The Skeleton Review of OSR Systems

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
  
• I think the way the ability tests work makes it tempting to roll for everything. I may limit the usage of them next time I ran it - especially for Charisma / Search rolls
• Love the abstract distances
• Love the triggering abilities for monsters (like, triggering on a natural 16+) - very similar to 13th Age which I like
• Unsure about armor yet
• Unsure about the way spellcasters can keep their spells and recast them
• Not sure 6 ability scores are necessary. Am considering combining CON and STR together, and WIS and CHA together and just having four scores
• Leveling up is good but too long. I'll simplify it in my own games
  
• Lack of clarity in some rules
• Love the heavy weapons rule 
• Seems like conversions wouldn't work great, especially because of the fighter
  
• Would I run it again: Yes, but I'll probably be tweaking it a bit as I play 

 

Cairn (light playing experience)

• The character creation rolling is neat in theory, but a bit too tiresome in practice. And most of the appearance stuff is not that interesting and not sufficiently differentiated.
• Magic system is neat, thoug I'm undecided about the idea of all spells being the same level
• Also: I don't love how difficult it is to start off with a spell
• Encumbrance system is a bit too limiting - especially since you can wind up going above it in character creation
• Would I run it again: Maybe, but I would probably redo all the tables for character creation, cutting some out and reflavoring it to fit my preferences  
  

Dungeon Crawl Classics (light playing experience)

• Only ran a funnel so far, but loved it
• Uncertain about the way luck works
• Magic seems great in theory. Will have to see how it works in play. May be too complicated
• Seems like a bit too many rules for my tastes all in all, may cut them down
  
• Would I run it again: Definitely
  

Dungeon Crawl Classics by Joseph Goodman (2012)

 

Fantastic Medieval Campaigns - Basic (light playing experience)

• Ran Tombs of the Serpent King in it
  
• The lack of ability scores is actually quite nice and liberating, whittles D&D down to the utmost basics
  
• The combination of energy, focus items, and scrolls is more finnicky than I personally like
  
• I think the warrior should have a bit more health at first level compared to the other classes
• 50/50 is a bit too wild for my tastes. I'd probably switch to 2/6 chances if I ran it again
• Would I run it again: Maybe if I wanted to run a module and do near-instant character creation.
  

 

Into the Odd (light playing Experience)

• Great setting
• Great character creation mechanics
• Interesting rules for fighting very powerful monsters
• The auto-hit mechanic is interesting, it makes things deadlier in theory, though might not with math
• The two health pools is neat. Armor works well too.
  
• The idea of three ability scores is neat - but it can be finnicky at times. I'm not sure why the enemies need them too.
  
• Would I run it again: Yes, am planning on it. Though I'll probably add an encumbrance system

Into the Odd Remastered by Chris McDowall (2023)

Lamentations of the Flame Princess (Moderate Playing Experience)

• Love the flavor, even if some of it is a bit much.
• One of the best thief - "Specialist" - classes I've seen. Very simple, very elegant
• Encumbrance rules are interesting but still a bit too finnicky for my liking
• Not sure I like the idea of only the fighter having his attack bonus go up. Though if the monsters' AC's remain static it's not so bad - I probably will give Clerics a higher attack bonus in later levels.
  
• Adventures for it are quite beloved. The ones I ran were fun but have a few too many gacha moments that I'm not a fan of. 
• Too many stats and item rules in general - I've begun running it without the various different AC's. I just have on AC score, period. Will also probably get rid of the finnicky rules for rapiers and reach weapons and just do small, medium or heavy weapons (though even this I have to think about 
• Lay out is quite good
• Interesting downtime rules I'm not sure I'll ever use
• I like the idea of starting spells being randomized. 
• Would I run it again: Yes, with some house-ruling to cut the fat. Maybe I'd try to combine it with parts of OSE I like.

Troika! (Light Playing Experience)

• The idea of all classes essentially being pre-generated characters is lovely
• Love the implied setting seeping out of the rules and backgrounds
• great inventory rules - the idea of having to roll to try and recover items deep in your backpack is wonderful
• Initiative is interesting but seems... finnicky.
• The introductory adventure is not great. Lots of interesting ideas - but not actually particularly fun to play in and of itself. May be good as a campaign opener - but as a one shot, I would probably do something else next time.
  
• Unfortunately, when I played this, I didn't even know what OSR really is - and I certainly didn't know how to run OSR style games, so I think it felt flat partially because I was trying to run it like a story game 
• Would I run it again: Yes, with a new adventure.
  

Tunnel Goons (Light Playing Experience)

• Love how fast it is to make a character
• I like that character creation is paired with background generation (with backgrounds that can easily be customized)
• Love how simple the rules are
• Though that being said, adding 1 for each relevant item can become a tad confusing at times
• Combat can be a bit messy - it's not clear whether there should be turns for enemies and players both, or what
• I think next time I run it I will try to just ask all players what they do on their turn before anyone rolls, and then have them all roll and describe the scene as a whole
• Lack of a native magic system (but you can easily snag one from Cairn or Maze Rats)
• Lack of armor
• But can easily use the armor rules from Maze Rats
• I love the idea of the AC and health being equal - so that when you hit enemies you also make them easier to hit. I may try to do this in other games too 
• Not sure it has the legs for a campaign. Maybe a mini-campaign - 3-5 sessions. 
  
• Would I run it again:  Yes. Seems like an excellent system for improvised or low prep games.
  

White Box FMAG (Moderate playing Experience)

• I hate the idea of ability modifiers granting experience bonuses, so nixing that
• Overly complicated method of balancing ability scores, I'd probably switch to just letting players swap two and that's it
• I'm not in love with the idea of everything dealing 1d6 damage, it feels a bit flat. But I have to think about this some more
• Uncertain about multi-attacks for fighters, as I haven't gotten to see it in play. I like the idea of limiting it to 1 HD creatures - to let players go nuts against hordes of mooks.
  
• I don't understand why archers fire twice - and I don't play this way
• I prefer race as class
• Layout is so so, too much flipping back and forth
  
• I don't like endless Turn Undeads for the cleric, and I don't love the cleric not having spells until 2nd level 
• Infravision is a mechanic I hate, definitely not using that 
• Would I run it again: Probably not, though I'd be open to playing it as a player. 
  

White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game by Charlie Mason (2016)