stevemangames

The OSR community, if it can even be called that, on /tg/ and on twitter oft talks about D&D as if it comes in only two flavors; TRVE OSR and (using the term I coined on /tg/) NuD&D. But this ignores the transitional period. Afterall, the shift from D&D and AD&D being a game of exploration and adventure into a game of superheroic legend took a lot longer than the release of a single campaign setting module and a novel trilogy.  Before I explain why the transitional period is important, I feel I need to establish the argument I am fighting against in its strongest terms. Within the OSR community there is a contingent of people large enough to make it feel to me that they are not just a vocal minority of pissbabies who argue that the release of Dragonlance heralded a shift in game design within TSR. That the popularity of Dragonlance was a watershed moment that told TSR to focus on overarching narrative structures and larger-than-life heroes. That D&D became a game wh

An anon just posted on /osrg/ that they used and liked a little dungeon scenario I made! Even said he integrated the Corvus King as an NPC villain! Here it is btw, the overgrown castle pdf and hires map.

I love dragons. I love dragons a lot. I do not like that everyone knows what to expect with dragons the moment you tell what color they are so I made some of my own. Reference your system of choice's monster descriptions for the shared dragon traits. Chromium Dragon Armor Class: 22 Hit Dice: 14*** Attacks: 2× claw (1d10), 1× bite (4d10); or breath To Hit: +10 Movement: 90' (30'), flying 250' (80') Save As: Fighter 14 Morale: 10 Alignment: Lawful XP: 4,200 Number Appearing: 1 (1-3) Treasure Type: H Breath Weapon: Chromium dragons breathe a 120' line of burning hot light. Berserker: Chromium dragons enter into a rampage on the second round of combat. While berserking chromium dragons benefit from a +2 bonus to-hit. Language and Spells: 90%; 4× 1st level, 4× 2nd level, 3× 3rd level Magic Resistance: 50%, with a 10% of turning the spell. Shapeshifting: Chromium dragons can shapechange into a humanoid form. This form is unique to

There are many firearms rules for BX but these are mine. Arquebus This firearm is an evolution of the culverin, allowing it to be used by a single soldier. It loads gunpowder and a bullet down the muzzle and is fired with a lever-mounted strip of burning cord. The long arquebus uses a mounting stick to support the weight of the barrel and allow steady aim (the weight and cost of the stick is included in the weapon profile). Clerics, being barred from using weapons that cut or pierce, may not use an arquebus in battle. However all other characters may, including magic-users. Unlike arrows, bolts, and sling stones which can be replaced cheaply and easily, the ammunition of an arquebus is expensive, hard to find, and non retrievable. It will be tracked with the same detail as magic ammunition. Weapon              Cost     Weight  Damage  Notes Arquebus, long    500 gp  100 cn   1d12       Missile (50'/150'/210'), misfire, noisy*, reload, slow, two-handed Arquebus,

I've asked /osrg/ a few times what they mean when they say Tonal Fidelity to D&D as it was played in it's early years. The rare few times I'm not called FOE, I get told that it's playing it the way the people who created D&D wrote about how they played D&D in the 1970s. The problem with this answer is that it doesn't make any fucking sense. For everyone who said "characters are disposable avatars without personalities", there's Gary and Dave both giving advice on creating personalities beyond yourself, and the snippit from Keep on the Borderlands where it explicitly tells the referee to give the players time to just roleplay in the keep. For every person who says that D&D is just exploring until you find a dungeon then exploring the dungeon, there are reaction rolls that can lead to friendly interactions and roleplay. For every player who says early D&D shouldn't have an overarching plot , there the stories of Zygag, Iuz, and th

He's strong, He's kind, He's handsome to a fault. Luigi is a Himbo. Also, Luigi is the more heroic brother. When it comes to physical capabilities they're both better than humanoid average and roughly equally matched. When their differences are highlighted in the various games, its that Mario has stronger upper body strength, and Luigi has better leg strength. Mario however, in Nintendo's need to protect their mascot, never shows real emotion. Never shows fear for his own safety. He, with a blank smile, charges headlong into danger without even a moment of contemplation. Without ever even showing he even understands how dangerous the world is. Luigi, on the other hand, understands and has a healthy fear of all of the dangers he lives in. He is constantly afraid but still steps up to save the world whenever it falls to him.

There's a .png floating around /tg/ that gives a pretty vague conversion guide for turning MTG creatures to a nebulous "OSR" statline. Which I took, and altered a bit using stuff I recalled from an old Inquest Gamer article about converting from MTG to 2E to create a guideline for BX/OSE. If you don't ascribe to my mindset of "more easier to hit enemies is better than few harder to hit ones" then increase the AC of the monsters by 1 - 3 points. click the image

PREFACE: I do not like 5E. I will not run it, and I only enjoy playing it with the right groups. However, 5E is braindead simple to create for, as it's a ruined orgasm of a game sitting somewhere between 3E, 4E, and the intent behind Basic D&D. However, I do love The Legend of Zelda, and I have seen multiple attempts to adapt it to a 5E system and Every. Single. One. shits the bed on the master sword so here you go. Copyright Notice: Formal names are copyright Nintendo Co. Ltd. Everything else is released to the public domain. THE SWORD OF EVIL'S BANE Legendary Weapon (longsword), requires attunement The sword of evil's bane, which is also known by many other names including the sword of resurrection and the master sword, is a holy avenger blessed by the White Goddess, a lesser god created by the three Golden Goddesses to watch over creation. The master sword is a wide-bladed bastard sword, larger than an arming sword but not so long that it requires two hands

I know, I know Gimli, but come on the concept is pretty baffling if you really think about it. Dwarves are, as a culture, focused on mining, smithing, and craft. Most dwarven communities are subterranean, and last I checked in all but the most gonzo weird fantasy settings trees don't commonly grow in cave networks. They use wood, sure, but it feels like axes wouldn't be common enough that they'd be the go-to adapt this tool to a weapon item. Historically that is how most weapons were developed, evolving from hunting or farming tools. As miners and smiths, to me at least, it would make so much more sense for dwarves to use military picks, warspades, and of course warhammers. I think early D&D got this right with the hammer +3, dwarven thrower being the iconic dwarven magic item. Beyond Gimli, his namesake in Lodoss Senki Ghim, and Flint from Dragonlance, there is also the axe of the dwarvish lords. An artifact weapon from AD&D that is supposed to be the iconic dwarf

For those of you not familiar with the magic-user, it's the class that was later renamed to mage then even later wizard. Back in the day, wizard was a title you had to earn because you started out as a magic-user. Some versions would reward player characters with high intelligence an additional spell, but for the most part a magic-user had one spell per day at level 1. Many folks in the modern era think that is a problem, as did a few back in the 1970s and 1980s. It kind of is, but its not the problem that WotC, Paizo, or all the homebrewers think it is. It is a referee problem and you can fix it as follows: Place more spell scrolls as treasure.  No, I am not joking. That's it. That's all you gotta do. By the end of your first adventure the magic-user should have 3-4 scrolls to select from, and moving forward your magic-users should have a nice personal library of scrolls. Also, if the magic-user is forced to fight more than they should; phials of acid and holy wate

Blemmyes Armor Class: 11 Hit Dice: 3+1 Attacks: 1×weapon (1-6 or by weapon) To Hit: +3 Movement: 120' (40') Saving Throws: as Fighter No. Appearing: 3-12 (30-300) Morale: 8 Alignment: Neutral XP Value: 50 Treasure Type: L Weapons and Armor: Blemmyes use wooden spears and clubs made from high quality hardwoods, and stone knives. They carry leather shields into battle. Headless: Blemmyes cannot be decapitated. The headless men of the southern continent, they are savanna dwellers who hunt in packs and dwell in simple mud huts. Blemmyes communities trade in gemstones and animal furs, with little to no concept of the value of metal except for steel weapons. Elemental Flan Armor Class: 18 Hit Dice: 3+3* Attacks: 1×slam (1-6) To Hit: +3 Movement: 30' (10') Saving Throws: as Fighter 3 No. Appearing: 1-4 (1-6) Morale: 12 Alignment: Neutral XP Value: 75 Treasure Type: None Immunity: Each elemental flan is harmed only by a specific type of damage;

Sorry for no posts in 4 days. I will try to not make that a habit. I've been busy drawing smut because that is my day job. I initially got started in the OSR via Basic Fantasy RPG. A wonderful little game made by a fellow known as Solomoriah. I even did a little art and homebrewing for it. I think I may even have a credit in one or two of the books. It's a great game made by great people. So why did I move to OSE? The "fans". I am not one to blame a creator for the actions of their fans, so I don't blame Solo at all for this. I don't even really blame Dragonsfoot where this all started... okay. I'm a weeb. A super weeb, like been watching anime since the mid 80s. So I wanted to make a fantasy japan setting for BFRPG, and as soon as I started posting about it I was getting harassed by people. Some names I don't recall, and some that I do. Not that it matters since I'm not the type to even use euphemisms. OSR really didn't have a name at the

Maybe not the exact (You) reading this post, but many of the yous out there running tabletop RPGs are. You need to stop. While I am not writing this with any specific referees in mind, or targeted at any specific individuals, if you think this might be about you; reevaluate your game mastery style. That's a guilty conscious and you may need to take this to heart. NO IS A FINAL ANSWER There are many, countless, good reasons to say no outside of tabletop RPGs. But in a tabletop RPG there are few if any, and here's why. No stops play. When you, the referee, say no you're not keeping the game moving forward. You're pausing things in the hope that the game will keep going after an argument you're bracing yourself for. In best case scenarios a few minutes are lost and some feelings are hurt. WHEN SHOULD I SAY NO? This is a judgement call, and one you need to learn if you ever want to be a proficient referee. However I can point out three specific points where I will say N

Player Character Race: Otherworlder You were not born on a world of magic and high adventure, in fact you come from something closely resembling the real world that the player characters and game master are living in right now! Some how some way, you were drawn into the game world, maybe summoned by a powerful mage, or revived here after an untimely death by a benevolent god, or just some random conflux of fates. How it happened is up to you and your referee, but the result is the same. You're a fish out of water living in a world alien to you. Otherworlders begin play knowing little to nothing about the world but have some knowledge of modern science and narrative tropes, learning about the world from the other players and NPCs as the campaign advances. BX/OSE, other OSR-style games Generally you shouldn't. Otherworlder characters tend to imply more of an arch narrative that classic D&D play tries to avoid. However, if you are dead set on playing as an otherworlder, just

Because decades of playing D&D style games has taught me that fighting 6 monsters you have 55% of hitting is always more fun than fighting 4 monsters you have a 45% chance of hitting.