The OSR, or Old School Renaissance, is perhaps the most active and productive subculture in the RPG hobby. The scene is constantly producing new games, zines, blogs, adventures, and play aids at a rate that could overwhelm even the most insatiable gamer! If you’re interested in seeing what the buzz is all about and trying an OSR game for yourself, these are the best places to start; rules-light, stylish, unbeatably quick to get to the table, and in some cases, very familiar.
Shadowdark
Kelsey Dionne of the Arcane Library got her start writing some of the best adventure modules for Dungeons & Dragons you can find. It was only a matter of time until she made her own game! Shadowdark is the easiest OSR game to jump into if you’re already familiar with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition—it’s built on the same system. Characters feel familiar, and it hones in on the most finely tuned element of D&D: the dungeons! Shadowdark brings elements of survival horror back to dungeon crawling, with a “torch timer” that counts down when your party will be thrust into terrifying darkness in real time. You’ll be amazed at how much your party can get done when they realize they only have one hour of light left.
Mörk Borg
Swedish game designer Pelle Nilsson and artist Johan Nohr put together one of the most stylish games of all time in Mörk Borg (it’s pronounced “murk borg” and it’s Swedish for “dark castle”). Set in a dark, ruined, pre-apocalyptic hellscape, player characters strive to get rich and/or die trying in the last days before the end of the world. It’s grim, it’s gritty, and it’s crazy lethal, but you’ll have so much fun dying and creating a grimy new character you won’t even mind it! Mörk Borg is full of incredible art and inspiration, plus a great dungeon in the back pages.
Stars Without Number (et al.)
Known for having perhaps the greatest suite of game master tools ever printed, Kevin Crawford’s Without Number series is a necessary addition to any GM’s collection. Covering sci-fi (Stars Without Number), fantasy (Worlds Without Number), cyberpunk (Cities Without Number), and post-apocalyptic (Ashes Without Number), there’s a game in Crawford’s bibliography for everyone. Sharing a modular and broadly intercompatible rules system, characters in any one of these games could transfer to the others (if your fantasy crew found a spaceship, for example). The bulk of each of these books is a massive GM section, containing system-neutral tools for worldbuilding, adventure, faction, and NPC generation, creating settings, settlements, scenarios, and locations, names, optional rules, and tons of other goodies. Throw in the fact that Crawford offers free digital versions of each game, and picking them up is a no-brainer.
Dolmenwood
With its origins in Old School Essentials, a “retroclone” that streamlined and reproduced classic B/X Dungeons & Dragons, Dolmenwood forges its own identity with its enchanted fairy forest setting and a number of adjustments to the system best characterized as quality-of-life improvements. If you want to play a game that feels like old-school D&D with the benefit of fifty years of iteration and updated design sensibility, Dolmenwood is an excellent choice. It even comes in three books, one for players, one full of monsters, and one for GMs who want to run a campaign.
Dungeon Crawl Classics
A longstanding entry in the OSR canon, Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics is gonzo pulp fantasy. DCC sets itself apart by leaning into the wild, pulpy tone of the sci-fi/fantasy/sword-and-sorcery classics that first inspired the modern tabletop roleplaying hobby. Players start with a stable of level-zero nobodies who become heroes by surviving a highly lethal first adventure called a “funnel.” The gods and magic are strange, powerful, and unpredictable, each spell having a bespoke table for things that can go wrong (or right) when casting it. And weapons also get detailed critical hit and fumble tables too! DCC’s commitment to fun and randomness also carries through in its expanded dice set, including those with 3, 5, 7, 14, 16, 24, and 30 sides.
FIST
A cross between the A-Team and Metal Gear Solid, Claymore’s FIST casts players as a crack team of Cold War-era paranormal mercenaries operating on the periphery of international law to stop the forces of evil. Character creation is quick, random, and incredibly fun, resulting in wild combinations of traits that give your team texture and flavor. FIST uses a dice system borrowed from Powered by the Apocalypse games and marries it to the OSR philosophy. Players attempting something dangerous roll 2d6 and add a stat, failing on a 6 or less, succeeding on a 10 or better, and getting a mix of both in between. With its robust random generators for scenarios and adversaries, FIST rapidly became my go-to for one-shots when the whole group couldn’t make a session, and it also works great for long-term campaign play.
Into the Odd
With a subtle nod to its inspiration from Original Dungeons & Dragons, or OD&D, Into the Odd is a profoundly simple game. From OSR legend Chris McDowall, the rules are easy: “roll a d20 under one of your three stats to avoid peril” is essentially the core system, but a great deal more emerges from the game’s appealingly presented subsystems, character creation, exploration, and combat rules. Notably, Into the Odd gets rid of “rolling to hit” in combat; attackers simply roll damage, reduced by the defender’s armor. This makes combat dangerous and deadly, and encourages players to be clever in avoiding it or stacking the odds in their favor. The game is quick to learn without feeling too spare, and has dozens of “hacks”, “Odd-likes”, or “Mark of the Odd” games for anyone looking for a twist on the formula; check out Cairn for woodland fantasy, Electric Bastionland for industrial age tech and magic, and Mausritter for playing Redwall-style tiny mouse warriors against a big, dangerous world!
Perils & Princesses
Ryan Lynch’s gritty and pretty fairy tale fantasy game Perils & Princesses features brave princesses (of any gender—the book makes compelling cases for Luke Skywalker and Frodo Baggins as princesses) using humble magic, gifts from their fairy godmothers, and their wits, grace, and resolve to overcome challenges inspired by folklore. Adorned with stunning storybook-style artwork from start to finish, Perils & Princesses is a delightful and family-friendly OSR-style game that can handle anything from a picnic with pixies to a dungeon crawl with dragons.
Mothership
Blessed with one of the most active fan communities in the entire indie RPG sphere, Tuesday Knight Games’ Mothership is practically a subculture unto itself. A science fiction game of both corporate and cosmic horror, players take on contracts from interplanetary megacorps as expendable, deniable assets and enter horrifying scenarios to, in the words of the game’s tagline, “survive, solve, save. Pick one.” Mothership is an excellent starting place for new GMs, as the Warden’s Operations Manual is one of the best guides available for running any game (not just Mothership). In addition, the massive community supporting and creating supplementary work for the game means you’ll never want for gameable content.
Basic Fantasy
It feels as if any OSR game list would be incomplete without Basic Fantasy. BF is a true retroclone, essentially a reproduction and consolidation of the rules for classic Dungeons & Dragons. There’s a ton of stuff available on their website, but new GMs should start with the core rules and explore from there. Everything is available for free digitally and at-cost in print, making it a simple and cost-effective option for authentic old-school gaming; no bells, no whistles, just good old-fashioned adventure!
This is just a taste of the massive selection of what’s out there for the OSR enthusiast, but it’s enough to whet your appetite and support your first steps into this burgeoning hobby scene. If you’re looking to try one today, check out StartPlaying’s listings for OSR games!
Sean Foer is a game designer, editor, writer, video creator and professional GM.
