The Nice and Easy Doldrums

What I love about the OSR community is that most people are playing. The community tends to be quiet since there is no "Wizards outrage" or "theorycrafting." Part of the fun of 5E is the constant stream of information, but with BX, we have the problem of having "the perfect game" and not needing endless expansions and rules tweaks for broken builds. We aren't comparing different games (we could), and most everything is compatible with whatever set of rules we prefer.

Right now? I am waiting for the OSE revision books and the Infernal Tome PDF.

Otherwise, I am happy with the near-infinite worlds these tiny books contain.

The OSR and the OGL

One of the best things to happen in gaming is the messy divorce between the OGL and the OSR. What Wizards did by attacking the OGL and destroying it forced the community out of their lazy comfort zone and fired up designers and players to create real alternatives.

Everyone knew how easy it was to use the OGL, clone SRD content, and rely on D&D's popularity to sell their games. After the OGL's death, people were forced to change.

And the games we have gotten since then are original, free from license issues, free for the community to support, and the entire event put a shot of sorely-needed energy into third-party publishers and those who play these games.

Wizards created their competitors.

Goodman Games has stepped up and become a major player. Troll Lord Games is incredible with Castles & Crusades, and this went OGL-free. Shadowdark became an overnight juggernaut. Games like Adventures Dark and Deep, OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry, ACKS, and Hyperborea all stepped up. Old School Essentials is going OGL-free. People got behind the alternatives instead of half-heartedly supporting them.

Even the 5E clones are doing relatively well. Paizo has benefited and is stronger than it was.

The 2d6 games under the OGL are moving forward, creating new concepts and ideas, and improving the game overall, rather than relying on familiarity and nostalgia. What the OGL did was tie us to the old ways, and now that we have broken free, the OSR can innovate and flourish. People were always too worried about "breaking familiarity," but now they have to innovate to survive.

The OSR benefited from this innovation once the OGL's chains were broken.

Even games outside of the OSR are using OSR concepts and gameplay.

It is a better world without the OGL.

D&D 6E? AD&D Re-release?

The latest thing on D&D YouTube is rumors of an AD&D re-release by Wizards.

I would like to see this, as long as it is unaltered, with no modern art, and it is not censored or changed.

But I know better. I don't trust Wizards all that much.

And we have better options in OSRIC, OSE, Dragonslayer, and Dungeon Crawl Classics. But here is my feeling. A game is not just the rules.

A game is the support it gets. Dungeon Crawl Classics and over 100 adventures? That is far, far better than an AD&D re-release, and offers me more fun and long-term gaming than simply printing a new edition of nostalgia and calling it a day.

The writing team at Wizards does not have it in them to release anything as significant as the Tomb of Horrors, Ravenloft, or any of the classics. They do not have the writing chops or old-school sensibilities to write anything other than modern tripe.

An AD&D re-release?

One and done.

Likely smeared with current-day politics to rub agendas in our faces and tell the grognards they are - and will always be - horrible people. Just like they did to Gygax. Will the book come with a warning message?

They still have a long way to go to regain good graces. If they open the license to 1E as a result? Then, that is an excellent start on the way back. You have my interest. I am bought in. That ensures the community can step up and support the game. It is a great move to mend fences. I will support that.

PDFs not tied to D&D Beyond? Now we are talking. I don't mind if they support this on D&D Beyond, and I encourage them to take that step. All should be able to play whatever version they love and remember. Wizards need to get out of the rules-writing business and into the "playing D&D" business. They already have too many versions of the game to support. A 6E will make things worse and further divide the fans.

They should support OSRIC, OSE, Basic Fantasy, C&C, Labyrinth Lord, DCC, Dragonslayer, and any other D&D version on D&D Beyond. Bring everyone in the tent. Sell all their digital books, with options for physical copies. PDFs to own, please. Support everyone's character creation methods. Everyone comes here to play. Why not?

Be more like Facebook, and less of a "book publisher."

But OSRIC and other community-supported BX games will be here to stay. This is the measuring stick of their progress.

And DCC has the support to keep me playing long after the Kickstarter ends and interest wanes.

The Best of the Best

My gonzo game:

• Dungeon Crawl Classics.

My classic old-school games:

• Old School Essentials
• Shadowdark
• Swords & Wizardry

My superheavyweight games:

• Adventures Dark & Deep
• Castles & Crusades
• ACKS II

Honorable mentions:

• Stars Without Number
• Worlds Without Number
• Cities Without Number
• Ashes Without Number

My all-time favorite:

• GURPS

C&C is still in a closet as my shelves get reorganized and I put together my showcase shelves. I got these very nice "display shelves" from Amazon, and I redid my GURPS and DCC libraries on them, and mixed game books, dice, art, inspirational comic collections, and gaming swag on a shelf. My three DCC shelves are eye-popping and amazing, resembling something out of a high-end gaming store with a variety of fun items on display alongside the games.

I have Wally Wood comic collections, game books, large clear plastic containers filled with dice, fantasy art books from SQPartbooks.com, my DCC games and modules, face-out display stands for hardcovers, framed art on stands, various foil hardcovers for DCC, a plastic skull mask, those clear MCC/DCC light up signs, and all sorts of fun and inspirational "come play with me" stuff on those shelves.

My DCC shelves are one of my best game projects in a long time. I have a GURPS shelf like this, too, as my "shrine" to that game. GURPS is on that list, but it isn't in the genre of d20-old school games. While it is a fantasy game, it is so much more than that. GURPS is my primary game, my number one, and the one I will never part with. Today, we're focusing on d20-style games.

GURPS is my all-time favorite game, and nothing changes that.

I give the shelves room to "breathe" and don't pack them completely full, since I found a full shelf rarely gets used and serves more as a storage crate than a "working shelf." Ideally, each shelf should be half-filled with books, and use organizers or bookends to corral them, leaving room for books on display stands or clear plastic containers filled with various dice. Like the picture, a loosely packed shelf beats a full one, every time.

I may migrate GURPS to a two-shelf display and make it glorious.

But C&C is a game that could easily take time away from OSE, S&W, and ADAD. It would simplify my collection, but I love those three games equally. There is also a point at which having too much is excessive, and C&C and DCC would be the last ones standing.

Another reason I still have C&C in the closet is that I am giving Tales of the Valiant time to shine as a standalone option. Every time I get C&C out, any version of 5E dies in my interest levels. C&C is a 5E killer. I am giving ToV time for Monster Vault 2 and Player's Guide 2 to be released, allowing me to make a final decision on the system.

C&C also has Amazing Adventures and an OGL-free version of C&C. This is a fantastic game and system, easily a 5E killer for many. The only reason I don't play Amazing Adventures is that I have GURPS.

We are witnessing the final days of 5E and D&D. The game is dying. Other games will pick up the torch. The entire "Wizards-verse" is becoming tiresome, and people are growing bored with the product identity villains and settings, which have become institutionalized and stale. When I see what the Forgotten Realms has become, I see a grotesquely excessive and self-important ultra-high fantasy setting that feels as hard to approach as many fandoms that require years of lore and canon research. The art and science fantasy cities are laughably overdone. Everything looks modern.

Shadowdark will be what people play after D&D. This is my other 5E killer game. Shadowdark is the OSE of 5E. If C&C does not kill Tales of the Valiant on my shelves, Shadowdark will. It does not require a half-page of text to describe a single ability. If anything kills D&D or Open 5E for me, it is how horribly fluff-packed and overwritten the whole game is. Even the clones suffer from this, taking the longest way around to describe subclass abilities, spells, and action types that should be listed in a single bullet point on a page.

With Deathbringer and Roll for Combat joining the Shadowdark brigade of publishers, convention events selling out in every con they are listed in, the future looks bright for Shadowdark.

There is also an argument that Shadowdark, OSE, and S&W are essentially the same game, but played slightly differently. All of them could be considered 'regional dialects' of classic d20 fantasy gaming if they were languages, and are mostly compatible with each other. Some groups play a mix of Shadowdark and OSE just fine.

ADAD and ACKS II are the heavyweight standouts. C&C is also over here in the heavyweight class, just due to the size of the game.

Dungeon Crawl Classics is in a genre of its own. This is a replacement for both D&D 3.5E and Pathfinder 1e/2E for me, and it just does its own crazy, random things. I enjoy this for how insane and unpredictable the game can be. The game is full of some of the best old-school art ever put to paper, and the adventures are packed with new and imaginative ideas.

DCC brings imagination and unpredictability back to the hobby. In an era of railroaded adventures with perfect pet PC characters that are more self-inserts than any characters we played back in the day, DCC is an excellent, mind-opening, and refreshing experience.

DCC also replaces Pathfinder 1e for me, which feels right. This is a rules-light game that accomplishes 90% of what the original game did, minus the need for character-builder software, which I consider a game-killer at this point. Pathfinder 1s had this savage lands and Conan-style feeling, and DCC has that same feeling for me. Pathfinder 2E lost that and became overly focused on cosplay, steampunk, and pseudo-modern elements, which made me sad. To me, DCC recreates the feeling of the early days of Pathfinder 1e, and keeps that savage 3.5E feeling alive.

The ...Without Number games are always on my shelves, since they are going public-domain for the core rules, and the books are flat-out terrific. Any one of these games is easily a fantastic campaign, rules-light, and table-rich for generating any type of world you can imagine.

I have three more of the display shelves coming, and a mix of these games will be the best of the best in my collection. Most of the others are being sold, boxed up in the garage, or put on storage shelves. But I am entering a new phase, where I have all the games I love on my shelves, and I do not feel obliged to play ones I do not like.

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.

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.

All Old-School Games Belong Together

I love all the old-school games, and OSE sits beside my copy of Shadowdark. There is a mess of fighting in a few circles about these games, which is best ignored.

I would rather spend my time playing and having fun.

To some, everything has to be a fight, and all I do is unsubscribe from their YouTube channels. I don't care if I agree with one side or the other if they call each other idiots and bad actors; sorry, you get an unsub today. Some of them hurt losing because I liked them, and they provided great old-school content, but I'm sorry, I don't support feeding into this anger, and I don't even watch the rants. I don't reply to Twitter threads, I don't share them, and I let it go.

Again, I suspect this is less about anyone having a problem with these games and more about people coming in from outside the community to cause drama and fights. People smell a fight, and they jump in to stir the pot. Most of them probably never touched any of the games they complain about.

As a result, I am storing a few creators' games. If they feed into this circular firing squad, I am out. Some of them I really liked, but now they leave a bad taste in my mouth.

I will replace them with companies that take a "no drama" stance, like Shadowdark and C&C. I am now rethinking Castles & Crusades and may include coverage here (it is fantastic, but it is just not that gonzo-style). I like companies that "keep the drama out" and focus on the game and players.

All old-school games belong together.

Shadowdarkification

My take?

Shadowdark isn't "destroying" the OSR. By the numbers, Shadowdark has likely taken 1,000 times more 5E players than OSR players. If anything, the Shadowdarkification applies more to the 5E player base than any OSR game, as people walk away and see what a bloated pay-to-play mess D&D is these days.

People want to create a wedge for two reasons:

• Grognards don't want "normies in the hobby."
  
• 5E players are running a stop-loss campaign to "save" 2024.

The whole idea of a wedge existing here at all is dumb. There isn't. Someone invented it to get attention.

Shadowdarkification is an excellent description of what is happening to 5E, not the OSR. The "pressure" being applied here is on the market leader, not the indies. Wizards of the Coast has yet to develop a strategy for younger or casual gamers. They expect everyone to use the website and VTT software and pour through thousands of pages of rules, costing about $200 for the entire game, in an online reader.

Nine-year-old kids are running Shadowdark for their families. Show me how D&D does that. I know some OSR games that can be run like that, too, OSE being one of them. Many other games just fail this test.

Once people have tried Shadowdark, they will be drawn to explore similar experiences here. OSE, DCC, and many other great games offer unique experiences and are part of a vibrant community that can expand your gaming horizons and bring a fresh perspective to your RPG journey.

I have seen many OSE players saying they love Shadowdark, too, but still see OSE as the game they would play for greater depth and long-lasting campaigns. OSE is the spiritual successor for B/X and BECMI, and in a way, OSE was the "Shadowdark" to the entire OSR back when Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, and many other retro-clones were out there preaching the gospel.

OSE is the more "in-depth" game. It does not have some of Shadowdark's "board game" aspects. It is better suited for classic campaigning, wilderness exploration, and long-term campaigns and delivers the classic game feeling. OSE has far more options than Shadowdark regarding classes, races, spells, magic items, monsters, and play options with hirelings, ships, land travel, expeditions, and even realm construction.

You can't claim a hex, attract followers, and settle the land in Shadowdark with realm play. That is "built into" OSE at the high level for every class. The two games don't compete, and it is a dumb idea to suggest it. They are very different games with different focuses.

Shadowdark can teach 5E players how to play games like OSE and DCC very well.

DCC is a totally different beast. There aren't many light and encumbrance rules or even a codified gear list in the game. It is more of a "gonzo experience party game" where crazy things happen constantly in an Appendix N stream of consciousness.

OSE came in with a highly organized, easy-to-use, simplified, clean, and fun "common version" of the game that played very old-school. OSE was the Shadowdark of the OSR, and products like this that "change the narrative" become de-facto leaders. I loved Labyrinth Lord, but OSE was a cleaner, easier-to-use, and more presentable product to a larger audience than LL. Shadowdark is that, but compared to 5E, it is the same experience but better.

Where Shadowdark shines is in "dungeon play" at a table, with a ticking clock and limited resources. It is like the classic HeroQuest board game mixed with D&D; it is the best version of that experience. D&D wants to be an "identity game," so that is where their focus is, and it is not on classic dungeon crawling.

OSE and Shadowdark sit side-by-side on my gaming shelf.

Right next to my DCC dice sets I use to play them all.

Being Positive

If Shadowdark wins, then my OSR game loses!

I get this vibe on many YouTube comments on this game's coverage, and it feels silly. Me? I love the game. This is my "5E replacement" in a B/X style of game. I have Level Up A5E as my full-rules 5E game (and there is always ToV, which is getting better by the day).

I refuse to play Wizards games. I don't support their business practices.

Shadowdark is more than just another game in the market. It's a revolution, much like the original iPhone. It doesn't have to 'compete' with OSE, Swords & Wizardry, DCC, Hyperborea, WWN, or any other old-school game. It doesn't have to 'prove it does something new.' The original iPhone did 'nothing new' either, but it revolutionized how we use phones. Similarly, Shadowdark is a game-changer in the gaming community.

D&D is the Blackberry phone with the keyboard.

Shadowdark is the iPhone.

Someone could come out with a "high magic" mod for Shadowdark and compete with the main D&D game, and I bet to do a better job and be more successful in making the game easy to play while capturing what makes "high magic superheroes" fun and appealing. D&D is the "high magic superheroes game" by accident; they are not designing the game to drill in on the fun parts of this experience. It stumbles into the genre and says it owns it.

A focused "Shadowdark Fantasy Heroes" game focused on "what makes the genre fun" would be a backstab the industry needs. You can't "mistake your way" into a market and expect to be the market leader forever; people will focus on what the customers want and out-design you. MCDM RPG is a prime example, and from what I see, they are taking D&D's un-fun weaknesses and attacking the leader there.

Shadowdark already won the "old-school 5E" crowd over.

Nimble 5E and MCDM are coming.

That high-magic replacement game is coming, and D&D will seem like another fallen monopoly that could never be defeated. The high costs of their VTT mean they need to make a lot of money fast, or they will fail just as fast. It is a big gamble, and competing games only need to take a tiny slice of the market away for them to fail or a few slices together.

Many 5E players would not touch an OSR game, but they will consider Shadowdark. If anything, this is a failure of the OSR to innovate and to sit too comfortably on imitating the past, flaws and all. Many OSR creators fail to ignore the 5E market and adopt a "better than thou" attitude toward newer gamers and their fans. Many 5E players have the same attitude. Elitism is a turn-off for many, and both sides are guilty.

Shadowdark bridges the gap.

It allows the massive crowd of 5E players to experience the old-school style. It also offers older players a chance to see a streamlined, focused, modern set of rules driving the gameplay style we are used to.

5E players who take the first step into Shadowdark will discover a wonderful world of other old-school games waiting for them. And the players of old-school games should welcome everyone into our communities with open arms. Nobody should "diss a game and its players."

Everyone gets to play.

Everyone has a favorite game.

But being positive is the key to happier gaming. Nobody has to "lose" here. With every player who tries a new game, and gets out of the D&D mind monopoly, we all win.

Stars, Cities, Worlds ...Without Number

Among the plethora of 3d6 down-the-line old-school games, three are versatile powerhouses: the Stars Without Number, Worlds Without Number, and Cities Without Number systems—all masterpieces crafted by Kevin Crawford. These games, akin to 'rules-light' versions of a B/X-style game, serve as expansive toolkits for creating diverse worlds, missions, factions, and adventures, sparking endless possibilities for your gaming experience.

Are these "gonzo crawl" style games?

More yes than no.

Yes, you can "crawl" through the worlds, universes, and cities the generators in these games create. Gonzo is a mindset where things are more fantastical and less concerned with realistic simulation. If a character trains a pterodactyl as a mount, that happens in Gonzo games. This sort of fantastical world is exemplified by Dungeon Crawl Classics.

DCC lacks world generation since it embraces the "module style" of play, some of which have world generation systems. There is no one way to play DCC, and the randomness applies more to characters and magic than it does to worlds. Though it can, it is either using another system, a module, or making your own generators.

Of all the games here, Old School Essentials is likely the least gonzo when played strictly as a rules simulator of old-school gaming. However, the power is in your hands. The more fantastical you make this game, and the more random tables you use, the more you shape it into a gonzo play style. The cover art and much of the interior art also reflect the gonzo style, inviting you to unleash your creativity and make the game your own.

Shadowdark edges into the "random" with level rewards and tables, making it more gonzo. The "Without Number" games are less gonzo in design but far more gonzo when you begin using the tables and interpreting the results. Shadowdark does a good job balancing realism with gonzo play, and it is a game that "is what you make of it."

Worlds Without Number is the fantasy game in the series, and how "gonzo" this gets depends on how you see the world and use the charts. You could play this 100% seriously and dramatically, turning this into a hardcore survival and exploration game. You can adopt a more fantastical mindset and mix science-fantasy into the world with unique sites of ancient magics and technology. Like OSE, how gonzo this game gets depends on your outlook and refereeing.

Combine Worlds Without Number with the Stars game, and you have a fantastic Numenera or Gamma World setting.

I have seen people own OSE, play this "by the book" like a 5E, and say the game is nothing special. You need to read up on old-school gaming to "get" this game; as it is, the system is more a reference work than a game that trains you to play. It is a fantastic reference work, and once you combine it with the training books mentioned in the game (sidebar links), it becomes an old-school powerhouse.

Cities Without Number is the same; it can be played like a hard-science Cyberpunk or a gonzo "hackers and magic" Shadowrun (combined with the Worlds game). The Shadowrun universe was always more gonzo than Cyberpunk. This book does a "better Shadowrun than Shadowrun" in a simple, B/X-style framework, with all your favorite monsters and spells appearing.

The Without Number games belong here. While there isn't as much "character randomness" as in DCC or Shadowdark, the rules are a simple B/X-style d20 combat system paired with a 2d6 skill system and plenty of character options to choose from as you level up. Like OSE, this rules framework embraces old-school play, either gonzo or more based on realism.

These generators are where they are "gonzo"; in each game, you can hex-crawl through a random universe, and that genre and style of play are 100% gonzo and fantastical.

5E: The Math is Out of Control

Why should I even care if the 2024 version of D&D is backward compatible with 10 years of power-gaming content? The math is still broken, the numbers are still too high, the hit points and stats are out of control, and I see people walking away from all of 5E just because the numbers are too silly and the balance is broken, especially at high levels.

The only other 5E clone that took rebalancing seriously was Level Up Advanced 5E, and I still like this version of the game. The math is tight and not way out of control, offering a glimmer of hope for those dissatisfied with the current state of D&D.

The only game on this blog where the math could be considered wild is Dungeon Crawl Classics. Then again, it is wild by player choice, with things like spell-burn and mighty deeds. There are apparent costs for pushing a roll, burning luck, blowing stat points on spell-burn, and other mechanics that can make the game "slippery." Otherwise, the math in DCC is still tight and under control.

D&D, as it stands, has math that is out of control by entitlement. The game's stats must be lowered, inspiration is handed out too quickly, and advantage is too easy to obtain. DCC, Shadowdark, and OSE all have "3d6 down the line" stats, and that is a refreshing change in today's "guaranteed 18" ability score generation methods. Entitlement and "too much power" force players out of the game.

Games like Dark Souls are popular. Players love a challenge, and winning against all odds is a thrilling, white-knuckle ride. In GURPS terms, high and low stats are your character's "advantages and disadvantages"; they define a character's strengths and weaknesses. A character with only strengths is boring, which is where all D&D 4, 5, and 5.5E characters start.

We have left the "good design" realm and entered entitlement, which started back in AD&D with the '4d6 and drop the lowest die' method. Yes, this has been around forever, but it has been broken for a long time. This was one of the biggest mistakes of AD&D, and the original B/X rules had it right.

3d6 down the line.

These are your "advantages and disadvantages."

I swear, when D&D 6 comes out, the standard stat block will be 18, 18, 16, 16, 16, 14. Starting hit points will be doubled, and you will get three feats at the first level. It is funny; whenever I hear people try Shadowdark, they all enjoy the lower power level, and no one complains that there is "not enough character power."

Every Wizards version of D&D has turned the power creep and player entitlement to 11. The hit points and damage scaling are way out of control. The differences between a d4 and a d6 mean nothing when your character does 25-50 points of damage per turn. It is hard to call anything past 3rd Edition D&D.

Seriously, a four-hit-point goblin in B/X versus a d4 dagger is felled on only one result of that die (25%). With a d6, that is three out of six results (50%). Today? They have seven hit points. Sure, everyone adds a stat bonus to a roll in 5E, but the original B/X system is much more elegant and gamified. A stat bonus to damage in B/X means a heck of a lot more than 5E.

Any old-school game worth its salt is watching damage modifiers and keeping those in check. Hit point bloat and inflation destroy a game and shoot the math into the hundreds (5E) or thousands (4E) of hit points. That is terrible game design and destroys the meaning of needing to use unique polyhedral dice.

The average of a d4 is 2.5, a d6 is 3.5, and a d8 is 4.5. That is a 2-point spread.

When my character does 50 points of damage per turn, why are we using d4s and d8s? That 2-point difference, even multiplied some, means nothing. At that point, simplify the game and use d6s like white box games.

5E's doubled hit-point scale sucks.

4E's tripled scale destroyed the game.

B/X and BECMI still have it right.

Imagination and clever tactics will always be more powerful than any "automatic fantasy superpower" a game designer can write in a book. Shadowdark is so difficult players come out better skilled to play 5E, and they quickly find the game boring because it is too easy. I even find it hard to return after playing games on this blog.

Shadowdark's "hard-line" approach to ability score generation is refreshing. OSE and DCC also do straight 3d6. Thank you! Never change. Ability score "stat-inflation" began in AD&D with the "4d6 and drop the lowest" method, it sucked then, and it sucked since. There is a massive difference between a 10-average starting score and a 12. When 4E came out, the starting scores bottomed out at 10, and they never forced you to have negative modifiers.

If there is one thing in common about the games on this blog, it is that they are all straight 3d6 games.

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.