Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Swords & Wizardry


I can't say for sure where I discovered the OSR, it might have been Grognardia, Dragons Foot, Basic Fantasy, or Swords & Wizardry.

The OSR taught me how to quit worrying and love D&D.

And while I love B/X Dungeons and Dragons (or Old School Essentials/Labyrinth Lord), there is something about Swords and Wizardry that really hums for me. I do know that very soon after discovering SnW, I found it's White Box adaption.

Between the two, I prefer White Box (both as White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game and The Hero's Journey).

I've been on a big SnW kick in the last few weeks, looking through what I own and finding new things I had missed.  I really would love to run it sometime and I might use it to run White Star for a Star Wars game this weekend. It's between White Star and FFG's Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Starter Box. I think FFG's Star Wars is a neat game, but those whacky dice are hard to say "yes" to.

Part of the reason I like SnW and its derivatives is the single Saving Throw mechanic, its use of Base Attack Bonus, and it's use of ascending AC. I can still calculate THAC0 but I've grown pretty comfortable with BAB and Ascending AC.
But beyond those areas I find that it cuts out extraneous rules and hums along like a well-oiled machine.

I'm sure Swords and Wizardry doesn't need me to plug it but sometimes when you love something you just need to tell the world.

3 comments:

Brian I said...

Longtime fan of S&W (Complete, WB, etc.). Dig LL and very much the open source heavy Basic Fantasy RPG. Right now, I'm finding the Old School Editions rules tome to be the sweetest presentation of the old B/X clones, but it's all essentially the same game.

Cross Planes said...

@Brian, I feel you. While I didn't get in on the OSE KS but own the PDFs and it's predecessor B/X Essnentials.

I even wrote and Class Catalog, both for BXE.

Truth be told, I love them all and it's hard to choose between them.

I also recommend B/X Gangbusters and Tall Tales both by Mark Hunt for B/X

Brian I said...

Oh, I've got your B/X Ascending stuff, so I know. :) . Mark Hunt's work on Gangbusters B/X is especially good.

Monster Monday: Ork City's Chupacabra for Shadowdark

Welcome to Ork City! In the middle of Ork City's Hatt Island is the Park, a wild and dangerous forest filled with all manner of nightmar...