Old-School Essentials vs Scarlet Heroes
Compare Old-School Essentials and Scarlet Heroes side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Old-School Essentials | Scarlet Heroes | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy |
| Tags | Dungeon Crawl, Exploration, Hexcrawl, Deadly, Sandbox, Resource Management, Inventory Management, Random Tables, Vancian Casting, Strong GM Support | Solo-Friendly, Sandbox, Dungeon Crawl, Low-Prep, Random Tables, Heroic, Ascending AC |
| Core Mechanic | Attacks roll d20 against an attack matrix or an optional ascending Armour Class target. Saving throws meet a category target on d20. Ability checks roll at or below an ability score on d20. | Checks: roll 2d8 + attribute modifier + highest relevant trait vs. difficulty number. Attacks: roll d20 + attack bonus vs. AC 20. Unique damage conversion: each damage die reads individually (1 = 0, 2–5 = 1 point, 6–9 = 2 points, 10+ = 4 points), making a single hero viable against hordes. Heroes roll a Fray die each round to auto-damage lesser enemies. |
| Dice | d20 | 2d8 / d20 |
| Complexity | Low | Low |
| Availability | Free core rules | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 5 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | OGL 1.0a | OGL 1.0a |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Necrotic Gnome | Sine Nomine Publishing |
| Year | 2019 | 2014 |
| Languages | English, Italian, Spanish, French, Czech, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean | English |
| Best For | Groups who want treasure-driven dungeon expeditions and open wilderness campaigns with fragile starting characters. | Solo players, duet groups (1 player + 1 GM), or anyone wanting to run classic old-school adventures without a full party: one hero can tackle any module. |
| Highlights | Treasure recovered from adventures provides most experience points, rewarding successful exploration over fighting alone. Reaction and optional morale rolls let encounters lead to negotiation or flight instead of automatic combat. Stronghold construction and taxation let accumulated wealth support a growing domain. | Solo and duet scaling makes any old-school module playable with one hero, Fray die and damage conversion solve the action economy, solo oracle and adventure generators included, compatible with B/X and OSR modules, Red Tide setting included |
| Considerations | Characters die at zero hit points, and failed poison saves are usually fatal. Demihuman characters combine ancestry with class and have lower level limits than human classes. Declared spells are lost if the caster is hit or fails a saving throw before acting. | Solo adventure tools require creative self-GMing, Red Tide setting is baked in (though easily reskinned), limited character options compared to full OSR games, older layout |