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Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome

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The essential old-school game of fantastic adventure, monsters, and magic!

A Complete Game All in One Book

  • This book contains everything a referee needs: the complete game rules, full guidelines for creating and running adventures, 7 fantastic character classes, full equipment lists, over 100 classic spells, over 200 fearsome monsters, and over 150 wondrous magic items.
  • Simple rules let imagination and fast-paced action take the spotlight.
  • Clear, modern presentation makes the game easy to learn and quick to reference.
  • Compatible with decades of classic adventures and supplements.

Classic Fantasy or Advanced Fantasy?

Old-School Essentials comes in two flavours: Classic Fantasy (based on the 1981 Basic/Expert rules) and Advanced Fantasy (the same game, massively expanded with content inspired by the 1970s Advanced 1st Edition rules).
Want more options? You may prefer the Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome and Referee's Tome.

Deluxe Print Edition

A deluxe, sewn-binding hardcover edition of this book ( + free PDF) is available from Exalted Funeral, along with all of the other books in the Old-School Essentials line.

Note that there is no print-on-demand edition of this book.

Free Basic Rules

A fully illustrated, 56-page sample of the basic rules of the game required by players is available here:

  • The full introduction and character creation rules.
  • The four core human classes: cleric, fighter, magic-user, thief.
  • Full lists of adventuring equipment, weapons, and armour.
  • The rules for dungeon adventures, encounters, and combat.
  • The full rules for spell casting and the complete set of 1st level spells.

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Reviews (16)
Discussions (34)
Customer avatar
Matthew W November 30, 2024 1:52 am UTC
Is this a combination of the referees tome and players tome? its not clear to me
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Customer avatar
Matthew W November 30, 2024 2:38 am UTC
After comparing the table of contents it looks like it takes SOME of parts of Referee tome and players tome and puts it into one. but it doesnt have everything the other 2 have. why this was even made who knows.
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G December 02, 2024 1:47 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi Matthew, this product (the Classic Fantasy Rules Tome) is the original form of Old-School Essentials, based on the 1981 Basic/Expert D&D sets. We later released the Advanced Fantasy Player's + Referee's Tomes, which contain the same core game massively expanded with additional classes, rules, monsters, and magic inspired by AD&D. For anyone new to Old-School Essentials, we'd recommend the Player's + Referee's Tomes. Hope that helps! Rachel / Customer Support
Customer avatar
S. P November 23, 2023 7:14 pm UTC
What version is the pdf? Has all current errata been corrected?
Customer avatar
Marco F April 09, 2023 9:50 pm UTC
PURCHASER
If you had a print on demand on Drivethrurpg, you would have sold one more book. It is 2023, no POD hardly still makes sense. Please make it available as a print on demand book.
Customer avatar
Charles J December 24, 2022 8:34 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Is the pdf digest or letter sized?
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Customer avatar
Tommy K December 26, 2022 10:17 pm UTC
It's A5-sized, which is close to digest.
Customer avatar
Lesley N December 09, 2022 9:09 am UTC
A few months back, I began my odyssey in search of the perfect answer. The trick is, there is more than one good answer :)

In regards to OSE. Well, it took some time, some effort, a lot of checking back an forth and back and forth. Green version black version various versions of green and black versions.
OSE can scratch the itch rather well, but, OMG, how many ways can one book be done?

I have something like 5 or 6 competing OSE or OSR or BECMI or god only knows how many ways to avoid saying D&D designs.
But I have hacked my way to at least a good idea for OSE. I combined 5 Classic pdfs into a single entity. I removed the art and some other deadwood pages. Ended up with a 450 page tome I'm calling Classic Master Book. I got a 3 book Advanced Master book of 160 pages. I did it the hard way :)

I can really continue to recommend OSE for the discerning role gamer. But dang, after so many iterations, it sure is a mess of confusion. Better organization could have...See more
Customer avatar
Lesley N October 06, 2022 2:03 am UTC
I've seen a lot of versions of the same ole game, but this one looks to be a very clean well handled version.
If not for that I have brand new hard covers I recently got printed on demand here at DrivthruRPG for 'That well known famous game' I'd likely have gone for this approach to that good ole game.

Always been a fan of one book games, that actually stick to that statement.
For clarity, I don't mind well down adventure products.

For those that like this book here, you might want to pair it with the Solo Dungeon Crawler or the Solo Wilderness Crawler products from Paul Bimler. They match up nicely with most RPG designs, I think they are more D&D centric though. The bees knees for the DM who is without a group periodically.
Customer avatar
Alan P August 27, 2022 9:49 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Can the PDF version be printed on an inkjet printer with decent enough quality for reading? I already own a really nice copy of the Rules Tome (the one that's leather-like with tassels and all), but it would be great if I could have a couple of extra copies laying around for use at the table.
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G August 29, 2022 7:39 am UTC
PUBLISHER
It's not something we've tried ourselves, so can't comment on the resulting quality. You could maybe try asking in one of the Old-School Essentials fan communities (on Facebook / Discord) to see if anyone has tried this.
Customer avatar
Roger P May 08, 2022 8:12 am UTC
Hi,
I have rules questions regarding healing in Dungeons. Can a PC heal himself during a rest in a Dungeon? Dungeon rules states that a PC should rest periodically while Dungeoneering, but this "forced rest" heals? During this rest, wandering monsters are kept rolling? Is possible to make a full day rest inside a Dungeon? Or is just much better to do it outside it?

Thanks in advance
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G May 09, 2022 7:45 am UTC
PUBLISHER
The rule for resting one turn every hour in a dungeon is unrelated to healing, and yes wandering monster checks would usually be rolled as normal during that turn. (Though if PCs find a very secure hiding place to rest in, the referee may rule that the frequency or chance of wandering monsters is reduced.)

For natural healing, characters need to rest a full day. So if a PC could get a full day's rest (without interruptions) in a dungeon, then it would seem fair to let them heal 1d3 hp. In most dungeons this would be nearly impossible though.
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Customer avatar
Roger P May 09, 2022 8:49 am UTC
Thanks for this solid response, it is a valuable clarification. It seems clear the best solution is to exit from the dungeon when party's HPs are low.
Customer avatar
Raphael S May 06, 2022 8:09 pm UTC
Is this 3rd printing?? Is there any difference in content between Rules Tome 1st, 2nd and 3rd printing? For instance, if I already have 1st printing do I need to update?
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G May 07, 2022 4:06 am UTC
PUBLISHER
We always update the PDFs to the latest printing. So the PDF is now the same as the 3rd printing of the book.

The errata doc lists any little issues that were fixed between printings: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dzQnig4CNET8-1yLJgOfYdssc70oUp5rGfGUZuBZBQE
Customer avatar
Tanya J May 01, 2022 4:54 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The write-up on the hydra gives its hit points as 8 per head. Shouldn't that be 4.5 per head to be consistent with the hit points of the other monsters, which tend to be 4.5 per HD? I was just wondering if that was a mistake or a deliberate deviation.
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G May 02, 2022 3:54 am UTC
PUBLISHER
8hp is correct (following the original Basic/Expert rules, which Old-School Essentials is based on). The 4.5hp per HD listed for other monsters is just the average value of rolling d8s, so other monsters could potentially also have 8hp per HD.
Customer avatar
Michał U April 01, 2022 11:36 am UTC
Can I use this rules to play old TSR modules (without any conversions needed).
Eg.
BSOLO Ghost of Lion Castle (Basic)
T1 The Village of Hommlet (1e)

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Customer avatar
Necrotic G April 04, 2022 7:21 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Old-School Essentials is 100% compatible with the 1981 Basic/Expert rules (B/X), so anything published specifically for that edition will work without any conversion whatsoever. For people experienced with old-school D&D, it's pretty easy to use any pre-2000 material with Old-School Essentials, but it might need a little tweaking depending on the exact edition that something was published for.

Looking at BSOLO, it appears it was published for the 1984 Basic rules, which are pretty much (probably 99%) identical to the 1981 Basic rules. T1 was published for AD&D 1st Edition, which is a little different.
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Customer avatar
Michał U April 05, 2022 5:33 pm UTC
Thank you for the answer.
I've already decided to buy either classic or advanced tome.

Customer avatar
William L January 27, 2022 1:06 pm UTC
Bought the Print/PDF bundle through Exalted Funeral ... will updates (if any) to PDF be provided through their site or is there a way I can get them through Drive Thru?
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G February 01, 2022 11:53 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Yep, updates are sent out via the Exalted Funeral store too. (You'll have to contact them if you need any more details on how that works.)
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Customer avatar
William L February 02, 2022 7:14 pm UTC
Thanks for the update. ;)
Great product by the way ... best organization of the B/X rules to date.
Customer avatar
Jeremy H October 30, 2021 10:23 am UTC
PURCHASER
Some really nice artwork added in 1.3! Thanks for the update Necrotic G!
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Customer avatar
Chris J November 10, 2021 4:24 am UTC
Are there any changes to the rules themselves? Where would you find out about this?
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G November 10, 2021 8:00 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Only where errors were found. We maintain a list of fixed errors here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dzQnig4CNET8-1yLJgOfYdssc70oUp5rGfGUZuBZBQE/.
Customer avatar
Wesley A March 07, 2021 7:35 pm UTC
So is this all I’ll need to run Old School Essentials? And then get the advanced add on of I want to play retro AD&D? That’ll come later, I just kinda want to introduce b/x to some friends.
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G March 08, 2021 6:24 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Exactly. This book is a complete clone of B/X, so if you want pure B/X this one book is all you need.
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Customer avatar
Ryan B August 27, 2021 3:52 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The advanced add-on doesn't convert it to AD&D (though B/X and AD&D are still pretty close to one another). It takes AD&D elements (classes, races, etc.) and adapts them for use in the B/X core of OSE.
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Customer avatar
Scott N February 10, 2022 6:03 pm UTC
Well with WOTC now full pods of AD&D just order AD&D or the BECMI Rules Cyclopedia and play, these guys are always out of stock and have shipping delays.
Customer avatar
Eric C M November 09, 2020 7:20 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Made a POD on DriveThruRPG!
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G November 10, 2020 8:22 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Just interested: what would you prefer about a POD edition compared to the high quality print editions that the game is currently produced in?
Reply
Customer avatar
Eric C M November 12, 2020 1:17 am UTC
PURCHASER
I have money to spend here!
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Customer avatar
Ricardo M November 21, 2020 7:24 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Maybe you could offer here a lower cost paperback version. Since the Rule Tome is too big for paperback, you could split it into the Player's Rules Tome (which you already have made), a Game Master Rules Tome and Treasures & Monsters Tome.
IMO paperback editions capture better the look and feel of the original BX edition, hardback was more of an AD&D & RC thing.
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Customer avatar
JRR N June 19, 2022 6:13 pm UTC
Sane people do not want to support a publisher who pushes a radical political agenda. We want games, not politics.
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Customer avatar
Steven W August 11, 2022 7:03 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Shipping charges. It's much cheaper to get a POD copy than pay all the customs duties when having it sent to the UK.
Customer avatar
Mark V September 09, 2020 2:20 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi. I bought this because I couldn't find the PDFs of the 5 separate books. I also bought the 2 Advanced books. Any chance I could get the PDFs of the original 5 booklets so I can re-introduce some modularity to my game? I can send my order numbers for the other purchases if that helps?
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File Last Updated:
June 07, 2022
This title was added to our catalog on August 28, 2019.