OSR game interest [OSE, Basic Fantasy RPG, Knave]?

Hello,
Q: Would anyone be interested in playing a game utilizing an OSR based rules system?

Embracing the concept of "rulings" vs. "rules" and other OSR game traits I have an interest in running an OSR game. I have several systems from the liter side to the almost total retro-clone.

Overview/Setting
Three to four individuals magically (or otherwise) displaced from their homelands and dropped into a new and unknown land. The game will involve magic and tech to a degree. . .think fantasy Steampunk on the higher end. Details of the world are scant in that the players nor their characters will have any real working knowledge of the world. The setting and game for that matter would be very much a "micro to macro" experience.

Player Characters
I would prefer the players either 1) be all human or 2) be a variety of fantasy/unique races. I'm looking for 3 to 4 players and at least one post per day.

Length of Game
Long-term sandbox-style game.

Other Info
The tone of the game is fantasy to a bit of dark fantasy. No adult content (fade to black where needed, et cetera). If there is actual interest in playing a game like this then I will narrow it down to a specific rule set or an easily usable hack of one.

Thanks.

That sounds interesting. Which system would you be using?

Hi! I'm working on a little tweak/hack of Knave I'm thinking. I like the micro-to-macro kind of gameplay so as to allow a bit of an organic flow between myself and the players. Especially when playing sandbox style. So, if you were to look at Knave then this little hack I'm working with would be very close to that.

I listed the other systems there as sort of inspirations and to just give an idea of what it is like.

I am aware of Knave. I do own it and I even printed it. It is... somewhere in my library. The class-less approach to OSR is certainly interesting.

Have you checked Five Torches Deep?

Yeah. Knave is pretty solid as is tbh. There are just a few tweaks I wanted to make, especially given play-by-post, and to add a few different concepts stripped from a few other hacks of the system.

I remember, vaguely, looking over FTD. How do you like it?

I find FTD pretty good, pretty solid. In fact I am running a game of it here on GP.

Oh nice! I'll have to check it out.

I'm interested.

In fact, there's a currently running game that utilizes Knave - Link!

Any system is good, but have you considered 'Macchiato Monsters'?

I have looked at that one! MM is great actually! I could certainly mine some ideas from that system, or just run with it outright, like Knave.

I'll take a look at that link. I'm tossing around a few ideas with this little homebrew/hack OSR thing I have going on. I'm trying to adhere to that rule's lite approach.

Thanks for the interest!

What about Electric Bastionland? Any of you ever heard or taken a look at that setting/game?

Electric Bastionland is incredibly imaginative!

I haven't played it yet but it's a dream of mine to DM a game by combining it with Ultraviolet Grasslands and using Into the Grasslands.

I recently received my rewards for backing the Into the Wild Kickstarter. It gives a lot of really good information for hexcrawls, though it is mostly aimed at high-level play, it still is a really good source of informations.

It is written with Old-School Essentials in mind, but can easily be adapted to be used for just about any OSR game system. Considering it makes a lot of mention to OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, and other OSR supplements, I wonder if that wasn't originally the author's intentions all along...

Good to see some more like-minded OSR folks! That Knave game linked above is mine, and I also have a long-running Black Hack game on a different site. I'm a huge OSR wonk, though I find it's hard to keep up lately there's so much good content. I don't have any interest in the retroclones (been there, done that), but all the more modern takes on things hit right in my gaming sweet spot. Knave, Into the Odd, The Black Hack, Macchiato, Electric Bastionland, Beyond the Wall, GLOG, Maze Rats, Troika -- the list goes on and on these days. I will say I am eyeballing Cairn pretty hard -- it's a mix of Into the Odd / EB and Knave.

Short story here -- I'd be interested for sure, and am 100% all-aboard with the conceits... humans only, no knowledge of the world, etc.

(In fact, I'm running my Black Hack game this way. The game started as a DCC funnel, but we transitioned to TBH after that starting adventure when the PCs were whittled down... and a portal took the survivors elsewhere. It has allowed me to stitch together a ton of different OSR content that would otherwise be hard to fit into a game world where the players / PCs would have some knowledge of things.)

Awesome! I was actually mining from Cairn, or like I mentioned about a few others, just running with it outright! Very cool to see some like-minded folks here though.

Not to break too far off - - but, how do you feel about the three Traits/Attributes? I think EB uses Strength/Dexterity/Charisma and Cairn uses Strength/Dexterity/Willpower. I find that interesting. So, it really is about player agency (intellect, problem-solving, et cetera. . .) rather than character agency? Just wondering your thoughts there.

3 traits could work. I have a small trilogy of old-school games written by Diogo Nogueira. The rules are inspired by Into the Odd, and they use STR/DEX/WIL. Of course, if you roll in those games, something went really wrong because all rolls are called "Saves" (regular actions succeed automatically, even attacks, which makes combat deadly).

Interesting! I am a fan of systems that have all, or mostly, player-facing rolls.

I am playing in Five-Torches-Deep and so far it seems pretty good, granted I am discussing the current magic system as casting spells seems to be a weak spot but then maybe I am just unlucky. But when casting a simply spell which you only have 1 of to start and it fails 2 out of 2 times seems a bit nasty especially when you could "lose" a spell which I am not sure exactly what that means as of yet.

Still this does sound interesting if you go forward with it I would like to join in.

Cool! Interesting @DeJoker. I suppose there is no system without its own little quirks. But, it is encouraging to see some interest in something like this. I'll see what I can put together and make an official game pitch soon.

Yeah well we have had our first death it seems -- and the "lose a spell" means you cannot cast that spell again until after a rest which I am going to assume means safe rest versus an unsafe rest but maybe its either not sure as its not explicit on that.

Personally as I said I find some of these guidelines to be rather interesting but for some things a bit too simplistic as I think the bad stuff charts would have greatly benefitted by using a Bell Curve (aka 2d10 instead of 1d20) but that is just me. Other than that, for the most part the casting of magic seems to be okay (and I am just unlucky I guess) but like I said the bad stuff chart could use the benefit of a Bell Curve.

I mean as it stands you have a 5% chance of dying if you happen to be lucky enough to hit 0 hit points rather than go negative which seems to be automatic death. And if you are lucky enough to survive there is a 60% chance something bad happens to you that is nasty but survivable (seems fair I guess) and a 30% chance of something not so bad happening and a 5% chance something good actually comes of it.

Personally I think I would bell curve that chart and allow anyone who was stabilized regardless of the amount points below 1 they are provided they did not exceed say 3 times their CON in negative points but this is what I do in my DnD game and folks can even stay on their feet up to negative their CON if they can make a CON save but they are also losing 1 hit point or 2 hit points per round based on whether they are in-active or active.

The reason I do this is not to make the game easier but because a lot of time the players invest a lot of effort into creating a character and much time into developing that character to have it thrown away on a single instance of some bad rolls seems a bit much to me. Now on the flip side, I might adopt a version of that permanent damage aspect as that does seem quite viable since the player is not dead just has to surmount some major obstacle which I think would add to the mix and make some spells even more useful in the long run.

100% on-point. McDowall very purposefully doesn't include intellect type stats, expecting that to all be roleplayed out, and indeed putting huge emphasis on player skill vs. PC skill. I'm a fan, but it's obviously not for everyone, and it can be a teensy bit challenge in PbP play unless the GM is sensible about handing out clues -- especially if they aren't being very descriptive about things.

Diogo's stuff is a little off-center from the roots it comes from, and the one time I played in one of that triology of games (Screams Amongst the Stars) the GM had us rolling too much. Kalajel has it -- these are saves and something has gone miserably awry if you're rolling them. Diogo introducing advantage and disadvantage and a couple of other quirks... not sure how I feel about that vs. the pretty focused ruleset that McDowall originally came up with in ItO.

For the record, I love when games deviate from the usual six stats, because I don't really like the usual six stats. :) I think games like Shadow of the Demon Lord and Nogueira's Black Hack-based stuff like Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells are far better games for cutting the stats down to four. Personal preference and all that, though.

I would definitely be interested in a 1E/OSRIC campaign, but not so much any of the other OSR clones.

would love to play in a Moldvay B/X D&D campaign, rules as written, to experience exactly what it was like, playing like it's 1981 !
Never got a chance to play that.

Thanks for the feedback! Looks like we have a bit of interest in some of the OSR "variants" and some of the more pure retro-clones. Either way, that's really good to know. Maybe we will have time to explore both.

I might be talked into running a Moldvay basic game if I knew that I had players who would stick with it and not abandon it. It might be fun to run the old In Search of Adventure supermodule the way that it was intended to be run. I could start with that and move into the "X" series.

@WhtKnt well, please keep me in mind if you do, that would be all kinds of awesome

Count me in as well if you make this game happen. I am new here so I cannot really prove my dedication, but that is exactly the kind of game which would make me come back every day.