What OSR book should I review next?
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What OSR book should I review next?
Those keeping up with my work likely know that I reviewed a bunch of 5th Edition books, and I plan on doing so in the future. But it’s good to shake things up a bit and take a break, so I figured that reviewing some old-school style sourcebooks would be a nice change of pace.
Below are four books which are of particular interest to me. Let me know which ones seem the most interesting by voting in this StrawPoll. For the sake of transparency this poll is being posted on various sites I plan on releasing my reviews, so results will be a more holistic overview than of one particular website.
StrawPoll link. I didn’t see the option for closing results (dunno if this was a feature that was changed or deleted) so as of this posting I’ll judge results 2 weeks from now (May 26th EST).
Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG: A gonzo RPG which is more an inspiration and homage of 70s gaming than a straight clone. Is notable for its “Level 0 Funnels,” where players control 3-4 hapless civilians who get 1 level in a real class should they be lucky enough to survive.
Magical Industrial Revolution: A high-magic Dickensian fantasy city where arcane magic has been repurposed to feed the engines of capitalism, and supernatural innovations bring great prosperity and misery in equal measure.
Stars Without Number Revised Edition: The quintessential sci-fi OSR game, has inspiration from Basic D&D and Traveller where civilization is recovering from a galactic cataclysm that tore apart an interstellar empire, and explorers are needed to make contact with the scattered remnants of star systems and planets. I will also note what changes have been made between the 2010 original edition and the newer Revised version.
The Nightmares Underneath, 2nd Edition: A retroclone with horror influences set in a pseudo-Middle Eastern world where dungeons are otherworldly nightmares feeding off of mortal sins and fears. This review will cover the 2nd Edition, reviewing both the book as a whole and also noting what changes have been made.
Below are four books which are of particular interest to me. Let me know which ones seem the most interesting by voting in this StrawPoll. For the sake of transparency this poll is being posted on various sites I plan on releasing my reviews, so results will be a more holistic overview than of one particular website.
StrawPoll link. I didn’t see the option for closing results (dunno if this was a feature that was changed or deleted) so as of this posting I’ll judge results 2 weeks from now (May 26th EST).
Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG: A gonzo RPG which is more an inspiration and homage of 70s gaming than a straight clone. Is notable for its “Level 0 Funnels,” where players control 3-4 hapless civilians who get 1 level in a real class should they be lucky enough to survive.
Magical Industrial Revolution: A high-magic Dickensian fantasy city where arcane magic has been repurposed to feed the engines of capitalism, and supernatural innovations bring great prosperity and misery in equal measure.
Stars Without Number Revised Edition: The quintessential sci-fi OSR game, has inspiration from Basic D&D and Traveller where civilization is recovering from a galactic cataclysm that tore apart an interstellar empire, and explorers are needed to make contact with the scattered remnants of star systems and planets. I will also note what changes have been made between the 2010 original edition and the newer Revised version.
The Nightmares Underneath, 2nd Edition: A retroclone with horror influences set in a pseudo-Middle Eastern world where dungeons are otherworldly nightmares feeding off of mortal sins and fears. This review will cover the 2nd Edition, reviewing both the book as a whole and also noting what changes have been made.
Magical Industrial Revolution looks most interesting of these.
Does it assume some D&D-like setting?
Does it assume some D&D-like setting?
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Fuck off with the pony murder shit. --Grek
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I voted for Magical Industrial Revolution, but I'm fine with Nightmares Underneath being the front runner as I just downloaded this a day ago.
Omegonthesane wrote:a glass armonica which causes a target city to have horrific nightmares that prevent sleep
JigokuBosatsu wrote:so a regular glass armonica?
Yes. Endon specifically is meant to be a city-state unmatched in magical and technological prowess, but it's implied that the world beyond is still very much a typical D&D setting. The rationale is that the Magical Industrial Revolution of Endon is still relatively new (a few decades ago at most), and beginning to affect nearby less-developed regions and nations. As in-game time progresses the city of Endon changes more dramatically as a few magi-scientific geniuses further innovate their pet projects...all of which will spell some kind of apocalyptic or Orwellian Doom if their excesses are not stopped/safely regulate/etc.DrPraetor wrote:Magical Industrial Revolution looks most interesting of these.
Does it assume some D&D-like setting?
Last edited by Libertad on Wed May 13, 2020 4:31 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Magical Industries sounds interesting to me.
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Peculiar properties of spacetime ensure that the perception of the magnitude of Soon is fluid and dependent, not on an individual's time-reference, but on spatial and cultural location. A marketer generally perceives Soon as a finite, known, yet unspeakable time-interval; to a fan, the interval appears greater, and may in fact approach the infinite, becoming Never. Once the interval has passed, however, a certain time-lensing effect seems to occur, and the time-interval becomes vanishingly small. We therefore see the strange result that the same fragment of spacetime may be observed, in quick succession, as Soon, Never, and All Too Quickly.
An explanation for why the world is littered with the ruins of ancient advanced civilizations? I'm sold.Libertad wrote:As in-game time progresses the city of Endon changes more dramatically as a few magi-scientific geniuses further innovate their pet projects...all of which will spell some kind of apocalyptic or Orwellian Doom if their excesses are not stopped/safely regulate/etc.
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