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Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules

necroticgnome.com

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Re: Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules

#21

Post by zbikowski »

Propelloni wrote: post #17
zbikowski wrote: post #9

I appreciate all that Gavin Norman and Necrotic Gnome have done for the OSR TTRPG scene over the past few years, but I have to say each time I see a D&D-derivative system it makes me wish that other systems of the time—like Runequest, Tunnels & Trolls, or West End Games' d6 system beneath Ghostbusters (1985) and Star Wars (1987)—got even half the attention. Tom Moldvay and Dave Cook's Basic/Expert (1981) has been don…

At least BRP (the system behind Runequest) and d6 are actively developed and there are games, new and old, using them. They are also rather popular, at least if one browses rpg.net. T&T I don't know. I think there is a new edition coming along?

This is true. Though I will say that modern iterations of Runequest and d6 (namely OpenD6 and its derivatives) resemble the original systems only barely. Same is true for T&T, which after its 5th Edition became likewise unrecognizable.

My point isn't necessarily that there shouldn't be modern versions of these games—obviously, D&D is the most popular TTRPG (at least in the US), and itself barely resembles the three brown booklets of '74. It's that by going back and discovering what made the originals so great, we can carry these lessons forward and make loving modern interpretations like Old School Essentials/Dolmenwood.

Re: Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules

#22

Post by zbikowski »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #20
zbikowski wrote: post #9

I appreciate all that Gavin Norman and Necrotic Gnome have done for the OSR TTRPG scene over the past few years, but I have to say each time I see a D&D-derivative system it makes me wish that other systems of the time—like Runequest, Tunnels & Trolls, or West End Games' d6 system beneath Ghostbusters (1985) and Star Wars (1987)—got even half the attention. Tom Moldvay and Dave Cook's Basic/Expert (1981) has been don…

I think one of the impetuses to not using the Old School Essentials rules was the Hasbro DnD debacle where they started making moves to undo the Open Gaming License (OGL) in 2023. The resulting Dolmenwood system cleanly removed the last vestiges of anything that might be subject to the OGL...e.g. certain spell names, monster names, etc.

I agree, and it's certainly a good idea; OGL fears are still valid to this day. I think a much cleaner route, however, would be to abandon the chassis entirely. It protects one's long-term IP through unique game mechanics or by using an open system as a base.

A lot of how a game encourages play is based upon the small details that designers choose to include. In 1974, looking at OD&D for the first time, players probably wouldn't think to tap the floor for traps, but a 10' pole is curiously listed on the equipment table. Same with listening at doors, or things like that.

So instead of coming up with something entirely bespoke, companies seem to use D&D as a base not because it serves the game, but because it has lower "buy-in" for customers. Which I think is a shame.

Re: Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules

#24

Post by Jtsummers »

beebmam wrote: post #23

I find OSR style games to be too much effort as a GM. I much prefer GMing RPGs that make it easy to GM

OSR systems have a ton of already published modules and campaigns to draw from, if you want zero prep (beyond reading, and maybe drawing out maps or something). Otherwise, it's about the same as running any other system in my experience. Easier than some, harder than others. The Dolmenwood campaign provides a lot of information for the DM, too.

Re: Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules

#25

Post by SubiculumCode »

beebmam wrote: post #23

I find OSR style games to be too much effort as a GM. I much prefer GMing RPGs that make it easy to GM

Hmm. When playing online, I feel like Pathfinder/DnD5e put a lot on the game master in terms of lots of prep, battle maps, tokens, etc. B/X etc can be played much more theater of mind, and so would seem to require less work. In person, probably less of a distinction.

Personally, I have tired of the modern 5e/Pathfinder type games where the play often revolves around combat that takes way too long, where playes don't interact much, spend their time waiting to roll the dice and gazing at their character sheets trying to find an answer rather than by interacting with the world.

Re: Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules

#26

Post by beebmam »

Jtsummers wrote: post #24
beebmam wrote: post #23

I find OSR style games to be too much effort as a GM. I much prefer GMing RPGs that make it easy to GM

OSR systems have a ton of already published modules and campaigns to draw from, if you want zero prep (beyond reading, and maybe drawing out maps or something). Otherwise, it's about the same as running any other system in my experience. Easier than some, harder than others. The Dolmenwood campaign provides a lot of information for the DM, too.

At least for me now, I'm quite older than I used to be, and I don't want to have to read a lot of information or setting details ahead of time to be able to run a game as a GM.

Re: Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules

#28

Post by Jtsummers »

beebmam wrote: post #26
Jtsummers wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OSR systems have a ton of already published modules and campaigns to draw from, if you want zero prep (beyond reading, and maybe drawing out maps or something). Otherwise, it's about the same as running any other system in my experience. Easier than some, harder than others. The Dolmenwood campaign provides a lot of information for the DM, too.

At least for me now, I'm quite older than I used to be, and I don't want to have to read a lot of information or setting details ahead of time to be able to run a game as a GM.

> I don't want to have to read a lot of information or setting details ahead of time to be able to run a game as a GM.

That's not something you need to do for OSR, though, at least not in general. Dolmenwood is obviously based on that, it's a complete setting paired with a game system. But you can grab an OSR game system without paying much (if any) attention to the setting it may provide. Hell, even for Dolmenwood, I can't be bothered to read it all (it has a lot) and I enjoy making up my own things, so I'll still use the system and just use the setting as inspiration.

Half of my sessions are, "What monster piqued my curiosity this week on my skim through some system's monster manual? Can I create a scenario around it or a bunch of them?" The other half are "I wonder what the river pirates are up to this week, maybe they raided a nearby town and there's an award out for their capture. But what if they were actually hired to do this raid by someone even more nefarious than them..."

No real setting concerns, drop the PCs in a random place and the players will figure it out.

Re: Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules

#29

Post by allturtles »

zbikowski wrote: post #9

I appreciate all that Gavin Norman and Necrotic Gnome have done for the OSR TTRPG scene over the past few years, but I have to say each time I see a D&D-derivative system it makes me wish that other systems of the time—like Runequest, Tunnels & Trolls, or West End Games' d6 system beneath Ghostbusters (1985) and Star Wars (1987)—got even half the attention. Tom Moldvay and Dave Cook's Basic/Expert (1981) has been don…

Whatever the merits of the rules themselves (which I think are estimable), the OSR "ecosystem" is buoyed up by a huge network effect. I would wager that just the list of official D&D modules from the 80s, all of which are easily playable in something like OSE, dwarfs the amount of support that's available for all of those other games combined. That's not counting the many many additional adventures, settings, rules addons, megadungeons, GM aids, etc. that have been created in the last 20 years for various OSR games, which are mostly cross-compatible. It's very hard to come in fresh and compete with that.

Re: Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules

#30

Post by t_gamer_kle »

There's also a very new, innovative revival of the RPG format where players take on multiple characters, some of them faction leaders, called a Braunstein, played in Dolmenwood (search "Dolmenstein"): https://mythicmountainsrpg.substack.com/p/so-you-want-to-try...

Fair warning that there's a lot of contentious personalities in this scene, so be advised. However, the freshness of the new gameplay speaks for itself.

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