Old-school D&D/Retroclones: (Rolls the die, but it doesn't matter what the result is)

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Old-school D&D/Retroclones: (Rolls the die, but it doesn't matter what the result is)

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drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

gradenko_2000 posted:

I can understand not wanting to "derail" the thread with a discussion about it, but I cannot in good conscience abide by a complete rejection of the issue's existence. I will be tagging out of the thread.

DalaranJ, I appreciate the kind recollection of my old posts.

This is a really really massive overreaction in my opinion, as I think we can all agree that the "No OSR Politics" request isn't meant to ignore the problems surrounding certain figures in the community, it's just to avoid having the thread get clogged up by something that has been discussed a ton in the past and doesn't really need to be talked about again unless something new comes up

# ¿ May 29, 2018 05:46

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 16:48

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Complete Book of Humanoids is a book that would have been so much better if it hadn't made most of the races it included pretty much useless thanks to the combination of class restrictions and level restrictions(the latter is something I absolutely despise when it's used in systems where Race and Class are separate)

But then I've always preferred my fantasy to be jammed full of oddball races prominently(heck the first D&D novel I ever read had Draconians be the viewpoint characters)

drrockso20 fucked around with this message at 08:40 on May 29, 2018

# ¿ May 29, 2018 08:38

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Pollyanna posted:

https://twitter.com/WeAreTheMutants/status/1002620190150914049

(apparently not actually becmi but this makes me wonder about old japanese dnd stuff)

If you have a Crunchyroll account, go watch Record of Lodoss War right now, as that anime is directly based on the creators D&D campaigns(although they eventually switched to their own system because TSR made some really bad decisions when it came to how they handled D&D in markets outside of the United States and Canada)

# ¿ Jun 3, 2018 04:16

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

andrew smash posted:

Has anybody seen or played the dcc book Black Sun Deathcrawl? I flipped through the pdf, and christ it’s over the top bleak. I have no idea how it would actually be functional on the table, but there are some compelling bits in there.

Honestly it's one of those books that's probably not meant to be actually run(except maybe as a one shot at a convention or something), and just something to steal some ideas from

# ¿ Jun 3, 2018 07:59

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Of course it's worth mentioning that those are less hard rules and more guidelines that can be followed or ignored as needed

# ¿ Jun 3, 2018 21:50

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

90s Cringe Rock posted:

Skerples just makes some people extremely angry. On a good day, just the letters "sker" can destroy an /osrg/ thread.

Which is mostly because a lot of the people in the OSR threads on /tg/ these days are petty little assholes, cause most of Skerples stuff is good

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

I assume that means patrick didn't like what he made and doesn't want people thinking of that when they think of Veins of the Earth. I can imagine being pretty sensitive to that, especially when that book is like, a cross-section of someone's very bizarre headspace like Veins is.

If I wanted to speculate I'd guess that skerple's style is too mundane for him. Maybe I'm projecting since that was how I felt reading through that hexcrawl - it softened the bizarre hair-raising edge of that book, which was one of its defining features.

Which is silly because Skerples stuff is good at hitting a balance between being weird and being actually usable in a game

# ¿ Jun 4, 2018 21:17

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

Uhh it's cool if you like it but clearly the author of the book didn't. The exchange comes off as a little petty but it's probably hard to strike a balance between actively making GBS threads on a creator with a boatload of criticism and quietly disavowing it. I don't think he'd have looked any better doing the former rather than the latter. Patrick did it quietly and explained himself (poorly) when asked via private message, and skerples posted the exchange on his homepage and blew it up. I'm not sure how much more reasonably he could have done it, assuming he doesn't like the work but also doesn't want to publicly poo poo on it.

He still links to a different veins article on skerples's blog on his other page, and also to one of the other complete hexcrawls (a mashup of veins and his other bestiary). It sounds like he didn't like this one in particular, to me - I'm not sure how you can fault him for that even if you like it.

I didn't say Patrick couldn't have his own opinion on it, just that his reaction to it was a ridiculous and petty one to make that is incredibly unbecoming of a published author

# ¿ Jun 4, 2018 22:35

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

andrew smash posted:

My dcc core book showed up today. That thing is monstrous.

It's a drat gorgeous book full of excellent art(especially the pieces by Peter Mullen)

# ¿ Jun 5, 2018 04:54

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

dwarf74 posted:

There's definitely a 'black comedy' feel to it. The body count - and enrichment through attrition - are part of the point.

Sailors on the Starless Sea is (imo deservedly) considered the best 0-level funnel. It's long enough that I'd personally recommend letting surviving characters level up mid-adventure as soon as they rack up the XP, but I'm a big softie. The increase in power and options from 0 to 1st is considerable.

This last part is an understatement, a Level 1 DCC character is closer to what a Level 3 to 5 character would be in most other OSR systems(while a Level 10 DCC character is basically what a Level 20 character is in most other OSR systems)

# ¿ Jun 5, 2018 22:44

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

90s Cringe Rock posted:

It's Gamma World's fault. Gamma World 7e just didn't get them angry enough to care enough about making a great game. Sure, it riled up the grogs with cards and booster packs and boxed sets and being based on D&D 4e, but it just... wasn't big enough. MCC would have been better if they'd been motivated enough to commission art of a bonfire of Gamma World boxes, is what I'm saying. They could do that with DCC & 4e.

Gamma World 7e is a near perfect game

LashLightning posted:

Postage costs are about the only thing stopping me from ordering the cards from DrivethruRPG and running Gamma World. Some way to customise what cards you get (i.e. to replicate the c/u/r aspect) but I guess I could just keep separate decks of rarities and roll a d20 to determine what deck the players draw from.

Seriously, can't they find someone who prints cards in Europe/the UK? Postal costs from the US are about as much as the cards themselves.

4th got some quality support from fans shortly before Wizards nixxed it, it could easily be applied to running Gamma World games beyond 10th level.

I have both Umerica and MCC - I'll have to bash them together to make something to run for my group.

Their rates aren't much better for those of us in the US honestly

Also I think I have something lying around for playing Gamma World 7e at levels beyond 10, I'll try and dig it up when I get home from work

# ¿ Jun 6, 2018 17:51

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Halloween Jack posted:

I'm confused as to why S&W and LL both have expansions/editions that turn them into AD&D1e. Was there, like, a contest or something? Is OSRIC just too dry?

In S&W's case it's just because when you have all the supplements in play for OD&D it ends up looking a lot like 1e

# ¿ Jun 7, 2018 19:05

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Xotl posted:

Frostbitten and Mutilated is the only one that comes to mind, though I'm sure there's more. I quite like that one.

Suppose it varies depending on what "death metal" means to you, though.

The DCC setting Hubris is also pretty Metal influenced

# ¿ Jun 7, 2018 23:08

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Xotl posted:

Is it any good?

From what I remember yes, the author originally posted stuff for it on his blog, so maybe take a look at that stuff to get an idea about whether or not you'd want to spend money on it

# ¿ Jun 7, 2018 23:16

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

It kinda goes against the standard OSR vibe, but I'd probably not bother with Encumberance as long as my players aren't doing something too silly, just feels more fiddly than necessary for the most part

# ¿ Jun 9, 2018 03:36

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Just bought some DCC adventures today as I might be running a campaign in the near future, went with the following ones;

Sailors On The Starless Seas

The People of The Pit

The Emerald Enchanter

# ¿ Jun 10, 2018 01:53

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

So since there's nowhere within 50 miles or so of me that is doing Free RPG Day, anyone here who does have access want to pick up the DCC stuff for me, I'll pay for shipping plus a little extra too

# ¿ Jun 14, 2018 23:09

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

alg posted:

If I can grab one I'll send it to you for shipping

Thanks, let me know if you do

# ¿ Jun 15, 2018 00:40

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

alg posted:

Andrew and drrocks PM me, I got y'all DCC

Sent

# ¿ Jun 16, 2018 20:51

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

lemonslol posted:

I just played my first game of DCC. The level 0 funnel was hard for me to get into. I didn't like the idea of playing four characters at once. It made role-playing difficult.

Is that something I just get used to? When it was described to me I imagined you rolled four characters and introduced them to the party after another character expired.

When it comes to 0 Level Funnels you actually don't want to put too much effort into role-playing as most of your characters will probably die during the adventure, you'll be putting your focus on the character who survives that to become a Level 1 character with an actual class

# ¿ Jun 25, 2018 02:24

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

As I've mentioned in the general chat thread I just got robbed about 2 hours ago, and among the stolen objects were multiple RPG books, as well as almost all my dice

# ¿ Jun 28, 2018 02:22

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Xotl posted:

Oh poo poo, that's horrible. As in, someone broke into your house and stole RPG stuff?

No I had them in a backpack and it got stolen while I was out in public, I had set it down in a restaurant to go order and when I got back to my table it was gone

# ¿ Jun 28, 2018 02:32

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Xotl posted:

Someone probably thought it was a laptop, sadly. I had my car window shattered when I left a full backpack in my car; I hope the methheads were thrilled with a bunch of books on the Polish communist army.

Did you lose anything particuarly valuable?

Besides the dice*(and the nice TSR bag I kept them in) the only books over 15 bucks in price were my copies of The Nightmares Underneath and The Nameless Grimoire, the rest that got stolen were;

Pars Fortuna
Deep Carbon Observatory
White Hack
Blueholme Journeymanne Edition(this one still kinda stings cause it was a Kickstarter edition)

*which were a lot of dice, including all my Zocchi dice

# ¿ Jun 28, 2018 02:42

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

thefakenews posted:

Try getting in contact with Johnstone Metzger, he seems like the kind of dude who might help you out with getting new copies of The Nightmares Underneath stuff.

I'll definitely send him a message, cause honestly if those books and my dice hadn't been among the stolen stuff, well I'd still be pissed, but it would be something I could more easily move on from financially

# ¿ Jun 28, 2018 04:41

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

As a bit of good news regarding my stolen stuff, the author of The Nightmares Underneath and The Nameless Grimoire contacted me over on RPGnet, and has offered to send me free replacement copies of those books, which takes a lot of the financial burden off me when it comes to replacing my stolen goods, as those were the most expensive ones in there(35 bucks each compared to the 10 to 15 bucks the rest cost)

# ¿ Jun 28, 2018 19:34

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Xotl posted:

Speaking of deals, The Nightmares Underneath is the deal of the day over at DriveThruRPG, so it's 50% off. Anyone who has it want to describe what it's about and what they think of it?

Will do when I get off work

# ¿ Jun 30, 2018 19:16

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Also TNU includes as a possible item your character can start with is a gun that shoots screaming ghosts instead of bullets

And with The Nameless Grimoire, it has 666 spells in it(notably it's not the only OSR book I know that does that, the similarly great book Fantastic Heroes & Witchery also does that)

# ¿ Jul 1, 2018 03:47

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Firstborn posted:

I've become completely enamored with Veins of the Earth. I know LOTFP and the reputation and everything else, but there is something so wonderful about this book. I shamelessly like quite a few of the LOTFP books, as it turns out.

Have you read Fire On The Velvet Horizon or Deep Carbon Observatory yet, both would be up your alley probably

# ¿ Jul 2, 2018 02:01

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

As of today 5 out of the 6 OSR books that were stolen from me have been replaced(I decided to wait till my next paycheck to replace Deep Carbon Observatory), which includes replacement copies of The Nightmares Underneath and The Nameless Grimoire sent to me thanks to the author of said books after he found out about my plight when I posted about it over on RPGnet

Also got a bunch of really nice dice sent to me by someone either on here or on RPGnet(people both here and there sent me offers and I've only received one so far so I'm not sure who it's from) including one of those d100 dice that looks like a golf ball, besides the backpack itself the only important thing I need to replace now is to get a new set of Zocchi Dice, which gives me an excuse to buy the nice official DCC ones instead of having to buy a bunch of different styled ones like my original batch back in 2012 or so(which were among the stolen dice)

# ¿ Jul 14, 2018 06:16

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

A Strange Aeon posted:

Wait, this module is $250? Why?

That's for used copies as it was out of print for years until just recently

# ¿ Jul 18, 2018 04:35

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Firstborn posted:

I recognize that definition from 4Chan, so I guess we are both lovely.

I recognize that too, although I'd say just because we use that site doesn't mean we're lovely

# ¿ Jul 27, 2018 19:28

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

dwarf74 posted:

It makes it a much more likely possibility, though, in TYOOL 2018 as opposed to, like, 10 years ago.

That's fair admittedly, like it's not an automatic thing but it does raise the percentages a fair amount

Firstborn posted:

To be fair, that definition came about after about two dozen anonymous people calling each other FOEs (false OSR enthusiasts) and telling each other to GYG (get ye gone), as they tried to codify what OSR meant. That was the definition/post that silenced the aggressively insular argument.
While that may not be everyone's definition of OSR, it is explaining the type of game I like to play sometimes.

Yeah that trend is really annoying

remusclaw posted:

The OSR exists solely because people decided that the dead supplement mills for ancient games needed to be brought back into working order. It has resulted in a glut of publishing near equal to the D20 boom.

To be fair though most OSR products are at least decent and many are excellent

Firstborn posted:

I'm not sure if "OSR" is the game I gravitate to, or "DIY D&D". I have a growing aversion to bland, lowest-common-denominator adventure paths and settings that big companies churn out. Usually things tagged "OSR" appeal to me in a weird way that sparks my imagination, with a penchant for gonzo horseshit that someone thought up on a DMT cocktail. "Weird Fantasy" in general has invigorated my interest in DMing and modules, and buzzwords are dumb.
It's kind of like... you know how people will sometimes think a book, painting, etc. done by a legitimate person with deep-seated issues or a skewed view of the world can be an interesting perspective into someone else's psyche? You sometimes hear about someone saying, as praise, "this was written by a literal crazy person". Those sort of things appeal to me in this scene.

I can smell meth fumes wafting off the PDFs of everything Zak S. writes, and despite the politics or whatever, it's an entertaining and provocative read.

Agreed

# ¿ Jul 27, 2018 20:35

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Pollyanna posted:

Why wouldn’t wacky gonzo bullshit work in a PbtA game like Dungeon World or something? Seems to be like it would be easier to pull crazy poo poo out of your rear end that way.

That's actually part of it, it's too easy to do it in those

# ¿ Jul 27, 2018 23:05

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Speaking of Goodman Games and 3.5 content, I'd love to see them do DCC conversions of more of their 3.5 era settings besides just Xcrawl, especially DragonMech and Dinosaur Planet: Broncosaurus Rex

# ¿ Jul 28, 2018 02:09

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

I'm honestly surprised there aren't more adventures that are blatant fetish fuel like BITC considering how much of an overlap there is between the D&D/OSR community and people who like that sort of thing

# ¿ Aug 10, 2018 22:48

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

I'm starting to think we might need to put a moratorium on LOTFP discussion if this is going to continue

# ¿ Aug 11, 2018 09:09

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Pollyanna posted:

I’m just going to avoid weird OSR/rapey poo poo from now on.

Only a very small percentage of OSR stuff is like that

# ¿ Aug 11, 2018 19:06

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Mirthless posted:

^^^

seriously, people make an inordinately big deal about a handful of products out there but the OSR is a pretty big umbrella, even Weird Fantasy OSR is a pretty big umbrella. not everything or even much of everything is carcosa or tabletop aimed at body horror enthusiasts

To be fair though those parts of the OSR are some of the loudest and flashiest

# ¿ Aug 11, 2018 19:31

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Hedningen posted:

Hex-crawl resources: I’ve already been to the Welsh Piper site for my initial design, but I’m hoping to find some more stuff for filling out my hexes. Any recommendations for someone who hasn’t run a hex crawl in fifteen years?

Looking good so far, though: multiple big ruins, a city of mushroom-men and plants under human rulers toiling in eternal twilight, a bunch of rare herbs scattered throughout, and some great options for monster lairs.

Here's a couple suggestions;

Books
Yoon-Suin: The Purple Land
The Gardens of Ynn
Dolmenwood

Blogs
coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com
gameswithothers.blogspot.com
lastgaspgrimoire.com
diyanddragons.blogspot.com
dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com
hillcantons.blogspot.com
goblinpunch.blogspot.com
yog-blogsoth.blogspot.com
rememberdismove.blogspot.com
maziriansgarden.blogspot.com
quibish.blogspot.com
antlerrr.blogspot.com
soogagames.blogspot.com
blessingsofthedicegods.blogspot.com
roll1d12.blogspot.com
gloomtrain.blogspot.com
talesofthegrotesqueanddungeonesque.blogspot.com
inplacesdeep.blogspot.com
lotbieth.blogspot.com
peoplethemwithmonsters.blogspot.com
necropraxis.com
wampuscountry.blogspot.com
initiativeone.blogspot.com
carapaceking.blogspot.com

# ¿ Aug 14, 2018 03:56

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Pollyanna posted:

Why do people venerate Gygax and not Arneson?

From a lot of anecdotes I've read, Arneson was brilliant, but also incredibly lazy and somewhat unprofessional, which is a large part of why he got the boot from TSR

# ¿ Sep 8, 2018 01:19

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 16:48

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Dying a lot should only happen if your players are either really stupid and/or really unlucky

# ¿ Sep 12, 2018 08:26

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Old-school D&D/Retroclones: (Rolls the die, but it doesn't matter what the result is)

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