Are old & dusty fantasy games germane to OSR?

Do you really think that OSR audience is really interested in old fantasy games from the past?

As time passes, i am losing more and more faith in this. Every time i have a look at forums and communities (such as the huge OSR community located at G+) i can't help but notice that everyone is getting excited at the new release of that shiny and brilliant tome with that cool and up-to-date graphic content that just catches the eye and looks gorgeous.

Aesthetic matters a lot; it guides the choices of many in buying a new OSR product. As i said, a shiny and cool "2016" look of  an old game's clone is an important aspect.
There is nothing wrong with this, even the AD&D premium reprints have a different and somewhat "more modern" covers, if i am not wrong, but nonetheless this made me think.

Would old and dusty boxed sets have the same allure today for the -literally thousands- of users who daily browse the OSR communities?




Would they get so excited in dealing with antiquity as they are when they hold in their hands that hardback new D&D clone which smells of fresh paper that just came out of the printer?

I have always been of the opinion that the entire OSR phenomenon has just been a revamping of our affection for D&D and all its clones and simulacrums, and nowadays i hold this view more strongly than before.

Hoary, boxed set precursors of our hobby are dismissed when compared to new renditions of old texts.

How many "Capacity-for-living" points does your character have?

[...] the question is - am i right?

(That's what the author is asking at the end of this brief but interesting article). What do you think?
I'd like to hear your opinions on the matter.

Comeliness and Ugliness

It was so great to read these lines today:

Ogres and monsters take over the campus (January,1980)

My favourite fantasy art ever comes from "Rêve de dragon" (1985)

Meanwhile, our cleric tries to turn undead...

We do have the real tools to do it :))

Wizards of the lost kingdom

One of the early goals of my blog was to highlight forgotten fantasy movies together with obscure fantasy role-playing games. I think i stressed it many years ago, in some of my first posts. But then somehow i focused my attention almost exclusively on the pen and paper side.

Obviously, there are more obscure fantasy games out there than obscure fantasy movies - nonetheless, there are some flicks which deserves attention. One of the pre-requisite to appreciate these movies is probably to be able to easily fall in love with the underrated, be it a movie or a boxed set of a game no one nowadays talks about.

I am very prone to this kind of feeling (and you know that if you follow this blog), so today while perusing some old files on my laptop it occurred to me that this is still a somewhat unfulfilled feature of my blog, and that it's about time to bring to your attention some of these films.

"Wizards of the lost Kingdom" (1985) represents what comes to my mind when i imagine playing Dungeons & Dragons. Honestly. I imagine such an outlandish, psychedelic turmoil.

One month ago someone uploaded the entire movie on Youtube, you can now watch it in all its glory (it's dubbed in english language, with finnish subtitles).

I would fain play these games perpetually

I am a collector of vintage role-playing games, and I usually eschew new games.
I would have no qualms with playing them once or twice, or even with buying them.
As an example,  I bought "The One Ring" RPG last year, played it several times,  and had a great time with it.

It would be interesting to learn what a teenager who has just entered this hobby thinks about old-school blogs in general; some among them may undoubtedly appreciate our efforts, whilst others may feel we are just gibbering useless things.
Thus, they would not tarry too long perusing our posts- those posts that we painstakingly type to not let these old games sink into oblivion.

But I must admit that- whichever is the feedback I got in all these years, my enthusiasm never quailed.
In this respect I look like those bold characters in our adventures...the idea of exploring a subterranean dungeon doesn't make them quail, instead they venture there with eagerness.

I know, many turned their faces away from my blog during time, mainly because I lambasted more than once AD&D, pointing my love and attention towards other games.
This made my old-school blog a particular one, and only those fellow gamers who shared similar views as mine kept reading what I had to say.
So this is the occasion I have to thank you all for your support.

I will keep trying to quench your thirst about old -unheard of- games, you can stay assured. The goal of this blog never really changed.
I don't want to sway others using logical argument to like what I like; I am just providing knowledge.

But I hold in great esteem curiosity, that is why I cherish many, many games- not just once- and I must distribute my love accordingly, to the eternal chagrin of persons who fully embrace one game and get lost in it.

So for the future I am concocting new posts about obscure games, again to shed light on them and make their mechanics available to the masses.
My claim won't be belied, I don't forget what I promise. Maybe it takes a lot of time, but in the end I usually do it (for instance, take into consideration my revised project of "Perils Eternal". I never forget that, I am still slowly working on it).

My aim is to bamboozle hard-core D&D players! I will constantly unveil competitor games :)

So if you concur with me, keep following my blog.

Alternate uses for experience in AD&D

One of the things i always disliked in AD&D is the impossibility of raising character attributes as level progression advances.

In "Fantasy gamer", issue #1, an interesting system was developed to fill this gap.

I don't want to dragoon you into playing "Lords of Chaos", but...

....it may be worth trying.

In Italy in 1983 it was published a fantasy role-playing game whose title was "The Lords of Chaos".

The game was never translated into english and quickly fell into oblivion.

I never had the chance to put my hands on a copy of this game, until today.

Apparently, and judging from the reviews i read on the internet, it seems that this game was heavily influenced by Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition, which adds to my interest of  obtaining a copy, because i revel in unofficial AD&D rewritings.

So yesterday i started reading the rules, and i immediately noticed two things: the game is elegant and simple, and there are more than a couple of rules that impressed my mind because i realized they are coherent and logical and may add to the fun of the game.

Also, i realized how they can be easily adapted to any existing AD&D campaign.

Here, for example, the rules on combat:

The page above states the following: you have an attack value and you must subtract the defense value of your adversary. In this way you find out your ATTACK FACTOR.

So, let's make an example. First we have to calculate our attack value. Your attack value comes from different sources, they are: the "level" of the weapon you are wielding (see below) + your mastery level in that specific weapon+ any modifiers due to high scores in strenght and/or agility.

You can find the levels of all the weapons available in the table below:

As you can see, the "strongest" (or more lethal) weapons are, respectively, the two-handed sword (level 7) and "alabarda" (how do you say that in english? I can't remember now)- which has a level 8 next to it. So i assume this to mean that they are overall more dangerous.

Now, back to our calculations.
For instance, Gondar the warrior attacks with a two-handed sword, the basic level of such a weapon is 7, his skill mastery in that weapon is 5, his modifiers due to high scores in strenght are +3, so his attack value is 7+5+3=15

Your adversary's Defense value is derived from: basic value of the weapon (as above)+ your skill level (your mastery) in the use of shield+ other modifiers (high scores due to agility, for example). So if the grand total is, say, 11 you end up with a Defense value of 11.

At this point, you have to make the subtraction 15 (your Attack value) - 11 (your adversary's Defense value) and you obtain a value of 4. This is your ATTACK FACTOR.

At this point, you can have a look at the combat table below.

You roll 1D20, you get a 14. You consult the table (on the +4 line, because that is your ATTACK FACTOR) and you find out that your strike hit both your adversary's armour AND his body).

How can i know this?
Have a lok at the table. Find the +4 column. You rolled a 14. As you can see, this number is beyond the grey line. This means that your strike pierced his armour and went beyond it.

Any number in the GREY LINE means that the armour blocked your strike. So only the armour gets worn.

Any number before the GREY LINE means that you did not even surpass the armour protection.

Any number beyond the GREY LINE means that you damaged both the armour AND the person wearing it.

Isn't it cool?

How beautiful is this?

Read more HERE.

Perils & Phantasmagorias is out! (My first fantasy role-playing game!!!)

My first fantasy role-playing game has finally been published!! I can't believe it.

I didn't anticipate anything to anyone, i know, it's a total new thing that i am announcing now to all of you.

PERILS & PHANTASMAGORIAS, a new OSR fantasy role-playing game is among us. I finished writing it, and editing it. Here is the cover in all its glory.

Now you can get it for just 5 dollars. As you can see i put a Paypal button on the blog home page. Follow the link to purchase it and then write a comment here below or in the Paypal process to let me know the mail to which i am to send it.

White dwarf review (Winter 1979)

Find me on G+

I don't think I ever advertised my G+ page.

For those interested, it's here:

https://plus.google.com/+Mesmerizedbysirens

Quest for the Golden Orb (1984)

Info here.

GET IT HERE.

The Convert

A fantasy adventure published in 1987.
As usual,I like uncommon stuff and I don't remember -as far as I know- of having read posts in other blogs about this module.
Those interested to have a glimpse of this item, contact me through e-mail.
As you can see, I inserted the mail where I can receive PM on the right corner of the web page.

Vote for this!

Now let's do something interactive and see how many votes this series of module gets.

It's your time to throw a vote to let everyone know if you would like what's in the picture on my blog.

The Spellcaster's Bible

Spellcasters Bible.pdf

A foreign rarity

This is one of the rarest RPG that I own.
I think I should translate it into English one day. A so called "fantasy heartbreaker" which you may mine for unusual ideas.

Wizard's aide (1977)

LINK

Lots of OSR goodies today

Follow the white rabbit below.

There may be a couple of documents that i had already shared in the past, but all in all i am pretty sure that most of them are new here on my blog.
As a rule of thumb,if you like what you see,then join the blog or don't forget to say thanks.

Dragon tree spell book.zip

The Misty Isles (1977)

D&D - Dungeon Masters Kit #3 - The Misty Isles.pdf

Perilous ages

PERILOUS AGES is almost finished!

LINK



Here and Here you can find info about the game mechanics (though they may differ in the final edition of the game). As you can read, this should be a game heavily influenced by the eighties, with lots of charts and so forth (that's why i am pretty excited).

Let's listen to Dave Hargrave

Each image is numbered on the top (starting from 1.jpeg until 10.jpeg). Follow the right order of reading, which is not necessarily as displayed on this website.