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Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome
Old-School Essentials is an adventure role-playing game of exploration, danger, monsters, and magic. The game is intentionally rules-light, putting the focus of play on imagination, improvisation, and fun. The rules are optimised for ease of use at the table, with meticulous attention to wording and layout clarity. What's more, Old-School Essentials is 100% compatible with the classic Basic/Expert game from 1981, meaning that decades of adventure are at your fingertips!
A Complete Game All in One Book
Old-School Essentials is a modular game where the core rules of the game are extended by additional "rules modules" which add content for different genres of fantastic adventure. The Old-School Essentials Rules Tome is a compilation of the core rules plus four rules modules, forming a complete game for Classic Fantasy adventures:
Core Rules: Rules for character creation and advancement, adventuring in dungeons, the wilderness, and at sea, magic and combat.
Classic Fantasy: Genre Rules: Seven classic classes (cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter, halfling, magic-user, thief), complete lists of weapons and adventuring gear, extensive lists of vehicles, mounts, and vessels, mercenaries and specialists for hire, rules for stronghold construction.
Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells: The complete set of 34 cleric spells (from 1st to 5th level) and 72 magic-user spells (from 1st to 6th level), for use by players or cleric, elf, and magic-user characters.
Classic Fantasy: Monsters: A selection of over 200 classic monsters to challenge adventurers of all levels.
Classic Fantasy: Treasures: A hoard of over 150 wondrous magic items.
The material in this book forms a complete clone of the classic Basic/Expert game, including all rules, classes, spells, monsters, and magic items.
A Complete Game All in One Book
Old-School Essentials is a modular game where the core rules of the game are extended by additional "rules modules" which add content for different genres of fantastic adventure. The Old-School Essentials Rules Tome is a compilation of the core rules plus four rules modules, forming a complete game for Classic Fantasy adventures:
Core Rules: Rules for character creation and advancement, adventuring in dungeons, the wilderness, and at sea, magic and combat.
Classic Fantasy: Genre Rules: Seven classic classes (cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter, halfling, magic-user, thief), complete lists of weapons and adventuring gear, extensive lists of vehicles, mounts, and vessels, mercenaries and specialists for hire, rules for stronghold construction.
Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells: The complete set of 34 cleric spells (from 1st to 5th level) and 72 magic-user spells (from 1st to 6th level), for use by players or cleric, elf, and magic-user characters.
Classic Fantasy: Monsters: A selection of over 200 classic monsters to challenge adventurers of all levels.
Classic Fantasy: Treasures: A hoard of over 150 wondrous magic items.
The material in this book forms a complete clone of the classic Basic/Expert game, including all rules, classes, spells, monsters, and magic items.
296 pages, Hardcover
Published August 28, 2019
7 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 22, 2023
A well-organized, beautiful presentation of the original Dungeons and Dragons Basic/Expert ruleset.
If you are interested in trying out the "Old School Renaissance" (OSR) world of TTRPGs, this is about as close to the true source material you can get without buying moldy booklets off eBay. OSE collects the rules in an easy to follow format, with all the relevant information in tidy tables that are quick to reference.
Why would you buy this, as opposed to just running 5e/Pathfinder 2e/Other Modern RPGs? In short:
This is a different style of play altogether, one more "true to the source". In modern RPGs, each class is distinct, having stats and abilities that allow them to do very specific things. Rulebooks are long and complicated. Fundamentally, play centers around highly cinematic and roleplay heavy sessions where powerful heroes defeat outrageous monsters. The characters are exceptional, and these games are a wonderful way to live out elaborate and fulfilling fantasy stories. I absolutely love 5e and will always continue to play it.
OSRs on the other hand, are focused around fairly normal and weak players fighting desperately in situations where they are often outmatched. Character stats and abilities are limited, meaning that most actions don't have a rule associated. Because of this, the players are expected to truly play the game. They have to use their personal knowledge of game mechanics to try things they don't have explicit abilities for, and use novel methods to avoid combat, or fight on their own terms. Players are rarely evenly matched with enemies. These games are often grittier, more deadly, and require real teamwork to get through. These sessions can often feel more like playing a wargame (That's not a bad thing!!!), with bits of RP sprinkled in.
These systems are fundamentally different, and if you want to try out the OSR world, Old School Eessentials is a great way to get started.
Now, that isn't to say that this is necessarily the best OSR title out there, I'll leave that designation to reviewers more familiar with the genre, but this is certainly one of the "purest". I have found that this set of rules, alongside the Principia Apocrypha and A Quick Primer to Old School Gaming provided me with everything I needed to try out this different style of gaming, one that I really enjoyed.
5/5 definitely give it a try!!
If you are interested in trying out the "Old School Renaissance" (OSR) world of TTRPGs, this is about as close to the true source material you can get without buying moldy booklets off eBay. OSE collects the rules in an easy to follow format, with all the relevant information in tidy tables that are quick to reference.
Why would you buy this, as opposed to just running 5e/Pathfinder 2e/Other Modern RPGs? In short:
This is a different style of play altogether, one more "true to the source". In modern RPGs, each class is distinct, having stats and abilities that allow them to do very specific things. Rulebooks are long and complicated. Fundamentally, play centers around highly cinematic and roleplay heavy sessions where powerful heroes defeat outrageous monsters. The characters are exceptional, and these games are a wonderful way to live out elaborate and fulfilling fantasy stories. I absolutely love 5e and will always continue to play it.
OSRs on the other hand, are focused around fairly normal and weak players fighting desperately in situations where they are often outmatched. Character stats and abilities are limited, meaning that most actions don't have a rule associated. Because of this, the players are expected to truly play the game. They have to use their personal knowledge of game mechanics to try things they don't have explicit abilities for, and use novel methods to avoid combat, or fight on their own terms. Players are rarely evenly matched with enemies. These games are often grittier, more deadly, and require real teamwork to get through. These sessions can often feel more like playing a wargame (That's not a bad thing!!!), with bits of RP sprinkled in.
These systems are fundamentally different, and if you want to try out the OSR world, Old School Eessentials is a great way to get started.
Now, that isn't to say that this is necessarily the best OSR title out there, I'll leave that designation to reviewers more familiar with the genre, but this is certainly one of the "purest". I have found that this set of rules, alongside the Principia Apocrypha and A Quick Primer to Old School Gaming provided me with everything I needed to try out this different style of gaming, one that I really enjoyed.
5/5 definitely give it a try!!
February 7, 2022
This is by far one of the most superbly organized rulebooks I've come across in my 15+ years of gaming. Old School Essentials (OSE) keeps all the old rules from the D&D of yore and puts them into a modern typeface and layout. It's even modernized the language to make it a much easier read. My favorite part is how page numbers are included next to new terms. Why don't most other rulebooks do this!?
OSE even adds the option to play using ascending armor class (roll higher thank targets Armor Class on a d20 to hit) for those who don't want to deal with THAC0. It even goes so far as to include both armor types in the monster descriptions. It adds a lot of optional rules like this allowing the game master (GM) to craft the rules to fit whatever play style their going for.
However, this is both a blessing and a curse as you'll probably need to make it well know which rules are included or not included in your game. This is probably something most GMs do anyway so take this criticism with a gain of salt.
For those if you confused by the vast number of books offered in the OSE series, this one is really all you need. I didn't have any trouble running a game with this book alone. The other books are completely optional, but keep in mind this doesn't come with a starting adventure.
All in all a fantastic rules set. A must read for any aspiring rulebook writers.
OSE even adds the option to play using ascending armor class (roll higher thank targets Armor Class on a d20 to hit) for those who don't want to deal with THAC0. It even goes so far as to include both armor types in the monster descriptions. It adds a lot of optional rules like this allowing the game master (GM) to craft the rules to fit whatever play style their going for.
However, this is both a blessing and a curse as you'll probably need to make it well know which rules are included or not included in your game. This is probably something most GMs do anyway so take this criticism with a gain of salt.
For those if you confused by the vast number of books offered in the OSE series, this one is really all you need. I didn't have any trouble running a game with this book alone. The other books are completely optional, but keep in mind this doesn't come with a starting adventure.
All in all a fantastic rules set. A must read for any aspiring rulebook writers.
May 14, 2020
The best version of old school fantasy that I've read yet.
April 17, 2025
For reading
This is a rulebook. An OSE rulebook. That means it`s primarily written to be functional, so it`s not very interesting to read cover to cover to put it mildly. It is however very well laid out and clearly written, so it feels easy to grok the rules as they come along, and easy to find them if you need them.
As a lot of OSR-style products, you could prolly own just this book and never need anything else. Character rules, spells, adventuring rules, magic items, monsters, and anything else you would need to get going. And then just add your own stuff on top. Some stuff might be a bit sparse, mainly looking at regular stuff you can buy - stuff like ships and building stuff is well covered.
Really like the art here, especially the monster section - the ape being my favorite of the lot. Nice art direction, with a mix of simple black and white pieces here and there and some coloured spreads spread out here and there in the book.
Overall found it a nice book, but would not reccomend to buy to just read.
In play
Have had a blast playing OSE. The rules and how OSR games are played in general lends itself a lot better to characters that directly interact with enviroments, be it NPCs or things. Less rolling something and then do some kind of adjective story or some writer`s room thing to decide what happens, more action. The characters are what they do, which can get a bit too wargamey for some I suppose.
There`s some rules I am not too happy about like vehicles, encumbrance and whatnot. But given how modular OSE is, swapping out rules for optional rules from NG`s Carcass Crawler zines, other OSR style games, own houserules and so on makes that a non-issue.
The game has done nothing to make itself make more sense if you just randomly start RPGs with this book though. There`s a massive amount of tools here, but it makes as little sense just reading it as reading the red norwegian D&D book did for me in the 90s. On the other hand though, if you know what to look for it is MUCH MUCH easier to run as a GM than any modern D&D. And play.
I originally bought this book due to the whole OGL thing a few years back, and would prolly never have discovered it without that. Which is just amusing...
This is a rulebook. An OSE rulebook. That means it`s primarily written to be functional, so it`s not very interesting to read cover to cover to put it mildly. It is however very well laid out and clearly written, so it feels easy to grok the rules as they come along, and easy to find them if you need them.
As a lot of OSR-style products, you could prolly own just this book and never need anything else. Character rules, spells, adventuring rules, magic items, monsters, and anything else you would need to get going. And then just add your own stuff on top. Some stuff might be a bit sparse, mainly looking at regular stuff you can buy - stuff like ships and building stuff is well covered.
Really like the art here, especially the monster section - the ape being my favorite of the lot. Nice art direction, with a mix of simple black and white pieces here and there and some coloured spreads spread out here and there in the book.
Overall found it a nice book, but would not reccomend to buy to just read.
In play
Have had a blast playing OSE. The rules and how OSR games are played in general lends itself a lot better to characters that directly interact with enviroments, be it NPCs or things. Less rolling something and then do some kind of adjective story or some writer`s room thing to decide what happens, more action. The characters are what they do, which can get a bit too wargamey for some I suppose.
There`s some rules I am not too happy about like vehicles, encumbrance and whatnot. But given how modular OSE is, swapping out rules for optional rules from NG`s Carcass Crawler zines, other OSR style games, own houserules and so on makes that a non-issue.
The game has done nothing to make itself make more sense if you just randomly start RPGs with this book though. There`s a massive amount of tools here, but it makes as little sense just reading it as reading the red norwegian D&D book did for me in the 90s. On the other hand though, if you know what to look for it is MUCH MUCH easier to run as a GM than any modern D&D. And play.
I originally bought this book due to the whole OGL thing a few years back, and would prolly never have discovered it without that. Which is just amusing...
March 5, 2020
Super complete (including detailed rules for building a stronghold and running a domain, encounter charts, magic items, rules for intelligent swords, etc.) and with excellent layout. The only downside is that the art quality is all over the place, from nice color pieces to merely ok black and white drawings. Also, this is the original B/X D&D rules with very few modifications, so if you don't like that particular ruleset (race as class, low level limits, etc.) you should look elsewhere for your OSR game of choice.
March 4, 2025
Beautifully produced book that captures the feel of the very old school Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules, Set 1 from my misbegotten youth. It is the simplest system I have seen in my years of reading and playing these games, and it would lend itself to a hex crawl West Marches campaign perfectly. I am looking forward to running this!
October 11, 2020
A Modern interpretation of classic Basic/Expert rules for Dungeons & Dragons orginally published in 1981. The author has taken great time and effort to make the rules easy to read, understand and reference during play. This book has everything you need for a game. Also The expert layout of this book by the author makes this the easiest to use set of rules at the gaming table bar none for playing Dungeons & Dragons.
May 28, 2025
Una muy buena opción para substituir la edición actual del juego de rol Dungeons and Dragons.
Mucho más senzillo, mejor fragmentado (en 5 cuardenillos) y con un lenguaje más claro y senzillo.
Desde luego mucho más adecuado para biblioteca escolar que el original. De hecho esté seria más original que el actual Dungeons and Dragons, ya que recupera les normas iniciales del juego, cuando aún no eran tan específico ni complejo.
Mucho más senzillo, mejor fragmentado (en 5 cuardenillos) y con un lenguaje más claro y senzillo.
Desde luego mucho más adecuado para biblioteca escolar que el original. De hecho esté seria más original que el actual Dungeons and Dragons, ya que recupera les normas iniciales del juego, cuando aún no eran tan específico ni complejo.
July 10, 2021
Excellent restatement of the class Basic/Expert (B/X) rules from 1981. Exceptionally clear presentation in wording, typography, and layout. Excellent physical production quality. I liked the use of full page or 2 page spread color artwork, and the black and white art included on the other pages. Excellent range of artwork.
December 31, 2022
Far and away a better presentation of early D&D than B/X, BECMI, OD&D, 1E, or 2E, Old School Essentials is by far the best version of "old school" D&D when it comes to actual usability at the gaming table. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
December 2, 2021
Delivers what it says on the back cover: old-school rules presented in a clear, modern style. The rules are the D&D Basic/Expert rules published in 1981 and the few changes to those original rules are mentioned and explained at the end of the book.
August 21, 2023
I don't think I've seen anything formatted better. The only issue I'd say is there's a couple things that aren't in places that I'd like like how long rounds take but it is in a different part of the book and searching takes no time at all with how well the format is
November 30, 2023
Well laid out version of the b/x rules. After a single read through it seems like you would have enough to get the game to the table and be able to start playing. Seems like a good version to introduce new players to what the system was like in its earlier years if they are interested.
April 24, 2022
all the old school without the terrible formatting
January 29, 2023
Some descriptions are just as murky and confusing to me as they were 40 years ago, but much has been done to make these rules accessible.
July 28, 2024
If your RPG group is going to be stranded on a desert island with only one rulebook, hopefully it is this one.
October 17, 2024
Heck ya. This counts as reading? Sure.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews