What is OSR? Retro RPGs keeping old-school D&D alive 

What was your first experience of OSR games?

OSR plays like the Hobbit reads. Bilbo didn't kill all of the spiders in Mirkwood, he taunted and provoked them away from the dwarves. They didn't kill the trolls, Gandalf tricked them into bickering with one another until morning. Sure these things can be done in modern games, but the system actively encourages the fighting approach, and it isn't just the XP system.

Just gm’d Mausritter for the first time on Friday and my 5e players loved it. It really felt like it rewarded creativity over good rolls.

So happy to see Mazes & Minotaurs getting a mention!

I am so chuffed Maddie is bringing up the jewels of the RPG world: OSRs, FitD and PbtA games. Keep up the great work!

OSR is such a fun style of play, and there’s a great variety of OSR-games. Not just lots of DnD retro-clones but games like the minimalistic and weird Into the Odd. There's also games like Troika! with rules that build on a completely different legacy, namely the Fighting Fantasy books.

My housemate kept hearing “OSR” from the other room and asked me, “I’ve never heard of an OSR, what period did it live?” “Oh yeah, the owesaur lived in the Triassic period and other dinosaurs played with it. It died out but made a revival in the Cretaceous period.” He just shook his head.

This video was exactly what I needed to start understanding OSR. Thanks a million.

Started playing Moldvay Basic D&D in 1982. Played every edition since. Used Knave to write Gamma-K and now running White Box.

Thank you Maddie. This was like a breath of fresh air. Played since basic dnd up to 5e and the feeling was off. I really hoped that Dndone would chamge for the better but it seems it wont. Would love to play at your table!

This was great. You really did a lot of research and your energy is very engaging :)

We used to play the hell out of AD&D 2nd and 3/3.5. Really miss those books. Sadly I don’t have them any longer

Great summary of the tone differences of an OSR game!

I stopped playing AD&D 1E IN 1983, migrated to other games when I needed a break from historical miniature games (where D&D started), Started playing D&D again in 2018; ignoring the last 4 editions, and carried on with AD&D 1E. I was apprehensive about running what had almost turned into a 'kiddies' game, however characters were rolled up at the end of a historical game and the following week five foolhardy souls set forth at dusk.... (and nobody had a 10 foot pole!)

I prefer Old School REVOLUTION! Vive la revolution! 😁 There are so many retroclones now, that anyone wanting an old school game is not wanting for options. I don't mind 5th edition, but there are some cues it could take from OSR style games to enhance it.

Cairn was my first experience with OSR. Great community, great game. Based off Knave and Into the Odd. The roll under system mixed with simple items and magic allow for a lot of creative uses. Minimalist presentation makes referencing a breeze!

Wow, that was a video to share to a few places. I'm an old grognard so naturally I like the OSR stuff (Goodman Games stuff MCC/DCC). My daughter's cousin plays D&D, plus through friends and work I know a few folks in their 20s who play 5e too. I think that 5e is all that they have been exposed to. So had to share this to my FB page and tag some friends, then hit up a few OSR pages. You did a nice job explaining the differences. I know I couldn't have done as good of a job. Way cool video, and thank you. I may have to d/l this video and and use it in a session 0.

"I played Old-School essentials once and I liked it" to "I must know everything about OSR" 3-month pipeline

Great work, Maddie!

I actually ran Mausritter not too long ago, it's been our little side game when we want an off week and it feels so-so refreshing after playing 5e for several years. I like how the OSR respect's the player and GM's time by not making mountains of text to read or giving the GM useful and straightforward tools to run the game, which after running Shadowrun as my first game, is very appreciated.

I love your videos on the OSR, I'm happy to see it get all this attention!

This channel is so underrated!

I recently started a new D&D game and we went with 2e because I got tired of 5e. It's a great edition and it's fun to play, but it didn't quite scratch that itch a lighter rules set gives me. The lack of a central dice mechanic quickly became bothersome so I did my own OSR hack by removing the little subsystems of AD&D with the core mechanic from 5e and the game is a blast to play now

Thanks for a fair, open and encouraging overview of my favorite period / style of D&D!

You outline everything I loved about decades of playing AD&D.

You get XP for killing monsters too. It's just usually less than from treasure.

Thank you for this! (from someone who started playing in 1977 as an 11 year old, with the Holmes Basic boxed set) I hope you continued your enjoyment and exploration of RPG'ing as it was played back then, and even consider trying out some of the games that inspired D&D, some of the older wargames and the like.

Thank you, Maddie! Although I do give this a wry glance. I played these games when I was a kid and now they are called "Old School". Kinda like songs from the 80s are retro. I feel old somedays. :D

This content is relevant to my interests.

Mork Borg is aesthetically awesome, but holy crap is it LETHAL! I died in the first room of my first game to a single dog bite!

The Algorithm offered up your video at “random.” The attractive face and beaming smile in the preview image made my decision to watch for me. Impressive! Your research was spot on and your presentation was as good as any professional UK TV presenter. Well done.

One thing that wasn't mentioned in the video that was essential to old-school RPGs was that Homebrew rules were nearly always used. Partly this was due to the point in the video that those AD&D did not cover many elements, so if a GM wanted to run an underwater adventure they would create their own ruleset, and then use those rules every time underwater stuff happened going forward. This led to more variations including new classes, spells, abilities etc. Also it was early in the RPG genre and everyone and their dog was trying to publish alternate rule systems. D&D was the most popular but there were still tons of alternative systems and most DMs joined in creating their own rules starting by tweaking D&D. If you really want the old-school experience, your DM should be throwing in their own rules (which may or may not be completely unbalanced lol)

I started with B/X. I joined the OSR in 2006 before it was OSR. The idea was to get people playing older games, not just TSR games instead of talking about them. In 2009 I started an OSR blog that I cannot stop writing (my handle is its title) and in 45 minutes I will be running Iron Falcon for a group ranging in age from 18 to 53. The OSR is a DIY niche with no leaders, do your own thing.

I've played a bunch of OSR systems but there are three I go back to: 1. Basic Fantasy RPG. One of the best B/X clones with a few important improvements. Also, it's completely free. 2. Swords and Wizardry Complete: Not my favorite system but so well supported. Monstrosities is THE monster manual for the OSR. 3. Castles and Crusades: A fusion of AD&D and 3E with an OSR sensibility. Very easy to learn and play, and it has good depth.

Mazes and Minotaurs looks fun! All free, too. Very nice.

I play D&D on a weekly basis and have for years now, but I genuinely thought this video was about old school RuneScape

I like older versions because ever since 3.5, you're playing as borderline superheroes as opposed to adventurers.

A great one I just found is called Mazes by 9th Level Games. The dice used are d4-d10 and each player only uses the one dice associated with their role, but it has a great OSR feel.

Very well done.

Great video, wonderfully written and presented, I just hope that the lighting choice is not soon repeated. Humans are drawn to eyes and when they are constantly obscured it makes drive some (Me, I mean me) crazy.

I'm pretty sure that 3e gave xp for "overcoming challenges", which can include stealth, persuasion, or trickery.

I would like to see you do a review of Dungeon Crawl Classics. 🧙‍♂️

My first was going through the Choose Your Own Adventure portion of the Mentzer Basic Rules as a wee lad. When we played the “real” game, I had to brothers as friends who would always argue with each other, eventually attack each other and then eventually attack each other IRL xD We were probably a little too young at the time.

An excellent brief on the OSR. It's great to see someone show the finer points of old school gaming with understanding and enthusiasm.

Hey everyone report those crypto/investment bots btw, fuck that shit, I don't want it clogging up the comment section. Also, woohoo, dicebreaker is talking about the osr!

OSE is based off B/X D&D, not 2nd edition.

'Not referring to rules all the time' is well-supported by GURPS cos the riles are consistent and intuitive and make sense--make a ruling on the fly commonly will end up using the written rule. And it's lethal enough to push you to non-combat solutions all the time, and you can't level past a threat as you can in d20.

This video is so much more relevant today than it was 6 months ago.

I got a 5e conversion of temple of elemental… but in another-shop the owner said some customers were not doing the old 5e conversions and just wanted new stuff - but i like the old also.

Turns out Ive been running my 5e campaign really similar to old school play lol. I am pretty fast and lose with the rules. I dont really believe in limiting play if what they want to do if it makes sense and I regularly throw out or tweak things if I feel the raw rules are unnecessarily restrictive. I honestly think its kinda boring that so many people online seem really married to raw play.

I'd like to add another non-OGL, OSR-flavoured game for consideration, if I may. Gold & Glory: 7 Deadly Dungeons is a supplement for the Savage Worlds RPG (my current favourite system), and is nothing short of a love song for the OSR written for Savage Worlds.

D&D 3.5 was it's peak. The artdesign of the books alone makes this the most compelling edition, but its the complexity and depth that makes it shine compared to the streamlined and watered down mainstream-serviceable crap that the newer editions are.

Forbidden lands is another great example of an OSR adjacent game that emulates the feel of old-style gaming without the fiddly d20 rules set.

If you want to go OSR PLUS the good, streamlined parts of 5e (increasing AC instead of the tHAC0, advantage/disadvantage instead of much of the math etc), Five Torches Deep or Shadowdark are the bomb. Index Card RPG Master Edition is kind of an OSR but is also probably one of the best DMs guide and random generators around. Frankly, there isn't much fun in balanced encounters where level 1 characters are basically old D&D level 3-5 characters. Risk of death or at least catastrophic encounters are very real in OSR/Grimdark.

I tried The Black Hack and The Mecha Hack, inspired by OSR. I like the approach of it, less bookeeping.

What a great video I would love you to take a look at Bloat Games OSE Dark Places & Demogorgons setting it is Stranger Things Meets Stephen King .The game is made in two versions one uses the Survive This system mechanic the other uses OSE. Again nicely done video enjoyed it. Hope to see more on the OSR from your channel great job.

My first OSR experience was also my first D&D experience, with the basic red book. I'm not gonna lie though, there's alot of OSR stuff that kinda sticks in my craw. I think what I'd prefer is to somehow "OSR-ify" 5e becuase I do like the foundations of 5e even if I dont like the walls and roof.

There's a movie called "Gamers II: Dorkness Rising" where one of the characters is named Sir Osric. Now, with the viewing of THIS video, I can finally get the joke, lol.

'Into the Wyrd and Wild' is a phenomenal OSR setting book for those interested. Spooky nordic horror forest.

the are free vesion of the osr games in pdf.

Well, I started in the late '80s with some old, used D&D books, namely Modvey's Basic and the AD&D DMG and MM books. Making D&D work with a basic book was not easy. As for the OSR movement? Well, in the early 2000s, I found some pics of the pages of the original D&D booklets and I fell in love with the quint school notebook styled artwork. I joined some OD&D forums to find out more and learned a lot about the history of D&D, and while there I discovered "Retro-clones" -- OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, et al. While there, I discovered someone was making a spiritual successor to Gamma World, called Mutant Future, so I volunteered to do some of the art for it. I find that the OSR community is the second best place to get great art commissions, with the Furrie community being #1. The OSR community is a great place to find a lot of odd-beat and unusual supplements, with Mörk Borg being a prime example. As neat a ruleset as 5e is, the art does not appeal to me, and the adventure books get a little too thick with lore or their own novels. All and all, it feels a little too family friendly where I want pulp. Not to mention price. Goddamn the price tag!

For me, osr always stood for OH SHlT, RUN!

As someone who starting playing with 2nd edition AD&D I really miss the speed of combat when you only have your movement and 1 action. I'm a big of Basic Fantasy RPG which uses modern simplified saving throw and attack rolls with the combat structure and loose feel of old school games. Best of both worlds

Have you played more OSR games since this video? I'd love to hear any thoughts you have on them and which games or adventures or supplements you think are particularly good.

Experience points ARE given for monsters slain or overcome. It's just that a party's experience reward is greater from treasure. One more note: Balance IS KEY when it comes to running AD&D. The difference is that it is up to the DM to understand this. Experience/treasure is a mark of this. The DM should not give too much treasure or magic relative to the challenge. In AD&D one won't find "challenge ratings" that are codified in rules which implies that an encounter is wrong, or unfair, if the monster(s) is too dangerous. Maddie is correct when she says that knowing when to avoid an encounter is a part of adventuring. The exploration and hauling loot IS the goal. Monsters and traps get in the way. Also, for newbies and comers; note the art in various new games. It reflects the difference of playing (building) Super-heroes out of the gate, to becoming heroic by pressing forward and allocating resources as the adventure continues. Old editions also requiring reading. Yes, reading a lot of text. The rewards, here, too, are commensurate with your efforts. "High Gygaxian" as it is called, takes work. AD&D is NOT COMPLICATED. It is "elegant." The system works, because balance is its goal, and the golden rule was that it is the DMs game and the DM adjudicates what is best for the game. The dice are NOT the final arbiter. The DM is. One knows this by reading the text. And then by reading more. And then by reading again. Maddie makes another true statement: a player doesn't make one d20 attribute check and know all about the PCs environment. Skills, feats, and challenge ratings are complicated and LIMITING. With everyone casting and healing, and NO limits on race/class, one has NO REAL CHOICE. Don't fool yourselves. Choice requires limitation. One makes a choice because the thing has more value or utility over another thing. There is no balance possible without differences. One can enjoy D&D or this new fantasy game by WOTC called "5e." The design conception, its presentation, and its mechanics are different. Some want to pursue what D&D offers, and others have found and enjoy what "5e" offers. Just look at the art. A picture is worth a thousand words. Good job Maddie.

Maybe that is a reddit kindo of question, but here it goes: Does any of you have played a long term campaign using OSE rules or any other retroclone? You guys rather play a sandbox style game or with character arcs and all that good stuff from 5e games? Since everything is super lethal, seems a little harder to have character driven campaigns. If any of you have done it, what did you learn that could be helpful, what would you advise a fellow dm coming from a 5e style game?

Into the Odd and Electric Bastionland!

OSR stands for Old School Rules, though people that play later editions, like 1e and 2e may like to keep the label. OSR is based on DnD basic/expert set. It started as a DnD starter set while TSR worked on the First Edition, called Advanced DnD. While both versions came out at the same time in 1977, Basic only went to level 10 and only the monster Manual released that year for ADnD(1e). The whole 1e set wouldn't be published until 1979. Because of this long delay, DnD Basic/Expert, which extended the player options and level 20 was released to keep people invested until ADnD fully released. Advanced DnD is a different game. When ADnD released, Basic was so popular that Basic continued to be supported for 5 years after 2e came out in 1989. Basic/Expert is pretty DM centric but 1e and 2e had a freaking rule for everything. Also, there actually was a Reference sheet developed by Dave Arneson, who has already been fired and was trying to make a buck on DnDs popularity. It was intended to bridge Chainmail, the DnD rule supplement and all the rules published in Dragon magazine but by the time it came out, the Basic Box was released which compiled all the rules.

I began playing D&D around 1982. It became my life and then I faded from it in the late 80s playing other RPGS. The bloat was happening around that time and I lost interest. 5e came out when my kids were just becoming teenagers and it was a revelation for me. I believe this is the game it was always meant to be. The clunkiness is gone and it has a simplicity that allows for imaginative play. In the 80s there was a drive for realism which created some real number-crunchy games. It didn't work for the most part. Her description of the elements of OSR play is just good roleplaying in any system.

Love a lot of the stuff coming out of the OSR scene, though adventures and supplements are more likely to be rather R rated in ways that not every group will appreciate, so discretion is advised. Been lurking and reading rules and adventures in this scene for a year or so now and am looking to finally try OSE and Mausritter with my group in the very near future! (We just finished up a 5e game and are looking to experiment with new systems.)

Great video! Love the historical context. The one thing I have noticed about the over-indulgence of OSR games today is the overwhelming sameness lately. Everything is "bleak, dark, despair". Every new game is "metal, death, die". So many games are just copying Mork Borg and Forbidden Lands it seems. Also, every game just seems to be random tables now. Yeah, we had random tables back in AD&D land. Random tables have been in EVERY game iteration (and not just D&D). But OSR games just seem to make a big deal out of "OH! Look! We have SO MANY RANDOM TABLES! Just like OSR!!" Also, this notion that OSR is all about avoiding killing is just not true. My players have always been murder hobos. You'll always have murder hobos in every game. Also, most players are also power seekers. They are constantly thinking of the "next level" or "next power/ability" to make them stronger (for those that don't have "levels.") That was very true of AD&D and every game. DO newer iterations of D&D have more powerful lower level characters? Absolutely. It's why many hate 4e (myself included). But that doesn't mean players didn't WANT to be powerful fighters/wizards/clerics/thieves in AD&D. That power was just different rule sets. So, I find a lot of these OSR claims of how ALL old school games were played a little...stretching of the truth? :) IMOHO of course. ;)

Where can i get the magazines?

Have you tried Lavender Hack, EZD6, or Mork Borg? The OSR is just asking the questions of the Perrin Convention all over again. Speaking of I still enjoy running and playing a game of Little Brown Books with Alexandria aka Justin's House Rules.

OSR is king in gaming.

Dicebreaker crew plays/reviews "Dungeon Crawl Classics" 😎🍿🤞

advanced Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks

5e isn't D&D. I always ask one question to anyone who are into multiple editions. How many editions of chess we have? ;)

I always wondered what OSR really meant for those systems and this is a good explanation of them. I can respect a bunch of the philosophy of it and even kind of agree in some of it. That said, this stuff does not sound like my cup of tea, especially the whole you're as clever in game as you are out of game thing.

why are people playing old editions when 5th edition is available? because you have it backwards; why would i play 5th edition when i have real editions already?

We were always allowed to do that. Sad that you presume many concepts about a generation of players you weren't a part of...

To me O.S.R stands for oh s#%t run!

Mörk Borg is pronounced murk borry. I'm not sure why nobody knows this, but there it is.

I was playing AD&D back in 1978 - hated the THACO rolls, so I'm glad 3.0 and on changed that, but there's still too much crunch involved in a lot of games (HARN, GURP, and the like), and not enough focus on "role-playing." I much prefer rules-lite games that have a lot of flavor (Mork Borg!!).

The following is an opinion stated as fact. I acknowledge everyone should play as they wish. 3rd edition sucked for roleplaying because they basically tried to make every class just as powerful as the last. I loved AD&D because no class could really ever get as powerful as a high level wizard and that's how it SHOULD be. Rogues never really got powerful in combat at all. THAT'S HOW IT WOULD BE IN A FANTASY WORLD. There's no way that even the best rogue or warrior could beat a master wizard or high priest in head-on combat. Magic in 3rd and beyond has lost all of its "aw" power. Powerful magic users are supposed to be leaps and bounds more powerful than an unmagical person; no matter the level of the warrior. She is 100% correct. D&D has turned into "Super Heroes in a Fantasy Setting" ™. That removes so many avenues for rugged and, what I would call, very HUMAN story telling. I mean, D&D already DID have player characters more powerful than they actually could ever be. No man, no matter his skill, could ever beat a 20 foot tall Giant. It's just not possible. That was already exaggeration enough, but new D&D is downright ridiculous.

5e's perfectly good? preposterous!

Moldvay basic, from the 70s... B60 (basic page 60), everything is balanced.

OSR is basically actual D&D as its meant to be played. The rest of you are all doing it wrong. Fite me. :P

Because 5th edition is far from "perfectly good" and is getting worse with each new book released...

No mention of LOTFP ? Arguably the game that put the Renaissance in OSR.

Be advised, even the writer of the Old School Primer, Matt Finch, sees it as out-of-date and a poor introduction to the OSR now. Much better is Principia Apocrypa by Ben Milton, Steven Lumpkin, and Dave Perry.

OSE is not a clone of ad&d. It’s a clone of the 1981 red box set

As a long time D&D player, to me, 3.5 is the best version, and I have the 1977 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons book, the Basic, Expert and Companion sets from 1983, AD&D 2nd Ed from 1995 and the 3.0 and 3.5 books. I've ran campaigns in all those rules sets and played in a 4th edition campaign and 3.5 is definitely my favorite.

She’s so pretty. When she adjusts her glasses…sigh

TLDR: OSR is basically D&D or TTRPGs based on RP, Exploration, and real Danger. OSR requires DMs and Players to work to create backstories, and character concepts, HomeBrew is king and game Death is very possible. 5e D&D just does not compare. My current group is completely enjoying my 2ed Homebrew OSR more than the years they spent with 5ed. Actual player death was a new concept to them but a year on and they have learned to think outside the box and not die. They are learning to actually play the game and not just rely on dice rolls to solve everything for them. Definitely recommend OSR but it is not for many of the modern gamers. I mean no disrespect but there are racial characteristics that exist in OSR and while they should've been referred to as Species instead they weren't. The games also have little to no hand holding so if you find current 5e games challenging then again OSR will require some getting used to. Good luck and have fun. There are plenty of forums, Discords, and RU-vid channels available to help those that want to give OSR a chance.

There are OSR games which are not even set in a fantasy setting. *STARS WITHOUT NUMBER* (Sine Nomine Publishing) is an excellent science-fiction adaptation of OSR d20 rules. *WHITE LIES* (DWD Studios) is an outgrowth of the White Box fantasy OSR which draws inspiration from the earliest "white box" edition of D&D in 1974, but White Lies is actually about espionage, giving you a choice of 5 possible classes of spy and special ops characters who can progress to Level 10. To be an OSR, it has to have a d20 system drawn from one of the earliest editions of D&D, it has to have a situation where the GM is in full control and can adjudicate rules on the spot as they see fit, and it has to have a feel where the characters are not all-powerful and will not necessarily survive because they are the stars of the movie. The world has forces which are orders of magnitude more powerful than the PCs: a fearsome dragon, a lava pit, and the rules have numerical information about dealing out damage which truly reflects this and encourages the PCs to avoid such dangers. This is gaming without a safety net or Investigate rolls, so you must actually think and watch out. The OSR will satisfy people who see disadvantages in the modern D&D edition. For example, what the hell are Advantage and Disadvantage rolls good for? Rather than weighing the benefits of each tactical advantage or disadvantage and giving it a number modifier, the current edition mulls through it, has the DM declare an Advantage, and the players don't even have to do arithmetic any more, they just roll 2 d20's and pick the highest one. What the hell is that for? Don't lose the feel of the old military wargames. Figure out actual effects of each factor: range, weapon speed, equipment quality, cover, movement, and add some dice modifiers one by one rather than simplifying things.

I don't think this video explained well. I don't have a reference of what "old school TRPG" is.

5th is...way too saturated with empty content for each class, plus, the heroic tone has made the game more of a superhero similator than a fantasy RPG.

“Perfectly good”…🤔

I disagree with the statement that retroganes are for new gamers. As an old grognard who learned to play by myself with the old Red Box, I garante that the retrogames dont mimicry this experience. They are made as reference material for us, who already know how to play. The problem with the advance is not the context of wargames, Its that they expected that people already learned from the classic box.

"perfectly good 5th edition" Debatable.