OSR Minimum Requirements for OSR?

[GMMichael]

I'm working on an OSR mashup of games, but my old-school experience goes back only as far as AD&D 2e. I'm using a modified THAC0, theatre-of-mind (no grid), classes and races, memorized spells, a thieving table, maybe roll-under skills...(don't worry - it's just for fun)

What am I missing? What makes a game OSR to you (that isn't the actual book by TSR)?

 

[Rob Kuntz]

Envision the feeling you got the very first time you played an RPG. Then attempt to recapture that wonder and suspense each and every time thereafter.

 

[Rob Kuntz]

Though this is a little more abstract the immersive Fantasy experience is comparable to what Robert Louis Stevenson said about writing: "The purpose of literature is not to effect your reader, but to effect them exactly as you wish."

 

[Malmuria]

Odd reference, but I thought this moment (at 20:00) in this one shot with Matt Mercer and Stephen Colbert was interesting, given that Colbert had not played since being a teenager:


I feel like he solves the puzzle in a very "classic" sort of way, by using his equipment and searching for environmental cues. I think 5e encourages you to use the array of cantrips, spells, and special abilities to overcome these kind of challenges, and past a certain (quite early) level they are just not a meaningful part of the game.

fwiw, I think this style of play is perfect for new players, who are not interested in their character sheet anyway

 

[Fenris-77]

Three capitalized letters and a can-do attitude.

 

[GMMichael]

How's that?

Wow. Thanks, everyone, for an amazing response! I'm seeing that there are some player-side and DM-side elements, but the vibe is that OSR is more about game-play and designing the adventures than specific rules.

To that end, I think I'll want to separate GM content from PC content, and probably put monster-guidance in the GM book (instead of writing a Monstrous Compendium. Yech!) I still need to go through a lot of the above advice, but some things I've garnered are:

• Skills checks are a new thing. The old "exploration pillar" was about puzzle solving, not rolls.
• PC death was expected - so the game wasn't about character development. It was about winning.
• Thumbing through the rules and books was expected. This might have had a lucubrating-wizard-type appeal.
• The whole process was new to players and to human culture, which gave it a novelty and/or mystique that could be hard to capture these days...

Anyway, I'll be back to gather more wisdom...

 

[GMMichael]

• That is, the referee is there to make rulings so that the game-world operates according to common sense and logic, and nobody has to look anything up on huge tables or do physics equations or consult a textbook on economics. The DM just applies their best judgement.

Huh. I thought the DM's job was to make the world operate in logic-defying, deadly ways

I want to offer GMs this advice on rulings, in my OSR attempt:
To resolve PC actions:
1. Let him do it. Otherwise,
2. Let the attribute score determine ability. Otherwise,
3. Ask her to roll under attribute score. (Adjust attribute score for extreme circumstances).

The intent here is to get things done, rules in the background, until combat starts. I'm hoping it will point toward "skilled play," in which the PC thinks more about the scenario than the character sheet... what do we think?

 

[Jack Daniel]

I go with:

1. Let the PC do it.
2. Otherwise, maybe there's a 1-in-6 chance (or 2-in-6 if it matches the PC's background or skillset) to succeed.

Because attributes shouldn't be that impactful in old-school games, and rolling under a randomly-generated attribute is a truly terrible task-resolution mechanic.

 

[ccs]

To me 5e isn't that much OSR, mainly because it lacks that element of danger and lethality. 5e characters are too resilient and too complex, magic is too easy and combat is too desirable.

Come on over to my table. I'm a 1e DM in a 5e world (it's kinda like being a fox locked in a henhouse for the night). Campaigns not complete without a body count*.
The campaign that just wrapped lasted just over two years and saw a total of 7 casualties. As the curtain closed there was only 1 original PC left & they'd just epically FAILED the last quest they'd undertaken.
(Strahd is now free on the PCs world & the PC is trapped in "Barovia" - with no way back home. )

*Do not read this as I'm trying to kill PCs. I'm not. I'm just really good at it after 40 years of xp, pull no punches, and roll in the open.

 

[ccs]

Envision the feeling you got the very first time you played an RPG. Then attempt to recapture that wonder and suspense each and every time thereafter.

Confusion??
I'd prefer not.

 

[Rob Kuntz]

Confusion??
I'd prefer not.

Sorry that was your first experience. For the vast majority I know It was not the case, more like excitement and wonder. If course YMMV.