I’m a bit confused by the article. It starts off by trying to analyze whether or not yoon-suin is ‘bad’ because of ‘orientalism’ and then let’s it off the hook because it seems to be instead inspired by western fantasy tropes which then also makes it ‘bad’ for another reason.

I would be really interested in an explanation of how to do this properly - creating something new that isn’t western fantasy without being inspired by somewhere else or doing it respectively - is it even possible?

I’m also interested in dismissing works because they include some evil that is real in the world. In this case its a caste system. Must all societies depicted in rpgs work be wholly good - devoid of all the real evils that people and societies do?

A very interesting topic that I unfortunately don’t have any good opinions on…

I just found this mentioned on the throne of salt blog shouting out a design file from Clayton Notestine. https://www.explorersdesign.com/products/classic-explorer-starter-template

From the website - it’s inspired by a review of the ItO layout, but it also includes notes and tips rather than simply being a layout. There is a paid version as well.

Fair enough :)

If this does end up being of the quality and scope of Wolves, getting in at $5 is a great deal. I’ve liked some of their other work - so I’m definitely considering it. It would be great to see a review or preview

edit: there is a preview available - looks like it shows off a good amount of what the content is like

Looks interesting. Just a correction it appears this is inspired by Wolves Upon The Coast not actually produced by Luke Gearing

When gold = xp this can be a problem, otherwise just giving less gold is the easy solution.

If this is a problem you even want to solve this is what I would do:

1. Use a silver standard, this reduces the amount of treasure to level up significantly
2. Track expenses . Tracking doesn’t need to be comprehensive just assign a single amount for a week which covers everything (rather than tracking how many ales they have each night).
3. Have long periods of downtime. Slow healing helps force long down times, but unless the PCs are in a rush to complete something you could arbitrarily force a week long down time as minimum. This will eat up the parties resources from expenses but it also allows them to persue things other than getting loot. Carousing, chairty, research, domain play. All can be fun - and also eat into their gold
4. Don’t give the full value of treasure. For example they find a gem worth 100gp, they take it back to town and earn their 100xp. Next they’ll want to sell it, the jeweller only offers them 50gp, because they have to sell it at 100gp and they’d expect a profit and to cover their expenses (shop upkeep, tax etc.)

Another good thing to come out of this Reddit controversy, re-remembering the great content in the blog space and perhaps to revitalisation. Given that Google has taken away everything that was so good for the OSR - does anyone has any recommendations for an RSS reader?

Recommending some free game systems of some different flavors - because free is best for people who are interested in exploring OSR.

Worlds without Number (and other games from Kevin Crawford). Great free version with basically the whole rule system and some great generators. Has a bit more character creation crunch than other systems so it can be a good transition from 5e

Basic Fantasy Rpg. Retro clone with some ‘modern niceties’ like ascending armour class. All the rules, supplements and some great adventures are available free on their website.

Mausritter. Rules light (into the odd based) system with a pay what you want version. DnD broken down to it’s simplest core where you play as cute mice adventurers.