Some news, the pre-order page is up for those who missed out on the OSE Advanced Fantasy Kickstarter.
I ordered the Advanced Fantasy book set (players guide and referee's book), along with a GM screen. For those new to OSE, the OSE Classic version is more the B/X style ""red box" style of game, while the newer OSE Advanced is more the "1st Edition Advanced" style of game.
So what do I expect? Well, for one, everything that made the 1e Advanced rules so cool, the wide variety of monsters, spells, and magic items, the classes (some of which we already saw with the companions), higher level play, and just the "more more more" feeling of the old 1e Advanced hardcovers.
It will be interesting to see how the ultra-organized OSE authors handle the mass of information, if the organizational style can deal with the metric ton of options and choices and still be approachable and usable. I applaud splitting the books into player and referee, this seems like the first step in making the huge volume of information coming at us approachable and better organized.
I also look forward to the world crafting they are planning, along with art direction. The 1e Advanced rules introduced a whole rogue's gallery of campaign bad guys to the fantasy continuity, from the dragons, demons, devils, psionic creatures, dark elves, giants, and many other factions laid out in the old 1e Advanced monster book. I am looking forward to the art and interpretations of these factions to see how they fit into the world. I am not sure we are getting psionic rules, to be fair, and that seems like an obvious optional addition to this rules set (unless psionics are being handled as one-off special attacks and not available to players).
I am really liking OSE Classic, the organization and artwork are blowing me away the more I read this and I feel Labyrinth Lord's hold on my imagination slip just a little. I don't fault Labyrinth Lord, and it still is a great choice for those diving into B/X, and from what I see there aren't any "system wars" in the B/X community. Maybe I am on the wrong forum, but from what I see in reviews and discussions, the B/X community is refreshingly chill and accepting of what your choice of game is, from Labyrinth Lord, Basic Fantasy, Old School Essentials, and even Dungeon Crawl Classics - the B/X community is just a wonderful place to be and very open and accepting.
These games are for everybody, the world, and to bring us together at the game table.
Well, when this comes it will come, and now I can't wait. I guess more reading of OSE Classic is in store, and still, this is a wonderful game that is the essence of B/X. I still like Labyrinth Lord for the junk drawer trip down memory lane it is for me, but OSE Classic (and the soon to be released Advanced) and wonderful, modern implementations of a rules system that is itself becoming a timeless fairy tale.
Snow White or Cinderella are stories passed down to successive generations, maybe retold, maybe given a pretty gold-foil book and elaborated upon each time, but the essence remains the same. A warning, because some companies do try to "own" the legacy, but I like to think the world is a bit smarter than to let that happen. B/X is becoming just like these fables, but to the roleplaying world. Maybe one game or the other dopes things differently, maybe one family or person likes this version of the tale or that for different reasons, but that shared legacy of storytelling unites us. To see new writers and creators picking up the torch makes me feel this legacy, and these stories, are in good hands.
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