The Case for OSRIC

While Adventures Dark & Deep is voluminous and a massive game, I can see why groups would like to stick with the classic OSRIC system. While the new content and expanded monster list in ADAD are nice, they are not required, and OSRIC provides an open-source version of the classic first-edition rules with no new content. OSRIC 3 is coming soon, and that will be under a much better open license than the deeply flawed OGL.

I can get reprints of AD&D books, sure, but for who knows how long? I can't rely on a Wall Street corporation for anything these days, and while these are lovely keepsakes, they have scanning errors, and the hard copies will likely go away someday and be rented as "digital goods" only on some subscription service. Gary's words are still prophetic, but I can't hold the hobby hostage to them.

The sooner you give up on your AD&D books and support something else for gaming and content creation, the better off the hobby will be. OSRIC was built in an era when we did not have POD reprints of First Edition books, and playing the game was nearly impossible with thrift-store copies. Who knows when we will be back to those days?

And while other First Edition games have expanded content, like a great, bare-bones BX game, nothing beats a focused game that just delivers the basics. In Adventures Dark & Deep, I am supporting all this new stuff; in OSRIC, the game is mine to expand. I could create a "World of Warcraft" or "EverQuest" mod with OSRIC far more easily than with Adventures Dark & Deep, since the latter is a "more stuff" expanded mod to First Edition, and there are times when just the basics are more straightforward as a starting point.

It is far easier to create a modded game off an unmodded core system.

This is also why having a Classic Fantasy version of Old School Essentials was so important. OSE Advanced Fantasy is the same sort of "more stuff" mod to the classic BX core system. Our unmodded core systems are essential; these are like the "Linux core utilities" of the operating system. Sure, you could add all this fluff to the core rules —extra stuff, added classes and races —but the "core utilities" don't need it, and it only makes the base system harder to maintain, modify, and support.

There is wisdom in keeping the core game unmodified, available, and open to all.

This ensures future generations will have a game to modify, play, and make their own someday.