DCC + OSRIC = Ultimate Sandbox Gaming

Dungeon Crawl Classics tells you to "borrow" a magic item and treasure system from any other old-school game. Oh? I can? From the Dungeon Crawl Classics rulebook, page 393:

Consequently, this work does not include detailed rules for assigning treasure to monsters or encounters. The existing volume of D&D work includes several such systems which are robust and well defined, and which can be easily adapted here. The author suggests you adapt an existing treasure system of your choice, but carefully and deliberately evaluate the randomized results. Always ask yourself: “Where did the monster acquire such wealth? And what happened to the local economy in the process?”

Oh! I can! Well then, this game is as good as any:

OSRIC is a fantastic game and reference guide combined into one unforgettable book. This is worth playing as a stand-alone game, but this book is designed to do the "reference and compilation" work as an old-school reference book. So let's use it that way!

This is an excellent choice for a supplemental source of treasures, charts, magic items, and other dungeon-focused stuff. You can even use the monsters mostly as-is; just adjust hit-die size based on size (d6 up to a d12) and set the Fort/Ref/Will saves equal to half-hit dice (plus ability modifiers, if needed). AC is a simple calculation. Attack Bonus will start as hit dice, and could go 1-8 points higher depending on combat skill and abilities.

DCC AC = 20 - ORSIC AC

DCC Saves = (OSRIC HD / 2) + Ability Mods

DCC Hit Die Size = OSRIC HD, d6 to d12 (based on size)

DCC Attack Bonus = OSRIC HD (as a base)

There are your DCC conversion formulas. Now you have a complete bestiary, too. Oh, and an equipment list. The only things you won't use are classes and spells. You could use those classes for NPCs and limit the DCC classes to heroes only. You could "mod" the game, do away with the DCC race-as-classes, and use OSRIC races for a "race plus class" mod for DCC classes.

Another good choice, which is OGL-free, is the Revised Edition of Swords & Wizardry. You have 100% compatible ascending AC here, but you must convert the saves as in OSRIC (same formula). The hit die size will also be size-based, as above. S&W is so good it deserves to be played as a stand-alone, but it is excellent as a reference, too.

OSRIC has more in-depth magic items and treasure tables, so if you want those classic "what does this necklace do" moments, this book will give you those results. S&W is more straightforward and faithful to zero-edition, which fits better with the DCC era. OSRIC just has more stuff and gives an AD&D vibe.

OSRIC, p124

What I love about OSRIC is that it includes many tables and other stuff, and the entire book feels like a revised AD&D. It also gives your DCC game the AD&D feeling, which has this "grounded" feeling like the world is sane and realistic. Still, your characters will end up completely being the opposite. You even have a random dungeon generation system in OSRIC and ways to stock this with monsters and treasures in the book, so you have a complete minigame built into the resource.

You get hirelings, wilderness rules, random parties, town encounters, random NPCs, dungeon dressings, trap tables, trick generation, and the infamous "red light professions" table that no AD&D reference guide would be complete without (with representation of both sides of the coin). AD&D was made for college students, so OSRIC also captures the "seedy side" of these fantasy worlds, which is a welcome thing to see in this age of hyper-censorship.

OSRIC feels like the "missing half" of DCC to me. Yes, the monster stats will be different when you convert them in, and you may need to tweak them as you play with them and make them your own. You may want a more challenging or leisurely game, which is up to you.

OSRIC, p299

But the idea of DCC characters trying to survive in an old-school OSRIC world, with that authentic AD&D feeling of an ordinary world with dangers lurking underneath, the medieval world trying to live and survive as usual, plus magic being feared and unknown, is a compelling game world. You could do the whole world with random generation and just hex-crawl.

The Adventures Dark and Deep Book of Lost Tables has everything you need, random wilderness hexes, random settlements, random dungeons, random towns, and everything else you need to build a hex-crawl world one die roll at a time. The new ADND books are directly OSRIC and first-edition compatible, so you won't have table results that won't make sense if you use OSRIC.

This book's random wilderness terrain system relies on a referee to lay out coastlines, cities, mountains, rivers, and other features, but you can randomly generate everything. I suggest doing this semi-random; if a feature makes sense, like encountering a lake and feeling a river should feed and flow from it, put it in! If you have a settlement, set in a few logical roads connecting it to "something" out there. If you feel a coastline should be here, add and extend it. Feel like you want a major river blocking your way? Add one and make it extend out. Lakes that should meander a couple hexes should do that. If this is a significant mountain range, make that happen. If you want a city, add a city. Major elevation change? That happens here! Want some ruins? Add some ruins. Really want a unique feature? Add it! Feel a dungeon or cave should be here? Then, it should!

The world should be 50% of your input, and the tables should just fill in the blanks.

Also, even if you add something, like a city, you still need to learn precisely what it is and its state. This could be an elven fortress, dwarven stronghold, halfling hovels, human trading port, ruins, war-ravaged settlement, or a significant orc encampment.

OSRIC, DCC, and the Book of Lost Tables are a random campaign generation powerhouse, plus an old-school sourcebook and reference guide that will keep you busy seeing what is around the next corner, in the next hex, or in the next town for a very long time. With DCC, you won't be sure what is next for your character since the randomness in that game goes well with a procedurally generated campaign like this.

The 3.5E Era

The D&D 3.5E era inspired many fantastic games. In addition to D&D's "last best" version, we have a collection from that era and are still keeping tables playing some incredible games.

The most obvious is up first, Pathfinder 1e. This is still an S-Tier game, but I have learned to appreciate the original D&D 3.5E rules. The two are the same game, but their focus is entirely different. D&D 3.5E is purely a dungeon-crawler, whereas Pathfinder 1e is a fantasy story path game. This seems like splitting hairs, but once you look at the skill list of each game, plus the GM guides, you will see the differences clearly.

D&D 3.5E is still the best version Wizards of the Coast has released. The fully supported campaign guides seal the deal for me. If I want to play in Eberron, with Eberron-specific character options, 3.5E is the only way to go. The same applies to the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, and the other settings supported during this era. In comparison, 5E is a generic fantasy game. At best, it does rules-light emulation of these settings, though rules-light seems arguable these days.

I can't play the original TSR settings with Pathfinder 1e; the game feels too Golarion-focused, and the unique character setting-specific options are manual imports and unsupported in Hero Lab. I would rather play the OG settings with the OG 3.5E books.

OG Golarion, as it existed in 2010, was still awesome before the PC changes came in. However, the world has been on a downhill path ever since, becoming more steampunk, cute, and too modern for my tastes.

If there were any setting I would play, it would be D&D 3.5E Eberron. I can't get all the special classes, toys, tech, options, and flavor as the original game running the original sourcebooks.

Another game from this era is Castles & Crusades, which is still going strong. This is my 5E-style "simplified emulation" game, but it feels throwback and retro in its style and vibe. C&C feels like old-school AD&D, but it is far easier with near-zero charts to reference during play. This game can be hacked to feel like 5E or an AD&D-style game. The characters are balanced, and you must play with old-school sensibilities.

This was the last game Gary Gygax played and was involved with, so it has his approval. It makes sense, especially for older players who have little time. C&C lets you have a full dungeon-crawl and character-building experience without needing online character sheets, complex rules, action types, or books full of charts. It just "does what it says" without too much fuss.

Any game where I can run characters off 4x6 index cards is a winner. The above is my current design, and I laser print these and have hundreds in a file box, ready to go. If I wanted to emulate a classic setting, such as Forgotten Realms, Castles & Crusades would be my go-to game. The characters are d20, while the rules emphasize simplicity and pulp-action.

Why take all the scaffolding of 5E, the action types, the heavy characters, the strange resting mechanics, the invincible characters, and all these MMO-inspired rules?

C&C does all the d20 I need.

Also, Amazing Adventures is built off this game engine, and it is an entertaining pulp-style modern d20 adventure game. This game needs more attention; it could play any TSR boxed set games (Top Secret, Gangbusters, Star Frontiers, Boot Hill) from back then and still feel like an authentic d20-type game in those genres.

AA is a new game that was published this year, too. So, the 3.5E Era games are still alive and well, and a new version of C&C is on the way, too, devoid of the OGL. AA seems like the beta test for C&C minus the OGL, and the next version looks promising.

OGL-free 3.5E Era games are incredible.

Mutants & Masterminds (3rd Edition) is another game from this era. A d20-based superhero game? This works well and is supported by an excellent line of books and Hero Lab support. M&M is the superhero game everyone forgets. Did you hear about that new Marvel game? The latest DC game? Every few years, the license for "licensed IP" heroes jumps again, and we still have Champions and M&M to use for super-powered gaming.

The superhero genre as a pop-culture phenomenon is stuck in a vast rut these days, as the IP is farmed, and 90% of what Hollywood makes for movies and TV is worthless as a source of inspiration. I suggest buying a few graphic novel collections from your favorite superhero eras, using those as your "team books," and creating the characters yourself. 

Don't look for other people's interpretations of heroes; start small. Choose street-level heroes to start, make them just starting out, pick your favorite two or three characters, choose one villain, and begin there. Also, you don't need to follow a comic story or quickly assemble an entire team. Let them pick the powers they want, and don't follow the official character guides for their builds.

Perhaps in your world, Batman and Captain America reluctantly team up, and the Justice League, Shield, the X-Men, or the Avengers will never be groups. Ban existing groups, factions, and teams, but use the characters and let them find each other, fight, team up, or never meet. Treat the characters as "players who log into a superhero MMO" and let them develop characters and form teams organically. Bad guys may not be bad guys; the books have yet to be written here.

You can write your own stories and comic books with a "new world and cold start," you will have more fun being creative with hero pairings and villains. Use your own heroes, licensed IP ones, or an entertaining mix. Drop everyone into "today's world" a few at a time, with nobody knowing what is going on, and begin the game fresh.

I pick up any "superhero encyclopedia" and instantly get overwhelmed. I am lucky to have the pre-Disney Marvel one, the last one they did as Marvel before the sale in 2009. While these are a good source of heroes' powers, the amount of plots, groups, and stories will overwhelm you.

Another fun 3.5E-aligned game is Dungeon Crawl Classics. This game leaned more towards the B/X and zero-edition style of play, but the Fort/Ref/Will saves give this game away. This is a 3.5E derivative game and goes hard on the gonzo, unpredictable, crazy, and mind-blowing style of fantasy where nothing is familiar, the world is on its head, and characters are larger than life.

DCC feels more like classic Greyhawk than any of these other games, especially the S-series modules, in which characters navigate deadly deathtraps built by liches, a mad wizard's volcano labyrinth, or the inside of an alien spaceship. Many of today's fantasy games have gotten too stale and predictable, with characters feeling set in stone and the same old product-identity monsters occupying differently shaped rooms. Magic has become MMO DPS in 5E, which is also far too predictable and reliable.

DCC is strange; the dice are bizarre, the game is a collection of random charts, and you have no clue what comes next. Even using this to play through 3.5E modules is a fun experience, and the entire "zero to hero" path for a collection of random no-names is like nothing in gaming. No "pet characters" exist here; this is chaos and emergent storytelling.

Mutant Crawl Classics and several other sister games fill out the line and give you a bunch of settings and base characters to choose from, all compatible. You have post-apocalyptic, science fiction, combat sports, superheroes, westerns, and many other "zine games" supported by this system that gives you near-infinite options.

And there are many other 3.5E games out there, including the Conan-inspired Hyperborea, a Traveller 20 clone, and others. You don't need to leave the 3.5E era to have a fantastic library of D&D classics, Pathfinder 1e, Gonzo Fantasy, Traditional Fantasy, Pulp Adventure, Science Fiction, and many others.

The 3.5E Era, and all the games derived from it, are the heart of gaming. There is a sphere of B/X-aligned games in the OSR, but when you just look at 3.5E, there is a lifetime of fun to be had here, both with classic and new systems, all having their roots in that early 2000s era of gaming, and the last, best-supported version of D&D ever published.