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A Chill OSR

Page(/posts/chill-osr.md) — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 10:13:14 -0300

I have voiced in the past my distaste for the old OSR manifestos and how they frame their idea of play, so today I decided to be a little more positive and try to state one of the reasons I like OSR games and were is the draw to me, instead. Even if it diverges a bit from the current zeitgeist for the scene.

Distilling the thought to a minimum, I enjoy the idea of a living world, with an internally consistent logic that exists independently from the players, and in many ways, even independently from the referee, in which the PCs decisions come purely out their own agency in the context of that world. i.e. I enjoy ye olde gygaxian naturalism.

Turns out, weirdly, that even in the Year of Our Lord Twenty Twenty Six old D&D, and iterations of it, are still some of the most idiomatic implementations of that idea. Tools like reactions, morale, random encounter tables and the like are still truly great tools to invoke it. Also, there are no intrusive mechanics to undermine it, nothing that implies players are interacting with anything but a living, breathing world, there’s no story being told here, beyond the one you can tell after the fact. So there are no narrative tools to imply that is what is actually happening.

There is no fourth wall, there’s no worry about pacing, plot, or what have you, there are no inherent climaxes, just the ones that are seen as such in retrospect. If PCs spend a full session trying open a door, so be it, that’s what they settle on doing, they are the ones to decide if that’s boring and they want to try something else, the world itself won’t care or behave differently.

That all being said, I don’t feel that extreme challenge and lethality are all that necessary to evoke all of that. If I want to kill my players horribly I will just run Alien. When I run a D&D-ish sandbox I usually want to evoke a sense of belonging in the world lived in, too much harshness actually undermines that, I prefer the world to be a little more chill. The adventurers face dangers out of their own agency, not because the very fabric of reality pushes them into it all the time. They live in worlds in which there are farms in which they could spend their lives working as peasants (or something equivalent if a more modern setting), they could just run far away, they could beware the wilderness and the dark corners of the world, like most NPCs they interact with. Yet, they choose not to.

That’s why my system of choice to use as a base has been Beyond the Wall for a good while. It generates random emergent characters, yes, yet, competent, sturdy and with a built in reason to care about the world they live in. The thief can show up with a 19 roll-under Stealth, and I just let them have it, it doesn’t make them less likely to get the tone and still interact with the world diegetically.

I still believe it is a bit bare, as a system, and not crunchy enough for my liking, but since it is built on the same base, it is trivial to simply port back more formal rules from older systems into it. I just use old BX rules for distances and travel with it and it works like a charm.

Even when I decide to be cheeky and run something closer to RAW BX, I will use some old tricks like “there’s an old priest in village who knows Raise Dead” (which technically is RAW and explicitly suggested the book), we need that for a proper DunMeshi campaign after all.

Running Dolmenwood with Beyond the Wall

Page(/posts/dolmenwood-beyond-the-wall.md) — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 11:04:37 -0300

So, a few months ago I wrote a guide of sorts of how to run Dolmenwood using Beyond the Wall in my Medium account, I wrote that in Portuguese, yet had some gringo friends asking for it, so here’s a translated version of it.

Quick note on playstyle considerations

OSR grognards will note that most (but not all) of the changes improve lower level party survivability and independence. Some might believe this undermines the old-school mode of play, I don’t think this holds true, at least not for me and my friends. They are mostly smart and mature, having some extra HP won’t mean they will simply Leeroy Jenkins encounters, and they don’t need to be straightjacketed by bad stats in order to interact with the living world diegetically. They are aware that even if they have a 19 on a roll-under stat, they will still have better chances if they don’t need to roll at all. The power boost just means they don’t feel required to be super shy and reactive all the time, which does happen when I run raw BX.

Dolmenwood in Beyond the Wall — Part 1 — Ancestries

Faaaaaaaae!!!

For a long time, I’ve had a huge desire to run the hexcrawl from the Dolmenwood campaign book, a setting that is incredibly dense and rich in detail and relationships, featuring that faerie theme I love so much and find so fitting for this type of game. There was no way I wouldn’t be intrigued by the concept.

One problem, however, is that Dolmenwood, as a system, is a B/X clone that’s a bit too “pure” for my players. I’ve tried running OSE almost RAW (Rules As Written) at home, and it became clear that even those who understood the premise didn’t exactly enjoy the fragility, the lack of mechanical options at lower levels, and the constant need to manage hirelings.

On the other hand, I’ve been running quite a few Beyond the Wall one-shots lately. It’s impressive what a difference a d10 Hit Die, Luck Points, and skills with better odds than a coin flip make, especially in a game that is still relatively similar and carries that same fantasy aesthetic involving creatures from the faerie realm.

One player even remarked that it was a shame we never took Beyond the Wall beyond a single session; it would be interesting to see a long-term campaign using the system.

Putting it all together, the logical next step was to combine business with pleasure and run Dolmenwood using the Beyond the Wall system.

Adaptations

Although similar, the games are not identical, so some elements do not translate directly on a one-to-one basis. Dolmenwood introduces several new ancestries and classes that capture the flavor of its setting.

Let’s focus on ancestries for today.

Ancestries

Humans in Dolmenwood have their own special traits; one is Decisive, which improves their initiative. To keep things as idiomatic as possible for Beyond the Wall without overcomplicating matters, I decided to use the inverse of this trait as a weakness for Dolmenwood’s other mortal ancestries. Since initiative is static in the target game, this is a significant weakness that I believe sufficiently balances out the positive traits. As for the faerie ancestries, most already possess a notable set of weaknesses, so I did not deem it necessary to add another.

The Elves of Beyond the Wall already closely resemble those of Dolmenwood, creatures closer to fairy-tale figures than the Tolkien-esque figures found in most settings, so I believe they require no significant adjustments.

I characterized the remaining ancestries as follows:

Grimalkin

They are essentially an excuse to play as the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

Agelessness — Grimalkins retain their youth and vigor throughout their long lives; some say they are actually immortal. They automatically resist all forms of non-magical disease and poison.

Autumnal Folk — Grimalkins are beings of the faerie realm; fate does not always favor them in the mortal world, so they possess one less Luck Point than they normally would.

Small Stature — Grimalkins are small creatures, so they cannot use large weapons that deal d10 damage.

Hard to Catch — Grimalkins are small, granting them a +1 bonus to AC.

Vulnerable to Meteoric Iron — As creatures of the fey realm, they take double damage from any weapon made of meteoric iron.

Chester Form — In one round, it can transform into a Small Animal (cat). It can also transform back in one round.

Wilder Form — Once per day, if in a melee encounter and below half its hit points, it can heal 2d6 hit points and assume the following characteristics: Opponents who cannot see the invisible suffer a -2 penalty when attacking it. Armor Class 13. Two natural claw attacks with +2 to hit and d4 damage. They become unable to distinguish friend from foe. After 2d4 rounds, they return to their standard form.

Woodgrue

Small fey goblins with bat-like faces.

Small Stature — Woodgrues are small creatures; therefore, they cannot use Large weapons that deal d10 damage.

Hard to Catch — Woodgrues are small, granting them +1 AC.

Enchanted Melody — They can cast False Friend once per day by chanting the spell as a melody while playing a musical instrument.

Compulsive Jubilation — In the presence of festivities or revelry involving dance and music, Woodgrues feel a strong compulsion to join in. They must make a saving throw against polymorph; on a failure, they continue dancing and singing for 2d4 rounds. Even if struck or taking physical damage, the partying continues.

Vulnerable to Meteoric Iron — As creatures of the fey realm, they take double damage from any weapon made of meteoric iron.

Breggle

Goat-folk whose horns grow as they rise in social standing.

Indecisive — They have -1 to initiative.

Thick Coat — They gain +1 AC if unarmored or wearing leather armor.

Intimidating Gaze — Starting at 4th level, they can cast Frightful Presence once per day.

Horns — Starting at 4th level, they possess a natural weapon dealing d4 damage.

Mossling

Forest-dwelling humanoids whose skin shares a symbiotic relationship with plants and fungi.

Indecisive — They have -1 to initiative.

Symbiotic Skin — Metal armor negatively affects the fungi and moss growing on their skin. Mosslings cannot wear armor made of metal. Knack — Mosslings start with one trick: Speak with Animals or Druid’s Touch.

Mossling Resilience — Mosslings gain a +2 bonus on saving throws against poisons and spores, and a +1 bonus on all other saving throws.

Dolmenwood in Beyond the Wall — Part 2 — Classes and Playbooks

We have knights at home

Continuing the series on how I plan to use Beyond the Wall to run the Dolmenwood sandbox, let’s now address the topic of player character classes.

Classes and Playbooks

The two games take very different approaches to character classes. Dolmenwood features nine distinct and rigid classes, each with unique, decoupled subsystems and its own flavor and role within the setting, whereas Beyond the Wall has only three classes. These are almost purely mechanical and share a unified skill system.

In Beyond the Wall, the role of adding flavor and identity falls not to the classes themselves, but to the Character Playbooks. For those just joining us: Playbooks function as a “lifepath” system, where random rolls determine your attributes and traits as well as your biography, life experiences, and community. Although the process is random, the results are shaped by the central theme of the specific Playbook.

Thus, we don’t need separate classes for sorcerers, witches, and druids; instead, we can have various Playbooks for these concepts. Ultimately, they all result in a version of the core “Mage” class, yet each remains distinct thanks to the specific selection of skills and spells that emerge from the process.

Quick Conversion

For those wishing to generate a character quickly while approximating Dolmenwood class concepts, I suggest using the following guides from the Beyond the Wall core rulebook and the Young and Seasoned Heroes supplement (which also has a Brazilian edition):

Bard — Local Performer

Cleric — Novice Templar

Enchanter — Elven Enchanter

Fighter — Village Hero

Friar — Zealous Acolyte

Hunter — Young Woodsman

Knight — Squire Without a Knight

Magician — Self-Taught Mage

Thief — Inexperienced Thief

About Faerie Magic

At first glance, the Enchanter class seems the most distinct from the others, with its faerie magic comprising Glamours and Runes, a notion that would hold true if the target system featured only classic Vancian magic. Fortunately, Beyond the Wall already employs a magic system that includes at-will cantrips and long-form rituals, alongside traditional Vancian spells. So, if you want to extend the native magic of Beyond the Wall with the faerie magic of Dolmenwood:

At-will Glamours — Become cantrips (Charisma check)

Daily Glamours — Become spells

Lesser Runes — Become spells

Greater Runes — Become level 7 rituals (Charisma check)

Mighty Runes — Become level 10 rituals (Charisma check)

Magic in general

Of course, it is possible to convert classic arcane and divine spells as well; since both games are variations of classic D&D, this isn’t necessary for most spells, as they already have counterparts between the systems, but for those that don’t:

Rank 1 and 2 spells — Become spells.

Spells of other ranks — Become rituals with a level equal to twice the rank minus one, but never exceeding 10. For arcane spells, the check is Intelligence; for holy spells, the check is Wisdom.

New Concepts

A subjective issue I have with Dolmenwood is that, given the rigidity of the classes, there are many concepts I feel should be there but simply aren’t. This likely stems from a thematic decision by the author, one I respect, but I’m also old enough to play around with things on my own terms.

Using Beyond the Wall guides, in addition to those previously discussed, allows us to introduce different archetypes the game didn’t originally anticipate. A simple, clear example: almost all healing magic in Dolmenwood comes from divine magic, which can only be used by classes fully tied to what is essentially the Catholic Church. I find this deeply uncomfortable, and I’m sure many of my players would feel the same way. The Witch’s Apprentice guide could offer players something closer to an Earthsea village witch, a concept so fitting for the setting that I find it strange it doesn’t already exist. I know the word “witch” carries other connotations in this setting, but I see nothing preventing the existence of “sorceresses,” “wise women,” “practitioners of the old arts,” and so on.

New Character Playbooks

Of course, we can use the “Creating Character Playbooks” chapter from the Heroes Young and Old supplement to create new books designed exclusively for the Dolmenwood setting. However, I wanted to demonstrate that while that is certainly cool, and something I definitely intend to do, it isn’t actually necessary. It is already possible to play in the setting using nothing but the character playbooks available in the published game.

Hunters Den

Page(/posts/hunters-den.md) — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 11:21:07 -0300

So, a couple of weeks ago I had a Draw Steel session in which shoving a moist basilisk’s tongue into a taxidermied dragon’s head didn’t actually make it come back alive and talk.

Moved by the absurdity of this, I decided to write a small dungeon in which this actually happens. For maximum gygaxian naturalism, there’s a contraption explaining why the tongue is moist still.

Most creatures are placed by ye olde BX random tables for level 3 monsters. I’m especially fond of the gelatinous cube stuck in a 2x2 outhouse.

The Hunter’s Den

By Vitoria Faria

The legendary hunter, Hunter Argent, lived in a guarded lodge atop of a hill, rumored to have slain several monsters and achieving fame and fortune, few dared to visit his enclave. One day he and his followers mysteriously vanished, and words spread about a rambunctious clan of goblinoids wandering the hill, planning to sack the old lodge.

The goblinoids are a small band of thouls and hobgoblins. The thouls entered the underground through the old well, while the hobgoblins investigate the lodge, both groups act like methodical and careful thieves, each member having access to level 3 thief skills. A few other monsters took refuge in the lodge and underground passages during the last few weeks, but none had a good reason to loot it, so the area looks mostly untouched.

Rumors

Below the lodge lies a cold subterraneous river. True
The old hunter would keep some monsters alive, so they could be sold on the black market. True
The hunter and his crew had holy powers, now captured demons roam free under the lodge. False
Not just a hunter, he was also a famous dragon slayer. True
A living dragon of incalculable value can be found, dormant, under the lodge. True
The old hunter was actually a cult leader, the well just beside the lodge leads to worlds beyond our own. Partially true, the well is actually a secondary passage to the underground, but there was no cult.
The goblinoids are after a hidden artifact of untold power. False, they are only here after treasure.
The hunter’s trophies come alive at night. Partially true, one of them can indeed come alive, but it has nothing to do with the time of day.

The Lodge Grounds

Old Well, crystalline water can be seen, heard and smelled, about 20 feet below, and seems to run like a river.
1. If climbed down, it leads down to area 11.
Outhouse, lost its smell some time ago.
1. Hidden under some straw, a locked trapdoor, that leads to a spiral staircase that leads to area 10.
2. The entire outhouse is fully filled by a living gelatinous cube.
Entry Foyer, features taxidermied animals as decoration, as small as a trout and as big as a bear.
1. Joined to a small corridor that leads to areas 4, 5, 6 and 7.
2. The animals can be sold, 10 gp each, totalling 70gp.
Study and Library, features many bookcases and a wooden study table.
1. North, door to area 5.
2. East, door to area 3.
3. A small jewel case is trapped, shooting a deadly poisonous needle from inside if forced open, containing a 500gp emerald and key to trapdoor in area 2.
Hunter’s Room, features a beautifully carved oak bed, and single bookcase.
1. East, door to area 3.
2. South, door to area 4.
3. Pulling out a book, Savory Underground, a cookbook describing how to prepare meat from underground creatures, reveals the key to trapdoor in area 7.
Dining Room, features a well furnished dining table.
1. North, door to area 7.
2. West, door to area 3.
3. 3 hobgoblins carefully investigate the area. If morale breaks, will scream and warn thouls in area 8.
Kitchen, still features a large cooktop with a marble covering, a couple of barrels with salted, preserved meat, and several wooden cabinets holding all sorts of cookware.
1. South, door to area 3.
2. Locked trapdoor, leads to a spiral staircase that leads to area 8.
3. One of the barrels, with a couple of dead rats inside, is poisoned.

The Underground

Antechamber, seemingly barren, stone brick walls. The smell of cold humidity permeates the air.
1. Spiral staircase leads to area 7.
2. East, unevenly spaced bricks can be pushed sideways, revealing a secret passage to areas 10 and 11. The smell of humidity is stronger here.
3. South, open passage leads to area 13.
4. West, open passage to area 9. Smells like rot and mold.
5. 4 thouls carefully investigate the area.
Dungeon, iron bars hold 3 cells north and 3 cells south. All cells locked, furnished with simple, mostly broken wood benches and buckets, some have piles of skeletons inside.
1. The north westmost cell holds an emaciated wererat, it has only 3 hit points, a -1 penalty to hit and damage until fully fed, and begs for freedom. Way too hungry and weakened to remember anything. If fed and given an opportunity to rest, will only remember being captured by the hunter’s band in a swamp close by, it has permanently lost sense of passage of time.
2. East, passage to area 8.
3. South, eastmost cell has a claw and hand dug passage to area 12, hidden with straw and a broken wooden bench. Under the same bench, there is 5gp hidden.
Pool’s Antechamber, seemingly barren, stone brick walls. The smell of cold humidity permeates the air. There’s a human skeleton laid on the passage, noticeably missing its skull.
1. South, passage to areas 8, which is obvious from this side, and area 11. A loose stone brick on the ground will activate a blade cutting horizontally at the middle of the passage, beheading its victim, a death save is allowed, halflings or similarly sized adventures can pass with no issues, taller adventurers may crawl or avoid the brick.
Underground Pool, crystalline, cold water runs east to west in a beautifully carved, fully circular, hole in the ground rock.
1. The ceiling opens to area 1.
2. Swimming the pool down while holding your breath leads to area 12.
3. An ochre jelly lies just beside the pool.
Underground River, cold water running east to west, most of the river is completely submerged, holding your breath is needed to swim across.
1. Swimming northwest leads to area 9.
2. Swimming southwest leads to area 14.
3. Swimming east and up leads to area 11.
4. A lost, very confused, crocodile swims these waters. Will not attack if unprovoked.
Trophy Chamber, features:
1. A still moist basilisk tongue, removing it reveals an iron grate that smells like fresh water, if forced open, can be crawled through by a halfling or other similarly small adventurer. Leading west to area 14.
2. An iron bull skull of an unusual size, inside its orbits lies the keys to cells in area 9.
3. A taxidermied Tyrannosaurus rex foot.
4. A taxidermied dragon head, missing its tongue. Inserting the basilisk tongue inside the mouth magically attaches the two, which briefly comes back to life and pleads the adventurers to avenge “his sister”, the stone shifts, revealing a southmost passage in the chamber, leading to area 15.
5. Each trophy can be sold for around 1000gp, if the right buyer is found.
6. A doppelganger hides here, taking the form of a taxidermied bugbear. It is afraid of the thouls in area 8 and will only attack once they retreat or are slain.
Moisture Contraption, with a water wheel linked to a wood and iron contraption with metal tubes coming out of it, moisture is moved from areas 12 to 13.
1. North, connects to underground river, area 12. One of the few places the river has an actual breathable surface.
2. East, iron grate that leads to area 13. If forced open, can be crawled through by a halfling or other similarly small adventurer.
Dormant Sister, a circular stone chamber, four huge iron chains hold a dormant white dragon in place.
1. The dragon comes back to her senses once anyone enters her chamber, with a mind still dulled by sleep, she can be surprised with a 3-in-6 chance. Once surprise and initiative is resolved, she attacks with her breath weapon on her first round, out of fright, but is open to negotiation afterwards.
2. The chains are enchanted and can’t be broken easily, but once free from them, the dragon can destroy the ceiling and fly away with ease.