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Showing posts from December, 2023

How often should you hit in Old-School RPGs?

Most retroclones seem to use the same standard numbers for Leather (light), Chain (medium), and Plate (heavy) armor: 12, 14, and 16, respectfully, with unarmored foes counting as AC 10. There is one prominent exception I've noticed, which is Lamentations of the Flame Princess ( LotFP ). LotFP makes the default unarmored AC 12, and everything else adjusts accordingly (so, light armor is 14, medium armor is 16, and heavy armor is 18).  I found this counter-intuitive at first, but as I wondered on whether there's a good way to fix this. As I started exploring to-hit probabilities, I decided to make a comparison between four prominent old-school systems to get an idea of what the options are. I used three B/X retroclones - LotFP, Old-School Essentials (OSE) , and Labyrinth Lord ( LL ) - and one ODD clone , White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game ( WB)   I decided to see how different classes' chances to hit lightly and heavily armored enemies changes as they level up.

The Skeleton Review of OSR Systems

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A year ago I began to experiment with different OSR systems to try and find my ideal form of playing. I'm hoping to eventually settle down on one or two base systems with a set of house rules that will accomplish my ideal style of play, that I can go back to from time to time.  I'll be keeping this post - my first post on this blog - as a place to keep track of different systems I try overtime and will try to update it regularly with new systems, and new thoughts and feeling on old ones.    Black Hack (light playing experience) Atrocious layout - have to constantly flip back and forth Roll under system is neato Usage die is great, will add that into other things now, especially for ammo - though seems hard to keep track of multiple usage dies Not in love with multi-attacks for fighter, but haven't played higher levels yet. Will have to see how that is in play The rule for Powerful Foes is tough to remember. I will have to see if I remember it next time, as it is crucial