Alignment is a hot button issue in modern games. It is a core part of characters in O.G.R.E.S, and indeed, the corruption system for spellcasting does not properly function without it. It is, then, important to look at what alignment is, how it works, and most importantly, what it is not  and how it is constantly misread and misinterpreted by many in the gaming community - particularly those reactionary to traditional old-school gaming tropes. 

 Supernatural Attacks in O.G.R.E.S. Art by Bradley K. McDevitt. Used under license. Some questions have come up recently (even in my own gaming group) that highlight something about supernatural attack, about which I was apparently not clear enough in the rules. That, or it's there and just easily overlooked. So here it is. 

 In the realm of tabletop gaming, there's a timeless allure to the simplicity and flexibility of old-school rules. As avid gamers, we know the joy of gathering around a table, dice in hand, ready to embark on epic adventures. But what if I told you that the same rules that govern medieval dungeons can seamlessly transport you to the far reaches of space? Enter the realm of science fiction tabletop RPGs, where the classic mechanics of the original white box fantasy game can be repurposed to create captivating sci-fi narratives without reinventing the wheel. So, how exactly do we adapt the classic, original version of the World's Most Famous RPG to suit a futuristic setting? Let's dive into the specifics: Image courtesy of Dreamstime.com Character Classes In White Box gaming, character classes like Fighting Man, Magic-User, and Cleric form the backbone of the game. While these classes may seem tailored for fantasy settings, they can easily be reimagined for sci-fi adventures....

 I recently asked my Friday gaming group what they wanted to see in a sci-fi game that most games they've played don't address. Universally they said they wanted to see some sort of mechanic that reflects just how "f***ing terrifying" traveling in space is. As they put it, it's so much more than just space battles. You can get clobbered by an asteroid that you didn't see coming. You can have an explosive decompression from a hairline fault in the hull that nobody saw. Your computers could blue screen and life support goes out while you're in hypersleep.  Space travel is, indeed, scary just at its basic concept. Hell, in the space of twenty years, the United States saw two space shuttles explode from random malfunctions or faults that were overlooked on inspections. Now think about what happens when you're out there for years! So I started thinking how to mimic that idea in an RPG, and what happened was, I completely overhauled the starship rules in Thi...

 The time approaches, folks! With Wasted Lands not only in the bag but now officially in distribution, we at Elf Lair Games are turning towards our next project, hoping to keep some momentum going. This one will be our science fiction RPG and will complete our trilogy of fantasy, modern, and sci-fi games that allow you to play any game you want in any genre and any style, all with a single system.  Coming in May, all of your games can be Powered by O.G.R.E.S.   So let's look at what Thirteen Parsecs: Beyond the Solar Frontier has to offer.  Thirteen Parsecs: Advetures Beyond the Solar Frontier is a tabletop roleplaying game of adventure and excitement in the wild realms of science fiction. Whether it's a pair of FBI agents battling a clandestine alien invasion in the modern day, a far future war between heroic rebels and evil interstellar empires, a gritty cyberpunk dystopia, or a hard science exploration of the nature of humanity, this came can cover it all! The ...

  Civilization in the Dreaming Age Cities, Towns, and Villages Welcome to what I hope will be a regular series of blogs breaking down the Dreaming Age campaign setting, which may in the future be compiled and expanded to form one or more new sourcebooks for the Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age Role Playing Game. This first section will look at the nature of cities, towns, and villages.  It is a mistake to think about civilization in the Dreaming Age as the same as other typical fantasy (and even swords and sorcery) settings. While the descriptions of the regions-cum-kingdoms do mention rulers and major settlements, they are absolutely not true kingdoms or empires in the sense that we think of these things. Nor are there many true cities throughout the world - quite frankly, there are simply not enough proto-humans to support such things as metropolises.  The vast majority of settlements in the Dreaming Age are villages and hamlets with potentially hundreds of miles of unta...

 So this week on social media, we at Elf Lair have been doing a series of "But How Do I...?" posts regarding some popular settings, things to which we don't have a license and cannot provide official rules, but for which most of what you need is already there.  The question, then, remains, "how do I take those encyclopedias of text and flavor, and use them with the O.G.R.E.S. rules?" It's deceptively simple, and it all starts with the basics. Let's break down how you can turn the flavor text and setting material in your favorite video game, novel, television series, or movie into a swords and sorcery, high fantasy, urban fantasy, or gritty horror game using the Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars or Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age Rules. Start with the Basics Starting with the basics means looking at what you've got in front of you. For the most part, you'll need very little new  to use your favorite settings. A warrior character, for e...

Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age With so much attention on the  Wasted Lands Kickstarter  it's been a minute since we've touched on a behind the curtain for the O.G.R.E.S. System. Fear not, though; we're not done with these behind-the-curtain peeks at how the game works and the design decisions herein. This time we're going to look at the ways you can customize the levels of grit in your game.  Before we move forward, however, here are the prior blogs in the series:  Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age is Imminent! Will Wasted Lands be a Retroclone? What Are Divine Touchstones? Races (Species) and Cultural Backgrounds How Do Tiered Abilities Work?   Class Abilities in Wasted Lands A Completely Customizable System Levels of Grit in O.G.R.E.S. The O.G.R.E.S. system has three different "levels of grit," that you can mix and match to build exactly the style of play you like. These three levels are "Realistic", the standard or normal assumption for play; Gritty...

Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age Here we go, folks! The  Wasted Lands Kickstarter has launched ! Fear not, though; we're not done with these behind-the-curtain peeks at how the game works and the design decisions herein. Stay tuned for more behind the curtain looks as the campaign progresses, and in the meantime, head over to the Kickstarter and support the effort! Here are the prior blogs in the series:  Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age is Imminent! Will Wasted Lands be a Retroclone? What Are Divine Touchstones? Races (Species) and Cultural Backgrounds How Do Tiered Abilities Work?   Class Abilities in Wasted Lands A Completely Customizable System What Is This "Wasted Lands" Thing??? In case you've missed out so far, Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age is a game of swords and sorcery in a savage lost epoch, set millions of years ago. Instead of playing adventurers tied to the service of mythological deities, you play the all-too-mortal, protohuman origins of the gods of cla...

Here we go, folks! The final blog before the Wasted Lands Kickstarter launches ! Stay tuned for more behind the curtain looks as the campaign progresses, but this one completes the big lead-up!  Previous blogs in this series: Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age is Imminent! Will Wasted Lands be a Retroclone? What Are Divine Touchstones? Races (Species) and Cultural Backgrounds How Do Tiered Abilities Work?   Class Abilities in Wasted Lands For some time now we've been pushing "Your Game, Your Way" as a slogan for Powered by O.G.R.E.S. games , and many wonder what kind of meaning that carries. After all, everyone claims that their game is the one you've been looking for, and the concept of a universal game system has been around almost as long as RPGs themselves. Even the earliest versions of D&D had sci-fi elements and the first edition DMG discussed melding the system with a range of genres.  So what do we mean exactly when we talk about O.G.R.E.S. as a customizable s...

 Previous blogs in this series: Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age is Imminent! Will Wasted Lands be a Retroclone? What Are Divine Touchstones? Races (Species) and Cultural Backgrounds How Do Tiered Abilities Work?   Class Abilities - Powered by O.G.R.E.S. In previous blogs we've looked behind the curtain at what  the O.G.R.E.S. system  brings to the table for your fantasy game, whether it is a retroclone or something different, and how features such as Divine Touchstones, nonhuman Species and cultural backgrounds, and Tiered Attributes work in the game. The most recent blog with Tiered Attributes took a look at the ability check mechanic, which functions by rolling a d20, adding applicable bonuses and trying to get a 20 or better.  This blog will look at how class abilities work in the O.G.R.E.S. system. For those who are familiar with old-school gaming, it should look quite familiar, though with a few twists to better codify and unify the mechanic across the board...