Buttons without Instructions
As you step into the safety of the small unfamiliar room, a heavy wooden door closes behind you with the distinctive KA-CLUNK of the locking mechanisms found in this dungeon. The relief your exhausted body was expecting boils into a panic as you realize your furry companion, Scraps, is not beside you. You hear your dog whine and scratch at the packed earth floor under the door…from the wrong side!
I recently listened to Glass Cannon’s session zero of Shadowdark. I haven’t listened to this podcast in years, so I’m not sure if this is their first OSR game, but they presented it in a away that it might be the audience’s first OSR actual play.
To explain OSR philosophy, they kept mentioning “The answer is not on your character sheet” and “Leverage your environment”
The pain radiating from your elbow nose and foot are a reminder to the horrors that are locked into the hallway with Scraps. You take inventory of what you have: an Iron Axe, a Kite Shield, Fur Armor, a Spellbook of Fireball, and some Lock Picks…
What do you do?
Magic loses its magic when it’s optimized
Rules-lawyering magic is just science with out experimentation.
I’m a big fan of rules-lite games where spells are little more than a few prompts to spark creativity and conversation. My all-time favorites are Tome of Chaos and Maze Rats
One of my first attempts at writing a prompt-based game was Inventory Monsters a one page “Solo Booster Crawl” that you play when you open a pack of Pokemon Cards.
I learned a lot from writing Inventory Monsters and used some of its elements in my newest game Prop Master. I wanted a game that treated everything like improvised weapon, so I tied the game mechanics to the object’s condition. (Pretend you are a stage actor: a well made prop is going to be safe and easy to use, but as the prop becomes more damaged it’s going to become proportionally more difficult to use and dangerous)
In Prop Master, throwing a rock has the same mechanics as casting a spell. Some may see that as cheapening magic, but I view it as elevating ordinary objects.
As you’ve probably noticed, Prop Master is not an OSR game, even though I specifically wrote it to run OSR modules. It’s probably in the “NSR” or “POSR” genre. Regardless, I love the OSR play style and I wanted to contribute a new way to experience your favorite adventures.
Also, there is no character sheet in Prop Master (it uses folded sticky notes as cards) so the answer will technically never be on your character sheet, and at any point you can leverage your environment by breaking off a piece and adding it to your inventory!
The door goes silent…then you hear Scraps let out a deep growl. She must have heard something down the hallway!
Quick, what are you going to do?!
Kick the door open?
You consider kicking down the door. You’re strong and you’ve done it before (hence the pain in your foot). You could plant your foot down and roll D12 + 4, and as long as you get above 8 it should work!
…but the GM points out that the door swings into the room, not into the hallway. They let you know, that your character knows, that the door cannot be kicked in
pick the lock?
You consider picking the lock. Crouching you would need to roll above 10 with D12 + 4 to set one of the pins. You remember that every other lock in this dungeon had 6 pins. You worry that might take too much time…
Cast Fireball?
Looking at the wooden door, you consider casting fireball… You would need to roll above a 4, and so long as you stand still D12 + 4 would be an automatic success!
The GM reminds you that you are in a small room and wearing fur armor. Cast at your own risk!
Chop Down The Door?
Holding your axe, you consider chopping the door down. You would need to roll above a 7 with D12 + 4. With each hit you could do 7 damage to the heavy door, and it would bust once it accumulates more than 21 damage—so four good swings. That’s reasonable!
Dig under the door?
Scraps returns to scratching at the earth under the door, this time with a sense of urgency. In the short time she has made some progress. You are able to see one of her paws!
Looking at your Kite Shield it reminds you of a giant garden spade. To chop at the earth you would need to roll above a 3 with D12 + 4, another auto success!
Each chop with the shield would do 3 damage to the floor. Your dog’s efforts have loosened the dirt, but you are not sure by how much. This could take as much as 7 turns to reach above 21 damage, or maybe it could only take 2-3 turns…
Look around the room?
In your panic, you haven’t taken the time to search the room for solutions. You’re not sure how much time you have before whatever is in the hallway reaches Scraps, do you want to spend a turn searching the room for a key?
So… What Do You Do?
Are there any solutions that I didn’t think of?