In an update on the Old-School Essentials and RPG and the OGL has confirmed that the Dolmenwood game will be published as a standalone game but that plans to make a revised OSE RPG have been shelved.
Why? The plans to move away from 5e and OGL content were first announced while Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast were trying to push on with their changes to the OGL. WotC has now fully u-turned on those, so the need for the new OSE has vanished.
Necrotic Gnome wrote;
While we’ve tried to satisfy people’s need for news and updates, things have developed so rapidly that some previous announcements are now no longer relevant.
The result is the publisher will continue reprinting the current Old-Schools Essentials tabletop RPG with new supplements and adventures.
It also means that Dolemnwood, which has a free-to-download Welcome to Dolmenwood OSE campaign already available and a Kickstarter for the fairytale setting planned, will have a slightly tweaked OSE rule set but none of those will affect the core Old-School Essentials rules.
The news has, so far, been well received while there was some disharmony around the initial plan to use a whole new ruleset. Greeting the most recent update, fan Lanessar wrote;
I’m thrilled you’re not going to edit the OSE core and adventures stuff (barring infernal plots we aren’t privy to). Whilst I’m fine with edits for Dolmenwood (and I actually applaud it), I would prefer to use “vanilla” BX for the main system if it’s feasible. It makes it a lot easier to get people into a game if we’re not saying “it’s like, sorta like magic missile” or any translation shenanigans.
Via Necrotic Gnome.
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