OSRIC: Still Holding Strong

I do not regret my decision to upgrade to OSRIC. I still love OSE and my books, and I'm getting the new edition and the Demonic Grimoire soon. I'm looking forward to those books, and OSE is still a beautifully compact, portable game. In that feeling of "the tiny capturing the infinite," OSE still can't be beaten.

But OSRIC is wonderful, and one of its best features is how it limits character options. OSE has fallen to the modern design theory of "more is better," and we have all sorts of ancestries to choose from. As a result, the default world has too many ancestries, and each one means less. No orcs, no goblins, no ogres, no fox people, and no distractions. Humans alone have enough diversity; just look at our world if you want inspiration. You could add diversity to the other ancestries, too, but don't give any of them mechanical benefits. Giving every diverse ancestry option a special trinket is silly, reductive, pointless, and overdesigned.

Plus, I want my ancestries to mean something. Be an elf or a dwarf. Pick a diverse background for them. Celebrate that ancestry. It is rich, diverse, and an amazing culture to explore.

If people want special ancestries, talk to me as the GM. This isn't a rejection of all of them, and I know people will want to play as dark elves, but that option exists in 1E material, so talk to me. The world, as it is defined, will be what is in these books.

I can always pull in Unearthed Arcana for the dark elves, or any other 1E-compatible resource. Converting from OSE is another option, but you will need to set allowed classes and level limits (OSE has these; use them as a base, get the table's agreement, compare similar level limits, and adjust). You can pull in any OSE ancestry like this, so you still have choices; the default set just resets to the original 1E game's set.

I don't want the modern World of Warcraft style world, where 1001 funny-shaped player avatars run around, and the company keeps adding new ones while watering down and ignoring what they already have. It gets to a point where new MMO character options are introduced just to pump up quarterly numbers; the new option never gets proper respect or treatment in lore, and next quarter a new one comes out, the company will ignore it and shove the old one on a shelf like a toy that never gets played with. We get the same "sales mentality" in tabletop gaming, and it ruins our worlds.

Humans, elves, dwarves, and the core ancestries are amazingly diverse. There's already more than enough here. With limited choices, my stories and worlds are much better. I have focus again. My history and world-building are clearer.

But if I am pulling in OSE ancestries, why not just play OSE? I enjoy OSRIC's limited options better, and I always have my OSE books should I want something special or different. OSRIC's turn structure is superior, and phased casting gives casters real choice and balance. The fighters mean something here, especially with specialization. Rogues have real meaning with their backstabs. I have to mod and house-rule the game far less to enjoy it.

If I want a tiefling or dark elf, they are always there. But they are limited, special choices, which makes them feel special and unique. The basic books are all I want or need, and there is plenty of other 1E material out there to last me a lifetime.