New Year, Old School System!

Just a brief update, with hopefully much more to come.  This post may sound funny given my last post had such a heavy sci fi love fest to it.  However, thanks to some great friends, I was led to take a renewed look at Old School Essentials (OSE)! By the highly talented Gavin Norman.

     I didn't back the kickstarter on this one back when it was going on, I figured, well I already have my original B/X books and I have Labyrinth Lord. Also, I had already backed a ton of Kickstarters at the time and my group was heavily into 5E. But things are different now, as I have mentioned, 5E while fun, isn't the game I want to run or really play that much these days. I'm an old school gamer at heart and the OSR is home to me. My group interestingly enough after playing a lot of 5E have said they want to play something else. That's where OSE comes in! I mentioned it to them as an option and they jumped at it!  I was surprised at their interest! 
     I went to buy the books in print, and found they were Out of Stock! Wow, that's a good sign!  Luckily I now have them in PDF, while eagerly awaiting for the print books to be back in stock.  I have the B/X originals but love the look, layout and ease of use of OSE. 
     What's so great about OSE you ask? Gavin has done a fantastic job of taking the B/X rules and putting them in a much easier to follow, player friendly format.  He even has the option of Ascending AC built into the game while also retaining THACO for those who prefer it. Me? sorry, I hate math, and yeah I know THACO is "easy", but I think Ascending AC is easier at the table.  Also OSE is super easy to be house-rule! With OSE, I feel I have a solid, proven B/X foundation to build the kind of game that I and my players want to play. I never felt comfortable tweaking 5E, wasn't sure how "x" fitted with "y" behind the scenes. but Old School D&D like B/X? I cut my teeth on that game! I can stat up a monster or encounter in my head on the fly.  Last night my group met, and had a very special sort of Session Zero, more to come on that. But you can expect to be hearing more from me about OSE and our new Campaign! 
Long Live the OSR!!
Good Gaming -B.B.
    

Happy New Year!

What's this a post on my blog? 
Several people are doing posts reflecting on 2019 and speculation as to what they will be doing in 2020. I recently realized 2019 marked my 40 years of playing/running RPG's.  I started gaming back in 1979.  Believe it or not, the first game I GM'd was Gamma World (1st edition), and not D&D.  D&D (and D&D based games) has always been in the background these past 40 years, but I've played a ton of other games over the years.  A big helping of Sci Fi has always been there (Traveller, Rifts, Gamma World, etc..).  Gaming has been a kind of therapy for me all these years. When things were gloomy or bleak, I could channel my energies into creating interesting worlds and characters to help get through the rough spots of my life. Hardly the evil Satanic influence, that they tried to say it was back in the day. LOL

As for 2019...in 2019, I did a good bit of gaming, played (& DM'd) a lot of 5E.  Ran a really fun Stars Without Number Campaign, that unfortunately had to end due to work schedules and life stuff.  Played Call of Cthulhu for the first time in a mini-campaign. Worked in other OSR games as time permitted.  Played way too much Fallout. Later in 2019, I found myself in full blown Sci Fi mode.  I just can't seem to get enough of it. Shows like The Expanse, Mandalorian, and more, helped to feed my sci fi cravings... So here marks the first day of the year 2020...wow, for an old guy like me 2020 sounds very sci fi... growing up as a kid, we were all led to believe the world would have been nuked by now...Glad we are still here!

2019 also marked the 10 year anniversary of this blog! Wow a decade of Green Skeleton Gaming Guild. Something I started on a whim, back in the early OSR days.  I readily admit I have not posted nearly as much as I did in the early days. On more than one occasion I considered taking the blog down. I spent a good bit of time (too much time) on G+ when it was a thing, I poke around on MeWe a bit now.  But the blog is still here, I launched it when the Mutant Future RPG was a new thing, and that took me back to my P.A. gaming roots.  Heck even my online handle, Brutorz Bill, was inspired by my first Gamma World character, named after a mutant horse (Brutorz).  Haven't played any P.A. gaming in awhile, but I'm sure I will circle back around to it at some point. The Mutant Epoch has been on my shelf waiting to be played for far too long.

So where do I see things going in 2020?  I'm a fickle gamer, back in the early days of the hobby, we'd play all kinds of different things without thinking anything of switching when someone had bought a new game or adventure, always rotating back to D&D or Gamma World at some point. I think I will keep the blog up, for now anyways, I may not post much, but I kind of like having it around. For 2020, I'd like to get more Sci Fi gaming in, maybe revisit my Stars Without Number Campaign, or try something new. Cepheus Engine looks pretty cool, and a buddy just sent me Tiny Frontiers. As for fantasy gaming; 5E as much as I have tried to like it, just doesn't really wow me.  I'm an old school gamer at heart I think so that's likely where you will find me. There are so many awesome OSR games out there I still need to try; Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, Adventurer Conqueror King, B/X Essentials, Blood and Treasure etc...

I hope this post finds you healthy and happy. I hope 2020 is a year of fun, laughs and lots of gaming. 
May The Force Be With You!  -B.B.