About Dying in Old-School Essentials and Other Old-School Rulesets

Like my other post about encounter balance, this article takes Old-School Essentials for reference, but can be applied to most retro-clones.

The standard rules of most OSR systems simply have characters die at 0 hp.

Many players and GMs feel that's too harsh, especially if you actually roll your class hit die to determine hit points at level 1, meaning you may very well start with 1 or 2 hit points.

That's as bad as it sounds, one hit and you're down... and yet it's very much in line with one failed save and you're dead, which is a constant threat (poison snakes, death spell, pietrification, and so on) even when you have enough hp to take a dozen arrows.

Adhering 100% to those rules is much less harsh if you use Retainers and/or each player plays two or three characters. After all, Old-School Essentials explicitly states it's designed for 6-8 characters, not 3-4. This is the best solution the book has to offer, and if you want to stay within the boundaries of the rules and experience the original gameplay, I suggest you try this route first. This probably is, by the way, where the DCC RPG four-characters-per-player funnel adventures originate from.

But most players prefer to play one character. I get it.

In my DMing career, I've often tweaked death and dying one way or another. Here's a few systems I've tried, plus some I've read around and liked, or not liked, presented to you in small modular bits. 

Maximum HP at level 1. That's probably the most common house rule! It has a large impact on character survivability for level 1-3, then evens out at higher levels. Simple, zero book-keeping involved, nothing to remember while playing.

"Roll the body" Save. When you reach 0 hp, you drop down and you might be dead. You make a final Save versus Death when (if) someone checks on you. You pass it, you're back on your feet with 1 hp and still have a chance to make it back from the dungeon. This type of rule can be found, for example, in Dungeon Crawl Classics. If you're left there, you're dead, eaten by monsters or just bled out. This is highly dramatic for sure! Allows for glorious TPKs where no one is there to check on fallen heroes, and works as a high tension final parachute. Because of Saves progression, higher level characters have better and better chances of avoiding Death's door at the very last minute. Starting characters, not so much. Also, some classes definitely have an advantage with this. I'm looking at you, dwarves. Anyway! This requires no book-keeping. The only thing you have to remember is "hey please check on me!" when you go down. A simpler variation is just immediately Save versus Death to, well, Cheat Death as soon as you hit 0 hp.

Negative HPs. As soon as your HPs reach zero or lower, you're "dying", or "bleeding out". You're out of combat, and might die unless helped. Negative HPs have been around since forever, often together with max hp at level 1. Lamentations of the Flame Princess has them. The big difference in implementation is what happens when you're out of HPs. In most cases, you have a maximum amount of negative HPs, which might be fixed (-10, for example, or half your Constitution score). Actual death can happen as a Save versus Death every round to avoid bleeding out until someone tends to your wounds. Nasty GMs might ask you to apply your negative HPs as a modifier to your Save roll, which scales well with higher level characters and their improved saves. Sometimes bleeding out is translated as suffering 1 hp of damage every round, until you hit -10 or another threshold, which means you're finally dead.
I completely, irrationally hate negative HPs. Anyway. You have a little extra book-keeping. Saving every round (or suffering -1 hp per round until -10) works as a clock for other players, forcing them to decide if they want to spend a round to try and save your life somehow.

Or, you know, just leave those HPs the way they are, and try something different if you're determined to increase survivability. Like...

Shields Shall Be Splintered. One of the most popular OSR house rules of all times. You sacrifice your shield and completely avoid damage from one blow. This simple rule originated here in 2008 and has been developed and built upon in many variations, also involving helms and other pieces of gear. If you use this rule, you must decide what happens to magic shields... and probably enforce a "can't carry more than one shield" rule. This rule leaves non-shield-using classes the way they are, though.

A possible variant: anything you are holding in your hands may save you from one blow and is destroyed in the process, but you must succeed in a roll (a Save versus Death, of course) to pull such a feat. Sounds silly? Think how many swords +1, wands, and holy symbols are going to get broken...

Injury/Death and Dismemberment Tables. Another OSR staple. When at 0 hp, instead of dropping down dead, you roll on a table and see what's happened. Sometimes you lose an eye or ear, some time a finger, toe, or limb. Some time you suffer no effect at all, or lose a point of Constitution or other score, and some time you're crushed to bits, adieu. Conceptually, this adds layers of intermediate results to the binary outcome of th Roll the Body/Cheat Death final Save. This post lists so many examples you may check to pick your favorite table or to create your own. Using such tables increases survivability, and may lead to character retirement! Which can be a nice outcome, for a change. Players must keep in mind that losing their sword arm was the alternative to losing their character altogether...

Also keep in mind that you can decide to have injuries and lost stat points to be permanent or temporary. Temporary effects may be recovered in a given amount of time (weeks for example), while the permanent ones may still be recovered with some magic effect: custom spells, rituals, or the obvious Wish solution.

10 QUESTIONS TO: Tony Vasinda

Tony Vasinda is a very active voice in the indie RPG community, and the founder of Plus One Experience, which “multiclasses in Beard & Skincare Alchemy, Game Design, & the Bardic Knowledge of Content Creation”.

He's one of the main voices in the RPG zines scene, networking and encouraging creators to make great stuff. You might have heard of him with regards to the Repugnant project during ZineQuest3, for example. And his enthusiasm certainly encouraged me with my Lands of Legends project!

He is currently crowdfunding Down We Go Infinite Edition, by Markus Linderum, on Gamefound.

He’s got an amazing beard, as you can imagine (and he's also written a game about that!), and he’s also a catholic missionary. Plenty to talk about here!

1 Hello Tony. First of all, tell us everything about Plus One Experience, from games to beards, as if you were trying to explain it to my aunt!
Hello auntie, I make beard balm (like a leave-in conditioner for beards) for a living and love sharing it with specific groups. So I made some that were RPG inspired because it’s something I love. As part of that I made a beard RPG called Beards & Beyond and started helping review and promote other folks' games on youtube. Folks love the balms, and the games, but most folks know us for reviewing other peoples games and promoting community conversations in the Indie RPG space. 

2 Let’s talk about Down We Go. How did it become a fully fledged KS multiple-contributors crowdfunding project from when it was a one page game? Are you the one to blame?

Yeah, it’s my fault. I saw a beautiful 1 page game that Markus Linderum made and asked him to run it on stream. He did and created some simple 1 page dungeons to go with it. I loved them and asked if he could make a city so we could print the game as a small zine. We kept playing the game on streams anytime we had an OSR module to feature and I and other folks fell in love with it.
So I worked with Markus to build a team, flesh out the content, and fill in the blanks on the project. 

3 Can you tell us more about the game as it is now?

So the core rules are still just 1 A5 page. We fleshed out the Ref (what we call game masters) page a bit, and built some simple procedures for helping folks make their own Dungeons. Currently we are playtesting our Faction, Event, Location, and Hexcrawl procedures that are getting added to the game. So the core rules fit on that 1 page, but you have a 10 more pages of option procedures to help the Ref have everything they need to run a session or a campaign with very low prep. The rest of the book is made up of and other support material for each of those procedures. The Dungeon section has 1 page of procedures and then 4 Dungeons. The Faction section has 1 page procedures and 10 Factions. Think of it as a toolkit that has everything you need in it to run an amazing game, but that you can ignore if it’s not a part of how you want to play.

4 Obvious question: why not Kickstarter? Why Gamefound?

Great question. In short it’s because we need to end the stranglehold Kickstarter has on the way we think about crowdfunding.

Kickstarter isn’t bad. I plan to use it for another project coming up. However, just having 1 good option for any process is never ideal.
Competition breeds innovation and the funding process needs lots of innovation to be healthier.
Kickstarter has a better reach and footprint, but I think Gamefound has a better toolkit for marketing and building the page you want to build. We are probably leaving money on the table by choosing Gamefound right now, but we can always sell more games. What we don’t always have the choice to do is to make a choice that improves the RPG scene for others. We chose Gamefound because I wanted to open the space up more for others who want to fund their games theer and prove small projects could thrive on the platform. 

I have been thoroughly impressed by Gamefound and the team. I can’t wait to finish the campaign and smoothly integrate their pledge manager into our process. 

5 Down We Go is the perfect example of what crowdfunding was originally designed for. Through the years, though, it has become more and more important even for the “big players” in the RPG industry.

Do you consider that unfair? Or is the presence of big publishers beneficial to the small ones? Do you see that changing anytime soon? How would YOU like things to change?

Look this may not be popular, but I love seeing bigger companies funding on the platform. There are two reasons:
1. It 100% brings people to the platform.
2. Producing games and printing books is a huge risk. WotC does not have to worry about a book not selling. Almost every single other publisher does.
A bad run at scale would ruin most publishers, or at least mean layoffs. I want us all to succeed, and believe it or not, I think we all can.
Competition breeds innovation, but it has to be healthy competition. We created Down We Go as a unitive game with a global team because I think the best thing we can do is be united as a community of players & designers. It’s the only type of success I am interested in. There will be bad actors who out themselves over time, and we need to be on the lookout for that, but not at the cost of our own dignity or mental health.
I work with publishers of all sizes who are interested in building up our community and speak out against those who act in self interest. That’s what I care about.

6 Inclusion and representation of minorities in RPGs are a hot topic. Considering the theme and size of it, I don’t expect Down We Go to address much of that within the game, am I wrong?

Great question. I don’t know because it’s a complex issue.
Down we go is about a dungeon crawling in and around a twisting dark hungry city that depends on the sacrifice of delvers to keep its economy operating.  We don’t have Races in the game, but we have had plenty of folks play different races, in our upcoming space hack Through the Void, I use Backgrounds that play a similar role.
Markus & I have never sat down and had a conversation about this, but from my perspective there are huge conversations about class, race, upward mobility, politics, religion that I expect every session to be able to touch on. For me games are about exploring the human experience in community with others. I think every designer needs to ask themselves, “Does this game encourage the players to have real conversations about moral, social, and political issues that humanize others?”
I think the answer should always be, “Yes”.
We built a diverse team so that these ideals would be baked into the game's DNA. I have never asked a single person on the team to make “inclusive content” because we picked a team who I never imagined would do anything else.
I really hope folks explore these issues when playing Down We Go. I hope they overthrow fascist bosses, and explore the injustice of unlimited wealth. However if they just go get weird mud for the Dirt Licker faction and fight a bunch of oozing slimes on the way, I want to hear about that also.

7 Let’s talk about other games now. What is the best game you’ve played in, say, the last two years?

Aaron King’s Patchwork World, Bloodfeud, or Gods of Metal Ragnarock are tied. Patchwork World is the best game. Bloodfeud had the best introspection, Gods of Metal… man Markeia McCarty is an amazing GM. 

8 Let’s talk about you as a catholic missionary. What does it mean, and do you put RPGs into that? Also a bit of a complex thing. In short, everything.

Let me start by stating I know tons of folks reading this might have some kind of religious trauma and that the Catholic Church might be the cause of that. Be kind to yourself if you need to stop reading here or skip this question. To make this easy I have asked to have the next section of my text spoilered so that you need to highlight it to read.

All the choices I make are guided by 38 years of being nurtured, fed, questioned, and challenged by my Catholic lens and imagination. I believe there is a God that exists outside of time who is love, goodness, and truth and from whom those things flow. I believe that He (and let’s acknowledge that pronouns fail to encapsulate a transcendent being) desires to be in a relationship with us. I also believe that I eat the flesh and drink the blood of this undying God every Sunday as a way to be in communion with him. Objectively, that’s pretty weird.
That impacts everything I do because, if someone says they believe these things and does not let it impact them totally... why believe it?
Here is a major thing though. What I believe is not what you believe. I don’t hold anyone besides other Catholics to believe what I believe, and the main group of folks I tend to disagree with are... other Catholics. 

For folks who are not Catholic all I want to do is to amplify what is most good and true and beautiful in your life. For most folks in the games community that means sitting down and playing amazing games, listening to others, but lots of times it means having real conversations and advocating for those in need. Lots of the time it means pushing back against toxic and harmful elements in the community.
Plus One is a diversity first channel and company. This means that we prioritize LGBTQ, PoC, and minority voices on stream and when choosing who to hire or support financially. A huge part of this comes from my faith, but I don’t promote this on channel because I understand the trauma that many folks have experienced around religion and I always put the needs of the person in front of me first. 

Like Jesus, I am here to comfort the afflicted, but to afflict the comforted. 

9 You’re not new to it, nevertheless I think I can say “KS Crowdfunding days are crazy days”. How are you coping?

Pretty fine. Gamefound actually makes running a campaign much easier in the middle. I am able to set up a number of items in advance that I normally have to manually schedule in which means I don’t have to look at the page if I don’t want to and everything runs really smoothly. I am playing more and doing a lot of press, but that’s the fun part. 

10 Please point us to a song you think we should listen to to get the feeling for Down We Go!

There is no better song to listen to than the Infected Tomb on the Down We Go Dungeon Synth album that you can get as part of the project. Loot the Body did an amazing job with it, and you can find it on the campaign page or right here.

Thank you Tony for your time, and best luck with Down We Go!

So folks, check out with Down We Go on Gamefound!

And stay tuned for more interviews!

Hit me on the Axian Spice Facebook page, on Twitter or even on Telegram to never miss one! Hit the comments if you want me to interview your favorite author, artist, or publisher!

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About Random Treasure in Old-School Essentials and Other Retro-Clones

 Like other posts, this article takes takes Old-School Essentials for reference, but can be applied to most retro-clones.

Random treasure generation is a staple of most early editions of D&D. Big emphasis on random! Those tables may as well create non-existent hoards or, at the other end of the spectrum, mountains of gold and jewels and magic items all in the same place.

The mechanical procedures for random treasure generation are really awful and long, and it is much better to use an online generator such as the one Necrotic Gnome offers on their site.

To some, that's a great feature, to others less so. A lot depends on your play-style, especially on how fast you game goes. If the group discovers a treasure hoard every three sessions, and it's 100 copper pieces because that's what you rolled, that's one thing; if in three sessions they put their hands on say, nine randomly rolled hoards, then things even out much better.

For Referees who don't like random (or too much random), the Old-School Essentials book lists average values for each treasure type, a simple feature which I had never found in other books and one that really helps as a starting point if you want to manually determine/adjust treasure.

Consequences of Random

Random treasure adds another level of thrill to the game, one that is definitely not there if you always go with the average treasure value! On a psychological level it may probably generate the same kind of addiction of instant lotteries: a lesson action RPG video games such as Diablo have learnt well.

A randomly rolled poor hoard is a disappointment for the players, true, and definitely, quite literally, adds nothing to the game, except a lesson learnt: if you want treasure, you should follow rumors about treasure, not rush into every goblin lair on the map.

At the other hand, a superb roll may mean two things: fast forward advancement for the PCs, and probably the introduction of some crazy magic item you wouldn't have put in there if you had manually chosen the treasure. Which is an awesome thing! It has a chance to inject the campaign with freshness and take the emergent story into wild new directions.

Even if you use the average value, adjusting it with a fast roll will still make things more thrilling. Something like roll a d6, if it's even the treasure is smaller than average, if it's odds it's larger, and a d100 to find out the percentage of the increased/decreased value. The really dramatic roll in those treasure tables is the chance for magic items (and their nature).

A Wider Perspective

Randomly rolled treasure are integral to the "by the book" game experience: the game where you follow all the rules has a chance for you to live the story of the outcast freak with no score above 11 who somehow got a sentient sword and a flying carpet during his second session. The more you exclude random from the game, the less chances it has to surprise and entertain you as a group.

And a Different Take: Random Treasure as a Story Tool

Rolling for treasure should never be done during play: the Referee really needs to know if the goblin king possesses potions or enchanted gear, because he sure is going to use them in battle.

So, rolling treasure and accepting the result can be an awesome starting point in designing your adventure or dungeon.

Zero treasure might mean a lot of things, and all of them can expand your scenario beyond what starting idea. 

Someone more powerful extorted it for protection: a dragon, for example! Or: a more powerful dragon!

Someone cleverer stole it (and poor goblin king might still be unaware of the theft!).

It was all spent to fuel a specific endeavor such as a war, crusade, journey, construction, ritual, peace treaty, or dowry.

In other words: the treasure isn't there because it's somewhere else! And finding out about it and getting there might very well be the party's next adventure.

What about lots of treasure? That might be the sign of a very clever creature. One that is not like the rest of its keen. Your goblin king has a businessman attitude, or powerful allies, or a generous patron, or is more powerful, or has studied magic! Or it might just be a bunch of gobbos who stole from their king and are now on the run. The big question here is: where has that treasure come from? Whose gold was it? What are they going to do about it? Here's a hook for a quest, or the input for adding a second faction of monsters in the scenario.

Magic items further shake things up. It is not just the old "give the gnoll boss the axe +2 you've rolled". The axe +2 is the type of item the gnolls get when you pick treasure manually.  Now consider this: you've just mapped and stocked your run of the mill orc lair. But then, boom, you roll treasure and they get an Elemental Summoning Device, Efreeti Bottle, Horn of Blasting, or Drums of Panic! That's no longer the raid-the-dungeon scenario you were designing: that's a cooler one, where those orcs are up to something bigger, subduing other humanoids and boldly raiding villages with their special toy!

The ogre who put the Helm of Alignment Changing on is now held prisoner by his clan, and might become an ally of the party.

What about a Sentient Sword popping into the kobolds' hoard you've prepared as your very first dungeon? Just remember that Bilbo got the One Ring from a bizarre random encounter while in a cave. Let the thing shape your campaign. Think of how it got there, what's its goal, and let the rest of the campaign surprise you*.

*works better if you have an actual campaign world outlined. I should make a post about that.