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.
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.