Pleasures of the OSR

Here is the third and final entry in a series on the pleasures (fun) that OSR style gaming makes easy. In this one I discuss challenges to player skill, why there is a presumption against fudging dice rolls, and how the threat of character death can be fun.
https://maziriansgarden.blogspot.com/2020/06/pleasures-of-osr-overcoming-challenges.html
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Here are the two earlier posts: this one about the pleasure of exploration and discovery https://maziriansgarden.blogspot.com/2019/04/pleasures-of-osr-secrecy-and-discovery.html

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And this one about the pleasure of open-worlds and emergent stories. https://maziriansgarden.blogspot.com/2019/04/pleasures-of-osr-emergent-story-and.html

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Great run down Ben! Thanks for sharing.

“There’s a thrill that comes from hazarding the life of your character, and a real satisfaction that comes from keeping them alive. But you can only have that satisfaction if everyone accepts that character death is a possible outcome.”

I couldn’t agree more! I start getting worried if there isn’t a reminder (aka a character death) of this everything three or so sessions.

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Lol. I hear you and agree. I think it gets harder to maintain that mindset when you move into mid level or high level play though

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I think by then the players understand the universe they are in and generally avoid doing any of the willfully stupid and dangerous things a level 1 might attempt.

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I just wanna say I love these posts and have been recommending my work and gaming crews check them out.

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