ORSIC & AD&D

The more I read today's games, the more I like OSRIC.

OSRIC is reimagining the first edition rules in a more sane and organized layout and presentation. This is, in essence, Old School Essentials for AD&D, but it is massively cleaned up and usable. I like this better than the AD&D books; I miss Gygax, but he is better in our hearts than clinging to reprints of books published with errors and a community that isn't open and free for expression.

OSRIC is an open community; anyone can publish for and create inside; this automatically presses the "I win" button for me. Community wins over nostalgia each and every time.

OSRIC is delightfully the first edition, but it has some great quirks. The initiative roll is rolled on a d6, but you are rolling the dice for the other side and telling the other side in which segment (counting up from one to ten) they can act. Spells are declared before the initiative die is rolled! Missile attacks into melee have targets determined randomly.

Surprise adds some "surprise segments" for free turns before combat. Yes, getting two free turns when rolling for a surprise is possible, and this is very cool. This one rule makes elves incredible since they get bonuses to gain surprise.

AC is old-school descending. It doesn't matter, and part of me prefers looking up a character's to-hit for a given AC instead of being roll-high and too easy. Ability score modifiers are pared back massively; you aren't getting an STR damage bonus until 16 and a to-hit bonus until 17. CON bonuses to hit dice don't start until 15.

Ability score modifiers in B/X, especially in today's games, are far too high. It is okay for an orc to have 2 hit points, making that d4 dagger more powerful. Fewer modifiers speed play, reduce ability score inflation and make every character viable.

Morale is important! Monsters roll this during combat!

Spells begin casting on the caster's initiative segment but take a casting time in segments to actually happen. If a magic user begins casting a fireball on segment 4, the spell does not land until segment 7 since it has a 3-segment casting time. The monsters have a chance to damage the caster and force the caster to lose the spell. What? Is there actually pushback on caster power? Magic isn't a "sure thing?" There is a tactical consideration to magic, and it needs to be declared before the initiative is rolled?

Yes.

The mistakes made with almost every edition beyond the first "made things easy" for players, which resulted in the game's power level spinning out of control and casters dominating play. Nowadays, everyone has a laser pistol infinite cantrip on their hip, and people wonder how they can make magic "special" again.

You can go back to the first edition.

Miss the bard? Pickup ADaD's Book of Lost Lore for a great first-edition bard that isn't overpowered and doesn't dominate the game as a default choice. If you pick this class, you really want to play a bard.

The above book also introduces a skill system to the game, where you buy skills by permanently spending XP to gain them. This is a genius addition to first-edition games.

You get the classic racial level limits, which balance the game, allowing character races to have powerful racial abilities starting at level one. This isn't an issue of fairness; this is a balance issue, and since most games never hit the limits, it is a non-issue for the most part.

Non-humans are the only ones who get to multi-class, so you can have spell-casting fighter elves; humans only get to dual-class, which means class limits apply (no casting spells in armor). This greatly benefits non-human characters; you take class-level limits, combine class powers, ignore restrictions, and use your innate abilities.

Humans? Often boring slogs to become level 12 and higher. Non-humans? You get to mix and match classes and use extraordinary racial abilities at level one.

Similarly, classes have minimum ability scores and alignment restrictions, meaning not everyone can play a paladin. If you roll scores good enough to play one, consider yourself lucky. This is your "prestige class," you must be lucky to roll the minimums. You won't see them in every game, but they will be memorable and unique when you do.

I like this! Not everyone can be in any class.

Finally. A game that makes sense.

Yes, what you could play depended on your ability score rolls. This isn't a game that gives everything to everyone; players are children and need to be coddled, pandered to, told they are unique and kept from being upset. Parts of this game simulated life and how unfair it was, and despite those hardships, we can still succeed and find purpose, even with a character with no score above 13.

Modern games pander too much. They water down every choice to be the same. Nothing is special. Everyone is given incredible ability scores and a bucketful of die-roll modifiers. Even AD&D 2nd Edition began to suffer from this idiocy. People complained, and the suits came in, making every choice bland and meaningless.

OSRIC is that classic first-edition Midwestern design sensibility shining through. Everyone knows they start life behind the eight ball, and how you begin life isn't always perfect. Others will have advantages over you, but those can be squandered or wasted due to stupidity, ego, and pride. 

What you do and who you become is what ultimately matters.