# Old-School Essentials by Gavin Norman

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/old-school-essentials/

5 people recommended Old-School Essentials by Gavin Norman in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 12 months, in 2 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

4 of the 5 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules”.

**Verdict:** Players recommend it as a well-acclaimed old-school fantasy RPG rulebook from Gavin Norman's team. Critics say it needs much GM preparation and its rules are bare-bones.

Summary written by Claude from 8 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Acclaimed rules by Gavin Norman (2 comments in the sample): "the same expertise that Gavin Norman brought to Old School Essentials that had won him (and his team) wide acclaim" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49086911)) "Whatever the merits of the rules themselves (which I think are estimable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49087861))
- Modern take on old-school games (2 comments in the sample): "loving modern interpretations like Old School Essentials/Dolmenwood" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49087012)) "you can grab an OSR game system without paying much (if any) attention to the setting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49087835))

## Other tabletop RPGs people recommend

- [Dolmenwood by Gavin Norman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dolmenwood/): 7 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize
- [Dolmenwood Campaign Book by Necrotic Gnome](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dolmenwood-campaign-book/): 3 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize
- [GURPS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gurps/): 2 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Old-School Essentials by Gavin Norman", https://hackerapproved.com/p/old-school-essentials/ (5 recommend, 1 mixed, 2 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.