Another good one - Greg Stafford’s roll high without going over. The higher your ability the higher you can roll without going over. You can do a lot with that elegant little mechanic.
Finally! I have been looking for this info off and on for a few years now. I saw Lamentations of the Fire Princess at my local book store before, and had no idea it is and osr game. I love how it handles skills.
You’ll love how the optional skill rules in one of the expansions (I forget if it’s vaginas are magic or eldritch cock) work. They are just an expansion on who gets what skills
This is so useful for someone like me just getting into OSR from 5e. This question of "attempting difficult things" and how to handle that has been my biggest question in transition. I like the LotfP approach a good deal.
Another great video. Love your LotFP videos! I love the LotFP d6 ability checks of Bushcraft, Climbing, Languages, Open Doors, Search, Sleight of Hand, Sneak Attack, Stealth, & Tinkering plus saves against Paralysis, Poison, Breath Weapons, Devices, and Magic.
The Xd6 method is, I believe, described in an appendix in either B/X or BECMI, but it is definitely in The Fantasy Trip, which came out before either. The default roll is 3d6 under ST, DX, or IQ (only three stats in TFT,) but more dice for some tasks, including spotting hidden items or picking hard locks. Talents lower the number of dice rolled: Detect Traps drops 2 dice from the detection roll or 1 die from the DX save, Alertness drops 1 die from the IQ roll to spot hidden or subtle details.
I knew about it from TFT, of course, but I'd read the OD&D, Holmes, and AD&D books, never B/X or BECMI, so I was stunned when I learned they'd borrowed the idea. Also, there's an interesting alternative that Old Geezer has mentioned using, which I've also seen in blogs, but I don't think it's in any published games (but maybe it is?) 2d6 roll on the reaction table, to get degree of success. Modify the roll for relevant high/low ability scores, if desired.
+Talysman the Ur-Beatle ~ Interesting option from our friend Michael Mornard. To be clear, B/X & BECMI don't make use of the XD6 rule, it's just a common house rule.
It turns out it's a parenthetical comment from the Companion set, Book 1, page 9: "A roll of the Ability score or less on 1d20 means success (3d6, 4d6 or 5d6 for difficult tasks may be used)." I thought it was more fleshed out than that, but now it's obvious how a lot of people may have missed it.
Off topic: Lighting for your videos. Get rid of the overhead and set two lamps on either side of your view, out of camera sight. Try to arrange them so they do not create a shadow directly behind you, but light your eyes while not catching the glare from glasses. Play around until you like it. The ambient light from your screen will help to highlight your eyes. On topic: enjoying your insights.
Swear to God, you've made the only video that tries to go in depth into this topic. I understand a PC not rolling for something they would succeed at eventually, or are doing in a safe place - but the lack of skill check info I have is the only thing stopping me from running this game. I can't believe its so hard for me to wrap my head around this.
My personal favorite is Basic Fantasy's. I think it's a fast, elegant solution that takes into account a character's level and any ability modifiers. You put the level-specific target number on the character sheet, apply the appropriate ability score modifier, and add any GM-determined situational bonuses/penalties. Let the die roll provide the pass/fail, and let the player or GM narrate for color. If you want to get fancy, BF even has an optional supplement on Secondary Skills that adds more sophistication and dovetails in with the target number ability check. Essentially, each character gets 3 skill level points at every level after first to apply towards an individual General or Class-related skill. Each skill can't have more points than the character's overall level. basicfantasy.org/downloads/BF-Secondary-Skills-Supplement-r1.pdf
I'll point out that AS&SH straight up makes the thief skills "Almost preternatural." Like anyone can hear noises in the next room and learn there's two bandits prattling on about their next haul. Meanwhile the thief, with a minute, can tell there's actually three people sitting at that table, one of them is just sitting silently listening to the other two, there's also 4 other people in the room who are dozing off, judging by their breathing rate. Even the hide and move silently skills for the AS&SH more or less hint at damn near magical aptitude for the shadows and silence - they're moving silently over dry leaves and so forth. I thought it was a pretty good way to handle it, since it's pretty hard to do the sort of hardcore Sword and Sorcery setting justice without sneaky ambushes from fighters and so forth. It's a thing the game allows for everyone to do within reason, it's just the thief and its sub-classes are basically ghosts when it comes to stealth.
Great video. Excatly what I needed right now I am working on a system made from parts of a lot of OSR games and this is what I have been working on the past couple of days. Great stuff. I am so glad I discovered you. Have you seen Low Fantasy Gaming? Or ever considered talking about it or the idea of low fantasy vs. high fantasy in the various OSR systems.
In certain environments (e.g. dungeons) those narrations can get repetitive. How often can you let your players explain, how they look for trap doors? So, we use ability rolls as a short cut. It's some kind of script, where the PCs do all the regular stuff they do every time. Then, when they describe actions in detail, they can discover additional things, even if the Roll FAILED. So, for example. If detect secret doors fail but a players says "Ah, I pull this torch holder at the wall", and it was the door opener, the secret door opens nevertheless. How could it not?
Well, I (GM) could say it unlocked the door, or moved it slightly, so now it is of the player's knowledge it was the door's opener, but the door is stuck as the torch holder is old as heck (a way of applying the failed roll to the situation without ruining player additions).
The ability/skill check from B/X is weak, as "to hit " and save rolls are both needed to be high I feel skills should go in that direction.That being said rolling under your ability score IS the easiest way to solve this issue. imho
@@ivanmike1968 It's a personal opinion, and while not everyone wants to join in with OSR, that's ok as well. I started playing D&D when AD&D came out so it takes me back.
Right on, I started in 1981. I’m just wondering what about 5e seems “empty”. It’s an unusual term to use. I’m always curious about people’s perspectives.
I prefer game rules that treat any action as a skill. Even combat is treated as a skill, rather than as a separate game mechanic bolted onto the game rules. Unified rules is the way to go now these days. 1st and 2nd gen RPGs have had their day in the sun. Traveller 5.09 uses the Xd6 mechanic. Harder tasks get more dice thrown. GURPS (generally useless role-playing system) has one of the worst mechanics I've ever seen. I don't tell how hard something is to do. Players will find out on their own when they try things. All the players tell me where their characters are and what their characters are doing. That's the minimum narration (role-play) that I ask from players. I don't tell them they are role-playing. But if they ask what it is, I tell them they were just doing it (via their narration) during the game. And they realize that role-play is not hard to do. And that it's not a nerd skill at all.
