OSE Core Rulebook

"Old School Essentials - Core Rulebook" by Gavin Norman
Published and Distributed by Necrotic Gnome
ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-004-6 -- 80 Pages
The First Book of the Retro Adventure Game Books

There is currently a revival of "Old School" type rules for Dungeons and Dragons. I've bought and/or looked at and/or played and ran several of them, and this is one of the best.

This remake takes the old Tom Moldvay Basic and Expert ("B/X") rule sets, and dissects them into five Retro Adventure Rulebooks. This volume is available separately and as part of a great boxed set. This book covers the Core Rules for all of the Necrotic Gnome Retro Adventure Games and is totally indispensable.

Creating characters for use in whatever type of game your GM wants to use is first, and is the way the person you create becomes more realistic and can be used in the game. The most popular genre is the "Classic Fantasy" Core Rules, which comes with the boxed set, Necrotic Gnome packed all of these books full of very useful information. There are even charts on the inside front covers, and the inside back covers! These placements of rules is a very nice touch!

This book is about the basics of how to create your character, combat, magic, monsters, adventuring, and treasures. A good Table of Contents, which also serves as the Index, starts the book, with a short introduction about the game, and other primary rules.

Players are covered next with core rulebook information. Once everyone has created a character they like, and giving that character life and possessions, they may move on to the next phase.

Adventuring follows, and has parts on player and group organization and other rules for their characters.

Next comes Magic, which has basic info, but if the GM wants actual info on the spells your character may cast, that is in Book Two.

General notes on critters follow, and merely mentions them, because they are covered in more detail on each of them in the Third Book.

The next chapter is about actual play of the game. It focuses on running adventures and quite a bit about being a Game Master. The Game Master is like a referee. They are generally supposed to be a neutral party that is the final arbiter of the rules, and they handle the game as a Judge, a Jury, and occasionally an Executioner. They control all the items, the monsters and NPCs, and the game's system (which in this case will be the Old School Essentials books), and the setting - whether it may be outside traveling, in cities and sewers, in crumbling ruins or dungeons, in the wilderness and the villages, towns, and cities, and awarding Experience Points ("XP").

Assorted treasures rounds this book out. It includes where to place treasures, and what kinds are there, including Magical Items, Armor and Shields, Gems and Jewelry, Potions, Rods, Staves, and Wands, Rings, Scrolls and Maps, and finally Swords and Weapons.

The Open Gaming License and a handy index of Tables complete this work.

I've played some other games, and I've been gaming for over 40 years! I started in 1976 with what is commonly known as "The Little White Box" which contained four digest-sized booklets: 1) "Men and Magic", 2) "Monsters and Treasures", and 3) "Underground and Wilderness", and a small white pamphlet with very necessary tables. I feel as though my experience with gaming and role-playing in particular, gives me memories of the game as it was originally published, and thus real life experiences to use in this review.

I supported this through Necrotic Gnome's Kickstarter, and also received a module for the adventurers to explore called "The Hole in the Oak". Right now, I cannot think of a better retro-clone of older D&D. It reminds me of the original red booklet which was one of the first types of first edition. Highly Recommended.