Old School Essentials

 A retroclone true to the original

Image by Necrotic Gnome

[4 min read]

What is Old School Essentials?

You may have heard of a movement in Tabletop RPGs called the Old School Renaissance or Revival. I hadn't given it too much thought until the recent D&D 5E OGL fiasco, and since then I have skimmed a few 'retroclones' invoking the spirit of the earliest versions of D&D that form part of the OSR. These are: Five Torches Deep, 5e mechanics reimagined with the spirit of the earlier versions; Basic Fantasy, an early OSR product based on D&D 3.5E; and, going back even further, a product called Old School Essentials (OSE), which is based on the very original version of D&D. Like D&D B/X (Basic and Expert), there are two versions of OSE - Classic and Advanced - with the rules being consistent but more character options for the latter. Overall OSE was a great place to start on this journey into old school roleplaying, as my impressions after playing it will outline below.

My experience with the system

When I saw an invitation on Discord to an OSE Basic one-shot, I jumped at the chance to get exposed to my first retroclone. It was a three hour adventure, played in theatre of the mind and with voice only. The GM informed us they had incorporated some house rules such as ascending armour class and inventory encumbrance, but the rules and spirit behind them very much encourage the game to be adapted to your own table.

The GM also provided pre-generated characters using a very clever template on Google Sheets. It had a d20 and a d6 random generator built in - you only had to hit the delete button to refresh the sheet and generate a new roll. This sheet was an elegant solution for a game that is also very minimalist. We played a short adventure called Tangled, designed with the new player in mind.

Character sheet courtesy of Blair (they/any)

What I liked

Overall I had fun, experiencing the session through the lens of a passionate D&D player who never experienced the very genesis of the game. The main positive impressions were:

• Little to no setup time required when given a pre-generated character. Even if you had to generate a character, you can see from the sheet that it is very simple vs 5E
• Very few rules overall, allowing the players to focus on the scenario in front of them rather than researching optimal use of mechanics
• The flow of the game felt familiar enough - GM describes the scene, players asks questions and decide a course of action, occasionally resolving with a die roll
• There was more of an emphasis on player ingenuity than using dice rolls to determine outcomes
• The concept of dungeon turns - you declare what your character is doing over the next 10 minute interval - made managing limited resources such as torches and rations a nice challenge
• It was tense! Having only 4 hit points and 15 AC made my character feel very brittle, and so I was on edge while exploring the dungeon

What I didn't like

• Not falling back on "I want to make an Investigation check" when presented with an obstacle, but having to describe what my character was searching for, was a little jarring at first
• The original rules were not generous with casters at level 1 - my Elf had one spell, Light, and I could cast it once per rest. The cleric had no spells at all at level 1!
• My character died in one hit from the boss after failing a Death saving throw - no second chances. That is part of the appeal of the OSR, but I was out of the game for the rest of the adventure
• Some of the mechanics were just inconsistent - you roll D20 ability checks under your ability, but attacks and saving throws over the target number, and some checks are using a D6!

While I appreciated the elegant simplicity of the system with its minimalist mechanics, I did miss the depth of 5E that I have grown to accustomed to over the last two years. I don't think I would rush back to play OSE, but it gave me enough an appreciation of the OSR to try something a little more reimagined, like Five Torches Deep, or perhaps even more stretched, like Dungeon Crawl Classics.

What would I adapt to other games?

Part of my reason for exploring new RPG systems in 2023 was to also take inspiration from these into my own game of D&D 5E. From Old School Essentials, I think there could be a place for more structured dungeon crawling where inventory and choice matter, creating a sense of dread due to the mortal threat posed just be exploration itself. Additionally, I might ask the players to take a little more ownership on the outcomes of these choices, versus relying on the skills of the characters. I think that would take some adjustment on both sides, but in the context of a dungeon crawl, could work.

What do you think, are you interested in going back to the old school approach?

Tangled, an Old School Essentials adventure
Available for sale at Afterthought Committee