the options found in 5E and other games.

As a "quick system" for fantasy, S&W is becoming my number one option. This pushed Dungeon Crawl Classics out of my top spot just because S&W has a few books that do everything, plus more, than DCC does in a massive tome. I get more monsters, a larger selection of magic items, more classes, more spells, and more of everything that matters to me in fewer pages. S&W does not have all the random charts, corruption system, or other DCC "features," but if I want those, I can use my imagination and open the game up to ability score checks for stunting during combat and spellcasting.

And "stunting," skill, or ability score checks are easy in S&W. They are just a saving throw. Or you can do a roll equal to or under on a d20 to the ability score.

Castles & Crusades is the only game competing with S&W for the top spot, with Old School Essentials a substantial third. DCC has fallen off my radar substantially because the system is heavier than it needs to be for my liking. I still like the system, but not enough to make it my go-to game for fantasy.

Adventures Dark and Deep is also up there as my number-one first edition retro-clone. This is not a rules-light game, but it does amazing, incredible things while staying true to the original and best role-playing game ever written.

DCC: What's Your +1 Game?

 

From the Dungeon Crawl Classics rulebook, page 393:

Consequently, this work does not include detailed rules for assigning treasure to monsters or encounters. The existing volume of D&D work includes several such systems which are robust and well defined, and which can be easily adapted here. The author suggests you adapt an existing treasure system of your choice, but carefully and deliberately evaluate the randomized results. Always ask yourself: “Where did the monster acquire such wealth? And what happened to the local economy in the process?”

I didn't realize this, and I may have read it, but the weight of this did not hit home until I started to think of what this paragraph means. DCC requires you to use another game to fill in the missing pieces, especially for the treasure system.

This begs the question: What game with DCC gives you the best results? Well, here are my picks:

I would go with OSRIC if I were considering magic items. This grandaddy reference guide gives you everything in the AD&D sphere in an open and accessible format. This provides a perfect "old school" flavor and retains the authenticity of a "primary source" for your games. The magic item tables here are ideal, with so many options and combinations, and it is a treat to roll them on.

OSRIC falls short on monsters since the traditional AC system is used, and you would need to convert descending AC to ascending. It is easy, but it gets a little tedious. Most of the other monster stats work fine in DCC, though.

OSRIC is the best "1e" game out there, even better than the AD&D DTRPG reprints since it has far fewer errors, and the organization and presentation are far better than my well-loved but flawed AD&D books. Don't play with your collector's AD&D books; get this, and don't look back.

If I were including monsters as a sample bestiary for my game? I would 100% use Revised Swords & Wizardry, a gem of a game with several simplifications that will make using the monsters in S&W for DCC games a breeze. First, the hit die numbers are compatible with DCC and serve as the monster's attack bonus. Done. Next, we do not use Fort, Ref, and Will saves; we get one save number, a d20-roll-or-higher one. This is good enough for most monsters, and you could always modify it if an exceptional circumstance applies. One save? Simple. Finally, S&W uses ascending AC in the same range as DCC, so we are not converting anything; we can use the AC numbers as-is.

There is also a morale system here for all monsters, so your foes may break if they are getting spell-burned and mighty-deeded off the face of the planet.

The book is excellent if you need orcs, gorgons, traditional dragons, golems, giants, or any other classic monster from the original game to appear and cause havoc. I know this is DCC; all monsters are unique! But even I occasionally like my comfort food, and seeing DCC characters thrash a cloud giant is fun.

The treasure tables here are good enough. They are less in-depth than OSRIC but are more than satisfactory for 95% of situations in a DCC game. Given the game's heroic, pulp, over-the-top, and insane feel, I would prefer a less-detailed treasure system for DCC (and more of my imagination). Also, there are guidelines for generating treasure hordes here based on monster XP, so creating treasures based on monsters is very simple and can be used for any creature. We are not messing with treasure-type tables, and that is a plus.

Since 90% of the game can be used directly with DCC as-is, Swords & Wizardry is my go-to "+1 game" for DCC. The monsters seal the deal here with how simple they are to convert, with almost no conversion needed. The things you won't be using? Classes and spells, but we have plenty of those in DCC. We are just here looking for "stuff," and S&W has tons of it, ready to use.

S&W also released two companion guides, one for options and another for foes, greatly expanding the game. The options book is mostly classes but includes new magic items, referee advice, the old-school primer, and many encounter charts. The wilderness encounter charts here make this a worthy addition.

This is a must-have book for playing S&W as a standalone game since it includes several more modern classes, such as "old school classes," for your game and fills in many of the holes of OSR systems regarding player options.

The monster book is full of monsters, over 300 and includes guidelines for creating your own. There are also fun "monster name" random charts that fit within the DCC mantra of "DIY everything!" This three-book set is an excellent game but utterly usable as a "DCC expansion" if you want more old-school content and flavor in your games.

Swords & Wizardry is one of the best-kept secrets in gaming these days. Old School Essentials is the standard-bearer, and Shadowdark is the 5E entry into the genre. DCC fills the gonzo need. Castles & Crusades is the "2.5E" we never knew we needed. But S&W is unique. It is simple. The systems are straightforward and highly optimized, with a single genius-mechanic saving throw number making everything simple (yet also highly modifiable). S&W is AD&D without all the useless and pedantic parts.

S&W is a "0e" style game and the best in class; it is all pre-AD&D but presented and organized so well that it becomes instantly playable. Alongside OSRIC, you only need to buy or worry about any other old-school game if you seek a niche or specialized experience (DCC, OSE, Without Number, etc.).

If you are coming from Shadowdark and want old-school without the complexity and an experience that is a bit more "on the metal," give S&W a try. If you have DCC and want to "spice it up" with classics from an excellent "+1 book" that adds to the game and is 90% usable, S&W is also one of your best bets. There is nothing wrong with using OSE or even Labyrinth Lord, but I find both OSRIC and S&W to be my best "+1 games" alongside DCC and excellent games as stand-alone.