Tag Archives: OSR

RELEASED: The Forest God — A One-Shot Adventure Guide for Ancient Elements RPG

This adventure is designed to be played with Ancient Elements RPG, but you can use just about any OSR system.

“The Forest God” is intended to be a one shot that lasts about two hours. Although I have attached some pre-generated player characters I do encourage the players to make their own. Part of the fun is making your characters.

“It is a cold early Spring day, and the adventurers approach a small village looking for a few pints of ale and some food, and perhaps a place to stay. However, the village is somber and almost deserted except for a few people with downcast demeanor walking by.”

The Adventure can be downloaded for FREE at Itch.io:

Welcome Comments and Criticism!

PS 18 JULY 2023: I have gotten some feedback about the cover art, and some of these comments/criticism seem to involve a misunderstanding of the purpose of the game system. That is of course my fault. Above, I state the purpose as “remove all reference to the OGL 1.0a and any content that falls under it”. In this regard I think I was successful (but again if you see something that could somehow be attacked under copyright or other basis please let me know). However, my ultimate goal was to create an open source set of rules that can be used to play OSR type games by creative GMs looking for something to build adventures upon, and game designers to use to create their own games. So I did not pay a lot of attention to art or imagery. I just punched a few words into an AI art generator and picked the brightest colors available. The fact that some hate the cover art so much as to reject the content is a head scratcher for me, but since I did not intend it for commercial sale… oh well — I never claimed to be a good judge of art or style. Notwithstanding the cover art which many find offensive, I hope you find the rules useful.

T.W.O. RPG

REVIEW: RPGPundit Reviews Grit and Bullets on YouTube!

I sent a hard copy of Grit and Bullets to RPGPundit from LULU last year by FedEx and of course they lost it. Then I asked LULU to resend it since FedEx refused to do anything so LULU sent another copy, but FedEx screwed that delivery up. It finally arrived late last year after months of trouble. I got into a little spat with RPGPundit on his forum, so I was not looking forward to this review. But it was not so bad. So here it is:

REVIEW: KOOKS 2d10 RPG Playtest

I recently ‘updated’ my home rules KOOKS system by changing the d20 system to a 2d10 system; along with other small changes. Tonight we did a one shot where the players were given very powerful 5th level Characters with very high level armor. They were to fight against a lot of lower level NPCs and a few higher level NPCs, but none that could be considered equals or superior.

The game was a route. The two high level Player Characters just waded through the masses of low level opposition and demolished them.

Why?

Because the 2d10 system creates a Bell Curve. It is very unlikely that anyone will roll a very high roll or a very low roll within their range of possibilities. With PCs that each had Defense Modifiers of 18+ it was just about impossible for a lower level NPC to hit them.

The first time I experimented with this idea was in a wargame I made called ‘C’est la Guerre‘ where instead of using a 1d6 I used 2d6 creating a bell curve of options. Two infantry units blasting away at each other with musketry were very unlikely to do anything more than cause low level incremental damage. Throw in some artillery and that damage gets higher but not overwhelming. It is at that point that you send in your cavalry to charge or some fresh infantry to do a bayonet attack. That was the only way of breaking those stubborn infantry units.

The two dice versus one changed the dynamic of the game tonight. The two powerful PCs dominated a group of 8 lower level guards and a higher level captain. Then when they confronted three enemies who were close to parity, but not equal, they had a bit of a fight on their hands. But again it was very difficult even for the bosses to hit the two PCs.

If I had wanted to create a real challenge, then I would have needed to add something much more powerful to the mix. Perhaps a ‘boss’ possessed by a high level demonic force? Or perhaps a magic user with access to very high level spells? Or an NPC with a very high level protector?

Something to think about.

T.W.O. RPG is Finished!

T.W.O. RPG with the completion of the SPELLS & MAGIC ITEMS supplements is now done. The goal was to create a non-OGL set of light rules compatible with 3.5 stuff.

It is published under the most open Creative Commons license, so feel free to use it as you see fit. Comments and suggestions are of course welcome!

T.W.O. RPG

REVIEW: Stargazer, by Scott Malthouse

Here is a game I picked up on ITCHIO:

https://trollish-delver-games.itch.io/stargazer

Stargazer is a nice little OSR game that I really liked. It is a very Rules-Lite RPG. I like such games, but sometimes they can be too derivative and so ‘lite’ that they are unplayable as written.

This is not the case for Stargazer!

Stargazer is of course a bit derivative since it is OSR, but it is not slavishly so. The structure is similar but not identical. The mechanics are also not just repetition of prior works, and the classes, or in the rules Archetypes, are very different and interesting. But…

The backstory is awesome!!!! The magic of the game is based upon a Vancian world with a dying sun. I normally don’t like the Vancian magic, but in this case it makes sense. At least to me. The author spends a bit of time explaining it, and I appreciate that. There is a Song of Power that rides upon the wind, and infuses the very nature of the Universe (in a somewhat Tolkienian way?). That is where the magic comes from. What I really like is the work that the author puts into suggesting a ‘source’ to gain access to this Song of Power: precious ‘black sound discs’ dredged up from the underworld of the the ancient world containing the works of Ronnie James Dio! Throughout the short rules of the book there are references to Dio and some appropriate snippets of his lyrics.

I hope I can convince my gaming group to play this with me. People get set in their ways and sometimes it is difficult to get folks to try something different. Luckily my group is pretty open to new things as long as I don’t bully them too much…

My only real complaint is that I don’t think the author went far enough into the ‘Song of Power’ and the ‘black sound discs’ as the link between characters and the magic — the amazing music of Ronnie James Dio! If you are going to put that into the backstory why not put it into the rules? Perhaps the Magician must sing certain lyrics linked to certain magic — each spell has its own Dio lyric inspired Incantation that must be successfully performed to release the POWER!? Perhaps the Magician must listen and (re)learn the music and the lyrics before going off on his or her adventures by playing the ‘black sound discs’ in order to gain inspiration, motivation, and the power of the magic itself!?

A Powerful Magician Preparing and Casting Spells!

All in all very interesting. Give it a try. Let me know how it goes. I will try to update this review if I get a chance to play!

Now back to listening to ‘The Very Best of Dio‘!

License? We don’t need no stinkin’ license!

There is a lot of confusion about Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (WotC) and the Open Game License (OGL). Some people seem to think that if you make a game that is in any way similar to products made by WotC, or some other game, you have to have permission, or a license to do so. Unlike the complex task of cutting hair, doing nails, fixing plumbing, etc., you do not need a license or permission to write games. I think that for most projects based upon the OSR or any project with game mechanics similar to other games, there is no need to use any OGL, license, or obtain any permission other than that required by the ‘fair use’ doctrine and common courtesy.

As I suggested in Is it OK to “steal” game rules or mechanics?, game rules generally cannot be protected, only the actual words and images (copyright), trademarks and tradenames, and occasionally patents for really unique processes and game items. So, unless you are just copying another source word-for-word, which is what the WotC OGL 1.0a allows you to do, you do not need to worry about copyright or getting permission or a license to use copyright protected content.

The ‘fair use’ doctrine does allow for the use of copyright protected material under limited circumstances:

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17 U.S.C. § 106 and 17 U.S.C. § 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

  • the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
  • the nature of the copyrighted work;
  • the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
  • the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

17 U.S.C. § 107

In effect the ‘fair use’ doctrine allows for the word-for-word use of copyright protected material in limited circumstances and properly cited. Including brief properly cited quotes of someone else’s work is fine, including vast amounts of that work without the author’s permission may not be wise.

But remember, only the words are protected by copyright, not the mechanics, formulas, systems, processes, etc. If you take a set of rules and use the exact same mechanics, but you do not copy the text, images, trade name, or trademark then there is no violation of copyright, and you do not need any permission. Nor do you have to provide any attribution at all, but courtesy would suggest you do so.

It is possible that certain unique process ‘tech’ used in a game might be protected under patent law for some ‘process patents’, whether those ‘processes’ are filed or not. However, such ‘process patents’ have a very limited time period for protection (20 years at most) after which they become part of the public domain. Such ‘process patents’ can also be abandoned by the maker if others use the process and the maker does not legally defend it within the statutory period of limitations to bring suit.

The OGL 1.0a created by WotC allowed the user to copy specific protected content word-for-word as long as you followed the terms of the license, which is more strict in some ways than traditional copyright law, trademark and tradename law, patent law, etc.

If you are not copying word-for-word from protected content, using the tradename or trademark of another author, or using mechanics, formulas, or other game systems that are currently protected under patent law (very unlikely), there is no reason to use ANY licensing system.

DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this article is being provided as legal advice or a substitute for legal representation. I am not your lawyer.

‘T.W.O. RPG – Rules’ Now Published

The game is now on ITCHIO, LULU, and AMAZON.

Here is a set of rules I came up with in an effort to remove all reference to the OGL 1.0a and any content that falls under it.

T.W.O. RPG

I have a problem with rules so bloated that no one can figure out what anything means without a ouija board. I also dislike rules that are so ‘lite’ that they leave out important parts that are required to make the game playable. T.W.O. RPG is intended to be a ‘lite’ yet complete set of rules.

This is just the Rules. I am working on additional sections: Wealth Weapons Equipment, Monsters, and Spells. Coming Soon!

REVIEW: Old-School Essentials Basic Rules

I finally downloaded the ‘Old-School Essentials Basic Rules’ from DTRPG for free! You can too:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/272802/OldSchool-Essentials-Basic-Rules?affiliate_id=474082

As I read through the rules I became very nostalgic of the ‘good old days’ when I used to play old school D&D. It was great. At least that is what I remember. It was cheesy, but in a good way. At least that is what I remember. Most of all there was the ‘feel’ of playing at the table with other guys. We argued about the rules. We argued about everything. In my group we mostly laughed and enjoyed it all. Those were the days.

‘Old-School Essentials Basic Rules’ brings all that back. It is a faithful take upon D&D Basic/Expert (B/X) Ed., but cleaned up considerably. It is an elegant streamlined ‘alternative’ to the original. And as such it is actually better.

That said, I had forgotten some of the annoying aspects of early D&D. Primarily the THAC0… what on earth were they thinking about? The D20 System has rather spoiled us since it is so much more intuitive. The need to use a matrix table to determine outcomes is mind boggling. It is a reminder that D&D originated from wargaming which loves such dense and incomprehensible matrix tables! Thank God there are not more of them! I believe the basic D&D 3.* system is much better. It is for this reason that I am so fond of Microlite20 which strips the 3.* system down to the bare essentials.

But this is about ‘Old-School Essentials Basic Rules’. If you want to go back to B/X gaming I think this is a wonderful way to go!