Having an Opinion; How to Play OSR Games
Goals, Incentive, and Conducting Play in OSR Games
In OSR play, the narrative or sequence of events from session to session is primarily decided upon by the goals and aspirations of the players, especially in the context of a Wilderness Exploration game. This is counter to many people's expectations when they sit down at the table, so I figured I'd step in and write a guide for new folks to help their goal setting activities.
There are two sections to this post: the Dungeon section, which is about goal-setting in a dungeon space, and the Setting section, which is about broader setting-specific goals. Some good supplementary resources for any referees in the group are listed in This section.
Goals in the Dungeon
This is often the first space that you'll play in as a player, so we'll start here. The platonic ideal of a dungeon1 is a microcosm of a setting, and a good initial dungeon will have multiple groups of people with conflicting goals and motivations to interact with.
As a player, especially early on, your job is to Have an Opinion.
Having an Opinion
Opinions are like assholes: everyone has one and, in most polite conversations, you're not supposed to brandish them uninvited. The good thing about tabletop games is that they aren't polite conversations and so our opinions can get all the spotlight they rightfully deserve.
Having an opinion is arguably the most important part of dungeon exploration; a goal, preference, or prejudice will get you far in an imagined space. Something like "we need to avoid danger" is an opinion that can influence the game a lot! Navigating these opinions while exploring the dungeon is key to creating a lot of dynamic moments and is one of the key forces that drives decision-making, especially in the first few sessions.
Your opinion should be something you should strive to realize in the world. They can (and should!) change, but Having an Opinion in the first place is the important part. You are a causal force, not something to be acted upon by the intricate narrative web the Referee has crafted.
Need help Having an Opinion? One option is:
Roleplaying
A common criticism of rules-lite games or OSR games in general is that the relatively loose mechanical framework does not provide the fictional grounding necessary to get truly engaged with the world.
Like many things in life, this is a skill issue! But presumably you're a new player, so I'll help you out a bit.
Roleplaying in OSR games is as simple as imagining who you want to be, and then acting like it. Do you want to be noble and heroic? Act noble and heroic! Do you want to be greedy and self-interested? Act greedy and self interested! There is no mechanical benefit to acting in these ways (in fact, there might even be disadvantages) but there is a joy in succeeding despite the fact your character Hjallmar must enter battle completely naked that makes this sort of roleplay incredibly rewarding.
Several times, I've had players explore dungeons in an OSR style and, upon finishing the game, feel underwhelmed. "We didn't really do anything exciting!" The dungeon is your opportunity to be a hero, not my circus that is carefully organized to make you a hero regardless of your propensity for it. An OSR referee is giving you the reins; it's up to you to steer!
Sometimes it's pretty hard to just decide who you're going to be on the spot, though, so I've made a few handy tables based on your class to help guide you along. These are meant to be motivations to ground your character in the immediate contexts, but if you're unsure of what to do or you're having trouble Having an Opinion, you can always return to these to get some inspiration.
| d6 | Who are you? Fighter and Thief Character Archetypes |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Scoundrel: Your fellow dungeon delvers are useful, but really you're in it for yourself; you have some terrible goal beyond this dirty hole in the ground that you need funds for. It's in your best interest to keep you and your party alive. |
| 2 | The Explorer The rush of discovering new things never gets old to you. Dungeon delving is a new experience behind every door and a rush of adrenaline down every hallway. It's only natural you ended up here. I wonder what this goo tastes like... |
| 3 | The Deserter Oh man, you sure hope the Sarge doesn't know you're missing! You tagged onto this band of adventurers so your arms and armor wouldn't be suspicious on the roads. This dungeon has got to be better than a forced march. You want enough money to get back home and reunite with your family. |
| 4 | The Historian The dark secrets of the world hidden in its ugly places fascinate you. Learning about the world and its history is what drives you to explore. |
| 5 | The Wrestler Slaying the greatest foes in mortal combat is your life's calling. The dungeon is an exciting frontier of martial skill for you! |
| 6 | The Paladin Religious belief or a dogmatic worldview have led you to pick up the blade and strike out against evil! What evil means, well, you're not quite sure, yet. It's a good thing you've got your friends around to point you in the direction of this evil dungeon! |
| d6 | Who are you? Wizard and Cleric Character Archetypes |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Sorcerer Your ambitions of ruling the world begin here, a king surrounded by his pawns. You are drawn to powerful magic (divine, infernal, or otherwise) like a moth to a flame. It would be unwise to sacrifice too many of your compatriots this early, though. You have too much strength left to gain to afford such a wasteful sacrifice. |
| 2 | The Heretic There is a Truth you know that you must impress upon the world. The dungeon is your megaphone and you will use it to shout the Truth. |
| 3 | The Diplomat an escapee (either with or without the blessings of your cloister) from the ivory towers of knowledge you grew up in. Your academic/liturgic knowledge fetches a pretty penny as an adventurer. You want to preserve and expand the reputation of your order. |
| 4 | The Notary You keep an extensive journal on the events of your life. When you fell into this adventuring group, you took on the role of the note-keeper. You are obsessed with keeping an accurate account of events and telling the story of you and your comrades. |
| 5 | The Collector You collect spells, charms, or religious paraphernalia. There are ten thousand spells and if you had it your way this dungeon would contain the last one you needed to know them all. You will do anything to find them. |
| 6 | The Paragon The magic of the world is a great mystery, and you but one piece of a fractal puzzle. Your goal is ultimately to fix, maintain, or create some beautiful work of devotion to your magical craft. The dungeon is one small piece of the puzzle. |
Goals in the Setting
So you've made it out of the dungeon with a fat sack of coins hoisted over your shoulder. Now what?
Really, the Setting ought to mirror the first Dungeon. The same sorts of goals and Opinions you have in the dungeon can be taken and generalized on the setting level. The factions in the dungeon get replaced by the factions in the larger setting. Those Opinions you had about things in the dungeons suddenly map onto factions and locations in the larger setting.
In the same way you go in to loot the dungeon, your ambitions should be to fundamentally change the setting.
As you pursue your broad overarching goal or Opinion, you'll invariably get sidetracked into something else. This is the fun of OSR play! Embrace things getting complicated and having a million moving parts and pieces to explore. As long as you keep pursuing your character goal, everything will make sense and seem straightforward while you play.
A Note on Having an Opinion
Opinions are like assholes: No one really cares about how yours looks.
Being a good OSR player means knowing when to step back and stop pursuing your goal when other players have things they would like to do. Ideally, your goals will involve many of the same steps even if they differ, but "Well now we should go do X since that's what Player X is interested in" is roughly equivalent to "Oh, now it's time for your character to get their arc and explore their backstory" in other more modern play styles. Sharing the steering wheel of where the group goes and how the setting changes in response to your party running over several small cities is ultimately a personal conversation to be had with the other people at the table.
Extra Reading for Referees
On People-Centered Adventure Design: A great overview of the type of headspace I find useful when writing adventures and problems for players to encounter.
Planning a Campaign as a Series of Decisions: If your players Have Opinions, they'll be making Decisions!
And anything else I can think of afterwards to add here.
I use dungeon, but really it could be any "Adventure Site". Dungeon just sounds cooler, sue me.↩