Why the OSR is better than D&D 5e

To be honest, that description of the kitchen is on-point. 👍

yeah no, bro I like block text, it makes shit so much easier. Not a way in hell Im dming osr if this is something you preach it's 'better' than 5e at

I'm sorry I like flowery descriptions? Hate 5e, but... Idk. I'm probably never gonna find the system or whatever that works for me. I hate being autistic, I have all this stuff in my head and I wanna get it out and let my friends experience it but I'm probably never gonna be able to do either of my Fantasy settings because I just screw everything up it feels like. Idk where I fit in because I love world building but hate 5e and how quickly you get ultra powerful, but most old school systems are missing stuff I want and/or have stuff I don't. Should I just stick to being a player? Should I just run Cyberpunk and other sci-fi stuff? I'm freaking out over this honestly

This is a great video. Perfect explanation. Part of why I love DCC so much.

Both suck. Play Shadowdark…

WORD.

I hear ya

Where do people buy TSR products in a really good state? Every time when I look up at TSR stuff all of it looks like it was puked out and eaten and puked out again.

Do you think too many details can hamper the players? I figured the more details the more ideas they could come up with? Is there a sweet spot?

Yep, that's how adventures should be designed!

Ehhhhh I bounced off the chateau of the blood baron when we ran it

A problem I noticed with Lost Mines of Phandelver is how much people want their hands held.

I remember people crying about how poorly written it was because it didn't give motive for the dragon cult or the Blackspider.

When I would suggest people stretch their DM muscles and come up.with those, the pushback I constantly got was "It's not my job to write their adventures for them."

Those giant blocks of text exist in 5e books, because new DMs wouldn't know how to handle it without them. The sad reality is newer DMs just don't know how to fill the gaps in.

OSR is for real players that have the skill to tell a story not read a book to the new kids

The MOMENT i saw the Mörk Borg patch on your jacket i knew id hit the jackpot

Going through your whole video catalogue now!!!!!! Huzzah!

EVERYTHING Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea and Dungeon Crawl Classics qualifies for me 😅

Completely agree. I hate all that box text.

I did a solo run through of one of the OSE adventures to re-learn the rules. It had been a minute since I’d played OG D&D. I remember every damned room of that place. Simple descriptions that got your imagination churning. Lost half a party, hired some more, went back in for seconds well past learning because I wanted to PLAY it.

I’ve read several of the big book 5e adventures. I can barely remember them. They were just so on rails. No room for imagination. Everything was done for you. They were fun. Like a marvel movie. And just like a marvel movie, kinda forgettable outside a couple of specific ones.

💯

That's why TTRPG are fun! You're free to play the way you like. If you play Curse of Sthrad you're free to change it to your taste.

I'm a new DM and I'm playing the lost mine of Phandelver with my group. I changed so much stuff from the original book!

Because I'm free to change everything, I like to give a simple description to each room following the pattern:

"{adjective} {adjective} {name of the room} {movement or odor description} {small list of objects visible}."

For example:

You enter a hot and moldy kitchen. Rats run around the corners looking for food. You see a bloody table, servants working and a fancy silverware.

Now the players are free to act, ask questions and interact.

I'm preparing my campaign for the Lost Mine of Phandelver using notion and I'm rewriting the original book to fit this OSR style :)

Halls of the Blood King is SUCH a good adventure. Outstanding.

Yes I picked up those Ravenloft modules including Gryphon Hill!

To be fair, huge descriptions can also be seen in osr products

Hey what's that little black and white patch that looks like a diamond with legs? On your right side on the front.

Lol youre out of your mind

I absolutely HATE box text! Unless it’s a character speaking when the characters enter the room I don’t want it! It just gets in the way

Ummm... they're both good. OSR isn't better be cause of adventure description but the weight of decision and consequences. LOL 😂😂😂 way to miss the mark.

No. The point of moduals is its written for you. So the written describing it is good so I don't have to.

Ive run curse of strahd several times. I just ignore the descriptions and make up my own...

Everyone is going to create their own setting off of these things so sitting here saying one thing is better than the other is poppycock for instance one person might read the books description and one person might come up with his own doesn't necessarily mean one is better than the other

Idk about that take, big descriptions are optional? They are very good for modules minimizing dm's workload while yku still have crwative charge if you so desire.

I tend to like “read it aloud” box text. I don’t like paragraphs and paragraphs of “DM only” text that you have to sift through to find details like # of monsters, gold or items in their pockets, features of the room, etc. all for bulleted lists for this kind of stuff. But a short flowery description is nice.

what was the original?

ok grognard. the new one gives one central feature that a dm can build around or expand on. Players can explore learn from it ignore it or perhaps manipulte it. neither is better or worse. it comes down to creativity and comunication of players and dms.

Not a fan of box text. As a compromise, box text examples with the major details of the scene highlighted. Easy to ignore the majority of the text when skimming or glancing during play. Would be nice to run an adventure where I don't have to do major editorializing beforehand though

Thank you great and truthful statement

Look. I have ADHD and apparently I have more patience than you. Like what you like, don't trash different tastes.

"It's wonderful: for a novel" and for newer DMs who benefit from examples.

OSR is not objectively better, it's potentially better for more experienced DMs

But in each module is literally states the box text can be used but does not need to be used. You can change anything. Any DM with experience knows this.

Or, oh idk, you should just grow up and decide for yourself if you want to use tge books descriptions or your own

Need to know where to pick up a mork borg patch

I never read these to players. Always use them to grab a couple details to make it work with my group setting

There should be a little of both. A bullet list followed by a “sample box text”. Or the box text but they bold the key words so the dM can easily craft their own description. I usually do this with a highlighter if I’m using published material

I need to get a copy of 2E's House of Strahd. For some reason, that one gets overlooked

Love it!

Dogshit take. Boxtext isn't mandatory and having it is better than not having it.

And it doesn't freaking hours to read. Waaay too much filler in these big corporate books.

The description aren't something you need to follow to the t

Yeah, some people get their feet under them with box text. Others mostly ignore it. Doesn't seem like a bad thing to me.
I can definitely imagine scenarios where a clean brief description is helpful though.

I get what you are saying, but it's kinda stupid because nowhere does it tell you that you have to use the box text, you can easily just rephrase it in your own way

"This is how adventures should be designed" if your writing staff is lazy.