OSRIC or Old School Reference and Index Compilation, is a retro-clone of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition. And you can pick up the PDF of OSRIC for free at DriveThruRPG using the link above. I have many fond memories of AD&D 1e, but I’ve never tried this retro-clone. So for Day 18 of the Character Creation Challenge, we are going to create a character using the rules in this book.
The book actually explains that OSRIC was geared towards players who were already familiar with 1st edition systems. In the PDF the character creation process starts on page 1 (after the preamble). The character sheet is two pages long. The standard six ability scores are presented and you roll 3D6 down the line. I’m sticking with this method and letting the dice decide what type of character we are making. With Dex being the highest at 15, we are making a thief. Looking at the races, we are going with half-elf who just goes by the name Myrin. If you’ve played AD&D 1e, you know the drill. So far nothing process wise appears to be different (part of the reason I selected this game for one of my busy days).
Afterthoughts:
I noticed that in OSRIC they had the attributes listed STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS and CHA instead of STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON and CHA as it was used in 1st edition. I liked how the savings throws were re-worded slightly (aimed magic items) and how the alignments had examples (lawful good = crusader but neutral good = benefactor) that really helped.
I also liked how simplistic the character sheet was. It wasn’t overly complicated. I think I also enjoyed how the book was primarily just rules. No excess.
In my early D&D days, I preferred B/X or BECMI to AD&D 1e, but I could see myself playing OSRIC.
Additional Notes:
I found one of the roleplaying games that I was going to use for this year, but forgot about. Unfortunately its not one that I can just slip into one of my easy days and all of the games on my tough days (that I give more time to go over the rules) are booked up with games I really want to use. So I may end up making a bonus 32nd day. We will have to see as the time gets closer. Every year I’ve had to make an audible and swap out a game for one reason or another.
Coming Up Next:
The Agency
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