I have been thinking a lot about the two darlings of the Old-School RPG world: Old-School Essentials and ShadowDark. Both are great games. Both feature outstanding layout and design. Both attempt to (and succeed) capture that old-school, circa 1981, gaming feel. They come at it from different directions; one could almost say opposite directions to arrive at the same or at least a similar point.
So it is no surprise then that I think both games can be used to enhance the other in terms of your gameplay experience. I want to talk about that today and how both games give us something more than their historical ancestor, B/X D&D.
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| My table copies |
There is quite a lot of significant overlap for both games. There is a focus on a limited number of classes and level caps. OSE sticks with the 14th level of B/X and ShadowDark goes for 10 levels of play. Both games then focus much more on the dungeon crawling aspect of the D&D universe of games, even to the point of adventurers in ShadowDark being called "crawlers."
I have spent years playing B/X-era D&D, both when it was new and within the last few years. For the last 17 or so years, I have recorded my "Basic-era" experiences here on this blog. There is something evocative of Basic (both B/X and BECMI) that keeps people coming back for more. These two games are just the latest examples of this.
Both provide a similar experience. But what do they offer above and beyond books I have owned for 40+ years?
Of Carcass Crawlers and Sting Bats
One of the strengths of both games is improved organization. I can create an OSE or ShadowDark character in a matter of minutes, regardless of the level. BX is nearly as fast, but there is still some flipping involved. I knocked together an AD&D 1st Ed last night (from this writing), and it took me a lot longer.
Both games embrace a superior layout. Everything I need is on facing pages.
But content-wise, both games offer me the same thing that I already have. This is no shock, really; both games are drawing from the same roots. Somewhat different expressions of the same roots, but certainly, they both aim to provide the same or similar experiences.
As a by-product of their simplified design philosophy, some entries, like monsters and spells, are pretty much identical in terms of what is needed. There are some significant differences (saving throws), but I'll get to that.
What is new?
Old-School Essentials
Old-School Essentials is B/X D&D brought into the modern age.
Much like Labyrinth Lord before it, OSE offers an "Advanced" option that decouples race and class and provides a lot more classes. Class construction in OSE is also rather easy since the classes themselves have been streamlined. The Carcass Crawler zine also provides many new classes, options, and spells, among other things.
The Advanced option means that there is a world of already published material that is compatible with it. Yes, this is true for nearly all the OSR titles, but conversion here is a bit easier.
There is also a granularity and detail to the classes and by extension the monsters because of these rules.
Spells and Monster stat blocks are reduced to their bare essentials. Now, I prefer a more verbose presentation myself, but I can't argue they work.
ShadowDark
ShadowDark comes from the other end of the spectrum. Modern D&D, and D&D 5 in particular, stripped down to the barest (one could even say Basic) essentials to create a game that feels like Old-School D&D.
As such, it has a lot of ideas and concepts pulled from modern games, or reactions to modern games. One thing, in particular, is the notion that no race/species has infravision/darkvision. A reaction from D&D 5e where it seems everyone can see in the dark but humans. There is that and the rather innovative notion that torch time is equal to 1 hour in real time. That's a nice way to add some tension to the game. Yes, I know this is not the first game to do this, but it is still fun.
ShadowDark uses simpler XP systems and adopts modern D&D's idea that all classes use the same XP chart. It balances this by giving spellcasters the ability to keep casting spells until a spell fails. Again, this is not the first to do this (I did something similar in Ghosts of Albion ages ago), but it is still fun and welcomed here.
Other innovations/additions include the carousing tables (lots of fun) and class talents.
ShadowDark has enough going on that 10 levels feels full.
Still though, there are things about both games I don't like or more to the point don't fit my overall style of play. Thankfully I have an idea.
The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
There is so much overlap in the games, so why not make it complete? Merge the two.
How would I do it?
Start with the base game of OSE or OSE Advanced Options. Then use a lot of the ShadowDark trappings including the 1 hour time on light sources. I might still let demi-humans have infravision/darkvision but limit it some. I mean really, it doesn't make sense for a subterranean species not to have it.
I would use ShadowDark's distance and movements of Close, Near, and Far for most things unless a distinction needs to be made.
I'd use ShadowDark's checks BUT I would adapt 5e Saving throws to OSE and drop the OSE/BX style saves. This still gives me the same functionality of Saving Throws in a language that works with ShadowDark. This would mean ShadowDark style DCs for checks. Maybe steal another page from 5e and say the DC of a spell save is 8+the level of the caster? Saves then improve by +1 per level. I would need to play with it.
For characters. I want a lot of classes and OSE does specialized classes well. I would also allow the classes to take ShadowDark-style talents. Maybe by adding the ShadowDark XP values to each of the classes' level XP cost.
I might adopt ShadowDark's gear mechanic. It is simple and elegant. I would also use ShadowDark's stat mods, though honestly, it is a toss-up between those and OSE's.
Since I would split class and race/ancestry, I would let ancestries in this game take the ancestry boons from ShadowDark. Just like I would allow classes to take a class talent. Just have the OSE class take the one that is closest from ShadowDark; ie. Rangers and Paladins take Fighter ones. I would also also allow a Paladin to take a Cleric one.
I have not decided yet on which spellcasting system I would use. I am leaning more towards ShadowDark. I would not have said that six months ago. If I do then the spell failure, mishaps, and penance rules would have to be used as well.
I would use the ShadowDark carousing tables and the extensive encounter tables ShadowDark has to offer.
Now, after all of this, you might ask, "Well, why not just play ShadowDark?" Because I still enjoy the OSE system and OSE-Advanced in particular. I like saving throws, I like more robust character classes. I like OSE Monsters.
I would put the level limit at 14, like OSE and B/X, because I still enjoy that.
Fighters would need to get better as they level up like in ShadowDark. Thieves would have OSE style thief skills, but maybe some bonus or convert the percentile rolls to a d20 and allow for Advantage or Disadvantage rolls.
It would all take some tinkering to get it all right, but everything is in front of me.
Of course, I would need to play a witch in this "Best of Both Worlds" game to be sure.
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