Really helps to add flavor to the Dolmenwood setting

Great dungeon layout that tells a story without railroading. The conceit of a two part password to get the macguffin encourages exploration. Clear organization and layout reminiscent of OSE core books. I ran it only having skimmed it for twenty minutes the night before and it ran very fluidly. Statted for OSE but I ran it with Beyond the Wall (very similar thematically to Dolmenwood but less strictly B/X than OSE). Only adaptation I had to make was to tone down the treasure (different xp rules).

Great dungeon layout that tells a story without railroading. The conceit of a two part password to get the macguffin encourages exploration. Clear organization and layout reminiscent of OSE core books. I ran it only having skimmed it for twenty minutes the night before and it ran very fluidly. Statted for OSE but I ran it with Beyond the Wall (very similar thematically to Dolmenwood but less strictly B/X than OSE). Only adaptation I had to make was to tone down the treasure (different xp rules).

What do we have here? Issue one of a zine supporting what is easily my favourite OSR game, Old-School Essentials. The game is a masterpiece. Go and buy it immediately.

So, the zine; any good? Let’s find out.

Firstly, it’s up to the standard of other OSE publications, crisply laid out, concise, easy to read and reference, with wonderful artwork. My favourite illustration is the trio of wolf-riding goblins. I suppose the only issue would be the goblins and wolves being much bigger than the adventurer pictured in the foreground. Still, the piece is excellent; very much in the DAT style.

We get 32 pages which include the front covers, a couple of leading and trailing blank pages and the OSR License.

The writing is strong, although littered with jarring exclamation marks such as: “…players may choose from when creating a character!” Should we be exclaiming that? It’s a small point I know but as an editor, these things tend to pop. Oh, there are also a few errant apostrophes but that’s inevitable these days.

First up we get a two-page spread preceding new class as race descriptions and for the Advanced version of the rules, races. Both Mage and Acolyte are the result of a “thought experiment”; I’m not sure what that means exactly. Perhaps the author thought it was a good idea then wrote it down?

Of the new class-as-race creations we have the Acolyte, a cleric replacement with six percentile abilities handled in a way similar to thieves’ skills, doing away with spells. The Acolyte can use some of these “skills” to perform spell-like effects and can use them at first level; interesting, but the character trades near-assured success and a vast array of powers for six skills with a very real chance of failure. At level two, the chance of succeeding with the Bless skill is 35%, with the Bless spell the chance is 100%. At second level, the Acolyte can heal 1D3 lost hit points. Hmmm…however, that can grant a second saving throw to resist and existing malady.

The Mage follows a similar path; a Magic-User replacement trading the certainty of spells for the random throw of percentile dice. In the case of both Acolyte and Mage it is mentioned that these new classes would suite a low-fantasy setting nicely. It surely would. Very nice. The Mage has a Gandalfy feel and that was the intention, he can wield a sword, is harder to hit and his staff packs a punch. Don’t be rude now.

Next up: The Gargantua, big and muscly and the Goblin, short and weedy. Very nicely done with fully integrated abilities.

A pair of sci-fi inspired classes are included and they are well imagined with interesting abilities that won’t derail your game.

After the Basic classes come the Advanced race details. This is where I find that my 32 pages has been diluted. I only play the basic game and I’m sure others will only play the Advanced game. Half of this material will only find a home in one of those two camps.

The Firearms rules are an excellent addition to any game, well conceived and as complete as they can be. Having read this section I’m keen to introduce guns to my games.

Fighters are treated to six talents adding some flavour and provide a small bonus. They have all been seen elsewhere but are a welcome inclusion here.

To my tastes the most useful and inspired chapter covers the transition of thieves’ skills from percentile to a six-sided die. I’ve always wanted to see a workable implementation and here it is. I’ll say no more but if you want to see Thief skills how they should have been, buy Carcass Crawler. I’ll say a bit more after all: the two pages outlining ways for the referee to apply the new system logically, is outstanding. Even if you use percentile dice, read this.

That’s it. To my taste there is some necessary redundancy built in, the author’s want to provide meaningful material for players of both Advanced and Basic games, this they do but as I’ve mentioned, I only play Basic. That aside, this is a must-have for OSE players, beautifully produced and for a first issue it’s clear this will be a fantastic run. More please.

Another great OSR. Clearly laid out and wonderully simple. I'm a big fan of retro clones and old school games and this one didn't disappoint.

Great work!

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/02/review-old-school-essentials-advanced.html

Arguably one of the biggest success stories of the late OSR movement has been the publication of Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy (2019) and Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy (2021). Indeed I feel that OSE has supplanted Swords & Wizardry, the darling of the middle OSR movement as the old-school game of choice. It is the old-school game of choice here in my home game, alternating between it and D&D 5e, and seems to be the most talked-about game in the old-school discussion areas.

This is all with good reason. OSE is well designed, superbly organized, and has wonderful art. There is a minimalist approach to the rules and presentation that does not detract from the experience, instead, it rather enhances it. You can see my enthusiasm in my review of the Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy Boxed set back in 2020. So imagine my surprise when I learned I had not given OSE Advanced a proper review yet.

I have detailed my introduction to D&D many times here. But briefly, my "first" D&D was a poorly copied version of Holmes Basic with an AD&D Monster Manual. My first "true" D&D, the one I could properly call my own was Moldvay Basic/Cook & MArsh Expert (commonly referred to as "B/X"). I would over the course of a year or so add in elements of AD&D. Most importantly the Deities & Demigods, the Fiend Folio, and a copy of Eldritch Wizardry. My D&D was always a mish-mash of Basic D&D and AD&D. I later discovered that my playstyle was not at all unique.

Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Edition really strikes at the heart of what this sort of play was like. The familiar and easy Basic/Expert rules with AD&D layered on top. Layered is the right word, AD&D had a lot of situational rules and rules used in tournaments and rules designed to cover what looked like medieval realism. As real that is in a world where half-elves fought dragons with magic. OSE-AF strips this down back to the B/X style rules found in OSE-CF and then adds in what people used the most from AD&D. No weapon speed factors, no tournament scoring, just D&D-style play.

OSE-AF is divided into two books, the Player's Tome and the Referee's Tome.

For this review, I am considering the hardcover books I got via the Kickstarter, the PDFs from DriveThruRPG, and extra copies of the Player's Tome I picked up at my FLGS. All books were purchased by me and none were submitted for review purposes.

OSE-AF Player's Tome

Hardcover. Black and White and color interior art and covers. 248 pages. Bookmarked PDF with hyperlinked table of contents and index. $40.00 for the hardcover print (retail). $15.00 for the PDF.

The Player's Tome covers everything an OSE-AF player needs to know. The book details a lot of the same rules that are found in the OSE-Classic Fantasy (or read: Basic) rules. This new book though integrates the "Basic" and "Advanced" material together with some notes on the "Advanced Fantasy" sections. One might be tempted to say that this book is not needed if you have the OSE-CF book, but that is not really the case. While there are certainly more classes, and more monsters in the case of the Referee Tome, there is still quite a lot of new material here. Enough to make AF twice as large content-wise as CF.

The main feature of this book, and indeed all of the OSE line, is the layout. All material is laid out so that everything you need to read is on facing pages. So a character class always takes up two pages (even and odd) so that when laid flat everything can be read at once and easily. There are very few exceptions to this rule and it gives OSE it's unique look and feel. Add in the art, sparingly but effectively used, the feel is elegant, if minimalist, efficiency. This is the same design that made D&D 4e a joy to read. The same feeling is here.

Advanced Fantasy follows its Advanced namesake and splits character race and character class into two separate things. Basic combined race and class so you got Clerics (always human) and Dwarves (always fighters). Here is the option that most folks want in the "Advanced" game. In addition to the four classes and the four races of Basic, this book introduces six more races and nine more classes.

In the OSE-AF book, we get: Acrobat, Assassin, Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Illusionist, Knight, Magic-user, Paladin, Ranger, and Thief.

There are also the "race as class" variants of: Drow, Duergar, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-elf, Halfling, Half-orc, Human, and Svirfneblin. The level maximum is 14 for humans and variable for others. All race/class combinations are detailed. This covers our first 80 some odd pages.

What follows next are guides for character advancement, equipment, animals of burden, transportation, and crews.

The next biggest section is Magic and this covers all the spells for the magic-using classes. Since the max level for any human is 14, spells are limited. Divine spellcasters are limited to the 5th level of casting and Arcane to the 6th level. The advantage here is the clerics and druids are on more equal footing with each other and so are magic-users and illusionists. Unlike their Advanced namesake, this book does not require spell components nor are their other details given. The spells are firmly in the Basic format.

The book wraps up with Adventuring, Hirelings, and building strongholds.

The feel is solid B/X Basic with enough "Advanced" added in to make it feel just a little different. Or in other words, exactly how we used to play it from 1980 to 1983.

Throughout all these books and the entire OSE line, the art is both evocative of the old-school style and still modern enough to please new audiences.

This is the game of choice for me to introduce old-school style play to players of modern games. My regular 5e group took to it like ducks to water. They love it. They still love their 5e games, but they also like to do this one. None of them had ever played B/X prior to this and it was a huge success.

I know that Gavin Norman and Necrotic Gnome have more material to give us for this, I hope it all lives up this new gold standard I set my OSR book to.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/02/review-old-school-essentials-advanced.html

Arguably one of the biggest success stories of the late OSR movement has been the publication of Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy (2019) and Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy (2021). Indeed I feel that OSE has supplanted Swords & Wizardry, the darling of the middle OSR movement as the old-school game of choice. It is the old-school game of choice here in my home game, alternating between it and D&D 5e, and seems to be the most talked-about game in the old-school discussion areas.

This is all with good reason. OSE is well designed, superbly organized, and has wonderful art. There is a minimalist approach to the rules and presentation that does not detract from the experience, instead, it rather enhances it. You can see my enthusiasm in my review of the Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy Boxed set back in 2020. So imagine my surprise when I learned I had not given OSE Advanced a proper review yet.

I have detailed my introduction to D&D many times here. But briefly, my "first" D&D was a poorly copied version of Holmes Basic with an AD&D Monster Manual. My first "true" D&D, the one I could properly call my own was Moldvay Basic/Cook & MArsh Expert (commonly referred to as "B/X"). I would over the course of a year or so add in elements of AD&D. Most importantly the Deities & Demigods, the Fiend Folio, and a copy of Eldritch Wizardry. My D&D was always a mish-mash of Basic D&D and AD&D. I later discovered that my playstyle was not at all unique.

Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Edition really strikes at the heart of what this sort of play was like. The familiar and easy Basic/Expert rules with AD&D layered on top. Layered is the right word, AD&D had a lot of situational rules and rules used in tournaments and rules designed to cover what looked like medieval realism. As real that is in a world where half-elves fought dragons with magic. OSE-AF strips this down back to the B/X style rules found in OSE-CF and then adds in what people used the most from AD&D. No weapon speed factors, no tournament scoring, just D&D-style play.

OSE-AF is divided into two books, the Player's Tome and the Referee's Tome.

For this review, I am considering the hardcover books I got via the Kickstarter, the PDFs from DriveThruRPG, and extra copies of the Player's Tome I picked up at my FLGS. All books were purchased by me and none were submitted for review purposes.

OSE-AF Referee's Tome

Hardcover. Black and White and color interior art and covers. 248 pages. Bookmarked PDF with hyperlinked table of contents and index. $40.00 for the hardcover print (retail). $15.00 for the PDF.

This book covers how to run an OSE-AF game. Some of the details here are the same as OSE-CF but there are enough rules additions and clarification to make it worthwhile to anyone that has OSE-CF.

The first part covers running the game and adventures along with designing a dungeon and wilderness areas.

The next section, Monsters, makes up the bulk of the book. All the old OSE-CF favorites are here and most of the Advanced era monsters. In 107 or so pages we get over 320 monsters. Again the art is light, but it is there. We do not get any Demons or Devils, those are coming in a future book from my understanding, but it is still plenty.

The next largest section is Treasure which includes intelligent swords.

We also get sections on monster tables by terrain, strongholds, and NPCs.

The main feature of this book, and indeed all of the OSE line, is the layout. All material is laid out so that everything you need to read is on facing pages. This is less obvious here as in the Player's Tome, but it is still a solid feature.

The two-volume set might just be the ultimate in expression of the time period in which I was doing my earliest D&D play. There are other Basic/Advanced hybrid games out there and they all provide a good mix of their sources, but it is OSE-AF that is the closest to what I was playing then. All of the fun of Basic with the options in Advanced I loved. The modularity of OSE also allows for expansion. While the 1 to 14 level range covers most of what people will play there is no reason why there can't be an OSE-Companion to cover higher levels.

Throughout all these books and the entire OSE line, the art is both evocative of the old-school style and still modern enough to please new audiences.

This is the game of choice for me to introduce old-school style play to players of modern games. My regular 5e group took to it like ducks to water. They love it. They still love their 5e games, but they also like to do this one. None of them had ever played B/X prior to this and it was a huge success.

I know that Gavin Norman and Necrotic Gnome have more material to give us for this, I hope it all lives up this new gold standard I set my OSR book to.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/02/review-old-school-essentials-advanced.html

Arguably one of the biggest success stories of the late OSR movement has been the publication of Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy (2019) and Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy (2021). Indeed I feel that OSE has supplanted Swords & Wizardry, the darling of the middle OSR movement as the old-school game of choice. It is the old-school game of choice here in my home game, alternating between it and D&D 5e, and seems to be the most talked-about game in the old-school discussion areas.

This is all with good reason. OSE is well designed, superbly organized, and has wonderful art. There is a minimalist approach to the rules and presentation that does not detract from the experience, instead, it rather enhances it. You can see my enthusiasm in my review of the Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy Boxed set back in 2020.

I have detailed my introduction to D&D many times here. But briefly, my "first" D&D was a poorly copied version of Holmes Basic with an AD&D Monster Manual. My first "true" D&D, the one I could properly call my own was Moldvay Basic/Cook & MArsh Expert (commonly referred to as "B/X"). I would over the course of a year or so add in elements of AD&D. Most importantly the Deities & Demigods, the Fiend Folio, and a copy of Eldritch Wizardry. My D&D was always a mish-mash of Basic D&D and AD&D. I later discovered that my playstyle was not at all unique.

Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Edition really strikes at the heart of what this sort of play was like. The familiar and easy Basic/Expert rules with AD&D layered on top. Layered is the right word, AD&D had a lot of situational rules and rules used in tournaments and rules designed to cover what looked like medieval realism. As real that is in a world where half-elves fought dragons with magic. OSE-AF strips this down back to the B/X style rules found in OSE-CF and then adds in what people used the most from AD&D. No weapon speed factors, no tournament scoring, just D&D-style play.

OSE-AF Carcass Crawler #1

PDF only, 32 pages. Color covers, black & white interior art. $7.50 PDF.

The sometimes zine for OSE and named for the OGC version of the infamous carrion crawler.

This issue adds the new races to the Advanced Fantasy line, the gargantuan (like Goliaths), the goblin, and the hephaestan (logical, elf-like beings). I am particularly happy with the Goblin.

New classes for Classic and Advanced fantasy are the acolyte (a type of spell-less cleric with healing), the gargantuan (race-class), the goblin (race-class), the hephaestan (race-class), the kineticist (psychics), and the mage (a spell-less magic-user with magical abilities).

There are new rules for fighters and thieves as well as black powder guns. I like the fighter talents, help give it a bit more to do really. They are at every 5 levels, but I might make them every 4 instead.

Throughout all these books and the entire OSE line, the art is both evocative of the old-school style and still modern enough to please new audiences.

This is the game of choice for me to introduce old-school style play to players of modern games. My regular 5e group took to it like ducks to water. They love it. They still love their 5e games, but they also like to do this one. None of them had ever played B/X prior to this and it was a huge success.

I know that Gavin Norman and Necrotic Gnome have more material to give us for this, I hope it all lives up this new gold standard I set my OSR book to.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/02/review-old-school-essentials-advanced.html

Arguably one of the biggest success stories of the late OSR movement has been the publication of Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy (2019) and Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy (2021). Indeed I feel that OSE has supplanted Swords & Wizardry, the darling of the middle OSR movement as the old-school game of choice. It is the old-school game of choice here in my home game, alternating between it and D&D 5e, and seems to be the most talked-about game in the old-school discussion areas.

This is all with good reason. OSE is well designed, superbly organized, and has wonderful art. There is a minimalist approach to the rules and presentation that does not detract from the experience, instead, it rather enhances it. You can see my enthusiasm in my review of the Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy Boxed set back in 2020.

I have detailed my introduction to D&D many times here. But briefly, my "first" D&D was a poorly copied version of Holmes Basic with an AD&D Monster Manual. My first "true" D&D, the one I could properly call my own was Moldvay Basic/Cook & MArsh Expert (commonly referred to as "B/X"). I would over the course of a year or so add in elements of AD&D. Most importantly the Deities & Demigods, the Fiend Folio, and a copy of Eldritch Wizardry. My D&D was always a mish-mash of Basic D&D and AD&D. I later discovered that my playstyle was not at all unique.

Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Edition really strikes at the heart of what this sort of play was like. The familiar and easy Basic/Expert rules with AD&D layered on top. Layered is the right word, AD&D had a lot of situational rules and rules used in tournaments and rules designed to cover what looked like medieval realism. As real that is in a world where half-elves fought dragons with magic. OSE-AF strips this down back to the B/X style rules found in OSE-CF and then adds in what people used the most from AD&D. No weapon speed factors, no tournament scoring, just D&D-style play.

OSE-AF Fantasy Reference Booklet PDF only, 32 pages. Color covers, black & white interior art. $4.00 PDF.

This handy guide covers all the major tables found in the OSE Advanced Fantasy line. For $4 it is a great little reference.

Throughout all these books and the entire OSE line, the art is both evocative of the old-school style and still modern enough to please new audiences.

This is the game of choice for me to introduce old-school style play to players of modern games. My regular 5e group took to it like ducks to water. They love it. They still love their 5e games, but they also like to do this one. None of them had ever played B/X prior to this and it was a huge success.

I know that Gavin Norman and Necrotic Gnome have more material to give us for this, I hope it all lives up this new gold standard I set my OSR book to.

This is the finest evocation of B/X Dungeons and Dragons in the OSR movement! It is the best!! Bar none!!! This is due, in part, to the absolute cleanness of the rules, but mostly to the layout and presentation of said rules. The triumph of the two page layout makes it very easy on the eye and helps the newer players to be able to follow the flow of information. This game is a triumph and deserves your attention and investment!

I have not received issue 5 through 8 yet. So I cannot write a review yet. But I am sure I will be happy with them. I received 1, 2, 3, and I was very happy with those.

Unadulaterated fun. Interactive, varied, polished. Has a personality without falling into button-pushing or trope-abuse. Little wrinkles of suprise for both players and referee throughout. Woekd well for both my young kids and my regular grown-up group (both using OSE rules)

I like to be prepared, so I think it would be a slight exaggeration to call this and the accompanying Referee's Tome the only thing you need to run an advanced old-school game. Instead, in my view, this little book, the Referee's Tome, and a good, solid adventure module are the only things you need to buy to run an advanced old-school game. Combine this with the freely-available advice and writings you can find online about the mindset to get into for these kinds of games and how to run them, and you're pretty much set. The layout in these PDFs is almost unreasonably good; I was initially sad to know there was no SRD-equivalent for the Advanced rules, given the great wiki-like layout of the OSE SRD, but the formatting of this PDF makes up for that in spades. Well worth the asking price.

What is there to say? Simply the best Old School D&D resource ever printed. The only flaw is that the print edition is constantly sold out.

Really good material in this one, and if all Carcass Crawlers are going to be of this level of quality, then this is shaping up to be an awesome zine!