Leyline Press Blog — dnd

In this series of blogs we're exploring the various OSR RPG systems out there and how they compare to one another and the original D&D rules.  Last week we took a look at The Black Hack. This week we're exploring Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) by Goodman Games.  DCC merges old school principles and aesthetics with some more modern game design ideas.  It's core mechanic is similar to the 'd20 system'. You roll a d20+ stat modifiers and compare this to a set 'Difficulty Class' or DC value. If you roll equal to our over the DC value you succeed, otherwise you fail. (They missed...

In this series of blogs we're exploring the various OSR RPG systems in the community and how they compare to one another and the original D&D rules.

This week we're taking a look at The Black Hack 2nd Edition by David Black

The Black Hack, in a similar way to Whitehack and Swords & Wizardry,  uses original D&D as a base but greatly innovates with the formula. 

Swords & Wizardry (S&W) by Frog God Games is ostensibly a retroclone of Original Dungeons & Dragons. However unlike retroclones such as Old School Essentials it does not attempt to be faithful towards the original system. Instead it both considerably cleans up the original OD&D rules whilst adding various additions of its own. Some of these gleaned from the writers own imagination as well as the long, varied history of Dungeons and Dragons.  It's worth keeping in mind that Original Dungeons & Dragons was not a complete system, it was intended as a toolkit that players would utilise and fill...

This is a series of blogs that will explore the various 'OSR' table top roleplaying games. You can read the previous blog on Old School Essentials here and you can read about some key principles of old school games that bind these titles together here. 

This week we're looking at Mothership a Sci-Fi Horror RPG by Tuesday Knight Games. 

Within Mothership you play as members of a spaceship crew attempting to survive in inhospitable environments crawling with alien monstrosities. Characters further have to contend with other humans twisted by their environment and situations into deadly threats. All this whilst managing their their own internal stress as the increasing weight of their horrifying predicament drives them to panic.