A Lesson In Obnoxious Gaming - The World's Greatest Paladin - The Legend of Athene. The player you don't want or maybe you do :)
https://youtu.be/2t3-tpYEI0Y - watching this may make you terrified of corners.
They see Athene is in the game and they play 10x better.
Remember you don't have to send him gold in the mail. These are free tips.
So you want to create adventures live and on the fly do you? I will show you the tools that I use.
Get Sandbox Generator https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/430675/Sandbox-Generator
and
and
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/243593/Dungeon-Deck
and https://mythicalink.gumroad.com/l/MythicalDeckOfDungeons-Printed
and https://dysonlogos.blog/2016/06/19/dungeon-business-cards/
You will need this https://oldschoolessentials.necroticgnome.com/srd/index.php/Designing_a_Dungeon
and this https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/248427/Designing-Fantasy-Scenarios
along with https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/248735/Encounters-Fantasy-Scenarios?src=also_purchased
You now have infinite resources and endless possibilities at your convince.
Sure Example would be Gravity makes things fall down.
My Wizard breaks law 1 with meditation and chanting. Chanelling the magic around to levitate the four Orcs 1 pt to break the law and 4pts for the 4 targets. say 1 more for a +1 on the roll. Total 6 pts of Magic - 18int for +3 pts and 3pts at Level 1 for 6 pts. But remember it is 2 pts a combat round so this take 3 rounds to do.
So up to someone else to keep them busy till the spell goes off
This is why the Merchant Class and Sea Elves in BECMI Mystara are so OP
1: The reaction System
If you're using the old B/X reaction roll system, there is only a one-in-thirty-six chance that any given monster encounter goes straight to violence. Anything else gives you some room to manoeuvre: to talk, bluff, make a bargain, offer a bribe, whatever. If you want a fight you can have one, but you almost never actually have to fight. (And hell, even if they do attack, you can always just run away.) This is very different to later editions of D&D, which assumed that monsters would always attack on sight and usually fight to the death.
If you use the reaction system, then instead of the dungeon becoming a series of tactical combat challenges, it becomes a network of social challenges. What does each group want? What does it need? What can you offer them, and what can they offer you? With a bit of quick thinking and a lot of heart, you can talk your way through a dungeon much more effectively than you could ever fight your way through it.
The power of having the Darokin Diplomatic Corps Badge is not to be understimated. Yes I have authority to negotiate a trade treaty.
Of course you can steal from White Wolf and have 2 types of Magic Free Form True Magic and Vancian (make the spells weaker) Hedge Magic
You see this in Fantasy Literature as the Hedge Mage vs the True Mage.
So on another OSR Resource I was asked about alternative magic systems for OSR Games
Long ago Conrad and Red of Spacegamer and Better Games wrote Conrad's Fantasy because some TSR Lawyers were questioning which games system the adventures they were selling where for.
So Conrad rushed up stairs to his hotel room and wrote HUGO which was later changed and expanded to become Conrad's Fantasy. He didn't have time to write a balanced and carefully crafted spell list. So he just made rules and laws for casting spells.
This lead me to some years later running a top secret game for TSR Staff. During this game a pc lassoed the moon with a magic lasso. Pulled it down to earth with Titan Strength. The rest of the party climbed aboard. I want to say this happened in 1993 it may have been 94.
Six Basic Laws of the Universe - Fantasy Game Setting
Law I - Force flows through fixed channels in only one direction.
Law II - Everything has a fixed identity whether it is fire, earth, water, or air. Earth cannot be like water and still be earth.
Law III Everything has spirit which matches its identity.
Law IV -All Planes of existence are separate and distinct.
Law V The mind is controlled by the spirit.
Law VI Something are not understood except what is, is and what has happened, has happened.
Magic is the force by which the laws can be broken. The magic user combines mystical forces to break the laws.
Break a law and face the law enforcers. Most common of which is the Zaires - Powerful Wizards who tirelessly work to see the laws are held together. Least reality collapse. They fear to many who lack training and understanding to wield magic. This will result in destruction of the universe.
Easiest way to do this in an OSR Game is to steal from Lavender Hacks Resolution System
Nat 20+ Critical Success
18+ Strong Success
8+ Weak Success
7 or less Miss
Nat 1 Critical Miss / Fumble
So only give Magic Users Spell Points at Level 1
1 point to break one Law - some magic attempts may require breaking multiple laws (up to Game Master / Ref to determine).
Additional Magic Points +1 for every point spent. up to max of +4
Say the Magic User at Level 1 gets 3pts + Int Bonus. Then +2 per level gained
As for time - Every 2pts spent equals a round of combat
Interuption of spell casting - Forcess a Save vs Magic to the Spell Caster or suffer 1d4 per spell point spent (this can be used for critical failures as well).
Recovery of Points - 1pt a day + Int Bonus
The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh -we have a princess turned into a dragon
The tale of Jorinde and Joringel - poor Jorinde turned into a nightingale and put in a cage by an evil olde witch.
Then there is the Nordic Legend of Skuld's Mother who went from being a hag to a beautiful DarkElven Princess to seduce our hero Helgi.
It is said in battle that Skuld could bring her dead warriors back to life.
Poor Sir Gwain forced to marry the Loathly Lady. She had tricked King Arthur to giver her what she most wanted in return she would answer his riddle that none else could answer.
Back to polymorph - mostly misused as Polymorph Self 1000's of tales of witches changing shape to commit thefts. The most common is for the the Witch to turn into a hare. In this shape they would go into the barn and suck the life out of the farm animals.
For some that was not enough. They would hop right up to a child and jump into the child's arms. To be carried into the house. Then they would suck the life out of all who lived there.
I hope this gives you some idea of how to use Witches in your game and make it up to Folktale Standards.
Have fun and stay away from hares.
Another must have https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/427346/SPRAWLSCAPE-cyberpunk-city-kit-for-Mothership-1e Sprawlscape for Mothership 1e
You should really try these addendum rules out for
if you want excuses to buy stuff
Very nice review
Guess they will just have to eat what they kill then.
This manga and anime is a great lesson in dungeon ecology.
I tried to recreate some of these crazy Italian cliffside coastal towns for the Mystara Campaign https://theculturetrip.com/europe/italy/articles/italy-s-10-beautiful-coastal-towns-to-visit-before-you-die/
Useful tool for adding Ultima Towns to your game world :)
I felt a need to get this out there. There has been some hate towards mixing adventures from different versions of D&D and the OSR together. I just think that is wrong. Their anger is misplaced.
Stone Mason Took got my old squad addicted to the took weed sold at Stoneys in the City of Carse.
But it was to Haven the Free City we most travel - available at http://www.diffworlds.com/haven.htm
But there is fun & intrigue at Barnacus Town in ye old Dragon Magazine Issue #80 https://www.annarchive.com/files/Drmg080.pdf Free Public Domain Now
Almost forgot about the ORC
Not really into the Paizo Brainwashing
Law 1 would cover say Gravity
example - my wizard will make the 4 orcs levitate high up in the air. 1pt to break Law 1 and then 4 more points for the 4 orcs. Then spend 1 more point for +1 on the roll. Level 1 Wizard so that is 3pts. 18 Int so that is +3 pts. - got the 6 pts for the spell. The GM reminds the player that every 2pts spent = 1 combat round. So your Wizard is chanelling the magic and chanting in deep meditation for 3 rounds. Someone needs to keep those Orcs off you for those 3 rounds. So the start of 3rd round, during the magic phase the player rolls - gets a 17 but has the +1 for 18. Strong Sucess the orcs levitate high up in the air. How long was not specified so just roll me a d6 for many rounds. Then gravity returns and they come falling down.
Not done yet. You broke a Law of the Universe - Roll a d20 under your Wisdom to see if you know how to appease the gods or get away with this. If you fail on a even dice roll a Zaire shows up on uneven roll a Paradox Effect in d12 days will occur with you as the nexus point. The Universe must be Repaired. So if you get the Paradox Effect. You should have a few days to make amends and cancel it out. I would suggest reaching out to a Zaire and begging for mercy.