Thursday, July 18, 2019

'Playing With The OSR' Using & Abusing OSR Systems & Adventures For Campaign Use

Alright so I've been getting a bit of heat about the fact that the last blog post used classic original Dungeons & Dragons & Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books with both Godbound & Stars Without Number.  Many of the main line OSR retroclone systems will work with the Sine Nomine Publishing lines of games. Why?!



None of that really matters by comparison to say Godbound or Stars Without Number. These systems easily convert over to it.When working with various old school systems I've found that you have to keep a back bone system to run a such a campaign such as Godbound or Stars Without Number. Each of these OSR systems are nothing if not adaptable contrary to what various OSR publishers would have you believe. Each one is trying & failing to protect their trade mark plus copyright & brand within the OGL. Dungeon masters are far more adaptable then that. The B/X Black Razor blog has a very interesting entry on SWN's earlier edition but the points remain the same. 

I've recently used Troll Lords Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasures with any number of OSR systems. The book comes packed with a plethora of monsters that are easily used with any number of old school & OSR systems. And yes I've used this book with Stars Without Number to keep that D&D flavor.



A solid example of using SWN with OSR games is given in the Take on The Rules blog entry for the Stars Without Numbers Revised book.  The blog entry gives a solid overview of the game system plus a different take on the blog author's thoughts on the game.

Now I may not needed the Deluxe Stars Without Numbers rpg but Goddamn I wanted it. I've owned the revised book now for a year & a half so it there was a need to get this to the table top level since the beginning. I've been pursuing several different opitions on the table top with Troll Lords for a long time now. But I've had an opportunity to return to 
the Sine Nomine Publishing line of games. Silent Legions is a table top rpg that's been on my list of games for a long while to get into.


I've been wanting to combined a modern world with a traditional Dungeons & Dragons style world with a twist or two now for a while. But I think that the limiting factor of Troll Lord's Amazing Adventures time period cap of 1955 or so was a slight weakness on that games part. However the Amazing Adventures Manual of Monsters is excellent value for the money & the monsters are top notch. 
So I've pulled any number of my version Greyhawk deities into various modern cults & conspiracies. Yeah, this is nothing new & folks have been doing this since Call of Cthulhu hit the shelves. But by God does it work well. 


I've done the same thing with the Lovecraftian gods of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. This has pissed any number of OSR & old school gamers off over the years. Well too bad.  You adapt to what your players like & what's gonna work for you as a dungeon master at the table top level. With the upcoming Kickstarter 
Sunday, July 21, 8pm EST. for Hyperborea Otherworldly Tales I can't wait.  



If your adventures are top drawer then your players again are gonna be happy.  Choose your back bone system then run top quality adventures either old school or OSR.  I've expected top quality & Lamentations of the Flame Princess has delivered time & again as well. 


Lamentations of the Flame Princess has produced some of the best of the best adventure supplements & they work well for my games. I don't care about the various OSR kerfuffles  & BS surrounding the game because the supplements have been very good for me. Zak Smith has had nothing to do with me except that I own & have reviewed a few products in the past.  The only people you have to make happy in the end is your players everything else is extraneous. 

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