On the OSR versus TSR eras.
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One of the most common ways this dislike comes into play is when someone mentions the creativity of the current OSR compared to material that has been published by TSR/Wizards of the Coast.
Rather than make any sort of claims, I wanted to take a minute to share my experience.
Earlier this week, I was working on designing one of the contested areas inside Numenhalla. It is effectively a sewer, and I knew several things about it. I knew that part of the level is flooded, that it had a non-functioning water pump that if fixed could unflood the section of the dungeon and several other things which I won't mention because dozens of my players read this blog.
So, before I start on any sort of design, I look at what came before. We have decades of material from TSR and nearly as much accumulated information from years and years of the OSR blogosphere. This is a common practice among writers known as research.
What I find is interesting and fairly consistent with my experience is this.
1) An adventure about a merchant who lost 10 dinosaur eggs in the sewer. The adventure consisted of a random encounter table (all attack on sight) and miles and miles of sewers to be explored until all 10 dinosaurs were killed or recovered or winter arrived.
2) A short introduction adventure where players chase a vampire chasing a target through 4 very simple sewer encounter areas (Hidden entrance, bat swarms, black pudding, secret shaft to surface)
3) A plot by a were-rat to take over a small town with a three room sewer dungeon containing were-rats.
In Dragon Magazine, I find a few articles.
1) Issues 326 contains "Down the Drain" exploring the history of sewers and how they might appear in a fantasy setting. It contains such gems as "The earliest sewers began as storm drains" and "Maybe no one knows why sewers exist. . . Players and the DM might think the mystery worth investigating -- or not". Also: "Disease and poverty run rampant [in the sewers], and many of the inhabitants turn to crime to survive".
2) Issue 238 contains 4 sewer monsters in 4 pages: Necromantic sludge, plague moth, albino crocodile, and water cat.
I mean, that's all ok, I guess.
What Happened Next
Then I open up http://osrsearch.blogspot.com/
I type in Sewer.
This article pops up on the first page: Sewer Tables That I meant to do awhile a go by Scrap Princess
Just a random sample includes:
cults ("The Bell Drowners. They drown bells. The music of a efficiently drowned bell is rather unsettling |ultrasonic abilities"),
Thief gangs ("Snatch and grabbers , ride trained climbing goats"),
Alchemical Horrors ("A symbiotic second skin. Now lurching around looking for someone to attach to. Not a good idea."),
Lost places,
Enigmas ("Statues hanging from chains around their feet, so the head remains in sewage")
critters ("Sewer Manatee"), and
Predators ("Murder Weasel").
cults ("The Bell Drowners. They drown bells. The music of a efficiently drowned bell is rather unsettling |ultrasonic abilities"),
Thief gangs ("Snatch and grabbers , ride trained climbing goats"),
Alchemical Horrors ("A symbiotic second skin. Now lurching around looking for someone to attach to. Not a good idea."),
Lost places,
Enigmas ("Statues hanging from chains around their feet, so the head remains in sewage")
critters ("Sewer Manatee"), and
Predators ("Murder Weasel").
I mean, it's 685 words that somehow manage to be more immediately useful and helpful then the thousands and thousands of words published over the course of years by TSR.
And lest you think this solely has to do with the savant nature of the prodigy that is Scrap Princess, other articles that popped up on OSR search include this three article series from Hereticwerks on interesting things found in the sewers.
A comment on table I "One of the best things about this table is how it avoids the obvious. Even ordinary things here are extraordinary in some way, or at the very least a great lead-in to an encounter or an adventure. It feeds naturally into your worlds, and references all kinds of material, but could easily be used in any weird sewer. Imagination and practicality"
So what's the conclusion one should draw here?
I know that sounds facetious, but I ask it with some seriousness. Are players more interested in saying at the end of an adventure "Yep, that was completely logical!" instead of enjoying the mystery of swimming mirrors? Is that what sells and we're just an odd group wanting to focus on the strange? Should we be instead be writing articles about how "sewers are built from bricks" and "Waste and rainwater fill the sewers"?
I'm not sure today's post really has a point other than read Monster Manual Sewn from Pants and use OSRsearch.blogspot.com.
Hack & Slash
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