Interest check: Old-school fantasy

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com

Which adventure campaigns interest you (select as many as you like)?

  • Stonehell

    Votes: 7 46.7%
  • Anomalous Subsurface Environment

    Votes: 5 33.3%
  • Maze of the Blue Medusa

    Votes: 3 20.0%
  • Hot Springs Island

    Votes: 5 33.3%
  • The Old Ways (my own incomplete creation)

    Votes: 8 53.3%
  • Something else (describe below)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    15

Edgewise

Legendary Pubber
Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Messages
4,255
Reaction score
7,988
UPDATE 10/1/2019: Six players have taken up their arms, so admission is closed for the time being.

I'm of a mind to run a PbP Old-School Essentials (OSE) campaign in one of a number of adventure settings. Isn't an entire campaign ambitious, you may ask? Not really; we just play until the stars no longer align. Here are the possibilities that I have in mind:
  • Stonehell: Michael Curtis' modern classic megadungeon. It holds up! Stonehell has factions and Gygaxian naturalism, but it also gets gradually weirder as it goes deeper. Setting is probably fantasy pseudo-late-medieval - plate armor and Greek Fire are available.
  • Anomalous Subsurface Environment: Another megadungeon, but gonzo from the jump. The setting around the titular dungeon is half the fun, but the dungeon itself is incomplete - only levels 1-3 have been published. But what are the chances of getting through all that material, anyway? Setting is basically Thundarr!
  • Maze of the Blue Medusa: Artsy megadungeon co-created by controversial OSR boogeyman! One sprawling level with lots of surreal challenges, social interaction and interrelated elements. Broader setting is probably a hodge-podge, possibly including steampunk.
  • Hot Springs Island: Hexcrawl sandbox on an island with heaps of danger and loads of treasure. Very open-ended, fun and challenging! Setting is probably fantasy psuedo-early-modern - black powder weapons are available.
  • The Old Ways: My own incomplete hexcrawl with a gritty rustic faerietale flavor (not entirely unlike Dolemwood in terms of vibe). At least 50% is still missing and would need to be created nearly on the fly, and nothing has been tested yet. Don't choose this one to be nice! Setting is fantasy medieval - plate armor is dwarven only and thus quite rare.
  • Something else: I'm open to suggestions! As a player, I'm expecting you to be unfamiliar with whatever we play, but maybe there's something you've heard just enough about to whet your appetite. Let me know in a comment below.
For these adventures, I'm omitting links and keeping details to a minimum for obvious reasons! And setting details are subject to change.

In terms of mechanics, I will use the following as a baseline:
In addition, I'm very amenable to discussing house-ruling, accommodating reasonable character concepts, etc. You don't need any books, but they certainly can't hurt. Meanwhile, classic B/X rules are in effect, so you can safely fall back on those. House rules, including adoption of OSE optional rules, TBD. Rule Zero in full effect.

This will be my first PbP, so please bear with me - I might be amateurish but I'll definitely be responsive! Once we decide what to play, it will take me a week or two to get ready to run. These concepts need either a smidgen of adaptation or some actual content creation before they are ready to go. I'm shooting for 3+ players; we'll see how much interest I get before I worry about a cut-off. But if that happens, it will be first-come/first-added for whatever concept I end up running.

We're going full-on OSR - let me know know what you want me to run!
 
Last edited:
I'm interested, with the caveat that I would in fact be defaulting to B/X. Stonehell and The Old Ways are the two options that are primarily of interest.
 
Definitely defaulting to B/X - Old-School Essentials is almost identical to B/X. The advanced genre rules add some optional classes and rules that are imported from AD&D 1e.

We're off to a good start. I'll give it at least a couple days to give people a chance to notice and join.

Incidentally, I was contemplating instituting a very old-school-style house rule: roll for class! You'd roll up a PC normally, except you roll class, too, and you get the chance to swap any two abilities if you so choose. The idea is that most results would be fighter or thief and some classes (like demi-humans) might be extremely unusual. I was originally thinking it might be fun to have a campaign without spell-casting PCs, but this seems like it would be more fun than that. Anyway, it's just a thought.
 
Incidentally, I was contemplating instituting a very old-school-style house rule: roll for class! You'd roll up a PC normally, except you roll class, too, and you get the chance to swap any two abilities if you so choose. The idea is that most results would be fighter or thief and some classes (like demi-humans) might be extremely unusual. I was originally thinking it might be fun to have a campaign without spell-casting PCs, but this seems like it would be more fun than that. Anyway, it's just a thought.
Hmm... gonna be honest, being forced to play a certain class might kill a bit of my enthusiasm. While I try not to fall into too much of a rut by playing the same classes over and over, I do have some preferences, as some work better for me than others (one of my few dislikes of B/X is how low-level thieves are handled). I'd rather play a character with sub-optimal stats with a class I like, as opposed to a character with better stats but with a class I'm less enthused about.

That said, I wouldn't have a problem wuth randomly determining the race of the character as opposed to the class (OSE gives some options for different classes for demi-humans, right?).
 
Hmm... gonna be honest, being forced to play a certain class might kill a bit of my enthusiasm.
Good to get feedback. It was just a thought, and unless folks seem psyched for it, readily dropped.
What classes do you like/dislike? I love Magic Users.
I share your love for magic-users (except that name).

I appreciate Tulpa Girl Tulpa Girl's displeasure with the progression of B/X thieves, but I think there are mitigating considerations. The first is the question of when the DM actually requires a roll; personally, I avoid rolls for routine tasks. Or sometimes what I do is allow any player to perform an ability check to perform a thief skill while thieves can also make a skill roll and take the best result. I'm not consistent about the mechanics but I am consistent about being reasonable with thieves.

Also, a lot of people don't realize that the thief XP progression is especially brisk. Their HP-to-XP ratio is extremely competitive, from what I recall of old analyses performed in Dragon.
 
What classes do you like/dislike? I love Magic Users.
Of the human classes, I probably like clerics the best, with fighters and magic-users not too far behind. Of the demi-humans, elves can be fun as long as I can play up a certain amoral haughtiness. Halflings are just sorta there, and there's not much that I would do with a dwarf that I wouldn't do with a human fighter.
 
I'm happy with any class, might give the rolling it randomly a shot.
 
So far, the emerging consensus is Stonehell. That's probably the lowest prep of them all, so I can live with it! Unless a ton of other people show up with an interest in something else, that's what I'll probably run.

Interested parties to date:
Brock Savage Brock Savage, you didn't list any interest in Stonehell...does that mean you're out if I run it? I'd love to have ya but I won't twist your arm.
 
Edgewise Edgewise I like all of the options you offered and would be happy to play any of them.

The first is the question of when the DM actually requires a roll; personally, I avoid rolls for routine tasks.
This is the best way IMHO

Can someone give me the general vibe and culture of the Stonehell setting so I can bang out a character or two that fits the theme?

I am totally cool with us coming up with inter-character bonds to justify why the party would cooperate and trust each other.
 
Can someone give me the general vibe and culture of the Stonehell setting so I can bang out a character or two that fits the theme?
That's one of those things I gotta prep. The adventure text contains almost no details about the broader world, except the history that brought it into being. I'll have to think up the details of the broader setting, not to mention the nearest settlement.

I was thinking of hewing pretty close to "vanilla fantasy," but not to the point of blandness. There will be the standard three demi-human races. I'll probably drop it into an existing campaign world that I've been using. I need to put some thought into that so I'll give more details soon.
 
Anyway, now it's official! Here's the roster:
I think that will do for now, at least until I have a little more experience with running PbP.

The campaign is, of course, a descent into the night-haunted halls of Stonehell. Many have plumbed its depths but few have returned. Beware of those who remain! But if you make it out, untold wealth may be yours.

I'll be in touch with more details soon, adventurers!
 
I'll keep this thread updated with my preparations so as to maintain your interest and attention.

Reading through the intro materials to Stonehell in detail, I didn't find much to hold onto in terms of setting specifics. So I decided to start by working backwards; I considered which OSE classes will be supported and how they fit into the game setting. I went through the list of all the classes in classic fantasy (B/X) and advanced fantasy (1e adaptation), and good news: I decided to use all of them except for one. I did make minor changes to two of the classes, though. Can you guess which class I left out and which two I changed? Read on to see if you're right!

Anyway, here are the classes and how they fit into the game:

Human classes
All the classic and advanced human classes are available, although many of them have been renamed.
  • Fighters: Generic warriors as per usual.
  • Knights: These are warriors who belong to one of the orders of elite equestrians. They are a class of the aristocracy and not pledged to a specific lord. Instead, by martial service, they prove their right to ascend to the true nobility. Even the children of higher nobles must first serve as knights. Note that noble women may be admitted into this class by request, although it is a bit unusual.
  • Illusionists: Illusionists are, by far, the most common type of spellcasters. They are called Enchanters, and they are viewed with a combination of fear, respect and contempt. Many claim that sorcery is just mummery and sleight-of-hand. Enchanters are the only type of licensed arcane magic, taught in the Royal College of Sorcery. But even licensed sorcerers can get in trouble when they go too far or cross the New Faith.
  • Magic-users: Magic-users are called wizards, and they are often thought to be practitioners of black magic - and some actually are. Either way, they are unlicensed members of old orders of a fallen empire, once respected and now despised. Any practitioners of unlicensed sorcery in civilized lands is subject to criminal prosecution, and known wizards are often put to death.
  • Clerics: There are many priests but few clerics, called avatars. These are those who have been anointed by the gods to enact their power and inspire awe. They are held to a very high standard by their deities, which is why few aspire to this position. They belong to a vast pantheon called the Divine Riot and call themselves the New Faith.
  • Paladins: Paladins are are like knights that belong to orders which serve the Divine Riot. Although each order claims a patron deity, they serve the New Faith as a whole. They are called templars.
  • Druids: Practitioners of the Old Ways, a patchwork of folk practices and ancient spirituality. They once served kings in a tradition of oral scholarship, and negotiated with the gods for powers to aid men. Now, they are dwindling and barely tolerated by priests of the Divine Riot.
  • Bards: The original bard tradition goes back to the Old Ways, when they served as preachers, teachers and entertainers. However, they were readily co-opted into the more recent Royal Guild of Troubadours, and many have simply reverted to traveling minstrels. Only a few true bards continue to practice the ancient traditions, though there are those among the troubadours who maintain and even evolve the rich musical culture.
  • Barbarians: Even within claimed territories, there are a number of tribes who continue to resist the righteous tide of civilization. In this region, they are mostly rude hillfolk and the more sophisticated highlanders. They worship a patchwork of heathen gods and heroic ancestor spirits - regional fragments of the Old Ways.
  • Rangers: Rangers belong to militant lodges, not unlike knight orderss, but they serve the druids and the Old Ways instead of the New Faith. They are revered by the common man, but at times they come into conflict with the New Faith and may occasionally be treated like outlaws. There is an ascetic aspect to rangers; they are sort of like warrior monks. They are still called rangers.
  • Thieves and assassins: Much as usual. There are many fraternities and gangs, though none dare call themselves guilds. Assassins don’t have distinct orders, but instead work with a group of thieves or independently.
  • Acrobats: Acrobats are practitioners of a martial art that involves gymnastics and surprising movement - think of them as a kind of parkour-monk. It was originally developed in the ancient streets of a distant city, but enthusiasts are now widespread, and have adapted its techniques to rural and wild environments, as well. They are called spring-heels or jacks.
  • Half-elf: This is not a racial class in this setting, but a human warrior-mage. They do not have infravision but they do have blindsight within 10’ range. They are the secret guardians and agents of the remaining wizards, members of an order called the Honored, and are themselves called the warlocks. Alternately, there may be warlocks who openly serve Enchanters, called the Exalted. They use the illusionist spell list instead of the magic-user list.
  • Half-orc: Also no longer a racial class, these are now just thugs (or bandits). Instead of infravision, they are able to intimidate, causing a -1 morale from nonviolent (but threatening) conversation.

Demi-human classes
This is an anthrocentric setting, but demi-humans do exist in small numbers, and players can run them if they want. Note that they may be subject to distrust or other forms of prejudice in the realm of men.
  • Elves: There are a smattering of elven scions who venture to human lands in order to improve their standing among the nobility. Elves constantly jostle to rise up the aristocracy, called the Path of Grace, until they can petition the Faerie King to regain their immortality and regain admittance to the Royal Faerielands. These sons of Nemuth (the great singular elven city) are able to act as licensed sorcerers if they follow the Path of Grace. However, many men are very distrustful of the godless elves.
  • Dwarves: Dwarven civilization exists entirely within and beneath the massive peaks of the Dolorous Mountains, and at its height, it was unrivaled in power and sophistication. Non-dwarves have long been forbidden from entering their magnificent cities, so only a few tales have escaped over the generations. These days, waves of dwarves have been migrating from their homelands to human realms. They offer little explanation but that “our gods are silent,” and though this is but a trickle, it has gradually increased over the last century. Members of this class belong to their class of warriors called thanes, much like human knights.
  • Halflings: Halflings mostly keep to themselves in a very limited area - a cluster of villages called Bren’s Garden, and a few smaller settlement within the nearby Bristlepine Woods. They have been there for generations, but their history is barely known, even less by themselves. For instance, nobody knows who or what Bren was. The nearby Woods are haunted by Wild Fae who do not serve the Faerie King, but for reasons that nobody knows, they do not molest the halflings.
  • Gnomes: Gnomes are just halfling sorcerers. They are sponsored by their clans to purchase a license for sorcery, which is generally given for a notable sum. They are quite rare, and were generally sponsored to further their clan’s interests in the lands of men.
  • Drow: Drow in this setting are just Dark Elves, meaning they are elves who do not follow the Path of Grace. Nobody trusts them, but they are not necessarily evil. They live in small villages deep within the woods and form pacts with Wild Fae and forgotten gods of the heath. Instead of extra infravision and light sensitivity, they just have normal infravision. They are otherwise identical to other elves.
  • Duergar: These are dwarf barbarians who delved deeper than their kin to stake out their own territory. They are deeply weird but lack the arrogance of their mountain brethren. They are very rare, and when they use their powers they are generally considered unlicensed sorcerers. They usually look like scraggly and pale dwarves, and call themselves duergar.
  • Svirfneblin: Nah, let’s drop this one.
Did you guess right? I modified half-orcs and half-elves, and dropped the svirfneblin. There are no half-breeds in this setting, and I can't really figure out what to do with the deep gnomes. Besides, they're kind of a boring class, so no big loss.

You may note that some setting details have snuck into the proceedings. This gives me a little scaffolding for more ideas. We already have a notion of a prior "pagan" spiritual tradition called the Old Ways and a more modern civilized religion called the New Faith. Also, note that spellcasters are subject to great distrust and scrutiny - actual magic-users, called wizards, are put to death when identified as they are assumed to practice black magic.

Let me know if you have any thoughts, feelings, complaints or other feedback.
 
Last edited:
How much of play do you anticipate going on outside of the Stonehell dungeon? I only ask because if most of the game would take place in Stonehell itself, I don't know how much of the world building you're doing might actually show up?

Not to try to tell you how to prepare and run your game, of course. I would just hate for you to prep all this world building, and then 99% of it not come up during actual play.
 
How much of play do you anticipate going on outside of the Stonehell dungeon? I only ask because if most of the game would take place in Stonehell itself, I don't know how much of the world building you're doing might actually show up?
That's an excellent question, near and dear to my heart. My thought is to start things out pretty minimally. There will be a starting settlement, probably a city or large town, which will serve as a "base" to fallback to between delves. For that city, I'll come up with general facts and some places of interest without going into more detail than a paragraph or two for each item. I'll also come up with a few important NPCs who can help to provide hooks, assistance, opposition, etc.

Outside this city, the details will grow even more sparse. I'll probably have a regional map with a couple outlying settlements and a few points of interest and a quick blurb or two about history. Again, nothing more than a paragraph or two.

Besides all that, I'll want to nail down a couple details about the culture, both for flavor and to give an idea of how players fit into the setting (status, law, etc.). We'll also want to establish the tech level and the availability of magic.

My goal is to put together just enough to get started. In terms of extra-curricular adventures, so to speak, my expectation is that most adventuring occurs in the dungeon and some adventures may occur in the base settlement. In addition, I may seed in optional adventures in the broader setting, but I may be getting ahead of myself there. I'll commit to saying that I want to leave the possibility for that open.

My general tendency is to avoid overdesign. I want enough detail so people can get a feeling for the place and culture, and so that I can quickly adjudicate questions like the availability of gunpowder, plate armor and healing potions. In my experience, a lot of other details can evolve as they are needed; some of the best ideas I've had were spontaneous responses to players going "off-script." I would never try to anticipate all the places that PCs might go and give them enough detail for adventuring.

In fact, I am already halfway towards repurposing an existing campaign world of mine for this campaign. So I probably don't even need to draft a new map or anything like that - a few tweaks should be fine. One of the things I'm trying to figure out is where the dungeon is actually located. It's trickier than you'd think, because I want to balance a few considerations that I won't spoil here.

tl;dr Don't worry, I won't go nuts.
 
Love the sound of the modified Half-Elves. I'll be one of them if that is alright. Just to vent some of my excitement! (Edit: Of course this whole guy might get overruled, but again just to have a go)

Name: Hildegard

Class: Warlock

Secondary Skill: Lorimer

Background: A native of Redlock, Hildegard grew up helping her father make metal odds and ends for boatmen who'd stop at the port. Her mother was a Treasurelands native. As an adult she ended up as one of the infantry of a local lord. The last survivor when her unit was attacked by some monster unleashed by a Wizard digging around some old fortress of the Ultimate empire. She and the Wizard made it out alive and so she was hired by him as a guardian.

Now the same Wizard and others of his order have sent her to Stonehell on the back of rumours of a powerful spell forged in the last days of the ultimate empire. The work of a mage interred in the prison.

Stats:
STR: 12
INT: 9
WIS: 12
DEX: 15 (+1)
CON: 11
CHA: 11

HP: 3

Saving Throws:
Death: 12
Wands: 13
Paralysis: 13
Breath: 15
Spells: 15

Equipment:
Plate
Shield
Sword
Javelin x 2
Iron Rations (1 week)
Torches
Oil x 2

Remaining Money: 1 GP

Alignment: Chaotic

Languages: Chaotic, Common, Mother's Native tongue

Webp.net-resizeimage.jpg
 
Last edited:
Love the sound of the modified Half-Elves. I'll be one of them if that is alright. Just to vent some of my excitement! (Edit: Of course this whole guy might get overruled, but again just to have a go)
I’m positively touched by your enthusiasm! The only thing I will probably change is how alignment works. I still have to work out the details but I have some strong ideas - most PCs are neutral barring a a supernatural affiliation. I just need to think a little more about divine magic and black magic, and what if anything lies between.

As for naming, you’re a bit ahead of me, but since that sort of thing is totally undecided, I’m very open to suggestions and requests.
So straight 3d6 for stats?
That was my thought.
 
STR 11
INT 10
WIS 10
DEX 12
CON 15
CHR 7

Hmm...
 
Last edited:
Is the trade 2 for 1 rule in effect?
Pretty much...here are the OSE rules on the matter:
OSE Core Rules (page 14) said:
If you wish, you may raise the prime requisite(s) of your character by lowering other (non-prime requisite) ability scores. For every two points by which an ability score is reduced, one point may be added to a prime requisite. The following restrictions apply:
▶ Only Intelligence, Strength, and Wisdom may be lowered in this way.
▶ No score may be lowered below 9.
▶ Some character classes may have additional constraints.
 
Okay looks like I'm playing the world's clumsiest Elf :smile: Stats after trading 2 WIS for 1 STR:

STR 9
INT 14
WIS 10
DEX 8
CON 9
CHR 12

HP: 3

Gold: 110
 
Hey guys, I will roll up a dude when I get home from work. The dice will pretty much determine the class. I suggest we pool our gold to buy the frontliners plate + shield plus hire some plebs (hirelings) as porters, torchbearers, and meat shields. Not sure how encumbrance will be handled but coinage adds up quick.
 
Hey guys, I will roll up a dude when I get home from work. The dice will pretty much determine the class. I suggest we pool our gold to buy the frontliners plate + shield plus hire some plebs (hirelings) as porters, torchbearers, and meat shields. Not sure how encumbrance will be handled but coinage adds up quick.
This all sounds like good planning, but I want to make sure you guys know I need at least a few more days to prep. I think I should be ready by Monday at the latest. I'll update my ETA as the near future comes into sharper focus.

And in case you're worried, I'm not writing War and Peace. I just have a lot of other things to do this week and I don't want to over-promise and rush things.
 
Trading two points of STR to bump DEX up by 1.

1d6: 5 [1d6=5] (hit points)
3d6*10: 90 [3d6=2, 2, 5] (starting gold)

Tessa Thornwick

STR 9
INT 10 (reads and writes native languages)
WIS 10
DEX 13 (+1 to missile fire & individual initiative, -1 AC)
CON 15 (+1 HP per HD)
CHR 7 (-1 reaction, max 3 retainers, morale of retainers 6)

Class: Halfling
Level: 1st
XP: 0
HP: 6 (+1 from CON modifier)
AC: 3
Alignment: Neutral
Secondary Skill: Farmer

Saving Throws
Death Ray/Poison 10
Magic Wands 11
Paralysis/Turn To Stone 12
Dragon Breath 13
Rods/Staves/Spells 14

Special Abilities
+1 with all missile attacks
-2 AC when attacked by large creatures
+1 individual initiative
90% hide outdoors
2 in 6 hide indoors

Languages
Common
Halfling

Equipment
Short Sword
Dagger
Sling w/ 30 sling stones
Chain Mail
Shield
Backpack
Iron Rations (one week)
50' Rope
Small sack
Wineskin
5 GP

Notes
Tessa has left Bren's Garden under circumstances she would just as rather not discuss. She doesn't talk about her past much at all, in fact, and is unlikely to even mention her surname unless pressed. She has entered the larger world of the Big Folk to lose herself. Or perhaps find herself. Same thing?

The small scar over her left eye is only a small factor in her substandard social skills (you have to get fairly close to even notice it). A much larger contributing factor is her bitter and defensive demeanor, which she wears like a shield around those she is not comfortable with... and trust does not come easily to her these days.

Tessa Thornwick.jpg
 
Last edited:
Here are my rolls for stats, hit points, and gold.

Name: Bron
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Neutral
Background: Born in a decrepit Brineville shanty town, Bron's mother claims he was fathered by Apollo. There was little opportunity besides scraping a meager existence as a fisherman or the high risk, high reward life of a diver; Bron chose the latter, braving icy water, sharks, and deep ones while diving for pearls and salvage* to support his mother and younger siblings. When he was 15, the strapping youth eagerly signed on as a sailor-marine** aboard the Iron Lady, fighting 'round the world and carousing in foreign ports. Over the years to come, he would always send his mother any money he had left after a successful haul and epic debauch.

Like many enterprising young males with an abundance of martial skills and few prospects, at age 19 Bron has chosen the life of a mercenary and treasure hunter in search of fortune and glory.
Appearance: A hale young man with a strong jaw, bronzed skin, and close-cropped tawny hair.
Personality: Bron is courageous and cool under pressure. Unfortunately he is also a risk-taker who doesn't fully consider the consequences of his actions. Having spent his formative years in successful activities of a criminal nature, he adheres to a rough code of conduct and honor.

STR 12
INT 8
WIS 9
DEX 11
CON 13
CHA 12

Hit points: 9
Secondary Skill: Seafarer
Wealth: 34 gold, 2 silver
Gear: Plate mail, shield, spear, sword, backpack, waterskin, standard rations (wheel of cheese) .

Bron is willing to contribute 28 gold towards outfitting a torchbearer/porter with: spear, backpack, large sack, tinder box, torches (6), iron spikes (12), hammer, crowbar, rope 50'

*it being a time-honored Brineville tradition to lure ships into deadly hazards and salvage the wreckage
**a Brineville euphemism for a well-armed pirate
 

Attachments

  • Akakios_Zosimos_Olysseus.png
    Akakios_Zosimos_Olysseus.png
    663.2 KB · Views: 4
Last edited:
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top