Saturday, July 13, 2013

OSR: More B/X than AD&D?

I don't want to stir up "yet another race as class" discussion, but it seems most of the "next gen" OSR games take their basic structure of B/X (and a bit of CM) rather than AD&D.  I'm speaking generally of ACKS, DCC, LotFP, and their ilk.  Even the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion and Swords & Wizardry stick with d4/d6/d8 hit dice, though for good reasons.  Few use AD&D (or perhaps more properly OSRIC) as their starting point.

This is purely a descriptive statement - the conventions of AD&D (hit dice, 9 alignments, races and classes, etc) are 'naturally' to me since I starting my roleplaying experience with AD&D, as I'm sure if similar to those who began with the Moldvay set or whatever.

I'm a tweaker.  I can't help myself from tweaking with the rules of anything, even if they're house rules that never get used, so I give almost every retro-clone and OSR game I can find at least a cursory glance for inspiration if nothing else. Am I missing interesting games that follow more of the AD&D conventions?  Are the B/X "styled" offerings overwhelming because there's less material to cut out?

I can't help but think of AD&D derivations, and I've come up with a half-dozen more concepts since I made that post.  Looking at some of the great material in DCC or ACKS, makes me want to adapt their subsystems to my version of AD&D, and not the reverse.  Am I missing something or did trying to understand the DMG as an 8-year-old warp my brain that much?

[Comment - wow, that's a lot of acronyms]

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Mindspur of the Depths

Mindspur of the Depths

The Mindspur is a tentacle segment one inch in diameter, from a creature deep below the surface.  Wizards and others of their ilk driven to knowledge have formulated a technique to alter the tentacle length to provide increase mental prowess typical of the species. A properly prepared tentacle with dig into the exposed flesh of a living beings head, worming it's way beneath the skulls.  The use of this item is not without cost, as the use gets a hunger for the brains of the sentient and under examination the presence of the tentacle can be seen writhing beneath skin.

Once in place the character gains a +1 to intelligence, but only as long as he consume the brain of another member of his species once a year.  Failure to consume the brainmeat results in a loss of the gained point of Intelligence and the doubling of the hunger (i.e., two brains a year).  The tentacle can only be removed through the use of magic or the death of the host.


Friday, March 8, 2013

Higgins Armory Museum to close

The collection will be relocated a a nearby museum, but the current building (and arrangement) is beautiful.  Check it out if you're in/near Boston this year.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20130307/NEWS/130309688