Old-School Essentials
Old-School Essentials by Gavin Normanby Gavin Norman
Ranked 2 of 4 tabletop RPGs by recommenders
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.
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.
4 of the 5 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules”.
Summary written by Claude from 8 comments.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- mixed feelings
- 1
- warn against or regret it
- 2
The record
Recommended in 2 of 12 months
In 2 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
- Recommended in 2 threadsNeeds 5 or more, not met.
- 4 of its 5 recommenders came from one threadNeeds half or less, not met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 8 of the 8 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Acclaimed rules by Gavin Norman
“the same expertise that Gavin Norman brought to Old School Essentials that had won him (and his team) wide acclaim”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules” “Whatever the merits of the rules themselves (which I think are estimable”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules” Modern take on old-school games
“loving modern interpretations like Old School Essentials/Dolmenwood”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules” “you can grab an OSR game system without paying much (if any) attention to the setting”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Dolmenwood: Fantasy RPG built around the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules”
Other tabletop RPGs people recommend
The three most recommended other tabletop RPGs, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dolmenwoodby Gavin Norman | 7 | 1 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| Old-School Essentialsby Gavin NormanThis page | 5 | 1 | 2 | 71% | 2 | — | — |
| Dolmenwood Campaign Bookby Necrotic Gnome | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| GURPSby Shawn A. Fisher | 2 | 1 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 8 opinions about it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“there's an enormous amount of work a GM needs to put into it ahead of time to make it fun for players”
“Whatever the merits of the rules themselves (which I think are estimable”
“you can grab an OSR game system without paying much (if any) attention to the setting”
“loving modern interpretations like Old School Essentials/Dolmenwood”
“the same expertise that Gavin Norman brought to Old School Essentials that had won him (and his team) wide acclaim”
“from early Wormskin and OSE Patreon days”
“The rules system is a bit bare bones”
“running a mix of OSE (Streamlined B/X) and OSRIC (ADD 1e) rules”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.