Howdy, Farmhands!
For those of you who are fortunate enough to have avoided my ramblings on social media, may God continue to bless you and yours with sweet ignorance. Today's blogpost will have to temporarily expose you to TTRPG Discourse of the Bluesky variety, I'm afraid. I know, I know, you presumably choose to read blogs to avoid using such distasteful websites. There's still time to click off and go read something else. This preamble is mostly dragging out time for you to make your escape.
Not terribly long ago, an individual made a series of Skeets (yes, we call them Skeets) about their experience bouncing off of some OSR products. Assuming you're not reading this in some far off future where said service has completely gone dark (which could be as soon as June, the way online services work in the year of our Lord, 2025) here's a link to said thread. This isn't a sub-post in the slightest, by the way, ACoupleOfDrakes is completely within their right to 1. Dislike a product, trend, or genre and 2. Skeet About It As They Will. The sentiment simply became a hot topic for all of five minutes among people term searching the phrase "OSR," and as such, many of us felt the need to post our Opinions. Naturally, I chimed in so I could feel like a special little boy for an hour.
To DRASTICALLY paraphrase ACoupleOfDrakes' words to quickly establish What my opinions are in reaction to, here's the key statements that caught my attention.
One of the things that keeps me from becoming an OSR guy is how few of
the worlds presented seem like a place I'd like to spend time exploring.
There are notable exceptions....(source)
...I think the thing that makes me most interested in an OSR setting is its ratio of wonder to believability....(source)
...There are a lot of gonzo for the sake of gonzo settings that lose me because I can't imagine what you're supposed to /do/ there.... (source)
...Trying to put into words what divides the things that I like versus the
things that I don't in the OSR space and only coming up with a Calvin
and Hobbes meme about "OSR that's Maps" and "OSR that's Questions." (source)
1. No.
I don't personally believe OSR as a genre needs a ton of cohesive settings, nor that picking out a pre-made setting guide is a necessary step in having an OSR-y experience. There's just something about a self-aware DIY elfgame that's charming all on it's own, y'know? You get your combat rules and your equipment lists and that's kind of all the System needs to do. Half the point of an Old School Game is coming up with your own bespoke fantasy land cobbled together from whatever interests you and your table. You probably have an idea of Where you want to adventure anyway, and you'll purposefully pick modules and beasties that fit that vague impression you have in your mind. The turn to emergent settings being made during play that you see
frequently these days (Questions instead of Maps) makes a lot of sense.
Sure, theres people wanting their Greyhawks and their Spelljammers and whatnot, but a large swathe of OSR systems are either compatible with those older works out the gate or stupid easy to convert. Any setting with a travel system worth a damn is basically already an
unofficial osr setting, as far as I'm concerned. Get Neverland by Andrew
Kolb. I don't care that it's statted for 5e. You can do basic math
conversions probably. Make everything a Bear.
2. But Actually, Yes.
And I'm going to immediately go back on what I Just Said. Remember those charming, self-aware DIY elfgames? A large chunk of "The Setting" is found in what exactly the
author puts in the basic rules and equipment lists. If a system features Swords and Spears, the implication inherent in the text is that your game will take place in a world where such weapons are reasonable to have around. Imagine one includes Laser Pistols and Bags of Doritos in the list of gear to buy at character creation - Suddenly, your gaming experience is distinct from most others. This comparison is a little exaggerated for effect, but you get what I mean, right? A system with simple access to Magic Spells implies a different world to one with none at all. The choice to include or exclude options is as much a world-building exercise as it is an editorial one. In this manner, there isn't a single OSR game out there that is truly without it's own Setting, even if the Author never names it. You can blur your eyes and come up
with some Proper Nouns for Places that would have that shit in it. You're a smart cookie.
3. -Well, Now That I Think Of It, Only Maybe?
What I think individuals are ACTUALLY looking for when they go shopping for the perfect setting is a sense of verisimilitude, a through-line of tone from which their idealized fantasy can be extrapolated. In a previous post, I discussed a series of Pamphlets by Seba G.M., which use a Tri-fold to succinctly offer guidelines and mechanics for running Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft using the Knave system. These are purposefully mere snippets of the full setting guides one can find for these worlds, but in their brevity, I still find the flavor I'm looking for to run a game within them. The mechanics they add or change are adjusted so as to create a feeling at the table, instead of just giving you a list of locations and names to memorize. I could look at one of the many grimdark fantasy settings released over the decades, only to find what I desire is closer to the free zine-size booklet version of Mork Borg. I could decide the exact reverse too! I don't need to invest in becoming a Greyhawk Scholar, but if my personal ideal of a Grimdark setting requires that deep an understanding, it might be to my taste.
All of this is to say, I suppose, that one of my favorite elements of The OSR is the freedom to pick and choose what is necessary for Your Game. Not All games, not The game, just Your game.
4. So, No. lol
Until Next Time,
- Farmer Gadda
looking for a new OSR setting
ask exalted funeral if the setting is maps or questions
they laugh and say it's a good setting
buy the setting
it's maps
Howdy, Farmhands.
I got bored at work. It's one of those jobs with a lot of sitting in one location while waiting for very important things to happen, and depending on where you're stationed, you're not allowed to access your cell phone for the duration. Normally, my attention is needed frequently enough that I don't go stir crazy, but on slow days, it could be an honest to God HOUR before I'm required to do more than look pretty. This is the perfect time to let my mind wander and daydream, so I played a solo game in my head. Which is where most solo games are played, but I had no access to dice or prompts or rulebooks or anything.
What I DID have was a computer screen with a digital clock that would display the seconds passing, and an idea. If I looked away from the clock while "resolving" scenarios, only glancing over to it to answer a yes or no question that would clarify the fiction, it was almost like using a randomizer to create an output. If the number was Odd, the answer was no, even for yes.
And I had fun, actually! The trick was to hold myself to the limitations of this weird binary resolution system. If the seconds flashed to the next number after I'd glanced over, even if the result would be BETTER, I had to accept the lower number. Conversely, I need to be the best GM to myself. If a flash of inspiration strikes, I ought to let it play out in my head instead of asking the clock if my cool idea -really- happened.
I knew I wanted to have a self-insert Digimon Adventure, specifically playing as my avatar of Farmer Gadda. To begin with, I asked questions about how I got isekai'd- Does Farmer Gadda have prior experience with Digimon? (No.) Was he chosen for some destiny? (Also no.) Are Digimon reflections of their Human's soul or wild animals they make friends with? (The first one) Are there OTHER Humans getting isekai'd or just him? (Yeah there's others.)
Does he get to bring his Farming tools? (Sure.) What about food? (Yeah.) At this point, I had the mental image of a wormhole forming in the middle of a field of potatoes where he was weeding, meaning the food in question is just a bunch of potato plants. But would he be able to plant potatoes where he landed? Where did he land anyway? A Forest? (No.) Jungle. (No.) On a Mountain? (Nope.) On the... Beach? (Absolutely not.) This was taxing, as so far my luck with questions had leaned towards Yes answers, and I was running out of ideas. An Island? (Yes) But we just established there's no Beach so like... a FLOATING Island? That would actually be very cool and also give me a limited space to run around in. Until I get OFF the floating island, I'm restrained to a specific space, and encounters can be justified by the rock making it's way about with no input from the Farmer.
A series of questions later, I have a D-Arc digivice but no cards (Goddamnit) and the floating island has 8 potential Upgrade spots for me to build stuff. I'm stuck up there with a dwindling food supply, no water source, and a baby Wanyamon that's just happy to be included.
I'm big on timekeeping in roleplaying games, so I seperate my "actions" by splitting the day into 4 Watches. This is also useful for pausing the fantasy when I have to accomplish something, as I AM still at work. Every Watch I ask if there's an encounter, and if not, I check for resources.
The first Encounter was, according to the clock, A Bird Digimon (I chose Piyomon off the top of my head), it was unfriendly, BUT it wasn't going to attack. I decided it would be funny to have the bird be startled from it's roost and, should it appear later, have an ongoing grudge with the Farmer. One day dream about what that scene looked like later and it was on to the next Watch.
I decided pretty quick that as my note-taking abilities are limited to a sticky pad and pen that I couldn't write out an extensive list of requirements for the upgrades, so instead of keeping track of an inventory, I ask the clock "Is this enough to-" whenever I acquire more of something. The first upgrade only needed Stone, which I can get no problem. But an upgrade in the middle of the island that ONLY requires stone... oh!A three story structure that looks like hollowed out geometric cubes would be nice! Keeps Farmer Gadda and his little furball from sleeping in the open air.
I continued playing this game in my head and on my notepad for about two hours irl before the inevitable rush hit and my focus was on being gainfully employed, but that's fine. I can return to that fantasy whenever I please, adjusting the fiction and asking the clock more questions because... this is basically just my overly complicated day dream. Before I stopped though, that Piyomon and his friends brought me more food and some lore: Other humans have been Isekai'd and most are of the Colonialist type, which is why they were distrustful of me. It looks like there's an Adventure to be had somewhere on the mainland below.
Now if only I could figure out how to get down there...
Until Next Time,
Farmer Gadda
Not So Recently, I read SandroAD's blogpost, "Hirelings as Specialists." It's less of a gameable system, and more of a proof of concept for turning existing fantasy game skill sets into hireable NPCs, and thus allowing Players to access those abilities without needing to be of that class themselves. Slightly More Recently, I went down a bit of a Rabbit hole, beginning with Joshy Mcroo's blogpost, "A Campaign Where There Is One Of Anything." As the title suggests, it posits a fantasy world in which concepts, classes, monsters and the like are singular and rare. It's part of a longer discussion among multiple blogs, some helpfully listed at the end of Mcroo's post, about the nature of Monsters, the banality of 'generic' fantasy concepts, and ways to mitigate those issues. With both of these blogposts rattling about in the empty space where my brain should be, they were bound to eventually collide, which is where I find myself today.
In a game where There Is One of Anything, especially if Player Options are also uniquely limited, there comes a question of how literal that One is. Having The Bard doesn't mean there are no other sassily homoerotic lute players roaming the lands and getting gigs at taverns. Having The Witch doesn't mean the concept of a full Coven is an alien one. The impetus on creating a world Where There Is One of Anything is a matter of focus. Yes, there are "Paladins", knights that swear oaths to a higher power and follow a code of conduct. But for the purposes of your adventure? Your characters? Your party? There is only one that truly matters. Only one whose purpose and goals are truly divine in nature, and who's decisions will alter the path of history (or at least, do so where your players can see them).
Expanding on SandroAD's concept of placing class features into a hireable npc to feature multiple classes is fairly simple. The Specialist Point system they posit would need tweaking and balancing, but the base concept is sound. Each Hireling has a set of abilities with a point cost, which the players can trigger once a Dungeon Turn by paying it. There are a handful of passive abilities that make just having the Hireling come along a good choice, even if you never use their Point abilities in that specific dungeon. I could open any edition of DnD, blur my eyes, and come up with a bunch of these in one go.
For a DM who runs multiple campaigns, especially those with overlapping players, this system might already sound like an utter wash. Do you just make 12 NPCs, one for each core class, and reuse those over and over? Isn't that??? Boring? And to that I say no, not really. For starters, while Sandro details a specific Thief in his blogpost, none of the mechanical abilities are tied to that character's species, personality, or toolkit. I think this should be left alone on purpose. By keeping the mechanics the same (i.e. all thieves across games have the same abilities), but changing the context in which those abilities came to be, you create a familiarity with the Rules and their use, while creating a new social challenge for your players to overcome in order to attain them. Rannie the Human Thief may actively want to work for the Party in one game, while Yoseph, the Dwarf Thief might actively dislike a member of the party in another game. If the players already know what they will gain by convincing Yoseph to put aside their differences, they may choose to invest more time in that character in the hopes they can add his abilities to their toolkit.
Example: The Alchemist
(1) Acid Splash - The Alchemist can set a trap using their questionable ingredients to damage foes or infrastructure. (1d4)
(1) Identify Poison - The Alchemist can test a substance for negative effects, declaring the properties and means to nullify them
(1) Chug Jug - Regardless of turn order, if The Alchemist can physically reach a PC, they can use a Potion from either's inventory on the PC.
(3) Quick Brew - In a pinch, The Alchemist can just throw something together, they can create a slapdash Potion of 1d6 efficiency. - Roll d6, on a 1 they only manage a 1d2 Potion
Passives:
- For every day spent alone during Downtime, The Alchemist has a 1 in 6 chance of brewing a Potion of 1d6 efficiency. The potion has a random effect and must be accounted for in a PC's inventory or sold at the end of the Downtime action
- The Alchemist has textbook knowledge of medicinal plants and minerals used in potion making, and can ascertain the location of most ingredients, should they be needed.
Additional Thoughts:
- Starting from the 12 core dnd 5e classes would be a good start, but what of subclasses? If you have a "Ranger" NPC, would you want to treat "Beastmaster" as a separate entity, or randomly choose WHICH Ranger is in this specific game? With a handful of triggerable abilities and some passives, this makes homebrewing additional content in fairly simple, but where do you draw the line?
- Perhaps adding in a Gacha system of sorts, with basic Classes being more common to find, and the wilder concepts being rarer? Or throwing caution to the wind and letting the Power Ranger and Super Saiyan NPCs show up when the dice or story say they do.
- Like stated in Mcroo's post; these NPCs can just exist in the world as well. Use them as Masters to train with to learn one of their abilities as a PC, have them be shopkeeps with their abilities for sale, make them quest-givers or leaders of their own factions. The players should be aware of when they meet The One Class of the campaign, but they don't all Need to be Hireable.
