About Balanced Encounters in Old-School Essentials

How do you balance encounters? That's a very frequent question from people who try Old-School Essentials or other OSR rulesets and retro-clones coming from more recent RPGs.

A very frequent answer is: you don't. Let players learn when to run.

That's a bit harsh, and not exactly what's in the rules. I took the OSE Rules Tome PDF and checked this stuff for you. The same conclusions may as well apply to most other retro-clones of B/X, BECMI, OD&D and similar early editions, but I'm tackling this with the Old-School Essentials pdf at hand.

Let's go.

As far as the written rules go, this is how it is:

1. The game assumes a group of 6-8 PCs.

That's explicit at page 100 in the Classic Fantasy Rules Tome. Note it also recommends a variety of all classes in the group. A party of 8 without a cleric will have a harder time against the undead, for example.

2. The PCs are supposed to venture into a "dungeon level" equal to their character level (average), if they want a "balanced" adventure. Nevertheless, a level 1 party is absolutely welcome to venture into dungeon level 2, if they want to increase both risk and reward.

3. The Dungeon Encounters tables in the book are based on 1. and 2., and tell you what the group might/should encounter. It is roughly based on HDs (creatures for dungeon level 1 roughly have 1 HD, and so on). Page 139 and 204. Also note this is engrained in the dungeon creation system, page 225, which connects dungeon level with both monster encounters and treasure found.

So there’s that for "balance"!

As you can see, given the wild variance in the roll for the number of monsters encountered, the game doesn't assume fair fights at all! Some will be very easy, some will be a bloodbath.

In the wider OSR scene, this has been described as combat as war, in contrast with the combat as sport that you get in more "balanced" games (from d&d 3.x on, with a refined Challenge Raring system).

Combat as war means it can be deadly, and you can and should avoid it when it's too dangerous, and use all you can to your advantage (terrain, scouting, setting up traps and ambushes, using oil, etc).

So how are PCs supposed to survive this game?

1. Reaction rolls.

2. Morale rolls.

3. Information & consequent player agency.

They may make the difference between a memorable campaign and a frustrating streak of TPKs (which might be memorable too).

Reaction rolls are awesome.

Seriously. Strange alliances in the dungeon are a lot of fun, a great opportunity for role-playing (how do you befriend Gnolls? And a Manticore?) And a Wight?), and introduce a whole new level of strategy to the game. With the exception of (most) constructs and undead, creatures prefer to live, and should only engage in combat when they believe they can and will win, or they feel they have no other choice (and so should players). Even when they believe they can win, monsters may prefer to make pacts and/or try to fool or intimidate the adventurers into doing something for them.

Reaction rolls should also be made (and adapted) for non-sentient beasts such as lions, giant spiders and the ever-threatening, save-or-die venomous snakes. They too want to live, and it is hard to believe they attack everything that comes into sight.

Morale rolls are awesome AND necessary.

They are the only way a 1st level group survives repeated encounters with 4d4 kobolds or 1d10 giant shrews. Copy-pasting from previous paragraph: With the exception of (most) constructs and undead, creatures prefer to live, and should only engage in combat when they believe they can win, or they feel they have no other choice (and so should players). Morale rolls are there to reassess the situation once combat has begun and blood has been spilt.

Information makes the game engaging.

This is not in the rules, but is part of the shared wisdom of the OSR. Adventures, scenarios and sandboxes should always include rumors and clues to inform players about what to expect. Maybe not everything, but definitely some of the threats of your Crypt of Damnation should be known or knowable before getting in there, and some other clues about threats might be available once inside, for smart players, before they run into those threats. Footprints, corpses, that kind of things. The end result should be: allowing players to pick their fights. Again, not all of them, but most.

What if I have 3-4 players?

You can:

1. Allow each player to play two characters (hey, even three would be ok!). A game that's as simple as OSE really allows this without much trouble. Plus, if one of your PCs dies, the adventure goes on and you don't have to roll a new character to join the game again! This is the best option, in my view.

2. Use Retainers rules, page 126. That's almost the same as 1. above, you know? To some players it might make a lot of difference, though.

3. Change the number of monsters encountered proportionately, of course. 3-4 PCs means you halve the number of monsters. If you do that, though, you should cut treasure by the same amount! That's if you want to stay true to the "game balance", which connects players' level,  risk and reward.

Final Note: Do What You Want

Everything written in this post is how things are in the book. I'm not saying you HAVE to do it like this. I don't always play like this! I'm just saying these are the answers found in the book, and I suggest you give it try before changing things.

About Lands of Legends!

Lands of Legends is a series of five zines designed to assist you in both prepping and running hexcrawl, sandbox, open world campaigns with classic fantasy OSR games such as Old-School Essentials, Labyrinth Lord, Sword & Wizardry and the various simulacra of the Original, BECMI and B/X editions of the classic fantasy role-playing game.

It was successfully funded in February 2021 as part of ZineQuest3 on Kickstarter, with over 200 backers in two weeks.

How?

Each zine contains 100 Special Areas and 100 Unique Encounters, with both categories sorted by terrain type (forests, mountains, cities, swamps and so on) and organized as d10 tables.

Special Areas are designed to help you create an engaging sandbox setting, where every mountain, swamp, island, forest, city, desert etc is unique and interesting.

Unique Encounters are designed to be used straight away while playing, and offer interesting and story-enhancing situations. No more boring random monsters! Have your group face unforeseen hazards, interesting NPCs, and puzzling situations during their travels!

Five Zines?

The Lands of Legends series includes five volumes:

Lands of Legends - Mundane focuses on the commonplace situations and everyday accidents, imbuing your campaign with the fresh breath of a living world! It suited for low magic settings, and can be used with just about anything you want to run.

Lands of Legends - Grim focuses on the darker, grittier nuances of fantasy games, and is the perfect fit for campaigns that explore grimdark, gothic, horror themes.

Lands of Legends - Fairy is the perfect book to enrich your campaign with the enchanted prodigies of the fae, bringing back the sense of wonder into the game, with magical places and events that are true to the spirit of the fairytales and folktales roots of the fantasy genre.

Lands of Legends - Holy makes the Gods -benevolent, whimsical, indifferent or cruel- an active power in your campaign world, along with their priests and prophets, crusaders and champions, and a whole lot of omens and portents to challenge your players.

Lands of Legends - Primeval is the tool to unleash the raw, prehuman, tumultuous forces of primeval civilizations and antediluvian elemental chaos into your campaign, enhancing a brutal Sword & Sorcery vibe! 

The five zines series totals at 500 Special Areas and 500 Unique Encounters!

The PDF version features:

• Full color, bookmarked PDF
• Printer-friendly/improved accessibility version via layers that can be turned off

Each volume is also available in a Print-on-Demand version:

• 6x9" reversible book so that you have Areas on one end, and Encounters on the other, which is printed upside-down!

Some Reviews:

"Whether your adventurers are traveling to civilizations, deserts, forests, fresh waters, jungles, mountains, hills, plains, valleys, seas, islands, swamps, marshes, or wastelands there’s plenty to find and experience among the Lands of Legends!" - Cannibal Halfling Gaming

"Lands of Legends – Mundane is plain and simple in appearance, but its content is anything but. For the Game Master wanting ideas or inspiration, there can be no denying that Lands of Legends – Mundane is rich in both. Plus the fact that it can do both inspire world building and encounters gives Lands of Legends – Mundane a pleasing versatility to both the inspiration and the ideas." - Reviews from R'lyeh

"Do you like random charts? Then these books are for you. These entries are unique and engaging" - Thac0 blog

"The sheer level of creativity that went into these zines is staggering. Beautifully designed and incredibly well-executed" - Welcome to the Deathtrap blog, reviewing Lands of Legends Mundane & Grim 

"I have been amazed with just how much creativity goes into these zines; they always stun me. But this one has been a cut above. If you are looking for new locations, cool encounters, and want a divine twist on them, this will gave a few things you will want to steal." - Welcome to the Deathtrap blob, reviewing Lands of Legends Holy

"Incredible creativity. I have said this of the previous volumes of Lands of Legends, but I am again staggered by the level of creativity that has gone into the creation of Lands of Legends: Fairy." - Welcome to the Deathtrap blog, reviewing Lands of Legends Fairy

"If you like running sandboxes, hex crawls, or need some inspiration for the setting you are prepping, you really can't go wrong with Lands of Legend” - Tenkar's Tavern

Sounds good? Check it out on Drivethru!

About Infinigrad The Weird City Toolkit

Infinigrad: The Weird City Toolkit by Michael Raston (the author of Ordure Fantasy and the cool old-school sci-fi game Star Dogs) is a very unusual product. Why? Because it's neither a PoD nor a PDF (for the most part).

It is also part of the larger Infinigrad project which revolves around a fascinating, weird city setting, where the player characters are Guild Dogs, i.e. desperate mercenaries/troubleshooters that work for ancient, power hungry guilds.

As a product, it is a bundle of automated tools for quickly generating details for fantasy urban environments, and is totally system neutral. Such tools come in the form of four HTML files which open up in your browser. The package also includes an "Introduction" PDF and a "Map Maker" PDF.

Let's see how these tools work.

The first is the Job Generator. Here's three screenshots of what you get clicking each button:

A fairly standard adventure generator, this is meant to produce inspiration for missions and adventures for guild dogs inside the Infinigrad city. Definitely designed to be used while prepping, but could also be used for GMs who enjoy running impromptu games. In both cases, if you don't like one of the results you just click the relevant button until you get something you can work with.

The second tool is the Building Stocker. This one has lots of buttons, and definitely they are not meant for you to push all of them all the times: they are there to be pushed when needed. Here's three screenshots with all the buttons pushed:

Lots to be found there. This could definitely be used for most location-based adventures, dungeons, etc. to stock lots of rooms.

The third tool is the Guild Dog generator. This one produces a systemless player character with interesting quirks. Here's three dogs:

As you can see from the third image, things can get pretty weird.

The fourth tool, named Suburb Generator, is the meatiest. It is divided into A LOT of sections, actually making it a collection of several generators. Here's what you can find, with sample results:

So much stuff in there! These can be very useful to create a really weird city and to run city adventures.

The Suburb Mapper PDF file is a more traditional tool with three gridded tables that require you to roll two dice (column and row), and the results are simple sketches of roads sections, building shapes, and building interiors, respectively. It's a bit strange that these tables have not been translated into another HTML tool, and the reason is because the results are images instead of plain text.

The last file is the Introduction to Infinigrad. This is a 2-page PDF with a short but very evocative text describing the past and present of the city, the story of its Guilds and how their conflicts shaped (and almost destroyed) Infinigrad.

So how is it? Well this is the type of thing we've seen in many OSR products through the years: tables and tables for generating lots of content, but this time it is not a book or a PDF (for the most part, at least). For GMs used to have an electronic device at the table, this might prove very handy. 

I must say I'd love the HTML files to be a bit more flashy. Experimenting with some fancy font and colors might make it look more appealing. Not that the substance would change! All in all, I love random generators and I would recommend trying Infinigrad to anyone fascinated with weird settings and city adventures.

About In the Shadow of Tower Silveraxe

 In the Shadow of Tower Silveraxe is one of the 'zines that were crowdfunded on Kickstarter during ZineQuest3. It's written and nicely illustrated by Jacob Fleming.

It comes as a stapled, A5, 64-page, black and white 'zine, with a nice color cover and a color regional map at the end of the 'zine.

It is a sandboxy adventure module for Old School Essentials, meaning you can play it pretty much as is with most OSR games, especially with OD&D, BECMI and B/X retroclones.

I've just read through it and I must say I'm absolutely happy I backed it! You may consider this a must have, if you and your players enjoy adventures with a really old school feel and gameplay (warning: this may include high lethality!). There is no predetermined storyline, you have rumors, locales and factions, and it's up to the players to explore and interact with the region, its dungeons and its denizens.

Silveraxe describes the Gemthrone Wilderness, a small region with the following details:

- brief history of the area

- description of the four local factions (dwarves, elves, bandits, and a tribe of cyclopean creatures called Goltheks)

- 16 adventure locales (9 dungeons, 3 settlements, 1 special forest, 1 special lake, 1 mage tower)

- player handouts (3 treasure maps)

What's cool about it?

In 64 pages, you get A LOT of gaming, with enough information to play for months. No pointlessly long descriptions and backstories, just the functional details that you actually need, such as NPC motivations.

The region, dungeons and factions are frequently interconnected with rumors, clues and pieces of information (such as treasure maps) that will push clever adventurers to explore on and on.

The dungeons are cleverly designed and nicely mapped. They are quite small (7 to 33 rooms), which I like because that means most of them can be cleared in one session, usually have non-linear exploration (i.e. players can find multiple paths), and include at least one engaging situation, puzzle, trap, or secret, and often more than one in the case of larger dungeons.

The first printing, which I received as a Kickstarter backer, has some very minor editing flaws, but other than that, it's an awesome supplement with an excellent gaming/page count ratio.

After the Kickstarter, it is now available HERE in PDF, or HERE in print, if you want to check it out.

If you are into Old School, don't forget to check out my Lands of Legends 'zines designed for OSR hexcrawl/sandbox campaigns!

10 QUESTIONS TO: Roderic Waibel

Roderic Waibel is the mind behind Chromatic Dungeons - Old School Fantasy RPG Rules, currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter.

Roderic has already published a series of old school adventures and the Altus Adventum RPG, and he’s also contributed a lot of illustrations for several products by Raging Swan Press (among others). 

This time, with Chromatic Dungeons, he is offering an old school ruleset which is largely compatible with the earlier editions of D&D.

But who is Roderic? Rod is a nice guy from Portland, Oregon. When he’s not busy with RPGs, he’s a father and also a system analyst!

1 Hello Roderic. First of all, tell us about Chromatic Dungeons, as if you were trying to explain it to my aunt!

Well, Chromatic Dungeons is a tabletop role-playing game.  I’m going to really simplify down what that is, because I don’t want to insult your audience by going on and on with something they may already know.  In a nutshell, all players but one take on the role of a persona they want to play in the game: warrior, wizard, etc.  The other player controls all of the other creatures the players run into in the game (the Game Master).  Basically, a giant game of pretend.  With dice and unknown outcomes.  And lots of fun.  What makes Chromatic Dungeons different is that it replicates that old school feel when the game first took off in the 70s and 80s, but applies some lessons learned rules-wise, and is presented to be welcoming and inclusive of all gamers.  Back then, it was catered to white young males.  As one myself, it was right up my alley.  But looking back, and looking at how things are today, the game wasn’t presented all that well for those who weren’t white young males.  Not a dig on the original creators, as it was a product of its time.  But I believe that there is room in the modern era to also enjoy an old school game, and to have it representative of who are gamers today.

2 Tell us more about the contributors to Chromatic Dungeons, who designed that stylish character sheet, and why you’re not doing any art for the game??

Well, I did the design of the character sheet lol, so there’s your art from me.  Actually, there are a few other pieces of art by me, but I kept myself off the artist’s credit list because it’s not about celebrating me, it’s about celebrating them.  I am exceptionally lucky to have had some excellent contributors to this.  Evlyn Moreau was my primary sensitivity reader, but I also reached out and had consultation from Teo Morgan (Dungeons&Diversity), Luca Alexander Volpino, and Jennifer Kretchmer (who created a great adventure in the recently released Candlekeep book from WoTC).  For artists, I hired people from literally around the world: Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Uganda, the US, Britain, Poland, etc.  Cultural appropriation is a big deal for me to avoid, and I found hiring diverse artists from all over helps prevent that.  

 3 You haven’t released a “quick start” or “sample” pdf of Chromatic Dungeons. Any chance you will during the campaign?

There is a really good chance of that :)  The basic set is already done, and there just might be a pdf release of it for free during the campaign….

4 I’d really like to know, rules-wise, which edition of D&D is the closest to Chromatic Dungeons, and what changes in the rules differentiate it from a faithful retroclone.

The game is sort of a mix-match of what I feel are the best elements of Basic/Expert, 1e, and 2e.  For example, alignment is simplified, and more along the rules of B/X.  Speaking of, one of the big changes is that no mundane intelligent humanoid has a default alignment, like orcs, goblins, etc.  That’s up to the individual game table.  Classes are structured like 2e, with them belonging to class groups.  Fighters, berserkers, paladins, and rangers all belong to the Warrior group for example.  But the aesthetic is very much 1e.  The goal is to be compatible with those older adventures with the least amount of conversion, so there are many similarities.  

Other big changes include using an ascending AC rather than THAC0 or attack tables, and giving each class something at every level--a class feature.  Races are now called Ancesteries, and rather than stat bonuses based on ancestry, you get them based on class choice.  Introduced are heritages.  Rather than get a long list of traits from ancestries like in AD&D, you get some, but most are based on your heritage choices.  A character with a fey heritage would get resistance to sleep and charm magic, for example.  There are many, many heritages to choose from :) 

5 Your project 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?

I don’t consider it unfair.  Really, if the big players are using KS, they are doing themselves a disfavor, as KS takes a big cut.  Ideally with a good business model, they shouldn’t have to use KS but could use their existing customer base.

The only thing I’d like to change is the reliability and refund options.  In our industry in particular, there are way too many creators who created a project, took the money, and never delivered.  I’d create a rule that if you haven’t fulfilled a past project, you aren’t allowed to create another.  It’s a sore spot for me.  It’s also why I made sure I created this project to completion before launching.  The work is done.  You will get what you back (assuming project funds).

5 You’re a white male living in the US, who started gaming in the 80s, launching a game that aims at being welcoming to all gamers of every demographic to better represent just how diverse our hobby has become. I’m sure you must have pondered this a lot, what convinced you to take this step? 

I was expecting this question to be the first, and am honestly surprised more people haven’t asked me.  It’s a totally fair question.  I’m part of the privileged group, so why am I doing this?

I certainly do not in any way am trying to speak for any marginalized group, and I want to put that out there straight away.  First a bit of background.  I served in the military when I was younger, and all of us who did so swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the US.  That’s important, because that document has many amendments, not just the 2nd.  To be frank, several of those (the 4th, 5th, 8th, 14th, and 15th in particular) have been violated, particularly if you’re a person of color in this country or other minority.  Fairness and equality are important to me, or I wouldn’t have sworn to uphold them.

Then I’ve also got a mixed race family.  Seeing my oldest son grow up through his eyes as a black man in the US was, pardon the pun, eye opening indeed.  And then I’ve also got many close friends and other family members who are part of the LGBTQ community, and my heart hurts from all the things they suffer every day.

But it all comes down to being fair and equal to everyone.  So when I keep hearing folks who proclaim to speak for the OSR (old school revival) community repeat toxic, bigoted, and exclusionary statements about a game I love, I’m not going to take it lying down.  The OSR is for everyone.  They don’t speak for me.  I’m not going to let them take down and destroy something I think is great.

And then there’s the whole garbage fire over the past two weeks with the new TSR, Ernie Gygax Jr, Justin LaNassa, and crew.  The timing of this project was a coincidence with that, but it just reaffirms it’s needed.

6 Inclusion and representation of minorities in RPGs have become a hot topic, recently. How does Chromatic Dungeons address that within the game?

The most obvious is to look at the art.  It’s very diverse, done by diverse artists.  And as I mentioned earlier, if the art represents a certain culture, an artist from that culture did the work.  Additionally, one of the recurring NPCs in the book is Faridah.  They are in the character creation section, and appear later on as well.  Faridah is a trans woman who identifies with they/them.  So to be respectful, I ensured I had a trans woman do the art for them.  Now, you might not ever know that by reading the book, because I am not taking an approach of “Look at me!  I’m a gay or trans character!”  Rather I’m simply including them like anyone else.  Gender and sexuality aren’t mentioned unless that aspect is important to the game or story.  We don’t have to (and in my opinion shouldn’t) include underrepresented minorities and then put a giant flag that says “Look at me!  I’m a minority!”  We simply just need to treat everyone the same, and include everyone.  I want this book to be one where anyone can pick it up regardless  of age, body type, gender, orientation, ethnicity, etc and see someone that can represent them.

7 Tell us more about the stretch goals of Chromatic Dungeons!

The first stretch goal is the basic set.  VERY streamlined ruleset, even more basic than the B/X D&D version.  It’s meant to be a quick start into rpgs.  If it gets unlocked, the pdf will automatically be a free download to everyone, regardless of backer level.

The other stretch goals are the zines.  Each one is about 24-28 pages, and has a central theme: either a highlight for a monster, or a new class.  For example, the first issue is about the Mrav Covjeka (and ant-human hybrid).  There is an ecology section for them, stat blocks, a small adventure, and then some goodies like a comic humor section, new magic items, and NPCs you can put in your campaign.  

8 Let’s talk about you as a family man. Already started playing RPGs with the young ones? What are your thoughts about RPGs with younger players?

LOVE IT!  The great thing about kids is that they don’t have preconceived notions about how to play.  They let their imagination run wild.  It’s great.  Just two days ago, I was reading one of those old Endless Quest D&D books (Dungeon of Dread) to a six year old.  You know the choose your own adventure format?  Where you read and then get a couple choices?  Well, before we even got to the choices part, as I’m describing that there’s this giant ogre in the room but hasn’t noticed him yet, he interrupts me and says, “I take my rope out of my backpack and set up a booby trap!”  It was great.  Kids naturally fall into that role-playing mode.

9 “KS days are crazy days”. How are you coping?

I’m glad I have a great day job lol.  Right now super busy after launch, and I’m trying to keep up with all the questions while also trying to spread the word.  Honestly, one of the best things that could happen to me is if someone can’t back the project for whatever reason, they can still share it.  Boosting the signal would be the biggest favor for me.  Every once in a while imposter syndrome kicks in when I don’t get as many backers as I’d hope, but it’s a campaign, and gotta stick with it.  I honestly think I’m doing the right thing.  And it’s a fun game!  I don’t want that to get overshadowed by the diversity part of it.

10 Please point us to a song you think we should listen to.

O Fortuna, Carmina Burana.  To get you in the mood for fantasy lol.  Outside of that?  A good song to get what I’m trying to do, and also from the 80s (same era as the game I’m replicating)?  That’s Just the Way it is, by Bruce Hornsby, or Another Day In Paradise by Phil Collins.  Great songs.  And sadly relevant.  

Thank you Roderic for your time, and best luck with Chromatic Dungeons!

Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity.

Stay tuned for more interviews! Hit me on the Axian Spice Facebook page, on Twitter or even on Telegram to never miss one! 

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