Theory - Old Skull Publishing

September 15, 2023September 15, 2023

Describing Scenes to Prehistoric Characters

A cave person carrying a torch and illuminating a cave wall with a weird symbol. — *Art by Felipe Maria*

The way the characters in the game see and recognize people, objects, structure, and other things is not like we do. We see a small oval vertical smooth placid lake hanging on a cave wall that casts your reflection back at you and we immediately recognize a mirror, they will not.

When we look at something we try to understand it with the library of things we already understand, so as to make it “less scary”. And we know more than any other humans ever knew. The characters in Primal Quest do not have this knowledge however, so they will need to “understand” the things they find in the mythical and weird primal world of the game with what they know, which is not much beyond what they see in the primeval setting they live in.

So when you are describing the world to the players, being their sense in the game, make sure to remember that. Try to imagine you don’t recognize any of these things, and can only rationalize them through the natural world and early technological objects. And then try to explain this to the players. Here are some examples to help you get inspired.

Crashed Plane: A huge creature made of this shining hard rock that makes loud clattering noises when hit. It appears to have wings, but one of them was torn apart from its side, and hundreds of small blank eyes stare at the nothingness. A small mouth on the side lies open, and a furry humanoid is getting in, carrying a sack on their back.

May 10, 2022May 10, 2022

Rethinking XP for Gold And Why You Should Too (or not)

I love XP for gold. I especially love the effects this rule has on game play, game design, and theory behind much of what we know of the OSR. I am a firm believer that the way the game rewards play seriously influences the way we play the game (yeah, we play to have fun too, but it’s still there, nudging us in the right direction). Basically, earning XP is like “winning” in an RPG that uses them.

However, I’ve been reading a superb book on Game Design called Theory of Fun by Raph Koster (y’all should totally get it), and one of the insights I had, and one of the big lessons in the book, is that games teach us stuff in a controlled space. That’s mostly its main function. Most of the time we don’t even realize it’s happening, but that’s where the “fun” comes from in games, from learning and figuring out solutions to problems/challenges. And game designers can purposefully create games to change specific things. And that’s what I would like to do.

*Spot art I made for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea*

XP for gold is great because it teaches us to find better solutions to tough problems. PCs won’t always resort to violence. Violence might very well become the last resort, as we all know our style of play isn’t big on balancing encounters perfectly.

March 15, 2022April 21, 2022

Iconic Encounters – The “Innocent”

We are back with another installment of Iconic Encounters! This series of posts look into some of the most characteristic encounters in old-school style RPG adventures, and dissect them to figure out how they work, and why they are so cool.

This time we are analyzing that encounter which puts the players in front of an apparent “innocent”, harmless and, sometimes, even apparently helpful creature, who is in reality working towards their demise or worse. Differently from other encounters, this one can be a recurring one, in which they discover the truth of what’s going on slowly over time. This type of encounter has some characteristics that I will list below and then explore in detail.

An NPC or creature that appears harmless and even helpful to the PCs.
The NPC directs them to accomplish tasks that are to their benefit but that have harmful hidden consequences.
They will slowly find out information that will reveal the true intentions of the NPC.
In their final confrontation, the NPC or creature is actually stronger thanks to the PCs.

November 18, 2021April 21, 2022

Iconic Encounters – The Moving Barrier

We are back with another post about my favorite Iconic Encounters of RPG adventures! Some of them are still a staple in most of them, others have become a rare occurrence that deserve a comeback with style, like the one we’re looking into today.

*Public domain image found by Guilherme Gontijo*

I like to call this one “The Moving Barrier” because it essentially makes a powerful and almost unbeatable creature a barrier the PCs can’t pass through, and it moves around the location, effectively changing how they explore the place every time they bump into the creature. As usual, the encounter has a few characteristics that I will list below and then explore in detail.

There’s a very powerful creature in the location PCs probably won’t be able to defeat.
The creature roams around the location seeking the PCs, but it’s slow.
The location has multiple possible paths to reach various places within it.
There’s something that keeps the creature at bay, which can be discovered in the location.

November 15, 2021April 21, 2022

Iconic Encounters – WTH is this?!

In the third post of this series of Iconic Encounters in old-school style RPG adventures, we are going to examine one of those really puzzling encounters that will make the players either completely paranoid, or amazingly entertained while they mess around with it.

This encounter I like to call “WTH is this?!”, and it is also an encounter that happens between more normal and expected encounters in the adventure. It consists of something alien and weird that can be interacted with, but the players have very little information regarding its purpose. It has a few characteristics that I will list below and then explore in detail.

It usually appears in a clear, out of the way room.
It can be safely ignored or bypassed.
It’s function is not clear, and sometimes not even detailed.
It can inspire the campaign to go in different directions.