Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules | Hacker News Reader

Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules

necroticgnome.com

68 pointsdoener37 comments

I appreciate all that Gavin Norman and Necrotic Gnome have done for the OSR TTRPG scene over the past few years, but I have to say each time I see a D&D-derivative system it makes me wish that other systems of the time—like Runequest, Tunnels & Trolls, or West End Games' d6 system beneath Ghostbusters (1985) and Star Wars (1987)—got even half the attention. Tom Moldvay and Dave Cook's Basic/Expert (1981) has been done to death at this point. For a nice historical lesson, look to Moldvay's later work on the Challenges Game System[0], which pares down the AD&D 1E Players Handbook (1978) into 8 pages suitable for running the game at the table.

I could rant for hours about the sacred cows of D&D deserving slaughter, but I'll refrain.

All this is to say, the Dolmenwood campaign book is great and I own it. It was originally a setting for Old-School Essentials published through a zine[1], and I think they could have stopped at just a campaign book, the one that the OP links to. I just don't think we need any more flavors of B/X!

[0] https://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=14165

[1] https://necroticgnome.com/blogs/news/the-end-of-wormskin

Whatever the merits of the rules themselves (which I think are estimable), the OSR "ecosystem" is buoyed up by a huge network effect. I would wager that just the list of official D&D modules from the 80s, all of which are easily playable in something like OSE, dwarfs the amount of support that's available for all of those other games combined. That's not counting the many many additional adventures, settings, rules addons, megadungeons, GM aids, etc. that have been created in the last 20 years for various OSR games, which are mostly cross-compatible. It's very hard to come in fresh and compete with that.

At least BRP (the system behind Runequest) and d6 are actively developed and there are games, new and old, using them. They are also rather popular, at least if one browses rpg.net.

T&T I don't know. I think there is a new edition coming along?

This is true. Though I will say that modern iterations of Runequest and d6 (namely OpenD6 and its derivatives) resemble the original systems only barely. Same is true for T&T, which after its 5th Edition became likewise unrecognizable.

My point isn't necessarily that there shouldn't be modern versions of these games—obviously, D&D is the most popular TTRPG (at least in the US), and itself barely resembles the three brown booklets of '74. It's that by going back and discovering what made the originals so great, we can carry these lessons forward and make loving modern interpretations like Old School Essentials/Dolmenwood.

I am sure those systems deserve a modern renovation, but as a general matter, I think the particulars of game systems matter less, overall, when it is not a mechanics heavy system like Pathfinder and DnD 5e...or Rolemaster. It mostly comes down to rulings over rules...which is why rules lite systems, e.g. Mausritter, Knave, Into the Odd, have play in the OSR/NSR scene.

I do not know where on the crunch spectrum the systems you mentioned fall,

There are two things that really scratch the dopamine itch at the table that I think plays well to DnD - 1) the d20. 5% of something amazing or terrible happening is just the right amount of chance for things being regular but not expected. And it being a single lotto ticket somehow makes it better.

2) fistful of dice - eventually you get to toss a fistful of dice and its very satisfying to climb that ladder.

DnD has both and that combined with ability progression I think really locks people in to the system, even outside of the network effect of it. GURPS for instance is great but 3d6 and getting an 18 just isn’t the same, for instance.

I think one of the impetuses to not using the Old School Essentials rules was the Hasbro DnD debacle where they started making moves to undo the Open Gaming License (OGL) in 2023. The resulting Dolmenwood system cleanly removed the last vestiges of anything that might be subject to the OGL...e.g. certain spell names, monster names, etc.

I agree, and it's certainly a good idea; OGL fears are still valid to this day. I think a much cleaner route, however, would be to abandon the chassis entirely. It protects one's long-term IP through unique game mechanics or by using an open system as a base.

A lot of how a game encourages play is based upon the small details that designers choose to include. In 1974, looking at OD&D for the first time, players probably wouldn't think to tap the floor for traps, but a 10' pole is curiously listed on the equipment table. Same with listening at doors, or things like that.

So instead of coming up with something entirely bespoke, companies seem to use D&D as a base not because it serves the game, but because it has lower "buy-in" for customers. Which I think is a shame.

I was a backer and the books are lovely, and the setting is awesome.

Also this is my favorite t-shirt: https://necroticgnome.com/products/dolmenwood-goatlord-t-shi...

Also check out 3d6 Down the Line, an actual play worth listening to. https://youtu.be/xNWg_IcbHl8?is=54oqh6TbY5g6DP-B

Woah... this is crazy to see here. The books are absolutely amazing. Everything is carefully crafted and filled with love. The modern OSR and modern TTRPGS are absolutely wonderful. This is the craft at its finest.

> Woah... this is crazy to see here.

Yeah, I'd expect HN to be more into Eclipse Phase or something.

Why would we need to play Eclipse Phase when we can spend all our time LARPing the Fall instead?

The Dolmenwood Campaign Book [0] has been nominated in the both the "Best Setting" and "Product of the Year" category of the 2026 ENNIE award [1]

[0] https://necroticgnome.com/products/dolmenwood-campaign-book

[1] https://ennie-awards.com/2026-nominees/

it's beautiful AND incredibly well done. even if you don't plan to ever play dolmenwood: read through the campaign setting!

I have run several campaigns in Dolmenwood - from early Wormskin and OSE Patreon days through the current open game license free format.

I’m consistently amazed at the depth this setting offers a sandbox-curious referee and a creative table. It is well worth exploring. It is also a masterpiece of information design and the easiest tool I’ve used at the table.

My session notes for my current campaign are here if you are interested in what is achievable.

https://publish.obsidian.md/generallyobservable/Dolmenwood+S...

awesome. I'll check out. Its cool to find other HNers into the scene.

There's also a very new, innovative revival of the RPG format where players take on multiple characters, some of them faction leaders, called a Braunstein, played in Dolmenwood (search "Dolmenstein"): https://mythicmountainsrpg.substack.com/p/so-you-want-to-try...

Fair warning that there's a lot of contentious personalities in this scene, so be advised. However, the freshness of the new gameplay speaks for itself.

I'm just working up the courage (and the people) to run it. I might have the face of a grognard, but I've only run a handful of sessions as a gamemaster / dungeonmaster. Between relative inexperience and the demands of my career in autism research career, I have not yet taken the plunge.

On the plus side for prep, the Dolmenwood books and pdfs are wonderfully organized...bringing the same expertise that Gavin Norman brought to Old School Essentials that had won him (and his team) wide acclaim.

If you're curious drivethrurpg is currently[1] offering a quick start adventure of this for free: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/575501/dolmenwood-qu... .

[1] - I found it in their "Free Title of the Week" from their newsletter. Not sure if it will go away 07-30 or so when the next newsletter comes out.

D'oh it's also on the owner's site's page for free: https://necroticgnome.com/products/dolmenwood-quick-start

I just picked up the books, after finishing playing in a short campaign. It's a great setting. The rules system is a bit bare bones, but you could easily run Dungeon World or pretty much any trad fantasy RPG there. Yes, 5e, sure. It would work great for Pendragon.

Bare bones is a plus for me honestly. I'm fairly tired of crunchy mechanics that takes days and slow player interaction.

That's why I like the PBTA approach. All the rules you need are right there on the character sheet and a couple of pages of quick references sheets.

Even with it's stripped down system, we spent plenty of time rulebook diving in Dolmenwood, where I've never needed to reach for the rulebook running Dungeon World. It manages to be very concise, but also massively more capable as a system.

I often think that PBTA and OSR/NSR type games have a lot more in common than is generally recognized.

Didn't know this existed. Have to say that's some great looking art.

For a video with a fairly comprehensive overview, worth checking out:

https://youtu.be/hL_YAarvB5U?is=SQGjmmBP0ignvSy4

I have the books and while I haven't played it, they're well made and structured. Well worth the price.

I find OSR style games to be too much effort as a GM. I much prefer GMing RPGs that make it easy to GM

Hmm. When playing online, I feel like Pathfinder/DnD5e put a lot on the game master in terms of lots of prep, battle maps, tokens, etc. B/X etc can be played much more theater of mind, and so would seem to require less work. In person, probably less of a distinction.

Personally, I have tired of the modern 5e/Pathfinder type games where the play often revolves around combat that takes way too long, where playes don't interact much, spend their time waiting to roll the dice and gazing at their character sheets trying to find an answer rather than by interacting with the world.

OSR systems have a ton of already published modules and campaigns to draw from, if you want zero prep (beyond reading, and maybe drawing out maps or something). Otherwise, it's about the same as running any other system in my experience. Easier than some, harder than others. The Dolmenwood campaign provides a lot of information for the DM, too.

At least for me now, I'm quite older than I used to be, and I don't want to have to read a lot of information or setting details ahead of time to be able to run a game as a GM.

> I don't want to have to read a lot of information or setting details ahead of time to be able to run a game as a GM.

That's not something you need to do for OSR, though, at least not in general. Dolmenwood is obviously based on that, it's a complete setting paired with a game system. But you can grab an OSR game system without paying much (if any) attention to the setting it may provide. Hell, even for Dolmenwood, I can't be bothered to read it all (it has a lot) and I enjoy making up my own things, so I'll still use the system and just use the setting as inspiration.

Half of my sessions are, "What monster piqued my curiosity this week on my skim through some system's monster manual? Can I create a scenario around it or a bunch of them?" The other half are "I wonder what the river pirates are up to this week, maybe they raided a nearby town and there's an award out for their capture. But what if they were actually hired to do this raid by someone even more nefarious than them..."

No real setting concerns, drop the PCs in a random place and the players will figure it out.

In both old-school and OSR RPGs, I've GMed quite a few (various early D&D/AD&D versions, DCC, OSE, Shadowdark, Mausritter), there's an enormous amount of work a GM needs to put into it ahead of time to make it fun for players. Even for published modules! It's too much for me

But if a game has lots of material and rules, you have to read and remember a lot. I'm not sure I understand what you want. Can you give examples of easy systems?

What RPGs do you find make it easy?

I'm interested to hear what you mean. What games are you comparing it to? What do you find hard about it?

Dolmenwood rocks. A monumental achievement in TTRPGs.

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