Question about OSE's box sets

DarkCrisis

Reeks of Jedi

• Jun 12, 2024

• #1

I'm considering giving OSE a shot since it's the biggest OSR around.

I like box sets and see they have 2. Which you have to get both to get the "Advanced" version which I guess is B/X style but with Race/Class etc.

It would seem that having 2 boxes with 8 books (?) would be a tad unwieldy instead of just getting the 2 Advanced books that has all the info.

I mean you'd basically have 2 PHBs, 2 DMGs, 2 MMs etc. And have to refer to both sets (whihc DMG had what? The monster is in which book? etc) for whatever you may need.

Is the 2 box thing as annoying as it seems to use?

I'd get the books but the core one is sold out ATM and heck I'd preorder just to get the PDF now, but alas.

I'd love to have the PDF RIGHT NOW but aside from essentially buying it twice I'd rather not.

 

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darjr

I crit!

• Jun 12, 2024

• #2

I have the two box sets. It’s convenient to hand books out but can be a pain ti reference.

I am indeed thinking of getting the big books too.

I think I’d have been happier that way to begin.

But I do love having them.

Hope that helps.

 

S

SpellObjectEnthusiast

Adventurer

• Jun 12, 2024

• #3

The box sets are helpful for players because you can hand the spell/character books to your players and hold onto the treasure/monster books for yourself. Its easier to physically pass things like the spell books around the table for the player that needs it rather than everyone competing over the same 1-2 books.

 

overgeeked

B/X Known World

• Jun 12, 2024

• #4

They can be a pain but they can also make things easier. Having certain things split into a separate book you can just hand the player is great. Someone needing to pick spells, for example, isn't going to be hogging the character creation book. But, just like with the single volume, when multiple people need the same book, it's a pain. Multiple people starting characters at the same time, all but one is waiting for the book regardless of which you bought. To me, it's more about which aesthetic do you want.

 

overgeeked

B/X Known World

• Jun 12, 2024

• #5

DarkCrisis said:

I like box sets and see they have 2. Which you have to get both to get the "Advanced" version which I guess is B/X style but with Race/Class etc.

Click to expand...

Classic Fantasy is pure B/X.

Advanced Fantasy is most of the AD&D races, classes, spells, monsters, magic items, etc ported over to the B/X chassis.

Necrotic Gnome did themselves no favors by splitting things up in weird ways between books and boxes. I'd suggest sticking with either books or boxes. Mixing and matching is possible, but awkward.

What gets you all the Advanced content is:

1) Classic Box and the Advanced Box
2) Classic Rules Tome and the Advanced Box
3) Advanced Player's and Advanced Referee's Tomes

 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero

• Jun 12, 2024

• #6

overgeeked said:

Classic Fantasy is pure B/X.

Advanced Fantasy is most of the AD&D races, classes, spells, monsters, magic items, etc ported over to the B/X chassis.

Necrotic Gnome did themselves no favors by splitting things up in weird ways between books and boxes. I'd suggest sticking with either books or boxes. Mixing and matching is possible, but awkward.

What gets you all the Advanced content is the Classic Box plus the Advanced Box or the Classic Rules Tome plus the Advanced Box.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the profusion of confusing formats is really the biggest misstep Necrotic Gnome has made, after doing so many other things right.

For all the people who like the choices, I suspect he's turned off plenty of people by confusing the heck out of them.

 

Gus L

Explorer

• Jun 12, 2024

• #7

Core OSE is essentially Moldvay Basic Expert (B/X). OSE Advanced takes various borrowings from AD&D's PHB, DMG, and MM and makes a larger game from them - this is where Gavin has done the most editing and transformation ... but again not a huge amount (AD&D is just a bit kludgey RAW and needs some trimming to get hammered onto B/X).

Personally I'd get hold of the originals and kludge my own nonsense together (or use BECMI's rules maybe?) Basic, Expert and the AD&D books are worth reading for the examples and "theory" in them, which is where they break from BECMI, but what OSE offers is primarily streamlining without that.

Dolmenwood is a far more unique product using largely the same mechanics with some popular OSR improvements/changes like slot encumbrance (I think) and reworked/reskinned classes to fit its built in setting.

The honest truth is that once you understand B/X you can fairly easily parse what's going on in D&D (to 3.5E), retro-clones, and "OSR" systems or adventures - though some of the more distant ones take more work. That was itself one of the major achievements of the OSR, using B/X as sort of a Rosetta Stone -- though of course this was how a lot of people did things in the 1980's anyway.

 

S

SpellObjectEnthusiast

Adventurer

• Jun 12, 2024

• #8

Whizbang Dustyboots said:

For all the people who like the choices, I suspect he's turned off plenty of people by confusing the heck out of them.

Click to expand...

I don't think that OSE was expected to blow up like it did. He was originally appealing to die-hard B/X fans who'd both understand and want the different lines. And then the project exploded and 1070% funded, then became even more popular from there.

 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero

• Jun 12, 2024

• #9

SpellObjectEnthusiast said:

I don't think that OSE was expected to blow up like it did. He was originally appealing to die-hard B/X fans who'd both understand and want the different lines. And then the project exploded and 1070% funded, then became even more popular from there.

Click to expand...

Oh, he's clearly a smart guy and is -- at least for now -- stuck with past choices.

I do think that letting the boxed sets go out of print and just moving forward with the tomes is probably the smart move in future.

 

MockingBird

Hero

• Jun 13, 2024

• #10

I got the basic book. I did look at the boxes a while back and admittedly was confused on what was required/needed. I just stuck witht he basic and have enjoyed it.