An honest look at the Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy: Player’s Tome || OSR RPG Review

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Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy is a “retroclone” of Basic/Expert D&D (B/X) and Advanced D&D 1e. It can come as two books, the Player’s Tome and Referee’s Tome. This video covers the Player’s Tome.

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00:00 What is Old School Essentials?
03:29 Unboxing Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy
04:28 Intro to OSE Advanced Fantasy Player’s Tome
05:26 Player Characters in OSE
07:50 Character Classes in OSE Advanced Fantasy
10:12 Character Races in OSE Advanced Fantasy
11:41 Advancement in OSE
13:05 Equipment in OSE
16:12 Hired Help in OSE
17:58 Strongholds
19:01 Magic in OSE
21:45 Game Mechanics of OSE
26:41 Adventuring in OSE
29:35 Encounters in OSE
31:37 Combat in OSE
36:18 Conclusion

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[woody]

As far as I remember, the clerics and druids have less spells because they automatically have access to all of them unlike magic users who know a limited number based on their grimoire. Great review btw, cool to see some fresh eyes on this sort of stuff.

[cowpercoles]

In Dungeon Adventuring, the "1 in 6" chance to find things is a base chance, which varies based on class. There are many ways to offset this. First, players interact with the world not through passive skill rolls (like in 5e), but by describing how they explore things. If they have a 1 in 6 chance of detecting a secret door, they can specifically tell the DM "I'm going to mess with these torch sconces to see if I can tug one, and trigger the fireplace to spin around". If that works, no need for a roll, the DM just says, "Good thinking, yes, this fireplace spins around just like the one you found earlier near the dungeon entrance." This rewards player skill rather than using die rolls to automatically explore the dungeon like a PC in a videogame.
Second, the game is about loot, so better equipment and especially magic items, can improve the odds. Magic treasure is a game-changer, and a major way to power up your character, often more than leveling up. Detection spells also help. So a PC with a wand of detecting secret doors and traps, or a wizard with a similar spell, can make a strategic choice to expend item charges or spell slots to find secrets when it counts. Wizards can supplement their spells with purchased or home made scrolls (another use for treasure), to add to their total spells and avoid using valuable spell slots for detection spells.

[KyleMaxwell]

This is a pretty clear explanation. Most of the "weird" rules are there for a reason, designed to create a specific gameplay loop. Groups interested in OSE would probably do well to play it rules-as-written a bit before changing things out (but they definitely should do that eventually!)

[standingwavestudio]

As someone who grew up with the original D&D (started with the basic in Jr. High and quickly moved to AD&D 1e) and then spent a couple decades out of the hobby it's interesting to see what's happened. The "role playing" part of RPG has really taken hold. You have to remember back when Gygax and Arneson came up with D&D they were coming from a background in miniature wargaming. Things like setting up Napoleonic battles with miniatures and reenacting them. So while D&D was revolutionary in how it allowed players to take on the roles of adventurers with the DM setting up the challenges, it still owed a lot to wargaming where you do have tables for everything. If you could do something, there should probably be a table for it. Also, if you haven't, I would recommend the book Game Wizards by Jon Peterson. It's a fantastically researched history of those early days up to the fall of TSR.
And yes, player mapping of dungeons was a big deal and very fun. Players always had graph paper.

[laurelhill]

It is very interesting to see different view points, because all of the things you list as 'weird' and 'oddities' to me are completely and utterly normal. Coming from 1981, when I started playing, a half-orc paladin/rogue is weird to me! :)

I enjoyed this review, thanks for giving it!

[dangarthemighty]

I love OSE and feel like it's my favorite system to run D&D games with. Thank you for the reviews.

[SunBane]

Its funny seeing modern dnd people react to this stuff. Building castles and becoming royalty/warlords, limited classes and max levels for demihumans, AC going backwards, Hired henchmen, All stuff that to me is essential D&D aspects that really make the world feel gritty and realistic. I love it

[vidgrip]

Best thing about OSE is that its commercial success has spawned a wealth of adventure modules. Many of these modules include ascending armor class and attack bonus in the creature stat blocks. That allows these "OSE" modules to be used easily with other (in my opinion better) OSR versions of D&D. Thats a win for everyone who appreciates OSR gaming.

[davidlewis]

Not sure why people always make THACO so complicated. Even OSE could have done a better job of using it but they remained faithful to the "attack matrix" found in the old rules so there is that.

You don't need a chart to find out what you need to hit.

If my THACO was 15, I would subtract the monsters AC from my THACO to determine what I needed to hit it.

If the NPC had an AC of 4, then I would need a 11 to hit it it.

If the NPC had a -2 AC then I would need a 17 to hit it.

Its easy math :)

[ZeAshTonz]

I remember one of the old D&D's had a recommended player count of 4-16. Nerds back then might have been less common but more concentrated, which necessitated the design choice to include that many people. I might be remembering wrong, but this explains why OSE has a dedicated Caller roll. They're needed to efficiently organize the players so the game doesn't slow to a crawl. This is a really interesting bit of TTRPG history codified into the system!

[Krix]

D&D spread all over the world during the 70's because You made a quick PC, you usually got introduced to a town, & then sent right into a dungeon in search of gold & magic. It was personal. It wasn't a world-changing series of stories that start off great but soon dwindle into no people playing. Sure we saved the town children from the Troll Mother, but it was a quest we either got on the way to the old ruins or once there. There were story seeds, & ideas that hinted at a bigger picture, but it wasn't a long drawn out back n forth. Everyone got to shine in each game. It was dangerous, but you celebrated level 5. 5e created a new style of player, & Critical Role helped. While I'm sure its fun for those into it, or its all they know, I have to say that if you can find an Oldschool DM that themes his dungeons well you will have such a great time.

[Korroth]

100% agree, too many books. That’s why I have the classic tome for straight b/x and the advanced player and referee tomes for the AD&D splash version. You are 100% correct for the complete game you only need two books.

[dannyjingu]

Great video, you did an amazing job going through the books. Let me clarify some things that you found weird to give you context.
1.) The part you talked about strongholds and having retainers. That was designed as end game optional content when you've maxed out in level, or come very close. It was added into the Expert book of the pair and was intended as a way your character could retire or if the players wanted more than adventuring. It's not for everyone, and the BECMI Immortals box was devoted to you ascending to god-hood when you die, yet more end game content. (This was not added to OSE.)
2.) The wands part seems confusing at first, but you're on the outside, looking in. They follow a different saving throw because ANYONE can use the wand, although there are chances of the wand failing and even blowing up in the hand of the user.
3.) Clerics have less spells, but they can wear armor and cast unhindered, as well as fight with something better than a D4 weapon.

[Korroth]

Also, this is a really thorough review. Really good. Your perspective is also interesting, the rules seem pretty normal to me, but I was first introduced to D&D in 1980, and never saw 2e or anything beyond it due to adulting.

[joyahorrorshow]

this video actually convinced me to get a physical copy which i have been considering for a while. not to play really, none of my friends have the patience for complexity of this type really, more for the fun of reading and inspiration.

[sequoyahwright]

Regarding the physical books:

They are lovely, as many modern RPG physical print products are; hardback, good quality paper, one or more ribbon bookmarks. This is great for casual reading or display purposes. It is suboptimal for use at the table, however.

Many RPG books are published in this 6x9/A6/Digest-sized format primarily because the interface of the pdfs of books in that size work much better than 8.5x11/A4/Letter-sized products.

I am a DM/GM/Referee/et al, and when running games in person at the table, I use physical books. In my not inconsiderable experience, using a digest-sized hardback book for repeated or constant reference while running a game is inconvenient at best, regardless of the book's quality. There is no way to have the book lie flat on the table without causing damage to the binding, particularly with thick books, such as these Player's and Referee's Tomes, and so one is constantly needing to open it, flip through, refer to the rule or chart, and then lie it back down. Over time, this will stain the edges of the fine paper, and/or crack and damage the binding adhesive on the spine, which happened to my expensive faux leather bound Rules Tome.

The smaller, individual books may last longer or endure being broken in without damage, but I wouldn't know. The slipcase products with the individual books are in high demand and limited supply, and I was not able to get them, having arrived late to the OSE party, and being only a moderate backer of kickstarter campaigns.

The original "1st Edition" AD&D books were not too thick, and were full size, and so they would lie flat without damage once broken in.

My unsolicited recommendation, therefore, for those who wish to preserve the beauty and value of their hardback, digest-sized RPG books, is to put them on the shelf or the coffee table, reading them occasionally, and use pdfs to run/prep your games.



Also, considering the outstanding practicality of OSE's layout and formatting, absolutely print out your Class info, Race info, and other player reference materials and hand them out to players, possibly even crafting a playbook for them, since in my experience, players in general rarely deign to do such prep for themselves.

I highly recommend OSE for Titterpiggers who want to taste the sheer masochistic joy of old-school style play, where campaigns require months or years, resource management and problem solving are your most valuable skills, and your character's death may come at any moment, regardless of level or how long you've been playing them.

Thank you for posting this review, you do good work, sir.

[Alex-sfuz]

I got the classic rule tome about a year or two ago now and its served me well, Honestly it's what I would recommend all the classic rules in one book

[felipeuseche]

There is an understament with OSR games. The rules are light and lacking in some areas, by design. Your character doesn't have much abilities other than some static bonuses, by design. Sometimes reading them seems like the classes are lacking. They're not. Your character doesn't get better and cooler by just aquiring xp and going through a feature table. They have to engage with the fiction to get powerful: acquire spells (you don't get spells when you level up, just slots) and acquire magical items (which cannot be bought or gained through leveling). Explore, find items and spells, become powerful by doing stuff with your DM's world. Your character sheet does not have the answer to all your problems.

[couchchannel]

Thank you for clearing up my confusion about which books to get - it’s indeed the „Achilles heal“ of the product line that it comes in so many variations 🙃 for anyone like me, unsure what to get: the 2 books recommended in the video include both the „advanced“ AND the „classic“ rules, so if you want all the options, these are the ones to get. 🤓

[jcraigwilliams]

10:48 I actually enjoy the old cliches of the game, partly because most of the fantasy that I have read/ played over the past couple of decades hasn't followed them, so it's kind of a nice "homecoming" of sorts, returning to classic fantasy.

I played BECMI D&D when I first started gaming and then moved on because I found other systems that handled things like magic in a way that I preferred (I hate Vancian magic...) but there is something very enjoyable about coming back to it years later. It's kind of like comfort food for RPGs.

I think that one thing that some people don't get is that these games are just that-- games. Whereas many modern RPGs try to be more "realistic" (at least within the confines of their fiction), old school games were not always concerned about realism and balance, and some of the "weird rules" were purely to create challenges for players to overcome.

Sure it's logical that your recently deceased character might leave their wealth to your new level 1, but imagine playing Monopoly and having your Race Car token bequeath Park Place to your Top Hat for the next game... Starting over is meant to mean starting over.