Started out playing B/X, 2e and Palladium RPGs back in school. Left RPGs after high school. Got involved with Tabletop boardgames (eurogames) in the early 2000's and still very active in many Tabletop boardgame groups in the Philadelphia and New York City area. I thought I would get back into RPGs and tried to get into 5e, but the min-maxing of character's abilities which the other players were doing and lack of exploration and abstract problem-solving kind of turned me off. Also, not a fan when the players play overtly meta. I felt 5e made players focus more on building an invincible character and then challenging that character's mechanical build in a game rather than actually challenging the player in the campaign.
Looking for more OSR style games where the emphasis is on lore and exploration. I love the fantasy (medieval) genre (not so much sci-fi). Very much enjoyed all the early Forgotten Realms books (recently re-read them in publication order). Would love to travel and explore the worlds of the Forgotten Realms, The Known World (i.e. “Mystara”), Greyhawk or any home-brew fantasy world.
While I do own the original TSR books, I also own and have studied the retro-clones: OSRIC, Old School Essentials, Swords & Wizardry and For Gold & Glory.
Time Zone: East Coast USA (southeastern Pennsylvania)
My Appendix N:
- Ciencin, Scott. Shadowdale; Tantras (The Avatar Trilogy/The Time of Troubles)
- Denning, Troy. Tantras; Waterdeep; Prince of Lies; Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad (The Avatar Trilogy/The Time of Troubles)
- Goodkind, Terry. Wizards First Rule; Stone of Tears; Blood of the Fold (The Sword of Truth series)
- Greenwood, Ed. Spellfire
- Grubb, Jeff & Novak, Kate. Azure Bonds; The Wyvern's Spur; Song of the Saurials (The Finder's Stone Trilogy)
- Heinrich, D.J. The Tainted Sword; The Dragon's Tomb; The Fall of Magic (The Penhaligon Trilogy)
- Niles, Douglas. Darkwalker on Moonshae; Black Wizards; Darkwell (The Moonshae Trilogy)
- Salvatore, R.A. The Crystal Shard; Streams of Silver; The Halfling's Gem (The Icewind Dale Trilogy)
- Stewart, Mary. The Crystal Cave; The Hollow Hills; The Last Enchantment (The Arthurian Saga)
- Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit, “Ring Trilogy”
- Ward, James. Pool of Radiance; Pools of Darkness; Pools of Twilight (The Pools Trilogy)