Tenkar's Tavern: The Osmond Family RPG

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Osmond Family RPG

No, don't go looking for a link or bother doing a google search. There isn't one (my God I HOPE there isn't one). It's just that as I sit here in the Poconos, watching my hives appear even fuller (but the discomfort is almost all gone, go figure) I have Donnie and Marie Osmond bouncing around the nether region of my mind. The Dark Side, if you will.

That damn stupid ass song: I'm a little bit Country... I'm a little bit Rock n Roll!

I'm a little bit OSR, I'm a little bit 3E. And a smidgen Rolemaster, MERP, BRP, CoC, FATE, Rifts, peanut butter and chocolate...

Just imagine if I HAD been drinking. This could have been a whole lot worse, but the point is labels dont mean shit except from a marketing perspective.

Talking about marketing, I wonder if one could pull off an Osmond Family RPG. I mean, TSR did publish a Dallas boardgame. I actually owned that train wreck in my youth.

1 comment:

Roger the GSJuly 18, 2010 at 3:37 AM
Stranger things have crawled forth under the sun in our days.
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Osmond Family RPG

1 comment:

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