OSR Dragonslayer RPG truly delivers.

Retreater said:

I'll take your word on it. The reviews seemed positive and the reviewers favorable to the designer. That's just what they mentioned in the reviews.
I've enjoyed the dungeons he's made, but I'm at my OSR system threshold. I didn't back Dolmenwood, Shadowdark, or the Swords and Wizardry revision. At this point, I just have everything I need to fit that genre.

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I hear you. I more or less just collect and read them. I enjoy the different takes on "what Gary should have done". That's why when one comes around that I actually want to play I get excited.

Shardstone said:

Its hard to think of something to ask about because I have no idea what has and has not changed, or what scale of differences there are.

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Well I'll try and help out as best I can.

The major reasons Dragonslayer is really standing out to me now are:
1) Art. Honestly worth grabbing for the art alone. Think of the vibe the AD&D Player Handbook cover gives off: Dragonslayer captures that on every page.
2) Borrowing ideas from other additions that improve the game. The others on this list are all tripping over themselves to recreate the old ruleset, but miss out on some of the later editions improvements. Full HP at Lv1, Clerics converting any Lv1 spell into a Cure Wounds, Fighters getting Cleave, Attacks of Opportunity, Death at -10, etc. These are all critical additions to the game and appreciate having them here.
3) Small innovations throughout. There are way too many of these to name, and by themselves they don't add much, but together add up to a better game. Example, Bind Wounds is an action the party can take after combat that allows them to head 1d3 hp and brings unconscious PCs (<0 HP) to 1 HP at the cost of a Random Monster Check. Great rule that aids in extending dungeon crawls.
4) Useful advice to newcomers in Appendices. The FAQ, Magic-User 101, and Sage Advice appendices at the end do a great job emphasizing the tone of OSR games while also offering solid survival advice. For instance: "Classic fantasy role-playing is a lot like playing Space Invaders from the 1980s. When you begin, you know you are going to die. The only question is: Will your death be worthy of legend?"

Where I stand right now:
Shadowdark: The best version of a Basic "Crawl" game. I run it similar to Warhammer Quest: Short dungeons set up like a board game ran back to back.
Dragonslayer: The best version of an Advanced "Crawl" game. I'll run it similar to Shadowdark, but with a focus on mega-dungeons and "meatier" campaigns.
Hyperborea: Best version of AD&D to play out Sci-Fi/Pulp adventures.
Castles & Crusades: Best version of AD&D to run longer, "Epic" campaigns, especially your own. This is because of the reduced lethality, greater system flexibility, ease of play, and progression to Lv20.
OSE: The best game for playing D&D EXACTLY like it used to. Great reference point for comparing other games.

Can I just say this sounds like a paid advertisement? I don't trust reviews (or posts) where someone calls an author of an non-academic publication, "Dr".

I think the person who said it was B/X with some AD&D bits and houserules was right. It's nothing special nor nothing that hasn't been done before.

Personally I can't stand the combination of AD&D and B/X. Both games were great in different ways and trying to smush them together into one game ends up with something worse than either.

I will grant the art is really good. However in many cases, they are incredibly similar to the 1e MM. Once you start nearly identically copying dozens of pieces of art, you can run into trouble over trade dress. The other thing is that it uses some things that are not in the SRD I don't know of the Tome of Horrors was ever released via the CC instead of the SRD, so maybe I am offbase.

Yeah Dragonslayer is pretty dang awesome. Now that I have a couple of sessions under my belt my group and I are adding a few house rules. Some things seemed better before we tried it. not being able to mem more than one copy of a spell seemed neat at first but its proving not so good. There just are not enough different spells to not make this a waste or pain. At least that is our current theory.

Still,it was a neat idea and I will end up keeping it in some form..its too evocative to just ditch it whole cloth but I think a little more flexibility is needed.

I mean honestly we end up house ruling every rpg we ever play to one degree or another.

At this point im the only one who ordered the hardback but I think in a few more sessions everyone else will end up ordering to.

So far only one player doesn't love it and this guy is our new guy who never played anything but 5E and is freaking out at no feats ect.. He is still having a good time but definitely having the worst time adjusting.

greymist said:

How many B/X-AD&D mash-ups does the world need?

Regardless of the product, I will never send a dime to Gillespie. I think Jahydin undersells Gillespie’s politics. I recommend you take a look at his RateMyProfessor page for some insight.

Also, while I had to purchase a number of textbooks that various professors wrote, I was never forced to provide a receipt showing that I had bought a new copy. That is nothing but immoral.

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Right? OSE is already so, I don't know, perfect? It is 100% the best representation of TSR era D&D in my opinion. Sure classic BX was pretty good and BECMI had its strengths but OSE just does it all better and that probably because Gavin wasn't restricted to a boxed set format and was basically editing the original texts. Where OSE really shines to demonstrate its "best" comment from me is the Advanced Fantasy rules that expand BX but also introduces the best elements of AD&D and explain those better than Gygax did. I really do NOT need another OSR book when I have OSE, AD&D1e to pull from and some of the stuff from LoFP is just really awesome for refreshing the experience. Same with Dolmenwood from what has been seen so far.

trancejeremy said:

Can I just say this sounds like a paid advertisement? I don't trust reviews (or posts) where someone calls an author of an non-academic publication, "Dr".

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Huh, didn't even think about it when I typed it. It's not what's written in the book after all. I guess it's just a habit of mine when I know someone is a Dr.

But paid advertisement? That's just silly. Just because I get excited about great games and want everyone to know if you use coupon code DRGREGIS#1 on checkout you can save... obviously joking.

trancejeremy said:

I think the person who said it was B/X with some AD&D bits and houserules was right. It's nothing special nor nothing that hasn't been done before.

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I started the thread so there would be no need to speculate what Dragonslayer is. I think I made a pretty good case how it's a unique contribution to the OSR, but if there's a game I missed that's already done everything I've went over, then please let me know.

Retreater said:

One fan reviewer spoke at length how revolutionary it was to have "ready-made equipment packs" for quick character creation, so I guess you've got that. (Provided you didn't want to use 5e or Castles and Crusades, or other games that have been doing that for a decade or more.)

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We were doing that in 1e. We called it the "Backpack of Necessities" and all of had the contents marked in our PHB and a note on our agreed upon cost of the item. This carried over into 2e as well because it just made sense. We also said a wizard had a "common components pouch" for all his level 1 spells and could refresh it on journeys as the party traveled over land rather than pushing for finding the components unless they were exotic. Same for Clerics.

Lichbeard said:

Yeah Dragonslayer is pretty dang awesome. Now that I have a couple of sessions under my belt my group and I are adding a few house rules. Some things seemed better before we tried it. not being able to mem more than one copy of a spell seemed neat at first but its proving not so good. There just are not enough different spells to not make this a waste or pain. At least that is our current theory.

Still,it was a neat idea and I will end up keeping it in some form..its too evocative to just ditch it whole cloth but I think a little more flexibility is needed.

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Oh, that's one of the rules I really like. Not letting players just stock up on "the usuals" forces them to innovate more and encourages seeking more out. Also balances out spellcasters a little bit.

With the max number of spells at 5 per level, and most spell list having up to 20 per level to choose from, I think there's enough variety. I say stick with it and see what happens!

teitan said:

We were doing that in 1e. We called it the "Backpack of Necessities" and all of had the contents marked in our PHB and a note on our agreed upon cost of the item. This carried over into 2e as well because it just made sense. We also said a wizard had a "common components pouch" for all his level 1 spells and could refresh it on journeys as the party traveled over land rather than pushing for finding the components unless they were exotic. Same for Clerics.

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It really is a useful feature that I think every game should adopt now. Being able to just write down your armor, weapons, then "Dungeon Pack" and be done is great.

trancejeremy said:

Can I just say this sounds like a paid advertisement? I don't trust reviews (or posts) where someone calls an author of an non-academic publication, "Dr".

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Certainly doesn't sound "organic."

Some Dude said:

Certainly doesn't sound "organic."

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sigh
In your opinion, what would have been a better way to talk about a game you just picked up and really excited about?