Old School Essentials and playing games

 I keep saying I am going to stop getting games as I am not playing the ones I have. I've been pretty good about the board games at least. But in looking at a lot of the stuff I've bought the last few years, most of it is pretty much rules agnostic. And a lot is OSR but still mostly rules-free. Then I realized I had been confusing OSR and OSE at times. As a result, I have a fair number of OSE zines and things. No big deal: I just use the fluff mostly anyway.

It is like the GURPS line of Traveller supplements: while designed for GURPS, there is a lot of really good stuff in there that can be used for flavor and world building. Same for pretty much any gaming thing: the stats are really only important if you are battling things or have some sort of checks. And all that can be relative and mapped between different systems.

Regardless, because my Sunday group has not been meeting for a bit as the boys got, dare I say, bored with the game, I'm looking for a crunchier game they may enjoy. A good part of that is on me: the dad & I were having a great time and did not read the room for his sons. But another part of that, I think, is that the Fantasy Trip has no classes and bonuses based on that, or races or anything. And wanting to play a rogue character is certainly easy enough to do: just pick the skills that fit, try to tailor your stats to the type of rogue you want to be. But old school games, or pretty much games that carry classes, give certain benefits and abilities based on the class. And leveling up is a more defined, knowable progression. And having these benefits as a game mechanic may appeal to them more. 

While I personally prefer TFT and Traveller because they do lack classes and levels, I can see someone whose only experience is via what they have seen on TV (Stranger Things, Critical Role, etc) not getting the simplicity and ability to define your own character how you want. Ergo, I am backing the Old School Essentials Kickstarter so that we can get that crunch. Plus, I have a lot of dice and do want to give some sets away. Call it a bribe or call it an incentive. 

Why did I pick that game? First, it is pretty much compatible with a wide range of existing things. No, before that even: the basic rules are free, so that my Sunday group can get those and see if that is the sort of thing that they may want to play. Here's hoping. Though the father oddly is the only one in the house without a computer, and there is really only so much you can do on your phone. Hopefully he can set up an email and borrow one of his kids or his wife's computer. Though he really does not like computers much (he literally works with his hands, and in fact, made this ax for me for Christmas!)

And we'll be playing mostly in the same world anyway: my world building is pretty rules-agnostic as well. Though if I do play specific OSE adventures, I'll place them way off the map someplace else. Create an OSE side of the world, but share rumors about far-off lands and the huge, river spanning Edge City. I may start adding rumors of OSE-specific areas as well.

And speaking of Kickstarters, my current list has expanded. I keep getting these OSE/OSR mini regions such as the Toxic Wood as I've got all his other supplements. They are an enjoyable read so if nothing else, I at least get some enjoyment even if I never get to use them. 

And I really need to get back to my Traveller solo game. It has been months since my last excursion there. 

I am also very slowly working on an Apex game for the wild west of 1870s or so: dinosaurs and cowboys. I've invited the other players to create NPCs and/or locations as I've mentioned before. They'll get XP for this, so hoping to start all players at level 3 if I can gin up enough interest and feedback. I have created a fairly generic map and have the idea of the 1st adventure based on a Bonanza episode I watched while on the treadmill.  Sorry if I've posted the map before - I did not see it in a brief check of my posts.

I've also shared this directory, and the initial document in the directory, with one of the players to see if we can cooperatively work on the game this way. So far, a week or so later, I've not noticed any updates or additions. 

We'll see how well this sharing works out - I'm used to this sort of process as I work from home and I'm a software developer. We use source control, Teams, and all that for a lot of almost face to face working and sharing of things. Non-technical people have a harder time grasping how that works, and how frictionless it can actually be when it works well (and it does not always work well!). Heck - I'd prefer to use personal Teams for our group games as there are a lot of benefits over the current Skype we use. However, getting some of them to try a new platform is an uphill battle that is not worth it. Though Skype tends to fail for me at least a couple times per session.