OOC

General chatter

As far as the game is concerned, I don't have a preference per see, but I haven't had the chance to try out Black Hack or Old School Essentials. I'd be happy with White Box as well., but I'd mean towards Black Hack if for no other reason I've never run it.

Thoughts?

I'll just list the OSR D&D style games I have access to, in my order of preference. I am fine with playing any of these games though. So if someone has a strong opinion, I'll just go along with the flow.


Black Hack
Fantastic Heroes & Witchery (Has a 3e meets BX vibe. Might not be OSR enough for this game)
Old School Essentials
Warlock! (More of a Warhammer style system)
White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game
Maze Rats
Knave
Basic Fantasy RPG
Macchiato Monsters
Swords and Wizardry
OSRIC
For Gold & Glory

Thanks for having us in and running this game, Phil!

I own an absurd number of OSR games, and am willing to play just about anything... but I'd admit I have a pretty significant bias towards lighter, leaner, and more modern OSR games that are more about the spirit of the OSR than descending AC, XP for gold, multiple saving throws and all the rest. Retroclones don't do a lot for me -- I ran AD&D for years in the 80s and don't have much desire to return to it. ;)

As I stated on the recruitment thread, I'm cool with TBH or White Box (either version of WB, but I really like the WB: FMAG version griffrpg mentions above), and OSE is a pretty distant third for me. If we get into recommending other systems, I've got a few other favorites we can discuss.

I'm for White Box and OSE, I have both of the core books. I don't have Black Hack. I saw a few video reviews on it and wasn't impressed much, but I will play anything you guys decide on.

Looks like we are all in agreement about liking White Box. Except I didn't know there was another version of White Box besides FMAG, lol. So I might not be talking about the same thing. I can't imagine it is too different though. I am having trouble finding where I can download or purchase a copy. Is it out of press?

I think this should be the same release, but a different cover.

Link to Drivethru.

The version I have has a black and white cover, but from the description it doesn't appear that the different covers indicate any substantive changes.

Ok, cool. That is the version I have and am familiar with. It doesn't seem like the black and white cover version is available anymore.

The two I'm thinking of are by two different authors. I believe Marv Breig worked with Matt Finch to cut down the original S&W to the bare bones, resembling the very early days of OD&D, complete with the lack of the thief as a class. Then Charlie Mason took that book and produced the one linked above -- basically it's a cleaned up, slightly expanded, better laid out version of White Box.

Anyhoo -- just fine with that as a selection. But Umbral, you should check out The Black Hack at some point. It's a milestone game and spawned dozens of other cool hacks based on it.

It sounds like White Box might be the group's choice. As an aside, I bought a physical copy through Amazon for just a few dollars. That was a couple of years ago, but it appears to still be listed.

If White Box works for the group, my next questions are if there are any preferences I should try and be mindful of while we're playing, as we'll content. I'm wary of excessive combat because of how much a fight can slow things down in a game, but I'd also like to make sure we're all on the same page for things like content. Rather than give me specifics, maybe just put up a film rating that would make sense for the kind of story. For example, "General Audience", meaning it would be suitable for anyone including small children.

I understand the description of the plot kind of implies that I had something in mind, but I can make any story ideas I have work. If you're not comfortable posting here, feel free to dm me.

I'll take another look at it. As I mentioned before, I watched a few reviews, the one by Ben Milton was fairly in depth and I wasn't really inspired then. It's been a while, so it makes sense to watch it again.

Sorry. I'm a little late to the party. I really enjoyed Maze Rats and Dark Streets and Darker Secrets when I played them last year. I have White Box, Old School Essentials and The Black Hack, but I've never played them. I'm fine with whatever the group decides and am partial to more RP and less combat.

You gotta love how confusing this hobby can be at times thanks to recycling of game names. Thanks for the context. Sounds like we'll all be on the same page (more or less) no matter which version we have.
I am fine with anything from PG to R, but I think a PG-13 rating works best for these kind of games. I don't need or want anything as dark and gritty as Game of Thrones but I would prefer a more serious tone than The Hobbit (the book, I didn't see the movies).

I am very flexible on plot and the RP to combat ratio. Whatever people prefer, I am able to work with.

Agree that PG-13 is a good basis for this game -- though I can swing all the way from "G" to pretty hard "R" with the right group, mood, situation, etc. (For example, gritty low-fantasy like Games of Thrones is a real love of mine. Politics and backstabbing and mud and blood and all the rest. Nummy, but I don't think this is that game.)

I'll be honest here -- I love OSR games, but I'm trying to find the right way to play them via PbP. I've struck gold with one DCC game that transitioned into a Black Hack game, but in many, many cases I've seen both the exploration and combat tropes that are so prevalent with these games really bog them down in the PbP format. So I think I'll say roleplay heavy would be awesome, combat or the threat of it is pretty darned important to me as a cornerstone of the genre, and exploration can be either thrilling or a complete drag if it goes on too long. For combat, I'd add this -- make it thrilling, dangerous, able to be avoided with the right approaches, etc. Slogging through a bunch of low-level encounters that can't be avoided just to gain experience? Not in love with that, but I can deal if others want a more traditional / fight-filled game.

I agree with Harrigan on this and I am also good for ratings from G to R.

I don't really mind whatever rating you choose. I just think adults will use profanities from time to time. Adults killing each other, blood and gore, chopping monster heads off, getting spewed out or bloated gross things don't bother me one whit.

I don't get into erotic rp descriptions unless the scene moves the story and could possibly change the course of things.
EX: A vampire or a succubus begins to seduce a character, and perhaps one's virginity is the key to something that happens in the game.

I don't like rape scenes - abstracting these scenes or possibly passing the information through play is ok. I also don't like scenes with kids getting abused in any kind of way. I just don't go for that stuff.

I prefer ascending AC. Fight scenes can take as long as they need to, doesn't matter to me. I am very flexible and open to almost anything from traditional medieval settings like Dark Albion, Lion and Dragon, to full gonzo like Dungeon Crawl Classics, or World of the Last Sun.

About Black Hack, I'm not really into the way armor works, or player facing rolls, standard damages. Those drop sheets only work at the table, not online and not in the book. I'd play it just to say I played it, but for those reasons I wouldn't choose it as a go to rpg.

Pg-13 it is.

As for character creation, I don't have any special rules to apply. Make what you want. Let me know if you have any questions

So we're proceeding with WB: FMAG then? Cool.

Questions: Thieves are an optional class. Are they in or out? Races are meant to be decided at the outset whether they are on the table or not... specifically Halflings, Dwarves, Elves. I'm a big fan normally of human-only OSR, but I know not everyone swings that way. Where does everyone stand on that?

Will also state a case here to use ascending rather than descending AC...

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@umbraldragon, every game certainly isn't for everyone, but do understand that TBH has like four ways of doing armor, standard damages are optional, not using the drop sheets detracts nothing from the game, etc. It's probably just not for you -- but I love the player-facing rolls, the usage dice, the roll-under, the simplified foes, etc. To each their own!

I would also vote for the slightly less deadly option Damage and Death rule where you're unconscious at 0hp and losing one per round and all that. Also fine with the base rules, but stand by with generating characters. :)