Interest Check: OSR

Hi folks. Thought I'd try my hand at running a game on GP, so -- here we are. Checking to see if there's interest in OSR games.

I'm a fan of neo/nouveau OSR games vs. retroclones. Think The Black Hack, Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells, Knave, Glaive, Troika, GLOG, Maze Rats, Into the Odd, Electric Bastionland, The 17th Century Minimalist, and Mork Borg rather than stuff like Labyrinth Lord, Basic Fantasy, OSRIC, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerors of Hyperborea, or Old School Essentials. There are a couple of exceptions here -- Swords & Wizardry White Box and Beyond the Wall are both more traditional than most of the games I prefer, but I love each of them for their own reasons: S&W WB for it's leanness and simplicity, BtW for it's wonderful focus on young adventures braving a new, dangerous and wonderous world.

So, depending on the game and the preferences everyone has, this might bend towards mud and blood low fantasy (Knave, Maze Rats, 17th Century Min, S&W WB), swords and sorcery (SS&SS), weird fantasy (TBH, ItO, Electric Bastionland), artpunk doom metal fantasy (Mork Borg), coming of age fantasy (BtW), or light, comics-inspired fantasy (Glaive, which strikes me as kind of "D&D, the Animated Series).

Anyone being looking for any of this?

Would love to play anything, especially Mork Borg, The Black Hack, Knave, Glaive, Electric Bastionland, Into the Odd or Beyond the Wall (I love the setting and the town generation, I like the combat system a bit less) !
But I'm open to anything else.


Out of curiosity, did you read or play Mausritter ? If so, what is your opinion on it ? The book was really nice.

I definitely would like to explore more OSR games. I don't have the bandwidth to join or run new games currently, but I'm posting to help others gauge popularity for the idea.

Eventually I'd like to run a BECMI-style sandbox game along the lines of Hot Springs Island but not for a while. Maybe Old School Essentials.

Best of luck on your game!

Interest noted, Loddfafnir! Glad our interests are aligned -- and yes, parts of BtW are kind of bland B/X, but there is so much other good stuff in that game. The playbooks, the monsters, the magic... it's pretty great.

Love Mausritter, but I'm saving that for in-person play, I think... I have the box set, and it's like... one of my favorite RPG belongings of all time. :)

I could possibly be convinced to maybe run that, or Return of the Woodland Warriors, which I also dig a lot.

And cool, lenpelletier. Have heard lots of good things about Hot Springs Island -- I have it those books, but haven't read them carefully.

One thing to note -- planning for this to be a trim and tidy game with a beginning and ending. So I'll probably run one OSR module / adventure, then we'll take stock of where things are and how we feel about the game. Just to set expectations.

I can totally see why!

I've heard of Beyond the Wall, but I'm not familiar with it and do not own a copy. If you are willing to walk me through character generation and mechanics, I'd consider joining.

For any of the OSR games I run, I'm happy to help people make characters and grok rules. No worries there.
Yeah. The tabletop components are adorable!

I’d also get in on Beyond the wall

I would be up for behind the wall as well (even though I've never played that one before)

For those interested in a specific game, such as Beyond the Wall, I suggest peeking at some stuff online to make sure you understand the overall aim and tone of the game. For BtW, check this out: https://www.flatlandgames.com/btw/

I am interested in BtW and Mork Borg if you run one of those.

A hexcrawl sounds like a huge time investment indeed.

Depending on what I end up running, there is a hex crawl I've been thinking of -- but it's a small one...

Indeed, I was thinking of a hexcrawl like Hot Springs Island (or the Forbidden Lands campaign). Mausritter or Beyond the Wall are definitely smaller scale hexcrawl, but I guess almost all OSR games can be played as hexcrawls of any sizes.

Just starting Forbidden Lands with one of the live groups I play with. Hugely excited about that...

I would be interested in being a body within the mix

I'll let this simmer a day or two, see if further interest eventually boils up...

Alright, while I weigh my options here, can I ask those of you who said you were potentially interested to cover a little about your experience with OSR games? Are you looking to find out more about them, have you played tons of them, do you own a bunch but have never gotten to play one, do you think they are just simpler versions of D&D, etc.?

These games have some specific modes of play, and some baggage, so I'm hoping to get off on the right foot if we play together.

I have played and helped modify so many game systems that the mechanics if even mediocre are fine with me -- I am much more interested in the story the GM is putting together and the interaction with the other players that comes from that. Of course, a game system with just enough crunch to create solid fences but promotes could role playing is always something I look for and should any of these games turn out to be such it would become one of those I would definitely add to my library.