Quick OSR Conversion

Our games and supplements are 100% compatible with various old time and OSR RPGs and can be quickly converted on the fly in your head.

A Note On How We Trim Our Writeups

If information is extraneous or unnecessary, we do not include it. So, if an adventure module has stats for a specific monster, and the adventure module tells you how many are encountered, then the monster writeup will not include a slot for “# Appearing.” If a creature or character has no special abilities, you won’t see a slot with “Special: Nil” or “Special: N/A.” So if you see a part of an entry that seems to be missing, it probably means the value of it is zero.

Which of the Three Stat Sets Should You Use?

We have three house games. Steal This Game! is our public domain and copyright free engine, and our other systems are built upon it. Shadows of Wrath is our more complete and personalized swords and sorcery take on StG!. Our final system, which has a working title that we will give here only as U.U.A.G.(pronounced “wag”). This is for our own use and use in the future as that system develops.

For you, either StG! or SoW will best fit your own game. Both are very similar, and simply glancing at them will give you a good indication almost immediately of which is closer to your system of choice.

Rank

Rank is a rough estimation of power and skill. Ranks in StG! and SoW range from 1-50. U.U.A.G. goes only to 20, but it also has a special feature to reflect more powerful characters and creatures. In a few old school games, having 1-50 ranks for standard characters is roughly accurate to their own system of ranks or levels. In most others, our ranks will be roughly double their levels, with each odd numbered rank equaling a level. The exact formula for this is our rank +1 and then divided by 2. So, if a PC in StG! is rank 7, that would make them what level in most OSR RPGs? 4th level (7+1 = 8 / 2 = 4).

Now, some games scale differently once they reach a certain level, and ours does as well, so once you reach ranks in the high teens the conversion will be a bit more fiddly. In the end, you should just make such specific determinations based on what suits the power level of your game, anyway.

Some OSR games assign levels to monsters. Most do not. While we do, you can generally ignore this, unless you are running a game that uses this higher level maximum and monsters that have levels.

Usually, a monster’s rank is double its HTKD(hits to kill dice) and is expressed as W#, C#, or P# to reflect it as a warrior, caster, or priest of said rank. The vast majority of monsters are ranked as warriors. U.U.A.G. has a different selection of backgrounds(what are used in place of professions in that system).

Doctrine

Intended for GMs to interpret, expand, elaborate on, or dispense with as desired, in StG! we boil it down to three general demeanors: positive, indifferent, and negative. It’s a very rough division largely used to determine things like the chances of allies and attitudes of those of differing philosophies and how it affects their loyalty and morale. On its most basic level, it’s kind of a “good guy/bad guy” thing, but can, as stated, be expanded as desired. In SoW, we have some more doctrines, and another concept called motivation that helps interpret the character’s doctrine.

Speed

The rate at which the subject can move. In StG! this is a plain number, representing a tenth of a foot or a multiple of 3’ depending on scale. In SoW and U.U.A.G. this is given as a straightforward number of feet.

Defense

In our games, defense incorporates things like speed and agility, which might improve defense by 5-10 points, as well as armor. Armor is divided into three broad categories: light, medium, and heavy, adding 10, 20, and 30 to defense respectively. A shield adds 5. So a character with mail armor(medium) and a shield with no other bonuses has D25.

Most OSR games begin at 9 or 10 and descend or ascend. In these cases, divide the defense by 5 and subtract or add it to 9 or 10 as appropriate. In a few old time games, armor ratings might begin at 0 or 1, but in these what we would consider “real” armor still tends to begin around 10 or so, with lower ratings covering things like robes or a hide cloak. In these, the armor maxes out at around 20, which still gives about the same range as other OSR games. So, even for these, you can divide by 5 and add to 9 or 10 or 11.

If in doubt, just look at the type of armor in our game or supplement and the type in your game and go from there. More than 9 times out of 10 it will come out to what we explained above, however, as we build our system on old school sensibilities with the intention of interlockability.

Hits to Kill

The number of hits required to kill a character. Duh. Some adopt an option of HTI, hits to incapacitate. Either way, as hits are inflicted, they are recorded. When hits equal or exceed HTK, the subject is dead. These correspond to health, hits, or HP in most games. In StG!, they are expressed in d6 rolls, but in SoW they may vary. Monsters usually use d8s. In U.U.A.G. the whole thing is worked differently. HTKD is hits to kill dice.

Attack and Hits Inflicted

This is the chance of a successful combat and the hits inflicted when said combat succeeds. Attack % is worked out via advancement tables; they very closely correspond to the chances to hit in other OSR games of monsters or characters with similar professions. Therefore, this is something you would work out using your own system’s table or combat scheme. Most OSR systems don’t even include the attack chance, but we do so for simplicity’s sake. Hits inflicted is simply that.

Our systems do not use multiple attack rolls during a round, but this is again something you can intuit or extrapolate. For example, if we have a creature that attacks with 8 limbs and can inflict 2d8 damage, you might decide it should get 8 attacks scoring d4 each. Look at similar monsters in your system if you’re unsure.

Size

Standard human size is 0. Anything below or above is expressed as a negative or positive number. Creatures and animals roughly half of a human mass are -1; half that -2. Creatures about half as large again as a human are size +1; double human size +2.

In SoW and U.U.A.G. there are bonuses and penalties for small or large size. There may be in StG! but they are “preprogrammed” into the stats and there are no set rules for them.

Special

Any special abilities.