I love role-playing games, if there was such a thing as “my thing”, it would definitely be that. It should not however be a secret that I’m a card carrying member of the OSR (Old School Revival). For those in the know, the OSR is essentially a sort of loosely defined idea that in some shape or another, old school RPG’s were better then I suppose you could say new school RPG’s. Not entirely sure that is a reasonable explanation of the OSR, but I’m not here to explain what it is, I’m here to talk about some of the games that are released in the spirit of the OSR or games that proclaim themselves to be OSR games.

I do want to say that the presumption that I don’t like contemporary games or I’m some sort of Gronard because I like OSR games is far from the truth, though a common sentiment among contemporary RPG fans about the OSR. It’s a kind of strange stereotyping that takes place that if you like old school games, it means you hate new school games. This is nonsense of course, I love all sorts of role-playing games, I just happen to have my beefs with one of them which happens to be the most popular one in the world, modern, contemporary 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. One of these days I will get to writing an article about why that is, but if you follow my blog I don’t think I hide my general distaste for the 5e ruleset. That does not however mean that I don’t like modern RPG’s, I do, my bookshelf is full of them.

In any case today we are not here to talk about what I don’t like but rather what I do like. In today’s article we are going to look at several OSR games, what makes them great and why you should be playing them! Hope you enjoy the article, release the cracken!

Old School Essentials: Classic Fantasy

I put this here first and I will be brief, mainly because all that Old School Essentials is, is 1st edition B/X rules largely unchanged. This is B/X 1st edition, but organized as a rules reference to perfection. If you run B/X D&D, the Rules Tome for OSE is all you will ever need and its definitely far superior to the original printings. Everything is indexed, categorized and laid out with a single extremely well defined purpose, playability.

Now Necrotic Games also put out The Advanced Genre Rules book and this supplement is amazing, it compiles a lot of classic early edition races and classes, adds some rules for integrating race and class, instead of the traditional just class structure. They work together so you no longer have to make a decision one way or the other, you can pretty much let your players choose, they are balanced to work in the same game. Great addition.

Now as far as how good of a game is B/X 1st edition, well that is an article in its own right but the short and sweet of it is that as far as I’m concerned this is THE BEST version of the D&D and I say that without reservation. To me, B/X and BECMI rules are D&D, accept no substitute!

Dungeon Crawl Classics

Dungeon Crawl Classics is a kind of combination of old school lethality, mixed in with the simplicity of the basic 3rd edition rules strip down to its birthday suit and with a layer of Gonzo style magic systems that give Rollmaster tables a run for its money. The game also uses some wacky dice to give it some unique flavor though this is largely just a gimmicky thing for funzzies.

Dungeon Crawl Classics falls into the beer and pretzel RPG category for me. The game starts out with players making 4 0 level characters each (yes a typical game starts with 15-20 characters). These nobodies get basic NPC like classes from the peasant side of the fantasy universe like candle makers, cooks, farmers etc… and these would be heroes are thrust into an adventure called a funnel where they must effectively try to get to the bottom of the adventures evil plot while being armed with pitchforks and candle sticks.

With little chance of surviving at all, players must use narrative cleverness to get through it and though most characters are likely to die horrifically tragic deaths, those that do survive the funnel become full blown first level heroes getting a choice from all of the classic D&D fantasy classes.

The funnel to me is just an absolutely fantastic concept, it effectively allows players to write their origin stories and though its clearly meant as a kind of silly one shot adventure, the system is actually quite robust once you get into hero level characters and you can turn this into a full blow fantasy adventure game.

Certainly the Gonzo style writing of the official modules, which are absolutely brilliant, does suggest that the game is meant to be taken with a great deal of humor and because the deadliness of the game remains relatively steady throughout, there is a level of old school anxiety and fear built into the game that makes this an undeniable OSR game.

Really unique concept with a great, easy to learn mechanic but one with a bit of robustness and flavor that keeps itself interesting. Great fun addition to the OSR line up of amazing games.

Forbidden Lands

This OSR game keeps with the spirit of the classic D&D game, but has a couple of unique twists that really separate it from the field.

It leans more towards the survivor story, where characters exist in a desolate almost post apocalyptic fantasy world where the frontier is a complete unknown. They must explore it in hopes of finding their fortune in the classic D&D tradition, but the game puts a lot of weight on the concept of survival. Food and water are scarce, supplies and weapons are not easy to come by, their are almost not towns to shop at and the result is a game where you not only need to survive the adventure, but you need to survive the elements, starvation, dehydration and the general absence of the necessities of life.

This is also a sandbox hex crawl and as players explore the frontier the DM rolls to determine what they find in the various areas which leads the players to player driven goals which I think is the key feature of the game. There aren’t large narrative stories here, the players are meant to go out into the world and make something of themselves and what that ends up being is largely driven by the opportunities the frontier presents to them.

On a high level this is a sandbox game and it can very much be run as a western marshes style campaign where you can have a large group of friends who call upon your GM services whenever they like to contribute to an ongoing story about this frontier. Much of the game is randomly generated, what happens, what the story of the game is, is going to be as much a surprise to the GM as it is to the players. Yet there is a lot of content here that will inspire GM’s that love to write and you can definitely find yourself unintentionally world building. It’s almost as if its a game designed to not only produce an adventure for your players, but a new campaign setting for you as the GM.

While there are some hiccups in the system that will require a bit of GM intervention, they are minor and easily fixed. In my book this is another great entry into the OSR must play list.

Five Torches Deep

Five Torches Deep is a very clever attempt to bring 5th edition D&D fans into the OSR fold and it does it with style, proving that not only is classic D&D not about classic rules, but somewhere buried beneath the nonsense of 5th edition D&D rules is actually a salvageable system.

Five Torches Deep is a game that is clearly inspired by the Dungeon Crawls of old and systems like B/X with those old school sentimentality. The goal of the game, much as it was it the golden age of D&D is to go into dungeons, fight monsters and steal their stuff!

This game however is dangerous as hell and leans heavily on player centricity with a pretty heavy handed dose of narrative flexibility. There is not much to the mechanic, its very much driven by the player-gm conversation style of role-playing, what I like to call… normal role-playing.

It uses a clever durability system and time tracking system to give the game an earthy, realistic tone reminiscent of B/X rules, while simultaneously it is very much a fantasy adventure where players are going to be kicking ass and taking names.

I don’t want to necessarily quantify this one as a beer and pretzel game, but I think its a bit too deadly and a bit to linear in its approach to stretch into the more serious campaign, though the rules are so flexible and modular here that you can easily pull from other sources to make it a bit more robust. In fact I think you can very easily inject B/X classes into this game with minimal effort or expand by creating your own. The classes available act almost as design templates to show you how its done. I think most players however will find the game a bit too limited as written and much like B/X rules that is fun for the first few levels, it needs more after a while much the same way B/X does. Eventually you will want more classes, more options and a bit wider range.

Still its just so well made, straight to the point, easy to get to the table. This is one of those games where you can bring friends over like its board game night, pull it out, make characters and be playing D&D in no time flat and that in my book is a game worth having on the shelf.

Blades In The Dark

I fell in love with Blades In The Dark after just three pages of reading and though I’m yet to run it, from the stand point of a GM who needs inspiration, this game, this setting and really just the entire concept is a fucking revelation. This book gives you the feeling you might remember when you got your first D&D book, that first read through, that first day of deciding you are going to play, the excitement of not knowing what’s going to happen. This book has that kind of magic.

This is a game that is narratively focused on a very specific concept. You and your friends take on the roles of effectively criminals in a early-industrial fantasy world, with only one goal. Pull off “Jobs”, aka, commit crimes in the city and try to get away with it. From heists, to burglaries and everything in-between this is the oceans eleven of fantasy RPG’s.

The system itself is superbly designed with every conceivable issue running a game in this style might present perfectly laid out for you with simple and applicable rules that make sense the first time you read them. This book is so well written, the concept so well thought out that I can see how this game practically runs itself.

More than that though the concept is just so amazing, who hasn’t thought of running a D&D game where everyone plays a thief and you indulge in your criminal fantasies. Clearly John Harper has.

There are plenty of variations on the thief class for everyone to find something to play, the setting itself is just the perfectly executed dark fantasy and their are turns and twists ready made for you to throw into your game that there is absolutely no way your players are going to expect.

Without a doubt one of the best RPG’s I have read in the last decade, this is the new gold standard to beat for OSR games.

Stars Without Numbers

Stars without numbers proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the OSR is alive and well and its not just about fantasy. Inspired by classic B/X rules and the classic RPG Trinity, Stars Without Numbers is a science-fiction sandbox for players to explore, yet the universe/setting is not some pre-generated science-fiction writing. This is a dynamically created world where even the GM doesn’t know what is going to be in his game until it starts. In a sense, much like Forbidden Stars, the result of playing this game is going to be dynamic world building.

This is a game that will put your improv skills to the test as a GM and though the system itself is simple, running this game I think is really the ultimate challenge for a DM. This game has every conceivable science-fiction trope that has ever existed in what I can only describe as a setting with infinite possibilities. Though its clearly inspired by Trinity, I can help but get an Alternity vibe from it, which notably is one of my all time favorite science-fiction RPG’s.

Really well written, easy to get into, its just the most perfect system for a science-fiction GM looking to create that perfect sci-fi game for his players.

Love this one, a must buy for any serious sci-fi fan.

Conclusion

It goes without saying that the OSR produces a lot of games, to create an article that covers all the good ones would take pages upon pages. I honestly could do this for days, but an article needs to end sometime.

The games I’ve chosen here are games I have either ran, played in or read, but there are many more I’m certain deserve to be on this list.

The important part here however is to present the OSR for what it is, a diverse sea of interesting games that make great alternatives to the tried and true, but sometimes rather stale accepted alternatives like Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, Starfinder and the like.

These are some great games and I think as an RPG fan it’s everyone’s duty to explore games, to dig deeper and approach the entire hobby with an open mind. I find contemporary gamers who often claim inclusivity and tolerance in an attempt to appear politically modern are secretly some of the most judgmental and ruthlessly closed minded gamers out there refusing to touch anything without a Wizards of the Coast logo and casting a wide net of judgement against anything with the OSR label. Get out there and explore these amazing games, its nothing short of a tragedy to miss out on these experiences.