Yeah, yeah, I know: I am a game whore. I admit it. I spend more time thinking about games than I ever will playing them. This week I have been thinking about Shadowdark, and here is why: first, I own it (because...of course I do). Second, it is very popular. People love this thing! Third, I have listened to a bunch of podcasts interviewing the creator, one Kelsey Dionne, and she is just good energy; a lovely person who loves these games and seems incredibly sweet. The rules of Shadowdark are simple (to say the least). The designer basically took the parts of OSE, 5e, and DCC that she liked, disregarded the parts that she didn't like, and poof! Here's the game. Interestingly, Shadowdark is written at an 8th grade reading level (vs. Castles&Crusades, which is written at a college level). So we end up with a game that is a melange of modern rules--unified d20 system, funnels, advantage and disadvantage, luck points, etc. and written in very bare and simple prose with really cool black and white art. Even the torch system--something I've never seen before--is derived from Index Card RPG (I think...)
I have not played this game, but I think I could pretty easily. There isn't really anything "new" here ("new" meaning post-2014 #I-am-old); it is instead a culling, and reorganizing, of modern RPG rules. It looks like it would be great for crawls, and probably serviceable for overland adventures. The role playing is on the players and the DMs; you don't really need a lot of rules and/or tables for that (do ya hear me, 5e?). It is a highly lethal game (like DCC...). Naturally I backed The Western Reaches Kickstarter because...have you met me? I also think my crew would find it a bit boring, to be honest. With the exception of the torch timer adding tension, this might be a bit too basic. Maybe I'll do it as a one-shot or something, just to see how it plays.
Which brings us to Old School Essentials. OSE is a redo of the old B/X rules of blessed memory (Moldvay and Cook), with a further reorganization of Gygax's AD&D (the Advanced Fantasy Player's and Referee's Tomes). The rules are essentially the same as they were in 1981, with an option for an ascending AC (vs. THACO, which is in there). The art is beautiful, the books are beautiful, and the rules are...well, old school. Roll high saving throws (only five!) Roll low attribute checks. THACO or ascending AC (either/or). Very retro action economy: declare spells and melee movement, initiative, monster morale, movement, missile attacks, spell casting, melee attacks, repeat). It has been decades since I've played this version of the game, and I remember being a bit frustrated by it at higher levels because combat felt like chopping down a tree. In modern D&D, the action economy is very different: readied action, action, bonus action, movement variance, etc. I suspect this game will play great, but I'm unsure of how my crew will react to it, although I have to say: no one seems to miss the superhero vibe of fifth edition.
I also noticed that the amount of arguing with the GM (me!) is vastly reduced in both DCC and C&C because the expectations of what the character can do are vastly reduced. All my guys did was fight with me when we played 5e; it was like someone cast Rules Lawyer on all of them. Super annoying. So I am looking forward to running OSE in the near future, but I think I'm going to solo-play first and see how it goes.
I wonder if Pirate Borg is any good...
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