The OSR systems I’ve tried in recent years are World of Dungeons (if you consider thus), and a game using Stay Frosty, so I don’t really have too much knowledge (or even desire) here.
But, I know Stras is working on a Forged in the Dark (FitD) hack that’s super simplified, called “Into the Dark” (title?), and it felt extremely OSR when I played it. If you like Blades in the Dark type mechanics, but want something much simpler, that may end up being a way to go, when it comes out.
Has Stras released any info on Into the Dark?
This is the last I heard: https://twitter.com/strasa/status/1086848177624367104
So, not yet?
I just picked up the new edition of the Black Hack and it’s really great. A lot more discussion about the procedures of play. Seems like it has a bit more to say about how to play a dungeon crawl.
I need to dig into it further. Looking forward to it. Any gems so far?
There are some small changes throughout and a few bigger ones. Character creation is still random, but if you roll high higher than 14 for an attribute, your next attribute is simply 7. I guess David isn’t keen on hyper competent adventurers.
Armour seems like the biggest change. Armour provides dice you can set aside to eat an entire hit. When you rest you can try and repair your armour by rolling above a particular value, otherwise your armour is broken and needs to be repaired by an armourer.
I need to look at the book in more detail, maybe try and run a game.
I’m interested in how it goes about supporting the GM. I’ve heard that was a big focus. I especially would love to see how it supports the GM at the table.
There are a shitton of random tables for hirelings, drugs, poisons, diseases, a die drop table for wounds, where to find new spells, to create NPCs on the spot, what to find when you loot a body, hex terrain and settlement generator. It has a lot of tools for the GM at the table.
My current faves depend slightly on genre: WoDu, Beyond the Wall, The Nightmares Underneath, and Macchiato Monsters for more traditional fantasy (including romantic or historical fantasy); Whitehack and Dark Streets & Darker Secrets for more urban/investigative/CoC-style games; Offworlders and Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells for space opera/science fantasy. I tend to choose them situationally, depending on the group, context, length of campaign, etc.
The need to hack is more of a draw for me than a deterrent. I tend to hack depending on context:
I think of systems as pretty emergent. If I’m not trying to demo a specific game, I’m more than happy to roll with what seems best for the situation to me as long as the players are comfortable with it. I’m definitely thinking of going the @Dylan_R route and just putting together my own homebrew playbook.
(Also, I always get rid of traditional D&D-style clerics because ugh… clerics.)
So what do you use instead of traditional D&D clerics?
Well, if I’m in @Tylom’s Blood in the Chocolate game, I use actual clergy… 
But WoDu and Freebooters have an interesting take on clerics. A few OSR systems do as well. In most of my favorite OSR systems, there is no cleric class. In others, I just remove the cleric class entirely and give their spell list to the wizards (etc.).
I’m still hunting for a good go-to system, but my eyes are on Troika!, Knave, and The Black Hack 2e.
Troika! is just ideal for the kinds of gonzo stories I tell, but I feel like the initiative system isn’t fun if there’s a lot of NPCs in play, which is my weakness.
Knave is 7 pages and very flexible, to the point that I have a blog post about it that I keep updating with new mini-hacks/houserules.
The Black Hack 2e looks really good, but it really feels like it wants to be played f2f more than anything.
I’ve yet to play Into the Odd and the Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells family of games, but those are also on my radar.
I use my own system, published as Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells and more recently in Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells and Dark Streets & Darker Secrets.
I use it because I took everything I wanted from various games that I liked and adapted to my exact needs. It has the simplicity and flexibility of Whitehack/Blackhack, a chaotic spell system inspired by DCC, but less dependent on tables and levels, customizable characters with Fate like aspects, very easy to create monsters and lots of tools to improvise during the game.
I’m currently getting ready to run Beyond the Wall. I really like the lifepath additions to character creation. It somewhat ties the characters together like bonds, but in a less freeform (less paralyzing to some players) way. No real GM flags though. Wish it had something in that space, but that not how OSR really worked.
I’ve also read through B/X Essentials, and man is it the ruleset I wish I had back when were playing red box. Organized, concise, with an index. For just rules, I think it’s presentation is appealing by being ultimately useful to the GM.
But as I’ve not run anything lengthy in either, take my opinions with a grain of salt.
I’m running a campaign of Freebooters based on the 2E playtest rules, and it really scratches the OSR itch for me while still maintaining most of my favorite parts of PBTA. I feel like it’s maybe not as “pure” of an OSR experience compared to B/X or Black Hack or what have you but it works so well for our table. We appreciate the level of randomness (just character creation itself is super fun–it’s kind of a fun mini-game that players get to engage in as a reward for, y’know, their character dying), the increased level of danger, the ease with which you can add in gonzo elements. It’s probably the most successful campaign I’ve ran since I started GMing, and I’m excited for the official 2nd edition to hit Kickstarter hopefully sometime this year.
I run Advanced Labyrinth Lord. There’s a bit more differentiation of character abilities than in OD&D. But it’s still pretty simple. I’m with @HorstWurst in actually liking that there’s no core mechanic. I try not to roll for anything that can be worked out with roleplaying and common sense. when you do roll it’s often on some modular subsystem connected to a class (or combat, saving throw, etc)
(Hi all, I’m new here. G+ refugee. My thanks to Jason for opening up the forum!)
My favourite OSR system for campaigns Whitehack. It frees players to play whatever character they like, systems are in place to improvise setting and ability details through negotiation during play, and I love that PCs are powerful but also vulnerable.
For one-shots I like Into The Odd. It’s super fast which lets you get a lot done in a session.
Hello all, also G+ Refugee here. There are so many great ones, but my favourite to play and run is still Beyond the Wall, be it for longer games or one shots. The smart mix of shared setting creation, play books for characters, neat magic system and old school core just works for me. Plus the way the game is set up lends itself to a different kind of experience then classic DnD. It feels much more mythical then heroic.
I’m a big fan of Whitehack because of the way you can create new character classes and species on the fly. My old school gaming has always orbited around Planescape and Rifts and Whitehack is perfect for that.