When something of note occurs in the OSR, good or bad, someone seems to make one of these question things that many in the OSR rise to the challenge and answer.
OSR Guide For The Perplexed Questionnaire From Zak S.
- One article or blog entry that exemplifies the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:
Twenty Quick Questions for Your Campaign Setting on Jeff’s Gameblog. - My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice/snark:
Rulings Not Rules - Best OSR module/supplement:
Richard LeBlanc’s d30 Sandbox Companion [Affiliate Link] - My favorite house rule (by someone else):
Shields shall be splintered, I believe it was this article on Trollsmyth that brought this to popularity. - How I found out about the OSR:
It was around the time I read that Gary Gygax had died. Either a short while before or immediately after. I found this group of bloggers going on about the kind of games I played. Especially B/X which we always thought was “for babies” because Holmes Blue Box Basic said we needed AD&D when it was released. The OSR showed me that there was some cool stuff in there. [The more I worked on answering these questions, I’m pretty sure I was reading the OSR blogs about 2007, Gary Gygax died in March, 2008.] - My favorite OSR online resource/toy:
DriveThruRPG [Affiliate Link] with all the free and low cost game aids. - Best place to talk to other OSR gamers:
G+ was the main place. There is still a bit after the whole ruse to MeWe. There is a tiny bit on Facebook. I find a lot among a few on Twitter. The G+ shake up has left the best place up in the air a bit, but right now, it looks like MeWe. - Other places I might be found hanging out talking games:
Patreon: Patrons get a vote on the PDF I release the following month.
Podcast: Episodes Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram
Facebook
MeWe
Reddit
Contributor to Multiverse by the new TSR. - My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody appreciates enough:
I love seeing how my players interact with my world and see some aspect or focus on something and make it important. I love seeing how their actions have repercussions. I also love watching them burn it all down. Just being surprised by how players do things I could never anticipate is a big part of my fun as GM. - My favorite non-OSR RPG:
Looking at my gameshelf, the only non-OSR game is D&D 5e, which I’ve only played a few times. I want to run it for new players and get a better feel for it, since most new players will encounter it first. - Why I like OSR stuff:
I never got into modules back in the day. We couldn’t afford them, and only ran the ones that others bought. I also find that it takes me too much effort to figure out a module. The amount of effort I put into it gets better results if I make my own adventures and world. Plus there are so many cool OSR things that help me create adventures and locations if I need ideas. - Two other cool OSR things you should know about that I haven’t named yet:
Hexcrawls and Sandboxes.
Both are styles of play that go together, but can be used indepenently. A sandbox is a way for a GM to design their campaign in a quick and easy way that allows the players to go anywhere and do anything. The world building is bottom up, that is it starts with a town and a few nearby adventures, and as the players interact with the world, it grows to meet them.
Hexcrawls are ways that players explore the game world and figure out where things are. - If I could read but one other RPG blog but my own it would be:
Jeff’s Gameblog by Jeff Rients. - A game thing I made that I like quite a lot is:
Library Generation Tables – Tables to help generate a library and aspects of its collection.
I also made a card game that was a big hit at Gary Con X and I hope to Kickstart in 2019. - I’m currently running/playing:
Last week we just finished playing in a 4-1/2 year 221 session AD&D campaign on Roll20. We’re taking a break. I play in a Sunday AD&D campaign on Roll20. My in person and Roll20 AD&D games are on hiatus. - I don’t care whether you use ascending or descending AC because:
It’s a game and should be all about having fun! - The OSRest picture I could post on short notice:
