Old School Essentials is very close to being the perfect game. What I love about it is there is so much packed into something so little. There are worlds and even universes packed away in this tiny book. Even the two Advanced tomes are more wonder packed into two tiny books.
All you ever need is here.
And there are other games built off of this engine, science fiction, cyberpunk, post apocalyptic, other fantasy games, all just as easy, open, and immersive. You don't need to learn much else, nothing much needs to be changed, it is all here, working together in harmony, perfect in its simplicity and expansive in its depth and reach.
The lie 5E sells you is that "complexity is choice." When it is not. Complexity limits choices. I have far fewer options in 5E than OSE. An OSE character sheet grows and expands as the character adventures, and picks up all sorts of interesting things along the way. I have books that change the classes, or add training options, so anything is possible.
Much more than 5E. With 5E, every option you need to pay money for, sometimes two or three times before you can use it on a character sheet. And you need to keep paying someone to give you those choices and store that character. That is not freedom. That is being a slave to a game that abuses your generosity and suckers you into getting others "in on the scheme."
And they use the mechanics of social networks and peer pressure against you to get you to buy.
Every time you play one of these newer games, you are the sucker.
Also, the concept for "paying for everything" makes no sense on an old school character sheet. If my warrior gains an ability to "speak with animals" he does not need to pay for that with a feat, by losing another ability, pay with skill points, take a disadvantage elsewhere, sacrifice ability score points, or balance it in any way. Just add it to the character sheet as "something that happened" and move on with the adventure. Nobody needs to "consult the rule book" to see if that is fair, allowed, breaks the game, or upsets the game designers in Seattle.
And the people "bought in" will do or say anything to "keep people in the game" to "justify the dropped cost" into all those "digital goods." When, in fact, all that money they spent on a silly game is gone, or will be gone when that website or service shuts down in a few years when the world moves on. It happened to D&D 4E, it will happen to D&D 5E.
They aren't telling you 5E is any good. They are afraid the money they spent has been wasted.
The only way you need to "pay for everything" in an old-school game is with that pile of gold the party has, and it is all imaginary money. Buy training, strongholds, hirelings, magic items, mounts, armies, and exotic pets.
The only money you spend in an old school game is imaginary.
The money you spend in a modern game is real.
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