There is, tons of them, though the indie RPG scene is as faggy as all other indie scenes.
There's an entire genre of RPG that is just rewriting old editions of D&D because the editing and formatting of that game have always been atrocious (my baby, 4e, being the exception, obviously).
It's occasionally a hard sell, though, especially expanding outwards to new blood.
They're all interested in the latest and "greatest" edition, because that's what the marketing tells them is the best and only thing worth talking about (see saturation on social media).
I'm part of a group of four that are playing basic D&D via Old School Essentials and it's been kind of difficult to convince others, the same way it might be difficult to get people to watch an old movie or read an old book.
One could say the person who's so easily swayed by shiny keys shaking in front of them isn't the kind of person you'd want to play with (of which I would wholeheartedly agree) but if anything, more people are falling into the Consoom mindset with each passing generation.
Ultimately, if they aren't at least a little bit introspective of what they want out of a game, they probably aren't going to be worth playing with long-term.
I would think edition turnover would be a good time to recruit. I didn't follow WotC into 5e and it's probably the best thing to happen to me, RPG-wise.
I never knew enough people interested to play growing up, but was invited to 5E as a player a while ago which I thought was just okay. My least favorite part was combat. I felt like I was playing a less enjoyable version of a video game tactical RPG. I took initiative to get the OSE kickstarter a while ago and the OGL drama was the perfect opportunity to strike and offer to DM, armed with some old TSR modules picked up from ebay and a pledge that I wouldn't demand people memorize rules beyond what's needed for their character.
We like it a lot. There's a lot less of "these are your options" and more "what would your like your character to try?", which I think the lack of a very detailed menu leads to. Combat is much more deadly and I think this leads to a more realistic behavior of trying to be sneaky and clever instead of just using brute force. When fights do break out, things are just tense knowing that doing something stupid will have consequences. This also leads to every round being "important" and, in terms of what's happening in-game, they feel more badass as each move is a seemingly good one because, well, they have to be.
The spellcaster wasn't very happy with how completely hopeless they are in early levels but I think they've grown into it, and I think it's lead to some interesting emergent storytelling as the rest of the team defends the old guy with the stick with the promise of great magical favors to be granted in the future. Speaking of, the limited spell list doesn't really tickle the imagination like the post Level 6 spells in other editions but we haven't broken out the house rules yet. OSE has an "advanced" tier which I think mirrors AD&D's expanded spell levels but I'll pick that up some other time.
It sounds like you've got a good handle on things. In addition to getting the expanded spell rules for OSE, you might check out Maze Rats or Knave, both of which have "system agnostic" magic systems that are almost entirely utility, no damage. They're both a little goofy and may not mesh well with a gritty, Conan-esqe setting, though.
You could also go turbo-old-school and have players run multiple characters and/or hirelings. Gives the wizard player a way to help the party protect his glass cannon.
OSE sounds gritty like Pathfinder. And I think that's why I'm gravitating to Paizo's offerings ... I grew up with the red box, the green box and the black box of D&D 1e ... drifted into AD&D 2e ... and then drifted away until 5e.
There is, tons of them, though the indie RPG scene is as faggy as all other indie scenes.
There's an entire genre of RPG that is just rewriting old editions of D&D because the editing and formatting of that game have always been atrocious (my baby, 4e, being the exception, obviously).
It's occasionally a hard sell, though, especially expanding outwards to new blood.
They're all interested in the latest and "greatest" edition, because that's what the marketing tells them is the best and only thing worth talking about (see saturation on social media).
I'm part of a group of four that are playing basic D&D via Old School Essentials and it's been kind of difficult to convince others, the same way it might be difficult to get people to watch an old movie or read an old book.
One could say the person who's so easily swayed by shiny keys shaking in front of them isn't the kind of person you'd want to play with (of which I would wholeheartedly agree) but if anything, more people are falling into the Consoom mindset with each passing generation.
You can try pitching it with consoom buzzwords ("OSE is the Dark Souls of D&D!"): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z1eO8PjVoYA
Ultimately, if they aren't at least a little bit introspective of what they want out of a game, they probably aren't going to be worth playing with long-term.
I would think edition turnover would be a good time to recruit. I didn't follow WotC into 5e and it's probably the best thing to happen to me, RPG-wise.
How are you liking OSE? Are you coming to it from newer games or are you a greybeard?
I never knew enough people interested to play growing up, but was invited to 5E as a player a while ago which I thought was just okay. My least favorite part was combat. I felt like I was playing a less enjoyable version of a video game tactical RPG. I took initiative to get the OSE kickstarter a while ago and the OGL drama was the perfect opportunity to strike and offer to DM, armed with some old TSR modules picked up from ebay and a pledge that I wouldn't demand people memorize rules beyond what's needed for their character.
We like it a lot. There's a lot less of "these are your options" and more "what would your like your character to try?", which I think the lack of a very detailed menu leads to. Combat is much more deadly and I think this leads to a more realistic behavior of trying to be sneaky and clever instead of just using brute force. When fights do break out, things are just tense knowing that doing something stupid will have consequences. This also leads to every round being "important" and, in terms of what's happening in-game, they feel more badass as each move is a seemingly good one because, well, they have to be.
The spellcaster wasn't very happy with how completely hopeless they are in early levels but I think they've grown into it, and I think it's lead to some interesting emergent storytelling as the rest of the team defends the old guy with the stick with the promise of great magical favors to be granted in the future. Speaking of, the limited spell list doesn't really tickle the imagination like the post Level 6 spells in other editions but we haven't broken out the house rules yet. OSE has an "advanced" tier which I think mirrors AD&D's expanded spell levels but I'll pick that up some other time.
Overall, would recommend.
Awesome, thanks for the reply!
It sounds like you've got a good handle on things. In addition to getting the expanded spell rules for OSE, you might check out Maze Rats or Knave, both of which have "system agnostic" magic systems that are almost entirely utility, no damage. They're both a little goofy and may not mesh well with a gritty, Conan-esqe setting, though.
You could also go turbo-old-school and have players run multiple characters and/or hirelings. Gives the wizard player a way to help the party protect his glass cannon.
OSE sounds gritty like Pathfinder. And I think that's why I'm gravitating to Paizo's offerings ... I grew up with the red box, the green box and the black box of D&D 1e ... drifted into AD&D 2e ... and then drifted away until 5e.
4e? What are you? Some sort of retard?
>Core rules are a tactics game
>Roleplay happens through table talk, not a detailed mechanical system
>Is fun
4e is the only true successor to OD&D. 3.X fags cope and seethe. To answer your question, yeah probably.
TBHF, RP happens in any system. Rules are for combat.